You don't have to turn with me
in your Bibles. I just want to read one verse from Psalm 39
verse 4. Lord, make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail
I am. That's our prayer this morning.
Lord, make me to know my end. Make me to know the number of
my days. make me to be reminded of how frail I am, how dependent
I am. We've had a couple of near-death
experiences in our fellowship. Just then, Robert was telling
me this morning how the Lord had given him a few more days,
and he wanted to take full advantage of them. And Brother Bert's glad
to have you back with us. Bert was in a bad car accident,
broke his sternum, but he's here now with us this morning. So,
Lord, make me to know my end. Make me to know the number of
my days, that I may know how frail I am. We are so frail. May the Lord be pleased to remind
us of that this morning. Tom's gonna come lead us in number
232, when I see the blood, when I see the blood. Let's stand
together. This hymn isn't in our music
box, so we'll sing it a cappella. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle yourself
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood When I see
the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass over
you Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will save, All He has promised
that He will do. Wash in the fountain, open for
sin, And I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will
pass over you. Judgment is coming, all will
be there, each one receiving justly his due. Hide in the saving, sin-cleansing
blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. O great compassion, O boundless
love, O loving kindness, faithful and true. Find peace and shelter
under the blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Please be seated. Good morning. It's so good to
be here. For our call to worship, could
you turn to 2 Samuel 9, verse 1. 2 Samuel 9, verse 1. I just want to thank my brothers
and sisters this morning for your love and kindness, for the
light affliction that the Lord purposed. Y'all are so special,
thankful, most especially for your prayers. I know our Lord
delights in the prayers of his saints because he presents them
perfect to the Father for his sake, for Christ's sakes. Every
time I read this passage or hear it preached, I can't think of
how reminded of our frailty, Greg, of Mephibosheth. So I pray
the Lord would comfort us again this morning that he is faithful
to hide our crippleness with his righteousness. Verse 1. And
David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of
Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there
was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when
they had called him unto David, King said unto him, Art thou
Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, Where is he? And Zibus said unto the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Makir, the son of Amiel, in Lodabar,
a place of no bread. And King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makir, the son of Amiel from Lodabar.
Now, when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,
was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, Behold, thy servant. And David said unto
him, Fear not. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually." And he bowed himself and said, and this is what every
believer God, by grace, has turned a mercy beggar. What is thy servant
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? And the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. Thou, therefore,
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him,
and thou shall bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth thy master's
son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen
sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. And for Mephibosheth said, as
for Mephibosheth said the king, he shall eat at my table as one
of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young
son, his name was Micah, and all that dwelt in the house of
Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,
for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame. on both his feet. May the Lord
feed us that living bread this morning. Let's ask him to bless
this word. Lord, I'm thankful for Christ's
sake. You are pleased this morning once again to gather your people
that we may feast upon the living bread, our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how we are in desperate need,
Lord, of you showing us mercy this morning. Lord, that we will
never grow tired of pleading. Lord, what would thou have to
do with a dead dog as I? I pray that you would, once again,
through the means of your preaching, remind us that Christ is all
and is in all, and that everything is for his sake. Lord, for his
sake, now would you come and speak to our hearts. And for
Christ's sake, Lord, would you give us faith, enable us to worship. We plead with you to forgive
us of our sins, Lord, We come from a dry and thirsty land seeking
to be fed. Oh Lord, would you do that this
morning by your Holy Spirit? Thankful for your grace. I'm
thankful for the light afflictions you send our way. For Lord, we
know it's by your hand for our good and to your glory. So Lord, we ask that you would
enable us to glorify you this morning. Oh, be with our brother
this morning as now. the word and the message you've
given him. Pray now it come to life for these dead souls. For we ask it in Christ's name
and for his sake. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The
hymn on the back of your bulletin. O Lord, come down and fill this
place with blessed tokens of Thy grace. These walls we to Thy honor raise. Long may they echo with Thy praise. Here may our great Redeemer reign
With all the glory of His train While power divine His Word attends
To conquer foes and cheer His friends Great God, attend while
Zion sings The joy that from Thy presence springs To spend
one day with Thee on earth Exceeds a thousand days of mirth Now
let the feeble all be strong, And make Jehovah's love their
song. His wings are spread o'er every
saint, And the supported who shall faint. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Genesis chapter 30? Genesis chapter 30. Sinners never graduate above
being a sinner. The scripture says, As you received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. How did you receive
Him? If you received Him, you received
Him as a sinner. Unworthy and unable, completely
dependent upon Him with no goodness whatsoever in yourself. If you've graduated beyond that,
then I fear you need to go back and re-evaluate whether or not
you received Him. Because Christ came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. Now
sometimes people will read the Old Testament stories of the
blessings of God, particularly in relationship to posterity. The Lord gave a large number
of children to some particular man, Jacob or Job, or they'll
read stories about the blessings of God when it comes to possessions. The story of Job begins with
Job having all these things, camels and sheep and oxen, and
then God takes them all away and then the Lord restores them
twofold at the end. Or they'll read stories in the
Old Testament about the blessings of God when it comes to position.
The Lord will give certain individuals positions of authority as a symbol
of their blessing. You don't read any of those things
in the New Testament. The Old Testament is written
in types and shadows. God doesn't change. I'm just
saying that those things that the Lord blessed his people with
were symbols and signs of the real blessings that come when
the Spirit of God. Some of God's choices, servants
have never had children, never had the first child, never owned
anything. And never had any position of
authority in the world and yet blessed, blessed of God. All the blessings of God are
in Christ. In Christ. And all the promises
of God are yea and amen in Him. What I'm trying to say to you
is don't evaluate God's blessings on your life by posterity, or
by possession, or by position. People in the world do that.
Oh, look, God's blessed them. Look at what they've got. Look
at that. No. The blessings of God are
spiritual. They're the blessings Christ
in the heart And so when we read these Old Testament stories,
here's my here's my text Here's my text Genesis chapter 30 and
I titled the message Wednesday night the same thing. I'm titled
it this morning. This is part two Wednesday night we related
it to Isaiah chapter 54 the barren woman being blessed of God And
here I want to try to relate Rachel's cry to her two sons. Alright? So when Rachel saw that
she bared Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. You remember when Jacob went
to stay with Laban and he met Rachel and he fell in love with
Rachel and wanted Rachel to be his wife and Laban deceived him
by giving him Leah and then Rachel becomes his wife also. Well,
now Leah has been producing children. She's been bearing children and
Rachel's been barren and Rachel's jealous of her sister. And again,
this doesn't have anything to do with producing children. This has everything to do with
the spiritual blessing of Christ. Look what Rachel says. Rachel
says, give me children lest I die. Give me children lest I die. Now who were the children of
Rachel? Rachel had two boys. She gave birth to two boys, Joseph
and Benjamin. Joseph clearly throughout all
of his life is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one
character in all the Bible that God doesn't say anything negative
about. And we're going to look at some passages of Scripture
that point to Christ in the life of Joseph. Benjamin is a type
of the church. So here's my hope for us this
morning, is that the Lord will put it on our hearts to cry out
to God and say to him, Put me in Christ, and give me Christ,
and put me in thy church, lest I die. Lest I die. Give me children, lest I die. This is a life and death issue.
This is not just temporal blessings in this world. This is not getting
a better life. This is not having more possessions
or producing more children. This is spiritual life. This is life eternal. I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he be dead, yet shall he live. and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die, shall never die. For I give unto them
eternal life. And this is the record, this
is the record that God has given unto us eternal life, eternal
life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
hath not life. These things I've written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you might
have eternal life. Eternal life. That's our concern. Have you listened to most stuff
that goes on in religion today? It's just all focused on your
temporal life, isn't it? How to be a better person, how
to have more, how to do better, how to I want to be a better
person. I want you to be a better person.
I want to follow after Christ. You know what though? That'll
come if the Lord gives us Christ. If He gives us Christ. Give me children. Give me children. Give me the Lord Jesus Christ.
Give me children lest I die. Now, how is Joseph a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the scripture says of the
Lord Jesus Christ that they hated me without a cause. Joseph was the favored son of
Jacob. And Jacob made for Joseph a coat
of many colors, and the scripture says that his brethren saw him,
and they were jealous of him, and they hated him. They hated
him. That's the same reason that men
hate Christ today. Men hate Christ. They hate the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they love the little Jesus
that they've imagined in their minds, but the Christ of Scripture
men hate. Why do they hate him? Why do
they hate him? They hate him because of his
righteousness. They hate him because, what does that robe
that Joseph wore represent? Well, it represents the same
thing that the fleece that the Lord covered the nakedness of
Adam and Eve in the garden represents. Adam and Eve, desperately attempting
to cover up their nakedness, sewed together fig leaves. That's
all man-made religion is. Man-made religion is man's attempt
to cover his nakedness before God with his own works. And God
had to kill a lamb, and shed blood, take the fleece of that
lamb, and make a covering. A covering for Adam, in order
for Adam to have acceptance with God. In order for his sin to
be taken away, he had to have a coat, didn't he? That's the
picture. That's Joseph's coat. It's the
same as the wedding garment that the king gave to those who came
in to the wedding feast of his son. He puts a wedding garment
on each of them. It's mentioned in the book of
Revelation as the white glistening garment that the saints of God
wore in glory and the scripture says that garment is their righteousness. Men hate the Lord Jesus Christ
the same reason they hated Joseph. They see his garment and they
hate him for it. They're jealous. Men are jealous
of the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness
is the only righteousness that God's pleased with. And men want
to believe that they can add something to what Christ has
done in order to earn favor with God. And they hate a God that
gets all the glory for all their acceptance before God. They hated
me without a cause. Lord, give me Christ lest I die. Give me the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, not that righteousness which is by the
law. Christ Jesus the Lord. Men go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. Why do they do it? Because the
scripture says they are ignorant of the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Or give me Christ. And then the
coat was of many colors. What is that represented of? The scripture says that there's
no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, the bond and
the free, the male and the female, the rich and the poor, The ground
at the foot of the cross is perfectly level. There's absolutely no
difference between one man and another. We must all be saved
the same way. And then God says he has people
of every tribe, and every nation, and every tongue. Why do men
hate Christ? The same reason they hated Joseph.
They saw that robe, and they saw the many colors, and it took
away their righteousness, and it took away their preference,
their advantage. Men want to believe that they
have some advantage over someone else. either by the knowledge
that they've acquired, or by a decision that they've made,
or by work that they perform. Everybody wants to believe that
they've got an advantage over other men. I'm special. I'm special. No, if you're going to be saved,
you're going to have to be saved the same way everyone's saved.
I don't care what kind of life you've lived. I don't care what
you've got. You've got to come to Christ
empty-handed, And he's got to do all the work. But men hate
that gospel. Joseph was falsely accused, wasn't
he? By Potiphar's wife and thrown
into prison. And then he was brought forth
out of prison as the savior for his people. Turn with me to Isaiah. Well, Isaiah chapter 53, turn
with me to Genesis chapter 39. Genesis chapter 39. Isaiah 53
says, he was taken from prison and from judgment, who shall
declare his generation. So just as Joseph was brought
forth out of prison, being put into prison because he was falsely
accused, so the Lord Jesus Christ went into the tomb, falsely accused
by men. but gladly bearing, gladly bearing
before God the burden of the sins of his people. Genesis chapter
39, you have your Bibles open there? Look at verse 22. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. What a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we're in prison. We're
in the prison of our sin. We're under the prison sentence
of death because of our sin. He's got to come into prison.
The gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ goes into
the very pits of hell and takes those who are captive and makes
them captive to himself. And whatsoever is done there,
whatsoever is done there, he is the doer of it. Period. He's done it all. The prison
keeper saw Joseph and he just turned the whole prison over
to another prisoner. To another prisoner. What a glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
41. What did Rachel say? Give me
children lest I die. Who was her first child? Joseph.
Joseph was. Joseph represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Genesis 41 at verse 38. Verse 38. And Pharaoh said unto
his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom
the Spirit of God is? Now you remember what happened,
the butler came out of prison, Joseph had interpreted the butler's
dream, and now Pharaoh had a dream. Seven fat cows, seven skinny
cows, seven years of plenty, seven years of famine, didn't
know what they were, none of the soothsayers, none of the
false prophets could interpret Pharaoh's dream. And so the butler
says, there's a guy in prison who's able to interpret dreams.
And Pharaoh brings him out, and sure enough, Joseph interprets
the dream. We've got one who interprets
all the mysteries of God. All the mysteries. All the mysteries
of scripture, all the mysteries of salvation, all the mysteries
of godliness are bound up in him. And whatever understanding
we have, he's going to give it to us. He's gonna give it to
us. And Pharaoh says, is there anybody
that's got the Spirit of God on him like this man? No, there's
not. There's not. That's why he's
called the Christ. He came in the full power of
the Spirit of God to accomplish the salvation of his people and
to reveal the truth of God in his person and in his work. If
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
verse 39, for as much as God has showed thee all this, there
is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Give me children
or I die. There's none so discreet. All
the wisdom of God. God has made him to be unto us
our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. And all wisdom and all righteousness
and all holiness and all redemption is bound up in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God made him sin, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And here's what Joseph represents.
All these Old Testament characters, all these stories are gospel
stories. They point to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Pharaoh says, Pharaoh in our
story represents God the Father. Notice what's happens verse 40
Thou shalt be over my house and according unto thy word shall
all my people be ruled Only in the throne will I be greater
than thou God has given him preeminence over all things Except he doesn't
have preeminence over the father And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh
took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand,
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain
upon his neck. And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had. And they cried before him, bow
the knee, and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall
no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." And
that's exactly what God the Father said to the Lord Jesus Christ.
No man's going to lift a hand unless you permit it. I'm going
to give you preeminence over everything. Joseph you remember
had the keys to the storehouse and and for seven years he stored
up provision and then at the end of the seven years the famine
starts and the people would begin to get hungry and They have to
they come to Pharaoh and Pharaoh says go see Joseph go see Joseph. He's got the keys You want bread
go see Joseph. Give me children lest I die Go
see Rachel's son He's the only one can help you And by the end
of the seven years of famine, everybody in Egypt had spent
all their money, given away all their land and sold themselves
into slavery. And now everything belonged to
Pharaoh. And that's exactly what's happening
right now. God has made him Lord over the living and over the
dead and everything belongs to God. Everything in the heavens
everything on the earth everything onto the earth Everything is
his he has preeminence Give me Rachel's son Lest I die
it turned with me to Genesis chapter 45 Genesis chapter 45
You remember The famine went all the way up
into Israel, and Jacob and his sons, who think Joseph's dead,
come down to get bread. They hear there's bread in Egypt,
and so they come to Egypt to get bread. Joseph doesn't expose
him, doesn't reveal himself to his brothers. He gives them food,
he knows who they are, they don't know who he is. He sends them
back home. And he says to them, don't come
back without Benjamin. Don't come back without Benjamin.
So now they've come back. And now he's revealed himself
to them in verse three, and Joseph said unto his brethren, I am
Joseph, doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were, you see that word troubled, look it up, it's
the word terrified. They were terrified at His presence. Oh, when the Lord's pleased,
we just bow in total submission. In total submission, it's the
fear of God. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near
to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore
be not grieved nor angry with yourself that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you to preserve life. God sent his
son into this world to preserve life. For these two years hath
famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in which
thou shalt neither be earing nor harvest, and God sent me
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your
lives with a great deliverance. God sent the Lord Jesus Christ
into the world for us and for our children to save our lives
with a great deliverance. And we cry with Rachel, give
me children. Give me Christ, lest I die. I've got to have the Lord Jesus
Christ. I can't settle for a substitute. I've got to have Him. And you'll
find yourself doing exactly what Joseph's brothers did. You'll
find yourself doing exactly what the Egyptians did. You'll bow
to Him and submit to Him and be glad. Be glad for His salvation. Now, when Rachel... Let's go back with me to Genesis
chapter 30. Verse 2, And Jacob's anger was
kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's stead who
hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? You see, nobody can give you
Christ. Nobody can give you children. Am I in God's stead that I can
convince you and open your heart? Make you to be a believer? No.
What was Jacob saying to Rachel? You're going to have to go to
God for that. You're going to have to go to God for that. I
can't help you. Nothing's changed, has it? So she gave him her maid Bilhah. She did the same thing Sarah
and Abraham did, didn't they? Didn't she? We'll help God out. We'll help God out. And so the
handmaiden brings forth children by Jacob, but they're not Rachel's.
They're not Rachel's. Dan and Naphtali are born by
Bilhah, but Rachel's still not satisfied. And Rachel finally bears, look
at verse 23, verse 22, and God remembered Rachel and God hearkened
unto her and opened her womb And she conceived, and she bare
a son, and said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called
his name Joseph, and said, the Lord shall add to me another
son. She named Joseph in hopes of
having another child. Who was her next child? Benjamin. Who is Benjamin a clear picture
of? The church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ came into this
world and did everything he did in order to be able to bear another
son. That's what Joseph's name means. How is it that Benjamin represents
the church? Rachel did give birth to another
child, but she died in giving birth to Benjamin Now some have said well the the
church was birthed on the day of Pentecost Well on the day
of Pentecost may have been when the church took her first breath,
but she was born at Calvary. I She was birthed into this world
through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he bowed his
mighty head and said, it is finished. Father into thy hands, I commend
my spirit. When he prayed to the father
from the cross and said, God forgive them for they know not
what they do. When he bore in his body all
the sins of all of God's people and suffered the full wrath of
God in order to put away those sins once and for all. the church,
Benjamin, was birthed in his death. Genesis chapter 35, verse 18.
Genesis chapter 35, verse 18. And it came to pass as her soul was in departing,
for she died. And she called his name Benoni,
the son of my sorrow." The Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows,
and He bore our griefs and our sorrows. So Rachel names her
second child, which she believed God would give her even at the
birth of Joseph. She names him the son of my sorrows. But then she dies, and Jacob
changes his name to Benjamin, the son of my right hand. And so, the church, the child
of God, the family of God, is the son of his right hand. And he looks at her, and he's
delighted with her. The apostle Paul, the scripture
tells us three times, was of the tribe of Benjamin. Who was
the apostle Paul? He was the apostle to the Gentiles,
wasn't he? He was the one who took the gospel
out into the world. And the Lord establishes and
grows the church through this child of Benjamin. If you look
at a map of the 12 tribes of Israel, you'll see that Benjamin
is the smallest of all the 12 tribes. as far as land mass is
concerned, but guess what city is right in the heart of the
tribe of Benjamin? Jerusalem. Jerusalem was in Benjamin. Jerusalem, the city of peace,
picture of the church, the new Jerusalem that comes down from
heaven in the book of Revelation is a picture of the church. Benjamin clearly is a picture
of Christ. Give me children. What are we asking? Lord, give
me Christ and put me in your church. Put me in your church. Joseph showed kindness toward
his brothers because of Benjamin. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
43. Genesis chapter 43 at verse 14. Now here's Jacob. Jacob thinks
all's like, you want to take Benjamin? He said, I've been
bereaved of Joseph. He said, Simeon is no more. And
now you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against
me. Isn't that the way we feel sometimes? All these things are
against me. No, actually everything was working
out perfect for him. He just couldn't see it. But
he sends Benjamin down. He finally agrees to send Benjamin.
And Genesis chapter 43 at verse 14, 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,
I am bereaved. And the men took that present
and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin. and
rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. And
when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of
his house, bring these men home and slay and make ready for these
men for they shall dine with me at noon. Now, the first time
the boys came down, they weren't allowed in Joseph's home. I can
imagine what Joseph's house looked like. I mean, it was a palace.
He was a prime minister of Egypt, the greatest country in the world.
And when he sees Benjamin, he says, bring him into my house.
They're going to eat at my table. And Joseph showed kindness toward
his brothers for Benjamin's sake. Turn with me to the book of Job,
chapter 42. I want to encourage you in the
burden that you have for your children, for your grandchildren,
for your neighbors, for your loved ones. Because the only hope they have,
the only hope they have of approaching the throne of God is by your
prayers. The boys couldn't come into the
house of Joseph until Benjamin was with him. Look what God says to Job in
Job chapter 42 verse 8. Therefore take unto you now seven
bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up
for yourselves a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray
for you. For him will I accept, lest I
deal with you after your folly, in that you have not spoken of
me in that which is right, like my servant Job did." Now, I know
religious people feign praying. They pretend to pray. But only
those who are in Christ can approach the throne of grace. And we're
told to come before the throne of grace with confidence. Confidence
in that we have acceptance before God in the beloved. Confidence
in that he hears our prayers so that whatsoever we ask of
him, according to his will, he gives them to us. And the Lord said, this I would
have you do. Pray. And make intercession. For those in authority, for kings,
for God would have all kinds of men to be saved. The Lord
uses the prayers of his saints. He bottles them up, the scripture
says, and their sweet-smelling aroma to him. Benjamin had to
be with the boys before they could go into the house of Joseph. Job had to pray for his miserable
comforters in order for them to be forgiven. Moms and dads,
pray. Pray for your children. Pray
for your loved ones. Ask God to have mercy on them.
They don't have access to God. They can't come to God. They
have no way to come to Him until the Lord saves them. And if you
don't have Christ, you've got no hope either. I exhort you, therefore, that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and the giving of thanks be made
unto all men. Pray to the Lord of the harvest,
that he send forth laborers unto the harvest. Say not that there
yet be four months before the harvest, for I tell you the fields
are already white unto harvest. And what did Mordecai say to
Esther? She had to intercede to Ahasuerus
in order to save the Jews. And he said, God raised you up
for this, you know, at this very time. And she said, I've not
been bidden to come into the king's presence. You have. Come
unto me. Come. She went in. What did the king
do? He held out his staff. She had the king's favor, didn't
she? Same thing happens. Joseph showed kindness toward
his brothers because Benjamin was with him. May God be pleased to encourage
us to pray without ceasing, pleading the Lord's mercy and grace towards
our children and our loved ones. Genesis chapter 43 verse 29 And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this
your younger brother whom you spake unto me? And he said, God
be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste, for his
bowels did yearn upon his brother. And he sought where to weep,
and he entered into his chamber and wept there. Look at chapter
45 at verse 14. And he fell upon his brother
Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And look at verse 22 of that
same chapter. To all of them he gave each man
a change of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces
of silver and five changes of raiment. Who did Joseph love? He loved Benjamin, didn't he? You know why the rain falls on
your neighbor's house? Because God sent it for you. The only thing, the only benefits
that this world has, only benefits this world has, are because of
the presence of his church. As soon as the trump of God sounds,
as soon as the archangel cries, As soon as the dead in Christ
are raised and those of us which remain are caught up together
with them in the air, as soon as that happens, fire is coming
upon this earth. God will consume this earth with
fire. This earth has no value whatsoever to God except
that His church lives here. That's it. Oh, but how much he loves his
church. Turn with me to the Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon, chapter 4. Joseph fell on Benjamin's neck
and he wept. And Benjamin fell on Joseph's
neck and they wept. Genesis a song of Solomon chapter
4 look at verse Look at verse 7 Thou art all fair my love there
is no spot in thee When the Lord Jesus Christ looks
at his body and Well, in Ephesians chapter 5, husbands love your
wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,
for no man ever hated his own body, but loveth it and cherisheth
it. Yeah, husbands love your wives,
but that's a picture of Christ and his church. He goes on to
say, I speak of you of a great mystery concerning Christ and
his church. He loves his body. How much do you love your body? You don't want anybody cutting
pieces of it off, do you? You cherish every part of your
body. So the Lord Jesus Christ, he
never hated his own body. He loved it. He cherishes it.
And he looks at his bride and he says, Thou art all fair, my
love. There is no spot in thee. You're
perfect. As he is, so are we in this world. We have the perfect righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he looks at us, he says,
You're perfect. You're sinless. You're sanctified. Look at verse 9 of that same
chapter. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse,
thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes and with one
chain of thy neck. When you go before the throne
of grace and you cry out to God to give you Christ and to give
your loved ones Christ, and you ask Him for His blessings, you
ravish Him with one of your eyes. You ever notice how hard it is
to give full concentration to prayer for any length of time?
The Lord's saying here, you just glance at me in prayer, as half-hearted
as your prayers are, and you ravish my heart every time you
do it. Why? Because you're lovely to
me. You're comely to me. You're my
bride. I love you. Look at verse 10
in the same chapter. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thine ointment than all spices. Now that's the
Lord Jesus Christ talking about his church. Romans chapter eight. Verse 35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Do you see this bond that Joseph
and Benjamin have? And how all the blessings that
Joseph gave to his brothers were because of Benjamin? Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? For it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded Am persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor
depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
Now anytime there's an us there's got to be a them Now I won't
be a part of us Cry with Rachel Give me children
lest I die. I God will answer that prayer.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. The cup, you remember when the
boys came back and they brought Benjamin the second time? Joseph
took Joseph's own cup that he drank his wine out of and he
put it in Benjamin's sack. And he let them just get out
of town and then he sent his servants after him and said,
one of y'all stole my master's cup. And Judah speaks up and
said, we wouldn't have done that. Why would we steal? And Judah
says, let him that you find the cup on be put to death. And they
started with the oldest, and they went through each sack,
and they got down to Benjamin. What did they find in Benjamin's
sack? The cup that Joseph put there. You see, when the Lord Jesus
Christ drank out of that cup, that bitter cup, the cup of God's
wrath, the cup of our sin, that cup that he prayed, Father, if
there be any way this cup can pass from me, let it be nevertheless
not my way. When he drank from that cup, we drank from that
cup. And the death penalty that he got, we got. That's why Paul
said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who both loved me and gave himself
for me. And then Judah has to speak up
and say, I promise to be surety for him. You can't kill Benjamin.
Don't kill Benjamin. Judah steps up and become surety
and tells about him what the promise that he made to his father
and that's when Joseph Just loses it he just loses it he's that's
when he starts weeping and just and Showing mercy towards them
So we've got a surety now. We've got a Benjamin. We've got
a church the cup of God's wrath has been drank dry and Lord, give me Christ and put me in
your church, or I'm going to die. I'm going to die. All that the Father shall give
unto me shall come unto me. And unto him that cometh unto
me I will in no wise cast out. This is the confidence that we
have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth
us. And if we know that He hear us,
whatsoever we ask Him, we know that we have the petition that
we ask of Him. My friends and my brothers and
sisters, I am here to tell you on the authority of God's Word,
it is His will for you to say, give me Christ and put me in
your church, lest I die. And the Lord has promised. You
ask that, He'll answer it. You see, it's easier to have
doctrine than it is to have Christ. It's easier to clean up the outside
of the cup. It's easier for you to clean
up your life. It's easier. For you to reform
your life, to quit doing things you ought not to be doing, start
doing things you ought to be doing, it's easier for you and
me to clean up our lives than it is to have Christ as our life. It's easier to go to church and
to be a part of the visible church than to be in the mystical body
of Christ. It's easier to talk to men about
religion than it is to talk to God about the needs of our soul. Why is it easier? Why is it easier
to have doctrine than Christ? Why is it easier to clean up
your life than it is to have Christ as your life? Why is it
easier to go to church and to join the visible church than
to be a part of the mystical church. Why is it easier to talk
to men about religion than it is to talk to God about the needs
of your soul? Because all those things can
be done in the flesh. You can have doctrine in the
flesh. You can have cleaned up life in the flesh. You can change
your life. People do it all the time. You don't need God to quit doing
some of the things you ought not to be doing. Go get some
therapy. Go join a support group. Go get,
you know, AA. You can quit. You can do it.
People do it all the time. You can do all those things in
the flesh. You cannot have Christ by the power of your will. You
cannot have Christ by the power of your flesh. What did Jacob
say to Rachel when she said, give me children lest I die?
What did he say? Am I God? I can't give you children. God's got to do that. Men can do a lot of things in
the flesh. We're talking about something
that has to be done by the power of God. By the power of God. Oh Lord,
give me children, lest I die. Our Heavenly Father, how hopeful we are that you would
have mercy on our souls, that you would give us Christ and
put us in your church, that we might have the hope of
eternal life. For it's in the name of thy dear
Son that we ask it. Amen. Brother Tom. Number 11. Let's stand together.
Number 11 in the spiral hymnal. With broken heart and contrite
side, O trembling sinner, Lord, I cry, Thy pardoning grace is
richly won. O God, be merciful to me. I smite upon my troubled breast. With deep and conscious guilt
oppressed, Christ and His cross my only plea. O God, be merciful to me. No works nor deeds that I have
done can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I flee. O God, be merciful to me. And when redeemed from sin and
hell, with all the ransomed throng I dwell, my raptured song shall God has been merciful to me.