Returning to Hebrews chapter
3, this isn't our text, it's not our text, but I want to begin
here looking at a few scriptures from Hebrews chapter 3 where
it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ being the builder of his house. So Hebrews 3 verse 1, wherefore brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus." And we see that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
one that we have in view when we come to worship God. We're
looking to Christ. Look at verse 3, For this man
was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and as much as he
who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. Look at verse 6. Christ as a
son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,
And so he gives us that spirit whereby we hold fast the profession
of our faith. We're made jealous of our time. That's why we came here, even
though this place is in disarray as they paint it. But we're jealous
for the time that we have to hear the gospel. And we make
do with what we have. and thank the Lord for it. We're
thankful in this regard for what he's done for us. But back on
the house being built by Christ, Peter calls us a spiritual house,
a spiritual house. He says, ye also as lively stones
Think of that. Stones are not living. When someone
wants to insult you, they say you're dumber than a rock. Well,
that's us by nature, but we're made alive. We are living stones
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So that we're
told in Acts chapter two, verse 47, that the Lord added daily
to the church such as should be saved. He adds to his house
and the stones that he adds to build that house up are living
stones, his people, born again by his grace and power. We're
in that household of Christ who builds the house. Now today we're
going to be back in Genesis 43. So let's turn to Genesis 43 now. And we're given a view into the
household of Christ our Savior. We're given a view here of our
Lord's house seen in viewing the type of Joseph's brethren
being brought into Joseph's house. And that's what we're looking
at today, his brethren come into the house of Joseph. It's a picture
for us of us, what the Lord does in adding us, in bringing us
into his house, the house that Christ builds. So to begin, just
remember that Benjamin is a very central part in all of this. Benjamin is a picture of that
which is precious. The scriptures talk of your soul
being precious because it's eternal. And we need life. We don't have
life. We, in Adam, are standing in
the inheritance of an eternal condemnation, an eternal death. But in Christ, we have an eternal
inheritance of light and life in him, in him. And so Benjamin
pictures that which is precious and that which our lives depend
upon. He's a picture of life. Our eternal life is bound in
Him. As we'll see as we go further,
Jacob's life was bound in the life of Benjamin. And your life is bound in this
life, which by the grace of God is in the hand of the Lord Jesus
Christ. which was pictured what we saw
last time when Jacob gave Benjamin into the hand of Judah, his son,
who said, I'll be shorty for him. If I don't bring him back
to you, I'll bear the blame forever. And that's a picture of the faith
and the hope and the life all being given to Christ, what the
Lord works in us. He performs this in us, which
trusts Christ for all our life to do for us what we cannot do. And so we see that pictured in
Benjamin. And so it's the Lord that has
taken it upon himself, thankfully, to agree to this, what the Father
has done in giving his people to Christ before the foundation
of the world. He said, I'll bring them back.
I'll set them here before you. If not, I'll bear the blame forever. But I'll do it. I shall not fail. And he does this, he brings his
children into the household of his grace through the preaching
of the gospel. So our Lord sends a man to preach
the gospel to the lost sheep of God's people. So we see this pictured right
here in verse 16, Genesis 43, 16. 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 shall dine with
me at noon. So God's people are a chosen
people. God the Father chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world and gave us to Christ. And we don't know who they are.
But where God has a people, He sends that word. He'll bring
them in to hear that word, and he'll send that word to them
and feed them. Where God has a people, he's
going to send his word. He's not going to leave you to
starve forever and die in death and in ignorance and in darkness
and in your sins. He won't do it. He will send
that word, and he will feed you with that word. He's going to
send that man with the gospel who's going to preach Christ
to you, Christ crucified to you. And so you'll hear it by a man.
And so when Joseph saw Benjamin, he knew him. And he knew his
brethren. He knew who they were. And he
knew his brethren. And he said to this man, he sent
this man to the ruler of his house saying, bring these men
home. Make ready. Because they're going
to eat with me. They're going to dine with me
in my house. They're coming to my house. And so like Joseph,
our Lord knows who the chosen people of God are. And he sends
the word to you. Because he loves you. He chose
you. He redeemed you. And he's bringing you into his
household. Then we read in verse 17, and
the man did as Joseph bade. And the man brought the men into
Joseph's house. So this man being commanded of
Joseph to bring his brethren into the house is just like a
preacher sent of God to the people of God. To go to the people of
God with this word and say, come, you're going with me. We're going
into the Lord's house. And he does this by the preaching
of the gospel. That's how you're called. That's
how the spirit and the bride say, come, come to the fountain,
come to Christ, through the preaching of the gospel. So let me just
say, before we go further, a few things about preaching the gospel
to encourage your hearts, because this is how God saves his people. This is how he brings his people
out of the world and into the house of God. He does it through
the preaching of the gospel. Let's see this over in Romans
10. Let's go to Romans 10 and we're
going to pick up in verse 13 and look at a few verses with
just a few brief comments. These are good things to be reminded
of. These are good things for me
to be reminded of, and I believe they'll be an encouragement to
you. Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. So the first thing we see here
is that anyone, whosoever they are, We don't determine who they
are. Anyone who calls upon the name
of the Lord, he says in his word, they shall be saved. They shall be saved. And in other
words, there will be no excuse for man. There will be no excuse
for man who does not believe. Because the Lord tells us plainly,
anyone who calls upon him shall be saved. Verse 14, how then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? In other
words, no man can call upon Jesus Christ in true faith. in true
saving faith, except he believe the record of God concerning
Christ. God gave record, and true faith
lays hold of the true Christ, as God testifies of Him in His
Word and in His Spirit. And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard? This is the third thing. that
the testimony of God is made known to you through the preaching
of the gospel. So you must hear the gospel of
Christ if you're to believe him, and God will make sure that you
will hear that gospel. That gospel will be preached.
Therefore, let us make this our chief priority in this life,
to hear this gospel, because you cannot be saved without that
hearing. It's how God has purposed it
to be. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall
they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. So this is the fourth thing.
This is the greatest blessing that God bestows upon a people,
is to give them the word of his gospel, to testify to them of
Christ, To make known to you the record of God concerning
the Son of God whom he sent, who came, why he came, and what
he accomplished. He bears that forth to you in
the preaching of the gospel to reveal it in the hearts of his
people who will hear and receive that word and believe that word. And so we see here through that
preaching that it isn't what you must do for God, but God
is declaring what he has accomplished for you by Christ. He's making
known what is done, what is finished. And thereby, he reveals it in
his people. And the greatest curse that God
can bestow upon men is to remove the gospel from them or to make
it silent so they cannot hear it. They can't hear it. In Amos chapter 8, verse 11 and
12, it says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that
I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst
for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall
wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east. They
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall
not find it. And so the hearing of the gospel
is a great blessing of God. It's the greatest blessing that
God can give to you to send his word to you, where you are, to
bring it to you. And it's a wonderful blessing.
It also says, and how shall they preach except they be sent? So no man will preach the gospel
except he be sent of God, except he be sent. And God will bless
that word. that he sends to you, making
it effectual in you, that hearing, making you to hunger and thirst
and to be fed and satisfied by that word of Christ. And so he'll make it effectual
for the purpose that he sent it. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report,
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So make it your business to hear
the gospel preached, and beg God to bring you to this house
to hear that word. And pray for me that I be faithful
to preach the gospel, because that's why he sent me, to preach
the gospel. And it's only by his grace and
power that I can do it. The weakness of this flesh would
fail. does fail, but the grace of God
is by the power that I preach to you and have a heart to preach
this gospel to you. It's his gift. It's his work.
It's to his praise and glory, brethren. So you make it your
business to be here, just as I'm begging God to make it my
business to preach the word faithfully to you. Because it must be done. It must be so. You're the people
of God. You must hear his word. It's
his gift to you. It's his blessing to you. Now,
I want to show you back. Let's go back now to Genesis
43. I want to show you seven things that the Lord does by
his grace when he brings his lost, wayfaring children into
the house built by Christ. So first, coming into the house
by the preaching of the gospel, men are made to know their sin,
and that they are sinners worthy of judgment and condemnation.
We're made to know that. Look at verse 18. So he told them, bring them into
the house. So they're being brought into the house, and the men were
afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house. And they
said, because the money that was returned in our sacks at
the first time are we brought in, that he may seek occasion
against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses. Now, you'll recall that when
Joseph was first speaking to his brethren in chapter 42, Just
his questions, just basic, simple questions were dressing them
down, were just stripping them and tearing them apart because
it was revealing, it was bringing back to their mind their sin,
their shame, their guilt of what they had done to Joseph. They
saw their rebellion back in chapter 42, verse 21. They said one to
another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in 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 then again, as they're heading
back with the grain, and one takes a little grain out to feed
his beast, his animal, right? And he found the gold. He found
the money that was there in the sack. And verse 28 of that chapter
says, they were afraid, saying one to another, what is this
that God hath done unto us? They knew we're being pursued
by God for our sin. He's coming after us. And when
the Lord brings his people into the house, he makes their sin
known to them. He brings us low in ourselves. We don't come in riding on a
high horse. Or we might come in that way,
but we don't stay that way for long. The Lord will put us on
our faces, like he took Paul off his animal and put him on
his face in the dirt. That's what the Lord does for
his people when he brings them into his house. And so they enter
the house, they're troubled by their trespasses, and no man,
what the Lord is showing us here, is that no one ever finds peace
and comfort because he's perfect. No man finds peace that way because
he is perfect and worked it all out and that he's righteous.
That's not who the Lord saves. He saves sinners. That's why
he makes you to know your sin, that he may be gracious to you.
He's not gracious to the proud and arrogant and cocky people.
He's gracious and lifts up those that are humbled and brought
low. And so he does that. He makes us to know our sin. He sent his son to save sinners. Paul said Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. This is why he came. This is
why, so the spirit gets a man lost, that he may be found, that
he may find him and be gracious to him. He brings forth the confession
of guilt from his people. Listen to the prophet Isaiah,
Isaiah 64, 6. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all
do fade as a leaf, and all our iniquities like the wind have
taken us away. And so when the Lord brings his
people into the house, we come as guilty sinners. We're brought
in, being shown our shame, our guilt, that we're not there because
we're righteous. We're there because we're sinners.
That's why he brings us in to his house. And so he shows us
these paradoxes. Like, listen to Galatians 3.22. The scripture hath concluded
all under sin. that the promise by faith in
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. The scriptures
say that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so these paradoxes
are made known to us in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second thing we see here
is being troubled, these men begin to seek comfort. Now, knowing
that they were sinners, we begin to seek comfort and peace. So
verse 19 through 22, let's read that. They came near to the store
of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house.
They began to lay out their case. to him, said, oh, sir, we came
indeed down at the first time to buy food, and it came to pass
when we came to the inn that we opened our sacks, and behold,
every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money
in full weight. And we have brought it again
in our hand and other money, right? We brought double. Have
we brought down in our hands to buy food? We don't know. We cannot tell who put our money
in our sacks. And yet, what we find here is
that this isn't what gives them peace. This doesn't deliver them.
This has no bearing with the steward of the house, with the
lord of the house. This does not deliver them from
their transgression, because they were clever enough to talk
their way out of it. That's not going to happen. What
gave them peace and what quieted their fears was what the steward
told them. that had been done for them,
that was already accomplished, that their debt was paid in full. That's what gives them peace
and comfort in hearing the gift of God. Verse 23, he said, peace
be to you, fear not, for God and the God of your father hath
given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money, and he brought
Simeon out unto them." There was nothing else preventing them
from the blessings. They were in. They were in the
house. Now, so the store makes known to them the grace of God
for them in providing everything for them. They didn't owe anything. There was nothing that they owed.
The debt was settled. The debt was paid. And so it
is that God makes known to you, his people, in sin and rebellion,
that he makes you to hear the gospel, to know, to hear what
Christ has done to save you from your sins. Your words don't deliver
you. The hearing of faith of what
Christ has accomplished and finished for you in paying the debt, that's
what gives peace and comfort to the people of God. In 2 Corinthians
5, if you want to follow along, I'll be reading in verse 17 down
through 21, we see this example of how that the Lord makes known
to us what Christ has done for his people. And that's our hope,
not what we do, but what he did for us. In 2 Corinthians 5.17,
we're told that, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Dead letter religion, you talked
yourselves out of it. You put on a good show. You played
pretend, and you got through it to deliver yourself. But in
true faith, in the grace of God, we're new creatures. We're saved
by him. And the debt of our sin is paid. We are freed men. Justification
doesn't rest on our shoulders. It rested on his, and he did
it. He satisfied the debt we owe. Verse 18. all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, to
go forth, being sent of God, and to preach this good news
to the people, to preach this to you. to wit that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, that is, Jew and
Gentile, all are saved by this one salvation, one Savior, Jesus
Christ, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation, that is, by the gospel we minister
the Spirit of God to you. not dictating to you the law
whereby you save yourselves, but declaring to you the good
news, how that Christ paid the debt in full, brethren, in full. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. If you will be justified
by God, it's going to be by the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ, which he reveals to you by faith. Believing this testimony
of God, believing Christ to save your souls. For he hath made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
brethren, and thou shalt be saved. And so this is the peace and
comfort that God speaks to the heart of his people, right? We're
troubled. We're afraid. We're made afraid
at the holiness of God and the wickedness of this heart. But
he declares the gospel. And by his grace and power, he
reveals faith in the heart that hears it and receives the word
and believes Christ. By his spirit, by his grace,
he does that in you that are his. Third, our Savior washes
away our sins. He put them away by the sacrifice
of Himself on the cross, whereby He obtained forgiveness for our
sins with the Father. And we go free from the hand
of justice by what Christ has done in the shedding of His blood.
However, there is a conversion brought, right, when the Lord
brings us and washes away the guilt from our conscience, turns
us, gives us repentance, and turns us from dead things so
that there's a washing of our sins, there's a cleansing of
our sins, which he does by the gospel. He does it at the first,
and he continues to do this way by the preaching of the gospel.
to turn you again from death and to deliver you again in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 24. And the man
brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and
they washed their feet, and he gave their asses provender. Now,
this is the second time that that phrase is mentioned, and
the man brought the men into Joseph's house. It was said back
in verse 17 and repeated here in verse 24, so that we see there's
a continual coming to Christ. There's a continual coming to
him in the preaching of the gospel. This is what he's given to you
to feed you, to nourish you, to give you the bread of heaven,
whereby you feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through the
preaching of the gospel. And we constantly come to hear
this gospel being renewed and refreshed and strengthened again
in and by Christ, through the preaching of Christ. The first
time and every time. This is his ordained means to
feed his sheep, to give you your meat in due season, to give you
the provender that you need to be strengthened and nourished
and kept in him. Turn over to Acts 20. Acts 20. And in verse 28 through 32, we
have this great example of Paul exhorting the elders at Ephesus
to keep preaching and teaching Christ with the word of his grace. Don't be Turner. Don't set out
the sheep food with the gospel preaching Christ. And as soon
as they come in, you swap out the sheep food with the goat
food, which is the law. Don't do it. You keep preaching
grace. You keep preaching Christ. So
Acts 20 verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. That's what I'm called to do.
That's what I'm sent to do, to feed the church of God. For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock." There are going to be all kinds
of things, all kinds of missiles and stumbling stones cast in
your way and trouble brought up by the flesh to disperse you
and to close up the work, to shut the work, to silence it
so that you cannot hear Christ. That's what the enemy wants to
do. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch, and remember,
that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one,
night and day, with tears. And now, brethren, here it is,
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace. Not the word
of Moses, not the law, but the witness which we are to declare
to you in Christ, to reveal Christ to you, the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified. Anyone who turns to the law for
righteousness is ignorant. They have not heard, they have
forsaken the truth, and they've gone astray. It's by the word
of his grace that we are built up and given an inheritance in
Christ with all those sanctified by Christ. And so we're taking
you in to the house and further into the house through the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. That's how we do it. And that
we may sup with him and be refreshed of him and renewed in spirit,
strengthened and comforted and charged up in and by the Lord. Our Lord said this in John 13
10, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whip and ye are clean. And as I understand it,
that is the preaching of the gospel whereby the Lord cleanses
us from the filth of this world, the filth and grime of this world,
the filth and grime of our weak hearts and weak flesh, and to
cleanse us again and again in Christ. To keep seeing, this
isn't my inheritance, this isn't my lasting city, I have an inheritance
in Christ. So that we keep pressing on in
faith, though we're weary at times, though we struggle often,
yet we continue in the grace and strength of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Fourth then, back in Genesis 43, verse 25, Here we see that in the house
of our Lord, through the preaching of the gospel, we're conformed
to Christ. He conforms us to the image of
our Savior. Verse 25, and they made ready
the present against Joseph came at noon, for they heard that
they should eat bread there. So in other words, when we effectually
hear Christ, hear what he's done for us, when we receive that
word, He gives us an obedience to faith. Paul speaks of the
obedience of faith. That's what he works in you.
The obedience of faith. Faith to believe Christ. In other words, there's a new
creation brought in us so that we are conformed to Jesus Christ
in the new man born of his spirit, born of his seed, born of his
grace. That new man is conformed to
Christ because it is Christ. It's of Christ. It's of his spirit.
It's of his power. And thereby, we gladly serve
Christ our head, and we serve the body of our Lord here and
among our brethren. Let me read a few scriptures
from Romans 12 that speaks to this. Romans 12 verse 1, Paul
said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. And he tells us not
to be conformed to this world, but to be conformed to Christ.
How does he say it? For some reason, I didn't bring
it into my notes, but let me just read it real fast. Verse
2. and be not conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. He's causing us to hear Christ,
that we may look to Him, not to be ourselves, to be what we
were in this flesh, but that we might hear Him and follow
Him. and walk in faith, and love,
and grace, and hope in Him. And then we see this laboring
in the body. Romans 12, 6 through 8 says,
having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith. All I can do is preach according
to the faith that the Lord gives me. That's why I keep laboring
and ask you, Lord, Lord, help me to preach according to the
faith as you give it, to feed your people, to nourish your
people, and strengthen your people. Or ministry, let us wait on our
ministry. Or he that teacheth on teaching,
or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. That's what the Lord has worked
here in this body. Giving you a spirit to rule correctly,
to be wise unto the things that you need to be wise unto, to
minister to one another, to teach one another, to exhort and encourage
one another just by being here. And the Lord does this, he works
this in us, to serve and minister. Fifth now, back in Genesis 43. In the house of our Lord, by
the ministration of his gospel word, our Lord reveals his love
and care for us. That he careth for us. Pictured
here in verse 26 through 29. When Joseph came home, they brought
him the present, which was in their hand, into the house and
bowed themselves to him to the earth." Right? That's the spirit
he gives his people, right? To bow before our Lord, to worship
him, right? With the gift in hand, right?
With the gift that he gives us, that life and light, that spirit
that he gives us, that faith and hope and love in him. And,
verse 27, he asked them their welfare. Doesn't the Lord ask
you your welfare when you're made to hear the gospel word?
Isn't he communing with you and speaking to you and revealing
his grace and love to your hearts? He asked them of their welfare
and said, is your father well? The old man of whom ye spake,
is he yet alive? And I'm reminded of Peter's words
there. And we cast our cares upon him,
for he careth for us. And they answered, thy servant
our father is in good health. He is yet alive. And they bowed
down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, that life, that life that he gives
us. his mother's son and said, Is
this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he
said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. All our blessings, physical
and spiritual blessings, those temporal and those eternal, are
given in Christ as He gives provender to the asses, to sustain us in
this life, to give us all the blessings we need to serve Him
and to continue in Him unto His coming again, when He raises
this body up anew. Verse 30, 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. In
this I see something that speaks to the eagerness of our Lord
that looks forward to the day when He comes again to reveal
Himself to His people by raising us up to know him, to see him,
when he comes again and makes everything known. When faith
will be sight. Hope, we won't hope anymore because
we won't have to, we'll have it. But love will continue when
he reveals himself again. Then sixth, in Christ's house
there is a mixed seed of people, even though the gospel word is
preached to all. Look at verses 31 and 32. And
he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and
said, Set on bread. And they set on for him by himself,
and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did
eat with him by themselves. Because the Egyptians might not
eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the
Egyptians. And so in this we see, just as
the parable of our Lord of the wheat and tares. In this world,
in the body, in the church, the church physical, there's wheat
and there are tares. There are people of faith and
there are people of flesh. We don't know who they are. That's
why we bear long and are patient with one another. Because before
you know it, we'll pluck up the wheat and keep the tares. Or while we're trying to pluck
up the tares, we end up plucking the wheat along with them and
pulling them out. And so we trust the Lord, right? For the tares, he says that the
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. And so our Lord just tells us,
you just just labor preaching the word you just just keep coming
together to send this word forth trusting the lord to to grow
up his wheat and to nourish and strengthen the wheat and and
he'll sort it all out at the end you just be gracious and
kind and preach the word preach the word and then seventh By
the gospel, we learn the intimate fellowship that we have with
our Lord and Savior. And we're made joyful and rejoicing
in Him. So look at verse 33 and 34. And
they sat before Him, the firstborn according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled
one at another. And he took and sent messes unto
them from before him. But Benjamin's mess, his plate
of food, was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank
and were merry with him. And so the Lord knows exactly
who we are. We cannot hide our hearts from
Him. He sees the heart. He knows our
thoughts. He knows our weaknesses. He knows
how He made us. He knows who we are. And He knows
what He made us for. But He blesses His people. Daily He blesses His people,
especially in the new man. And that which is wrought by
his grace, pictured in Benjamin, receiving more. That's where
he especially focuses his blessings. It's for our good in the Lord
Jesus Christ that we're kept and sustained and provided for. And that's where we find our
joy. That's where we find our merriment. That's where we are
rejoicing, is in what Christ does for us, and in seeing that. And you see that because it's
made known to you through the preaching of the gospel in His
house. In His house, brethren. So it's
a glorious, glorious house. I pray that we be made to rejoice
in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Amen.