Our subject this morning is peace
in our surety. Peace in our surety. And we pick
up here in the lives of Jacob, the father, and of these brethren,
and they don't really know what's going on in their life. They
don't understand the trial they're in. They don't understand what's
happening. But Joseph, is a picture of Christ,
and Joseph is teaching them, just as Christ teaches us, that
there's peace in Christ, and only in Christ. Peace in our
surety. And that's what I want you to
see here. Now let's start in verse 29, Genesis 42, 29, and we're
going to review, they're going to review for us, they're going
to tell us what we saw last week. Alright, let's just read it.
They came unto Jacob, their father, unto the land of Canaan, and
told him all that befell unto them." When they were down there
in Egypt, you know, talking to Joseph, they said this, "...the
man who is the Lord of the land." They're talking about Joseph.
Joseph's a picture of Christ. Christ is the Lord of the land.
He's Lord of lords and King of kings. They said, "...he spake
roughly to us, and he took us for spies of the country." And
we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies. We be twelve
brethren, sons of our father. One is not. That was Joseph,
who they thought was dead. And the youngest is this day
with our father in the land of Canaan. That's Benjamin. Remember,
Joseph said, Go get Benjamin and bring him back here. Now
watch this. And the man, the lord of the
country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you're true
men, Leave one of your brethren here with me. Now that's, we saw a picture
of Christ. He's the one who was bound that
his people might be free. Leave one here. And then take
food for the famine of your households and be gone. And bring your youngest
brother unto me. Then shall I know that you are
no spies, but that you're true men. So I will deliver you, your
brother, and you shall traffic in the land." Now here's our
first point. Salvation is free. In everything
we're facing, every conviction of sin, every trial, everything
that a person that God's converting, if he's dealing with you right
now converting you, or if you're in a trial as a believer and
he's teaching you, He's teaching you this one lesson over and
over again. Salvation's free. Salvation's
free. Look here, verse 35. He came
to pass as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's
bundle of money was in his sack. That's what they were trying
to buy this bread with. And there it all is with the corn. And
when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they
were afraid. They were afraid. Now salvation's
free, brethren. The Lord said this, you were...
you sold yourselves for nothing. We sinned in the garden, we sold
ourselves for no price whatsoever. We just sold our... we got nothing
in return in the bargain. We sold ourselves for nothing. And He said, and you're gonna
be redeemed without money. And that's why Christ tells you,
oh, everyone that's thirsty, come to the waters. Everybody
that's hungry, come, come get bread. come by and eat without
money, without price. When Christ walked this earth,
he said, labor not for the meat that perishes. And that's what
we're all laboring for by nature. You're working a job, you're
working your fingers to the bone, young people want to get you
an apartment, get out of the house, and your mom and daddy
want you out of the house too. You want out of the house, You
want to get you a car. You want to get in a relationship.
You want to get in all these things. That's bread that's going
to perish. All of it. He said, don't labor for bread
that's going to perish. Labor for the meat that endures
unto everlasting life. How hard are we trying to find
out the truth of God? How hard are we laboring to find
out who God is and how He saves sinners? Labor for that meat. That's everlasting meat. And
He said, and that's the meat that the Son of Man shall give
unto you. You can't buy it. It's free.
It costs Christ preeminent price, but it's free to His people.
He'll give it unto you because God has sealed Him to do so.
We're not redeemed with corruptible things. You go and you pay so
much money to the priest and he'll say some mumbo-jumbo and
try to make you think your sins are forgiven. That's a bunch
of, that's a rip-off. That's paying to soothe your
conscience. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things. Incorruptible. The Lamb of God, without spot,
without blemish, came and He redeemed His people. It's by
Him that we believe. So, Joseph here, you know, we
saw last time as a picture of Christ, Joseph teaching them
what God's elect must be taught. Salvation can't be purchased
by our works. It's free. All right, now look,
secondly, here's another thing. Very often when God's dealing
with us, we saw this a little bit last week, we see it a little
bit more this week. We consider it to be a negative
rather than to be salvation. Very often when He first starts
dealing with you, sitting here that maybe you don't know Him
yet, and you that do know him, when he starts dealing with you
in trials. We start looking at all the things and think it's
a negative. Look here what Jacob did, verse 36. Jacob their father
said unto them, Me have you bereaved of my children. And you think
about this, here he is, his sons return from Egypt, they're in
the midst of a famine, no bread, they come back with sacks full
of corn. And the money that they took
to buy the corn is all in their sacks. And Jacob, he's mad. Jacob's upset about this. Because
he don't understand what's happening. He don't know what's going on.
Believer, don't blame second causes. Don't ever blame second
causes. This is untrue exaggeration. That's what we see here in Jacob. This is untrue. Joseph's not
dead. Simeon's not dead. He's bound,
but he's not dead. And Benjamin is not going to
die. He just said, bring him down here with you. But you see,
he's blaming his sons, blaming them, his own flesh and blood,
blaming them for these boys that he jumped to the conclusion they're
all dead. It looks bad, granted, but that's
exaggeration. You take a stick, you walk in
your dog, you take your stick, you walk along with it. You can
take that stick and use that stick to turn your dog. And your
dog will bite the stick. The stick's a secondary cause.
The stick's in the hand of the master. The stick's just being
used to turn the dog. What's the dog doing biting the
stick? And that's what we do when we bite and devour the second
causes, one another. and want to split and divide
one another. She did this, he did that, they did this, this
and did that. That's the stick in the hand
of Christ to turn you. Look to Christ. Don't look to
the stick, look to Christ. And here's why. When we're looking
at second causes, we don't see Christ. Look here at verse 36.
Jacob their father said unto them, Me, have you bereaved of
my children? Joseph is not. Joseph was a picture
of Christ, the way he went missing. Simeon is not. Simeon, they're
going to tell Jacob he's bound that we might go free. He's a
picture of Christ. And you'll take Benjamin away.
Benjamin's the last. Christ is the last Adam. All
three of these boys, God's showing him something of what Christ's
going to do for him. But, he can't see it. Because he's looking at the second
causes. Now, listen to this. In all our trials, everything
we go through in this life, we would do well to try to see Christ
in the details and what God's doing. And you say, well, I don't
know if we can do that. Well, you can look at these pictures
and types in the Old Testament in the lives of these men and
see how God was orchestrating everything and see pictures of
Christ all in it. If He gave us grace to, we can
see something of Christ in what we're going through right now
and how we need to come to His feet. But if we're looking at
the second causes, we don't see that. But don't look at the second
causes. Look for Christ. Jacob couldn't
see him, so here was what he says, verse 36, the end. All
these things are against me. All these things are against
me. Now, you know, God's dealing with us to teach us we're sinners.
He's dealing with us to teach us, bring us to confess our sins
that we're helpless to help ourselves and save ourselves. Now, that's
not a pleasant thing to encounter. God's not making me, teaching
me so that I can see your sin and know your sin. He's teaching
me to know my sin. And He's teaching you to know
your sin. It's not for me to be looking
at you and trying to pick out what you ought to be doing. It's
to be looking at myself and saying, I'm the sinner here. Now that's
not pleasant to go through. So, when God begins to do this
to us, whether it's in the conversion in the beginning or in a trial
after you've been a believer fifty years, it's not pleasant. Because it's
never pleasant to confess, I'm dead wrong. I'm a sinner and
I'm wrong. That's not ever a pleasant thing.
But that's what God's teaching us and that's what He's bringing
us to see, so that all these things that are happening are
not against the believer, they're for us. But we just see it as
these things are all against me. They're all against me. We
have a tendency to magnify the negative things, the sorrowful
things. And yet we do better to think all of these things
are blessings God's given to me. You young people sitting
here, if you don't know Christ, older people sitting here, if
you don't know Christ, you hear this gospel and you know what
you hear? You don't hear good news in it. You hear, these things
are against me. He don't ever say anything good
about a man. He does never tell a man he can do anything. That's
against me. All these doctrines he's teaching
are against me. If God ever teach you, I tell
you, you'll find out this is for me. I know it's a strange
thing to a natural man. How could you hear a message
that puts you down every week and exalts Christ and walk out
of there comforted? Everything God does is backwards
to us. But we're the ones that are backwards by nature. All
these things are for us. Listen to this. Even in your
trials, whatever you're going through, listen to this. Listen
to Paul. 1 Thessalonians 3. He's been in prison. He's been
shipwrecked. He's gone through all these trials and afflictions.
He said that no man should be moved by these afflictions. For
yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. In other words, God
appointed this affliction for me. Just for me. Look here, listen. For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation.
Paul said, while I was there, I told you beforehand, I'm going
to suffer some trials. And he says, even as it has come
to pass, and you know. That's appointed. Why? Because it's good. It's necessary. And the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that should be
revealed in us. And this is what we know. We know that all things,
not against the believer, not against his people, all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. Alright, now here's the next
thing. I want to show you. In every situation, believers
would do well. Now this is my main point. In
every situation, we'd do well, as believers, to remember Christ
is our surety. This is why I'm saying, turn
from the second causes and look for Christ in it. Quit saying, well, you know,
if this hadn't happened, that hadn't happened. That don't get
anything done. Look to Christ alone. And as you're looking
to Christ, remember, Christ is my surety. What does that mean? A surety is somebody who's laid
himself, bound himself for another. Put himself under an obligation,
a covenant obligation for another. That's what Christ did. Now,
Reuben was the oldest son of all Jacob's sons. But Reuben,
we're going to find out later, Jacob says, Reuben, you're unstable
as water. And Reuben's not the kind of
surety Christ is. He's not a picture of the surety
of Christ. Look here now, first, Genesis 42, 37. Reuben spake
to his father, saying, Slay my two sons. If I bring him not
to thee, deliver him into my hand, I'll bring him to thee
again. You see what he's saying? He's saying, Give me Benjamin.
Jacob didn't want Benjamin going down there to Egypt. He's afraid
something's going to happen to him. And Reuben says, let me
take the boy, I'll take him down there, I'll bring him back safely
to you, and if something happens to Benjamin, you can slay my
two sons. Reuben didn't offer himself,
he offered his two sons. Now granted, those are his two
sons, but those are Jacob's grandsons. Now you think that comforted
Jacob, didn't he? I'm worried about losing this boy, and you're
telling me I can kill these other two children of mine too? If
something happens to that one, that don't bring him any comfort. And if I'm Reuben's sons, I'm
thinking, do you love your brother Benjamin more than you love us?
See what I'm saying? Reuben didn't lay himself out,
so Jacob told him no. Well now, look down at Genesis
43 and look at verse 8. Now we see Judah. Judah is the
one, remember Judah is the one that Christ is going to come
through the tribe of Judah. So he's the son who's a picture
of Christ. You got Reuben, unstable as water,
and he says, I'll bring him, and if I don't bring him back,
you can slay my sons. Now listen to Judah. Judah becomes
surety for Benjamin. Judah himself. And this is what
Christ did for all God's elect. Watch this. He's voluntarily
a surety. Christ volunteered. Watch Judah
volunteer here. Verse 8, Judah said unto Israel
his father, send the lad with me, we will arise and go. He volunteered. Christ before in eternity volunteered
to be the surety of all God's elect. Let us arise and we'll
go together. They'll be in me. I'll go forth.
I'll fulfill your will. I'll do everything necessary
to bring them back to you without sin. Robed in perfect righteousness. I'll do everything. And he did
that voluntarily. Remember Christ said, my father
loves me because I lay down my life of myself. No man's taking
it from me. No man's forcing me or obligating
me to do what I'm doing. I'm doing it voluntarily, Christ
said. I'm laying it down of myself.
And that's what we see here. And the reason that's important,
one of the reasons that's important is you and me aren't voluntarily
willing to lay down our life for God. We need a perfect faith. We need a perfect holiness. We need a perfect righteousness.
And Christ, from eternity, as the representative of His people,
the surety of His people, volunteered faithfully to do everything necessary. Even now that we're called by
God's grace, we still are willing to give ourselves. Not in perfection. If we could, we wouldn't need
a mediator. But Christ willingly volunteered.
Now, look at this. Here's the second thing, Christ
became our surety. And remember this, this is comfort
in the midst of every trial and every... Christ became the surety
of God's people to preserve the glory of God His Father and to
save all His brethren. So Christ is God in man. He's
doing this for Himself as God and for His brethren, Himself
as His brethren. So He's... Look here, verse 8. He said, I'm going to do this
that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our
little ones. Do you see that picture there? He was doing it for himself,
he was doing it for his father, he was doing it for his brothers
and their children. And Christ is God, fulfilling all God's
side of the covenant for God toward His people. And Christ
is God's elect, fulfilling all the covenant on behalf of all
of God's elect toward God. So that when, because Christ
fulfilled the law for God and glorified God and He fulfilled
the law for His people and made us righteous, Christ is the covenant. It's all fulfilled in Him. God
and man, perfect union. So we come to the Lord in Him. He's doing this for God the Father,
for His brethren, that we may live. And then look at this,
this is the third thing. Christ became a surety personally
for me. He laid himself out under obligation
personally for me. Now look at this. I will be surety
for him. I will be surety for him. Verse
9. Judah didn't imply anything. He didn't say like Reuben. He
stated it plainly. And that's what Christ did. He
entered covenant with the Father plainly. I will be surety for
him. That's what God did, Christ did
for all God's elect. And then the next thing, of my
hand shalt thou require him. Reuben said, of my son's hand. Judah said, of my hand shalt
thou require him. And concerning all God's elect,
Christ said of Kevin the ridder of my hand, you can require him
if I don't bring him to you. That's what Christ said. It's
that personal. Now that's what we need to remember
in the middle of a trial. Now look at this, verse 9. And
if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then
let me bear the blame forever. Now, you know Christ has borne
the blame for his people. He bore the sins of his people,
bore the judgment of God for his people, and went to the cross
and totally redeemed us, justified us from all our sins. But Christ
is still under obligation. as our surety, to call them out,
quicken them, preserve them, and bring them one day and present
them all to the Father and say, here's all these children I said
I'd bring to you. And if Christ doesn't do that, He says, let
me bear the blame forever. Now let me tell you what that
is for me and you who believe Him, who are trusting Him alone
by His grace. That means we have eternal security. because Christ's not going to
fail. He's just not going to fail. That's what He promised
to do, and He said this, All the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that comes to me I will not cast him out. I
came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, of all which He's given me. Just like Jacob said, here's
Benjamin, take him. Christ said, all God's elected
He's given to me. He said, I will lose nothing,
but I will raise it up again at the last day. That's a sure
word. Remember he said, I've got some
other sheep that are not just in this fold, and he said, them
I must bring. Well, I'm surety for him. I'm
bringing them. So he's not going to fail. Now,
you notice something here, one last thing to notice in all this.
You know who didn't say a word when all this has been taking
place? Benjamin. Jacob looks at Judah. Judah looks
at Jacob. And Judah said, I'll do everything
necessary to bring him back to you, or you can require it of
me. Jacob said, I'm requiring it of you. I'm looking at you.
I'm looking at you alone. Benjamin just sat there with
his mouth shut. God's not looking at his people. God's looking
at his son. And he'd have all his people
looking at his son. and knowing He's going to bring
you back. You reckon when Benjamin was
on that trip down there, and they come across any danger or
anything in the way on the way down there, you know, you reckon
Benjamin got flustered about it? I imagine Benjamin probably
just looked at Judah. What you going to do? Well, that's what he's telling
you. Look to Christ. What are you going to do? He's
going to save His people. I pray, give us grace to do that.
Amen.