Sermons

Introduction

Well, we have a great passage of scripture to which we will be giving our attention today and it's found in Genesis chapter 45. So I invite you to turn to Genesis 45, if your Bible's not already turned there, and today we're going to be looking at verses 16 to 28. And as I read this, prepare to read this, let me just say I was just talking with one of the men here before the service. What an amazing thing it is how just one passage of scripture will speak to every heart here today. And in every life situation and all the different experiences in which we find ourselves, nevertheless the Word of God is so supernatural that it connects with each and every one of us right where we live, right where we are. 

So I wonder what it is that God will set before your heart today, that when we leave and you head back to your place where you live, that will be, really, your possession, and that God will have used this either to encourage you or to challenge you, to strengthen you, to fortify you. How will this text change your life? Genesis chapter 45, I'm going to begin reading in verse 16. The title of this message is "It Is Enough. It Is Enough." 

Beginning in verse 16, "Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Say to your brothers, "Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land." Now you are ordered, "Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours."' 

"Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey. 

"So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, 'Do not quarrel on the journey.' Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. They told him, saying, 'Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.' But he was stunned, for he did not believe them. When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Then Israel said, 'It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.'" This is the reading of God's inspired and inerrant and infallible Word. Let us go to the Author now in prayer. 

[Prayer] Father, as we now approach this text we ask that You would use it in our lives in a very profitable way. May this passage be a lamp unto our feet in a light unto our path to guide us on the narrow road that You have chosen for us. Pray that this passage would be milk that will satisfy us and meat to nourish us. I pray that this text will be like seed that will produce life in us. So Father, use Your Word today in our spiritual lives to make us more like Christ, to make us more devoted to You, and to be more of all that You have called us to be. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. [End] 

In these verses we see some very remarkable things. We see Joseph telling his brothers to "go back to your father and to gather him up and to gather up all your family, and bring them all down here to Egypt," and we see them carrying this out. And as they go to Jacob, who is in Canaan, it will be the best of times, and it'll be the worst of times. It will be the best of times in this sense, that they will tell him, "Your son, our brother Joseph, is alive." 

Jacob's heart will all but leap out of the chest in its excitement. But it will also be the worst of times, because these brothers are going to have to come clean with their father, and they're going to have to tell him that after 22 years, "We have been lying to you about your son Joseph, that we concocted a story, we created an excuse that he had been eaten alive by a wild beast. But instead, we were filled with hatred and greed, and we have been living a life of deception; and instead, we lied to you and did not tell you the truth about Joseph." 

This will be a very happy and it will be a very sad encounter. And as Jacob hears these words, it will all rise to the highest level in the last verse when Jacob will say, "It is enough." It will be enough for Jacob just to see his son alive who he thought had been killed. And so more than if he had more riches, more than if he had inherited more land, more than if he had more cattle, none of that would have been enough for him. The only thing to which he could say it is enough is for him to see his son Joseph. 

And as we think about how this relates to our lives, there are many of us here today who would be able to say, "If I could just see my son saved, that would be enough. If I could just see my son in church, that would be enough. If I could just see my son walking with the Lord, that would be enough." And so I think many of us can relate to where Jacob is as he says, "I will be able to die an old man, yet a happy man, a satisfied man, if I can just see my son Joseph before they lay me in the grave." 

Every parent's desire is to see their children walk with the Lord. And while we will not be in the exact same set of circumstances in which Jacob finds himself here; nevertheless, it's only a half step away for us to see this with a spiritual application, that for us it is enough to see our own loved ones walk with the Lord. 

The Report

So let's walk through this passage, which is a remarkable passage. And the first thing I want you to note is in verse 16, "the report." This scene begins with the report of Joseph's self-disclosure to his brothers, and it is spread like wildfire through Pharaoh's house. 

Notice verse 16: "Now when the news was heard," stop right there. What news? Well, that's the news I just told you about, that at the beginning of this chapter when Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and he said, "I am Joseph," that news filled the entire palace in which Joseph lived, and it went down the street and it filled the house of Pharaoh. And that's what we see here. 

"Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come," it's important here that it says "Joseph's brothers," and because previous to this chapter they were just foreigners, they were just other merchants who have come down from Canaan to buy grain,0 to be able to supply the needs of their family. But now they're identified as Joseph's brothers. They have a very special place in this narrative. They're not just guess, they're not just visitors, they're not just businessmen here to buy product; these are Joseph's brothers. And we read that "it pleased Pharaoh." 

Now Pharaoh doesn't know them. Pharaoh doesn't know Joseph's brothers. But it pleased Pharaoh, because Pharaoh knows Joseph, and Pharaoh loves Joseph, and Pharaoh is devoted to Joseph, and their hearts are very close together. In fact, their two palaces are next to each other. And so what brings joy to Joseph brings joy to Pharaoh. And so this please Pharaoh very much, because Joseph has been so loyal to him and so devoted to him, and he sees the countenance on Joseph's face, and so it lights up Pharaoh's face as well. 

But at the end of verse 1, please note, not just Pharaoh, but, "and his servants." This refers to Pharaoh's servants. It refers to his staff. It could be his inner counsel. It could be those who are advisors. It could be counselors. It could be those who do menial tasks in the house. Whatever it is, even the servants are pleased to hear this report, that, "Wow, these are Joseph's brothers." 

And this tells us that Joseph has endeared himself to everyone in the house. I mean, he's the Prime Minister of Egypt, but he conducts himself in such a way that even the help and the staff respect him and hold him in high regard. And no doubt, it is because Joseph has dealt with them in such a way that he is very likable. He comes across very humble. He deals with them very graciously. Joseph is very approachable. His nose is not in the air. He's not separated from other people. He conveys a warmth towards even the servants. And so as they learn now this is Joseph's brothers, they're excited, because they feel this affinity with Joseph, which can be very rare among leaders. 

I think there's something for us to learn here before we move on, that it is a mark of our Christianity, it is a badge of our discipleship that we treat people with dignity, with graciousness, that we speak to people, that we stop, we engage with people, that we're not above others, because that's exactly the implication here in Joseph's life, that even the servants are excited because of this good news that has come to him. And I think one mark of our true humility is not just how we treat people who are over us, the people who are under us, it's not just how we treat people for whom we work, but people who work for us. And Joseph has obviously come across in a way that has endeared him to even servants in his house. This is something for you and me to emulate in our own lives. 

People often ask me, "What is John MacArthur like? What do we need to know about John MacArthur?" And my standard answer – and I could give a thousand answers. But my standard answer is, "In the pulpit, he's a pit bull; but out of the pulpit, he's a teddy bear." I've never seen anyone nicer to waiters and waitresses and flight attendants and people behind a counter than John McArthur. I've been with other big name preachers, and it's just the opposite; they can be a pit bull out of the pulpit. 

Well, here we see with Joseph the fact that even the servants in this palace, when they hear this news, they are excited, though they don't even know Joseph's brothers. They're excited because Joseph is excited. How do people read you? What do people think of you as you interface with them? 

The Response

The second I want you to note, "the response." Beginning in verse 17, the response: "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph," so apparently Joseph has now come to Pharaoh's palace, which is just next door. "Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Say to your brothers, "Do this." – and Pharaoh is very directive here, he's very emphatic; he gives an order to Joseph who is to give an order to his brothers – "This is what you're to say to them: load your beasts" – which would be their donkeys that would be used to travel back to Canaan – "loads your donkeys" – and the idea is with whatever you would need to make a safe journey back, which is about a three week trip – "and go to the land of Canaan. I want you to return home. And there's a mission that I want you to carry out," – and it's in verse 8 – "and take your father and your households and come to me."'" 

When he says "take" in verse 8 it literally means to lay hold of or to fetch. "I want you to go get your father, and I want you to bring all your households." Now this is a large group of people, almost 70 people, and all their names are listed in the next chapter in Genesis chapter 46 – and in the next couple of weeks I'm going to try to pronounce their names for us, OK. As I was told in seminary, when you come to these hard Hebrew names to pronounce, just say it and keep going, because no one else knows how to pronounce them, OK. So nobody will know the difference, unless you slow down and stumble over it. 

But what Pharaoh says, "I want you to go gather up your whole family unit (all your wives, all your children, and especially your father, and any servants that need to come) and I want you to bring them to me." It's a very personal thing, not just bring them to Egypt, "I want you to bring them to me." 

And then in the middle of verse 18, "and I" – Pharaoh – "will give you the best of the land of Egypt. I'm just going to indulge them. I'm going to give them the best of the best of the best. I'm going to give them the best houses, I'm going to give them the best land, I'm going to give them the best provisions of everything that they need. You just bring them here, and I'm going to open the treasure vault and I'm going to take care of them as they've never been cared for before." 

And he says, "and you will eat the fat of the land." This is an amazing statement, because we're in the midst of a famine. But Pharaoh says, "You tell your brothers to tell your father, and when you come down here there's going to be an unlimited food supply for you; and not just food, you're going eat the best of the best of the best. It'll be like you're dining at the king's table. And verse 19, "Now you are ordered," – which is a command do – 'Do this.'" There's no negotiation here between Pharaoh and Joseph. Pharaoh says to Joseph, "You are to do this." 

And then he adds another layer of generosity. He says, "Take wagons from the land of Egypt." Now that might be easy for us to just pass over, but we need to understand at this point the only nation in civilization that uses wagons with wheels is Egypt. All the other nations are more primitive, and they're just walking from place to place, maybe getting on a donkey for some bit of time. But Egypt was famous for their chariots. Egypt was well-known for their advancement in building these wagons, which would be more than just what we would think of as a wagon. He says, "You take the wagons from the land of Egypt. You just go over here to my supply of all of these wagons and you take what you need, because I don't want your father having to walk back down to Egypt. I want him to be chauffeured. I want him to be driven down with the very best; and the same for your wives, and the same for your children." 

So put yourself in the shoes of these brothers. They have walked from Canaan down to Egypt, 250 miles, three weeks' journey. They're going to be riding back in style, they're going to be going back in convertible wagons, and they're being treated as though they're royalty. And again, Pharaoh doesn't even know them. 

The middle of verse 19, "for your little ones," – that's their children – "and for your wives," – that's their spouses – "and bring your father. Bring your father in these wagons, because I hear and understand he's an old man, he has gray hair, he's approaching the end of his life, he's in his twilight years. He'll never be able to make it, he'll die in the journey coming down. He'll never live through the trip to see you, Joseph. So I want him personally escorted and driven down to Egypt." And then he adds, "and come." In other words, "Bring them to live with me." Pharaoh's saying this. 

Verse 20, "Do not concern yourself with your goods." This is another layer of generosity that's just being piled upon one another. "Don't bother packing anything, just come. Leave your baggage behind. Leave your stuff behind, because I will have everything you will ever need awaiting you here in Egypt, and it will be far better than whatever you had in Canaan." 

Can you believe the generosity of Pharaoh. And again, he's never even met the brothers up until probably just a few seconds ago. Never even met Jacob. Why is he so good to the whole family that he's never met, except for Joseph? Well, the answer is very simply this: he loves Joseph, "and whoever is family to Joseph is going to be family to me." And he will bestow this blessing upon blessing upon blessing – houses, land, food, garments – because of his love for Joseph and their relationship to Joseph. 

Now before we move on I hope you see an illustration, a picture in this of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why is it that God the Father is so good to you? Is it because you're better? Is it because you're smarter? Is it because you bring more to the table? No, the very opposite is true. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God the Father is so good to us because we're family to His Son Jesus Christ, because we have put our faith in our trust in Jesus Christ. God the Father has opened the treasure vault of heaven and has transferred the vast wealth of His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness and His righteousness and His wisdom and His power and His joy and His peace. I has all been transferred over to us, not because of us; it is in spite of us. It is because of the Lord Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him. 

The greatest decision you've ever made in your entire life was to commit your life to Jesus Christ. And if you had ten thousand lives to live, the wisest decision you could ever make is to commit every single one of them to Jesus Christ. Because of your faith in Christ, God the Father has dealt so graciously with you and me. 

The Resources

But let's proceed now to verse 21. I want you to see, "the resources." Step back into this narrative with me, verse 21: "Then the sons of Israel," Israel is Jacob; that's his covenant name that God had given to him. "Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of a Pharaoh," – everything's under the disposal of Joseph, and he just gives the word, and Joseph's servants go and they get the wagons, and they bring them here, the finest wagons in all of Egypt, and they're ready now for this journey back to travel in this entourage of virtual royalty – "and gave them provisions for the journey." Joseph gave them food, he gave them drink that they will need along the way. It's almost like when I would be going back to college, be there at the front door as I would leave and say goodbye, and Mom would always slip me a little gas money, which was never spent on gas. 

And Joseph is just indulging his brothers, going over and above and beyond, verse 22, "To each of them he gave changes of garments." I mean, they've made this long trek down from Canaan through dusty desert arid land, and there's a drought and it's dry, and they've been in these same clothes the whole way. And Joseph is so gracious, he even thinks of their clothing, and, "No, you need new clothes, you need clean clothes to put on to go back to see father." And so he gave them changes of garments. 

Verse 22, "but to Benjamin" – I love this – "but to Benjamin he" – Joseph – "gave three hundred pieces of silver." I think what's implied here is that he didn't give the three hundred pieces of silver to the other brothers, he went over and above with Benjamin. He gave more to Benjamin than he gave to the others. And then also at the end of verse 22, "and five changes of garments." They just got a change of garments, you know, "One suit will take care of you." No, no, no, five changes of garments for Benjamin. 

And we can just imagine, I think rightly so, that if this had happened previous, these brothers would have been saying, 'Hey, this isn't fair. You gave Benjamin more than you've given to us. That's not right." But they have been so humbled through this whole experience. They have been crushed. They have been brought to their knees, as they have had to confess their sin of lying and deception and hatred towards their own brother. Right now, they don't want to play the fair game. They don't want what they deserve, they want what they do not deserve. 

And I think for us as Christians, we understand that, do we not? I mean, there's not a one of us in this room that really wants what we deserve. I mean, we would be in hell if we got what we deserve. We actually want what we do not deserve: that's grace and mercy. And for whatever has been entrusted to us, we are just grateful to have a seat at the table. I mean, we're just grateful to be able to sing in the hallelujah course. I mean, we're just grateful to be in in the Lord's family. And that kind of humility I think is settling into the brothers, because there's no mention here of any bickering. 

Now verse 23: "To his father" – which is Jacob – "he sent as follows:" – Joseph sent as follows – "ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt," – wow, I mean this is an abundance; and Joseph on behalf of Pharaoh again is just exceeding the limits of generosity, and these ten donkeys are bringing simply what Jacob will need just for the return trip – "and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey." 

And here we again see this reoccurring emphasis, this reoccurring drumbeat through these latter chapters of Genesis of the virtue of honoring father and honoring mother, the fifth commandment. And no matter where we step into these chapters here towards the end of Genesis, we see Joseph or one of the brothers honoring their father. What a noble thing this is. 

We live we live in a culture today that honors youth, that honors the young, and the older generation, the greatest generation, being set aside; and that is so anti-biblical, and that is so anti-God's design. It is God's design that the younger children, no matter how old they become, will always show respect to their parents and will always honor their parents. And you may say, "Well, my parents weren't perfect." Well good, you were equally yoked then, because you weren't perfect either. And so that's where we see this. 

The Rebuke

Now we come to verse 24, and I want you to see, "the rebuke, the rebuke," because Joseph has one final word to say to them before they depart for the journey. So, verse 24, "So he" – Joseph – "sent his brothers away," – he commissions them to now return to gather father and family; and we read – "and as they departed, he said to them." Now this is a very dramatic moment. He gathers them together and, as it were, looks them straight in the eye, and he gives this final word, and he means it, he's very serious: "Do not, do not, do not quarrel on the journey. Don't be like brothers in the back seat of a car on a vacation." And why would he say this? Two reasons. Number one, Joseph knows human nature, and he knows human behavior, and he can imagine and anticipate the conversation that's going to take place these three weeks as they travel back. That's number one. We're going to talk about this in a second. 

Number two, "Do not quarrel, because when you show up quarreling, it's going to break father's heart." And there's a part of a parent's heart: he does care, but he doesn't care who started this, and who's right and who's wrong. He does care, but there's a care that's even greater, and it is that you would get along with your brother, that you would get along with your sister. And families can be the challenge of a lifetime. I mean, you can pick your friends, you can't pick your family. 

And everything builds and it accumulates over time, and it can be just like conflict in the Middle East. Whatever happened yesterday in the Middle East that sets off some skirmish, it's not just because of that one skirmish. This has been going on for 3,000 years, and everything just carries forward. And it's that way in families; and whatever happened 20 years ago and 22 years ago, it's still in the mix. And families know where hot buttons are, and families know where the live nerves are, and families know how to set someone off almost with just a look, with a smirk, with a body tilt and words that only a certain family member detect the real meaning. 

And so Joseph knows this. "And on this return trip back, do not quarrel." He knows on the way back they're going to be having a discussion. I mean, of course, they're going to be having this discussion: "Who started this? How do we get into this? Who's going to do the talking? How much do we say? Do we say everything?" And there's going to be a lot of finger-pointing, and there's going to be the blame game. And one brother could Point his finger at the other brother and say, "Well, you were the one who started this by rebuking him when he said he had this dream and we would all bow down before him." And then someone else would say, "Yeah, but this brother over here is the one who said, 'Well, we need to kill him.'" And then someone else could point to another brother and say, "Yeah, but it was your idea to strip him and to put him in a pit." And someone else could say, "No, but it was your idea to sell him to the traders as they came through," and it's just like a tennis match, back and forth, back and forth, and it just escalates. And Joseph knows, "By the time you reach Canaan this is going to be an exploding volcano of conflict and tension and animosity. And Father is going to be able to read you like an open book, and it's going to break his heart to see his own flesh and blood bickering and arguing." 

Now here's the application for us. We're entering into the Christmas season, and for most of us, it's a time for family to gather together. And there are going to be some pieces to the puzzle and people seated around the table who aren't always there, and we need to be careful not to quarrel, and not to bicker, and not to establish how right we are in something. Philippians 2:14 says, "Do all things without grumbling or complaining." Wow, that had to be put in the Bible, "Do all things without grumbling or complaining." You can be so right you're wrong. 

And in 1 Corinthians 10:9-10, Paul, addressing the church in Corinth, which was a very immature carnal church that had divisions and bickering and quarreling within, he uses the example of Israel in the wilderness, and he writes, "Nor let us try the Lord," and what tries the Lord and tests the Lord is grumbling and complaining. "Nor let us try the Lord, as some did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer." That was Israel in the wilderness, whining, complaining, backbiting. Paul says, "Don't be like that, or you'll not enter into the Promised Land." Let us rise above the pettiness of other people and extend unconditional love and not be complainers. One woman was once asked, "Do you ever wake up grumpy?" and she said, "No, I usually let him sleep in." 

The Return

That leads to verse 25, "the return," verse 25: "Then" – meaning without delay – "they" – the eleven brothers – "went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob." So they traveled from the Nile Delta region, across the Sinai, through Arabah, across the Jordan River, to Canaan. It was quite a journey that they took. 

Verse 26, "They" – the brothers "told him," – Jacob. They're finally now in Canaan, and all eleven of them stand in front of their father, and this is what they say – 'Joseph is still alive.'" And Jacob's heart must have stopped beating. "What do you mean, Joseph's still alive? He died 22 years ago. What are you trying to tell me?" "Father, we've come here to tell you that Joseph is alive." He can't believe this. 

And then at the end of verse 26, "There's one more thing we need to tell you about Joseph. Number one, he's alive; and number two, he's ruler over all of Egypt." "Say that again?" "He is ruler over the most powerful nation in civilization." This is a lot for Jacob to take in. 

And so notice what it says at the end of verse 26: "But he was stunned." That doesn't even say it enough. I looked up this word in the original Hebrew with which this was written, and the word literally means numb, numb. His whole body just became numb. His brain became numb, his heart became numb, it was like all of his blood left his body. I mean, he became weak physically, emotionally, psychologically at every level; he's stunned. It's as if his heartbeat has been suspended. 

And then he adds at the end of verse 26, here here's why he was so stunned, "for he did not believe them." Now there's two ways to take this and two ways to try to understand this, and it may be a combination of both. I mean, the first reason that he did not believe them was this was such an unbelievable report. "My son who I believe to have died 22 years ago, you're telling me he's alive? I can't even process this, I don't have a category for this. This is inconceivable." That's one way to understand this. 

The other is, though it's not stated in the text, it's clearly to be understood, and it is clearly implied, that the brothers have had to confess to their father that "we sinned against you 22 years ago. We told you a lie, and we covered it up with deception and hypocrisy, and we have been lying to you for the last 22 years about Joseph. We've known that he wasn't at least put to death in the way that we said. We have no idea what's happened to him and no idea where he's gone." And it could be he does not believe them, because, "How can I believe a pack of liars? Yeah, how can I believe you sons when you haven't dealt truthfully with me?" 

So, verse 27, "When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them," they replayed the whole conversations that they've had with Joseph down in Egypt, that has sent them here. That's not going to be persuasive, because they could just be repeating a lie. But it's this next, in the middle of verse 27, that is what convinces Jacob of the validity of what they're saying: "and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him," that's it. Jacob's never seen a wagon in his life. And it's like here has rolled up a stream of Rolls-Royces in front of his little Bedouin tent. He doesn't even live in a house, he lives in a tent out in the middle of nowhere. And he looks out and sees all these wagons, Pharaoh's wagons, the King's vehicles lined up in a row. He realizes, "They must be telling me the truth. There's the evidence." And it says, "the spirit of their father Jacob" – the innermost being of Jacob, the depths of the soul of Jacob – "revived." It was just like an electrical current just surged through his soul and awakened him and revived him and almost like resurrected him. No doubt, he was all but trembling and ready to collapse. And now he's renewed with strength, because he understands, "They must be telling the truth. Look at all these chariots." 

The Realization

So finally, verse 28, "the realization." "Then Israel said," – Jacob said – 'It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.'" He is saying, "This is all I need. I can leave this world a happy man. You can bury me with a smile on my face. This is enough. My cup overflows. My son Joseph, not just Joseph, my son Joseph is still alive. What more could I possibly want? Not more donkeys, not more cattle, not more, tents. I want what money cannot buy, I want my son. I want to see my son alive. I will go and see him before I die." 

Just earlier, the brothers had said, "If we don't bring Benjamin up to return with us to Jacob," Jacob says, "You will lay me down in Sheol in sorrow. I'll die of a broken heart." Now Jacob will die of a happy heart. He will die in the fullness of his years, because God will restore what the locusts had taken away. God will restore the years that were lost. 

When I was in R. C. Sproul's preaching classes, he used to tell us in preaching an Old Testament narrative, "Find the drama." We just found the drama of this passage. 

Conclusion

So as we bring this to conclusion, there's a bigger point that I want to make and leave with you that points to a far greater reality. If you live for this world and you do not live for Jesus Christ, whatever it is you achieve, whatever it is you acquire, it will never be enough. H. L. Hunt was once the richest man in the world. He lived almost around the corner from here, his house on White Rock Lake in that replica of Mount Vernon, the richest man in the world. They once asked him, "You're the richest man in the world. How much money is enough?" He famously said, "Just a little bit more." 

I don't know where he was spiritually, but that's how so many people live, just a bigger this, a better that, more of this. It's never enough. It's never enough. But if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to tell you, He is enough, He is more than enough. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." 

He has more than enough grace, more than enough forgiveness, more than enough strength, more than enough joy, more than enough peace, more than enough wisdom than you could ever possibly need, much less use in your life. He has oceans and oceans and galaxies and galaxies of grace to pour into the little thimble of your life. If you know Jesus Christ, what Jacob says here rings true with you on a spiritual level. It is enough to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 

If you've never committed your life to Christ, this is the greatest offer that could ever possibly be extended to you, to leave your old life behind and to step out of the world and out of the crowd and to come individually to Jesus Christ and to say, "Lord Jesus Christ, I believe You to be the Son of God, the Son of Man who has come into this world to redeem sinners. I am a great sinner, but You are an even greater Savior, and I surrender my life to you." He will receive you, He will embrace you, and one day, He will take you to His Father's house when you die. Let us pray. 

[Prayer] Father in heaven, how we thank You and we praise You for this passage of scripture that speaks to us on so many different levels in so many different ways. I pray that You would give us ears to hear and eyes to see the truth of this word today. Bless my brothers and sisters in Christ here today, in Jesus' name. Amen.