with me, if you will, to Acts,
the seventh chapter. God's servant Stephen has been
arrested. He is accused of blasphemy, and
the high priest asked Stephen, are these things so? And Stephen
began to preach. He began to proclaim the gospel
of God's grace as it was set forth in the history of Israel
going through their history to the time of our Lord's death
as our substitute in resurrection, and for that he was stoned to
death. In verse 13 we read concerning
Joseph and his brethren, and at the second time Joseph was
made known to his brethren. The second time. You know the
story of Joseph and his brothers. I read it briefly, portions of
it at least, for our scripture reading this morning to refresh
your memories. Joseph's brothers were full of envy and malice
toward Joseph because Joseph was appointed to be their ruler
and they couldn't stand the thought of it. And so they sold Joseph
into bondage. He was despised and rejected
of his kinsmen, but God was with him. And all that his brothers
did to him, they did to him according to God's purpose, to bring Joseph
to the place of dominion and power in Egypt, to give him power
over all things in Egypt. So in the time of God's appointment,
when the time came when he was needed to be there, Joseph was
on the throne of Egypt. had control over all the store
of Egypt and he was sitting there as Lord over the house of that
one who most imminently sets before us a picture of Satan
himself. He's sitting Lord over the house
of Pharaoh and all the pagan land of Egypt. Why? Why? Because God Almighty is
going to use Egypt to save his people by the hands of Joseph. Now in all of this, of course,
Joseph was typical of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ, like Joseph, was brought by the hand of God's providence
into great misery and woe. He was sold by the hands of his
own brethren into bondage under the curse and condemnation of
all the people and set up at last in a mock trial, condemned,
crucified, and slain. But it was by the hands of these
wicked men who took him at their will and crucified the Lord of
glory that God Almighty, according to his eternal purpose of grace,
raised up the Lord Jesus Christ sent him on the throne of glory,
and gave him dominion over all flesh, yea, over all the earth,
yes, over all the demons of hell as well, that he might save alive
all his people. The Lord Jesus Christ, by his
blood atonement as our substitute, redeemed us, brought us out from
under the hands of divine justice, redeemed us from the curse of
the law, put away our sin, And now he sits upon the throne of
glory to execute his own pleasure, which is the saving of his people
at the time appointed by God Almighty. Now, as Joseph was
a type of Christ in all that he experienced and in his position,
Joseph was also typical of our Lord Jesus Christ in his dealings
with his brethren. The way Joseph dealt with his
brethren to save the nation alive typifies very beautifully and
very clearly and very instructively the way the Lord God our Savior
deals with his chosen to save his holy nation, God's elect. This is the way God deals with
chosen sinners in saving them by his grace. Are you interested? and knowing how it is that God
brings grace to sinners and brings sinners to grace. Look at the
story of Joseph and his brethren. Now, I recognize that many of God's
saints, some of you here, did not find Christ when first you
began to seek him. I recognize that some of you
here have been seeking the Lord, as best you know how, for some
time and have not obtained mercy. I do not suggest by any means
that it is true of all, but for many of God's elect, the path
of faith, the path by which God brings us to Christ, is a rough,
rough, rough road. I dare say that is more commonly
the case than not. It's a difficult way, a rough
way. Like Joseph first spoke roughly
to his brethren because that's what was needed. Our Lord Jesus
in great grace often speaks roughly to his people when first he begins
to deal with them in grace. Perhaps some of you here are
like Joseph's brothers. In some way or other you have
sought Christ, but you've not found Him. And I urge you now,
seek Him again. It may be that as Joseph at the
second time made himself known to his brethren, the Lord Jesus
will now make Himself known to you. Seek Him. Believe Him. Come to Him. Knock, and it shall
be opened to you. Seek, and you shall find. Indeed,
ask, and it shall be given you. The Scriptures declare, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Salvation
really is that simple and that profound. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Yet salvation is not
decisionism. Salvation is not you making your
decision for Jesus. Salvation is not you deciding
to get saved. Salvation is wrought in the heart
by God's grace, giving you faith in Christ Jesus, and salvation
is granted, given, manifestly bestowed upon faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. We tend to think that anyone
who's heard the gospel message often readily understands it.
But that's not the case. That's just not the case. Some
of you here have heard the gospel for a long, long time, and you
still sit in darkness. The light shines all around you,
but you can't see. And the reason you can't see
is because you're blind. And blind men can't see. fuss at
you for that, I just state that as fact. The only way you will
ever see is if God Almighty causes the light to shine in your heart
and gives you eyes to see, as you just said, ears to hear,
and a heart to believe. God hasn't yet spoken peace to
your heart. I pray that He will. I know that You may even be one
who others look upon as a model, an example of faith and faithfulness. But you know in your soul that
you don't know God from a gourd. You know in your soul that there's
no peace in you. Your religion's a facade. It's
a fake. May God Almighty shake it to
the very foundations and destroy it this day and give you faith
in our Redeemer. I pray that He will. Now this
I know. All who seek Christ with all
their hearts shall find Him. With all their hearts. But you
will not likely find Him as soon as you begin to seek Him. Turn
to Jeremiah 29 and read a passage that I often quote to you. Jeremiah
29 verse 10. For thus saith the Lord, that
after seventy years be accomplished. Going to be a full seventy years. Doesn't matter what you go through,
doesn't matter what the struggles are, doesn't matter how often
you cry and lament, doesn't matter how much you struggle, you're
going to be in bondage for seventy years. Seventy years. Seventy years. That didn't prevent
men like Daniel from crying out to God to have mercy, did it?
That didn't prevent men like Ezra from seeking the glory of
God and promoting the cause of God, did it? They knew what God
said, you're going to be in bondage for 70 long, long years. No matter what, 70 years you'll
be there. Now read it. After 70 years be
accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you. And I will perform
my good word toward you. What is that? In causing you. to return to this place, to return
to Jerusalem, to return to Mount Zion, to return to me. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you. There's no way on this earth
you can know, but I know. I know the thoughts I had toward
you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil. to give you an expected end,
then when I call you to return to me, then when I have turned
you, then when I come upon you in grace, when I come to perform
my good word toward you, then shall you call upon me, and you
shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and
you shall seek me And find me, watch it, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart. All my heart? All my heart? Well that shuts everybody out.
No, no it doesn't. It describes somebody. It describes
faith. What is it to seek Him with all
your heart, to seek Him with the whole heart? Hang on, I'll
answer it for you in a minute. I want to show you from the experience
of Joseph and his brothers that is given to us in Genesis 42
through 45, four distinct things about God's method of grace in
Christ Jesus. Here's the first thing I want
you to see. Joseph's brothers did not know
him, but he knew them. Look in chapter 42 of Genesis.
Genesis 42 verse 8. Joseph knew his brethren. Joseph knew his brethren, but
they did not know him. Oh, hear me. Bobby Estes, he knew you long
time before you knew him. He knew his brethren, though
they didn't know him. They were totally ignorant of
him, but he knew them. He knew who they were. He knew
all about them. He knew everything they had done.
Everything. He knew it was them who sold
him into slavery. He knew everything about them.
He knew the dreadful condition they were in. They were starving
to death. He knew what they needed. And He knew how best to supply
their needs. And He knew who to go to. They
looked only to the present. They were just hungry. He was
looking to the future. They only knew that the man who
was before them. great, mighty man, that all they
knew about him is this fella, he's the ruler of the land, and
if we're going to get anything, we've got to get it from him.
That's all they knew. But he knew them. And he had
a purpose of grace in his heart toward them. You see, Joseph
loved his brothers, though they despised him. He supplied all
their needs. He devised a plan by which he
would bring all of his brethren to himself, and not one of them
would be lost. The plan involved great pain
on their part, but it was the very best possible thing he could
do for his brothers. In chapter 42, verse 8, look
up there. When they first stood before
him, Joseph spoke roughly to his brothers. He growled at them. He made them to look at him as
an austere man. He caused them to look at him
as just a mighty man with no tenderness, no compassion. A
man before whom they must somehow grovel. A man before whom they
must tremble. A man they must fear. He dealt
roughly with his brethren. But he dealt roughly with them
because he loved them. Because his heart was set upon
them. Now there is an unmistakable parallel between Joseph and Christ
in this regard. Though we didn't know him, our
Lord knew us. Though we despised him, he loved
us. And because of his great love
for us, the Son of God, from eternity devised a plan whereby
he would secure the everlasting salvation of all his brethren,
bring all of his brethren to him, and not one of them would
be lost. He redeemed us with his precious blood. He wounds
the world according to his wise and gracious purpose toward us.
All the days of our lives, he's protected us. Throughout the
days of our rebellion against him, he provided for us, kept
us, protected us, held us safe in his hands. Our great Joseph
graciously and wisely arranged from eternity. and graciously
and wisely performs all things in providence according to his
purpose of grace for his brethren. All right, here's the second
thing. First, Joseph knew his brethren, though they didn't
know him. Second, Joseph deliberately hid himself from his brethren.
When they first came to him, He hid himself. He refused to
make himself known. He disguised himself before them.
And he had reasons for doing so. In his wise, adorable providence, our Lord Jesus Christ uses all
things to bring his elect to himself in saving faith. But
salvation doesn't come until Christ is revealed to you and
in you. Now, I wish I could get the attention
of your hearts, and I pray that God will cause many to hear what
I'm about to say. People often ask, when is a person
saved? Now, listen carefully. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter when God saves you. The time is irrelevant. It doesn't
matter. Don't ever, don't ever look back
on this morning or yesterday or 20 years ago as a basis of
hope. If you've got to look there,
I'd question my hope. If you've got to look back to
find a reason to hope for life, I'd question my life at all.
There is a sense in which God's elect were saved from eternity
in the purpose of God. And certainly we were saved at
Calvary in the sense of divine justice being satisfied when
Christ obtained eternal redemption for us and was raised up in glory
and we were raised up in him and made to sit together with
him in heavenly places. But experimentally, experimentally,
a person is saved when these things happen. Men and women
are saved when it pleases God to save them. not one second
before and not one second later. Paul speaks of his own conversion
and says, when it pleased God to reveal his Son in me. We always get in a hurry. We
always get in a hurry. We want things done right now.
And we're impatient, and more impatient when it comes to grace
than with any other thing. We want to make things happen.
There's a great danger in churches and a great danger in families.
A great danger with pastors and a great danger with people. To
pressure folks and persuade folks and coddle folks and arm-twist
folks and get them to make a profession of faith without knowing Christ. And all that is to make somebody
two-fold more child of hell than they were before. That's all
it is. All experience in religion without
faith is only more blinding and more binding. The reason we don't
baptize babies and call them Christians and bring them into
the church when they're first born is because to do so is to
baptize them into damnation. And I hope all of those folks
who practice the papal nonsense of sprinkling water
on babies, we'll hear that. You baptize your babies, you
baptize them into damnation, not into Christ. Just as when
the unbeliever eats the bread and wine at the Lord's table,
he eats and drinks damnation to himself, not life to himself.
Salvation didn't come that way. We don't get children to make
a profession of faith. And we don't try to talk them
into something. We don't seize their fears and get them to do
things without knowing Christ. Because to get folks to experience
or do things in religion without faith is to get folks convinced
that they're saved when they're not. And that's damning. Makes them two-fold more child
of hell than they were before. So we don't try to get decisions
from men. Salvation comes when God is pleased to cause the sinner,
secondly, to hear the gospel of his grace. Salvation doesn't
come at a whim. Salvation comes when sinners
hear the gospel. Now I hear folks all the time
talking about being saved and This thing and that, and folks
argue, you folks can't say that people who don't believe the
gospel of God's free grace are lost. How can you do that? How could you say that? It's
not difficult at all. I'm interested in telling you
the truth. I'm interested in telling you the truth. I want
you to know God. Salvation does not come by religious
decision. Salvation doesn't come by believing
what's reported to be the gospel. Salvation doesn't come by hearing
what men call the gospel. Salvation comes by the hearing
of the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ. And there ain't
but one. It is the gospel of redemption
accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Sinners
are saved when it pleases God to send a gospel preacher. and
calls them to hear the word. So is that necessary? Yes, sir.
Folks say, well, that takes away God's sovereignty. I beg your
pardon? How are you going to take away
sovereignty from the sovereign? God said, preach the word. God said,
faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. God said,
we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Now, there's
no power in the preacher. And there's no power in the sinner.
But the gospel is that which God brings in and the preaching
of the gospel causes, by the power of His Spirit, life to
be given to sinners. God takes His word and makes
it a word of life to chosen sinners. Thirdly, sinners are saved when
they are called by God the Holy Spirit. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
1. I want you to see this. 1 Corinthians 1. Oh, when will a sinner believe?
I'll tell you when you'll believe. You'll believe when you can't
help it. Are you listening to me? You
will believe on the Son of God when you can't help it. 1 Corinthians 1.21. For after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign.
The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
Unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called." Oh, now. You hear the gospel
preached and it's been a stumbling block to you, it's been foolishness
to you. You sit and laugh and you mock inside yourself, say,
how can any fool believe such nonsense? But all of a sudden,
God speaks. And when God speaks, When God
the Holy Spirit calls this word of the gospel both to the Jews
and to the Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. When does a person say it? When
he turns to Christ with his whole heart. Listen to this. I will
give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they
shall be my people. And I will be their God, for
they shall return unto me with their whole heart." Whole-hearted
repentance. Whole-hearted conversion. Whole-hearted faith. And fifthly,
sinners are saved when Christ is revealed in their hearts by
the gospel. It is Christ in you that is the
hope of glory. Not just revealed to you, revealed
in you. Now many of you, in fact most
of you, have had experience in false religion. God has graciously
brought you out of Arminianism, freewillism, fundamentalism,
decisionism, and easy-believism. You once hoped for salvation.
based upon your experience. You hoped for salvation and acceptance
with God on the basis of something you had done or felt. Your hope
was your decision. Your hope was your experience.
Your hope was your work. That's where you came from, isn't
it? That's where you came from. You honestly sought the Lord.
You knew something of your need. You knew something about Him
and your need of Him. You walked in what light God
had given you. But the light you had wasn't the light of the
gospel. Like Joseph's brothers, you did the only thing you knew
to do. But just as those men didn't know Joseph, you didn't
know Christ until He revealed Himself in you. Just didn't know
it. These men who went down to Egypt
didn't know their brother. Joseph, they knew was in an exalted
position, but they didn't know who he was. But at the second
time, Joseph made himself known to his brethren. Now, why didn't
he make himself known the first time? Why didn't he? If I'd met
him, I'd have done that, would you? Isn't it amazing how much
smarter we think we are than God? We think God Almighty just
really doesn't know how best to do things, so we're going
to improve on it. I can do that better. Why didn't Joseph reveal
himself to his brethren? He had good reasons. First, he
would not reveal himself to them until they were made to know
who he was. They had to be made to know who
he was. That's confusing. If you've got
to know him first before he reveals himself to them, then they have
him revealed before he's revealed. No. They understood there was
a man there who had power, but that's all they knew. That's
all they knew. And Joseph was determined to
make them to know who he was. You see, you can't trust an unknown
Savior. any more than those Athenians.
You remember in Acts 17 when Paul went to Myers Hill and as
he walked in these folks were all religious. Fundamental Baptist,
and Free Will Baptist, and Liberal Baptist, and Conservative Baptist,
and Convention Baptist, and Independent Baptist, and Fellowship Baptist,
and American Baptist, and Southern Baptist, every kind of Baptist
under the sun, and had all kinds of gods. And as Paul walked in,
they had little, they'd been down to the religious bookstore,
bought little idols, and put them up everywhere, and they
sold trinkets on the streets, and little Bible bookmarks, and
all the religious paraphernalia, and just in case they missed
one of the gods. Just in case you missed one,
they had a site, just a little, the first time I was down in
the deep south preaching, down in southern Louisiana, I saw
a little thing in the wall and I thought, why isn't this a nice
place to sit and phone? I found out that was an idol
box. Everywhere they had an idol box, they would put the statues
of the Lord Jesus and Mary. Well these folks had their little
idol box, and there was nothing in it. Just an inscription said,
to the unknown God. That's him, Paul said. That's
the one I'm going to talk to you about. To the unknown God
whom you ignorantly worship. You do obeisance to the unknown
God. But I want you to know Him who
is indeed the unknown God. Oh, you must know the Son of
God or you can't trust Him. Joseph did not make himself known
to his brethren the first time. Because they really weren't interested
in him. That wasn't their interest. They
didn't really want Joseph. They didn't come down there to
kiss Joseph. They didn't come down there to meet Joseph. They
didn't come down there so they could honor Joseph. They didn't
come down there so they could worship Joseph. They came down
there to get bread from Joseph. That's all they were interested
in. They were dying and they wanted to live. They were starving. They wanted something to eat.
They were hungry. They needed something to fill their bellies.
So they went to the only place they knew they could get it.
They went down to Egypt to Joseph. Now most people are just like
that in religion. You may not be in agreement with
what preachers of our day have to say and the religion of our
day teaches. But most people's religion is kind of like their
politics. It's all based on health, wealth, and prosperity. The politicians
know, find out what touches a fellow's pocketbook, and you can get his
vote. Am I right? That's how they operate. That's
how they function. And if you're going to pinch
his pocketbook a little, you better be sure you hide that,
or you're going to get in trouble. Preachers know, find out what
touches a fellow's belly, his happiness, his prosperity, and
you can get a following. And so preachers choose Jesus
and choose God and choose the commandments and choose religion
so they can get a little bit better way of life. Fact is,
most people want peace, but not a prince. They want forgiveness,
but not the forgiver. They want mercy, but not the
master. They want salvation, but not
the Savior. They want a sacrifice that will
bring them to God, but not a sovereign to rule over them as God. You
want cleansing, but not Christ. But the fact is, Christ won't
give you any of that. He won't give you any of that. He won't be revealed to you until
you're made to cry in your heart, Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. You see, the relationship of
Christ in the believing sinner, as it is often in scripture compared
to the relationship of a husband and wife, is much like that relationship. This woman's relationship with
me and mine with her, if it were based upon, or really in any
way dependent upon, What she can get from me or I can get
from her, it's a relationship that's built on sand and will
soon crumble. But if it's a relationship built
upon her love for me and my love for her, then it'll stand forever. And the relationship of Christ
and His people It's a relationship of love, not of greed. It's a
relationship of love, not of your happiness. It's a relationship
of love and commitment, not of your delight and your pleasure
and your will. It's a relationship purely of
love and faith in Him. One of the hymn writers put it
this way, Gracious Lord, incline thine ear My request vouchsafe
to hear, Hear my never-ceasing cry, Give me Christ, or else
I die. Wealth and honor I disdain, Earthly
comforts all are vain, These can never satisfy, Give me Christ,
or else I die. Another reason Joseph didn't
reveal himself to his brethren at first is because they had
never acknowledged their guilt. Look in chapter 42, verse 21. These fellows had no real sense
of their guilt in their crime against Joseph. And the crime
about which they must make confession, the crime they must acknowledge,
had to do with Joseph. Look at it, verse 21. Joseph was determined to make
them know, feel, sense, confess their guilt. They said one to
another. Here they are, standing before
this man. They don't know who he is yet. They have no idea
who he is yet, but they know they're in a peck of trouble.
And they said one to another, we're very guilty concerning
our brother. Joseph's standing here listening
to this. They didn't know he's listening
in on their hearts' conversation. We're 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 you wouldn't hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood
is required. knew not that Joseph understood
them. For he spake unto them by an
interpreter, 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." And I don't know
how to express this, how to state it as it needs to be stated. Christ will not reveal himself to you in the
assurance of grace and mercy and forgiveness until he rings
from your soul the acknowledgement of your guilt. Let me see if
I can make good on that in scripture. Psalm 32. Psalm 32. We like to get everything pigeon-holed
and tucked away in good order. Folks say, well, this is the
order, that's the order. Well, I know this in experience. In experience. You'll never experience
peace until you acknowledge guilt. It won't happen. It won't happen. I haven't been following the
news much. I've been too busy. I understand
Mr. Limbaugh is back out of rehab
and going on there again for you fellows who like that. That's great. And I have no idea
what he did in rehab. I have no idea. But I'll tell
you what the rehabilitationist did. I promise you what they
did, you're not guilty. There's nothing wrong with you. No, no. The problem's the pressure,
stress of life, circumstances. Not your problem. No, no, no,
no, no. All you got to do is figure out a way to deal with
all those things outside you. Listen to me. The problem's with you. The problem's
with you. It's deep inside you. And until
you recognize all your problems are you. Just you. Not mama, not daddy, not circumstances,
just you. All the problems you've got in
this world is you. Deep down, you. Just you. Now when you've come
to grips with that before God, You will have peace, not until
then. Look at it, Psalm 32. Let's see what the book says.
Doesn't matter what I say, everybody else says. Let's see what the
book says. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Man, I'd like to get in on that, wouldn't you? What blessedness! Well, read on. Read on. When
I kept silence, When I kept silence, you know the story. David took
Bathsheba, murdered her husband, and hid it. Kept silence. Nobody knows this but me. That's
all. Just me and Bathsheba. That's all. It's all right. Got
this thing covered. Got it covered. But my bones
waxed old within me. I bit my lips, I bit my tongue,
I clenched my teeth. I would not acknowledge my guilt,
but inside I was torn to pieces. My bones waxed old within me. Look at it. Through my roaring. You ever been there? Through
my roaring all the day long. How come David? For day and night
thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. Now pause and think about this
a while. Don't turn away in such a hurry.
Listen to what God says. Read on. I acknowledged my sin
unto thee. My iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
to the Lord." Now watch it. Just as soon as he said,
I say, just as soon as he said, I'll confess my transgressions,
just as soon as he said, I acknowledge my iniquity, thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin. And I sing, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Stop and think about that. Joseph didn't reveal himself
to the brethren the first time they came to him because they
didn't come to him with everything. I asked earlier, what does it
mean to come to Christ with all your heart, to seek the Lord
with the whole heart? I have a good picture here. You
remember when they came back to Joseph, they were seeking
corn from Joseph. They brought the whole family
of Jacob except for one precious little item named Benjamin. Just one thing, just one thing. Benjamin, I'll keep that here,
last something bad happened to Benjamin. Hold on to Benjamin,
Jacob said, I'm going to keep him. Now y'all go down there. You scoundrels, I know what you
are. You're all going down to Benjamin now, he's my baby. Benjamin,
he's the apple of his daddy's eye. Benjamin, he's his daddy's
boy. I'm going to keep Benjamin here
because I ain't sure I can trust that fellow down there on the
throne in Egypt with Benjamin. And so they kept him back. And
Joseph was determined to have the whole heart. He's determined to have everything. The only way you'll ever come
to know Christ in his saving glory is when you bring Benjamin
along with everything else to him. That's all. Save your life if you want to.
You'll go to hell. Lose your life to him and you
live forever. Joseph didn't reveal himself
to his brothers the first time they came to him. Because he
was determined to make them know that they were entirely at his
disposal. He fixed things up. Man, he put
money in their sacks. Helped send them on their way.
And they got out of town. And they thought, man, this fellow
is going to kill us. He's determined to kill us. We're not going back.
He's determined evil against us. We're not going back. And
he's got power. He can do it. Look what he did. Look what he
did. He has the power to save our
lives. He has the power to give us bread.
He has the power to cause men to secretly plot against us and
destroy us. We ain't going back down there.
Then they got hungry again. And the bread was gone. And the
money was spent. And they're dying. And the only
place they can go is Joseph. And he would have them to understand,
you are in my hands. I'm your Lord. I'm your master. You see, mercy is God's. Mercy's gate is his gate. He can open it or he can shut
it. He can bring you in. or he can
shut you out. It's entirely up to him. And
then learn this as well. Their only hope was Joseph. The
only hope these men had was found in Joseph. So they
went to him a second time. The cord ran out. And when they were brought to
the point of utter starvation, utter desperation, when they
couldn't make any other shift, when they couldn't do anything
else, when they had to have it, they came to him a second time.
And at the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren. When will Christ make Himself
known to you? When you've got to have Him.
You say, well, I've got to have Him,
but I don't know. He'll have me or not. Well, I'll
tell you this. There have been a whole lot of
folks just in your shape. who came to him and found everlasting
life. Jacob heard about corn down in
Egypt, and he's a Hebrew, but he heard there was corn down
in Egypt. How did he hear that? These other folks all around
here have been going down to Egypt getting corn. But where'd
y'all get this extra corn? Down in Egypt. Where'd y'all
get those camels running corn? Down in Egypt. Where did you
folks get that caught? Down in Egypt. There's a fellow
down there, sits on the throne, and he's that one to whom all
power is given. Go down there and talk to him.
You might just go into it. Will you hear me? There have been multitudes like
you. Fled away to Christ in utter desperation. Came to Him because
they couldn't go anywhere else. Came to Him because nobody else
could help. Who can tell if God will turn away from his fierce
anger that you perish not? I implore you, by the mercy of
God, come to Christ. He's able, willing, and anxious
to save all who come to God by him. Brother Dodd, did you say
he's anxious?