A Changed Heart

Q: What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is our substitute, taking the penalty for our sins upon Himself. Substitutionary atonement is a core doctrine of the Christian faith, emphasized in passages like Isaiah 53:5, which states, "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed." This concept is depicted in the story of Judah and Benjamin, where Judah offers to take Benjamin's place, mirroring the role of Christ as our substitute. In 1 Peter 3:18, it is clearly stated that "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." This illustrates that Jesus, as the perfect and sinless Lamb, willingly took on the punishment we deserved, granting us reconciliation with God.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is our surety?

The New Testament affirms that Jesus is our surety, having paid the price for our sins. The term 'surety' refers to someone who takes responsibility for another's obligations. Hebrews 7:22 emphasizes that Jesus is a surety of a better covenant—one that firmly establishes and secures our relationship with God. Much like Judah offered himself as a surety for Benjamin, Jesus stepped forward to bear our burdens and pay the debt we owe due to sin. Romans 5:8 further reinforces this truth, saying that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Through His sacrifice, we are assured of our salvation and acceptance before God, as He took upon Himself the punishment meant for us and emerged victorious over sin and death.

Q: Why is the change in Judah significant for Christians?

Judah's transformation is a powerful illustration of true repentance and the work of God's grace in a believer's life. The change in Judah is significant as it exemplifies the transformative power of God's grace in a sinner's life. Initially depicted as selfish and cruel, Judah undergoes a profound change, demonstrating compassion and self-sacrifice for Benjamin. This reflects the doctrine of regeneration, where the Holy Spirit changes a person's heart, granting them the ability to love and serve others genuinely. In Galatians 5:22-23, the fruits of the Spirit, including kindness and self-control, are the evidence of this inward change. Judah's willingness to suffer for his brother illustrates a Christ-like love, foreshadowing the ultimate sacrifice Jesus would make for sinners. Hence, Judah’s transformation serves as a testament to God's ability to redeem the most broken of individuals.

I'll direct your thoughts this morning to Genesis chapter 44 Genesis chapter 44 particularly verses 32 to 34 the last three verses of Genesis 44 the words of Judah, for thy servant, speaking of himself, became shorty for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. now therefore I pray thee let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord and let the lad go up with his brethren for how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father I suppose that even the youngest here has known what it is like to be reunited with somebody who you haven't seen for a long time.

And sometimes these reunions can be a strange experience, even an emotional experience, especially if a long time has elapsed since the last time you saw them. But this reunion was different in a number of ways. This was a reunion after such a long period of time that they didn't recognise him at all.

Perhaps 20 or more years had passed since the time when Joseph's brothers had sold him as a slave to those Midianites who then took him down to the land of Egypt. And in those 20 years, Joseph had no doubt changed an awful lot, both in terms of his appearance and in other ways.

Joseph, those of you who know the account will know that Joseph gave various clues almost as to who he was throughout the preceding chapters that we didn't read. He, for example, when he laid the table for his brothers, placed them in order of their age, which he could not possibly have known, naturally speaking. And we read that the brethren were surprised when he did that. He also gave Benjamin five times what he gave anybody else. He also asked after their father and asked at the start whether they had a younger brother, and in these various ways he suggested subtly indeed that he knew more about them than they realised. But despite all of these hints, the brothers didn't know Joseph until the moment that he revealed himself. Of course, we as the reader are aware from the start, and it adds to the suspense as we read through the account that we know all along what Joseph knew, but that the brothers didn't.

This was a reunion that struck terror into their hearts. The moment they realized who he was, the first reaction was one of fear. What is this Joseph going to do to us after all that we did to him? For all they knew, he was dead. In fact, they said that. They said that the father had two sons, one was dead. and the other had remained at home.

But as on the cusp of Joseph revealing himself to his brethren, we find Judah's confession, which we read from beginning in verse 18 of chapter 44. and his confession which leads him to a point of saying right at the end of the chapter that he was willing to stand in for his brother Benjamin and pay with his own life for Benjamin's.

I'd like to look really within these verses especially, firstly at the great change in Judah. secondly the effect that it had upon Joseph and then lastly how this is a picture to us of gospel substitution which is so needful for you and I. This Judah who is here in chapter 44 offering himself up for the life of Benjamin was not always like this. This was the brother who preferred silver, just a few pieces of silver once divided up, to his own brother's life. who callously lied to his father Jacob and left him to believe that his son was dead for all of these years. Who of course, along with the other brothers, stole probably one of his father's goats and dipped Joseph's coat in the blood to deceive him. Who in chapter 38 married into the world and appeared to love it harlots and all he was a selfish a stubborn and a hateful man this is the judah that we read in the first chapters of this account but this judah which we see in chapter 44 is very different he's not the same man anymore And in the whole of scripture, there is hardly a greater contrast between the Judah of the first chapters and the Judah of the last.

We think of somebody like Saul, who was dramatically changed, but Judah nonetheless was also dramatically changed, albeit in a very different way. Firstly, before this passage that we read, Judah, along with the other brothers, watched Joseph give Benjamin five times what he gave to everybody else, and Joseph the whole time is watching carefully how are the brothers going to react. when he treats Benjamin favorably, are they going to react in the same way that they did to him all of those years ago? And he continually does things with the aim of testing their faith, seeing whether there had been any change in the years that had elapsed. But secondly, in the chapter we read, Along with the other brothers, Judah refuses to abandon Benjamin.

You'll notice that the steward, the servant who was sent by Joseph to find the cup, which of course we know Joseph had planted in Benjamin's sack. When the servant went, he went with a very clear message. Whichever person has stolen it must return to Egypt, but the rest are free to go. And that was really just another test that Joseph gave to his brethren.

Would they abandon Benjamin with the same callous disregard that they abandoned him all those years ago? But Judah didn't. He didn't abandon him. And Judah and his brethren They rent their clothes. They laid every man his ass and returned to the city. If Benjamin is going to be taken, we will be taken with him. Very different from how they were all those years ago.

Judah said, what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, and he also with whom the cup is found. Joseph tests him again. God forbid that I should do so, but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. And as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. It's all a test.

He's giving them every possibility, every reason to run back to their father in peace and abandon Benjamin to his fate. But Judah comes near and pleads for Benjamin's sake. In fact, he begs to become the slave himself. He doesn't just offer himself to be the slave, but he begs Joseph to allow him to replace Benjamin and be Joseph's slave for the rest of his life. And he gives a number of reasons.

Firstly, he is unwilling to see his father grieve. Well, this is the Judah who for many years had watched his father grieve over Joseph. But now he says, how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me? Lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. He cannot bear to see the pain in his father's eyes now.

The bitter anguish probably still haunts him from all those years ago. And he decides that anything is better than that. So he's ready to sacrifice everything. His homeland, his people, his friends. He's ready to pass through hardship undoubtedly for the rest of his life. even to death itself, rather than see his father suffer in that way again. A very, very different man to the man he was.

When a person is born again by God's Spirit, this is one of the fruits No doubt the children know the fruits of the Spirit well from Galatians 5. And one of them is kindness. And that really means compassion at the deepest level. When somebody is born of the Spirit, one of the fruits of the Spirit is that they begin to think about other people. They begin to feel genuinely the needs of others, not on the surface but genuinely in their heart.

This need or this desire on the part of Judah was so strong that he was willing to put himself into harm's way to relieve himself of that burden and in doing so he was Christ-like. In Colossians, I was reading this yesterday in the book of Colossians chapter 3, we read this in verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, bowels of mercies, those inner emotions and desires to be of blessing to others and be kind to others that are not within us by our nature, sometimes referred to as charity or love, Christ-like love.

But Judah... does not only think of his father's sorrow were Benjamin not to return to him, but he's already expressed, along with the other brothers, his sorrow over his treatment of Joseph. You'll remember just a few chapters before, they said to each other, we saw his anguish and did nothing. We saw the pain in Joseph's eyes as we sold him into Egypt and were callous enough to allow him to go.

Just very briefly then concerning the change in Judah. How is this change to be explained? How did the Judah of the early chapters become this self-sacrificial Judah of chapter 44? Well, the answer really is that we don't know. And that perhaps seems a very strange or even pointless thing to say, but the actual manner of the change is entirely hidden from us in the scriptures. The change itself is emphatic and it's obvious, but the manner of the change is not. The Bible says, that you will know them by their fruits. And this is exactly how Judah was known.

We don't read anything about what happened in his life or whether there was anything dramatic or whether he heard from the Lord. We don't read anything of the sort. And that silence itself speaks to us. If somebody was to ask in what manner Did Judah become a new creature? We wouldn't be able to answer that question.

God only knows, but the evidence nevertheless is undeniable. Sometimes when somebody is born again, when somebody is changed by the Lord, They are not able to reflect on a particular moment in time when they passed from death to life, but the change is nevertheless verified by the fruits that they go on to produce in their life. It is not for us to say or to wonder of something that we have heard of in the past or something that we've passed through, but it is to ask ourselves whether we bring forth these kinds of fruits that as John the Baptist would say, are meat or befitting of real repentance. Judah was a changed man, but the exact manner in which he came to this changed frame cannot be known with any certainty.

Briefly then, the effect on Joseph. Joseph couldn't refrain himself before all them that stood by. This is one of the most remarkable scenes in the whole of the word of God. Joseph says to everybody, get out, everybody get out. And of course, the Egyptians are thinking, well, if we all go out, that means the translators got to go out as well. And then how's he going to understand these Hebrews? But of course, Joseph, he understood them and had done all along.

There stood no man with him while he made himself known to his brethren. I think there's something very instructive in the exact point at which we are told Joseph could not refrain himself. That means he couldn't stop himself from revealing himself to his brethren.

It wasn't the first time he'd been affected by their words. Back in chapter 42, And verse 21, they said to one another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother. We saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore, this distress is come upon us.

And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them by an interpreter. And he, that is Joseph, turned himself about from them and wept. The first inkling that there was a genuine sorrow over their past actions and repentance led Joseph to turn aside and weep. He couldn't weep in front of them at that point, but then he returned to them again. And then of course, there was the time when Benjamin, he saw Benjamin for the first time. We are told that he had to duck into a side room and weep there for a moment before he returned back. to them, just seeing Benjamin was enough to evoke all of those emotions within him.

But this particular point at the beginning of chapter 45 is the moment when Joseph cannot restrain himself any further. Judah's repentance seems to melt his heart. And of course, Judah's offer of substitution isn't required and never was required. There was never a time when Joseph had these kind of evil intentions toward them, but he was testing them the whole time.

Perhaps you might think of somebody or some people in your own life that seems to be further away from salvation than any other. Perhaps one whose sin has had a bearing on your own life, whose wickedness has made your life a misery. Perhaps a notorious person for their sin, somebody like Judah was. And then ask yourself, what would be your own reaction if you were to find them changed as Judah was?

If you look through these few chapters, you'll notice that Joseph is actively looking for their repentance. He's waiting, as it were, to see whether their repentance is present and whether it's real, whether it manifests itself. And as soon as it does, Joseph cannot refrain himself and he makes himself known to them.

Would we, in such a case, act likewise to our own prayers for those who are lost and perhaps those who persecute us and are wicked towards us? Do our prayers heap such coals of fire upon their head that our heart would melt as Joseph's were they to return to the fold? I think we see in Judah that there is no reason to despair of any case at all. There are a number of cases that you'll no doubt recall in scripture where people are guilty of the most horrendous sins. and Judah was one of them.

He of course had that incident with his own stepdaughter and many other wickednesses attributed to him. And yet in the end, As soon as Joseph witnessed this repentance in his heart, he melted before them. And we are told in verse two, he wept aloud. Nothing could stop him at this point. And so the Egyptians and the whole house of Pharaoh heard. Wait expectantly in earnest prayer for the repentance of those who have wronged you.

This is the disposition of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Do good to those that hate you and pray for them which would despitefully use you and persecute you. that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. That is to say, in doing so, in having this loving disposition and a desire for the repentance of others, we become the children of God, that we are revealed to be the children of God. That is, we look like Him and we act in the same way that He does.

Let it never be said that the sin of somebody has dispossessed our heart of love for them, made us as a stone. This was not the spirit of Christ who welcomed those who had done wrong and even prayed for those who despitefully used him and indeed those who crucified him on the cross. But I did want to speak at least for a while on the gospel as seen from this passage, the gospel of substitution. For thy servant, says Judah, became a shorty for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. This is the part which is most important to us. That which is prefigured here is the gospel itself.

Because Benjamin here was in need of a representative. He was in need of somebody who would stand on his behalf, somebody who would stand in his place, and somebody who would take the anger that was due to him. I would that this morning we see ourselves in the position of Benjamin. There is a difference, as with all analogy, there is a difference between Benjamin's position and our own. The difference mainly being that Benjamin was in the position that he was, not because of his own wrongdoing, but because it was the way that Joseph had planned it to reveal the nature of his brother's hearts. But with us, the situation is rather different.

We, are, as it were, in the position of Benjamin, but we are guilty. That is to say, the cup that was found in Benjamin's sack is found also at our feet, and not a cup that has been planted there, but a cup that we have put there by our own wickedness. We dare not deny before a holy God that the cup being found in our sack, as it were, is indeed worthy and true. The cup of God's wrath if you will, is found at our feet and we stand guilty, ready to be hauled again before the judge because of what we have done wrong.

And when we stand before him, we shall not be able to plead that we are innocent, as Benjamin was in his case, but we are verily guilty. we have betrayed the Son of God, we have betrayed the Lord of the universe, and we have indeed trampled upon his laws.

But as Judah gloriously did in these few verses, come forward and say that he was a shorty for the lad. That means that he was a guarantee. He was somebody who was going to stand in his place. So we read that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do that very work. He came to be a shorty for his people. And though we have a cup of God's anger found in our sack, yet there is one. who is able to step forward and to take our place. One who is able to bear the responsibility of that cup.

One who is able to say, I am going to suffer instead of this one and instead of that one. one who can say and say truly that any punishment at all, the strictest of justice required by the sins of this one and the sins of that one, I will take it upon myself and will pay for it all. In chapter 45 and verse seven, Joseph says, God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

And never was this more true than it was true of Judah, especially Judah. Judah's seed had to be spared because through Judah would become he who would be the Lion of Judah, as in Revelation, isn't it? Chapter five. the one who opens the seals, who is worthy. The elder said to me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Judah had to survive. He had to survive because through him would come the Messiah himself. that wicked Judah, that callous and brutal Judah, who sold his own brother into slavery and deceived his father. Through him came the Lord Jesus Christ. The seed of Judah steps in as a substitute to do what Judah was willing to do.

But Judah never had to pay the ultimate price. Joseph never intended for him to pay any price. But the Lord Jesus, when he came to stand as a substitute for sinners, he really did pay the price because there really was sin to be paid for. There really was a debt to be cleared. There really was a need for him to stand in the breach and to bear the sins of many. He really did pay the ultimate price. It is summed up very nicely in Peter's first epistle in chapter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust.

Judah, if you like, for Benjamin. that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Where is our gratitude for this great sacrifice? Nobody else would do, nobody else would be able to do what he did Nobody else could bear our own sins, having their own to bear themselves. Nobody else could bear an eternity's worth of the anger of God on our behalf. But, to use the analogy, Benjamin must go free.

The Church of God must be spared. The Church of God must be redeemed, and they will be by the heavenly Judah who comes as a surety and to stand in our place. Have you found the Lord Jesus Christ to be your own substitute? Is it, as the hymn said, is it he instead of me is seen when I approach to God? If you yourself are seen, you will have to pay the punishment for all of the sins that you have ever committed with only one of them being enough to everlastingly remove you from God's presence. You need a shorty, a shorty like Judah was willing to be for Benjamin and like the Lion of Judah really is for all his people.

He is the only one who is able to be a sufficient substitute. He's the only one who it was ever said of that he pleased God the Father. And if you are in him, God will be pleased even with you, though you be a sinner, even to the extent that Judah was.

May God bless his word to us. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn together from Gadsby. Hymn number 152. 1-5-2. I am, says Christ, the way. Now, if we credit him, all other paths must lead astray. How fair, so e'er they seem. Hymn number 152, tune 20. ♪ Set Christ away ♪ ♪ Now have we credited Him ♪ ♪ O love the palms of our sweet heart's tree ♪ ♪ How fair the heavenly scene ♪ Them says Christ the truth, and all that lacks this test. Proceeded from an angel's mouth, it's but a hymn's best. ♪ I have searched Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ And lived this in my faith ♪ ♪ It follows where the Father's strife ♪ ♪ Had to be cited ♪ ♪ Those words are there ♪ ♪ The Holy Ghost apply ♪ ♪ The sinless Christian shall not die ♪ ♪ Nor be deceived by it ♪

A Changed Heart

What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

How do we know that Jesus is our surety?

Why is the change in Judah significant for Christians?

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A Changed Heart

What does the Bible say about substitutionary atonement?

How do we know that Jesus is our surety?

Why is the change in Judah significant for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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