I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 43. Genesis 43. I'd like to pick up where we
left off last time. The sons of Jacob are going to
have to return to Egypt and face the man who alone has the authority
to disperse the desperately needed food. I've entitled this message
tonight, God's Will Be Done. God's Will Be Done. That's the
resolve of every regenerated child of God. God's Will Be Done. Well, these boys, men, They're gonna have to go because
food's running out. They're low on food. And they've
expressed to their dad, Jacob, if we don't bring Benjamin, we're
not gonna see his face. So we've got to bring Benjamin. And though Jacob at first was
adamantly opposed to Benjamin going, Judah, gave himself, pledged
himself as a picture of our Lord for the safekeeping of his younger
brother. He said, I'll be surety for the
lad. If I don't bring him back, I'll
bear the shame forever. And you know, as a beautiful
picture of our Lord, our Lord did not fail. that I came to do the work of
him that sent me. And he finished the work. He
is now at the right hand of the glory on high, the majesty on
high. And so, pledging himself, knowing the
dire need of the food, that weighing on Jacob, gonna go ahead and
send the boys, Benjamin included, because the possibility of them
starving, his family starving, that was, it was laid. I want
you to turn to Lamentations 4, Jeremiah Lamentations, the trial. He loved that boy. He loved him. He didn't want
anything to happen to him. Felt he's already lost one boy.
Another boy's back there in Egypt in jail. But the trial of starvation,
the famine was sore in the land. And there's a picture of famine
of the word of God that's in this world. It's here, but it's
scarce. But look what Lamentations 4,
this was the trial of this dad. Lamentations 4, verse 9. They that be slain with a sword
are better than they that be slain with hunger. For these
pine away, Margin says, flow out, stricken through for want
of the fruits of the field. You know, it's not that men that
die of, by the sword are better off in respect to their state
of being dead, but those that die by the sword according to
scriptures are better off because the manner of their dying. They die and feel less than that
lingering hunger. They starve to death in a gradual,
in a painful way. But oh, the pain that's known
by a believer if he's not able to continually hear and feast
upon the word of God. Now, I'll give you a little illustration
here. Whenever we have snow days, just
a day, it's just a day, right? No, it was the Lord's day. And I know that the Lord sends
the snow. I know that the Lord sends the weather. I know that.
And I know that if the roads are slick, you know I'm gonna
call you and I'm gonna say we're gonna hold off. But I am in a
state of depression for the rest of the day, and you are too. You're like a fish out of water.
It's just, it's different. It's different not being able,
you know. Now, men, women that leave this world, men and women
are born in this world, and they are born dead to the things of
God, spiritually. They fell in the garden just
like Adam did, ruined. And they have no knowledge, no
need of the bread of heaven. They're going to suffer later,
but they have no need Now, they will experience that indescribable
pain of having left this world without the Lord Jesus Christ,
but right now they see no reason for it. With the impartation
of a new heart, when the Spirit of God comes and crosses the
path of one of the vessels of God's mercy, Gives them light. Gives them a knowledge of Christ.
Gives them a knowledge of the redemption by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Having taken their guilt. Paid
their debt before God's law. Answered every demand for God's
law against them. Then they know something about
even those times of not being able to feast upon the gospel. Resting in Christ. But though
that pain of not hearing the gospel is painful, while it's
painful, here's what he's going to do. He's going to do everything
that he can to get to where it is. He must hear the truth. And though Israel, Jacob, he
was a man that was suffering Son going, this was a man that
had wrestled with God. He had wrestled with the Lord.
He knew the joy of bowing to the will of the Lord. The Lord
had touched the hollow of his thigh. He limped. He limped for
the rest of his life, remembering, remembering, I'd met with God.
And having met with the Lord, he knew this was the will of
the Lord. He that worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Benjamin, and we pick up right
here where we left off. I ended with verse 10 last time. I'm gonna try to do 11 to 14
today. Here's what happened. And their
father Israel said unto them, if it must be so now, do this. I mean, I can read those words
and it's just, he's hurting, he's hurting. What if something
happens to Benjamin? But if it must be so, if the
man will not, if you'll not see his face unless Benjamin comes,
if it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits in the
land in your vessels. Carry down the man a present.
Little balm, little honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, almonds. You know, in his submission,
his submission to the Lord. That's a believer. God's people,
they bow, they bow their heart, they bow their knee before the
Lord, if it must be so. If he's got to go, when you go,
I want you to take the man a little gift and give him Some of these, give him some
fruits, some gum that comes out of a tree, and give him some
honey, spices. Those nuts there, some pistachio. Everybody see that those nuts,
he was talking about pistachio. Just bring him some things. Bring
him this little package from me and bring it to him as a token
of my appreciation You know, and as I considered that little
small gift, it was just, I don't know how much it was, just bring
him, it said, you know, take the best that we got, take the
best we got, and bring it to the man and give it to him. We're
gonna see if he's gonna bring the money too, but give him a
little something extra. Would you do that for me? And
I got to thinking about that little, I mean, it was just some nuts.
It was just some nuts and a little bit of gum and some spices, some
things to make some perfume. And here he was gonna give this
man the best that he had. And I think, here's Israel. He's hungry, he's running out
of food, his family's not gonna have anything to eat. He's gotta
give up his boy, let him go with him. And here he is sending the
best that he could offer. He did what he could. He did
what he could. Just a few little old things.
And here's these gifts being brought to this man. before whom they're going to
have to stand. This man had seconded command only to Pharaoh. This man that had, humanly speaking,
everything that a human's heart could desire. And let me ask
you this. Those few gifts that he was seeing,
a few nuts, I think Joseph couldn't get some nuts if he wanted them,
some spices. What do you think that those
few gifts would add to Jacob's, I mean, Joseph's wealth? What
would those few things, probably a little old sack or something
like that, what do you think that would add to Joseph's wealth? He's sitting there over the house
of Pharaoh. Everybody that wanted anything
to eat, you gotta go see Joseph. Go see this man. What do you
think that's gonna add? But how do you think Joseph felt,
would feel, when he realized that those few things, those
nuts, the spices, the balm, What do you think that that would
do to his heart when he realized these were sent to me by my dad
that thinks I'm dead? And here I am, here he is, he's
starving. And he's doing all he can. Do
you realize what that would do to that boy's heart? And for
Jacob, Israel, Here he was, he's gonna send this little care package
to this mighty, powerful man that's in Egypt and never knew,
he never knew the wealth, had no conception of what Joseph
was worth. Here's Joseph that knows, Jacob
doesn't. Jacob's doing what he can. The issue was, who was sending
it? Him. You can't see it unless you're
Gary, Ruthie, Rochelle. This is a coffee cup that was
made by my little granddaughter, Amber. She was second, third
grade. And she knows that Papa liked
coffee. And so one day when I was in
Tennessee, we went back, Glenda and I had been married a couple
of years, and I got to their house and she handed me this
cup. And she said, Papa, I made you this cup. If you try to pour
coffee in this cup, it's gonna run out of this hole right here.
Not going to hold coffee, I can tell you that. But you know what that coffee
cup's worth to me? You can't buy it. You can't buy
it. You know why? Because who gave
it to me? This little girl right here.
Here was Jacob sending all he had. This is what he could do.
Send this, take this to this man. And they took that little
bit. Let me ask you something. Whenever
we consider what the Lord has done for us, turn with me to
Psalm 116, Psalm 116, verse 12. Think about what the Lord, I
just contemplate what the Lord has done for us. I can't even
imagine. I cannot imagine bearing my guilt, redeeming me by His
precious blood, robing me in His righteousness, living in me by His Spirit. What can I do for Him? Psalm
116 verse 12. What shall I render unto the
Lord? For all His benefits toward me, I'll take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all His people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord,
truly I am Thy servant. I am Thy servant and the son
of Thine handmaid Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence
of all His people. What can I give to the Lord? What can I give to the Lord to
add to His glory? Nothing. What can I give unto
the Lord that would make him greater, magnified. What will
I render unto the Lord? I'm gonna thank him. I'm gonna
thank him. And for all that thank him, that's
been given a heart to thank him, it's who's thanking him. It's
those that he's everlastingly loved. It's those that he's borne
their guilt. It's those for whom He laid down
His life, those that He came into this world and suffered
and suffered, doing the will of God, the Father. It's who's
asking Him. Consider that prayer the other
day when you pray into your closet, shut the door. Call on the Lord, and the Lord
who hears in secret, He hears, He hears. He actually hears when
we pray. Because it's his children. It's
his bride. It's his bride. Whenever I hear, I hear Glenda.
Now I can always hear this part of it. Marvin, I hear that part
of it. Now the rest of it I can't understand.
I have to go back to the other end of the house and listen to
what she said. But when she calls, I know her voice. That's her. That's my wife. It's who's calling
me. If I don't recognize the name,
if I don't recognize the phone number, somebody, I'm not going
to answer the phone. But if that phone rings, if my phone rings
and it says home, I'm going to answer that one. It's who's calling. So here's Jacob. And he sent these boys. He sent what he had, and they've
gone, and they're going to go back. have to go back to the
man and see the man concerning the food. Verse 12, it says,
he told him, he said, take double money in your hand and the money
that was brought again in the mouth of your sack, carry it
again in your hand per adventure. It was an oversight. Maybe it
was an oversight. Maybe that money just, I don't
know how all that money got in there. Perhaps it was an accident,
you know, oversight on somebody's part. He first considered that
money, be that which was done by malicious
intent. Maybe, oh, he's going to pick
a fight with us. But now he looks on the matter
with a new eye. Again, his heart's been turned
to let Benjamin go. And Jacob's like all of us. You know, often we jump to the
wrong conclusion. We fail to remember that he who
rules in heaven and earth gonna do right, and that all things
work together for good to them that love God. He said, if it's
gotta be so, take this and go take your money, take the money
with you, take double money. Could have been an oversight.
And you know, those that strive after peace, Maybe it was an
oversight. Striving for peace, showing kindness
to those with whom we have to deal because the Lord's shown
us kindness. When we get to a point where
we're just haughty and high-minded, think about what he's done for
us, where he took us out of. He'd send his sons with Benjamin,
trusting the Lord with all of his heart. Proverbs 3, 5, and
6 said, leaning not, upon his own understanding, in all of
his ways, acknowledging him. The Lord is gonna direct his
path. And then verses 13, 14. Take
also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man, and God
Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away
your other brother and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children,
This is where I got my name, put the title right here, when
I said, God's will be done. He said, if I'm going to be bereaved
of my children, I'm bereaved. But he said, I'm going to send
the boy. I'm going to send him. What a settled peace is found
when the Lord gives a heart that is made to bow to his will and
his purpose. The heart rejoices. We struggle
with our flesh, there's no doubt about it. We have a heart that
is full-headed against our new man, against the will of God.
But by the grace of God, that sin's not gonna have dominion
over us. God's people are gonna bow, we're gonna bow. He said,
if I'm gonna be bereaved, I'll be bereaved. Israel's submission
unto the Lord was the evidence of a heart made tender toward
him. How do I know this is so? The
Lord said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. And what's the next
part? And they follow me. They follow
me. He's a shepherd. Do we not, even
while we're found struggling with a flesh desire, for the
Lord's will to be done, don't you? Yes, you do. Yes, you do. This was the blessed heart of
submission that our Lord, our federal head, our submissive
redeemer, declared, turn to Matthew 26. I'm gonna start wrapping
this up. Matthew 26. Now he's preaching, he's praying
here. He's praying on our behalf. He's
praying as one made like unto his brethren. He's praying concerning
the will of the Lord, the will of his Father. He's praying as
the God-man. Man, he's praying as a man in
submission to God. Matthew 26, 36. Then cometh Jesus
with them unto a place called Gethsemane. and saith unto the
disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he
took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began
to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup Pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. This is how he taught his disciples
to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done. Thy will be done. Israel truly,
he's praying for Benjamin's safety, but his prayer is such that he's
content. Now, as his path is crossed by
the instruction, providential direction of the Lord, he said, the Lord's will is gonna
be done. Take him with you. Take these gifts, take him with
you. If I'm bereaved, I'm bereaved, but go get him. I pray God bless
this to our hearts for Christ's sake.