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. But if every man had to say to his companion, “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 would be ours, if we were equally convicted of sin, and equally convinced that there was no hope for 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 ravaging hunger of the soul.
10. 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 is as light as that of the angel among the flowers. Though mercy should be a thousand leagues away, and its journey would occupy ten thousand years, yet faith could hear its footsteps, for it is quick of ear and quick of eye. Indeed, if God should give a promise which should never be fulfilled until 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 in it. Jacob had the ears of faith. He had been at prayer, undoubtedly, asking God to deliver his family in the time of famine; and by and by he is the first in his household to hear that there is grain 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 grain in Egypt.” Can you conceive how their hearts leaped? He scarcely needs to add, “Go 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.
11. 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 grain in Egypt.” We need not die. There is salvation with God. We need not perish — there is mercy in the Most High. We do not need to 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.
12. First, we are told today by sure and certain witnesses, that there is grain 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 would be so. The hungry man is apt to hope that there may be grain somewhere; and then he thinks there is; and then he says there is; and then, what begins with a wish comes to be a rumour and a report. But this day, my friends, it is no idle talk; no dream, no rumour 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 grain 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 grain there was in Egypt. He said there was grain, 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,” one sinner says, “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 fulness. High above the summits of your mountain sins the stars of grace are shining.
13. There is another thing which would have surprised Jacob. Jacob knew there was grain 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 grain belongs to him.” Indeed, I can readily imagine that he would have gone himself immediately. 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, would have said, “We do not need fear to go and submit ourselves to him, for we know he has a gracious and loving heart, and would never let his poor brothers 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 on the belt 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.
14. There is yet another thing which the sons of Jacob knew nothing about. When they went to Egypt, they went in hope. If they knew there was grain, 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 poorest 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 around 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 would not have dared to come if you had not sent me an invitation.” Now Joseph had 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, “Whoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.” He has said himself, “He who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” He has sent his messengers and bidden them cry, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who 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 without hope, you have the invitation and the promise. Why then do you look at one another? Arise and come to Christ; arise and come to his cross. May he now prove in you his power to save!
15. But one other remark, and I will be finished 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 to 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 to, 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 make you unfit for grace, rather than prepare you for it. Reformation
