I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter
42. Genesis 42. Joseph, we looked at last time,
would prove his brethren because he loved them. He loved
them. He's proven them for their sakes,
but for ours too. I read that line again that we
looked at, verse 15, hereby you shall be proved. Turn to 1 Peter
1, 1 Peter 1. Talking about being proven, the
blessing of being proven. 1 Peter 1, verse three to nine. Blessed be the God and Father,
by our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly rejoice. We rejoice, don't you? We rejoice
in God's electing grace, redeeming grace, regenerating grace, keeping
grace, sovereign grace. wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Hear of the Lord, Gonna teach
us something. This chapter, wherever we're
gonna look, I'm gonna look at verses Lord willing 16 to 24
tonight. But this proving the wonderful
way in which the Lord shows his people his mercy. He knows what they're gonna do,
but he proves us. through much tribulation, sent
of the Lord, that we must enter into the kingdom
of God. Turn to Zechariah, just before
the book of Malachi. Zechariah chapter 13. Zechariah
13, verse seven to nine. Zechariah 13. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.
Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will
turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass
that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall
be cut off and die, but the third part shall be left therein. Now bring the third part through
the fire and refine them as silver is refined and will try them
as gold is tried. They shall call on my name. I
will hear them. I will say it's my people. And
they shall say, the Lord is my God. The Lord sends trials to
prove us because We're sinners that need the assurance of his
mercy. He proves us in the midst of
his loving chastisement, though, and here's that line that I was
thinking about just a few minutes ago. He sends this, this sin
that comes, and he's gonna wash it all away and cleanse it. Turn
with me. John 13. I saw something that
was such a blessing to me. Now, you know John 13. You know
that the Lord is teaching his disciples something right here. John 13, verses 1 to 11. Now I'm talking about this cleansing. He sends these trials, he sends
the trials to prove us. He said, I'm gonna try them,
I'm gonna prove them, I'm gonna refine them like silver. I'm gonna try him as gold, but
try it in the fire, proven to be pure. But then he's gonna
comfort us, and he's gonna cleanse us. Listen to this verse. Now, before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should
depart out of the world into the Father, having loved his
own, which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
And supper being ended, the devil had now put into the heart of
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing
that the father had given all things into his hands and that
he was come from God and went to God. He rises from supper,
laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself. After
that, he pours water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'
feet, wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. Then
cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost
thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said
to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean ever with, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew
who should betray him, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. Now, his disciples, his apostles,
save one, All of them but one. He knew,
he knew Judas. He knew who Judas was. He said,
you're all clean. You're spiritually washed. You're clean. Spiritually washed
from the guilt of their sin by the blood of Christ. That blood
that was seen of the Father before the foundation of the world,
that blood which would be soon shed in time. for them at Calvary. Scripture says, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's Hebrews
10, 14. But according to the word of
the Lord, there's another cleansing that is needed, a cleansing that
was shown by his washing of the disciples' feet. A washing that must be administered
always, daily, daily. And only by himself. Peter said,
you'll never wash my feet. He said, if I don't wash your
feet, you don't have any part with me. As we walk through this
world, we are continually having the defilement of this world's
filth. clinging to us. Now, if you,
spiritually speaking, you know good and well, think about your
thoughts. Think about your words. Think about your attitude, my
attitude. I mean, we just, we're continuing. You say, well, that's my old
nature. Well, okay. I'll go along with you on that
one. But that's this filth. I mean, I could just, somebody
can say something, it don't hit me just right, and bam, I didn't
have to say anything. But boy, if you knew what I thought,
you know. That filth that just clings to
us, that filth that we don't see the depth of, but that filth
which is a grief to our souls, That filth, and it is cleansed. It's not cleansed. It's not put
away. Turn over to Ephesians 5. It's
not put away by me just saying, oh, well, I didn't really mean
it. I'm just a sinner. No, the scriptures sets forth
that this is the way it's pardoned, taken away. Ephesians 5, 25 to 27. Love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. Now, we're washed, we're cleansed. by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. One time, our guilt is put away,
but that continual washing that the Lord demonstrated to his
apostles, when he took a basin of water and he took a towel
and he washed their feet, and he said, this is needful. It's needful. We need that continual
washing. It's that washing that's administered
as he sends these loving chastisement, showing us what we are, teaching
us, and washing us. Oh, I'm telling
you, whenever we behold these guilt, these guilts, this filth,
that but for the grace of God, we'd hang on to it because of
our old man. But he who loves us, He won't
permit that defilement to stay there. He said, I'm going to
wash you. Aren't you glad he washes us? I won't wash myself. I don't have the ability. I don't
know how. But he does. He comes and cleanses us with
the same power, the same word that brought grace to us the
first time. And he cleanses us and cleanses
us and pardons us. I can tell you whenever that
washing is taking place, I know a little bit about what I'm about
to say. When my heart broke, I said, Lord, forgive me. Oh,
there's the washing. The washing is taking place.
Joseph would prove his brethren in a way that he was directed
by God's spirit to do so, and it's gonna be A great blessing. Now let me tell you, verse 15,
what he's gonna do, what we looked at last time, he told them in
the latter part of verse 15, by the wife of Pharaoh, you shall
not go forth hence except your youngest brother come hither. Now, Benjamin's gonna have to
be brought to it. And he's gonna prove them. That's
what he just told them. He said, hereby you shall be proved. Your youngest
brother is gonna have to come. That's how you're gonna be proved. How did he do it? Now, we're
gonna look at this, and as I walk through this, it won't take a
whole long time, but I want us to look at this passage, what
he did, and I want us to behold the spiritual side of this, how
Almighty God deals with us, his people, tonight. How did he do
it? Well, the scripture says, verse
16, 17, he says, Send one of you, and let him
fetch your brother. And ye shall be kept in prison,
that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in
you, or else by the life of Pharaoh, surely ye are spies. And he put them all together
into ward three days. Now, here's what he just said. He just told them in verse 15.
He said, by the life of Pharaoh, I'm going to prove you, and here's
what I'm going to do, except your youngest brother come hither,
you're not leaving. And then, verse 16, he told him,
he said, now, he's going to give you some instruction. Send one
of you and let him fetch your brother. And then he put all
ten of them in prison for three days. Joseph, it seems, laid the responsibility
of choosing one from among themselves. That's what he told them, verse
16. Send one of you and let him fetch your brother. You do the choosing. You decide who's going to go,
which one is going to be sent. And with that responsibility
laid upon them, Joseph put them, the scripture says, all together,
verse 17, in a ward for three days. These men had three days,
think about it, three days in prison to contemplate which one
is going to go. Now you think about where they
are and who they've been dealing with and who's been talking roughly
to them. You're spies. You're spies. You've come here
to spy off the nakedness of this land. I know why you're here.
You're not kidding me. He said, I'll tell you one thing.
Unless your younger brother comes back here, you're not getting
out of here. Now you get in jail and you got three days to think
about it. One of you is going to go. One of the responsibility
of the safety and the deliverance of your family is going to depend
on one of you. And it better be pleasing. So
here they've got that three days of time to prove the truthfulness
and faithfulness of what they've been saying. They told him, we're
true men. We are. But in Joseph's words, he put
them in jail. He put them in prison. That's
all of them. He put them all, that's what he said. Verse 70,
he put them all together into ward three days. Now, they're there to be proved. One of you's gotta go. One of
you's gotta go. But in Joseph's words, we're
not reminded of how God proved his faithfulness, his faithfulness
to a people of his choosing in a period of three days. Three
days, you got three days to prove, prove yourself. In the Old Testament,
according to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, turn with
me to Luke 24, Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 44 to 46. I saw something here that was
just truly amazing to me. Listen to the words of our Lord.
Luke 24, 44. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you. while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is written, thus It behooves Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. That's what the Lord
said. That's it, it's written. It's
written. Now I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. The apostle Paul was directed
by the Spirit of God to pen these words. 1 Corinthians 15. three
to six. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, that he was seen of Cephas, then
of the twelve. After that he was seen of about
five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
unto this present, but some are fallen asleep The scripture says,
in verse four, he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. Now, I wanted to find that where that's
written. I wanted to see that. That would be the natural thing
that you do, wouldn't it? You find it, you find that in
scripture. You go back in the Old Testament and find it. There's one place, one place that was set forth concerning
the Old Testament revelation of Christ being in the grave
three days. One time, and it's written in
the book of Matthew. Turn to Matthew 12. I looked and looked and looked, and here's where I found it.
Matthew chapter 12. 38 to 40. Now these are the words of our Lord.
He said that it was according to the script, it was written
in the scriptures. It was written in the scriptures. Paul was moved
to say it's written in the scriptures. He buried three days, wrote three
days. Matthew 12, 38. And certain of
the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we
would see a sign from thee. But he answered and he said to
them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, you
know, unless the Spirit of God would tell us through the words
of our Lord that that story of Jonah and him being swallowed
by a whale and was in the belly of a whale three days, that that
signifies, set forth, pictured in type, the burial of our Lord
and him being in the belly of the earth three days. The Lord
said it was prophesied, it was written in the scriptures. You
go back and read the book of Jonah, and when you read that
story, it was written in the scriptures, right there. That's
where he said it. So here's Joseph, and he's gonna
prove his brethren. He's gonna put them in jail,
and he put them in there for three days, just like the Lord
was in the prison of the whale. Three days. This is how it's
gonna be proven. So he tells them, He said, now,
I'm going to prove you. I'm going to put you all together.
He put them all together. Now look at verses 18 to 20.
And Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live. For I fear God. If you be true
men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your
prison. Go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, but
bring your youngest brother unto me, so shall your words be verified,
and ye shall not die. And they did so. Now, the demand
of Joseph, if you'll notice something, concerning having Benjamin brought
to him, that demand didn't change. He told him, he had told him
back in verse 16, send one of you and let him fetch your brother,
and you rest of you gonna be kept in prison, that your words
may be proved. He told him, he said, one of
you is gonna go. And here, the scripture says,
he told him, he said, now, I fear God. And the scripture reveals
that though the demand didn't change, the way that he would
be brought, the way Benjamin would be brought, for God's glory
in our instruction was now revealed to be done in a different manner. After three days of trial, three
days of proving, Joseph said unto his brethren, this do that
ye may live, this do that you may live, you do this This must
be done that you may live. You know, the hearing of the
words from the mouth of man that fears God is to hear words spoken
from the heart of a man whose desire is to honor and glorify
God. Now, here's Joseph. Look at the
beauty of this. Look what we've seen already.
He took them. He's going to prove them. We're
going to be proved. He took them and he told them, he said, I'm
going to hem you up and you're going to be proven that you're
telling me the truth. We're going to be proven to be
truthful, God's truthfulness. And he put them together for
three days as the Lord was put into the belly of the earth for
three days that the truthfulness of these men might be set through.
But here now, he's going to tell them something. He said, now,
I fear God. And Joseph, as a type of Christ,
knew that the recovery of their youngest brother, like the recovery
of all God's sheep, would never, could never be laid at the feet
or left to the wisdom of men. He told them at first, you choose
out. You choose one. You choose one to go get him.
He told them at first, send one to fetch Benjamin. Let me ask you something. Do
we not see in type picture of the law's demand here? This do. Turn to Luke 10. Luke 10.25. He told him, he said, I want
you, first, this is what he told him. He said, I want you to take
one. I'm going to prove you, one of you is going to go. One
of you is going to have the responsibility. All the responsibility is going
to be laid on one man to go. Now he's telling them something
else. Luke chapter 10, verse 25 to 28. Behold, a certain lawyer stood
up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do? to inherit eternal life. And he saith unto him, well,
what's written in the law? How readest thou? He answering
and said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind,
and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, thou hast
answered right. This do, and thou shalt live. Joseph had originally told them
You choose out, you choose out, so that you'll live. So I prove
you that you live, you choose out one and send him to accomplish
what I demand. You choose out one. Then he told him, when he got
him out after three days, he said, now I fear God, I fear
God. If you be, verse 19, if you be
true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your
prison, and go ye, and carry corn for the famine of your houses. Do we not behold the blessedness
of the surety of the sheep himself? The Lord has moved upon Joseph
to tell these men, one of you, one of you is gonna have to stay.
That's the surety. He's gonna have to be the one
that's gonna stay here while the others go free. The Lord
Jesus Christ, as the surety of his people, bound himself to
the work of the Father, as the surety to answer the law's demand
for justice and righteousness. The father had given the Lord
Jesus Christ, the redeemer, the savior of his people, a work.
And the finishing of that work was his desire. That's what he
told his disciples after they had gone. He had met with the
woman at Sychar, the woman at the well in Samaria, and they
came back and He had gone to get some meat, and he told them
when they came back, he said, my meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, and to finish his work. Joseph feared God. That's what he said. I fear God,
in verse 18. This do and live, one of you. going to have to be a surety.
One of you is going to have to stay in the prison and the others
can go free. You go get your brother, you
go bring the food, you go. But one of you is going to be
bound in this jail. And the scripture says in verses
21 to 23, and they said one to another, we are very guilty concerning
our brother. and that we saw the anguish of
his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore,
is this distress come upon us? And Reuben answered them, saying,
Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child,
and you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood
is required. And they knew not that Joseph
understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. with the kindness of Joseph's
words being spoken unto his brother. They'd been in there three days.
Three days with the burden of trying to decide who is gonna
be the one that's gonna go and answer. Who's gonna have the
responsibility to go and get our younger brother? Who's gonna
have the responsibility of pleasing Joseph? You don't bring him to
me, you ain't getting out of here. I'm telling you, Joseph
is gonna have to be pleased, satisfied. They're gonna have
to accomplish. If anything happens and Benjamin
don't make it back here, rest of you, you gonna be here. You
gonna be in my jail. What a trial. But then the scripture
says that he told him, he said, this do. Here with those words spoken,
they began to remember. When he told them, he said, I
fear God. And it was as if the spirit of
God just broke their hearts. And they began to remember with
regret the horrible cruelty and insensitivity, the way that they
had treated their brother, Joseph. And isn't that the way the believer,
when he's remembered, he calls to remember his sin. David said,
my sin, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil. Take not your spirit away from
me. Have mercy upon me. Oh God, and they began to, They
began to confess, and they were talking, and here's these brothers
that had done something over 20 years, been about 22 years
before, and they felt the pain and the guilt of it, and what
a benefit. What an effect, having been proven,
put in that and felt the responsibility of being responsible, Can you
imagine, three days, I guarantee you they didn't get a whole lot
of sleep. Which one of us, who can we depend on? Who's gonna
get this done? We gotta get it done. Oh, how effectual is God's means
to awaken our conscience and bring our sin to our remembrance
that we might lay hold upon him, Joseph. Brethren, Scripture says
they spoke openly. They were speaking in Hebrew. It's good, we can talk amongst
ourselves. Because he don't understand,
he's an Egyptian. He don't understand what. But they had no idea that
he understood every word that they were saying. The Lord hears
us, he knows. He had graciously spoken unto
them through an interpreter before. That's what Joseph had done.
And does the Lord not speak to us through an interpreter? The spirit of God who interprets
God's word to us, breaks our hearts. And the scripture says,
he listened to them Verse 24, he turned himself about
from them and wept and returned to them again and communed with
them and took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes. Now, I want us in closing to
behold the tenderness of Joseph toward his brethren as a picture
of Christ. I want you to turn with me while
I'm making these comments to Jeremiah 31. He's listening to
what they're saying. He hears what they're saying,
and their hearts are broken, realizing we were wrong. Oh, if we could just bring back
time, if we could just turn back about 20-something years, if
we could just, oh, he pled with us, he pled with us. Don't do,
don't do this, don't do this to me. Don't do this to me. And
we wouldn't listen to him. And now here we are. And we're,
we're, we're laid in this, this famine and got the responsibility,
but now he's gonna show mercy to us. He's gonna let nine of
us go. And they're confessing. And those
words of Joseph's tenderness toward ringing in their ears,
and he's listening to their words of regret, and he had to retire
from their presence, because it broke his heart. He began
to weep. Wisely and providentially, he
still set himself before them as a stranger, but his tender
affection could not be contained. But in that, listen to the tender
mercies of our God. Now this is precious, precious.
Jeremiah 31, verse 18 to 20. I have heard, I have surely heard
Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me and
I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after
that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Now listen to this,
here's the Lord speaking. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he
a pleasant child? For since I spake against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my bowels are troubled
for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. He said, my bowels are troubled.
I looked that up. Deep felt compassion or sympathy. The Lord in mercy, he speaks
roughly to us. Roughly in the law, this do,
this do. this do and live, the demand
of the law. We're hemmed up, being proven
with trials and tribulations, chastisement, loving chastisement. But then to hear the words of
compassion and mercy and forgiveness, it breaks us. And according to
the scriptures, it breaks him too. Can it be that the Lord is troubled,
that he has a deep felt compassion or sympathy for me? When we cry
out unto him, go into your closet, just get honest with God. Lord,
I've sinned against you. I've sinned against you and I'm
so sorry. I've been so disrespectful. I've
been disrespectful to you, I've been disrespectful to your people.
And I'm so sorry. And scripture says for him, that
his heart is broken, troubled, troubled because of his love
for his people. He couldn't stand it. He listened
to them talk. They thought he didn't understand
a word they said. He didn't understand every word. He had to go back
in the room, back to the back room and cry. But in closing, there's one other
thing I want us to look at before I leave. Let's take just a few
seconds. That 24th verse again. He turned himself about from
them and wept, and returned to them again and communed with
them. And you know before in verse
16, he said, send one of you and let him fetch your brother.
But look what he does here for the one that's gonna be kept
back, the surety. He communed with them and took
from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes. Joseph chose
the one that was gonna stay. Joseph, there's a picture here
of the father. Isaiah 42, verse one. Isaiah 42, I'll read this and
I'm in. This is it. Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighted. I have
put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to
the Gentiles. Joseph had told them at first,
you choose that one to please me. And they had three days to
think about it. And he told them, he said, I
fear God, you do this and live. Nine of you can go free. One
of you has got to stay as a surety. One of you has got to stay in
the prison. One of you is going to have to stay. A picture of our Lord who
answered, stayed, bound himself to be the surety for the accomplishment
of his will. I pray that the Lord bless this
to our heart. I entitle this the blessing of a surety, having
won the one that God chose. I pray the Lord bless it to his
glory and our good.