Part 42
reason why they looked one upon another was this. At first one looked at the other as much as to say, "Haven't you some to spare?
Couldn't you give me some for my family?" Perhaps Dan appealed to Simeon, "Haven't you some? My child is starving this day. Can you help me?" Another might look at Judah. And perhaps they might fancy that Benjamin, the favorite, would surely have some morsel stored up. So they looked one to another. But soon, alas, The look of hope changed into the look of despair. They were quite certain that the necessities of each house had been so great, that no one could help the other. They had all come to poverty. And how can beggars help each other–when all are penniless?
And then they began to look upon one another in despair. In speechless silence they resigned themselves to the woe which threatened to overwhelm them. Such is the sinner's condition when first he begins to feel a hungering and thirsting after righteousness– he looks to others. He thinks, "Surely the minister can help me, the priest may assist me." "Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." But after awhile he discovers that the state of all men is the same, that all are without grace, that "none can save his brother, or give to God a ransom for him." And apart from Christ we, my dear
Friends, this morning might look one on another, aghast and in despair–might try the wide world over and say, "Where is salvation to be found?" Oh, if it lay in the very center of the earth we could dig through the rocks and into the very bowels of the earth to find it. If it were in Heaven, we would seek to scale it with some Babel tower, that we might reach the blessing. If we had to walk through fire to gain it, we should gladly accept the burning pilgrimage. Or if we had to walk through the depths of the sea, we should be content to let all its billows roll over us–if we might find it.
If every man had to say to his fellow "there is no hope for us, we have all been condemned, we have all been guilty, we can do nothing to appease the Most High," what a wretched world were ours, if we were equally convinced of sin and equally convinced that there was no hope of mercy! This, then, was the condition of Jacob's sons temporally and it is our condition by nature spiritually.
We are in a land of famine. We have nothing of our own. We are hungering, we are dying of hunger and our case seems totally hopeless, for on earth there is nothing to be found to satisfy the raving hunger of the soul.
II. Now we come, in the second place, to the GOOD NEWS.
Jacob had faith and the ears of faith are always quiet. Faith can hear the tread of mercy, though the footfall be as light as that of the angel among the flowers. Though mercy should be a thousand leagues away and its journey should occupy ten thousand years, yet faith could hear its footsteps, for it is quick of ear and quick of eye.
No, more–if God should give a promise which should never be fulfilled till the old rolling skies were dissolved, faith would look through all the generations, along the vista of the centuries and see the spirit of promise afar off and rejoice therein.
Jacob had the ears of faith. He had been at prayer, I doubt not, asking God to deliver his family in the time of famine. And by-andby he hears, first of his household, that there is corn in Egypt. Do you see the gathering? The venerable Patriarch sits in the tent. His sons come to pay him their morning obeisance. There is despair in their faces, they bring their little children with them. All that the Patriarch has he gives. But this morning he adds good news to his benediction, he says to them, "There is corn in Egypt." Can you conceive how their hearts leaped? He scarcely needs to add, "Get you down there and buy for us from there, that we may live and not die." Jacob heard the good news and communicated it as speedily as possible to his descendants.
Now, we also have heard the good news. Good news has been sent to us in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. "There is corn in Egypt." We need not die. There is salvation with God. We need not perish–there is mercy in the Most High. We need not think that we must necessarily be lost. There is a way of salvation. There is a hope of escape–do we not receive the tidings in joy? Do not our hearts rejoice within us at the thought that we are not hopelessly condemned, but that the Lord may yet have mercy upon us? Now, we have better news than even Jacob had–although the news is similar, understanding it in a spiritual sense.
First, we are told today by sure and certain witnesses, that there is corn in Egypt, there is mercy in God. Jacob's messenger might have deceived him–idle tales are told everywhere and in days of famine men are very apt to tell a falsehood, thinking that to be true which they wish were so. The hungry man is apt to hope that there may be corn somewhere. And then he thinks there is. And then he says there is. And then, what begins with a wish comes to be a rumor and a report. But this day, my Friends, it is no idle talk–no dream, no rumor of a deceiver. There is mercy with God, there is salvation with Him, that He may be feared. The fountain is filled to the brim. The granaries are full of the good old corn of the kingdom. There is no reason why we should perish. By sure infallible and certain witness, we are told upon the very oath of God Himself that there is salvation for the sons of men. But Jacob did not know how much corn there was in Egypt. He said there was corn, but he did not know how much.
Now, today, we are something like Jacob. There is mercy with God. We do not know, any of us, how much. "Oh," says one sinner, "I am such a hungry soul, that all the granaries of Egypt would not be enough for me." Ah, but, poor Soul, God is all that you could want, even though you should want an infinite supply. The sixty-six in the family of Jacob would make a heavy draw upon the granaries of any nation. But yet, so abundant were the storehouses in every city, that we do not read that Joseph missed all that he gave them.
So it is with you. Your necessities are immense, but nothing equal to the supply. Your soul requires great mercy, but you will no more exhaust the mercy of God than the taking a cup full of water out of the sea would exhaust its fullness. High above the summits of your mountain-sins the stars of Grace are shining.
There is another thing in which we have better than Jacob. Jacob knew there was corn in Egypt, but did not know who had the keeping of it. If he had known that, he would have said, "My sons, go down at once to Egypt, do not be at all afraid, your brother is lord of Egypt and all the corn belongs to him." No, more–I can readily imagine that he would have gone himself, at once. And Simeon and the rest, though they might feel a little abashed, when they thought of the unkindness that they had shown to their brother–when they began to feel a little hungry, if they had known all about Joseph–they would have said, "We need not fear to go and submit ourselves to him, for we know he has a gracious and loving heart and would never let his poor brethren die of hunger."
Sinner, the mercies of God are under no lock and key except those over which Christ has the power. The granaries of Heaven's mercy have no steward to keep them except Christ. He is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. And the keys of grace are swinging at the girdle of your own Brother. He who died for you, He who loved you so much, that He loved you better than He did Himself–He has the keys of grace and will you fear to go?
Will you tremble to go to these rich stores of mercy when they are in the hands of a loving, tender and ever-gracious Lord? No, this is good news, that all the grace is in the hands of Jesus.
There is yet another thing which the sons of Jacob knew nothing of. When they went to Egypt, they went haphazardly. If they knew there was corn, they were not sure they would get it. But when you and I go to Christ, we are invited guests. Suppose now you should have it in your heart to invite some of the most ragged people of London to your house. You give to each of them an invitation and they come to the door. Perhaps they are half ashamed to come in and want to steal round the back way. But if they should meet you, they are not at all abashed. They say, "Sir, I was not afraid to come, because you sent me an invitation. If it had not been for that, although I might have known your generosity, although I might have known you could afford to help me, I should not have dared to come if you had not sent me an invitation."
Now Joseph sent no invitation to his brothers. But Jesus has sent an invitation to you. To each of you who are perishing sinners He has said, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." He has said Himself, "Him that comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out." He has sent His messengers and bids them cry, "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters and he that has no money, come, buy and eat, yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Now, Sinner, you need never be afraid to go where you are invited. Christ Jesus invites. He invites the hungry, He invites the weary. Such are you–both hungry and weary.
He invites the heavy laden–such are you. Come and welcome, then.
You need not go on haphazardly, you have the invitation and the promise. Why do you look, then, at one another? Arise and come to Christ. Arise and come to His Cross. May He now prove in you His power to save!
But one other remark and I will have done with this second point.
The sons of Jacob were in one respect better off than you are, apparently, for they had money with which to buy. Jacob was not a poor man in respect of wealth, although he had now become exceedingly poor from lack of bread. His sons had money to take with them. Glittering bars of gold they thought must surely attract the notice of the ruler of Egypt. You have no money, nothing to bring to Christ, nothing to offer Him. You offered Him something once, but He rejected all you offered Him as being spurious coin, imitations, counterfeits and good for nothing. And now utterly stripped, hopeless, penniless, you say you are afraid to go to Christ because you have nothing of your own.
Let me assure you that you are never in so fit a condition to go to Christ as when you have nowhere else to go and have nothing of your own. But you reply, "I should like at least to feel my need more." That would be something of your own–you must go to Christ with nothing. "But I wish I could believe more." That would be something of your own. You want to get your own faith to bring to Christ. No, you must go to Christ just as you are. "But Sir, I must reform myself before I can believe that Christ will have mercy upon me." Your fancied reformation would unfit you for Grace, rather than prepare you for it. Reformation before grace is frequently a step backward instead of forward. That reformation may confirm you in self-righteousness, but it cannot bring you to Christ. Go as you are.
At a hospital, the best recommendation is sickness. He that is a little sick needs some help to get him there, but let me be run over in the street and be near to death and I need nothing to recommend me to the hospital–open flies the door and I am taken in directly. So a condition of your lost and ruined state is the only recommendation you need in going to Christ. Just now a lot of people want to bestow their charity and they do not know how to get at the lowest class of the poor. They want to lay hold of those whose beds are made of straw. They desire to gain knowledge of those low lodgingplaces of the very poor, which are worse than the places that beasts inhabit. These are the men they want to find. And the greater the poverty the more recommendation. So in your case.
Your woes plead with God. Your wants, your misery, your helplessness, your ill-deserts–these are the orators that move the heart of God towards you–but nothing else. Come just as you are, with nothing in your hand, to Jesus Christ, who is Lord over the land of mercy and will not send you away empty.
III. Thus I have noticed the good news as well as the pitiful plight. I come now to the third part, which is GOOD ADVICE.
Jacob asks, "Why do you look one upon another?" And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get down there and buy for us from there, that we may live and not die." This is very practical advice. I wish people would act the same with religion as they do in temporal affairs. Jacob's sons did not say, "Well, that is very good news. I believe it," and then sit still and die. No, they went straightway to the place of which the good news told them corn was to be had. So should it be in matters of religion.
We should not be content merely to hear the tidings, but we should never be satisfied until by Divine Grace we have availed ourselves of them and have found mercy in Christ.
Some ministers do, in fact, tell poor awakened sinners to be inactive. They say to them something like this–"You must wait, you must wait till Christ comes to you." They will even dissuade the woman who had an issue of blood, from pushing through the crowd to lay hold upon the hem of the Redeemer's garment. They would bid the man who is crying aloud by the wayside to hold his tongue–to sit still quietly till Christ should turn and look upon him.
They cannot endure that Christ Jesus should invite men to his feast, much less that the servants of the Lord should endeavor to compel them to come in. They excuse the sinner and even dare to teach that the rejection of Christ by the sinner is no sin at all.
Now, as in the sight of God, I do fear such men are guilty of the blood of souls. I would not stand in the position of a man who talks like that for all the stars thrice reckoned up in gold. I cannot understand that. I cannot understand that when my Master said, "Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for Him has God the Father sealed," that I am to tell a sinner to sit still. When the angel said, "Escape for your life. Look not behind you. Stay not in all the plain–but flee to the mountain, lest you are consumed," am I to go to Sodom and say to Lot, "Stop here till the Lord brings you out?" Why, we know for a face, that salvation is the Lord's work and the Lord's work alone.
But we equally know for a fact, that when the Lord works, He sets us to work. When He works in our soul, the Lord does not believe. He has nothing to believe, He makes us believe. When the Lord works repentance, He does not repent–what has He to repent of? He makes us repent. The Lord brought Lot out of Sodom, but did not Lot use his own legs to run to the mountain? And so it must be with us. Christ does all, but He makes us the instruments. He tells us to stretch out our own withered hand and yet we do not stretch forth that withered hand of ourselves. He tells us to do it and we do it through His strength.
Tell a sinner to sit still? What does Hell desire more than that?
Tell a sinner to wait–would not Satan approve of such a ministry?
And does he not approve of it? Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, he that loves his Master, he that loves the Gospel, he that loves men's souls cannot preach such untruthful and unchristian doctrine. He feels that the humanity within him is much more than grace within him, revolts against a thing so barbarous and so inhuman as that. No, when we preach to the sinner, we must say to him, "You know your need, you feel that you cannot be saved except through mercy in Christ. Look to Him, believe on Him, seek Him and you shall find
Him."
But I have heard it said, that if a sinner seeks Christ without Christ seeking Him he will perish. Now what an absurd thing for anybody to say. Because, did a sinner, or could a sinner ever seek
Christ without Christ seeking him? I never like to suppose an impossibility and then draw an inference from it. "Suppose," said one, I know of–"a sinner should come to Christ without Christ coming to him, he would be lost." Well, that is very clear, only it is supposing a thing that cannot happen. And what is the good of that?
Sometimes people have put to me this question–"Suppose a child of God should live in sin and die in sin, would he be saved?" The thing is impossible. If you suppose yourself into a difficulty, you must suppose yourself out of it. It is like the old supposition, "Suppose the moon were cream cheese, what would become of us on a dark night?" So, suppose a sinner should come to Christ without Christ coming to him, what could be the result? It is supposing an impossibility and then drawing an absurdity from it.
Christ said, "No man can come unto Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him." If a sinner comes, he is drawn, or he would not have come. It is mine, therefore, to exhort the sinner to come to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit's work to enforce the exhortation and draw the sinner to Christ.
Lastly, let me put this question, "Why do you look one upon another?" Why do you sit still? Fly to Christ and find mercy. Oh, says one, "I cannot get what I expect to have." But what do you expect? I believe some of our hearers expect to feel an electric shock, or something of that kind, before they are saved. The Gospel says simply, "Believe." That they will not understand. They think there is to be something so mysterious about it. They can't make out what it is. But they are going to wait for it and then believe.
Well, you will wait till doomsday. For if you do not believe this simple Gospel, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," God will not work signs and wonders to please your foolish desires.
Your position is this–you are a sinner, lost, ruined. You cannot help yourself. Scripture says, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." Your immediate business, your instantaneous duty is to cast yourself on that simple promise and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, that as He came into the world to save sinners, He has therefore come to save you. What you have to do with is that simple command–"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall he saved." Now take the sons of Jacob as your example. No sooner had their father told them what they had to do than the first thing they did was they went and fetched their empty sacks. Now do the same.
"What is the good of them?" You say, "there is no corn in them."
No I know there is not, still you must take your empty sacks and have them filled. Bring out your sins–bring out all the aggravation of your sins–cast them all at the feet of Christ and make your confession. There is no salvation in confession, but still you cannot have salvation without it. You must make a full and free confession of your sins. "What? To you, Sir?" I am extremely obliged to you. I would not hear your sins on any account. No sum of money would be sufficient compensation for the impurity that must accrue to any man who shall hear another's sins. I would not tell you mine–much less hear yours. No, make your confessions to God. Go to your closet. Shut your door. Then pull out your empty sacks–that is, make a full confession of your sins, Tell the Lord that you are a wretch undone without His Sovereign Grace.
When you have done that, you say, what next? Then cast away all hope you ever had or have, put away all trust in your good works and everything else. And what next? Cast yourself simply on this great Truth of God–that Jesus Christ came to save sinners–and you shall rise from your knees a happier man. Or if that is not the case, try it again and again and again and it shall not fail you. Prayer and faith were never lost. He who confessed his sins and sought the Savior never seeks in vain.
When I was first convicted of sin, yet a lad, I did go to God and I cried for mercy with all my might, but I did not find it. I do not think I knew what the Gospel was. For three years I persevered in that. And many a day, in every room of the house in which I lived, as each room became unoccupied, upon an occasion, have I spent hours in prayer, the tears rolling down my cheeks and straining myself in an agony of desire to find Christ and find salvation. But it never came. It was not until I heard that simple doctrine, "Look unto me and be you saved," I then found that my prayers were a kind of righteousness of my own–that I was relying on them–and consequently was on the wrong road.
Then did the Holy Spirit enable me to look to Christ hanging on the Cross. I did not give up my prayers, but I did put the Lord
Jesus, the object of my faith, far above all prayers. And then when I had looked to Him hanging, dying, bleeding, my soul rejoiced and I fell upon my knees no more to cry with agony, but to exclaim with delight, "Lord, I believe. Help You my unbelief." But if in that day, instead of simply looking to Christ, I had said, "No, Lord, I will not wash in Jordan and be clean. I will wait till Elijah comes out and strikes the leper with his hand. I will not look to the brazen serpent.
That is legal preaching, that is Arminian doctrine. I will wait till the serpent knocks right against my eyes," it would have never come.
But having looked simply to Christ, I cast all my other trusts away. And how my soul rejoices in the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free. So shall it be with you. The Gospel is this day freely preached to you. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from Heaven, was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate–and was crucified for sin. Turn now your eyes to yonder Cross. Behold a God dying. Behold the Infinite hanging on the tree in pain. Those sufferings must save you–will you rely upon them? Without any other trust, shall the Cross be the unbuttressed pillar of your hope? It so, you are saved. The moment you believe in Jesus, the Redeemer, you are saved–your sins are forgiven. God has accepted you as His child. You are in a state of Grace. You are passed from death unto life. Not only are you not condemned but you never shall be. There is for you a crown, a harp, a mansion, in the realms of the glorified. Oh that God may help you now to go down into Egypt for heavenly corn and may you return with your sacks full to the brim!
In conclusion, I make this last remark–Did you notice the argument Jacob used why the sons should go to Egypt? It was this–"That we may live and not die." Sinner, this is my argument with you this morning. My dear Hearers, the Gospel of Christ is a matter of life and death with you. It is not a matter of little importance, but of all importance. There is an alternative before you. You will either be eternally damned, or everlastingly saved.
Despise Christ and neglect His great salvation and you will be lost, as sure as you live. Believe in Christ–put your trust alone in Him and everlasting life is yours. What argument can be more potent than this to men that love themselves? Are you prepared for everlasting burnings? Friend, are you ready to make your bed in Hell and to be lost? If so, reject Christ. But if you desire to be blessed forever, to be accepted of God in the tremendous Day of Judgment and to be crowned by Him in the day of the reward, I beseech you, hear again the Gospel and obey it. "He that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is baptized, shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned." For this is the Gospel. It is yet again preached to you and this is its solitary mandate–"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." O Lord, help us now to believe, if we have not believed before, for Jesus' sake!
Ge 42:1 • A Discourse to the Despairing
ERMON 2379
A Discourse To The Despairing
"Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look, one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get down there, and buy for us there; that we may live, and not die."
Genesis 42:1, 2
JACOB had reached an age in which natural vigor had gone out of him. He was getting very old and was worn and weary, yet here he seems to lead the way in providing for his family. It was he who spoke to the younger men, his sons, and urged them to go down into Egypt to buy food. Jacob was of a timorous disposition in his latter days–he had an old man's fear of that which is high and the grasshopper had become a burden to him–yet he proposed to his sons that they should make a venturesome journey into Egypt! It was a great undertaking for them, for they were stay-at-homes, and not travelers. They were shepherds, whose time was occupied in looking after the welfare of their flocks, and not in roaming over foreign countries. They thought it would be a burdensome responsibility and a perilous risk to cross the desert and go down into Egypt, yet Jacob proposed this to them as the only way of escape from famine and death. Here is an instance in which an aged father woke up his sons to action by telling them good news and by chiding them because of their despairing looks and words.
I am going to use the passage in this way. There are many persons who are sitting down in a kind of stupor. They have no hope and, therefore, they are doing nothing at all. They need to be told the good and blessed tidings concerning salvation and to be urged to make a right use of that news and to avail themselves of the provision of which they are informed. I shall give myself, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, to the happy task of following out that line of thought under these three heads. First, despair is useless. "Why do you look, one upon another?" Secondly, hope is well-grounded.
"I have heard that there is corn in Egypt." Thirdly, action is reasonable. "Get you down there, and buy for us there; that we may live, and not die."
First, DESPAIR IS USELESS.
I have never heard, yet, of anybody who derived any good from despair. Let me correct myself, there is a kind of despair which is the work of the Spirit of God. I wish that you all felt it–a despair of self-salvation, a despair of washing away your own sin, despair of obtaining any merit of your own by which you can become acceptable in the sight of God–but men never come to it unless the Spirit of God brings them. We are always ready to hope in ourselves with that self-conceited hope which is abhorrent to God.
And it is a great mercy when, at last, the Spirit of God, like the hot blast of the Sirocco, passes over the green field and every flower therein is withered! What said the Prophet? "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness, thereof, is as the flower of the field: the grass withers, the flower fades: because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the people is grass." That is a blessed kind of despair! But of any other sort of despair, in reference to eternal things, I cannot say anything that is good. I believe that Giant
Despair has his dungeons full of the skeletons of men–he is a giant and devours those who come in his way–and he never helped a pilgrim on the road to the Celestial City. He never worked any good to any soul that came under his power. I cannot set you free from his grasp, but I can and do pray that the Spirit of God may deliver you out of his clutches!
These sons of Jacob looked upon one another despairingly, it seems, and their old father watched their looks till, at last, he asked them, "Why do you look, one upon another?" Their looks expressed great sadness. They had never before been in such a plight. No corn for the asses, no bread for the children, no food for themselves. Not one of them smiled, but grim sadness sat on every countenance, and all their faces gathered blackness. One looked at his brother and saw that he was sad. And that brother looked at the next one and perceived that he was mournful and gloomy. The light of a man's countenance is often like the shining of the sun–one bright face will make another full of joy and gladness–but when all the sons of Jacob were sad, their sadness was increased as they looked, one upon another. Now, when a man knows that he has no hope. When he feels that he cannot save himself. When he hungers for the Bread of Life and yet has none of it–when he looks to others who are in same case, and they only reply, "It is even so. We are also starving. We are lost"–well, then, it is a sad, sad business altogether.
Next, their faces expressed inability. Judah looked on Reuben and Reuben stared back at his brother, as much as to say, "Do not gaze at me, Judah, for I cannot do anything! I have emptied my last sack of corn." Then Reuben looked across to Simeon and Simeon turned to Zebulon–and they all shook their heads and each one said–"It is no use looking to me. I cannot relieve you in this time of famine, even in the slightest degree. I have more than I can do to take care of my own wife and children." So is it when one sinner looks upon another sinner. If really awakened to a true sense of his condition in the sight of God, each one says, "I cannot help you. I cannot even help myself." There are a number of foolish virgins with their lamps all gone out, and they have not a drop of oil between them and, therefore, not one of them can help another. So, sadness and inability are both implied in old Jacob's question to his sons, "Why do you look, one upon another?"
Besides that, I have no doubt that there was a great degree of bewilderment expressed on their countenances. One asked his brother, "Cannot you suggest anything?" "No," replied the other, "I am at my wits' end. I never was so puzzled before." "But, surely, So-and-So, the one member of the family who has always been so quick with his suggestions, will have something to say in this crisis." No, not one of them had anything that he could contribute towards the hopefulness of the outlook. Sad, indeed, was the household in which all the brothers seemed, each one, more bewildered than the rest! So, if I were to gather, here, a company of men, awakened to a sense of their true condition as sinners, but not yet led to faith in Christ, and if I were to ask them, "What is to be done to deliver you from this sad state?" they would, in utter bewilderment, look first at me, and then at one another, and sadly say, "What can we do?" One of them might even cry, with John
Newton–
"The help of men and angels joined
Could never reach my case" and in his perplexity he might forget to quote the two lines that follow–
"Nor can I hope relief to find
But in Your boundless Grace."
Such a man might say, "If all in this world who love me were to conspire together to assist me out of the deep pit of sin into which I have fallen, they could not lift me a single inch!"
Bewilderment, then, was upon the faces of the 12 sons of Jacob.
Their looks also expressed apprehension. As they looked on each other, their faces wan, their persons gaunt, each one seemed to say to his brother, "I dare not tell you what I think." And the other would reply, "I knew what you meant before the dreadful words came from your lips, for what can this long famine bring but absolute starvation? We shall see our poor old father die, or, perhaps, we shall, ourselves, perish, and all our children with us before the old man passes away. Anyway, we are doomed. We cannot eat the grass. We cannot devour what the birds of Heaven might live upon–there is nothing for us to do but to die. There is no corn in the land. There is universal famine–grim death will soon overtake us." So they looked at one another every day with more and more of anxious foreboding, for the famine was in the land of Canaan as well as in all the other parts of the earth.
But, dear Friends, what good did their sad looks and their perplexed looks do? They did not make one mess of pottage for any of them! They did not grind for them even a single grain of corn!
They were as bad off after all their despair as they were before it– their waiting was absolutely useless–no improvement in their condition came of it! And addressing you, my despairing friend, to whom I am sent tonight, I do not think that I ever saw you before, but you are here, and I am sent to speak thus to you! You have believed that there was no hope for you. You did not think that you could be saved and you have been, now, for years in that sad condition! What is the use of it to you? What is the good of all your despair? It has not improved you in the least! It has not even kept you back from sin. It has just made you sit in you. God help you to shake yourself clear of it even now! There is a lie at the bottom of your despair–there is hope–there is hope for the very chief of sinners! Do not believe what Satan tells you, that you must sit still and die.
The waiting time of the sons of Jacob was wasting time. If they had started earlier, they might have reached Egypt and, perhaps, have been back, again, with the corn which they had bought. But now the weary hours which brought them no hope were depriving them of the possibility of deliverance. So, dear Hearers, you have waited because you did not think that there was a possibility of your being saved–and all this waiting time has been wasted! Would God that you had been converted when you were a boy! Would God that you had known my Lord when you were a young man and started out in business! Oh, that you had known Him even in middle life! But now you are growing gray. Surely, the time past suffices to have been wasted. May God help you to begin, tonight, to obtain that heavenly bread, that true corn upon which your soul may feed!
These sons of Jacob had waited so long that if they delayed much longer, they could never go, for they would all be dead. Did not their old father hint at that when he said to them, "Get you down there, and buy for us there; that we may live, and not die"? Death seemed waiting for them outside the door and if bread did not soon come in, they would all have to be carried out as corpses. So, Sinner, you have waited long enough, and far too long! You have tarried so long that if you wait much longer, the great knell of your soul will toll out with that most dismal sound, "Lost, lost, lost, and lost forever!" God grant that this may not come to pass, but may the Word of the Lord, which I am declaring in my Master's name, lead you to another course of action than that of sitting still and looking, one upon another! I repeat what I said before, despair is useless! I think that you who have tried it are quite convinced that it is so–you cannot squeeze any juice out of this flint! You can dig nothing that will help you out of this barren soil!
II. But now, secondly, HOPE, as we preach it to the very chief of sinners, IS WELL-GROUNDED.
In the story before us, old Jacob said to his sons, "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt." Good news had been heard. Did you notice that the first verse put it rather differently–"Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt"? There is a good old proverb, quaint but true, "Faith sees with its ears." It is a new use for ears, according to some people's notions. My own opinion is that there is no organ that we have with which we can see so well as we can with our ears if we use them aright. In spiritual things, "faith comes by hearing," and that faith becomes the sight of things hoped for! Good old Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt and he heard that there was corn in Egypt. That is to say, he heard it upon such good evidence that the old gentleman seemed to see it! He had questioned some passing travelers, some Ishmaelites, some wandering Bedouins, who had answered him, "Oh, yes, there is corn in Egypt! We have been down there–we have bought sacks full of it! We have brought it away with us. We know it is so, for here it is." And Jacob, though yet very timorous, weighed the evidence, and judged all about the matter, and he said to himself, "Oh, yes! It is quite clear, I see that there is corn in Egypt."
Well now, dear Friends, the most of you now present and, I should think, all of you who have come through the rain this wet night, have heard this good news! "Heard it?" you say, "we have heard it times out of mind." I wonder how many times you have heard it? It would be worthwhile to sit down and figure away, to see if you could calculate how many times you have heard the Gospel. You know, when a boy has a father who is what a father ought to be, he says to him, "Do not let me have to speak to you twice, Sir." If he does speak to him twice, he says, "Do you think I am going to speak to you three times? Listen, I shall not stop at speaking if you do not listen pretty soon!" Would you kindly set down on a sheet of paper, not perhaps on a slate, for you might wipe it off, there–write down how many times God has spoken to you, distinctly, in the preaching of the Word? I will not ask you to reckon up how many times He has spoken to you in private, on your bed and so on. Some of you have heard thousands of sermons, but they have done you no good. I am afraid that you are like
Bunyan's Slough of Despond. Many thousands of tons of the best road making material had been poured into that slough and it took it all in–and it was as bad a slough as ever! And is it not so with some of you?
I get astonished at some of you people who come and hear me whenever you can. I am not going to look at the particular persons to whom I refer, but it does astonish me when I know that there are those who have come here for years, and yet are as bare of religion as the palm of my hand is of hair! If you ask the wife or children about them, you will find that though they say, "we enjoy Mr.
Spurgeon's ministry," yet they enjoy the drink rather more on certain other days! They would not miss a sermon! Yes, and they will even come to Prayer Meetings and enjoy Prayer Meetings. But still, ah me! Well, I will not say all that I know. May God have mercy upon such people! But what am I to do? Am I to keep on preaching to people like that? Am I to go on perpetually washing
Blackamoors who will never be a bit the whiter? God have mercy upon you and upon me, too, and grant that I may not labor in vain towards you, lest in the end your guilt should be increased by the rejection of His Truth!
The good news has been heard by all of you. Whatever may be the destiny of the heathen, they can, at the last, say, "We never heard of Christ. We were never bid to come and put our trust in Him. We never knew the story of the Cross and all the love of God in Christ Jesus." You cannot say that, but you will have to confess, some of you, in that Great Day, that you closed your ears to it all and would have none of it. The Lord prevent it, by His mercy!
Well, the good news has been heard, dear Friends, and, by many of us, the good news has been believed. I believe with Jacob that there is corn in Egypt, that is to say, I believe that there is salvation in Christ Jesus, that it has, "pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." There are many here who believe that Truth of God with me. There are myriads, all over the world, who believe this and who have seen it for themselves–there is pardon for sin!
There is renewal of nature! There is every blessing that is needed, stored up in Jesus Christ! The good news has been heard and the good news has been believed! If I were to ask you to stand up and give your testimony after the manner of the Salvation Army, very many here would do so, each one saying, "I believe it. It is even so.
I have proved it to be true."
Further, the good news conveyed to you is to the point. Suppose that Jacob had said to his sons, "I believe that there is gold in Egypt," they might have asked him, "What has that to do with us?"
Suppose he had said, "I believe that there is fine linen in Egypt."
They did not need fine linen. Suppose he had said, "I believe that there are chariots in Egypt, and horses," for there were such in abundance. Solomon was known, in later days, to bring them out of Egypt. Yet Jacob's sons would have said, "Dear Father, we do not need horses. We do not want chariots. What we need is bread, for we are dying, or soon shall die, of hunger." Well now, my dear
Hearers, there is, in Christ Jesus, exactly what you need! If you are guilty, there is pardon! If you are weak, there is strength! If you are foul, there is cleansing! If you are naked, there is clothing! If you are dead, there is life! In fact, there is, in Christ, all that you can possibly need! Christ is as much fitted for you as a glove is for a hand and He is exactly fitted for you, Mary, Thomas, or whoever you are–even as when I came to Him, I found Him to be exactly fitted for me! He is the very Savior for such a sinner as you!
Well now, this is good news concerning an available blessing.
Supposing Jacob had said, "Dear sons, there is plenty of corn in Egypt, but you cannot have any of it. If you go down there, they will not sell any corn to you." Now, we who believe in the Doctrine of Election are supposed to say to some men, "It is of no use for you to believe–you will not have the blessing." I never said–I never thought such a thing–nor did any other preacher of the Doctrine of Election! We have freely declared to every man that whoever believes in Christ Jesus has everlasting life! And though we believe that God knows who will have it, even as God knew who would go down into Egypt, yet that does not in the least affect the freeness of the preaching of the Gospel! Let those who hear us bear witness to the fact. There was never a man, or woman, or child, yet, who applied to God through Jesus Christ for mercy, who was refused.
"Him that comes to Me," says Christ, "I will in no wise cast out." If you believe, you live. If you believe, you are saved. We have eternal life when we come and trust in Jesus. Believe and receive it at the hands of Christ. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." Let that bell ring round the Tabernacle! "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." If you believe, eternal life is yours.
So, this good news is concerning an available blessing.
And, once more, this good news is in the present tense. Jacob did not say to his sons, "There was corn in Egypt," but, "I have heard that there is corn in Egypt." So say I to you–"There is salvation.
There is forgiveness. There is acceptance, there is reconciliation– there is eternal life!" There is, in Christ Jesus, all that is necessary to lift a soul from the portals of Hell to the gates of Heaven! There is now, on this 15 th day of the month of July, 1888–there is corn in Egypt,there is eternal life for all who trust in Jesus– "There is life for a look at the Crucified One!
There is life at this moment for you!"
I do not know how to preach more plainly and simply to you. The last thing that crosses my mind is to try and make"a fine discourse." All I want to do is to talk right to your hearts about the way to Heaven–and not to let you go until you have come to Jesus and have trusted in Him.
So I have set before you two things, first, that despair is useless, and, next, that there is a hope which is well grounded. There is nothing more certain in this world than that whoever believes in Christ shall be saved. I wish that you would all come and try, and see for yourselves, for we have not preached to you cunninglydevised fables, but the most sure Word of God, which we have tasted and handled for ourselves!
III. So I shall close with my third division–ACTION IS REASONABLE.
O my dear despairing Hearer, I say again that I do not know who you may be, but I know that I am sent to you, tonight, with a message! I wish that I knew you, so that I could take you by the hand and have you here on this very platform, and look into your eyes with my eyes. But as I cannot do that, I will speak to you as if I were doing it.
It was time that these men should go at once to Egypt, for they would die if they did not go. They could but die if they went to Egypt–if they were met by robbers on the road, and killed, they could but die. This is your case. Without Christ, you must eternally die–there is no hope for you. Remain as you are and you are damned. No, I soften not the word, for it is no light sentence which the word conveys. If you do not find Christ, you are lost forever!
Say, then, as we have often sung–
"I can but perish if I go;
I am resolved to try!
For if I stay away,
I know I must forever die."
I will here bring up Giant Despair if I can, in the rear, that he may howl a little at you, and set your feet in motion. There is no hope for you unless you go to the Savior, even to Jesus Christ. You must die if you do not go to Him.
It was very reasonable that Jacob's sons should go down to Egypt, for evidently others had gone there and had found corn. O man, would to God that you would repent and leave your sins, and come to Christ, for others have done so, and they have found eternal life!
There never was, there never will be, there cannot be one who ever obeyed the Gospel call and yet was disappointed! I challenge the depths of Hades and the deep abyss of Hell, itself, to display a single soul that truly sought the Lord and was refused! No, if you come to Him by Jesus Christ, He must receive you. Therefore, you who feel your need of Christ, I beseech you to awaken yourselves and seek Him now!
Further, these sons of Jacob got what they went for. They went to buy corn, and corn they bought, and plenty of it. And you may fare better than they did. It is not half such a task for you to go to Jesus as it was for them to go to Egypt. You can get to Christ in the twinkling of an eye! Behold, He comes flying to your relief. One look of faith and you are at His feet! Trust is the great railway that will bear you to the blessed terminal of salvation!
The sons of Jacob found in Egypt what they went for and they found it on better terms than they supposed. Jacob said, "Buy for us there," but they had their money put back in the mouth of their sacks! Joseph did not want their money–he would not sell anything to his own brothers, he would give them whatever they needed!
The Lord Jesus Christ does not need your money. He does not even need your repentance and your faith as the purchase-price of salvation. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." It is a free gift to you who are poor as beggary itself. Do but come and you shall find how free are the gifts of Sovereign Grace!
And, in addition, Jacob's sons gained a great deal more than they bargained for, for while they brought corn home, they found that there was a great man in Egypt who was their brother–and they were invited to go and stay with him and they were made great men in that land! Oh, if you will but come to Christ, you will come for silver, but you will get gold! You will come for gold and He will give you diamonds! You will come for a rag and He will give you a royal robe! You will come to Him for life and He will give you everlasting glory! He gives infinitely more than any of us dare to ask, or even think–and happy is that man who does but come to Him! Oh, if you had any idea of what Christ will make of you, you would want wings to your heels to fly to Him with all your might!
If that young woman did but know what joy the love of Christ would pour into her heart, she would not wait till tomorrow's sun had risen ere she had laid hold of Jesus Christ! When we come to Christ, there is a destiny before us which an angel's future does not rival! We become brothers of Christ, heirs of God, peers of the blood imperial, exalted to sit with Christ upon His heavenly Throne and to share in all His joys! Would God that you would come! If you did but know what is to be had by trusting in Jesus, how swiftly you would be drawn to Him!– "His worth, if all the nations knew for Sure, the whole world would love Him, too," and if they did but know what He gives, they would hold out both hands and take from Him, now, all that He delights to I have finished my discourse to the despairing when I have made just two or three concluding remarks.
These sons of Jacob went down into Egypt and they did well.
Right reasoning led them to go when they heard that there was corn there and knew that they needed it. But they were never invited to go there. Joseph did not send an invitation to Jacob, Reuben, Judah and Simeon, saying, "Come down into Egypt." Up to the moment when he revealed himself, they did not know that he was there.
They were never invited and yet they went. Is there anybody here who says, "I do not think I am invited in the Bible to trust Christ"?
Then come to Him whether you are invited or not! Do as these men did–they were not invited, but they went! The feasts of God are of this kind, "Whoever will, let him come." There are no tickets demanded at God's gate of mercy. If you come, you would not have come if He had not drawn you, for no man can come to Christ unless the Father, who sent His Son, draws him, and, "Him that comes to Me," says Christ, "I will in no wise cast out." You are the right man if you but come, for the wrong man never came, never can come and never thinks of coming! You are the man to be saved if you but trust Christ!
But I must remind you that there are many of you who have been invited, pressed, urged, entreated with tears to come to Christ. I will not say anything about the many times that I have tried to press those things upon you, for I feel my feebleness, and, if you refuse me, I do not wonder. But still, if I knew how to put eternal things before you better than I do, how earnestly would I labor for the salvation of your souls! Sometimes, when I am at home, I say to myself, "That is it. I think I see, now, how to put the Truth of God to the people." But when I get here, I do not feel that I can speak as I desire. What more is a man to say than to tell you that you are in danger, that you will perish if you despair of hope, that there is good ground for hope and, that if you come to your God, trusting in Jesus as your Savior, He will never cast you away? Therefore, come, and come at once! Come even now, while sitting in those pews! What more can I say? Spirit of God, You say whatever more is needed and make what is said to go home to the hearts of the hearers!
Now, note again, that you are in a better state than the sons of Jacob, for you are invited, and next, you have no journey to make.
How far is it to Christ? Well, there is no distance! If you believe, He is there. Our railway people, as a rule, in making railways to a certain town, do not make the railway to the town, but within a half-mile, or a mile, or two miles, so that you must have an omnibus or a cab to get into the town. And there is far too much
Gospel preaching that is like that. It is so far before you get to Christ and when you do get to Him, it needs another journey in your own omnibus to finish up the work!
But I believe that the railway to Heaven for you starts just there, in that pew where you are sitting, and that it goes all the way, and that if you enter the glorious Free-Grace train, it will carry you to the terminal! And if you take a ticket, tonight, with a simple trust in the Lord Jesus, you will not need any new ticket, but it will take you all the way through! Oh, I would to God that by faith you would take that ticket right now! There is a journey to get to Heaven, but there is no journey to get to Christ, for He is here! You need a Mediator between your souls and God, but you do not need a Mediator between your souls and Christ! You must be prepared to see God in Heaven, but you need not be prepared to see Christ on earth! You may come to Him just as you are! Here He is, look at Him by faith and the great transaction is done!
Last of all, you are informed, as these sons of Jacob were not informed, that no payment is required. Jacob said to his sons, "Take money in your hand," and when they went the next time, he said, "Take double money in your hand." That was very honest on his part, to send money to make up for what had been put back in the sacks, as well as the double price, for the wheat would have risen since the last time, and old Jacob also said, "Take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds." That is just what human nature says, "Take Christ a present. Carry something with you." Now, I would advise you to drop that present into the sea! Do not take anything with you to Christ except your emptiness. That is all He wants–take your emptiness, and He will fill it! Take your sin, and He will wash it away!
When persons advertise that they clean garments–(you see their notices everywhere, nowadays, a wonderful trade it must be)–do they expect that when you send a coat to be cleaned, you are to put a guinea in the pocket? Oh, dear no! You send the garment to be cleaned–you will have to pay for the work, one of these days, but you need not put sovereigns in the pocket! Just take your soul to Christ to be cleansed, with nothing but the spot, and the stain, and the filth–and He will make it whiter than the driven snow!
The Holy Spirit's message is, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Tarry not to cleanse or mend, but come to Christ just as you are and come at once! Sons of Jacob, starving for need of heavenly food, look no longer, one upon another, but up and away to the Christ who has a superabundance of everything you need! Freely He invites you–gladly go to Him! Spirit of God, compel them to do so, by Your sweet love, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"– 531, 375, 435.
Ge 42:6 • Rough, But Friendly
ERMON 3379
Rough, But Friendly
"Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way: and thus did he unto them."
Genesis 42:25
AN immense number of persons came down into Egypt from all parts of the world to buy corn. Many of these Joseph never saw.
Many others came into his presence. I do not find that of all who came, he treated any of them roughly, except his own brothers.
"Strange!" you will say, and if you did not know the sequel of the story, it would not only seem strange, but cruel. You would not know how to account for such a thing.
Very like this is the manner of God's Providence. There are thousands of people living in this world, with all of whom God deals according to wisdom. We all bear trouble in a measure, for, "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upwards."Some have more troubles than others and these often happen to be those who are dearest to the Lord. If any man escapes the rod, the true-born children of the royal family of Heaven never can! Some may sin and prosper, but the righteous, if they sin, suffer. The ungodly are permitted to fatten like sheep for the slaughter, to have no bands even in their death. Their strength is firm, they are not in trouble, as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. But as for God's people, the waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Through much tribulation they inherit the Kingdom. To them is a special promise which is sure to be fulfilled–"In the world you shall have tribulation." Now, if we did not know the end of the Lord and His great design in thus dealing with His people, it would seem to be a strange, inexplicable mystery that the best beloved should be the most afflicted and that the Brothers and Sisters of the reigning Savior should be those whom He treats most roughly.
Others take their sacks of corn and go–these, 'tis true, shall have their sacks filled and more–but they shall not go until first there have been some rough passages of arms between them and the Brother, who, though he loves them so well, speaks so shortly to them!
Laying it down, then, as a rule, that God's servants will be dealt roughly with by their Master, that the Brothers and Sisters of Christ must accept it, I shall now proceed to offer a few thoughts, which, perhaps, may be comfortable to those of God's people who are in trouble. From the text and its surroundings, I gather this Truth of
God–
WHEN THE LORD IS ABOUT TO GIVE GREAT FAVORS, HE
OFTEN DEALS ROUGHLY WITH THOSE WHO ARE TO
RECEIVE THEM.
Joseph intends to bless his brothers. He has the most liberal of the royal designs towards them, but he first deals roughly with them.
Before the Lord Jesus Christ shall come to give His Church her last and most transcendent blessing in His millennial reign of splendor, there are vials that are to be poured out. There will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be the shaking of Heaven and earth– great distress, famine, pestilences and earthquakes. The greater the blessing, the greater the trial that shall precede it! So, too, with our own souls. When the Lord Jesus Christ intended to save us and to give us a sense of pardon of our sins, He began by convincing us of our iniquity. He dealt heavy blows at our selfrighteousness. He laid us in the dust and seemed to roll us in the mire. It seemed as though
He delighted to tread upon us and to crush our every hope and destroy every fond expectation! It was all to wean us from selfrighteousness, to pull us up by the roots, to prevent our growing and taking fast hold on the earth, to compel us to rest in His blood and righteousness and to seek our soul's life entirely from Him!
That great blessing of salvation was, with the most of us, at any rate, preceded by thick clouds and tempests! We were convinced of sin, of self-righteousness, of judgment to come, and our heart trembled! And afterwards, when He had dealt roughly with us, He said, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you: go in peace." It seems, then, our experience is general and common, that the love letters of our Lord Christ have come to us in black envelopes and there has generally been a thunderstorm preceding a shower of special mercy! The clear shinings have been after the rain. The flood tide has come in most gloriously, but there has first been an ebb. It has always been so with us till now. I think experienced Christians begin to dread their joy and to expect blessings from their sorrows. When things apparently go bad, they know they really go well, and when things apparently go well, we are very apt to fear and tremble for all the good which God makes to pass before us and fear, lest in the dead calm, there may lurk some mischief to our souls.
Why does the Lord deal roughly with His servants when He means to bless them? Is it not to keep them sober? Highspiritual joys have about them an intoxicating element to our poor nature.
"Lest I should be exalted above measure," said the Apostle, "there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me." Sometimes the trial comes before the mercy, sometimes with the mercy, sometimes after the mercy–but a trial and a high degree of spiritual joy are usually wedded together so that when you get the one–you may look out of the window for the other. 'Tis to keep us sober. Here is a brisk gale of spiritual influence upon our fluttering sail. What then? And why? Our poor boat would soon be upset, but God ballasts us with a weight of affliction, so that the vessel may keep steady amidst the waves. Master Brookes gives us a simile in which he shows us the danger there is even in the best and most spiritual enjoyments–he says, "Suppose a man loved his wife so very dearly and gave her so many rings, jewels and earrings, that she prized these and wore them till she began, byand-by, to dote upon her ornaments and to forget her husband? You could not blame him if he took these away because he wants her love for himself, not for his gifts." Now, instead of taking away these things, which it would be necessary for Him to do in order to keep us from spiritual ruin, the Lord is pleased to checker our lives.
There are the bright stripes, or evidences of Grace, and then there are the black squares of our troubles and afflictions. In that way an equilibrium is kept up–we are balanced–we do not grow top-heavy.
And we are enabled to walk safely in the ways of the Lord. That is one reason He speaks roughly and deals graciously, to keep us sober.
Is it not likewise, to keep us humble? When a child of God gets one inch above the ground in his own esteem, he getsan inch too high! Whenever the man of God says, "I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing," he is very close to spiritual bankruptcy! None are so rich in Grace as those who pine for more.
None are so near to fullness as those who mourn their emptiness– the men who find their fullness not in themselves, but in Christ
Jesus the Lord! Brothers and Sisters, those 10 sons of Jacob must have felt their importance evaporate when Joseph put them in prison. Here they were "true men," as they said, "the sons of one man," but no respect is paid to the Patriarch or to their patriarchal descent. They are put in prison as if they were common spies whose fate is generally the most ignoble. Now they begin to think of themselves in a very different light from that in which they did when they set out with their money in their hands to pay for their corn and have their money's worth. They were gentlemen, merchant traders when they entered Egypt, but after awhile they seemed like beggars in their own esteem and better still, they begin to remember their faults! They call to remembrance that they were verily guilty concerning their brother. And the Lord never intends us to ride the high horse in thinking large things of ourselves. One thing I have always noticed as an observer, that whenever any man of God begins to get great, God always makes him smart. I think I have never seen a Brother prospering in the ministry, or anywhere else, who began to be too large for association with his brethren, too good and too holy, perhaps, even to meet with common