Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Genesis chapter 43 and reading through our text, verse 11. And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels and carry down the manna present, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds. Genesis 43 verse 11, and specifically the words, if it must be so now.

Dear Jacob was hemmed in by providence. The famine was in the land, all over the land. There was no food that they had. There was food in Egypt, but only in Egypt. And the man in Egypt, Joseph, had made a condition that, except they brought their brother Benjamin, they couldn't go and get any more food.

Simeon also was locked up in Egypt to make sure that they did return or to help them, prompt them to return as well. But Jacob, in some ways, idolized, I was going to say, but felt so protective, so strong over Benjamin, he didn't want to let him go.

And so he was hemmed in. He was in a situation, really, he couldn't get out of. God has so ordered events. He couldn't go backward. He couldn't go forward. Really, there's only one way he could go. And in this account that we have read, he was being shepherded to make that decision and take that way. And so he says, if it must be so now, do this. And he gives direction that they should go.

Little did Jacob know that the man in Egypt was his son, Joseph. What a difference that would have made if he did. But he didn't. But this what Joseph had done, what God had done, was forcing him to make the right decisions so that Joseph, in effect to him dead, would rise from the dead. That through this he would be given life from the dead.

We know the end of this account. Jacob did not. Jacob had to walk it out. There are things in our lives as well. We do not know the end. We have to walk it out. But we may be able to recognize the same set of circumstances that Jacob had here. we might quote another text that applied very similar. Who can make that strain that God hath made crooked? There are those things in our lives that try as we might, we can't retrace our steps, we can't mend what has been done, we can't change what has been done, we can't repair breaches. And when we see it like that, We should always think, who has brought this situation that I am hemmed in, that things cannot change. Man cannot touch it. He cannot bring about what God is going to bring about. This is replicated again and again in history and through in the lives of the people of God. If the disciples had had power, Peter would have used his sword, he tried to. They would have tried to stop our Lord going to the cross and going to Calvary.

When the Lord told Peter what was going to happen, he said, be not that unto thee, Lord, that be not unto thee. Our Lord's response was to turn to him and rebuke Satan. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savest not the things that be of God, but that which is of man. A path of suffering, a path of pain and sorrow that was before the Lord, and Peter, thinking he was acting the good and the kind part for his master, would discourage him from walking in that way. We need to be very careful when we see another of the Lord's people in paths that are difficult, are painful, that seem like it's important that they go in that path. But instead of encouraging them that God will give them grace, God will order it, God will direct it, he is in control. We may say things, you don't deserve that. God will never mean to do that. You're not going to go in that path like that. As if to make them think that this isn't the appointed path.

This was for Jacob. He had to walk it out. The end we know. He saw his son again. He's risen from the dead. Before him, Joseph himself had to walk out that path. Joseph, who was given the expectation that his family, his brethren, would bow down before him, that God had something appointed for him, must be shamefully entreated, sold as a slave, falsely accused, cast into prison, and forgotten. We're told in Psalm 105, until his time came, the word of the Lord tried him. And he had to walk out that path.

I've often said with Joseph, he did not have to make any decisions. They were all made for him. There are many times in our lives that we need to look at the facts, compare things with the word of God, and we make a decision whether to do this or that. With Joseph, it was all taken out of his hands.

His brethren took it out of his hands. He was taken out of his hands immediately when he obeyed his father, went to his brethren. Taken out of his hands as to who bought him as a slave. Taken out of his hands when he was falsely accused. And when he was in prison, his getting out, he couldn't put his hand to it. He couldn't decide when or how.

That was all, all ordered by God. Sometimes it's like that in our lives too. And we're not alone when we think of Joseph. In other words, the Lord is kindly saying, this deep, this hard, this difficult path, you don't have to make the decision. I'll make it for you.

But with Jacob here, he did have to make a decision. And yet he was so hemmed in, in one way there was only one decision, and one way that he could go. which is the way that he did go, otherwise they would have starved. On to look, firstly, at four things that Jacob was made willing to do. When he says, if it must be so now, There's four things he was made willing to do.

And then secondly, there's three musts. We have a must in our text here, if it must be so. Three concerning our Lord and the apostles. And then lastly, two musts for us to remember. for our good. But firstly, there's three, three things Jacob, four things, sorry, that Jacob was made willing to do. And I believe that part of what was used to make him willing was Judah willing to be a surety.

When they first come back, then Reuben said he, Jacob, could slay both of his sons, Reuben's sons, if he didn't bring Benjamin back to him. Who would put your favorite son in the hand of someone who's willing to kill both of his sons? But what a different thing with Judah, Judah, he was going to take the blame. He would be the surety, not his sons, not anyone else, him.

He's a beautiful type of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We know that when the cup was found in Benjamin's sack, And Joseph said that he was going to keep Benjamin and they all could go. Then Judah stood up and he said that he became surety for him. And so he said to Joseph, unknown to him then, but said to him that he would stay in the place of Benjamin. And Benjamin had nothing to plead when he was going to be the one that was to stay, then Judah was going to be the substitute.

That is what a surety is. Our Lord Jesus Christ is surety for his people. When they have nothing to pay, then he is the one that pays their debt. He is the one that speaks for them. You do not read Benjamin saying anything in his own defense. Everything that is said is Judah speaking on his behalf.

And I believe that greatly influenced or was to be a help for Jacob, realizing this, and especially in a gospel sense, viewing our Lord and Savior as our surety, it is of great comfort and great help, knowing that when we have nothing to pay, when we're in a situation that we cannot get out of, that there the surety speaks for us. Sam Ryder says, what voice is that which speaks for me in heaven's high court for good? But Jacob here, he came to four things. The first thing was to submit to God's providence.

We often say we do not believe in chance, my life's minutest circumstance is subject to thine eye. But it's amazing how quickly we can fret or get a bit cross with providence, even in a simple thing. going to the pilgrim home this afternoon, and long line of slow cars. Look ahead, there's this slow car going along, and four or five cars.

And at first, I thought, oh, no. But I had left myself enough time. But then I thought, I thought of this text. And I thought, this is all ordered of God. Who knows what's up ahead that I'm being kept back from? Who knows the reason why I'm being held back at this time? And that quieted me. But I thought, how quickly. When things go cross with us, when things are not what we planned or what we wanted, we're not very submissive to it. We want to put our hand to it. We want to change things. But Jacob here, he was brought where he couldn't change things.

But he was made willing. to submit to God's providence. God had ordered these things, and the more we believe and the more we understand it, who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not. When we look at the book of Esther, and we see all of the events, sometimes crucial timings happening, when we think even of the crucifixion, and all of the events that happened then, all the leading up to it, everything that fulfills scripture, all of this is providence involving other people, what they say, what they think, what they do. The famine in the land, natural things, all of these things are in the Lord's hand. And the more that we see it and see it is the Lord's hand, the more help will be to submit to it rather than fight against it, rather than resisting against it.

Those things that are put in the way, that are like shepherds, like perhaps the sheepdogs with the shepherd, to hedge up and hedge up the way so that Instead of the word being a director, the Lord is using providence to direct us in what we are to do.

I've often said we want to know the Lord's will in a matter, there's three things that need to line up and the illustration I was remembered on the bridge, invited to go on the bridge of the ferry going to Tasmania at nighttime and going through the narrow gap of the hedge to Port Phillip Bay.

And as the ship was brought to turn, the master of the ship, he said, now look. He said, there's two lights on the shore. There are two lighthouses. He said, as the ship turns, those will merge into one light. And then we know we're right in the middle of the rip. The passage, you might say, is two lights. But there's three points, because you are one point. And then there's those two lines. So there can only be one way that three can be lined up. And I often felt it like this. The three things that must line up is firstly, is what we are going to do, is it according to the word of God? Or is it forbidden by the word of God?

The second is, is there an opening in providence? We might say we have a job offered us. That's an opening in providence. But it's a job that would mean unnecessary work on the Lord's day, something that contravened the word of God, so it's stopped up. But it might be a job that we really wanted, but if it's not offered us, we cannot take it. It's stopped. Someone else has taken it out of our hands. But the third one is ourselves.

We need to be made willing. There has been some thought in some quarters, if there is a choice to make between two things, then you take the one that you least want, because that will be what the Lord wants you to do. Couldn't be further from the truth. God's people are willing, made willing in the day of his power. If he is directing us in a path, we may begin, not willing, but then be made willing. And in the case of Jacob here, he was made willing. He was made willing to go. And so when we're looking for direction, in one sense, providence is a vital link in it.

If we're to go in a place, well, Paul, they tried to go to Bithynia. They tried to go into Asia. They were forbidden to go in Asia. And same with the spirits, suffered them not in Bithynia. But then he had the vision, come over into Macedonia and help us.

But he knew what it was for two shut doors first. The shut door is as much direction as an open door. Maybe you remember that. The shut door is as much direction as an open door. And many of us have shut doors that later on we've been so thankful the Lord has shut them for us.

So when we're thinking of Providence, we're thinking of what is going on here with Jacob, but what is going on in your life and in my life? What makes up what is our life? The crosses, the difficulties, the trials, those things that are making us need to make a decision and we're hemmed up as to what that needs to be.

Maybe look at providence and be like dear Jacob and be submissive to God's providence. He says, if it must be so now. The second thing, he is made willing to part with his beloved Benjamin. It's not a small thing, is it? We might not have a son or a daughter or one that we need to part with like that, but we may have other things that we hold fast to. They hinder us, they stop us, they keep us back. Now, the Lord spoke of those that he bade to work in his vineyard. Or one who's married a wife, he must go to her. One who bought five yoke of oxen, he's got to go and prove them. One who bought some land, and he got to go and see that.

And all the time, there's some excuse. There's something that's holding back. There's something that is not willing to let go. And Jacob had his Benjamin. There must have been a very, very strong influence. There was a whole center of it, really, as to why he did not want his other sons to return and to go to Egypt. That was holding up the whole thing.

Maybe there's something in your life, my life. There's something that's holding up everything. There's a path before you. There's things that are being set before you, things that need to be done. But there's one thing, that because you can't let it go, you can't proceed. You can't go forward in that way.

For Jacob, he was made willing to part or to let his beloved Benjamin go with his brothers. The third thing he was willing to do was to take the lead and direct what to do. He didn't just say to them, well, if it must be so now, you do what is needful. I hand it over to you. You sort this out. He gave direction as a father, just because it was something that he found really, really hard to do. He didn't delegate it to someone else. He took control. He said, do this.

Take the best roots in the land in your vessels. And carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds. Take double money in your hand, and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Provence it was an oversight.

Take also your brother, and arise and go against the man. He gave complete instructions, including that concerning Benjamin. took full accountability, full responsibility for the decision that he'd made it. In May, being submission to Providence, being willing to part with Benjamin, he now gives them that direction in the way forward.

May we be like that if we're in that same position as well. Might think, well, it's easy just to delegate it to someone else. Let them make the hard decisions. Let them take that difficult way. But Jacob, you might say the matter belonged to him. He was the father. Benjamin was the one that was precious to him. But he could easily have said, well, if you really want to take him, you sort it out. But it struck me how much he made provision for. It may have been he was thinking back years and years before when he came back from Laban and his brother Esau was meeting him with 400 men. And again, he made great care to send a present before to appease him.

But that wasn't all. He went over the brook and he wrestled with the angel. That's how he got his name, Israel. And when he saw Jacob, he saw him as an angel of God because he saw him as answers to prayer. They met in peace, not in anger. And Jacob had already walked that path.

And in a way, He seems to be working the same way here, sending a present, sending something to appease the man in Egypt, doing everything he can to smooth and to make that difficult path a right path. He's not acting in anger. He's not acting carelessly. He's acting in a way that he wants it to work out the best way that it can be. And no doubt much prayer that is going with it, because that's the fourth thing that he's made willing to do. In verse 14, to trust to God's mercy being shown.

And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your brother, and that's Simeon and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Submissive, resigned, but trusting to God's mercy. God's mercy being shown through the man in Egypt. I remember that. Often the mercy of God is shown through a second cause, through how men react, how Esau reacted, how Joseph was to react. Jacob, like us, we don't deserve anything at the hand of the Lord. We are sinners.

He knew that. And it's a good thing to come on mercy's ground and to be willing to trust the Lord. Not thinking, well, I've done this good and I've been good like that and I've made a good life and there's reasons why the Lord should be favourable to me and to bring Benjamin back. No. Really, in mentioning mercy, he is just letting go of any worthiness in himself at all, trusting solely upon the mercy of the Lord through the man in Egypt.

We know that mercy is not without cost. Cost to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These Old Testament saints, they needed those same blessings, those same things that flowed forth from Calvary. Sin put away, the wrath of God poured out upon his beloved son. And to show that accepted, a risen saviour. Well, Jacob was heading here to have Joseph restored to him who he didn't expect, and Benjamin also as well. I want to look secondly at three musts concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.

We read in John, Gospel according to John chapter 12, how that the Son of Man the Son of Man must be lifted up. In verse 34, the people answered him, this is when he was signifying, he said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, we have heard out of the Lord, that Christ abideth forever, and how sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up?

Who is this Son of Man? Our Lord Jesus in the garden three times prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. When they tried to intervene, He says to them, think ye not that I could pray my father he presently give me five legion or six legion of angels?

But how then should the scripture be fulfilled? In one sense, our Lord was hemmed in by scripture. All that had been prophesied, all that had been said, he must go as it was determined. But our Lord was made willing. There's a must in it, as much as there was with Jacob, but our Lord, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done. I always like how it is set forth in John chapter 3. When meditating upon this, I thought of where the illustration come from.

Now John 3 and verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And I thought, how did that come about, that the serpent raised in the wilderness? The people sinning, the people murdering, the people rebelling. And then the brazen serpent raised up, and those that looked, they lived.

And that was done all those 1500 or so years before Christ. And there is laid up an illustration of what should happen all those years later. God's plan. God teaching the Israelites the same truths as those that literally saw the Lord lifted up. And they had the fruits and effects of it, those 1,500 years before.

But the point is here. The must is there. It must be so. It couldn't be another way. It must be this way. And it's good for us to see this through scripture. And there's many, many passages through scripture. You can look at your leisure where there's emphasized the must. It must be done in that particular way or that time. God's appointments. The second must is the rising from the dead.

In John chapter 20 and verse 9, we have that, for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. And of course, they would have been going back, going back to the Psalms, Psalm 16 and verse 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. The foretelling of our Lord rising from the dead.

Reaffirmed as well in the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 25 and also 26. In 25, verse 8, he will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. Then the beautiful verse in the 26th chapter, verse 19.

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Our Lord must not only be lifted up, not only die, but also rise again from the dead. We could say, as the Lord must do so, so must we as well that believe.

The third one is, and this is why we read the portion in Acts chapter one, that one must be ordained a witness of his resurrection, Judas, had been taken from them, he'd fallen. But the scriptures had said that his place, his office, was to be taken by another. And so in verse 22, beginning from the baptism of John and to that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection?

Of course, we've been thinking of Jacob. Jacob, 12 children, 12 tribes. With Joseph taken out of the way, there wouldn't have been 12 tribes if Joseph really had been dead. You might say, but how come? With Joseph, Jacob gave him two portions. So there's not a tribe of Joseph, but there's a tribe of Manasseh and a tribe of Ephraim. Doesn't that make 13? It does if you include Levi. that Levi was not given an inheritance amongst the tribes. They were scattered throughout the tribes. So when you see the divisions of the 12 tribes of Jacob in the Holy Land, you won't see one. He's called Levi. But here, there was a must that there be made up, these 12. When you look at the revelation, you have the 12 foundations.

You have the 12 apostles of the land. it all ties in with scripture, for scripture to follow through, then there must be one added. The apostles here, they realised the scripture, they realised there was something that needed to be attended to, and like Jacob taking control of it, they dealt with the matter The Lord was with them in it, the Lord directed them in it.

Onto them, Lord, lastly, are two masks for us to remember for our good. The first one is the word concerning tribulation. Our Lord insisted upon it. He says, in me you shall have peace in the world, ye shall have tribulation, but is also taught in the Acts of the Apostles as well.

And we have in Acts chapter 14 and verse 22, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Now it's a lovely thing when you come across texts. When we read that one in Isaiah, my mind went years ago when I preached at Oakington Special Services from that text and that was blessed to savour there. And now reading this text, my mind goes back to Amtil when I heard Gerald Buss's father preach from that text, and that was a special time as well.

But the message of it is, we must, we cannot escape tribulation, or tribulation is great trouble. We cannot think that we are going to have an easy way through this world. an easy way to heaven. It is good for us to remember this. When we look at the lives of those who've gone before, you look at Jacob's life. The Lord is the one that chooses our tribulation, not us.

And I'm very thankful that we don't have to choose what is our trouble. Sometimes we have trouble in our family. Sometimes there's peace in the family, but trouble outside. Sometimes it's with people, sometimes it is with circumstances, sometimes it is with health and strength and great afflictions, but it is the Lord that appoints it.

And it's good for us to remember this must, so that like Jacob, we're brought to submit to providence, submit and be willing to walk in the path that the Lord has appointed. There's another must, and that is that we all must die. It struck me with dear Jacob, in sending his son Benjamin, he really, really struggled. But then when we come to Genesis 47 and verse 29, We read, in the time drew nigh that Israel must die. Here's another must, and we all must come to that point.

But here he finds him in action again. He called his son Joseph, said unto him, if now I've found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee. in Egypt. He gives commandment.

And I've often thought, I've looked at those like David, like those, the Lord's people, and they're facing death without fear. They're facing death in a willingness. They've run their course. They've served their day and generation, and they're ready to go. How much is it that through our life, through experiences like dear Jacob, had walked through, that it prepares us for that last time, that last solemn change.

And the thought is the Lord has been with me through many dark valleys, many difficult situations. He's brought me through. He's brought me safely to the other side. And that he that has done that will bring me safely to the other side of death. and safely home to him as well.

It's a beautiful testimony when we can view that must and view it in the Lord Jesus Christ and remember that he rose from the dead. He went into death and he came out of death. He is like the Ark of Israel that went into Jordan and out of Jordan and all the people of God went through on dry ground. Well, may the Lord bless this word to us and whatever circumstances we may be in now or come into in the future, that we have the help and grace that Jacob had. If it must be so now, do this. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.