Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number one. Hymn number one. you O worship the King, all glorious
above, and gratefully sing his power and his love. Our shield and defender, the
ancient of days, pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise. O tell of his might, O sing of
His grace, whose robe is the white, whose canopy's vase. His chariots of wrath the deep
thunderclouds form, And dark is His path on the wings of the
storm. Thy bountiful care, what tongue
can recite? It breathes in the air. It shines in the light. It streams from the hills. It descends to the plain. And sweetly distills in the dew
and the rain. Frail children of dust, and feeble
as frail, In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercy's how tender, how firm
to the end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend. Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
62. Number 62. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love. Behold his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully
bear that sight. But downward bends his wandering
eye at mysteries so bright. Crown him the Lord of life, who
triumphed o'er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife,
For those he came to save His glories now we sing Who died
and rose on high Who died eternal life to bring and lives that
death may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given
from yonder glory. O glorious throne, to thee be
endless praise, for thou for us hast died. Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. If you have your Bibles with
you this morning, if you would open with me to Matthew chapter
14. Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14. At that time, Herod,
the Tetrarch, head of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his service,
This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and
therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For
Herod had laid hold on John and bound him, and put him in prison
for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said
unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he
would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because
they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was
kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased
Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever
she would ask. And she, being before instructed
of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a
charger. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless,
for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meet, he
commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John
in the prison, and his head was brought in a charger and given
to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples
came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told
Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people
had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved
with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And
when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is
a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude
away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.
But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them
to eat. And they said unto him, we have
here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, bring them hither
to me. And he commanded the multitude
to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the
two fishes. And looking up to heaven, he
blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the
disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were
filled. And they took up the fragments
that remained 12 baskets full. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men beside women and children. And straightway
Jesus constrained the disciples to get into a ship. and to go before him unto the
other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he
had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart
to pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is the Spirit.
And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter
answered and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee
on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. He saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning
to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus
stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they
were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were
in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, of a truth, thou
art the Son of God, When they were gone over, they came into
the land of Gennesaret. When the men of that place had
knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about,
and brought unto him all that were diseased, and besought him
that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many
as touched were made perfectly whole. Our most high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, we bow our heads and our hearts
in your presence once more. We come to you through your blessed
Son. Even though we are feeble and frail and sin throughout in this flesh,
Father, we are able to come into your presence through your blessed
Son. Lord, thank you for taking our prayers and making them heard.
Lord, we thank you for your word preserved through time. Thank you for the men you have
raised to give an understanding to. I can stand and proclaim the
gospel. Lord, we thank you for the multitude
of sinners you have shown mercy. Lord, we ask that you would meet
with us today. We ask that you would show mercy here this day. Lord, if it would please you,
please strip away the things of this world from our minds
and our hearts, just for a little while. Ask that you would cause us to
focus on you. Cause us to enter into worship. Ask that you'd
send your spirit to be with us. Be with Brother Cody as he stands. Lord, we pray for our lost loved
ones. And we pray for those who are
weak and weary. Those who are tried and burdened. Lord, all things are of thee.
We pray that you would cause us to be unto thee, cause us
to walk in thy light, cause us to do thy will. Lord, we just
read of several instances of your mercy and your grace, but
also of the sinful man's doubt. Lord, thank you for the faith
you've given us. We ask that you would nourish it cause us to grow in faith. Lord, please forgive us for doubting
you. You are able for all things. Please don't let us forget that. Lord, give us faith for Christ's
sake. We ask these things in his name. Amen. Reach out and
touch the Lord as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He is passing by this moment,
your needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he goes by. Let's all stand together and
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Sovereign grace, o'er sin abounding,
Ransomed souls the tidings swell, Tis' a deep bed, no snow sounding,
through its breadth or length can tell what from Christ that
soul can sever, bound by lasting bands. Once in him, in him forever none
can pluck thee from his hands. Heirs of God, joyed heirs with
Jesus, Long e'er time its race begun. To His name eternal praises,
O what wonders Christ hath done! On such love my soul shall ponder
Love so great, so rich, so free Say, while lost in holy wonder
Why, O Lord, such love to me? We're certainly delighted to
have Brother Cody with us again today. So soon. He don't need an introduction.
If he does, he ain't gonna get one. Come on, Brother. Do you want the riser up here? Good morning. I invite your attention to Genesis
chapter 42. I feel like I was just here and
it was last Sunday we were in the hospital again with Isaac
and several of you have reached out and I really appreciate it. It's very kind. It's good to
know we get to go through this life together and experiencing
trials really right alongside one another, and I'm always thankful
for your love and encouragement. And it's an honor to be with
you and called upon to declare Christ once again. Here in Genesis
chapter 42, we're gonna start in verse one. Genesis 42, verse
one. Now when Jacob saw that there
was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do ye look
one upon another? And he said, behold, I have heard
that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and buy
for us from thence that we may live and not die. And Joseph's
10 brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin,
Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren. For he
said, lest peradventure mischief befall him. The famine has begun. Jacob and his sons have run out
of food. And there's just one place they
can go for food, and that's to Egypt. Now, they have no idea
where they have to go is to Joseph. They have no idea, but that's
where they're about to go. As I've been going through the
story of Joseph, the focus is on Joseph, picturing Christ. But today, for our message, the
focus is on somebody else picturing Christ, Benjamin. Verse four, but Benjamin, he
sent not with his brethren. Why? Why did Jacob not send Benjamin? He was afraid, wasn't he? He
said, lest her adventure, mischief, Befall him. Is that not how we
are? This time last week, we woke
up in a hospital room, fearing for our son. All week, fearing,
fear. Day after day, moment by moment.
Do we not fear something? It's one thing or the other,
isn't it? If it wasn't this, it'd be something else. We fear constantly. Oh,
don't go there. Something's gonna happen. Don't
do this. Look out. World's worst. Does this not show our lack of
faith in God? Who's in control? Do we forget
that sometimes? God's in control. That's good
to know, isn't it? Oh, don't send him. Something might happen
to him. Now, we understand where Jacob's coming from, don't we?
You remember what happened to Joseph, don't you? He's afraid
something might happen to Benjamin, too, okay? I don't want to spend much time
on this part, but let me just say this. I see it from the situation
here. I see it from my own circumstances.
I pray for faith to trust God, no matter how dark life may seem. It can seem pretty dark sometimes.
Lord, give me faith to trust you. Lean not on my own understanding. That's the wrong place to lean. We need to lean on Him. He's
going to direct our paths. Let's acknowledge Him. Who sent
the trial? We talk about this all the time,
don't we? He did. Who's ruling rent? Who does all things well?
Elohim. All right, verse five. And the
sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for the
famine was in the land of Canaan. This famine stretched far and
wide. The famine of sin has reached all of us. No exceptions. Verse six, and Joseph was the
governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people
of the land. I love this. And Joseph's brethren
came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to
the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren and
he knew them, but he made himself strange unto them. He spake roughly
unto them. And he said unto them, whence
come ye? And they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food.
And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not. And who did
they have to come to for corn? The one they sinned against.
The very one they sinned against. It's no different for you and
me. Who are we gonna have to come to? If we're gonna be saved,
who must we come to and bow down and fall on our face and our
knees before? The one we've sinned against. And I love that, how it tells
us they didn't just bow down, they bowed down with their faces
to the earth. They couldn't get no lower. That's
the way it is. That's the way it must be. Here they come. And again, I
love this, how they have no clue that this is Joseph. They have no idea. You remember,
in Genesis 37, Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his
brothers. And the dream was this, you're going to bow down to me.
Seemed kind of arrogant, didn't it, to tell them that? That was
a prophecy. Here it is coming to pass. Bowed
down before him. Now, he knows all things. The Lord told some religious
Jews one time, he said, I know you. that you have not the love
of God in you, he knows all. He knows who we are. Now, he
doesn't love everybody. Jacob, have I loved, Esau, have
I hated? I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity, okay? Now, if we're gonna know him, he must reveal
himself to us. Some time is gonna go by and
some things are gonna happen, but here before long, Joseph
is gonna make himself known unto his brethren, and it's so beautiful.
and so gloriously pictures, if that's a word, Christ revealing
himself to his own. Now, by nature, we're lost and
undone without God or his own. We don't know God. We're ignorant
of God. That's why we go about trying to establish our own righteousness,
because we don't know the righteousness of God. It's not being revealed
to us. Christ hasn't been revealed to us. But it's a wonderful thing
when he is. Notice how he spoke to his brethren. In verse seven, it says, he made
himself strange unto them, and he spake roughly with them. He
talked roughly with them. Now, what do we hear when God
speaks? I've probably said this here
a million times. I heard this so much growing up, hanging out
with people from school. Smile, Jesus loves you, God loves
you. Is that what we hear when we
first hear God speak? Or is it rough? What was your
experience? Well, of course God would love
me. Why would he not love me? No, we got it backwards. Naturally,
we get it backwards. When we first hear God speak,
it's rough hearing who God is. It makes us want to crawl under
a rock, doesn't it? And hearing who he is, and then hearing who
we are. And Job said, I repent in dust and
ashes. When Saul of Tarsus heard God
speak, he fell to the ground. He didn't have a choice in the
matter. That's the way it is. It's rough. It's rough. But finding out who God is and
finding out who we are, as rough as it might be, the best thing
that could ever possibly happen to us. Getting knocked to the
dirt that day was the best thing that ever happened to Saul of
Tarsus. He was blinded for a time. Best thing that ever happened
to him. Joseph's brothers right here, they didn't know it yet, but
soon they're going to find out this is a tremendous blessing
that has come upon them. They're about to say that this
distress has come upon us. It was a blessing. It was a blessing. Verse 9, And Joseph remembered
the dreams which he dreamed of them, and he said unto them,
Ye are spies, to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And
they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants
come. We are all one man's sons, we are true men, thy servants
are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but
to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy
servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land
of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this
day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto
them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies.
Verse 15, Hereby you shall be proved. By the life of Pharaoh,
ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother
come hither. This is so interesting to me. Three times right here, he accuses
them of being spies. Now he knew that wasn't true.
What's he doing? He's trying them. He's trying
them. Does he hate them? They hated
him. Read Genesis 37, it's very clear. They hated him. But did
he hate them? No. He loved them. Despite them having nothing but
hate in their hearts and in their actions for him. If a person loves God, it's not because of anything in us.
It's only because he first loved us. Now, when the story of Joseph
is done, you get to chapter 50, and Jacob dies, and then Joseph
is still so kind and gracious to them I promise you they loved
him. You mean God can make someone
who hated him love him? If he did not have no hope. Would
you? Now. Again, this is going to
be a process. By which Joseph. Ends up revealing
himself to them. God reveals himself to us. He
tries us. He's going to prove us Always
does. OK, Joseph is going to cause
them to remember. Remember what? Remember their
sin against him again. They don't even know it's him,
but it's going to it amazes me. I hope it amazes you when we
read it here in just a minute. What they say now, they said, we're
not spies. We're true men. We're here to
buy some food. And that's that's right, that they were there to
buy food. But here's the here's the problem with what they said.
They said we're true men. Is that right? Is there a true man or woman
here today? What does God say in I think Romans 3 verse 4?
Let God be true in every man a liar. We're not true men. Here's
a confession. We're not. You're not. I'm not. We're liars. That's our nature. Lies come
forth from the womb. Speaking lies. Not true. I decide
to believe the truth. No, it's not in us to do that. We believe a lie. We're quick
to do that. Truth must be revealed. Faith must be given. If we're
going to believe the truth, the truth is Christ. Now, to prove them, he gives
this command. We read it in verse 15. He said,
By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth hence except your
youngest brother come hither. Benjamin has got to come here. Got to bring Benjamin. Verse 16, send one of you and
let him fetch your brother and you shall be kept in prison that
your words may be proved whether there be any truth in you. And
again, by nature, there's not no truth in us at all. OK, whether
there be any truth in you, the end of verse 16 or else by the
life of Pharaoh, surely your spies and he put them all together
into ward three days and Joseph said unto them the third day,
this do and live. This is a matter of life and
death. This do and live. For I fear God, if ye be true
men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your
prison. Go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, but
bring your youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified,
and ye shall not die." And they did so. They did so. He put all his brothers there
into a ward, into a prison for three days, and he sends them
with this command. Bring Benjamin here and you shall
live. Don't bring Benjamin, you shall
die. Do we see the picture of Christ
in that? You come to me with Benjamin,
you shall live. No, Benjamin, no life. What does
God's word say? First John 5, he that hath the
son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life. It's it's It's very plain. It's
a hard saying, isn't it? Well, God's people can hear it.
It gives them faith to believe it. I like this. This really blessed my heart.
Sometimes it's really nice to look up what these names in the
scriptures mean, all right? Here's what Benjamin's name means.
This is so good. The son of the right hand. The Son of the right hand. That's who Christ is. That's
who Jesus Christ is. We need the Son of God's right
hand. The Psalms say, several Psalms
say this, that God saves with His right hand. The Lord is my
light and my salvation. Christ, who is our rock, our
refuge. Christ, the right hand of God. We're saved in Him. The Psalms
go on to say at his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. You know, the pleasures of this
life can be nice, but they don't compare to the pleasures of being
in Christ. Pleasures, you know, may have
pleasure here for a while. And then what about when we leave
here? A lot of people leave this world and there's no more pleasures
to be had, weeping and gnashing of teeth. But for those in Christ,
for those who come in Benjamin, Pleasures forevermore. That's what there is at God's
right hand. That's what there is in Jesus Christ. Now look
here at verse 21. Now we see the brothers acknowledge something very important
here. Verse 21. And they said one to another,
we are verily guilty concerning our brother. in that we saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us. This is so important. This is
so important. Until we can, until we're brought
to that place, there's no truth in us. Here's some truth. Here's
some truth, finally, for these wicked brothers. We are verily
guilty. Truly, we're guilty. We're guilty. That's the truth. We must be
brought to confess before God. Let's let's get honest here.
Are we guilty? Did we used to be guilty? But
now we're not guilty. You know, we've changed our ways. We've
cleaned up. We are guilty. Can we look within and see some
assurance now? Well, you know, a lot of years have gone by.
We are guilty. Guilty concerning what? Concerning
our brother. Who are we guilty concerning?
Jesus Christ. Light is coming to the world
and other men love darkness rather than light. No, I did. Darkness. What darkness? The darkness of
myself. Love darkness rather than light. Christ who came into
the world. Why would I do such a thing?
Because my deeds are evil, because I'm evil. It's what I am. Sinner,
sin through and through. Despise Christ, the prophet,
the priest, the king, the Messiah, God's anointed, his holy one. Look no further than the cross. We hated him. Didn't desire him, mocked him,
derided him, ridiculed him. When they put on him that scarlet
robe and the crown of thorns on his head, mockingly saying,
Hail King of the Jews, Jesus, King of the Jews. Can you imagine? This is it's very unpleasant
to think about. I can't imagine hammering a nail
into any person. We hammered nails into God. Who did? We did. Who threw Joseph down in that
pit? His brothers did. Who sold him as a slave? His
brothers did. You know, Reuben went away for of time, he comes
back, and what did you do? Why'd he leave? Why'd he not
protect him? He's the firstborn. He's his oldest brother. If we ever see that it was us
who nailed Jesus Christ to the tree, then it just may be some
truth has made its way into you and me. It's God who does it. We are very guilty concerning
our brother. And we're guilty about a lot
of things. We wrong each other. This is the guilt that we really
need to be concerned about against Jesus Christ. That's it. We're verily guilty concerning
our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul. Have we
seen the anguish of our Lord's soul? You know, the verse that
really catches me is there in Lamentations 1 verse 12. Is it
nothing to you, all ye that pass by? When we hear or we read about
what happened at Calvary, is it nothing to us? Nothing to
see, hear? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto his sorrow. Does that not crush us, knowing
that it was us who did that to him? His blood be on our hands and
our children. That's us. That's what the people
who literally did it said. We're their children. And yet
some of those very men heard the gospel preached a short time
later And God saved them. You mean God would save people
who actually crucified him? Yes. Had he not, there would
be nobody saved because we're all guilty concerning his son. When we saw the anguish of his
soul and what's it going to say when he besought us and we would
not hear now again, Christ did not seek to come down, he hung
there on purpose. But Joseph, imagine how scared
he must have been. He's a picture of Christ, a picture,
a type. They wouldn't hear him. You know, that's a good description
of us, fallen men and women. We are in total opposition to
God. That's our nature. Fallen, ungodly,
the opposite of who God is, what God is. This verse came to mind,
Proverbs 125. Ye have set at nought all my
counsel, and would none of my reproof. You will not come to
me that you might have libel. What are we gonna boast of before
God? God forbid. The end of verse
21, they said, therefore is this distress come upon us. You know,
our problems are a direct result of our sin. Absolutely they are. And again, I love how Joseph
spoke roughly with them, and in doing so, they remembered
what they did to him, and they didn't even know it was him.
They have no idea this is Joseph. They're standing before him. I'm telling you, this is going
to prove to be a blessing to them. It is. Verse 22, And Reuben answered
them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against
the child, and you would not hear? What a self-righteous thing
to say. Again, go back and read Genesis
37. He excused himself. What could have been more important
that he had to walk away when his brothers were trying to kill
him? Didn't I tell you not to do that?
Therefore, behold, also his blood's required, verse 23, and they
knew not that Joseph spake unto them, or they knew not that Joseph
understood them rather. This is great. For he spake unto
them by an interpreter. They were his brothers. They
spoke the same language. He spoke, made himself strange,
spoke in a different language. Verse 24, and he turned himself
about from them and wept. I don't think he'd do that if
he hated them, do you? He turned himself about from
them and wept and returned to them again and communed with
them and took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes. Can we see Joseph's wisdom here?
Dealing roughly with him, making himself strange to him, speaking
to him by an interpreter. Can we see God's wisdom in being
pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. How can I understand these things
except some man should guide me? What wisdom? We say, how
foolish? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? And to use that, to use that
means to quicken a dead sinner to life, to impart a new heart,
a new spirit, faith, that makes us quit trusting in ourselves
and trusting in Christ alone, and he uses the preaching of
a man to do that. Amazing, isn't it? And I know
this, it's God who must do it. Me preaching on my own will do
you absolutely no good, doesn't matter how many true tidbits
I give you, if God doesn't pierce the heart with it. But that's
what he's been pleased to do, is pierce the heart with it,
and I'm so glad he has. I love right here how it tells us Joseph,
Joseph stepped out and he went and he wept. This is the first
time we read of him doing that, and it's not the last. There
are several times when he wept over them because he loved them. Why would he love them? Why would
he love us? What'd they do to him? Nothing worthy of his love,
I'll tell you that. What have we done for God? Nothing
worthy of his love. Quite the opposite. Does it not break us to read
of God's love for his own? Knowing that we just flat don't
deserve it. Knowing that he returned love for our hate. The love of another human being
is wonderful, but this is the love of God, perfect love. Unfailing
love, relentless love. Prevailing love. God's saving
sovereign love. That's love. That's what God
has for his people. It tells us that Joseph returned
again. You know, our Lord returns to us again and again and again. He turns us to himself again
and again and again. And it also says that he communed
with them. Don't you like that? He communed with them. You mean
God would commune with someone like me? Apparently, he communed
with them. I'm so thankful he does. The
end of the verse there, verse 24, he took Simeon. You know,
I bet this was not easy for him to do. He had just left a room
where he was weeping, and then he comes back, communes with
them. All right, Simeon, come here. Now, initially, if you notice,
he'd said that, I'm going to keep all of you here, and one
of you is going to go fetch your brother. Now he decides, I'm going to
keep one of you, Again, what grace, so kind to them. He's
gonna keep one of them, Simeon the second born, send the rest
of them, but you better come back with Benjamin. Now, look at verse 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into
his sack, and to give them provision for the way. And thus did he
unto them, and they laded their asses with the corn, and departed
thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender
in the end, he espied his money, for behold, it was in his sack's
mouth. Look what he said here, verse 28. And he said unto his
brethren, my money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack.
And their heart failed them. And they were afraid, saying
one to another, what is this that God hath done unto us? Joseph commanded their money
to be given back. Though this started with him
speaking roughly with them, I'm telling you, here's what Joseph
had for his brethren through all of this, through what's after
this. Grace after grace after grace gave all their money back. Gave it all back. That's what
God has for us. That's what God has for us. Fill
their sacks. Give it all back. Give them provision
for the way. Gave them corn. Gave them money.
Gave them provision for their asses. Gave them everything and
more. They opened the storehouses under
them. All of them. And yet when one of the brothers
stopped and he opened his bag and he saw the money, oh, they
just sank. Why? We're not going to be found
to be true men. We were supposed to pay for that
corn. Uh-oh. Heart failed them. Now, I find
this to be important as well. The end of verse 28. They said
to one another, what is this that God hath done unto us? It's the first time we read of
them ever acknowledging God. Their sins being revealed to
them, isn't it? Fear is overtaking them, isn't it? The fear of the
Lord, that's where we need to be. That's where we need to be
brought. That's wisdom. Fear in the Lord. We're guilty. We're verily guilty
concerning Christ, concerning Joseph. Now, think about this
too. They've already been accused
three times of being spies. Now they got all their money back
and more corn than they were supposed to have. And they know
we're headed home. One, we have to bring Benjamin
and that is not gonna go over well with our father. They knew
the love that he had for him. Two, we're gonna run out of corn
and we gotta come right back to this man This is not good. Can you see how the outlook is
grim here for these men, for these brothers? Oh, my soul,
they were scared to death. Wouldn't you be? And let's not
go on past this part without acknowledging we must stand before
Christ, the judgment seat of Christ, who we've sinned against,
that is such a serious matter. Such a serious matter. Because
we're not true, we're liars. Verse 29. And they came unto
Jacob their father, and to the land of Canaan, and told him
all that befell unto them, saying, The man who is the lord of that
land spake roughly unto us, and took us for spies of the country.
And we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies. We
be twelve brethren, sons of our father, one is not, speaking
of Joseph, and the youngest, Benjamin, is this day with our
father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the
country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you are true
men. Leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for
the famine of your households, and be gone, and bring your youngest
brother unto me. Then shall I know that you're
no spies, but that ye are true men. So will I deliver you your
brother, and you shall traffic in the land. And it came to pass,
as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle
of money was in his sack. And when both they and their
father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. They all saw their money returned.
Oh, they were afraid. Jacob was so afraid. What in
the world has happened here? This didn't go the way they thought
it would. You know, God saving you will turn your world upside
down. But in doing so, he's taking you from death to life. It's
a good thing. It's a good thing to have your world flipped upside
down by God. It didn't go the way they thought it would. This is something I noticed, too.
This trip, it didn't go the way they thought it would. They're
miserable, and yet they've received such grace and kindness. Is that
not our life? All the time we find ourselves
miserable, and yet what have we received? Grace, mercy, love,
forgiveness, peace, you name it. It goes on and on, joy unspeakable. Yet we fear, afraid. This is gonna end well for them.
They just don't know it. Brethren, if we're in Christ,
if our hope is in Christ and Christ alone, it's gonna end
well for us. It is well with us. Do you not love that song?
It is well, it is well with my soul. They came home with all this
corn and all this money, and yet they're all terrified. They're
all so upset. Because this was the command.
You gotta bring your brother. You've got to come back with
your brother. or else ye shall die. If we stand before God in that
day, without Christ, we shall die the second death, where the
fire is not quenched, where the worm dieth not, cast out into
darkness, outer darkness. But what about if we do have
Christ? What if He's with us? What if we're in Him? What if
we're one with Him? Life, life. I love the song,
in Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength,
my song. Don't you like that? Oh, I pray
we find these words to be true. Verse 36, and Jacob their father
said, Unto them, me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not,
Simeon is not, and you'll take Benjamin away. All these things
are against me. All these things are against
me. All that's happened, and now you're wanting to take my
baby boy. It's all against me. He loved Benjamin. You know who
Jacob saw when he saw Benjamin? He saw Joseph. We saw Joseph. That's exactly
right. Jacob, Jacob had several children. You know how many children he
had with the wife, the wife whom he loved, his heart, Rachel. Two children, Joseph and Benjamin,
his last two children, Joseph and Benjamin. So when he lost
Joseph. All he had left was Benjamin.
His heart, that's his boy. Now he's being told, got to send
him. He's got to go. Or else death is going to come
upon us. And know this. If he doesn't send Benjamin,
it's not just that his other sons will die. Benjamin would
die, too, and himself, because they wouldn't have food. He had
to go. There was no choice. He had to
go. You've got to send him, Jacob.
He's got to go. If Christ did not come down, if he did not
leave his father's throne, and come here, there would be no
life for you and me. There would be no life. Just
death. No hope. Without Christ, no hope. Without God in this world, that's
where we'd be. That's where we'd stay. Lifeless. But, but Benjamin, with Benjamin,
there's hope. With Christ, there's hope for
us. All right? Verse 37. And Reuben spake unto
his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee.
Deliver him into my hand, and I'll bring him to thee again.
And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother
is dead, and he's left alone. If mischief befall him, there's
that phrase again. If mischief befall him by the
way in the which ye go, then shall you bring down my gray
hairs with sorrow to the grave. Jacob denies Reuben's proposal
here. He tells us in Genesis 49 that Reuben's unstable as
water, not to be trusted. Good picture of us, isn't it?
And we see Jacob's lack of faith. He just read it, O ye of little
faith. He's so scared that mischief's gonna befall his son. We find ourselves in that place,
don't we? Time and time again. Lord, help our unbelief. Now,
this is Jacob's tune is about to change. All right. Chapter
43 starts with him trying to send his brothers back to Egypt
without Benjamin. And then they tell him the man
was clear. We're not coming back without
him. And then look here in Genesis 43, verse 13. He says, take also
your brother and arise, go again unto the man. And God Almighty
give you mercy before the man that he may send away your other
brother and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children,
I am bereaved. Finally, from Jacob, we have
a statement of faith. Send him. If I must be bereaved of my children,
so be it. You know, that sounds kind of
like thy will be done, doesn't it? That's the way it must be? At least we need to be brought,
trust in our Lord. It goes on, look at verse 15.
And the men took that present, they prepared a present for Joseph,
and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin, and
they rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
Now again, let's just pause real quick. I have no doubt they are
absolutely scared out of their minds. It's, well, all right, we brought
Benjamin, but... We had our money. I'm sure they
did not feel like they were in the clear. Scared, scared, so
scared. But look at this. This is so
good. Verse 16. And when Joseph saw
Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring
these men home and slay and make ready for these men shall dine
with me at noon. Here's the key to that verse,
and here's the key to the whole message. When he saw Benjamin. When God the Father sees Jesus
Christ. Come on in, slay and make ready,
and it's Christ that was slain and made ready. He's the lamb.
Sacrifice for sin. Why? Why is Joseph going to be
so kind to his brothers for Benjamin's sake? You see that? When Joseph saw Benjamin bring
these men home, come and dine, come in with me, abide with me. And I with you. That's the only reason God would
have anything to do with you and me, for Christ's sake. Because
just like Joseph's brothers, we deserve the exact opposite.
We deserve death. When he laid eyes on his baby
brother, there was nothing coming out
of him but love for all of them. And it was all because of Benjamin.
Now I want to leave us with a verse in Deuteronomy 33. Turn there
with me and I'll close. Deuteronomy 33. Deuteronomy 33
verse 12. If you're not there, just listen.
And of Benjamin, he said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell
in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long,
and he shall dwell between his shoulders. Where do we dwell in safety?
In Benjamin, in Christ. He covers
us. You need to be covered. Does
our sin need a covering? How are we covered? By the Lord. Are we going to be covered long
enough? Well, it says all the day long and it doesn't stop
there. He shall dwell between his shoulders.
You know where we dwell? We dwell between our Lord's shoulders.
Where's that? Right here. Is that good news to you? Praise
God for Jesus Christ. Let's have a word of prayer. Most gracious, kind, loving Heavenly
Father, thank you so much for this beautiful picture of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior, our refuge, our hope, our all
in all. Thank you for all the pictures
and types in your scriptures that point us to Christ alone.
Lord, please don't let any of us trust in ourselves. It's what
we do by nature. Lord, quicken us, give us life,
reveal yourself to us. Please reach way down for us,
be merciful to us, forgive us of all our sin. We confess we
do not deserve this, but for Christ's sake, for Benjamin's
sake, Lord, please, please remember us as Joseph did his brethren. We praise your holy name. Thy
will be done, thy name be exalted in all things. Lord, please don't
ever leave us to ourselves. Be with us and go with us. Stay
ever near our side. It's in Christ's name we pray,
amen. Thank you, brother. Let's stand
together and sing the love of God, page 34 in our course books. The love of God, 34 in the course
book. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or feet can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest
star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty bear bowed down
with care, God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled,
and pardoned from his sin. O love of God, how rich and pure,
how measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure,
the saints' and angels' song. When hoary tides shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall, When men who hear refuse
to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains fall, God's love, so
true, shall still endure, Though fletterless and strong. Redeeming grace to Adam's race,
The saints' and angels' song. O love of God, now rich and pure,
Now measureless and strong, It shall forevermore endure. the saints and angels sung. Could we with ink the oceans
fill? Could we with ink the oceans fill? And were the skies of parchment
made, were every tall on earth a quill, and every man in a scribe
by trade. To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the
whole, though stretched from sky to sky. The love of God, how rich and
pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure the
saints' and angels' song. You're dismissed. We'll meet
this evening at 6 p.m., Lord willing.