Nor silver nor gold hath retained
my redemption The way into heaven could not thus be broken The
blood of the cross is my only foundation The death of my Saviour
redemption hath brought. I am redeemed, but not with silver,
but not with gold. Thank you. I couldn't have sung
that without you. Alright. Go back to chapter 44
of Genesis. Genesis 44. This is the next
to last message in this series we've been doing. The next one,
Lord willing, will be Wednesday after next. Brother Marvin Stonica
will be here to preach next Wednesday. But for your benefit, you can
read chapter 45 and, well, read the rest of the book if you want.
But it will be taken from chapter 45 and chapter 50. And this one tonight, if you
read in preparation, perhaps is the clearest of all
the stories, of a clearest picture of the gospel. This one and the
one that preceded it on Judah. Our surety, or seeing the sun,
acceptance in the sun, I'm sorry. These three, that is. This may
be the clearest picture of the gospel. The title is The Cup,
Silver Cup in the Sun's Sack. The Benjamin here, as before,
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Old Testament scriptures are
written for that purpose. Our Lord told his disciples,
they are they which testify of me. I've told the masses that,
they are they which testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pictures,
types, shadows of the one who was to come. Now, remember, A
couple of things we need to remember to appreciate this story. That all the blessings that were
conferred on these sons of Jacob, Joseph made it very clear that
it was all because of Benjamin. Remember, he told them, you will
not see my face except your brother be with you. Benjamin was the brother who
was with the father all this time. He was the beloved son,
always with the father up to this time. And these sons of
Jacob, all of them, except many, were guilty of hating Joseph,
of selling him into slavery. They wanted to kill him. And
what a picture that is of our guilt before God. And Christ,
the sinless one, the only innocent one. who was with the Father.
But in the fullness of time, the Father sent the Son to save
us, to redeem us. Well, all the blessings that
were conferred on the sons of Jacob were for Benjamin's sake.
And all the blessings, Ephesians 1 says, God hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly things, or places, where? In
Christ Jesus. It's all for Christ's sake. Brother
Patrick read from 2 Samuel 9 this evening. That's the story of
Mephibosheth. And David blessed Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. And that's another beautiful
picture. It's all for Christ's sake. And God has blessed us
for Christ's sake. All we are and all we have is
for Christ's sake. Christ's righteousness has been
imputed to God's people. They are held guiltless or they
are esteemed as holy, righteous, unblameable, and unreprovable
in God's sight for Christ's sake. Because Christ switched places
and his blood is what atones for our soul. And remember this,
we sang that song. We are not redeemed with corruptible
things. Nothing in our hands, no price
we bring. We're not redeemed by our good
works or anything like that. But with the precious blood of
Christ, our substitute, that price of redemption. Now, these brothers, as you read,
are going back home. Chapter forty-four, verse one. And Joseph, the Lord over all,
commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's
sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's
money in his sack mouth. Joseph commanded his steward,
the man of his right hand, who did all of his bidding, he commanded
him to fill their sacks, fill them up to overflowing. And the Lord God has blessed
us immeasurably, hasn't he? Psalm 40 verse 5 says, If I should
reckon them in order, all the blessings of God, there more
than can be numbered. Many, O Lord, are thy wonderful
works which thou hast done. Wrecking them up in order, I
could not declare them more than can be numbered. Psalm 68, 19
says, Blessed be the Lord who daily loatheth us with benefits. Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Forget
not, do not forget. all of his benefit. He daily
loaded us with benefit blessings, like these sorry sons of Jacob.
I brought it back to our mind that these fellows were sorry,
no good, worthless brothers of Joseph. They didn't deserve anything,
but Joseph was a merciful, kind, and gracious man. A tender, kind,
and gracious man. And he says, put every man's
money in his sack. They brought this money Intending
to pay for their food. Remember Joseph said, put it
back in your sack. God always returns to his people
what they bring. Always. With interest. With interest. Whatever we give,
it's really returning to him what he gave to us. But he always
returns it with interest. And who does he do this for?
Not the worthy. Not the deserving. but the worthless
and the undeserving. Sons of Jacob. Joseph represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he's a man discreet and
wise. You remember that? That story? A man discreet and wise. Pharaoh said, let's look out
for a man discreet and wise who will set over all of this affair,
make him Lord over all, and he will oversee all of this thing
of It's life and death. And we need a man who can oversee
it all. And that man was Joseph. And
what a picture that is of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has
made Lord over all, who he has set over this whole, the old
writers call it, scheme of redemption. Scheme is really a good term,
meaning it's a complex thing. And Joseph purposed Joseph in
wisdom as soon as Joseph saw these sorry brothers and he knew
them and they didn't know him remember he knew that he saw
the far off they didn't know who he was. As soon as he saw
these brothers he knew what he was going to do. No one under
Joseph where his work from the beginning. That's what acts fifteen
eighteen says of our God does it not. known under God are all
his works from the beginning. For the foundation of the world,
God purposed and made a covenant concerning the redemption of
his people, his elect, sons of Jacob, that's who they are. And
Joseph purposed in his wisdom, he's a wise man, he purposed
to reveal himself to his brothers, but not until they are brought
low not until they are brought low,
not until they are thoroughly broken, not until they are convicted
of their sin, of their guilt, of hating and wanting to kill
their brother. Now, you say this is cruel. No, it's not. He should have
put them all in prison immediately. That's what they deserve. But
Joseph is merciful. That's what mercy means, not
getting what we deserve. And Joseph is going to reveal
himself to these sorry brothers of his who don't know he's alive,
who don't know he's reigning and ruling over all. Are you
reading between the lines here? Are you getting the spiritual
picture? But he's not going to, he doesn't reveal them first
thing as soon as they walk up. You know, they, remember, when
they first came, all they wanted was their bellies filled. Right? When they first came to Egypt,
all they had on their minds was food. And when they came, they
were probably just curious about Egypt, looking around everywhere,
you know, isn't this, boy, this is some place here. They didn't
care anything about the Lord and the land. They didn't know
they were guilty. They didn't know that their lives
hung into balance. They didn't know any of that.
They were just there to get a little food. Little did they know, as
I said. that right then, their lives
were in the hands of that Lord on the throne to do with as he
pleased. So they're looking around and they're there to get some
corn. They probably thought they deserved
as much as anybody, corn. Bought their money and all that,
just buy a little corn. They're looking around, just
curious and all that. If Joseph had revealed himself to them
then, they wouldn't have appreciated
him. They wouldn't have been sorry for what they did, would
they? They would have said, boy, ain't we lucky. Ain't we lucky. But he and his wisdom
devised a way, he purposed everything to bring them down, to convict
them that their conscience is strife, their conscience is guilt,
put fear in the hearts of the man on the throne. And this is
exactly what God Almighty does when he saves a sinner, a son
of Jacob. He brings us love. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Repentance is the gift
of God. We've got to be sorry for what
we are and what we've done. And then he's going to reveal
himself to them. And then he's going to bring
them into fellowship with him. And they're going to love him
after he's true. They're going to love him as they never loved
him before. Boy, they're going to love him
after this. But not giving them what they deserve and forgiving
them all that they did not deserve. Mercy and grace. And they're
going to esteem him. They didn't esteem him before.
They despised him and rejected him, right? They're going to
esteem him now. They're going to hold him higher than any man
they've ever known. And they're going to bow down,
even though it's a man like me, and they're going to bow and
kiss the son, the beloved son. And that's what God Almighty
does to every single son of Jacob that he has chosen to save. Joseph devised this plan or made
a purpose. And what this purpose was, and
the way it all unfolded, and the culmination of it all, and
what really brought them to see their utter guilt, was he placed
all the blame on their innocent brother. This is the final thing
that broke them completely. Do I need to go any further?
I just told you the secret to this whole story. guilts imputed and innocence
and it's the wise purpose that finally leaves them broken as
they see their innocent brother punished on their account. Now,
Joseph is going to reveal himself, but here's how he does it. All
right, look at verse two. He says he commands his steward. His steward did this, his steward
is the one that did all this. He said, put my cup the silver
cup in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And the steward did according
to the word that Joseph had spoken. As I said, Benjamin was the only
innocent one of the bunch, the only one. He was not there when
these brothers sold Joseph into slavery. Benjamin was really
the only legitimate son, besides Joseph. Joseph and Benjamin were
true brothers, the only legitimate sons of Jacob. They were the
sons of Rachel, the true wife of Jacob. Now, Jacob loved Joseph, but
Joseph was no more, he thought. And who did he love most after
that? son of his love. Scripture says his life was wrapped
up in this boy. God Almighty loves the Lord Jesus
Christ. He ought to. He's altogether
loved him. He loves him supremely, and that's all right. He's worth
loving. He's innocent, holy, unblameable,
unapprovable, spotless, without blemish, son of the Most High
God, the son of his love. He was with the Father from the
beginning, as Proverbs 8 says, daily his delight. He loved him
dearly, his dear, beloved, only begotten Son, innocent of all
wrongdoing, without the sin of Adam in his blood. That's why he was born of a virgin,
so that he would be without original sin. But like Joseph, our God
made his son guilty. God Almighty made a purpose in
which he would make his son guilty before the eyes of his brethren.
Actually, do you remember what scripture I told you best sums
up the gospel? I told you to commit it to memory,
because if anybody ever asked you what the gospel is, you could
immediately turn or quote it to them. 2 Corinthians. Go with
that. I want you to commit this to memory. This, in my esteem,
best summarizes the gospel. You see, the gospel is found
in two words, substitution and satisfaction. Substitution and
satisfaction. God Almighty demands of us holiness. God Almighty demands absolute
perfection. And we keep his law. Every jot
and tittle we cannot do it we cannot satisfy the demand. Of God's holy law. But one man
did one man could and one man did. And the saw Isaiah forty
two says God is well pleased for his righteousness. That is
here was a man without sin who lived perfectly according to
God's law. And God Almighty said, I'm well
pleased with this man. He never said that about any
other man, but this man. Satisfaction. Christ satisfied
the demands of God's holy law. Why? To show us how? No. He did it for his people. He did it as our representative. The other word is substitution.
OK? Substitution. God said the soul
that's in it must surely die. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Without the shedding of blood,
no remission of sin. All right? Either we die for
our sins or our substitute dies. And Christ died. for his feet,
his sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for my sheep, the sheep. He paid it all, all the sins
of all of God's people for all time and eternity. Jesus Christ
took those sins in his body on the tree and put them away and
obtained eternal redemption for his people. He was a substitute. And this is all contained in
this verse. And God Almighty charged us with
what he did and charged him with what we did. It's all found in
this verse right here. Not John 3, 16. That's not found in this verse.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he who, God, hath made him,
who? Christ, to be sin for us. Yes, yes, go back read all of
the Second Corinthians talking about God's people. All the saints. All right. He had made him Christ
to be sin. Who knew no sin. Perfectly holy
righteous son. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God saw his son hanging on Calvary's
tree, and that was every one of God's people guilty as charged.
And God Almighty killed him. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He poured out his soul unto death. And God charged Christ with my
sin. But charged me, the word is imputed,
imputed, charged me, reckoned to my account the righteousness
and the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God Almighty
sees me, he sees a holy man. He sees God. Substitution and satisfaction. Without that, you have no gospel.
You have no gospel. But that is the gospel. And this
is exactly what Joseph did. Joseph made this purpose to make
Benjamin guilty. But Benjamin's not guilty. Joseph's
going to make him guilty. A couple of ladies came up to
me and said, what does this mean? What is this all about? This
cup and the sun's fact? I just told you. I just told
you. It's what it's all about. Joseph
devised this way to make Benjamin guilty and let these sorry, guilty
brothers of his go plain. The innocent became guilty and
the guilty became innocent. And who did this? The steward
of Joseph? Verse three through five, as
soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they
and their asses, and when they were gone out of the city, not
yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after
the men. And when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Why have
you rewarded evil for good? Is not this it, that is the cup
which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? You've done
evil and so do it. The steward of Joseph represents
the Holy Spirit of God, whom Christ sends to apprehend, to
apprehend his people. Follow after that old boy. Follow
after him. Apprehend him. Lay hold of him. Overtake him. Convict him. And that's what the Holy Spirit
does to everyone. Look at this. Maybe somebody
doesn't know this part. John chapter 16. This is the
heart and soul of the gospel. This is such a basic gospel message,
as I said. This is perhaps the most important
of all. John chapter 16. There's so much
confusion today about the Holy Spirit. Most of what goes on
under the name of the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit at all.
It's another spirit. That's the fact. Because this
is what our Lord gave you. Our Lord made it very plain what
the Holy Spirit does. He told his disciples. He revealed
this unto his disciples. He said, when I go, it's expedient
that I should go, that the Comforter might come to you. He's talking
to his disciples intimately, and he tells them, he reveals
to them what the Holy Spirit will do. John fourteen, John
sixteen are very plain what the Holy Spirit does. Here in John
sixteen, these verses sum it up, what the Holy Spirit is sent
to do. Verse eight, when he is come,
speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Once again, this
is another time when the word world is used to speak of people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven.
God doesn't reprove every single human being of sin, does he? No, John 3, 16 doesn't say that
either. Neither does this. If every single
person in the world was approved of sin, righteousness, and judgment
because of Christ, they'd be saved. But no, God leaves people in
their sin. This is talking about a people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue, not just
the Jews, but the world. So he's telling to Nicodemus,
who was a self-righteous Jew, who was so bigoted against anybody
other than Jews, he said, Nicodemus, God so loved the world. Not just
Jews. God has a people out of every
tribe under the sun. The Jews thought it was just us Jews,
and then the rest of the world a bunch of dogs. Well, that is pretty much true,
in a spiritual sense. But he's not a Jew, Romans 2
says, which is one outward circumcision of the flesh and of the heart.
Well, let's go on. He will reprove, the Holy Spirit
will reprove, the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment of
sin, because they believe not on me. This is what we're convicted
of about our sin, because we didn't care about God's Son,
because we rejected God's Son. This is what the sons of Jacob
are going to be. Remember that when they first
began to be under conviction? Remember what they all said to
a man? It's because of our brother. We're getting this. He's speaking
rough to us. We're going to be put in jail
because we wanted to kill our brother Joseph. We hated him.
That's what they were brought to be convicted of. They were
sinners. Oh, you go back and read before
this. Read about Judah and the harlots. Read it, read what Jacob says
about his sons when he's blessing them as he's dying. Read the
blessings of Jacob about his sons as he's dying. He didn't
say nothing good about any of them, but Joseph and Benjamin. The rest of them. Judah was for the sake of the
type of Christ. They were convicted of sin because
of their brother. Sin because they believed not
on me. Of righteousness, verse 10, because I go to my father.
We can't get to God by doing anything. Christ did, and that's
the only way we're going to get to God. And of judgment, verse
11, because the prince of this world is judged. We can't. We're
no match for him. Only Christ is, and he took our
judgment. All right, go back to Genesis
44. So the Holy Spirit is the steward
of God, of Christ, who sent to apprehend God's people, every
one of his sheep. He said, my sheep, hear my voice,
my sheep. He said to some, you're not sheep,
you're goats. I'm going to come a day, he said,
I'm going to separate sheep from the goat. Say the sheep come,
you blessed of my father, into the place that was prepared for
you before the foundation of the sheep. And he would say,
goat, I never knew you. Get these goats out of here.
That's unfair. Salvation is not fair. Salvation is mercy. The sons
of Jacob don't deserve it. There's nobody that deserves
salvation. God doesn't give us what's fair. He didn't give Christ
what was fair. He gave Christ our guilt and
gave us his innocence. That's not fair. But that's salvation. People cry it's not fair. They
don't know what sorry sons of Adam they are. All the sons of
Jacob are brought to see their utter guilt before God, undeserving,
unworthy, and know it's all their salvation by sovereign mercy,
sovereign love, and sovereign grace. That's what every one
of these seven come to realize. The only reason they're saved
is because Joseph is a merciful man and because Benjamin's with
them. Otherwise, they'd be goners. Well, so the steward of Joseph,
according to the commands of Joseph, follows after these men
and overtakes them, apprehends them. Paul said, I've been apprehended.
I've been laid hold of them. You remember the story of Saul
of Tarsus, don't you? He wasn't speaking to the Lord. He was speaking to kill those
who loved the Lord and knew the Lord. But thank God the Lord
loved him. He eventually loved God because
God first loved him. And Lord Jesus Christ apprehended
him. He went to lay hold of men, women,
and children for believing on Christ and throw them into prison,
and he got laid hold of. He thought he knew. Rode in there on his proud horse,
you know, what all he was going to do for God. And ended up in
the dirt on his face asking God, what are you going to do with
me? That's salvation. That's salvation. Well, and I
repeated it, and I said, that's my salvation. All right. Look at verse 6. The steward overtook the sons
of Jacob, and he spake unto them these words, and they weren't
kind. He wasn't speaking kind to them,
was he? Remember, Joseph first spake rough words to them, hard
words to them. And that's what they needed,
didn't it? To get their attention. They
were, as I said, they were looking around, looking at the throne
of Egypt and all that, not caring, when are we going to get our
corn? And Joseph said, you're spies! And every one of them
to a man. Hearts failed. Put them in chains. That's what's got to happen.
You've got to fear this man on the throne. And, you know, then
after a little while later, he has them eat with him. And they're
just, they're so grateful. They're so incredulous. Remember,
it says they looked at one another, they just, didn't you like that,
read that? They marveled one another. They
were sitting at that table looking at one another, like I see you
look at me quite often as we eat from this table. Look at
me like, this is marvelous. Can't believe I'm here. That's
what they were all saying to a man, Kelly. I can't believe
we're here. I can't believe we're not in that prison. We're sitting
at the King's table. Why? And remember, they kept
saying, why is all this happening to us? I ain't going to laugh. We're going to be found out.
That's what they all said. He's not going to laugh. We're
going to get what's coming to us. He's going to take it all
away from us. He's going to cast us in prison. They still don't know this Lord
on the throne yet. This is not the way of man. He's
not like a man. He's so merciful. But they were looking at one
another marveling at one another. But then a little while later,
He speaks right to them again through His story. And that's exactly what God Almighty
does through His Word. Why? It's not like after we're,
you know, after we're saved, that after we realize we're sons,
that God has sent unto us the spirit of adoption, we cry, Father.
It's not like after that, then it's all sweet and kind, and
we never hear another word of rebuke, never hear another word
of chastening. We never hear anything but how
much God loves us. No, sir. We're sinners till the
day we die, we need to be rebuked for. We need to be convicted. Repentance is an ongoing thing.
Repentance is a daily thing. Repentance is something that
is a way of life. It's a state of heart and mind.
Repentance is. It's not something I did years
ago and then accepted Jesus and got in a baptismal pool. Now
I'm fixed up. It's a way of life. It's a contrite heart. It's a
broken heart. It's a state of mind and heart
before holy, righteous, sovereign, and just God in the poor. One
that you just do not feel worthy to call on his name. And you
live in a state of repentance. Repentance. And he speaks rough to them,
doesn't he? And what does he say? He says, why have you rewarded
evil for good? And as I said so many times,
see our sin, the sins of believers are worse than the sins of others.
They really are. Because we sin against knowledge,
we sin against light, we sin against love, we sin against
mercy. We know, and this is why David
said, Even though David had a man killed, even though David ruined
a woman's life, and even though David brought great, you know,
reproach on his family and all of that, David said, it's against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
I did this in the sight of God without giving him a thought.
That's why the sins of the laity are worse. Worse. Why have you rewarded evil for
good? Don't we need that review? Sure
we do. Well, he's going to get us now. No, no, no. Somebody's going
to take his life. Now, he spake these words unto
them. And here, to a man they all denied their guilt. Verses
7 and 8, it says, So why does my Lord say these words? God
forbid that your servants should do according to this thing. We
didn't steal that cup. They sure did a lot else, didn't
they? That's the only thing they didn't
do. That's the only thing they didn't do. And it's only because
they were restrained from it. Right? Not a person in here is
not capable of the worst sin on earth. Not a woman in here
is not capable of being the worst harlot on the street. So many people mistake the restraining
grace of God for their own personal holiness. And that's not giving
God the glory, that's taking it. We are what we are. Why? By the
grace of God. The restraining grace of God
keeps us from being the worst sinner on earth. The constraining
grace of God the will and the good is good pleasure. It's all
of grace, it's all of glory. The Holy Spirit leads us and
guides us and teaches us. Oh boy. A day to a man, they
denied it. And have you not, later on, believer,
have you not thought, well I wouldn't do anything like that, surely. What all have I done? I haven't
done that. Well. And here's what they said
in verse nine. Whomsoever thy servant should
be found, which one, both let him die and will be your bondman. And the steward said, OK, according
to your own word. He with whom it is found shall
be my servant, but one except you'll be blamed. Can't hold
you all guilty. It's just one of whoever is found
with this cup. He's the one to blame. Everybody
else goes pray. That's the way it's going to
be. That's the way it's going to
be. Well, OK. Look at verse 11 and 12. So they
speedily took down every man his sack to the ground. Opened
every man his sack. And this is exactly what God
Almighty, the Holy Spirit does. Opened everybody's heart. All
of you, He opens our heart to the ground. God looks on the
heart, God gives a new heart. And he searched and began at
the eldest and left at the youngest, ended up at the youngest, and
the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. The silver cup. The cup, Joseph said, which the
Lord drinketh from and whereby he divineth. And you know what that was talking
about? A cup whereby he, apparently Joseph had this cup and whenever
he was going to make some big decision, a purpose or whatever,
that he would drink from this cup and then pass judgment. What a good type that is, huh?
The cup, our Lord said, the cup which my father has given me,
shall I not drink it? The wine of the wrath of God,
Scripture says. He turned to his disciples one
time and said, can you drink this cup? They said, we'll drink
it. No, you can't. He couldn't bear it. The cup
of God's indignation against sin, no man is able to bear that,
but he wants it. I'll never forget a young man
listening to a young preacher. Talk about describing detail,
our Lord drinking the wine press of God's wrath. Drinking from
that cup of his indignation. And it made a lasting impression
on me. He drank it dry. The dregs of sin. God made him
to be sinned. Christ on the cross made sin. cup of God's wrath was given
to Christ and he drank it. How much? All. He emptied it. Emptied the cup. Emptied the cup. A silver cup. What kind of cup? This is why
you've got to know that no man wrote this book. No man wrote
this book. Some man would have said this
is the golden cup. or the Brass Cup or the China
Cup. Oh, it just happened to be the
silver cup. Do you remember what the price
of the children of Israel's redemption was? Silver. Do you remember
what all of the tabernacle sat upon? The whole foundation of
the tabernacle rested on this price of their redemption. It
was the silver sockets. Do you remember what our Lord
was sold for? Thirty pieces of silver. Silver represents the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The silver cup, the price of our redemption, and by which
the Lord God divineth and judgeth. Paul one time was preaching,
he said, God hath ordained, God hath ordered a day in which he
will judge all men in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Everything everyone's going to
be judged by Christ. Either he drank the wrath of
God for us, either his blood was shed for us for the redemption
of our soul, or we have to drink it ourselves, or we have to pay
the price. You see? Christ paid it, Christie. He didn't make a down payment,
he paid it in full. All right, Christ has made sin
for us, like Benjamin. And it says, when they found
the cup in Benjamin's sack, verse 13, they ripped their clothes,
every one of them. This was it. This was the final
thing that broke them completely. When this happened, these men
are never going to be the same. They are thoroughly broken. And
if you ever see, if we ever see, and you have, many of you, Christ
crucified, the holy, spotless, altogether lovely, sinless Son
of the Most High God taking your place on Calvary's
tree, and you go free like a rabbit. That's what will do it. Nothing
else will do it. That's what will do it. Well,
it says they rent their clothes, and that's what God does to our
hearts when we... And it says they laid it every man his ass.
They were down burdened. Burdened down. And they came
back, went back to town. Where are they going? Back to
Joseph. They're going back to Joseph.
How are they coming this time? How are they coming into town
this time, this last time? How are they going to come in?
These are broken, guilty, helpless, without strength men that need
a miracle. They need mercy like they've
never needed mercy. They're at their wit's end. They're
hopeless, helpless, without strength, and they come into town. Now,
I love this. Says in verse fourteen, Judah
and his brethren came to Joseph's house, and this is where you've
got to go. We've got to appear before God. We must all appear before
the judgment seat of God. That's what the scripture says,
John, to receive in our bodies things done, whether it be good
or evil. Did they receive? Will we receive what? We receive what somebody else.
And he received what we. Substitute. We must all appear. Here they come. They fully expect
to be cast into prison. And it says they came to Joseph's
house, but he was yet there. He's still there. He never left. He was always there. He was there
when these sorry sons of Jacob first came. He was there. He
saw them. He purposed everything concerning
them. He spoke to them. He did everything concerning
them. Purposed everything concerning their conviction and their salvation
and all that. And they left. And they came
back. He's still there. Scripture says He's an ever-present
help. And we come. We go away feeling good. And
we've found out to be sinners. And we come back. He's still
there on the throne of grace. the throne of mercy to hear us
out. Do you feel that? And what they
did, they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said,
what have you done? What have you done? Don't you
know I can bring you to trial? And Judah said, and here's the
confession of Judah is the confession of every single child of God.
Here it is. He said, what shall we say unto
my Lord? What shall we think? How shall we clear ourselves?
God has found out the iniquity of our service. We're in your
hands. We're in your hands. Do with
us as you can. We're guilty. We have nothing
to say for ourselves. This is another way you know
this is God's Word. And Benjamin never said a word. What would you have done? I didn't
do it, I didn't do it, I wasn't in it, I didn't have anything.
Benjamin didn't say a word. He uttered nothing. That's what it says of our Lord
Jesus Christ when he was standing before Pilate. When they all
those charges were brought up against him with of which he
was innocent of them all he was without saying no saying and
they laid all these false charges against him of which we are guilty
of them all and what did our Lord say in his defense. He has to be. Somebody's going
to go for. And this is what Joseph said,
God forbid, verse seventeen, that I should hold you all accountable,
but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
servant. He's going to stay with me from
now on and be my servant. And that's why God said in Isaiah
42, Behold My servants whom I uphold and whom I delight. My servant.
He will keep the law. He's my servant. Serving God's
purpose. Christ said I must be about my
father's business as a 12-year-old boy. And then hanging on the
cross, His last words were, I finished. finished the business, but he
went back to the father and there he remains forever, the servant. And look at this though, he said,
as for you, as for you sorry sons of Jacob,
what's he going to do with them? They're going to go up to the
father in peace. Completely exonerated, completely
free, completely justified from all thoughts. of all the blame
was unapproved in Joseph. All right as I said this is what
early broke down and now they're right after this Joseph's going
to reveal himself to them in a way that they never knew. I
don't see him as I've never seen before. a great deal of His love, mercy,
and grace, and sovereignty, and dine with Him. Then He's going
to abound toward them in wisdom
and prudence, and make known unto them His will. He's going
to make known unto them God's will. Why all this happen? Old Jacob, back in chapter 43,
said, All these things are against me. Remember that? Jacob said, all
these things are against me. No, Jacob. No, not the sons of
Jacob. Everything's for you. Okay, stand
with me. Our God, thank you for your all-wise
purpose covenant of redemption. Thank you for your wisdom, making
this known unto us. Thank you for your mercy, your
grace, revealing it unto us. Thank you for sending the Son
of your love to this earth to be our substitute and our satisfaction. Thank you, Lord. We don't thank
you as we should because we're yet sinners. We don't fully know
thee as we ought. Someday we will. Until then,
bring these things to our remembrance. Send your steward, your Holy
Spirit, to bring to remembrance all things you've said and done,
and show us afresh Christ crucified. In his name we are met here tonight.
Amen. Thank you very much. you. Thank you very much. you I'm sorry. Thank you very much. And I think that's one of the
most important things that we can do as a nation. I don't know if you can see it,
but there's a lot of smoke coming out of the chimney. I'm going to go ahead and do
that. I'm going to do that. Thank you. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and
do that. you