Alright, in Genesis chapter 47,
we have a wonderful story of how
it is Joseph provides for his brethren. Again, we are reminded
how that Joseph pictures for us the Lord Jesus Christ. And
how it is that we live in the land of spiritual famine. This famine that Egypt was experiencing
is a picture of the lack of spiritual bread that's in the world. And
how that God in Christ provides for his people the bread to sustain
our souls. You were reminded last Sunday
from Wayne's message that that bread is the body of Christ. He's the person of Christ, the
work of Christ, the excellence of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. And we feed on him in order to
be saved from our sin. And that's what this is a picture
about. Look with me to verse 11. Jacob has come with all of Joseph's
brothers. They've journeyed to Egypt. And
Joseph placed his father and his brethren and gave them a
possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land. He put
them in the best part of the land. He gave them the delta land around the Nile River. which even in a time of drought
would have sufficient water for their crops and for their cattle. And so they take the best of
the land given to them by Joseph, the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh
had commanded. God commands his son to provide
for his people the best that he has to offer. And he does. We're going to see that more
clearly in the second hour when we consider Ephesians chapter
1 and what it means to really be blessed. A lot of people talk
about being blessed, but what does God say about what it really
means to be blessed? Well, this is the blessing of
God that he provides in Christ everything necessary for our
salvation. These are the blessings of grace.
And Joseph, verse 12, nourished his father and his brethren. The Lord has given to you and
to me the spiritual perception to see that in this world there
is really nothing that satisfies the soul than we'll look to Christ
for our nourishment. And he will He'll nourish his
father and his brethren and all his father's household with bread,
with the bread of life. Your fathers ate bread in the
wilderness, but they died. That bread that came from heaven
was another picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who came down from
heaven to lay down his life for his people. And feasting on him,
resting in him, relying upon him, is the only hope that we
have to survive this famine. Otherwise we will die in a spiritually
dead land. Notice that these things were
given to them by Joseph, and we are reminded how it is that
men by nature try to purchase their salvation. They try to
manipulate God or obligate God to be merciful to them and they
do believe by nature that they can do just that. They can demand
of God payment for their good works or for their decision. Flipping through the radio yesterday
and heard someone advertising for a website and they were talking
about being saved or getting saved is how they said it and
basically they said log on to our website and you decide. You
decide. That's what man believes that
he can just make a decision and that his decision is somehow
going to earn him favor with God. This bread was given by
Joseph. They were placed in the best
of the land And he gave them their nourishment. They worked
for it. They deserve it. As a matter
of fact, based on what they had done to their brother Joseph,
they deserved death. And Joseph was in the position
to execute that judgment against them. But all throughout this
story, we find Joseph being merciful to his brother. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
55. Thinking about this gift of grace, Apostle Paul says, if it is of
grace, then it can no longer be of works. Otherwise, grace
is not grace. Grace is a free gift. There's
only one kind of grace, and it's free grace. There's only one
kind of free grace, and it's sovereign grace. God Almighty
is the dispenser of this grace, and he does it according to his
good pleasure and his will. And there is nothing that you
and I can do to require of him or obligate him or demand of
him anything. Chapter 55 of Isaiah, O everyone
that thirsteth! What was in the land? A famine. What was the famine caused by?
A drought. people during the drought are
thirsty. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money, come." The Spirit and the bride say, come. The Word of God never, ever,
listen carefully to this, because I fear that sometimes those who
sit under the preaching of the truth, err in thinking that because
salvation is of the Lord, therefore God is demanding of me to be
passive and the logical line of thinking is, well, I'll just
sit here and wait for God to do something for me. And what
they end up doing is waiting for a feeling or an experience,
which becomes a work. And the scripture never says,
sit there and wait for God to do something for you. The word
of God always says come. If you're able to hear that command
and respond to that command, that's the work of grace in you,
causing you to will and to do his good pleasure, but the call
of God is you come. Come! Don't wait. Don't wait for a feeling. Don't wait for an experience.
The Spirit and the bride say come. Today is a day of salvation.
Come. Come right now. Come to the river
of life. and drink freely. Look what he
says. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Don't come with something in
your hand. Don't come with impressive words
in your mouth. You know, men, they write out
these sinners' prayers. Well, if you pray this prayer,
you know, God will nail it down. You'll bring to God your decision,
or your will, or your works, or your wisdom. That'll help. No, you come, but come without
money, without price. Buy wine, the Spirit of God. Buy milk, the Word of God. Without price. Without money. Look at verse 2. Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread? and you labor for that which
satisfieth not." This wine and this milk and this bread satisfies. Satisfies the soul. Why are believers
satisfied with Christ? Well, first of all, he satisfies
them, but they know that God's satisfied. They know that God
the Father is satisfied with Christ, and they're satisfied
with what the Father satisfies. If God's pleased with him, then
what more can I offer? Nothing. Nothing. Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread, and that you labor
for that which satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me. Listen. Listen. That's what God's saying. Look. Listen. Come. Eat that which is good. Let your
soul delight itself in fatness, incline your ear, come unto me
and hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Joseph gives to his brothers
all that they needed to nourish and satisfy them in a time Men by nature spend money for
that which satisfies. What is that spending money for
that which satisfies? Well, it's their worldly pursuits.
The irreligious give their lives to gain possessions in this world. And they fool themselves into
believing the more they get, the happier they're going to
be. And they spend all of their life and energy for that which
doesn't really satisfy. the need of the soul in the time
of drought. The religious, on the other hand,
they cast their lives into their religious activities. They're
sort of like those prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. They cut
themselves, they cry, they pray, they beg, they do their works
and go through their incantations, but no fire comes from heaven.
No fire comes from No blessing, until the sacrifice is placed
upon the altar. The prophet of God comes and
preaches the gospel, then the fire falls from heaven, consumes
the altar and the sacrifice. Sort of like that one that our
Lord told about who cast out the demon from his home. Do you
remember the story? cast the demon out and he swept
the house clean and garnished it up. Oh, how many folks have
gone down that road? You know, in their younger years
they fell into a worldly lifestyle and they engaged and indulged
themselves in the pleasures of the flesh until they created
major problems in their health or in their relationships or
in some aspect of life as a result of this indulgence, and so they
become religious. And what do they do? They cast
out the demon. And they quit their drinking, or they quit
their carousing, or whatever it is that's causing the problems,
they quit it. They garnish the house with religious
icons. They sweep it clean. What's the
end result? For that one demon that left,
seven demons come back. You try to get that person who's
proud of their swept house and their garnished home, who has
conquered the demon of some bad habit, who has become very religious,
you try to get them to come to Christ. Demons in that household are
seven times stronger than they were before. They're worse off
in the end than they were to begin with. It's like the woman
who had the issue of blood. She came to the Lord having spent
all that she had on physicians. She spent all that she had. And
the scripture says she was worse off than when she began. Now
that's what religion will do, isn't it? That's what will happen
to those who spend money for that which satisfies not. they're
worse off in the end than they were at the beginning. They're
like that prodigal, feeding on the husk of religious legalism, not knowing that the Father is
both willing and able to provide them with their every need. And
it isn't until the Spirit of God causes that person to come
to themselves and go home and plead the Father's mercy. Lord,
just let me be your servant." That's what this story is about.
Joseph placed his father and his brethren in the best possession,
the best land in all of Egypt, and he nourished them and gave
them bread. He satisfied them in a time of
drought. Now, just in the next couple
of minutes, I want us to look at the rest
of these verses. I'm just going to read them.
Will you follow with me, beginning in verse 13? And there was no
bread in all the land, and the famine was very sore. So the
land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of
the famine. Joseph gathered up all the money
that was found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan
for the corn which they bought, and Joseph brought the money
into Pharaoh's house. Now we're in the fourth year
of this seven-year famine. The bread's run out. Joseph's
got the keys to the storehouses. He's the one that stored up the
bread during the seven years of plenty, and now the people
are coming to him, and they spend all the money they've got. in
order to feed themselves for that year. Verse 15, And when
money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all
the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread, why
should we die in thy presence, for the money faileth? And Joseph
said, Give me your cattle, and I will give you for your cattle,
if your money faileth. Now if we did this, living here
in Florida, we've seen this happen after the aftermath of a hurricane.
People taking advantage of those who are in need and price gouging. This wouldn't have gone over
very good with the media. bread that will supply everybody's
need, and he's price gouging. He's demanding all their money.
He's got all their money now, and now he's taking all their
cattle away from them. Surely they're going to bring a lawsuit
when this is all over. They brought their cattle unto
Joseph, verse Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses
and for the flocks and for the cattle in their herds and for
the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for
that year. Now they've lost all their livestock. Another year is over. When that
year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said
unto him, We will not hide it from my Lord, how that our money
is spent, my Lord, also our herds and cattle. There is not aught
left in the sight of my Lord but our own bodies and our lands.
We've given you everything we've got. The only thing we've got
left is our own flesh and the land that we live on. Wherefore shall we die before
thine eyes, both we and our land? You can save us. Why would we
keep our lives and our land from you, when you are the only one
that can save us. What did our Lord say to the
disciples? Will you leave me also? Lord, where shall we go? We've got no other place to go.
This matter of salvation is not a choice. These people were desperate
There was nobody else they could go to. You will not come to Christ
if you can find anything else or anyone else that will satisfy
you. You will only come to him when
you have to come to him. If you can find peace and comfort
and hope and nourishment somewhere else, that's where you'll go.
He will always be your last resort. And when he becomes your last
resort, he's your only resort. That's just the way it is. Salvation
is not a choice. It's not a choice. Making choices is something that
we all do every day, but a choice becomes a choice when you have
one or more options. Do I do this or do I do that?
Think I'll choose? No. Coming to Christ is not a
choice. You're all out of options. Verse 19, Wherefore shall we
die before thine eyes, both we and our land, by us and our land
for bread. And we and our land will be servants
unto Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live, and not die,
that the land be not desolate. Joseph bought all the land of
Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because
the famine prevailed over them. So everything became Pharaoh's.
was all his. Money, cattle, their land, their
very bodies became his. And as for the people who removed
them to cities from one end of the border of Egypt, even to
the other end thereof, they are in servitude to him. Now he's
controlling everything about their lives. He tells them where
to live. Tells them where to work. Tells them that they're
his servants. he is now their master. They
have sold themselves in slavery to Joseph and subsequently to
Pharaoh and now they do whatever he tells them. You do see the gospel significance
of this, don't you? We don't buy our salvation, but
there's no coming to Christ. There is no coming to Christ
until all is counted lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus our Lord. And everything we are and everything
we've got is his. We don't spend it in order to
earn what is the clearest doctrinal statement in the scripture of
the gospel. Hebrews 1-11, that's the answer
to that question. Probably not a very good question,
but Romans chapter 1-11 clarifies the gospel as much in detail
as any other passage of scripture. What does Hebrews chapter 12
verse 1 say? In light of this great and glorious
gospel that I just told you about, I beseech you, therefore, by
the mercies of God, that you present yourself a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
In light of what he's done for you, it's only reasonable that
you would do that. What did the Apostle Paul say
in Philippians chapter 3? He said, I count all things but
loss. Count them as done. for the Excellency. Were there lawsuits? Were there
complaining? Were there people raising up
in their arms saying, you're taking advantage of poor helpless
people who can't do anything for themselves and only for the
purpose of benefiting yourself and lining your own pocket and
here you've stolen everything from us in order to give us bread.
Was that their attitude? Well, let's read on. Verse 22,
only the land of the priests bought he not, for the priests
had a portion assigned to them of Pharaoh, and did eat their
portion which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they sold not their
lands. And Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought
you this day, and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for
you, and you shall sow the land, and it shall come to pass in
the increase, that you shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh.
The fourth part shall be your own, the seed of the field, and
for your food from them your household and for food for your
little ones, from now on everything you produce, a portion of that
goes back to Pharaoh. Goes back to Pharaoh. And they said, I want you to
write this down, mark it down, this is the end of this story.
And they said, thou hast saved our lives Let us find grace in
the sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants forever." We're just glad you're here to
save our lives. We're not complaining. We count
all those things that we had. We've been now bought with a
price. We count them as dung for the excellency of the knowledge.
Why would we die in God's presence? Why would you die in God's presence
when he has everything necessary. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you that there is a storehouse that's
filled with bread and that you've called us to come. We ask, Lord,
for the grace in your sight to do just that. We pray it in Christ's
name.