Thank you. Thank you. Okay, good. Well, that's alright. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I don't know. Okay. Remember the passions, old intentions,
wise ideas. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We have come into this house,
gathered in His name, to worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him,
Christ the Lord. Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 442. 442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, By His dark
angels in glory Strength and honor Gift to His holy name Like
a shepherd Jesus will guard His children In His arms He carries
them all day long Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent
greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. Be our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound his praises, Jesus, who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise him, praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him. ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Ground Him, ground Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming. Over the world victorious, Power
and glory Unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, Tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, Ever
in joyful song. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
40. Hymn number 40. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. join with all nature in manifold
witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Pardon for sin, and a peace that
endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness, morning
by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. We've had a request for prayer.
Now, Miss Barbara's granddaughter, Annie, has an issue, spots or
lesions on her spine, if I understood correctly. Anyway, she's on several
different medications, and they're trying to wean her off of some
of them. They're very, very strong medications,
and she's in a lot of pain, and they're having a great struggle
with that. She's asked that we remember
Annie and family in prayer. If you have your Bibles with
you this morning, let's open together to Psalm 86. Psalm 86. This is the prayer of David.
I feel like this is something that anybody who looks to the
Lord has prayed in their heart from time to time. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear
me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy.
O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful
unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice, the soul
of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous
in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord,
unto my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications.
In the day of my trouble, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt
answer me. Among the gods, there is none
like unto thee, O Lord, Neither are there any works like unto
thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship
before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. For thou art
great and dost wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Teach me
thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord, my
God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name. forevermore. For great is thy mercy toward
me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O
God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent
men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before
them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full
of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
O turn unto me and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto
thy servant and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a
token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed
because thou, Lord, hast opened me and comforted me. Lord God Almighty, our Most high
and heavenly, holy Father, we come to you through your blessed
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we bow our hearts before
thee, poor and needy. Lord, that's our nature. That's
what we are. We are poor and needy. Thou art
everything. Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this place to be
gathered together. Thank you for the saints who are gathered
out. Lord, we thank thee for thy plenteous
mercy and grace, for thy forgiveness. We thank you for your wisdom
and your righteousness. We're so thankful that you hold all power and that thy will is perfect. Lord, enable us to trust thee,
to trust thy will. For as we just read, teach us
thy way. We ask that you would keep us, Lord. Let us not go astray, for we
pray for little Annie that you would comfort her, be with her family. Lord, we pray for the many weak
and weary. You know better so than we do
the great need. Those who are going through great
trials and tribulations, Lord, we pray that you would
continue to be, continue to be a comfort, to be our only comfort. Lord, we ask that you would send
my spirit among us today, meet with us, cause us to worship
you in spirit and in truth. Pray that you would be with Brother
Cody as he stands here to preach your word, cause him to preach
it freely. Bless his heart, Lord, while
he stands here. It would please you, that you
would bless the word to our hearts. Lord, let us not meet in vain.
Please meet with us. for us to honor and glorify thy
holy name. Lord, we ask that thy will be
done in all things for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Self-righteous souls on works
rely, and boast their moral dignity. But if I list by song of praise
each note, shall echo grace, free grace. T'was grace that quickened me
when dead. T'was grace, my soul, To Jesus
let grace bring the sins of heart and sin, And grace subdues my
lust within. Grace reconciles to every loss. and sweetens every painful cross,
defends my soul in dangers near. By grace alone I persevere. When from this world my soul
removes, to mentions of delight and love. I'll cast my crown
before His throne and shout Be seated. Well, we've got Brother Cody
Henson with us again today. If there's anybody that doesn't
know him, he grew up in Kentucky, fell in love, married a girl
that went here, made his way to Kingsport, How long have y'all
been in Kingsport now? Eight or nine years. Time flies. He's been here numerous times.
We're certainly thankful to have him. Brother Cody, you come on. Good morning. Good to be back
with you. I invite your attention to Genesis
chapter 43. I feel like I forgot to say this the
last few times, but your brethren in Kingsport send their love
and greetings. I feel like I've been here as much as I've been
there lately. That's all right. Genesis 43. Genesis chapter 43, verse one. And the famine was sore in the
land, and it came to pass when they had eaten up the corn which
they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them,
go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spake unto him, saying,
The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not
see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send
our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But
if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. For the man
said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother
with you. Now, we've been looking at this
story of Joseph and his brothers. You may recall they went to Egypt
for corn. While they were there, Joseph
dealt real rough with them. He knew them, they didn't know
him. Well then, a little time goes by and he sends them home
with this stipulation. Come back with your younger brother. He asks them if if they had a
father still alive, and if they had a brother. Boy, it grieved
Jacob, didn't it? Grieved him bad. We saw that
at the end of chapter 42. Well, now some more time has passed,
and Jacob realizes they need some more food, so it's time
for you boys to go back to Egypt. And did you notice here he tried
sending them without Benjamin? You see that? He told him there
at the end of verse two, he said, go again, buy us a little food.
Now, let's acknowledge some things. Due to this great famine, they
were in a place of need. They were in a place of serious
need. And you know, there's only one
man who could meet their need. That's us. We're we have a great
need and there's just one man who can meet our need pictured
by Joseph That's who they had to go to that's the man who had
all the corn all the storehouses Jesus Christ is that man God,
man, he's the one we need We're in a desperate condition just
like his brothers were that only Christ can deliver us out of
We need him Now Jacob tried sending them back without Benjamin That's
important. And we read, Judah spoke up and
he said, that's not possible. We can't go back without him.
The man was very clear. We cannot come unto God without
Christ. If we don't have him, we're not
gonna see God's face. We're not gonna live. We're gonna
die. We shall die. You know, it's His righteousness
alone. This world is, and us by nature,
just going about trying to establish our own righteousness. There's
one righteousness, and it's His, and His alone. We need His blood
and His blood alone. We can't add to it. Can't add
to it. You can't add to perfection.
And that's what Christ says. He said, no man cometh unto the
Father but by me, by Christ alone, His righteousness, His blood
alone. No Christ, no wife, no Benjamin,
No life, they're all gonna die, right? Verse four again, if thou
wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee
food, but if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. I pray
God give us that same resolve. You know, it's like that saying
we learned in school, give me liberty or give me death, give
me Christ. Else I perish. Have to have him. If thou wilt
not send him, verse five, 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, or Jacob, said, wherefore
dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether ye had yet
a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And
we told him, according to the tenor of these words, could we
certainly know that he would say, bring your brother down? Again, why do you think Joseph
asked those questions? Because he knew them. He knew the answers. He's going to try them. And I
feel like I've mentioned that several times in the messages
I've brought on this, but he's trying, his father, too. He's
trying, Jacob, too. Jacob was in a place of utter
despair. He just felt hopeless. Again, the end of chapter 42,
remember what he said? All these things are against me. It's all
against me. You know, can a believer feel that way? We've been going
through some hard times ourselves here lately. Well, who was Jacob? He's a man whom God loved. Jacob
have I loved. Well, yeah, I suppose a believer
can feel that way. You know, and it's interesting. I don't
want to pick on Jacob here. If anything, I want to see myself
in him. When he was going through these
hard trials, he kept pointing blame. I'm gonna pin the blame
on you boys again. It's not the first time he did
it. He's blaming them again. Why did you deal so ill with
me? This was your fault. This was your doing. You know,
I couldn't help but think of another brother in the scriptures. We looked at this a long time
ago. Jonah. Jonah. He was so angry. That man was
He was used of God to save many by his preaching, by preaching
Christ. And yet he was angry, angry at God. Again, very clearly,
his anger was against God. And God said, Jonah, doest thou
well to be angry? We need to remember these. We
need to remember this when we're in these hard times. Where is our God? Is he not in
the heavens doing as he's pleased? Who's before all things, by whom
do all things consist? Our God. It's our Lord. God is the one who afflicted
Jacob. And he said, well, why have you dealt so ill with me?
God afflicted him. God afflicted him. Now, I want
to mention some things here. God loved him. We're told that
God chose Jacob unto himself to be his peculiar treasure. Yet he afflicted him. That's
interesting, isn't it? God chose him, we're told, in Isaiah, for
the furnace of affliction. Literally, in that text, it says,
the house of Jacob, O Israel. Jacob, surnamed Israel by God,
and all his people. He said, this is what I've chosen
you to. The furnace of affliction. Why? Why? He said, to refine
you. What do you think he means by
that? to ground and settle you in Jesus Christ and nothing else. So that all our hope is going
to be on in Him. We're not going to be able to
lean on our own understanding anymore. We're going to have
to lean on Him. I thought of this song. Gabe quotes
this a lot. It's written by the man William.
I always heard Calper. Gabe said it's Cooper. I don't
know. But this song is wonderful. I'm going to read you the words.
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in
unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright
designs and works his sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh
courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his
grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Wish
I could remember that. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Now here's where I struggle,
all right? Blind unbelief is sure to err. You know, where
was Jacob right here? O ye of little faith, unbelief.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. You
know, do you ever wonder why is this happening? Why, God,
is it this way? If it be so, why am I thus? Listen
to this. I love this so much. God is his own interpreter. He will make it plain. We don't
have to know. He told his disciples, what I
do, thou knowest not now. That's okay. We don't have to
know. But he told him, but you're going to know hereafter. One
day you will know. That's all right. I don't have
to understand why things are happening. I just need faith
to trust God in it. I need faith to look to Christ
through it. Everything's going to be all right. Look into him.
You know, again, I'm not exactly sure how much time will go by,
but soon enough, Jacob's going to find out, again, very clearly,
unmistakably, that all these things were not against him. but rather all these things,
as painful as they were, they were actually for him. I'm telling
you, that is so hard to believe when you're in the middle of
it. Lord, give us faith. He's gonna find out. We're gonna
find out. We whom God causes to look to
Christ. You know, it wasn't his sons
or God dealing ill with him, as he said. This is God dealing
wisely and graciously with him. We know it. We know it. We know it. Verse eight. And Judas said unto Israel his
father, send the 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. I will be surety for him. That's what I want to focus on
today. I will be surety for him. This is a glorious picture of
our Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favorite in all the
scriptures. We've seen Joseph as a picture of Christ. I think
we looked at this last time where Israel loved Joseph. Whom does
God the Father love? Christ the Son. And what about
the rest of us? We hated Him. Didn't want Him. Let's conspire to kill Him. How
many times did religious men, upstanding men, get together
and take counsel to put Him to death? That's what they did.
That's what they did. That's what His brothers did.
And then, ah, let's just sell Him. First they threw Him in
a pit, picturing our Lord on the cross. No water there. Ripped
up His coat. Wanted it for themselves. Do
we not want His glory for ourselves? Well, I deserve God's love. No,
we don't. It belongs to Joseph. It's Christ. Get him out of here. Get out. They got rid of him.
And then the first people that bought him, they didn't want
him either. They turned around and sold him for a little profit.
And then he winds up the servant in Potiphar's house. What a servant
he must have been, picturing Christ, the servant of God, God's
elect, in whom his soul delights. And then he's in charge of the
prison. Whatsoever was done in the prison, he was the doer of
it. Again, what a great picture of Christ. And while in prison,
he interprets dreams. Who can interpret dreams but
God only? He said that. And then exactly what he interpreted
came to pass. He asked to be remembered to the butler. Butler
forgot him. And then in the... Wise providence
of God, a couple years went by, then he was remembered. And then
he comes out of there, and he's ascended and seated on high,
glorified, exalted, and everybody's coming to him. What a great picture
of Christ Joseph is. There's so much more, that's
just a summary. We've seen Benjamin as a picture
of Christ. Simple as this, no Benjamin, no life, no food. No Christ, no life, pending death. Inevitable death. Now here today,
I want to see Judah. I believe he was Jacob's fourth
son, Judah. I see Judah as a picture of Christ. How? As our surety. He said,
I will be surety for him. What's that mean? One who takes
a pledge for. I'm going to make a promise.
I'm going to vow to be here for him. Make sure it's well with
him. I'm going to take care of him. Is that not our Lord? Verse 8 again. Judah said unto
Israel, his father, send the lad with me. He's taking on a great responsibility
here. He's becoming responsible for his brother. Now, you know,
I assumed Judah was already gonna be with him, that his brothers
went together to go to Egypt. That wasn't enough until he makes
this promise. I'm responsible here. It's gonna
be okay, Dad. I've got him. Now, you know,
it's one thing for a man to make such a promise, but what about
Jesus Christ? What about the God man? Can you
imagine hearing him tell the Father, send the lad with me, send Brad with me, send Houston
with me? That's comforting, isn't it? That's comforting. Is there anywhere else we'd rather
be? Is there anyone else we'd rather be with? You know, we
sing a song, Under His Wings. That's where I want to abide,
because abiding there, I'm going to safely abide forever in Him. What a safe place to be. Now,
I'll point out here, Judah, he volunteered. He spoke up. He said, I will. I will be surety for him. Our
Lord said, lo, I come. I come. He came down here willingly.
Willingly. Send the lad with me, and we
will arise and go. He's safe with me. He's safe
with me. I'll protect him. You know, when
it comes to us standing before God, I don't want to stand before
God on my own. A lot of people do. God forbid. It's not going to be well with
us. It'd be like going back to Joseph
without Benjamin. For God's people, that's just
not an option. We want to be dressed in beauty, not our own,
as one of the hymns says. You know, I've heard it said,
too, when we stand before God, it's like, this is how I think
of it in my mind sometimes, like, what's the answer, you know,
to get in? What right do you have to be
here? This is all I can come up with. I don't have one. I don't want to say a word. I
really don't. I need someone else to stand
and speak for me. You know, through this whole
account, we don't read of Benjamin saying one word. Did he accept
Judah as his surety? Did he ask Judah to be his surety?
Judah said, I will be surety for you. I will. Do you need a surety? Verse eight again, Judah said
unto Israel, his father, send the lad with me, we will arise
and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also
our little ones. Again, this is a matter of life
and death. This is so important. So important that we may live
and not die. I don't want inevitable death.
Because of my sin, that's what I deserve. That's what I've got
coming to me. If I'm gonna stand before God
without a surety, Mark it down. It don't matter if it's 100 years
from now. If I live to be 132, isn't that
something? It wouldn't matter. If Christ is my surety, death
is mine. Same is true for you. Need a
surety. There's no life outside of Christ.
He that hath a son hath life. You know, there's a lot of verses
about Christ being our life. I'll quote you a couple of my
favorite, what he told Martha. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. You know, sometimes you get to
think about, well, how am I gonna die? What's gonna happen? How long
do I have? We start to fear, don't we? It doesn't matter.
If we live in Christ, we shall never die. We believe on him.
Our hope is in him. Our life, you know, I think we
read it last time where it said, or maybe it's later in this chapter,
I don't remember, but it said that Jacob's life was bound up
in the lad's life. Benjamin, is our life not bound
up in Christ? Is He not our life? I mean, I
mean our life. Not part of our life. You know,
people love to say He's the most important part of my life. No.
Is He your life? Without Him, is there any life? When Christ, who is our life,
And who is in Colossians 3 is in italics. When Christ our life
shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. He's
my life. He's my life. Now, let's acknowledge
something here. Without a surety for Benjamin,
Jacob's not letting him go. He's not sending him. So you
mean to tell me Without a surety, we can't have life? That's exactly
right. Here's the thing. For you and
me, our surety is our life. Because Christ is our surety.
And Judah's just a picture here. I like what Judah said there
at the end of verse 8. He's talking about living and
not dying. He said, both we and thou. You
know, Jacob needed the food just as much as they did. And also
our little ones. Are we concerned with our little
ones? I dropped Isaac off in the nursery. There's a lot of
little kids in there today. Most I've ever seen back there.
We're concerned about them, aren't we? If we're concerned about
our little ones, you know what we can do? Point them to the
surety. Tell them about the surety. Bring
them to hear about the surety. Tell them about Christ. Nothing
else matters. You can feed them, you can clothe them, bathe them,
give them medicine, things that they need. I get it. They need
these things. But there's just one thing needful.
If we care about our little ones, tell them about the surety. God forbid they grow up trying
to save themselves just like we did. You know, salvation is sure in
the surety. It's in the Word. Sure. Verse 9, I will be surety for
him. I want to focus on those two
words a little bit here. I will. You know, the problem
with false religion is that it puts the focus on the wrong person. It puts the focus on you, right?
You, me. What do we got to do? What can
I do? There were some men that were,
the Lord filled their belly with the miracle, with the loaves
and fishes, and they start physically following him. These were ones
that went back and walked no more with him, mind you. And
they said, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
What can we do to work the works of God? Christ came to work the
works of God. That's his work. It's not ours. It made me think of The men,
our Lord said, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. What did they say? He said, many are going to say
to him that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful
works in my name? That's what religion will make
us think, isn't it? Here's what I've done. Let's open the, you
know, I hate even thinking about opening the book on the pages
of Cody's life. I would be so embarrassed for
any of you to open that book. What about God? and we're gonna
approach Him with that as our plea, here's what I've done.
Does that not put fear in you, thinking about that? My soul,
if I don't want you to read it, I definitely don't want God to
read it. But here's the thing, He already knows it. He knows
it better than I, He knows me better than I know myself. You
ever use that phrase? That scares me. Because He's
revealed to me at least a little bit about what I am. It's not
what, what, what can I do? What can you do? Christ said,
I have finished the work. Let me tell you what he's done. I have finished the work, John
17, which thou, the Father, gavest me to do. He finished the work.
It was his to do. I love what David said in the
Psalms. He said, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works,
which thou hast done. You just read it. There's no
works like in his works. None. His works alone. It's his work
alone. Sinner's hope is not in him or herself, it's in his or
her surety, is it not? You got hope anywhere else? There's no other hope. And let
me say this, what Jude is saying here is, I promise to look out
for him. I promise to watch out for him
with every fiber of my being. That's what Christ did for his
children, for his brethren, for his people. I will be surety
for him. Now, you may or may not know
this about Judah. When Joseph's brothers conspired
to kill him, one of the brothers said, let's
just sell him as a slave. It's Judah. Does that paint Judah
in a good light? I don't think so. That's so nice. Let's just get rid of him once
and for all. Let's just sell him away to some
Ishmaelites. That's nice. You know, in chapter
38, the story of Joseph runs from Genesis 37 through Genesis
50. With the exception of chapter
38, it's about Judah and Tamar. Tamar was his daughter-in-law. Do you know what happened there?
It's not good. That puts Judah to shame. And
at the end of the chapter, he knows it. Maybe he learned something
through that. I believe he did. He made a pledge to her.
Now he's pledging to his father. But you know, at the end of the
day, Judah here, he's in the same predicament the rest of
these men are in. Hungry, and about to die if he
don't get some food. And as a picture of Christ, he
vows to be sure again. For his brother. You know, our
Lord vowed to be for us what we could never be for ourselves. They didn't know this is Joseph
that they're having to go before. Even with Judah vowing to be
surety, I bet you Jacob still thinks this is not going to go
well. But being a picture of Christ, it's going to go well.
I love that. I really want to stress this.
We're in a desperate need. And it's, you know, it's not,
well, I have a need today, but maybe I won't have a need next
week. Maybe, maybe I won't have a need tomorrow. Let's, let's
remember here. Jacob's sons had just gone to
Egypt and got a bunch of food and more than, more than, more
than they could carry. And now they're having to go
back. I need grace for today. And if
I'm here tomorrow, I'm gonna need grace tomorrow. I love reading
in the Psalms over and over again how that his mercy endureth forever. I need mercy that endureth forever. Do you? You need a surety whose
promises shall stand forever? My favorite song to sing in church
as a kid was Standing on the Promises of God. I think it's
175. Standing on... There's no other place to stand. A sinner can stand on him. A
sinner can stand in him. Stand upon his promises. The word surety, I just, I like
that word. I like that word for several
reasons. It, it implies some things. First thing it implies to me
is purpose. Purpose. Did Judah not have a purpose
in vowing to be surety for him? He saw, he saw a great, great
need here. Do you know God saves sinners
on purpose? Christ didn't die to make things possible. He died
on purpose. He died on purpose. It implies
certainty, doesn't it? Are God's people gonna be saved?
Well, if you, here we go, back to that, who will, I will, we
will, no, He will. It's not up to us. It's up to Him. Call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. It's
certain. Listen, the moment God purposed
it, it was done. Because this is God we're talking
about. I purpose many things in my heart. I would have my wife and children
perfectly happy, so thrilled every moment of every day if
I could. But we know life is just hard
sometimes, don't we? If I could get my son to take
his medicine with ease, that would calm us so much. But guess
what? I ain't figured it out yet. But
nothing's too hard for our God. Nothing. If he purposed to save
you, you are saved. Period. It's like dear brother
Larry Criss always says, no ifs, ands, buts about it. That's true. There ain't certain surety. That's Christ. My confidence is not in myself.
My confidence is not in you. Love you. But my confidence is
all in Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. He's my
surety. He promised to save me. I shall be saved. What a hope. What a Savior. What a surety.
Verse 9. I will be surety for him, of my hand shalt thou require
him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. I will answer for him. I told you, when I'm standing
at heaven's gate, I don't want to open my mouth. He's gonna answer for me. Is
that your desire? my hands shalt thou require him."
Who are we talking about? The one who vowed to deliver
me. The one who shall not fail. That's not me. That's not me. I like this. 2nd Corinthians
1 verse 10. You know, this to me shows It
shows our perpetual need. And this gives me some assurance.
It says that Christ delivered us from so great a death. He
delivered us. And doth deliver. In whom we
trust that he will yet deliver us. Is he going to stop delivering
us? Am I going to mess this thing up? It's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen. I'm telling you, my hope of being
accepted by God Almighty is in no way dependent upon me. I mean, in no way. Better watch
out, you're going to lose your salvation. It's not possible.
It's not possible. Because He vowed to be surety
for me. Of His hand shall I be required. You know, what God requires,
God provides for His people from start to finish. The whole thing. Verse nine, of my hand shalt
thou require him, if I bring him not unto thee, and set him
before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever. If I bring him not unto thee.
You know, maybe Judah, maybe Judah thought this was a possibility. With Christ, that is not a possibility. If I bring Him not unto thee...
Have you read the Scriptures? Do we know that we're safe in
Christ? Do we know that He's not going
to lose a single one for whom He died? That He's going to raise
them all up at the last day? We know that. You know, I would
love to just turn and read John 17, but I don't want to keep
you for an hour. Just, you read that, of everything He's done
for His people, He's given us eternal life. He prays for us,
prayed for us, He prays for us. He's given us His word. He's
given us His name. He's given us His glory. He's
given us His love. He's given us everything. We're
one with and in Him and God the Father. We're one. If I bring Him not unto thee,
not possible. That's not possible. It's not
possible. In Hebrews 2.13, Christ speaking
says, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. We're not going to bring ourselves
there. He's going to bring us and he's going to present us.
That's what he said right here. He said, If I bring him not unto
thee and set him before thee, I cannot wait to be set before
God. Who's going to set me there?
My surety. How am I going to look? A whole
lot better than I look right now. Holy, spotless, without
blame, no blemish. You know what I'm gonna look
like? I'm gonna look just like my surety. I'm gonna look just like
Him. Conformed to His image. And I
didn't play any part in that. He did it all. Now I especially love what He
said at the end of verse 9 here. If I bring Him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. You know, we need someone to
bear our blame. This flesh, we should try to
right our wrongs. If I wrong you, I pray God grant me repentance,
humble me, Apologize, try to right the wrong. Love you as Christ loved you.
But here's the thing, we can't right our wrongs before God. If we die in our sins, what's
gonna happen is we're gonna bear the blame forever. That's why
hell is forever. because we'll never be able to
satisfy the justice and judgment of God. Well, I've been there
50 billion years, punishment's over. No. If we die in our sins,
we're going to bear the blame forever. But here's the good
news. Someone stepped in, as Judah did here, someone stepped
up in our place and bore our blame completely for us. That's what Christ did. He bore our sins, but He also
bore our blame. He bore our guilt. He bore it
all. He bore it all, and He did it by Himself. Now, here's the
thing. Is He going to bear our blame
forever? Here's what He did. He buried
our blame when He buried our sin. He buried it as far as the
east is from the west, and it's gone, never to be found again.
I'm so bad about this. Bringing your sin up again. Well,
hold on now. You remember that? He's going to look for the sins
and iniquities of Judah, and he ain't going to find them. Because they're gone. And I love
this. How do we know it's actually
gone? He was delivered for our offenses, But he was raised again
for our justification. Means there's no sin there. There's
no blame there. It's gone. It is finished. Don't you love
the fact that our Lord cried that before he bowed his head
and gave up the ghost? It is finished. Verse nine, I
will be surety for him of my hand, shalt thou require him,
if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then
let me bear the blame forever, for except we had lingered, surely
now we had returned this second time. They lingered because Jacob
was refusing to send Benjamin. He refused to send Benjamin till
he had a surety. I pray God would not allow us
to linger from believing on Him anymore. It's too urgent. Behold, now is the accepted time.
Now, right now. There's never going to be a more
accepted time. Right now is the day of salvation. Right now.
Do you need a surety? There is one. This whole book
is all about Him. His name is Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. May God cause us to truly call
upon him. May God save us for Christ's
sake. All right, let's have a word
of prayer. Most high, gracious, heavenly
Father, we call upon your name as needy sinners, poor and needy.
Lord, as we are in this flesh, we're in a famine. and we need
you to save us from ourselves. We need Christ. Lord, give us
Christ or else we die. Robe us in him. Cover us under
his precious holy blood. Thank you for all these glorious
pictures of Christ that you've enabled us to see within your
word. And Lord, there's so many more. Open our eyes to see him
who is altogether lovely. Please forgive us of all our
sin. We're so sinful. But Christ is such a perfect
savior, such a wonderful surety. Please save us for his great
namesake. Be glorified here today through your word, through this
message. Cause us all to believe on you
and be saved. Bless this food that we're about to eat to our
bodies. Be with us. We pray for your will to be done.
Comfort us as we're enduring trials. Lord, give us faith and
increase that faith every day, I pray. For Christ's sake, it's
in his name we pray, amen. Thank you for that message, brother.
Let's stand together and sing number one in our course books. Number one in our course books,
let's stand together. My hope is in the Lord. who gave himself for me and paid
the price of all my sin at Calvary. For me, he died. For me, he lives. And everlasting life and life
he freely gives, no merit of my own. His anger to suppress. My only hope is found in Jesus'
righteousness. For me, he died. For me, he lives. And everlasting life and light
he freely gives. And now for me he stands before
his Father's throne. He shows his wounded hands and
names me as his own. For me, he died. For me, he lives. and everlasting life and life
He freely gives. My Lord has done it all. No work is left for me. In this I rest, my soul is blessed
eternally. For me, he died. For me, he lives. and everlasting life, and life
be freely his. We've got lunch back here. If
anybody needs to go back and make preparations, you go on.
They'll let us know when we're ready to eat. It shouldn't be
long. As the pastor said last week, we're having a picnic today.
Hope you brought your hungry bellies. Y'all are dismissed. Pastor will be back Wednesday
evening, Lord willing. th th th I'm I'll tell you, Mitchell says
that all our problems are going to get thrown at him. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. There I have her. There I have
her. Yeah. Yeah. th th Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. th th Yeah.