Okay, now we can start. Now we
can start. Turn to Genesis chapter 43. Genesis chapter 43. The name
of the message is back to Egypt. Back to Egypt. We're not doing
a whole lot of review today. We'll just get right to our text.
Genesis chapter 43 verses 1 and 2. And the famine was sore in
the land, and it came to pass when they had eaten up the corn
which they had bought out of Egypt, Their father said unto
them, go again and buy us a little food. So we see right here in
Genesis 43. And remember, I was thinking
about this this morning, that all these things that we've seen
up to this point, and we will see in Joseph's life, have fallen
out for his good and for God's glory. So we've actually had
a glimpse, not only in our own lives of how the Lord's work,
but now we see how the Lord works in an individual's life. And
we can say, he does that in ours too. He does that in ours. It's not always the way we would
think it should be done, and it never usually is. It's usually
a hard way, filled with trials and tribulations, but it's always
a good way. It's always a good way. And we
see here in Joseph's life a glimpse again of an individual saint's
life. And not only are we seeing it
work out for his good and for God's glory, but also God's plan
and his will is being done, being worked out. And so not only is
the blessing for Joseph, but also for his family members too.
for his family members, because we see here, in this verse right
here, that the famine was sore in the land. It's in the land
of Canaan. This is a bad famine. A bad famine. And it came to pass when they
had eaten up their corn, the corn that they got from Joseph,
which they had bought out of Egypt, their father, which is
Jacob, said unto them, go again, buy us a little food. Go get
us some more. Go get us some more. And the
famine again was over the whole land of Canaan. The whole land
of Canaan. And also in all the lands adjoining
that, too. And we know from our studies
that the only place to buy corn was in Egypt. Was in Egypt. And the only person that you
could buy corn from was from Joseph. From Joseph. No corn was sold without him
giving the okay. He's now prime minister over
all of Egypt. In verse 2 we see that once again
Jacob and his family find themselves in a dire situation. They're
in a dire situation that required immediate attention. They had
eaten up all the corn which they had received from Joseph when
they last went to Egypt. Now remember that would feed
all the grandchildren, all the children of the brothers, the
animals as well that they had. So it didn't take long for that
corn to get eaten up, beloved. And Jacob and his family, what
would be the eventual end? They'd starve to death if they
didn't get more corn. They'd starve to death. And the
only place, again, that they could get it from was from the
storehouses down in Egypt. And the only person they could
get it going through is Joseph, again, who's a type of Christ.
The only way to get the bread from heaven is through Christ
and Christ alone. No other way. No other way. And
so Jacob says to his sons, go again and buy us food. And we
see that the famine has increased more and more in the land of
Canaan, in surrounding countries, because the famine was sore in
the land, which means there was a great increase of the famine. It was a bad one. It was a bad
one. And this is the reason, we see
the reason and the necessity of Jacob Jacob's sons taking
the second journey into Egypt. And remember again, all this
is falling out according to the will and purpose of God. It's
all falling out according to his will and purpose. We must
never forget that. Let's continue to read here.
In chapter 43, verses 3 to 5, And Judas spake unto him, saying,
The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not
see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send
our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But
if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. For the man
said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother
be with you. So we see here in verse 3 of
Genesis chapter 43 that this time it's Judah speaking. This
time it's not Reuben, it's Judah this time speaking. And we will
see as we go through this study today why it was Judah speaking. This is all arranged by the sovereign
will and purpose of God. The reason will be made abundantly
clear In verse 9, look at this. I will be surety for you. Surety. Who's our surety, beloved? Our surety is Christ. Our surety
is Christ. Judah. Now let's go back to our
text. Judah and his brothers, they
knew that it was sure death for them if they went down to Egypt
without Benjamin. And they told their father twice now. They
told him twice what the ruler of Egypt had said to them. He
said, you shall not see my face except your brother be with you.
And so they're trying to tell their dad that if you don't send
Benjamin with us, we will not see that ruler's face. We will
not see his face. And oh, how this pictures the
fact, beloved of God, that we will not see the face of God
except through Christ. Except through Christ. The only
way we can see the face of God, the only way we can see is through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's our brother too, isn't He? He's
not just our Savior, He's our brother. He's bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, beloved. And so we're taught of God this
wondrous truth, that our only acceptance, our only access to
God the Father is in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. So again,
what a picture we have here before us. And we see in verses 4 and
5 that Judah said to his father, if thou wilt send thy brother
with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt
not send him, we will not go down. Because you know why Judah
said that, and his brothers said that? Because they knew it was
a fruitless situation if they went down there without Benjamin. They wouldn't even be able to
see the face of Joseph, let alone get any corn. It had been absolutely
fruitless for them. So now Judah and his brothers
are in the same dire situation as Jacob was in. They're without
food, and if they don't go down to Egypt, they're going to perish. And again, Joseph is the one
who has all the corn, right? What happens to a sinner who's
not in Christ? They perish. They perish in their
sins. He's the bread alive, beloved.
He's the bread alive. We only have salvation in and
through Him. Only in and through Christ and
Christ alone. So Judah and his brothers knew
that they were in the same dire situation that Jacob was in.
Without food, they'd die. And they knew that a trip without
Benjamin to Egypt, again, was absolutely fruitless. it wouldn't
accomplish anything. Because Joseph had made it clear
to them that if they did not bring their brother, Benjamin,
they would not see his face. They would not see his face.
Look at verse six. And Israel said, wherefore dealt ye so ill
with me as to tell the man whether ye had a brother? Why did you
tell him he had a brother? Well, because he asked them. And we see here in our position
that Jacob's in no position to argue the truth. He can't argue
the truth of what they've told him. Judah had put this truth
before him. And we see that instead of recognizing
the sovereign providential hand of God that he was experiencing,
he struck out instead at his sons, blaming them for the situation. Blaming them for the situation.
Blaming them for the distress that was upon him. Accusing them
of not accusing them of dealing treacherously with him. But beloved
God, we should never do this. We, as the people of God, should
never do this. It's natural for us to do this. It's always natural for us to
blame others. It is. That's the first thing. Don't forget, even though we're
saved sinners, it's still natural for us to blame others, instead
of taking ownership of the situation. And He struck out at His sons
here. And let us remember that the
sons are but the second cause of the troubles that He's facing.
Right? They're second causes. God's
the first cause of all things, isn't He? He's not the author
of evil. He allows men to do what they
will. Jacob's going through this situation
because it's the will of God for him to go through it. That's
why. Look back on our lives. Look
back on the things that we went through where God's brought us
to at this point. All those things occurred in
our lives, just like this is happening to Jacob and Joseph.
All those things, even the paint, the most painful situations.
Occurred. by the will and purpose of God.
We're being conformed to the image of the Son, Lord. And our
suffering, I know our suffering's real and I'm not negating our
suffering, I'm not at all. Because everything we go through
is real. But when we put it beside what Christ suffered, oh my,
what did our Savior suffer through? But I in no way negate our feelings
because I'll tell you what, we've all been through some extremely
painful situations. We cry out to God saying, why
Lord is this happening? And it's the hardest thing for
us just to rest, isn't it? Just to trust in Him. It's hard. Let's be honest. But He's always proved Himself
faithful every single time. Just like he's going to do here. He says, I'll never leave you.
Hold this close to your heart, beloved. I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Never, not ever, ever in the
Greek triple negative. Never, never, not ever. Never. That's how much our Lord loves
us. And he's ever with us, beloved. He's ever with us. So may our
great sovereign almighty God help us to recognize His sovereign
providential hand in what we experience in this life. And
let us be quick to remember that the government is upon His shoulder.
It's on His shoulder. On the shoulder of Jesus Christ
our Lord. Which means He is the supreme governor, not only in
our lives, not only in our individual lives, but in all that happens
in the whole universe. He governs and rules over all.
Now what does he have to do for a man to do evil and to be sinful?
Just leave him alone. Just leave him alone. He's used
evil kings to work out his will and purpose. It's incredible. He just has to leave him. But
remember, the heart of the king is like water. And I was looking that up this
week. You know what it says? Because I was thinking about
doing a sermon on Proverbs 21, a double one this week. You know
how it says that he moves that water whatsoever he wills? In
Proverbs 21.1, the heart of the king is in his hands. I was looking
that up and that pertains to in Egypt when they would use
the Nile and bring the waters of the Nile in and they would
have it go wherever they wanted it to go. And a lot of them did
that. to keep their land fertile that
live closer to the oceans and closer to the water. They would
steer the river water to go wherever they wanted to go. That's what
that means. He just steers the heart of the
king wherever he wants to go. Look at Pharaoh. Look what happened
to Pharaoh. He says, for this purpose, I've
raised you up. Mine. He does whatever he pleases. And that's our Savior. That's
our God. That's our God, beloved. Oh,
what a mighty God. He's the only one true God. And
He rules over all. And all of God's enlightened
children, born again, confess that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign
Lord, Supreme Commander, Lord of all. We confess that. And
we profess that. Whether people believe it or
not, it's true. It's true. And we who are the
born-again, blood-washed saints of God believe what the Scriptures
say. We believe what the Scriptures say, don't we? I love this Scripture
here. You don't have to turn there,
but if you want to, Daniel 4.35. I love this Scripture. Oh my, it just,
it just, it proclaims what we profess, beloved. Daniel 4.35,
it says this. This is truth. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. I talked to a fellow this week
and I said to him, I said, God doesn't need us. He doesn't need
us. But we're privileged that he
uses us. But he doesn't need us. But he
uses us because we're his people and he loves us. And the gospel
goes forth by his almighty power. But he uses means, doesn't he?
The preaching of the gospel, the drawing his people. But look
at this, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will. There's no mention of man's
will there. His will, God's will. Where? In the army of heaven. So that
means among the angels, all the principalities and powers, everything. And among the inhabitants of
the earth, that means everybody upon this earth. Everyone. He's
Lord over the living and the dead. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of earth. And
look at this, and none can stay his hand. No one can stop him.
So we see here in Joseph, in Jacob's life, no one can stop
his will from being accomplished. No one. And no one can say to him, what
are you doing? Why are you doing this? Why are
you doing this? No one can say that. He needs
no counselors. Presidents and rulers of this
earth, they have counselors with them and he has no counselors
at all. None. That's our God, beloved.
That's our God. And by God's grace and mercy,
we believe that and we submit to that truth. There was a time
when I did not believe that. I didn't believe it at all. I
didn't believe it at all when I was in my natural state. I
didn't believe it at all even when I was in my religious state.
I thought, well, surely it's man's will. No. No. Think of this, too. And I
want us to really think about it. Man's will is the same as
the heart of the king in the Lord's hands. What's he
do? He makes the one going this way
away from God. and he makes them well and then
they run to God, don't they? Just like water in his hands,
beloved, you're going this way now. And we rejoice. And we believe these wonderful
truths that we just read there in Daniel 4.35. We rejoice in
these truths, we submit to the truth of the scriptures. Let's
go back to Genesis 43, we'll read verse seven. And they said,
the man asked us, straightly of our state and of our kindred,
saying, is your father yet alive? And have ye another brother?
So Jacob was like, why did you tell him? And they're going to
explain here. Because he asked of your state,
and then he asked if we have another brother. And we told
him, according to the tenor of these words, could we certainly
know that he would bring would that he'd say bring your brother
down so they don't even have a clue it's joseph joseph knows
who the other brother is it's it's the brother that came from
the same mother as he did and he loves his little brother
he wants to see him again but they don't have any idea and
all this again is working out according to the purpose and
will of god So we see all the sons of Jacob, probably speaking
in turn, gave the same report to their father. They proclaimed
that the Lord of the land was straightforward with them when
he questioned them. And he even seemed concerned
about us, asking of our state. They probably were a little shocked
that why would this ruler be asking us, you know, is your
father still alive? Do you have another brother?
But they proceeded to tell him that they were all the sons of
one man. And then he asked if our father was living. And they
said, yeah, he's living. And they had another brother.
He asked if they had another brother. And they proclaimed, yes, I have
another brother. But how could they have known that Joseph was
going to say, bring that brother down or you'll not see my face?
They had no clue. They didn't know that that was
going to happen. Let's read verses 8 to 10. And Judah said unto
Israel, His father, send the lad with me, and we will arise
and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and
also our little ones. I will be surety for him of my
hand, shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.
For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned the second
time. Look at verse 8 here. We see
in verse 8 that Judah reasoned with his father, and he did it
respectfully. It was probably in such a way
that Jacob could find no reason to turn a deaf ear to his request. And Judah was saying to his father,
we have to go down to Egypt. We have to. There's no other
place. There's no other place to buy
food. And he says, I know you're worried about Benjamin, you're
worried that he's going to die along with the rest of us, but
if we don't go, we're going to die anyways, and he will die
too. So, and then he says that if
we had not lingered, we would have been able to go and return
by now and already have the food. The food that was necessary for
our survival. But note in verse 9, Judah does
something that confirms that this was all ordained by God.
He says something here. And he's the spokesman of them
right here. He says, I will be surety for
him of my hand shall thou require him if I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then thou shall then let me bear the
blame forever. Judah proclaims here, I will
be surety for who? For Benjamin. for Benjamin. And of my hand shalt thou require
him, if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee,
and bear the blame forever. So in this respect, Judah here
typifies the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our blessed surety. He's our surety. And our Lord
proclaimed, what's one of the titles of our Lord? Oh, I love
this title. He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. That's his name, that's one of
his names, beloved. He's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. And our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah. Therefore,
it was providentially arranged for Judah to be the spokesman.
For him to declare that he would be surety for Benjamin. Surety
for Benjamin. And we know the word of God plainly
declares the doctrine of unconditional election. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
while he was on this earth, He stated many times that His Father
had given Him a people. Right? He'd given Him a people.
And His sheep were promised to Him in the eternal covenant of
grace, conditioned upon what our Lord Jesus Christ would do
for them. And brethren, our Lord Jesus Christ, He met all the
conditions of the eternal covenant of grace. He met them all in
our place. And He honored the whole law
in our place. He honored the law of God in
our place. He established, He alone established a perfect righteousness
for all His elect. And brethren, the law of Moses
has no claim on God's children now, because He fulfilled the
law in our place. In our place. And then the God-man laid down
His life, and when He did it, He reconciled us to God. He's
our surety, beloved. He's our surety. The eternal
God-man, the Son of God. He's risen from the grave. He
was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. And because our Lord met all
the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace, He's right
now seated at the right hand of glory. Right now. Right now,
seated at the right hand of glory. The majesty on high. And He's
a representative of all His chosen blood-bought people. He's our
surety. He's our surety, beloved. And we've been made to sit in
heavenly places in Him. In Hebrews 7.22, we read that
Jesus was made, turn now if you would, Hebrews 7.22. Hebrews
7.22. Hebrews 7.22. Look at this. By so much was
Jesus made a surety of a better testament. He's the guarantor. He's the surety of a better testament. Oh, of a better covenant. The eternal, everlasting covenant
of grace. He's the surety. He's the guarantor.
And Judah said to his father here, if I bring him, Benjamin,
not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame
forever. In our text. That's what he says. Think of this, if Jesus Christ
does not bring all those who were promised to him by God the
Father, and set them before him, he will bear the blame forever.
But we know, we know from scripture, that he will not lose one. Every
single one who was given to Christ by the Father in eternity shall
come to Christ, shall be saved forever. Forever. Now I've recently talked to someone
and they said, well, what if I cry out to God and I'm not
one of the elect? Let me tell you this, you'll
never cry out to God unless you're one of his people. See, they make election a stumbling
block. They make election a stumbling block. No, don't make election
a stumbling block. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. Christ will never turn away one
who cries out to Him. Not one. And the only ones who
will cry out to Him are the ones who are made willing in the day
of His power. And it's absolutely amazing. It's absolutely, and
the believer for the rest of his life on this earth, or her
life, is in awe of what the Lord's done. In absolute awe of what
the Lord's done for them. There's no possibility that Christ
will ever lose one. No. He's God. And He cannot fail. He cannot fail. That's what the
scriptures declare in Isaiah. He cannot fail. He shall not
fail. Everyone for whom he died for
and bled on that cross for will come to him Welcome and he will
present us one day Sinners that we are Faultless before his throne
with exceeding joy It'll bring him great joy to present his
blood-bought bride to the father In an incredible it's absolutely
incredible In John 6.37, our Lord said, All that the Father
giveth me, right? And remember, a number that no
man can number. There is a set number, but it's
a number that no man can number. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. How can He say that? Because
He's God. He's God incarnate in the flesh. And he's sent to
this earth to redeem his people from their sins. And he says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Hallelujah. I will
not cast you out. Well, for this old sinner, that's
wonderful news. And I know it's so for you if
you're saved. That's absolutely wonderful news.
He said, I'll never cast you away. That's glorious. That's absolutely
glorious. And it's Christ who laid down
His life for His sheep. It's Christ who seeks His lost
sheep. We don't seek Him, He seeks us.
And it's Christ who will bring all of His sheep to glory, every
single one of them. In John 10, verses 27 to 30,
He says, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. They follow
Me. And I give unto them eternal
life. There's the giver of eternal life. not man's will is so bound
to sin and to our dead nature, we'd never come to Christ. He
says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Hallelujah, what a wonderful
word. Never perish, never. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which giveth me is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Now take note of that,
no man, is able to pluck us out of His hand. That includes ourselves. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. And so now it's the love of Christ
that constrains us from sin. Right? My oh my. We're new creatures
in Christ. So Judah typified Christ our
surety when he spoke these words, I will be surety for him of my
hand shalt thou require him if I bring him not unto thee and
set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Now surety,
surety is defined as this, a person who makes himself responsible
for another. A person who makes himself responsible
for another. Think of that. Christ has made
himself responsible for us. We who are his people. And then
it goes on to say, one who makes liable for another's debts. Defaults or obligations. Everything
that God required, that's why we always say as gospel preachers,
everything that God required, Christ fulfilled in our place. Everything that God required
for us, Christ did it all. What a savior. What a Redeemer. He's the surety. The believer
says, Christ is my surety. Oh, and God the Father, in the
covenant of grace, gave His elect to Christ. He entrusted them
to His care. Think of that. If you're a believer,
you were entrusted to the care of Christ from eternity. I was just talking to a young
fellow yesterday on the phone and just a young fellow, 24 years
old. Looks like the Lord may be calling
him to preach. I don't know, maybe. But he's over there with
Joe Terrell. And him and I were talking about,
because he was saved later in life too, and I was saved later
in life, and we were just talking about how all those things, the
Lord just let us go through all that stuff. And by His sovereign
grace, He saved us. Saved us out of all that stuff.
Forgiven for it all. All of it. And then we were talking
about how His love has been set upon us from eternity. From eternity,
the Lord. from eternity. And here we see
in this that we were entrusted to the care of the Lord Jesus
Christ from eternity. And then he voluntarily agreed
to become responsible for all the elect's welfare. He did it. He willingly. By his own willful choice, the
son of God, agreed to become liable to God's holy law for
the debts and obligations of his elect he became surety for
his people the sinless one dies for sinners the just one dies
for the unjust amazing grace simply amazing grace and therefore
in the fullness of time he came into this world at the exact
appointed time of God he came into this world as a man made
of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. And our blessed church, he lived
in this world as a representative of his people. Think of that
too, as you read the scriptures, as you read what the Lord done,
bring it home and think, he was my representative when he was
doing that. That's amazing. Bring it
right home. He was a representative of his
people, fulfilling their obligations to God's law, establishing in
their place a perfect righteousness. And then he laid down his life
as our substitute at Calvary's cross. That's what our mighty
surety did. He laid down his life. Paying in full the debt
we owed to God's holy law. See, he's our surety. He's our
surety. And we owe that debt by reason
of our sin. Because every one of us is born
sinners. So we owe the debt. He paid it all. Jesus paid it
all. That's a wonderful song, isn't
it? He did. He paid everything God demanded for my soul. And
if you're a believer, he paid everything God demanded for your
soul. It's just incredible. And now our surety reigns on
the right hand of God, right now, in majesty on high, over
all flesh. And he gives eternal life to
as many as he's pleased to give it to. To those he died as surety
for. Hallelujah, what a Savior, what
a Savior. Heavenly Father, again we thank
Thee for the wonderful truth contained in Thy Scriptures.
Oh, the fact that You are sovereign over all, over all, over every
situation in my life and over every situation in all the inhabitants
of the earth, oh Lord. You ever watch over, ever watch
over Your people. Even before we knew Thee, when
we were shaking our fist at Thee, by our actions and in our minds,
yet your love is set upon your people from eternity. Oh my,
oh my. What a savior, Lord. What a redeemer
you are. We pray you use these messages
to draw on your lost sheep, if it be thy will, oh Lord, and
we will be quick, quick to give you all the glory, honor, and
praise in Jesus' name.