Morning. If you all will, we'll
be opening to Genesis 43, your text for the first hour. Yesterday,
I hadn't been to the church house in a couple of days. And I came
down and studied for just a little bit, printed some things out.
I thought, I better check in the trash cans. And I went back.
And when I got close to that restroom, I stepped in water.
And there was a plumber came out in about 35 minutes. I was
very thankful. I did a little bit of plumbing
in my day, and he had a power snake, and he kept pushing that
snake out, pushing that snake out, pushing that snake out.
That's a 75-foot power snake. And he pushed it all the way
out. There wasn't no more snake to push. And then he scooted
the power snake closer to the clean out there. Uh-oh. He's
got a bigger one. This is going to get expensive.
And that last little couple inches, he got it. So it was way down
there. But we got it pretty well cleaned up. I'm going to do some
work in that nursery. But we got them shut for now.
Kierma is up here pulling water out of carpets till 9 o'clock
last night. I was thankful. thankful for
that, them to come out so fast and we still have services today
and everything cleaned up. And I said, I told them, I said,
you did me a favor and it gave me a little bit of an illustration
during one of the messages this morning. So Genesis 43, we're
going to look at Judah, the surety this morning. It's so easy. I was thinking
about this yesterday. It just takes a lot of burden
off for me to preach out of the Old Testament. I guess that's
a shock, and I didn't grow up in religion. For most people,
they don't preach the Old Testament. And I thought, if I just tell
you what happened here, and then I tell you how it come to pass
in the New Testament, that's half the workload. I just doubled
my work. It's a pleasure, though, to see
these things, and it's fascinating. It's fascinating. And I'm going
to try to get to my text here in verse nine and not stop too
much, but you'll just see each verse. It's just exploding. We
can just camp out on each verse by themselves. It says in verse
one, Genesis 43, and the famine was sore in the land. Ain't that
the truth? Six times throughout Genesis,
a chapter begins or ends. The famine was great. The famine
was sore. There's a massive famine. We
need reminded of that. We got it good in this house
of bread, don't we? But the famine soared in the
land, and it came to pass that when they had eaten up the corn
which they had brought out of Egypt, Joseph gave it. Remember
Joseph? His brothers came, and they said,
he said, I'm gonna keep one of you, but you go fetch your youngest
brother, and you ain't gonna see my face again unless you
bring me Benjamin. But he loaded him up, gave him
provision for the way, set a guard on him. When they ate that corn
up, Their father said to them, go again and buy us a little
food. Forgot all about those things. I thought I was driving
here. I was like, I woke up this morning
on the Lord's earth, breathing his air through his nostrils
and his body on his earth and his universe. I ought to come
out of bed. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. How
soon we forget. But he said, Go buy us a little
food. Verse three. And Judah spake unto them, saying, This
man, the man that solemnly protested unto us. Maybe you forgot, daddy. But he said, Ye shall not see
my face, except your brother be with you. That's how God could be just
and justify us. We ain't gonna see his face unless
our brother's with us, our elder brother. Verse four, if thou
will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee
food. But if thou will not send him, we will not go down. For
the man said unto us, ye shall not see my face except your brother
be with you. And Israel said, wherefore dealt
ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had a brother?
Why'd you even tell him you had a brother? Why'd you do this
to me? We're always looking out for
the next arrow to see Saul. Saul was surrounded. He said,
nobody felt sorry for me. Nobody come and apologize to
me. And nobody felt bad. That's us
by nature, isn't it? Here's Jacob. He said, y'all,
why'd y'all do this to me? Verse seven. And they said, the
man asked us straightly of our state and of your kindred saying,
is your father yet alive? Well, you want me to lie to him?
Have ye another brother? And we told him according to
the tenor of these words, could we certainly know that he would
say, bring down your brother, bring your brother down? How
would we have known that? We're just here to tell the truth,
be witnesses of what happened. And Judah said unto Israel his
father, send a lad with me and we will arise and go that we
may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little
ones. If life is going to continue,
Judah is going to have to arise. with his brother with him. Judah's
gonna have to go that everybody may live. Here's the covenant,
verse nine. Judah's speaking to his father.
This is a picture of Christ speaking to his father about to go to
Joseph the Law and fulfill it. For us, Benjamins, I will be
surety for him, for Benjamin. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. I'll
be Benjamin's surety." That's what Jude says. If I don't bring
him back, it's on me. It's on my head. What's a surety? We often think of co-signers,
don't we? Somebody has assured you they
co-sign for a loan or something. It goes a little deeper than
that. That root word here is to braid, to intermix, to do
on another's behalf. That's like if I co-sign for
you, I said, I'll go co-sign a loan for you. You can't pay
it. I'll pay everything. But I'll
let your name be on it. Your name's going to be on the
title. That's what this word means. To do it all. To be made
one with and to be the doer thereof. Assurity. We need one of those. In the New Testament, we'll see
we have assurance because of our surety. That's to have full
confidence of accomplishment. That's what assurance is. The
work's done and you know about it. People say, I don't have any
assurance. You ain't looking to the surety. That's your problem. That's it. It's as simple as
it is. What a picture we have here of Judah. Christ our surety.
We're made one with him. We're braided to him, intertwined
with him, intermixed. And he accomplishes all in his
hand. And he bears the blame if any
are lost or missing or anything's unfinished. It's all on him. What assurance we have. My hand
ain't in it. My thumbprint ain't on it. I
don't have a dog in this fight. I'm not at war. It's not up to
me to win or to lose or to sustain or to make more holy or whatever
you can think attached to it. It's his doing. He's the doer
thereof. We've just been working through
John 17 on Wednesday nights. That's been such a blessing to
me. I hope it has been to you. But that speaks concerning this
covenant. This is the final report when the work's done, right?
this surety, this oneness, this accomplished work. He gave us
the, I have, there in John 17, this high priestly prayer. He
said, I have glorified you on the earth. I've finished the
work. I've manifested your name in them. I've given them your
words. It's been effectually. I've prayed
for them. I am praying for them right now.
And I shall pray for them. I pray for them. And he says,
I have kept them and I've kept them. I've kept them, they're
protected, and I've kept them from getting away. They're mine
forever. He said, I've sent them into
the world. I've sent them out. I've given them my glory, and
I've been made one with them. I'm their surety, and this is
the result of it. I've glorified them. Was Kevin Thacker mentioned
in any of that? I'm just the recipient. What
about Benjamin? Benjamin ain't been mentioned,
has he? The Lord said he's one with us. He's our surety. That's
being evenly yoked, to be knit together, to be tied together.
Have you ever seen two oxen sitting in a field with a yoke on, just
eating grass and looking around? No! If the yoke's on them, they're
doing something. They're pulling something, ain't
they? Us and him and him and us, he sent us into the world
to do something. And he said, I've glorified them.
I've glorified them. And this story of Joseph and
his brothers, Judah being the surety for Benjamin. Benjamin
never speaks. Benjamin, he's probably about
25, 32, somewhere through there, 30-ish years old. He ain't never
spoke a word, never says anything. Judah didn't come to him and
say, here's my plan. I'm gonna offer this to you,
Benjamin, if you'll accept my conditions. I'll be a surety
for you. You just gotta say, give me a
thumbs up. Just nod. That never happened, did it?
He didn't present a package deal for Benjamin to approve. No,
this was between the father and the son. Benjamin didn't have
a hand in it. This covenant, that we are saved
by. If anyone's saved, Lord's people
saved, He's put us in Him. This covenant we have, that's
between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit before He's
even born. It didn't need my approval. All
things are ordered and sure. It doesn't require my input to
get the ball rolling, and it doesn't require my hand to smack
the ball and keep the ball rolling, to push it over the finish line.
It's done. That's between the Father and
the Son, isn't it? Turn over to Hebrews 6. We'll see this
come to pass. Hebrews 6. I want people to know this assurance.
I'm going to show you in verse 17. Look at verse 11 first. Hebrews
6, 11. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope until the end. The same diligence
to look into Christ, our surety until the end. That you be not
slothful. Don't let this become old hat. Don't let this become mediocre
and common and like, well, that's what we do on Sundays. Don't
be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. Walk together, be evenly yoked
to him, to the person. Now verse 17, Hebrews 6, 17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
the unchangingness, confirmed it by an oath, by a covenant. that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, a strong assurance, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. We've run to Christ, which
hope, this person we have is an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast. and which entereth into that
within the veil, the one that went in for us. Whether the forerunner
is for us entered, Jesus, made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. This is the one who's represented
us, who's went in on our behalf, that we are made, he's our surety.
We're his property. This is the one represented.
This is the one who our hope lies. Look over in chapter seven,
verse 22. Chapter 722 says, by so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament, of a better covenant.
What was the first thing we had? Here's a law, keep it. We can't. What law? Well, the Mosaic law
or this law. God said, don't touch that tree.
Don't eat it. Adam did. I did. People say,
that ain't fair. It don't matter what you think.
God said, you're going to die and everything that comes out
of you is dead. That's all death can produce. We died, didn't we? This is a better Testament. This
is a better covenant. He fulfilled that as our surety,
isn't it? By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better covenant. Look at chapter nine, verse 24,
Hebrews 9, 24. This one that was going to go
to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf, be his surety. And it's all on
his hand. Hebrews 9, 24, for Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the
figures of the true. That whole tabernacle and that
place they had, that was just a picture. But into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he
should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into
the holy place every year with the blood of others. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." He's gonna lay down
himself for those that he's pledged to. Chapter 10, one more and
we'll go back to our text. Verse 16, just to play a joke.
Hebrews 10, 16. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
we're, remission of these is, there's no more offering for
sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us. Through the veil, that is to
say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart. Him doing all these things,
our surety that laid down his life for us. Knowing that, let
us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith."
Well, I have my faith. My faith's looking to him. My
faith's his faith. He's the object. I have assurance
that my surety completed everything that he said he's gonna do. Have full assurance. I get picked up. I don't have
any assurance. Why? Don't say why funny, don't. Why? Why not? Because you ain't
looking to Christ. Work's done. Having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Work's done. A child of God has full assurance
of faith. That's what the conduit means.
When we look solely to the object of our faith, Christ our surety. You see that? That's our assurance. None he died for will be lost.
None that believe on him will ever be ashamed. Why? Because he said, if I don't bring
them back, it's on me. He's the only one that ever said,
I'll take care of you and did it and was able. That's the covenant. That's what him and the father
talked about. He said, I'm the surety. Benjamin, that's us,
that's a picture of the church in this instance. They ain't
there. They don't have enough sense
to ask our elder brother to be surety for us. He said, before
they ask, I am. I'm the surety. Now back in our
text, Genesis 43. That's the covenant. Now let's see what Christ brought
to the Father along with his blood. Here's the work of the
surety. Christ is our surety, pictured
in this. Here's what he brings. Verse
11. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so now, do this. If that's what has to
happen, do this. Take of the best fruits in the
land in your vessels. Take the best fruits in your
vessels. Carry down the man a present. Take him a present. A little
balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds. How fast we read over stuff.
Like, oh, well you need Benjamin, but take a bunch of stuff with
you. H20s is precious. And take double money in your
hand. And the money that was brought again in the mouth of
your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Perventure, it was
an oversight. In case they messed up giving you this money back.
You take double, and you take that what they gave you. Take
also your brother. And arise. Go again unto the
man. and God Almighty give you mercy
before the man. Here's the things you need to
take, son. Take the best fruits in the land in your vessels.
Take the best fruits. Lord spoke of us, didn't he? This one that we're made one
with, our surety. He said, herein is my father glorified, John
15, eight, that ye bear much fruit. How are you doing about bearing
fruit? I've come far short of the fruit that our shorty brought.
He brought the fruit of the righteousness, didn't he? He had the fruits
of the spirit without measure, without measure. He had love
without measure, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance without measure. That's what he brought
on our behalf. Verse 11 says, take of the best
fruits in your land and the vessels and carry down the man of present,
a little balm. Take a little balm with you.
What's that? The balm of Gilead, the healing
blood of Christ. And your person, take your person
and take your blood. And a little honey, a little
honey. Why would he say honey? Don't
they have bees in Egypt? That's the word of God. not just
in what you've been given without measure who you are, what you
did to shed blood, your word, take your word with you. How
could honey be a word? David said in Psalm 119, how
sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Solomon said that pleasant words
are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. That's health to the bones. What
makes you feel healthy? He said so. Here's what he said.
What'd he say? Tell me again. I wanna hear.
Sweet to the father's ear, isn't it? But it's sweet to our souls,
too. Everything he said on our behalf,
that's precious. That holy communion, like going
and reading there in John 17, him speaking to his father, that's
just amazing. But that's sweet to us. That's
sweet to our ears, too. And he says, Spice is a myrrh.
Spice is a myrrh. Over in Song of Solomon, it says
his cheeks are as a bed of spices. The sweet flowers, that's his
face. His face shined before him like lips. His lips are like
lilies and dripping sweet smelling myrrh. He smells good and looks
good. Myrrh and aloe, that's what Nicodemus
brought to anoint the Lord's body for burial, wasn't it? And
everyone, nothing came out of that tomb that smelled bad. Our
Lord went in there and laid down, and nothing consumed His body. His body didn't see destruction,
but He was coated in that aloe. And I thought, just how, you
put aloe on you, you get smooth, don't you? Like fresh skin, new,
and myrrh just smelled like healing and smelled like life. and smoothness
of skin come out to him. That's victory. We used to say
at home, that smells like victory. It smells like freedom. That's
what that was. It's exactly what it smelled like. Jacob's telling Judah, he said,
here's what you take with you. It's not by accident, is it?
That's not frivolous speak. Verse 11 says, and their father
Israel came unto them and said, if it must be so, now do this.
Take of the best fruits in the land and your vessels and carry
down the man a present. That's what always speaks of
the high priest bringing offerings, doesn't it? A little balm and
a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds. What's nuts
and almonds? That's more fruit from a tree. You begin with fruit
and you end with fruit. His person, who he is. See that? Verse 12. And take double money
in your hand. Double money. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received
in the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Our brother wrote
that hymn. He said, Be of sin the double
cure. Safe from wrath and make me pure.
It's not just that we've been, not only that we've been justified. God, you're good. Everything,
there's no crime committed. It's gone as far as the east
is from the west. The sin's been put away. Past, present, and
future. But we've been made sanctified.
It's not just that we've had forgiveness. We've been given
holiness. The possibility of it failing
is not there. I've said that before. If you
was the wealthiest person on earth, would you buy a car you knew
was going to break down in 10,000 miles? Well, I'd buy what lasts
the longest. I don't want it failing on me.
That's just us buying cars. The Lord's gonna have a possession,
it will not break. It's mine. It's holy now, it's
gonna stay that way forever. The possibility, we're not morally
innocent like Adam and the garden have the possibility of failure. It's not it. I didn't just buy
them, I made them perfect. Made them a new creation. We
receive forgiveness and acceptance. Those are two different things.
It's one thing for me to stop being mad at somebody, it's another
thing for me to accept them. This surety we have. Bob read this a few services
ago and I was like a 33. For the Lord's our judge, the
Lord's our lawgiver, and the Lord's our King. He shall save
us. He's a whole kitten caboodle.
He's the one that's gonna do this. Verse 12, and take double
money in your hand, and the money that was brought again in the
mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Peradventure,
it was an oversight. Take also your brother, and arise,
and go again unto the man. Take your brother with you. One, intertwine, intermixed,
bled together. Arise. and go unto the man. That's what he did for us. And almighty God, God almighty
give you mercy before the man. Did he? Did he? Look over in chapter
44. I don't want to jump too far
ahead because we're still going to go through all this. Genesis
44. Benjamin was found guilty. We'll
look at the silver cup. I'm excited about getting to
that in a week or two, but they put a silver cup in there. Our
Lord was forsaken for silver, wasn't it? And they said, it's
your fault. You did this. It's our fault. But Benjamin
was found guilty and Judah represents him. Speaking on behalf of Benjamin,
His surety, the surety speaks on the behalf of Benjamin in
verse 16, Genesis 44, 16. And Judah said, what shall we
say unto my Lord? What shall we speak, or how shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. He speaks on behalf and says,
guilty. I'm bearing this. Benjamin had a cup. Judah didn't
have a cup. He said, we. We. Look at verse
18. Then Judah came near unto him,
unto Joseph, and spoke to him one on one, real close. Oh my
Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word into my Lord's
ear and let not thine anger burn against thy servant. Mercy. Hear me, oh Lord, hear me. He
heard him always, didn't he? The father heard the son. Verse
26, Genesis 44, 26. And we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with
us, then we will go down. This is together. We have to
be together in this. The surety speaks. Verse 30.
None will be left behind. You get that? I ain't gonna lose
one. Verse 30. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant, my
father, when I go back to my father, and the lad be not with
us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, the father's
life is bound up in me bringing this brother back, this church
back, this Benjamin back. It shall come to pass that when
he seeeth the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy
servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our
father, with sorrow to the grave. If those given to Christ are
not brought to the father, the Lord loses more than we do. Natural man will get real mad
at that because we're so selfish and self-centered and we don't
fear God and want his glory. Man talks a lot about glorifying
God, but here it is. If he died for me and I go to
hell, he loses more than I do, and I'll be in hell for eternity.
But what does he lose? His life, his character, his
glory, because he gave his word. That covenant was made. It's
bound up with the lads and the ladies' lives. All his sons and
daughters, his bride throughout time. The father's bound with
him through our surety. I thought about that. I'm to
protect and provide for my family. That's my job. God gave that
to me. If I fail at that, or I do a
poor enough job that doubt seeps into my family, into their mind,
I don't know if dad can keep us. I don't know if dad's gonna
hold up his end of the bargain. My honor's gone. The respect
my family has for me and my wife has for me is gone. My name is
no longer worth anything. Children may grow up and change
their name. She may end up changing her name. My word, I'll do this,
means nothing. I'll provide for you. I'll look
out for you. I'll take care of you. It means nothing if I can't keep
it. How much more so? Christ our
surety. His love's at stake. He said,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. That's so. That's so. His mercy's at stake. He said,
I'll pardon him. I'm gonna pardon him. His word's
at stake. Every promise he gave. Here's my word. He gave us the
Father's words, didn't he? They're one. He put them in us. Every jot and tittle of that
law, every word, every picture, every type, every scripture,
It's all been kept. It's all been fulfilled. This,
right? What we've been looking at Wednesday
night, John 17. It all come to pass. We're gonna
see next hour too. I kept reading, kept going back
further on Psalm 52, ended up way back in 1 Samuel. It's amazing,
it preaches itself. It's laid right there. Like this
in first eight verses. It's all come to pass. Salvation,
sure, why? Because of the one who is our
surety. Look down verse 32, Genesis 44,
32. For thy servant became surety
for the lad, for Benjamin, unto my father, saying, If I bring
him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.
Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead
of the lad, A bondman to my lord and let
the lad go up with his brethren. Take me and let these go. For
how shall I go to my father and the lad be not with me? Lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come with my father. What did that surety produce? That one that laid his life down
for his friends. That's what Judah's doing. Luke
chapter 45 verse 1. Picture everything we couldn't
accomplish. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried. Satisfied. Oh, buddy. You want assurance? Comfort? Look to the surety. And our comfort is, our assurance
is, that the surety accomplished everything he said he was going
to accomplish. It's done. Now, we've got a little bit of
time left. We've got a few brethren that ain't been brought home
yet to the Father, that don't know him yet. They ain't been
born yet, maybe. I don't know. There may be generations ahead. We've
got a little work left to do. We've been sent into the world.
That's what he said. He's with us. But we know the end. It's like World War II. Officer
Sharp and people in Great Britain They're getting bombed every
day in London. They didn't know the outcome. We read all these books
and watch these documentaries. I ain't sitting on my couch scared
to death if that little bitty country is going to beat the
whole world. I know the outcome. I know the ending. I ain't sweating. He's a nail in a sure place.
He's sure thing. Sure thing. All right, that's
pretty good. Father, thank you for your word.
that shows us your son for who he is and what he did. What a salvation we have in our
surety. And as we go through this world, Lord, sinning by
not looking to him, turn our eyes upon Jesus. What he's accomplished. Thank
you for this day, Lord, be with us. Send your spirit to comfort
your people and call out those that don't know our Lord and
King yet and give them life and be with those that aren't with
us, Lord, and our brethren around this world that's suffering.
So feeble and anxious and give them comfort. And the only one
that comfort can be found. Forgive us our sin. It's because
of Christ we ask these things. Amen. All right, we'll take a
little break and meet back at 1030.