This message is one of the Times Square
Pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing to World
Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771
or calling 214-963-8626.
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Little, little too strong.
Go with me to Acts chapter 7, and
I'm just going to read a verse of
scripture there, and then I want you to
go to Genesis, but we'll go to Acts
chapter 7 first of all.
And while you're doing that, let me share
something with you before I share something with
you.
You know, I was praying yesterday, and the
Lord just blessed me, and I started laughing
and praising the Lord, and out of it
came the seed for another message that I'm
not going to preach to you tonight, but
you know what came to me?
What came to me in these three words,
it don't matter.
And I'm going to preach to you in
a week or so a message called It
Don't Matter.
You know what I was thinking about?
You know, whether the stock market goes up
or down, it don't matter.
Saturday is October 15th, and that may not
mean anything to you, but it means something
to me.
I'll tell you why, because most of you
took care of your taxes on April the
15th.
I wasn't ready.
I had a piece of information that wasn't
ready, so my accountant got me an extension
for three months to July 15th.
On July 15th, he wasn't ready.
Three months from that, he got another extension,
and that extension is up October 15th, and
so I called him.
I said, look, you know, he said, don't
worry.
You don't have to pay anything.
Everything is all right.
Well, I found out he was wrong.
I got it in the mail on Monday,
and he was wrong, but I want to
tell you, it don't matter.
It doesn't matter.
You know, if Bush or Dukakis win, it
don't matter, and if the Mets aren't in
the World Series, it don't matter.
You know why?
Because this, I'm not going to change, because
Jesus never changes.
Hallelujah.
It don't matter, because he always remains the
same.
Hallelujah.
Now, I wish I could preach that tonight,
but I can't.
I can't, but it don't matter.
I got another one.
Acts chapter 7, verse 13.
There's one verse here.
It says, And on the second visit, Joseph
made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's
family was disclosed to Pharaoh.
On the second visit, Joseph made himself known
to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed
to Pharaoh as well.
Now, go with me to Genesis chapter 45,
and then just keep your Bible open there
to a few of these chapters.
We're going to talk about Joseph tonight, and
I'm going to talk to you tonight about
coming to Christ the second time, or coming
to Christ again, or coming to Jesus the
second time, based upon this story of Joseph
and his brothers.
It says, Is
my father still alive?
But his brothers could not answer him, for
they were dismayed at his presence, or in
his presence.
They were shocked, to say the least.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, Please, please
come closer to me.
Look at my face.
Look at me.
And they came closer, and he said, I
am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into
Egypt.
And then verses 14 and 15, it says,
Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck
and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck,
and he kissed all his brothers and wept
on them, and afterwards his brothers talked with
him.
Again, the account in Acts 7.13 says,
And on the second visit Joseph made himself
known to his brothers.
Now, just as that happened, just as Joseph's
brothers did not know him on their first
visit, and we'll look at that, so many
today who come to Christ never get to
know him the first time.
Those of you that now know Jesus, I
mean, you really know him.
You truly know him.
Some of you now also know that the
first time that you came to Jesus, you
thought you knew him, but you really didn't.
You really didn't know him.
Either you were ignorant, you didn't know the
terms, you didn't know the conditions, you didn't
know the commitment that was involved, including repentance
of sin and renouncing of your sins.
And as a result, you have to now
admit, I was not saved, although I thought
I was.
Now, another reason that you may have never
known Jesus the first time is that you
didn't hear the true gospel.
You were told to, quote-unquote, accept Jesus.
You were told to do this, or you
were told to do that, or you went
through catechism, or you went through baptism, or
you went through other things, but you really
didn't know him, or if you went to
an altar, you didn't know who or what
you were accepting.
It was because the bugle produced an uncertain
sound, and some go for years like that.
Now, some of you will understand what I'm
going to say, and others of you won't.
If you have been in a church all
of your life, especially if you were raised
in it, and let's say that you were
in a Baptist church, or you were in
a Methodist, or Episcopalian, or Catholic church, and
all of your life you grew up in
it, but never knew Jesus, and finally your
eyes were opened some way out of the
hunger of your heart, or you were challenged.
Somehow you found Jesus, and you came out
of that, and you realized how you were
cheated.
And a lot of you, you have no
respect whatsoever for your church now because of
that.
Now, some of you may not understand that
when you hear some people talk about this
church or that church, and they have no
respect for it whatsoever because maybe you did
find the Lord there.
But many people didn't.
My wife was raised in a church, and
she got saved in it in spite of
the church.
Probably one of the few in the history
that got saved in it, and I'll not
name it lest there be any Methodists here
tonight, but all her life she was raised
in the church.
Finally got saved there when a visiting team
came along and presented the gospel.
And she sat there and said, What's this?
And some of you know what I'm talking
about.
You've gone to churches where, as someone has
said, they give you sermonettes for Christianettes.
And I've heard some of you tell that.
You say, I was in the church for
years, but I was never saved.
That's tragic, my friend.
That's tragic to be in the church and
to be cheated like that.
Someone said, someone else said, that it's useless
to advertise the banquet if there's nothing to
eat.
Now, our scripture tells us that it was
not until the second visit to Joseph, it
was the second altar call that he gave,
you might say, that he made himself known
to his brothers.
And oh, what a wonderful and glorious encounter
it was, as we shall see.
But sadly, it did not happen on the
first visit.
They spent time in Joseph's presence.
They were in his house.
They even went away with a few blessings,
but they did not know Joseph.
And he could not and he would not
reveal himself to them as much as he
wanted to.
And you see, Joseph is a type of
Christ.
And his brothers are a type of the
church, or it's a type of the sinner
or the seeker that's coming to him.
And you see, there are times when we
do not know him, even though he is
trying to speak to us.
And even though we may have bowed down
before him with some cry or petition.
And oh, the tragedy of being in the
presence of Jesus and like Joseph's brothers, not
recognizing him for who he is.
But thank God tonight that we can know
him, truly know him.
It's encouraging to know that it's possible at
the second visit that Jesus will make himself
known to us as Joseph did to his
brothers.
Now, some of you may say, but Brother
Pastor Dunn, I've come to Jesus umpteen times
and I don't know him or I didn't
know him.
Is it possible to come again and again
and not know Jesus?
Well, the answer to that is no.
We really don't come umpteen times to Jesus
because all the umpteen times really count as
the first time.
The other comings when you don't know Jesus
all have to be put into the same
category.
And this is the heart of my message
tonight.
If you sought to know Jesus and to
walk in righteousness and obedience and in truth
and it hasn't happened, then there is a
second visit.
There is another visit that you can have
to Jesus tonight and you can know him,
hallelujah.
All other comings to Christ without success have
to be put in the same category or
failure.
It's a failure to understand the true gospel
and how it is that Jesus will and
wants to disclose himself to you so that
you can really know him, really love him
and really serve him.
There were some reasons why Joseph could not
and would not reveal himself to his brothers
even though his heart ached to do so
and one occasion he had to excuse himself
and he went out and he wept.
But it wasn't time.
But why was it that he didn't reveal
himself the first time?
You ought to know that.
There are some reasons why you never knew
Jesus in all your other unsuccessful comings to
him and to the altar and to the
church.
Remember, Jesus looked at his people.
He looked over the city of his beloved
people and this is what he said, Matthew
23, 37.
He said, how often I wanted to gather
you children together.
I wanted to reveal myself.
I wanted you to know that I was
the true Messiah.
I wanted to gather you the way a
hen gathers her chicks around her wings, but
you were unwilling.
Ah, but my friend, there is a second
visit.
There is a time and a place and
a way of full disclosure of Joseph when
Jesus will reveal himself to his brothers.
And if you feel like Joseph tonight and
you've made those long trips to the altar,
you've made those long trips to Egypt, you've
made those long trips here and there and
there was no cleansing and there was no
peace with Joseph and there was no hug
on the neck and there was no kiss
and there was no revelation.
I want you to be encouraged in the
word tonight.
It says at the second visit, Joseph or
Jesus was made known to his brothers.
There is an hour of the second visit.
I'd like to think this is the church
of the second visit, hallelujah.
This is the hour and may be the
hour for you tonight.
This may be the night that Joseph wants
to step out from behind the veil, from
out behind the curtain and ask you to
draw closer to him and say, come closer
to me, see who I am in all
of my power and glory.
Note how it came about that Joseph did
make himself known.
What was the difference between the first and
second visit?
Well, first of all, Joseph did not reveal
himself the first time because there were some
things that they did not know about him.
For example, they did not know how God
had highly exalted him and given him a
name that was above every other name almost
in the kingdom in Joseph's case.
Look at chapter 41, chapter 41 verses 45
and verse 55, excuse me, chapter 41 verse
55 tells us, this here tells us
something about Joseph's position and power and if
they had known who it was that they
had come to, it might have made a
big difference in the outcome on their first
visit.
Look at it, it says, and so when
all the land of Egypt was famished and
the people cried out to Joseph for bread
and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go
to Joseph, go to Joseph, whatsoever he says
to you, you shall do.
Does that sound familiar?
When the famine was spread over all the
face of the earth then Joseph opened all
the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians and
the famine was severe in the land of
Egypt and the people of all the earth
came to Egypt to buy grain and Joseph
because the famine was severest on the earth.
Now the reason why many who come to
Christ the first time without success, without satisfaction
is that they don't really know who they're
coming to.
We need to know everything there is to
know about Jesus.
His brothers came into Egypt thinking, if I
can just buy a little corn, this will
save us.
They were merely looking to prevent starvation but
the real thing that God had in store
for them was not mere corn but a
glorious revelation, an encounter with Joseph and when
they found him, instead of having access just
to a meal or a sack of grain,
they could instead go to Joseph because he
had the key to the whole storehouse of
Egypt.
Hallelujah.
This, my friend, is a picture of Jesus
Look again at chapter 41 and verse 42.
It says, Then Pharaoh took off his signet
ring from his hand and he put it
on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments
of fine linen and put the gold necklace
around his neck.
Verse 46, Now Joseph was 30 years old
when he stood before Pharaoh.
Again, here's the type of Christ And Joseph
went out from the presence of Pharaoh and
went to all the land of Egypt.
Look at verse 49, Then Joseph stored up
grain in great abundance like the sand of
the sea until he stopped measuring it for
it was beyond measure.
Now you tell me if that's not a
picture of Jesus.
Hallelujah.
What a picture it is.
Philippians 2, 9 says, Therefore God has also
highly exalted him and bestowed upon him a
name that is above every name and that
every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord
to the glory of the Father just as
everyone had to come and bow to Joseph
in order to get grain.
You see the problem that some have in
coming to Jesus is they think if I
can just have a little sack of corn,
I'll be okay.
If Jesus will just take care of this
one little problem for me.
It's amazing.
It's amazing how people pin everything on this
one little thing.
If God would just do this one little
thing for me or if you just take
care of this one area of my life.
If you'll just take care of this one
sorrow that I have here.
If you'll just get rid of this one
pain, I'll be happy.
But listen to my friend.
What do you want tonight?
Do you want corn or do you want
Joseph?
Do you want corn or do you want
Jesus?
You see a little sack of corn will
last you a few hours or a few
days and you'll be empty before you get
home.
And some of you have gone from place
to place and that's what you have.
That's all you got.
That's all you had.
You had a little sack of corn and
you were empty before you got home and
you got home you had to turn on
WWDJ or you had to turn on this
or you had to turn on whatever.
It didn't last as long.
You've lost it on the subway going home.
What is really needed is a full revelation.
A full disclosure of Joseph who is Jesus.
He holds the combination to the granaries where
is stored everything that you will ever need.
Think of it, the people from all the
earth came to Joseph to buy grain and
he was able to provide it for them.
Hallelujah.
Somebody said, I don't know who said it,
he said, without Christ I'm a fish out
of water but with Christ I'm in an
ocean of truth.
And some of you have been a fish
out of water for years.
And so Joseph's brothers did not see him
as Lord over all the earth.
They came for food, not for Joseph.
They came because of famine, not in faith.
You see, not only were the keys to
all the granaries and storehouses under his command,
he could open them, he could close them
as he pleased.
When he gave a command, nobody could challenge
him.
He was given that authority.
He is a type of Christ in all
of his authority.
Pharaoh said of him, go to Joseph, whatever
he says to you, you shall do.
You remember that?
Remember when Jesus started his public ministry at
the Canaan wedding?
What did his mother say?
Whatever he said to her, she said to
the servant, whatever he says to you, do
it.
It is pleased the Father that in Christ,
he's Joseph, all the fullness of the Godhead
dwells bodily.
And therefore he is able to save them
to the uttermost that come to God by
him.
You see, if in your first meeting to
Jesus, you had known him and all of
his power and authority and exaltation, then you
would have known that you could trust him
and that you could give him your life
and you could give him everything.
You could give him everything.
So whatever he says to you, you would
do it because you knew that he had
the power and authority to do right by
you.
If you would surrender to him, instead of
coming for corn, you would have received that
bread that cometh down from heaven.
The result being as Jesus said, he who
eats me, he shall live because of me.
Hallelujah.
Aren't some of you tired of eating the
menu?
It's about time you got down to the
meal.
Hallelujah.
Jesus, the bread of life.
I remember an incident.
I don't know whether I've told it before.
I may have, if not, it bears another
application.
I remember a young man who came into
Teen Challenge one time and he came seeking
a few grains, a few sacks of grain.
But I didn't know this, but it became
very apparent very quickly that he was not
sincere and he would sit in our chapel.
And you know, they talk about body language.
Have you ever heard the expression body language?
Well, if body language could talk, I'd hate
to hear what this young man was saying.
You know, he'd just sit and he was
rebellious, wouldn't listen, became a troublemaker.
And he was there, I don't know, a
few days, and finally some of the staff
said to me, you know, we ought to
let him go because he's really causing a
lot of trouble.
And so I said, okay, I'll dismiss him.
And we were in agreement on that.
And I went to find him and he
left.
He was gone.
He left voluntarily.
And so we said, well, okay, that takes
care of that.
But two hours later he was back and
he was sitting there in the lobby and
I came into the Teen Challenge Center and
there he was and I looked at him.
He looked at me and he said, Reverend,
I want to talk to you.
So I said, come on in the office.
He said, look, he said, I want back.
He said, I made a mistake.
I blew it.
I know I was wrong.
I shouldn't have gone.
And I said, look, I said, I'm sorry,
but we have rules.
This is not a revolving door.
You can't just go out and in as
you please.
You can't.
You'll have to be put on a waiting
list and you'll get back maybe in a
week or so.
He said, Reverend, he said, I know your
rules.
But he said, listen, something happened to me
when I was out there.
He said, I was only out there, you
know, a bit.
And he said, something told me this is
a place I ought to be.
He said, Reverend, he said, something spoke to
me and said, go back, go back.
That's where you're going to get help.
And so I looked at him and I
thought about our rules and I said, okay,
look, I'm going to overrule our rule and
I'm going to let you back.
And there's still no change in him after
he came back.
But I didn't find out for months later
what happened.
When he left, he went home.
And the reason he had come to us
is because he was on parole and he
had broken his parole, had quit going to
see his parole officer.
And so there was a warrant for his
arrest.
And so he couldn't go home and he
was living on the streets.
And so he heard about Teen Challenge and
he came to hide out.
He came for sacks of grain, three hots
and a cod, as we say.
But we didn't know this.
But when he was home, he went home
because he took a chance and decided he
would go home.
And he was having a meal at home
when there was a knock at the door.
And his brother went to answer it and
it just opened.
The chain was still on it and he
caught sight of his parole officer.
And so he jumps out of his seat,
climbed out a back window, ran back as
fast as he could.
And there he sat in my office looking
up with innocence in his eyes.
And he said, Reverend, something spoke to me
and told me this is a place I
ought to be.
Well, you see, a lot of people come
to Jesus for a lot of reasons.
A lot of the wrong reasons, you see.
In other words, he wanted to save himself.
But what he needed was the living bread.
He found it, praise God.
He's in the ministry today.
But you see, we've got to know who
we're coming to so that we can know
what he is able to do and what
power and authority that he has.
You see, your vision of Jesus will determine
what it is that you ask for and
how you come to him and what he
wants to become in your life.
Is Jesus going to be just the one
that you run to in a crisis?
Or is he going to be the Lord
of your life and the one that you
go to and whatever he says, you will
do?
Some people treat Jesus as a means to
an end and they degrade salvation and they
turn it into a technique of carnal control.
That's exactly what the prosperity movement has done.
They run to Egypt and they fill their
sack with Joseph's grain.
And in fact, the measure of spirituality becomes
how high your wagon is filled with sacks
of grain from Joseph's granaries.
But they never get to know Joseph.
But here is a quote from an old
hymn.
This is what it says itself.
It says this.
Wealth and honor I disdain.
Earthly comforts all are vain.
They can never satisfy.
Give me Christ or else I die.
This brings me to another point.
Joseph did not reveal himself to the sons
of Jacob, to his brothers because they had
not confessed their guilt.
They never dealt with their sin.
Remember they had sinned grievously against Joseph and
Joseph's treatment of them during their first visit,
though it appeared to be harsh, but it
was intended by him.
It was intended so that it could expose
their sin.
Look in chapter 42 in verse 17 or
verse 16 or verse 17 it says, and
so he put them all together in prison
for three days.
But you see the real prison that they
were in was a prison house of their
own sin and guilt.
They had committed, they had attempted murder and
though Joseph's life had been spared, their intent
had been to kill him and they had
never dealt with that sin.
They had not confessed it to God.
It was still there hidden away and Joseph
acting as a type of Christ begins to
do certain things to his brothers to bring
about a conviction of sin.
Look at chapter 42 again verse 16 it
says, send one of you that he may
get your brother.
And while you remain confined that your words
may be tested whether this is the truth
in you, whether there is truth in you,
but if not by the life of Pharaoh,
surely you are spies.
So he put them all in prison, all
together in prison for three days.
And now Joseph said to them on the
third day, he said, do this and live
for I fear God.
If you are honest men, let one of
your brothers be confined in your prison, but
as for the rest of you, go carry
grain for the famine to your households and
bring your youngest brother to me so your
words may be verified and you may will
not die.
And they did so.
And then they said one to another, truly
we are guilty concerning our brother because we
saw the distress of his soul when he
pleaded with us, yet we would not listen.
Therefore, this distress has come upon us.
And so they begin to deal for the
first time, they begin to deal with this
whole issue that they never dealt with the
first time.
And here is a major reason many never
truly know Christ in their first coming is
that there has been no repentance of sin.
Joseph was trying to expose the famine in
his brother's hearts.
They had murder in their hearts.
They simply, and then they simply covered over
their sin.
But Joseph begins to do certain things to
prick their conscience and bring to the open
what is hidden.
And you see the major reason that many
come to Christ, but they never know him.
He never really can reveal himself and they
never have peace, they never have lasting victory
is because in the first place they have
never laid the ax to the root and
they've never brought forth meat for repentance, fruit
that is meat for repentance.
We have to come to Christ with a
broken contrite heart and an overwhelming sense of
the depth of our sin.
Not just because of what that sin does
to us or the effects of it superficially
or outwardly, or not just because of what
it does to us, to our family, to
our friends.
Many times many only see that level of
it.
But my friend, you got to go deeper
and see what that sin has caused God
to turn his face away from you just
as Joseph could not reveal himself to his
brothers until that was exposed in their heart.
Psalms 41 and 4 says, but as for
me, I said, O Lord, be gracious to
me, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against thee.
King David's famous prayer, Psalms 51, for against
thee only, the only thee, excuse me, let
me start again, against thee and thee only,
I have sinned and done what is evil
in thy sight.
And you may wonder, and some people have
complained and said, you know, why you preach
so much against sin in your church?
Listen, my friend, until you come to lay
that ax to the root, you can't know
Jesus.
In your first coming, many of you didn't
deal with your sin.
And most likely the church that you attended
and the message you heard did not call
you to account for your sins and any
conversion not accompanied by godly sorrow over sin.
If it doesn't have distress of soul, it's
a false conversion.
The Puritan said this, he who has slight
thoughts of sin never has great thoughts of
God.
Hosea 7.2 tells us why many do
not find Jesus in their first coming to
him.
It says, and they do not consider in
their hearts that I remembered all their wickedness
and their deeds were all around them.
They were before my face.
And you see their sin came up before
God.
They had to deal with it before Joseph
would reveal himself.
Ah, but there's one more thing.
When Joseph's brothers first went to Egypt, they
did not all go.
They left something very precious behind.
Look at Genesis 42 in verse four.
42 verse four, but Jacob did not send
Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers for he
said, I am afraid that harm may befall
him.
And you see, what did Joseph zero in
on?
He kept saying, is there somebody else?
Or how's your family?
He began to probe because he knew there
was somebody else.
And finally it came out that there was
a Benjamin.
And then the second time when they went
back, look at chapter 43 verses four and
five.
When their father sends them back again, they
told him we can't go back unless we
have Benjamin.
Verse four, and if you send our brother
with us, we will go down and buy
you food.
But if you do not send him, we
will not go.
For the man said to us, you shall
not see my face unless your brother is
with you.
You see, now they understand the conditions.
They understand what's involved in coming to Joseph.
And you see, Benjamin is a type of
how many go to Christ, but they leave
something very precious behind at home.
And that something, that Benjamin represents an unsurrendered
part of our life.
It represents a Benjamin sin.
It represents a Benjamin self-interest.
It represents something else that's precious and dear
to us that we keep holding on to.
And there is even a preaching that allows
for sin, for the sinner to come to
Christ without bringing everything, without surrendering everything.
But God can make you everything you want
to be, but first you have to place
yourself in his hands and know secret Benjamin's
back home.
To take all that we are and have
and hand it over to God may not
be easy.
And some of you, it's happening little by
little, line upon line.
And some of you, it's taken a lot
of services.
It's taken a lot of altar calls.
But I want to tell you, my friend,
it can be done.
And when it's done, the world will have
one less candidate for misery if you'll turn
it all over to him.
You recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira,
members of the first Times Square church of
Jerusalem.
They were carried out dead for holding back
the price or portion that belonged to God.
And I believe the reason for that drastic
measure and judgment was to establish early on
in the church that there is no half
price salvation and what the consequences of holding
out on God is all about.
Acts 5, 3, Peter said, Ananias, why has
Satan filled your heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost and to keep back some of
the price of the land?
And as he heard these words, Ananias fell
down and breathed his last and great fear
came upon all who heard it.
You bet great fear came on them.
You see, to not come completely clean, to
leave a Benjamin back in the closet somewhere,
there's a Benjamin.
If you come to this church and there's
a Benjamin left behind and you come to
this altar without laying it down, that's lying
to the Holy Ghost.
And I want to tell you, I'm not
that old to being raised in early, early
Pentecost, but I remember in the church, our
fathers believed in this principle that when you
lie to the Holy Ghost, that what happened
to Ananias and Sapphira can happen to you.
We've seen it.
Brother David and I could tell you about
a well-known ministry.
Two people, two people died because they lied
to the Holy Ghost.
They lied to the Holy Ghost.
And I remember my father used to preach
in the church, and I saw it happen.
He told people who were lying to the
Holy Ghost, he said, I'll bear you, I'll
be bearing you.
Acts 511, it said, great fear came upon
the whole church and upon all who heard
of those things.
You see, it's the absence of the fear
of God that keeps seekers from laying down
everything to the Lord.
You gotta lay your Benjamins down.
You gotta bring your Benjamins to the altar.
You see, the Benjamins are that which, Benjamins
are precious looking, something that doesn't look so
bad.
But Joseph said, I want everything, I want
everything.
Now, let's take a look at the second
visit of Joseph's brothers to Egypt because something
wonderful happened in his presence a second time.
That's something wonderful that's been happening to some
of you.
Oh, I loved it, I love it.
I love it, we're blessed.
We talk about what God's doing in some
of your lives and your hearts.
Oh, some of you are young, some of
you are older.
You've come to share what God's done in
you and oh, praise God.
There's a second time.
But look what happened, certain things that happened.
First of all, they ran out of corn.
After their first visit, they ran out of
corn and they ran out of blessings, which
they got from Joseph on the first visit.
Look at chapter 43, verses one and two.
The famine was severe in the land, so
it came about that they had finished eating
the grain which they had brought from Egypt
and their father said to them, go back,
buy a little food.
Buy a little food.
You see, if you keep coming to Jesus
the way Joseph's brothers came to him the
first time, you're always gonna run out of
blessings and you're gonna keep running back for
a little food.
And if you come to Jesus just for
corn, just for temporary blessings, you're sure to
go hungry and be in spiritual famine.
And it's sad to see people who faithfully,
they faithfully go to Egypt.
They faithfully run here and there.
Some of you, I know your testimony.
You've gone to every big meeting.
You've gone to every big preacher.
You have spent hundreds of dollars, thousands of
dollars.
You've flown across the country.
You've gone here and there to buy a
little food.
But until, and you always run out of
that.
Until the revelation of Joseph takes place, you
will always be in want.
There will always be that inner emptiness.
I watch people run here and there.
Some of them run for, well, they run
for prosperity corn.
And some of you used to run around
for popcorn.
I mean, you know, you get a little
blessing, you know, all excitement, just excitement.
That's all, just a blessing.
And some of you ran around for miracle
corn.
Miracle signs and wonders.
But most of the time you have to
wonder what they, you know, where are they,
where's the miracles?
You know, because when you're into that thing
and you keep people, you got to keep
people coming, you know, with miracle after miracle.
If it doesn't happen, you got to manufacture
it one way or the other.
And some of you ran for miracle corn.
And some of you ran for some exotic
corn dish.
But I want to tell you, it's only
corn.
It's not the true bread that endures to
eternal life.
Hallelujah.
Job 30 and three says, oh, when I
read this, grip me.
It says from want and famine, they are
gaunt.
They gnaw the dry ground by night in
waste and desolation.
You know, I got a picture one time
looking at some of the street people and
I drive home at night and see them
going through the garbage cans.
Gives me a picture of the church.
Gives me a picture of some of you.
You've gone everywhere looking, but it's been famine,
you ran out of blessings.
But I want to tell you, there's a
spiritual famine that ought to take us back
to Joseph for another visit.
Just as Joseph's brothers went again, their emptiness
drove them, or your emptiness ought to drive
you to the altar.
And some of you lived in spiritual warmth
for years.
You've told me, and now you know why.
You never knew Jesus.
Now, another lesson that Joseph's brothers had to
learn is that you can't buy from Joseph.
You can't buy from Joseph.
He ain't selling corn.
He doesn't sell what we need.
Turn to Genesis 42, verses 25 through 28.
This is the end of side one.
You may now turn the tape over to
side two.
Not a rebuke.
You see, there's several Greek words for dog.
One is a vicious dog, and one is
a cute little household dog, puppy dog.
And that's the word Jesus used.
But also the reference, the reason for the
reference to dogs is that Jesus had already
brought to the attention of the disciples orders
to fill their bags with grain and restore
every man's money in his sack and to
give them provisions for the journey, and thus
it was done for them.
So they loaded their donkeys with the grain
and departed from there.
And as one of them opened his sack
to give his donkey fodder at the lodging
place, he saw his money, and behold, it
was in the mouth of his sack.
Now, that was not trickery.
That was not revenge.
That was not a payback on Joseph's part.
It was genuine generosity.
But they were horrified.
Their hearts sank.
They literally trembled when they saw that.
And they must have thought, why?
And in fact, they asked, why is God
doing this to us?
We have not been able to please this
man, Joseph, at all.
And now, whether they knew that he put
the money back there or whether they surmised
or not, but they must have thought, what
can we do to please this man, Joseph?
And some of you have come to Jesus
over and over again, trying every possible way
to get a victory, trying every possible way
to please him.
You tried every good work that you could
think of.
You went from meeting far and wide seeking
the Lord.
You tried every formula.
One said fast, another said praise, another said
this, another said that, and you did it
all.
But every time you got home and you
opened up your sack, God gave you back
your money.
In other words, the Lord didn't accept your
works and your devotion and your striving and
your service and your many ways to try
to please him.
It won't work that way.
And the way that you know the Lord
did not accept your personal efforts at righteousness
and how you can know that he gave
you your money back is that in spite
of all your good works, you never got
what you came for.
In spite of everything you tried, you still
didn't have peace.
You still didn't have victory over sin.
You still didn't have a consciousness of the
presence of the Lord in your life.
It's a terrible feeling to pay Joseph money
and to find that your money is not
good enough.
It's the Lord's way of saying, I don't
want your self-righteousness.
I don't want your superficial prayers.
I don't want your superficial devotion.
I want Benjamin.
I want it all.
And that's the only way to come to
me.
But look what happened on the second visit
after they had finally said we're guilty.
Chapter 42, verse 21, and they said to
one another, truly we are guilty concerning our
brother.
Truly we're guilty.
And then chapter 43, verse 29, and he
lifted up his eyes and he saw his
brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and he said,
is this your younger brother of whom you
spoke of me?
And he said, may God be gracious to
you, my son.
And Joseph hurried out for he was deeply
stirred over his brother and they sought a
place to weep and he entered his chamber
and wept there.
Then he washed his face and came out
and he controlled himself and he said, serve
the meal.
Now, there was one more work of conviction
that had to take place in their hearts
and I'll not get into that, but again,
he put money in their sack.
Again, he tested them one more time and
then they came back and look at chapter
45, Joseph reveals himself.
Joseph could not control himself before all those
who stood by him and he cried, have
everyone go out for me.
So there was no man with him when
Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
That, my friend, you see, that was the
second time and they, of course, they couldn't
believe it.
They could not believe that it was Joseph
and of course not and neither could some
of you believe it when you found out
that you didn't have to go through a
man.
You didn't have to go through everything that
you've been trying to go through to get
to God.
There was no man with them when Joseph
made himself known and oh, what joy it
is to know that you can come face
to face into the presence of Jesus, hallelujah.
When you've taken care of everything, he will
reveal himself to you and Joseph came closer
to his brothers.
Please come closer to me and they came
closer and they came closer.
Oh, are you coming to Jesus that way?
Do you know that?
Turn with me to James 4, verse 8
to an often quoted verse.
In fact, it's a little portion of verse
that we quote many, many times but we
don't quote it in its context.
It says, draw nigh unto God and he'll
draw nigh unto you.
It's James 4, verse 8.
But note the conditions upon which we're to
draw nigh to him.
It says, draw nigh to God and he'll
draw nigh to you.
Then he lays it out.
Here's the conditions and Joseph and his brothers
had to meet these conditions and then he
revealed himself.
He said, cleanse your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be miserable.
Mourn and weep.
Tell me Joseph's brothers weren't miserable with confusion
and conviction but then they dealt with their
sin.
He said, let your laughter be turned into
mourning and your joy into gloom.
Humble yourself in the presence of the Lord
and he will exalt you.
You see, these poor sons of Jacob did
not know that the man who was Lord
over Egypt was their own brother.
And Jesus wants you to know that he's
your brother and that he wants a relationship
with you.
Hallelujah.
If you'll come, if you'll come.
Joseph, you see, restrained himself until the Holy
Spirit had prepared their hearts and the second
time Joseph revealed himself to his brothers.
Do you want to know Jesus like that?
Do you want to know Jesus that second
time?
The Jesus whom you can recognize and draw
near to because you've cleansed your hands, you
mourned over your sins and when that happens,
a veil will be opened unto you and
Joseph will say, here I am, come closer.
Come closer to me.
I don't know about you but that's what
the Lord's been, that's what the Lord's been
saying to me.
That's what he said to me Friday night
when Gary ministered.
I felt the Lord saying it, draw closer
to me.
Sunday morning I felt it, Sunday night I
felt it.
He keeps saying, draw closer to me and
they came closer and he said, I am
your brother Joseph.
Remember the 10 lepers?
One, they came, the first visit they got
new skin but one came back and he
got a relationship with Jesus and that's what
he wants to give you tonight, a relationship
with him.
There is a second time, there is a
true revelation of Jesus.
He wants to give you that revelation if
you'll let him do it here tonight in
this service.
Let's pray, let's stand together.
Let's stand together.
To the house of the Lord, she's greatly,
verse 10, and she greatly distressed, prayed to
the Lord and wept bitterly.
She was so consumed by her need.
She was so consumed.