All right, now if you would open
your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 43. Genesis 43. I warn you, in advance, I've
been fighting allergies or a cold or something. I'm much, much
better today than I was yesterday, but hopefully I won't cough and
snot around and be a distraction. But if I do, you'll understand
what's going on. Genesis chapter 43. We'll read
the first 14 verses. And a 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, you should not
see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou will not
send our brother with us, we will If thou wilt send our brother
with us, we'll go down and buy thee food. But if thou will not
send him, we'll not go down. For the man said unto us, you
shall not see my face except your brother be with you. And
Israel 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?
And Judah said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me,
and we'll 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. 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 a second
time. 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 man a present, a little
balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds,
and 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. Peradventure, it was an oversight.
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. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow before our Lord together. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening out of the world from all the different
responsibilities and difficulties of this life. We've gathered
together tonight to worship Thee. And Father, I beg of you that
you would not leave us to ourselves, but that you give us a word,
a word from your heart to the hearts of your people. And Father,
enable us to hear, enable us to set aside all of the the cares
and the responsibilities and the goings on of this life. And
for just these next few minutes, Father, let us hear. Let us hear
nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Christ, our Savior. And Father,
thrill our hearts with a sight of Him. Make our hearts be thrilled
and calmed at believing Him and resting in Him, knowing that
the care of our souls, the cares of our bodies, the cares of everything
about us is all in his hand, and that he won't make a mistake,
that he won't lose one, that he is the all-sufficient mighty
Savior. And while we pray for ourselves,
Father, we pray for your people, wherever they might meet together
tonight. Father, this dark, dark day in which we live, cause your
word to go forth in power. as a light in a dark place. Father,
if it could be thy will that you'd cause a revival in the
land, that you might call out your people mightily through
the preaching of Christ our Savior. And Father, we dare not forget
to pray for those that you brought into the time of trouble and
trial, their hurting in body and mind and spirit. Father,
we pray you give them a special portion of your presence. Comfort
their hearts in these difficult, difficult times. And all these
things we ask and we give thanks in that name which is above every
name, the name of Christ our Savior, amen. Now I've titled the message this
evening, Christ Our Surety. You remember the last time we
looked at this passage, Jacob's sons had traveled to Egypt and
they brought back corn because the famine was so bad in all
the earth There was corn in Egypt. There was famine everywhere else,
but there was corn in Egypt. Joseph had wisely prepared for
it during those seven years of plenty. And when the brothers
arrived in Egypt, they didn't recognize Joseph. But Joseph
knew them. He knew them right off. And he
accused them of being spies. He said, you're not honest, man,
you're spies. And he kept Simeon there in the jail and sent them
back home with corn. And Joseph commanded that their
money be put in their sacks. That's a picture of redemption. Eternal life, Christ the bread
of life. That's free. It's free in Christ. God's not
gonna accept our sinful works as some sort of trade for his
righteousness and salvation. He's not gonna accept our sinful
works as some sort of payment of our sin debt against him.
Salvation in Christ is free. Joseph, now he kept seeing me
in there in jail, and he sent him home, and he said, now, I'm
not gonna sell you any more corn, except when you come back, you
bring your youngest brother, Benjamin, And if you do that,
if you bring Benjamin with you, then I'll know you're true men,
then I'll know you've been telling me the truth and I'll sell you corn.
If you don't bring Benjamin with you, you'll die of starvation. Well now some time has passed
and Jacob's family's eaten up all the corn. They're hungry
again and soon they're gonna starve to death if they don't
get some corn. So verse one of chapter 43, the famine was sore
in the land and it came to pass when they'd eaten up the corn
which they brought out of Egypt Their father said, go again,
buy us a little food. Now the famine was still sore
in the land. That word sore means the famine
was strong. It made the situation urgent
for they were so hungry. The situation was urgent. They
weren't growing any food. They weren't getting any food.
The situation was urgent. And you know, that had to be
so distressing for them. Can you imagine, not just yourself
not having any food, watching your children and your grandchildren
starving, to watch them not have any food. Can you imagine how
distressing that that was? But the Lord did that wisely.
Something had to make the situation urgent before they'd go back
down there to Egypt. Now, Jacob knows this. I just
wonder if Jacob's just trying to pretend like everybody forgot
what the man said. You gotta bring Benjamin. He
said, just go buy us a little food. He's just not willing to
send Benjamin with those older brothers. He sees what happens
when his sons are alone with these boys. Look back at chapter
42, verse 38. When they first told him Benjamin's
got to go back down with us, he said, my son's not gonna go
down with you, for his brother's dead and he's left alone. If
mischief befall him by the way which he go, then shall he bring
down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Jacob's not willing
to let Benjamin go, he loves him. Now Benjamin, Joseph used
to be the favorite son, now Benjamin's the favorite son. Now in the
story that we just read, Jacob is a picture of God the father,
and Benjamin, he's a picture of God's elect, those that the
father loved and chose and gave to his son to save. The brothers
are pictures of people out there in the world, and Joseph is a
picture of God's law, God's justice. Joseph's got to be satisfied
before they can have any corn. They got to bring Benjamin to
him. Now God the Father has elect people. He chose those people.
He chose to save them because he loves them. I mean, that's
such an astounding statement. The Father chose the people because
he loves them. He loves, he has the capacity to love sinners. He chose to save those people
because he loves them. And the father says, I'm not
letting my people go with Adam's race. I'm not letting them follow
Adam. They can't be trusted. They can't
go their own way. They can't be trusted anymore than their
father Adam can. All they can do is sin and rebel against me.
They can't be trusted to save my people. They can't be trusted
to save themselves. If I leave them to themselves,
to try to lead themselves and find salvation on their own,
if I trust them to Adam's race, my elect will be damned. That's
true, isn't it? That's true. But what can be
done about this problem? You know, the law has got to
be satisfied. Joseph has got to be satisfied. He's got to see Benjamin or they'll
have no corn. Joseph meant what he was talking
about. Now what can be done about this problem? What can be done
about the problem of the salvation of our souls? God's law must be satisfied.
It must be kept and we can't do it. God's justice has got
to be satisfied. There's got to be death for sin.
There's got to be a death that will atone for sin, pay for sin,
and our death won't do it. Our blood won't do it. What's
gonna be done about this problem? Is there a way sinners like you
and me can be saved? and God's justice be satisfied
at the same time? That's the question. What can
be done about it? Now, I don't know if you're like
me or not. I can't help this, but somebody talks to me about
a problem, and I immediately go to problem solving. Now, maybe
my ideas won't work, but I mean, I'm immediately coming up with,
you know, I forget what we were even talking about one time.
brought this problem, I started telling solutions. She said,
don't tell me anything to do. She said, I just wanted to tell
you what the problem is. I said, don't tell me what a problem
is. If you don't want to hear me make suggestions. That's man's nature. There's
a problem. God's got to be satisfied. What
is man's idea? How are we going to fix this?
Well, the solution the man comes up with by nature is man's surety. Look back up here at verse 42,
verse 37. And Reuben, now he's one of these
brothers that represent the people of the world. They represent
Adam's race. Reuben spake unto his father saying, slay my two
sons if I bring him not to thee and deliver him into my hand
and I'll bring him to thee again. And if I don't, you just kill
my two sons. Now, Reuben tells his father,
I'll be sure to mention it. The responsibility to bring Benjamin
to Egypt and back is on me, I promise you, I'll bring him back safely.
So far, so good, right? And then he says, here's where
he goes wrong. If I don't bring Benjamin back,
here's how you punish me, kill my two sons. Remember, his two
sons are Jacob's grandsons. Now I just have one grandchild. What on earth makes this man
think that Jacob's going to be satisfied for the loss of Benjamin
by killing two more of his grandsons? That's absurd. I mean, it's just
absurd. But you know what? That just
shows you what Reuben thinks of Jacob. You know, most people,
Usually, most people think everybody else is just like them. Whatever
motivates me, that's what I think motivates you. Most people think
that way. Well, Reuben is so unloving,
he's so violent, he thinks killing Jacob, killing his two grandsons,
is gonna satisfy him for the loss of Benjamin. That's Reuben's
nature, that's not Jacob's nature, that's Reuben. I mean, it just
makes no sense whatsoever, does it? The death of his grandsons
is gonna satisfy him for the death of one of his sons. Man's
idea of assurity will never work. It'll never please God. Look
over at Psalm 50. You're the problem that you see
with almost all man-made religion. I won't say almost, all man-made
religion. Here's the problem. They always
think too little of God and too much of themselves, always. The
problem is, by nature, we think God's just like us. Thankfully,
he's not, but look what David says here, Psalm 50, verse 16. But under the wicked, God saith,
what hast thou to do to declare my statues? What are you doing
declaring my statues? For thou shouldest take my covenant
in thy mouth. Seeing thou hatest instruction,
and castest my words behind thee, when thou sawest a thief, then
thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Thou sinnest, and speakest against thy brother. Thou slanderest
thy own mother's son. These things hast thou done,
and I have kept silence. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such a one as thyself, but I will reproof thee. and set them in
order before thine eyes. God hadn't acted just yet, so
men think God's just like us. And that's the whole basis of
man's religion, thinking God's just like us. Would we really
think? I mean, this is what men, in
whatever heading you want to put it under, what it boils down
to is this, salvation by works. That's what men preach. Now,
why would we ever think God would be pleased with our sin forms.
Do we really think the holy God is pleased if I could start sinning
less? If I could start being more morally
or outwardly moral? Now, I ought to do that. But
do I really think that God's gonna be pleased with that? God
requires perfection. He didn't require the best I
can do. He requires perfection. When we think God's gonna accept
our sin for works and save us for it, or he's gonna accept
my sin for works and bless me for it, you know why? It's because
we think so little of the holy God. Look at Isaiah chapter one. You know, people, and you know
them, I know them, they're all over the place. People think
that their life is blessed because of how religious they are, all
the religious activities that they're in. Now do we really
think that God's pleased with all of our religious activity?
The religious activity we've made up to do, really? Isaiah
1 verse 10, look what God says about that. Hear the word of
the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. And this is what he's saying
now to the Jewish leaders, the Israel, the leaders in Israel.
He's saying you're just as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah. You're
cloaked in religion, but you're just as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith
the Lord? I am full of burnt offerings,
of rams, and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear
before me, you hath required this at your hand, to tread my
courts. Bring no more vain oblation.
Innocence is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. even the solemn meeting,
even your best, away with it, it's iniquity. Your new moons
and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. There are trouble
unto me and I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth
your hands, you make the big show of religion, I'll hide mine
eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Sounds to me like God's not pleased
with our show of religion, doesn't he? Now I know it impresses other
men, I know that, but it doesn't impress God, because God looks
on the heart. You know why we think that we
can fool God with all our outward showing religion, just like we
fool one another? It's because we think so little
of God. Do we really think that God is pleased with our sacrifices? We make sacrifices, I'm giving
up the the pleasures of this life, and instead of that, I'm
doing something unpleasant to the flesh, so God's gonna bless
me. Really? Let me give a few examples I
thought of. You know people that say this. God's blessed me, and
here's why, I faithfully tithe 10%, and God blesses me for it. Now, I know where they got
that from, but they didn't get it from the word of God. Give
out of a thankful heart or don't give at all. That's what God
says. Now let me say this about giving. Believers do give. It's not that they should give.
Believers do give, and they give not for reward. I say this all
the time whenever I talk about giving. If you're giving so God
will bless you, that's investing. Believers give. They give out
of a grateful, thankful heart. I tie it to my little 10%. Is God, who owns the cattle on
a thousand hills, does he really need my little 10%? Is he gonna
be real impressed with that? I tell you, the only reason we
think God is impressed with that, we think so little of God. Then I know people say this,
I do things the right way. I'm not immoral, I don't do drugs,
I wouldn't do drugs, I wouldn't cheat on my taxes, I don't commit
adultery, I'm faithful to my spouse. And next time somebody's
telling you that, listen to them. To me, when they say, this is
what it sounds like, well, I'd like to do those things, but
I don't, so God will bless me. The only reason that we think
God's impressed with that is because we think so little of
God. We think so little of him that we think he's like us. Now
again, by all means, we should be moral people. I mean, I hope
nobody's abusing drugs. We ought to be faithful to our
spouse. I mean, just how awful to, but why would you want to
live your life that way? Why would you want to live your
life and all that? Why would you want to? And then there's this. We know
folks like this too. Say, well, I know all the right
doctrine. I know right from wrong in these
things. I know them. And boy, I'd never compromise with people.
And boy, if they're wrong on that, even just a little bit
of error, I'm going to judge them harshly. Chip, you and I
are talking about unforced service. They're going to argue to death,
won't they? And God's going to bless me because I'm so doctrinally
straight and I'm out here setting all these other people, you know.
You might want to check with the Pharisees on that. They had
everything right, didn't they? I had all their ducks in a row.
Now again, I can't say this strongly enough. By God's grace, we're
not gonna compromise the gospel. I don't want to compromise ever.
We can never, ever, ever, ever compromise redemption in the
blood, salvation by grace alone, in Christ alone. If we compromise
that, we take away the glory of God. We take away the hope
for sinners. I don't want to ever compromise
the glory of our Savior. Do you? In the redemption of
his people, we don't wanna take away his glory. And if we would, this is kind
of the way I thought about the example. If we compromise these
things, for whatever reason, it's eating rat poison, isn't
it? If we compromise the blood of Christ, we're spiritually
eating rat poison. Do we really think God's impressed
with us because we didn't eat rat poison today? Amy, I bet
your mama is not gonna say, now Amy, did you eat rat poison today?
You're gonna say, no, she said, good girl. She expects you not
to eat rat poison. She expects you not to. She feeds
you something better now. Why do we think God's impressed
with us that way? You know why? It's because we have such a low
opinion of God. We can never be our own surety. We can't provide
a salvation for ourselves and keep us safe. As a matter of
fact, of the 10 brothers that were there, Reuben, Of all of,
I mean, anybody but Reuben could have spoke up, but Reuben is
the one that spoke up and said, send him with me and you can
kill my two sons if I don't bring him back safe. Reuben's already
proved he can't do it. Look back a few chapters of chapter
37. Reuben has already proven he's a failure in keeping Joseph
safe. This is when Joseph had come
out to find his brothers. Jacob had sent him out to see
how they were doing with keeping the sheep. And they saw him come
in verse 20 of Genesis 37. Come now, therefore, and let
us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we'll say some
evil beast hath devoured him, and we'll see what will become
of his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out
of their hands and said, let's not kill him. And Reuben said
unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit, that's
in the wilderness and lay no hand on him. And this is why
he said that, that later on, he might rid him out of their
hands to deliver him again to his father. Now, Reuben's intention
was keep Joseph safe, wasn't he? Well, look over at verse
29. And Reuben returned unto the
pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit. They sold him off
to Isis, as they are traveling by. Joseph was not in the pit,
and he rent his clothes, and he returned unto his brother,
and he said, the child is not. And I wither, shall I go. Reuben
has already proven he can't be surety for anybody. He couldn't
keep Joseph safe at all. And this is what Adam's race
has proved. We cannot save ourselves by keeping the law. We cannot
satisfy God. We need a whole lot better surety
than ourselves. We need a whole lot better surety
than our ideas. All right, second, that's man's
surety. Second, let's look at God's surety. Back in our text
in Genesis 43, verse three. And Judah spake unto him, saying,
The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, You should not
see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send
our brother with us, we'll go down and buy thee food. But if
thou wilt not send him, we'll not go down. For the man said
unto us, You shall not see my face. except your brother be
with you. And Israel said, wherefore doth
ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether ye yet had a
brother? And they said, the man asketh 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? And Judah said unto Israel
his father, send the lad with me. 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. Of my hands 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'd lingered, surely
now we'd have returned this second time. Now the key to understanding
the whole passage here is verses eight and nine. For Judah said,
send the lad with me. And we'll arise and go that we
may live and not die. He's not talking about killing
more of his sons. We're gonna go that we may live and not die.
Thou also are little ones. I will be surety for him. Of my hands shalt thou require.
If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, let
me bear the blame forever. Now the 10 sons are still there.
And the only one that could speak up here is Judah. Judah is a
type of Christ. Judah is the tribe that the Christ,
the Messiah will come through. And he says, send the lad with
me. I'll be surety for him. I'll bear the responsibility.
It's all on me to bring him back safe to you. And if I fail to
bring him back, let me bear the blame forever. Now I know you
already see Judah. You see him as a type of Christ
here, don't you? Now this word surety has three main meetings. And the first one is what we
normally think of when we think of surety. It means to pledge. Judas said, I pledge I'll bring
him back. The son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, he made a
pledge to his father in the covenant of grace. Before time began,
the son made a pledge to the father. He said, father, I'll
redeem this people. I'll go find they're all lost.
They're all dead. I'll go give him life. I'll find
him and I'll bring every last one of them back to you. And
if I fail to bring even one of them back, all the blame's on
me. I'll bear the blame eternally.
That's a big deal. If the Lord Jesus Christ fails
to bring even one of God's elect back, God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, they lose all their glory. They lose all their credit. They
had to bear the blame eternally. If the Lord Jesus Christ fails
to bring even one of God's elect back to him, the son is gonna
lose all his glory. He'll lose all of his glory because
he alone wasn't enough to save his people from their sin. He
alone wasn't enough to find those lost sheep and to bring them
all the way home. He wasn't enough. Well, thankfully,
our Savior's not like Luke. He's not like us. He's able to
do what he pledged to do. He did come and He did redeem
His people from their sin. He paid the price. He's gonna
find them all. He's gonna give them life and
we're gonna stumble and slip and fall and fail time and time
and time again, but He's gonna bring us all the way safely to
God. Now you can trust Him to do what
He promised to do. This is God who promised. You
can trust Him. You can trust the eternal safety of your soul
to Christ. When the son made that pledge
to the father, Father, I'll redeem them all and I'll bring them
all to you. You know what the father did? Now this is the father
who can't make a mistake. The father trusted Christ. Now
Earl, I just believe if the father trusted him, it'd be a good idea
for me to too, don't you reckon? He kept his pledge. Now the next
two meanings of this word bring out the sweetness of the gospel. Second meaning of this word charity
means to exchange. Exchange. The Lord Jesus Christ
redeemed his people and he brought them back to God in the great
exchange. The Lord Jesus Christ traded
places with his people. He took their place. He was made
sin for his people. He suffered and died under the
wrath of God for that sin. The sin, the death, the suffering
his people deserved Christ took their place and he suffered it.
And in exchange, you know what he did? He made his people the
righteousness of God in him. He gave them his perfect righteousness. See, Christ our surety didn't
just make sure his people didn't have to go to hell. He redeemed
them by sacrificing himself for them in their place. He traded
places with them. And he satisfied God's, when
he died, he satisfied God's justice. And now, God's justice that used
to demand our death, now demands our eternal life. God's justice
demands God's elect can die, because the substitute already
died in our place. They must be brought back to
God, because Christ exchanged places with them. He redeemed
his people by his sacrifice for them. Had he loved his own, he
loved them to the end. He sacrificed himself for his
people because he loved them. Now I know that there is a doctrinal,
legal matter, issue that must be settled in this thing of the
salvation of our souls. The price has got to be paid.
Justice must be satisfied. I know that. But how our Savior accomplished
that for his people, melts the heart of his people, just melts
our heart. Christ exchanging his perfect
obedience for the sin of his people, sacrificing himself for
them, is the greatest act of love we'll ever hear about, ever. Now thirdly, this word surety
means to be mingled with, What a miracle that the Lord Jesus
Christ would be mingled with his people. He would be mingled
with them so much, you can't tell the difference between him
and them. They're one. And that when he prayed to his
father, that I would be one with them. You and me, I and them,
them and me, we're all one, so you can't tell the difference.
The Lord Jesus Christ made his people part of his body. He calls
them his bones, his flesh. So here's how Christ our surety
brings his people back to God. He's mingled with him. So that
whatever happens to Christ our surety, happens to his people.
Whatever happens to his people, happens to the surety. So in
order to bring his people back to God, our surety became one
with his people. He joined himself to them. Well, he can never perish, can
he? He's the holy son of God. He can never perish, he's eternal.
Then his people can never perish either because they're one with
him. Now again, that's not just a
doctrinal, legal matter. The son of God lowering himself
to be made flesh so that he could be joined to his people, joined
to sinful men and women like we are. That's not just a doctrinal matter,
is it? That is an act of love and mercy. That's Christ's union with his
people. This is the surety that redeems his people and brings
them back to God. Look over at Hebrews chapter
seven. This is what the writer to the Hebrews was talking about. Hebrews 7 verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect.
All that covenant of the law, the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. By the witch we draw
nigh unto God. Skip down to verse 22. By so
much was Jesus made the surety of a better testimony. He's the
surety of a better testament, and he's the better surety. Look
over in chapter eight, verse six. But now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. See, Christ, our surety, he's
a better surety than anything we could ever come up with, isn't
he? He's the surety of a better covenant that's based upon better
promises. You know, that first covenant
had a promise, didn't it? It's a promise. You obey the law perfectly,
you'll live. That's a promise. But it's not
a very good promise, is it? Not to somebody at all we can
do sin. Christ, he's the surety of a better covenant, based upon
better promises. The promise of God to his people
is, I'll save you by my grace, through the doing and dying of
my son. If he's perfect, you'll be redeemed. If he suffers and
dies for you, you'll be redeemed. That's a better promise. See,
that's a promise you can hang your soul on, isn't it? See,
in order to redeem his people and bring them back to God, the
surety had to pay the price. In our text, Jacob gives us a
picture of that. Look back here at verse 11, Genesis
43. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so now, do this. Take the best fruits
in the land in your vessels, carry down the man a present,
a little balm and a little honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and almonds,
and 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. For a venture, it was an oversight. Take also your
brother. Arise and 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." Now Jacob tells him, take enough money to pay
the full price for the corn. For the corn that we got the
first time, you know, they put the money, maybe they didn't
mean to put the money back, so we'll pay for that, what we already
got. Take enough money in your hand to buy more corn too. And
give them a little present, something that's sweet, something that
tastes good, something sweet. Jacob wants to make sure boys
were paying the full price here. But Lord Jesus Christ became
surety for his people. And he agreed, I'll pay the price
in full. The father's not just gonna overlook
the debt because his son assumed the debt. No, the price is gonna
be paid in full. And he paid that price with his
own suffering and his own death. And it seems to me like This
gift that Jacob's talking about, the sweetness, the honey, and
the myrrh, and the almonds, and the nuts, and the spices, seems
to me like that's the sweetness of the gospel that's given to
us, that's given to believers. The sweetness of his love, the
sweetness of how he condescended to be made one with us, the sweetness
of his mercy. In Christ our surety, all of
God's elect are saved. It's because he paid the price.
He paid the price, God's law demanded. He gave perfect obedience.
He gave the price, justice demanded. Justice demands death. He died
for the sin of his people. And when, in verse 14, when Jacob
says, and God Almighty give you mercy before the man, here's
why God's elect received mercy from God. It's because Christ
paid the price. We receive mercy because Christ
already suffered everything that we deserve. Now that's a way
better surety than anything we'd ever come up with, isn't it?
Aren't you thankful to be able to rely on and rest in Christ
our surety? That's a blessing, isn't it?
I hope God will bless that to your hearts. Now I'm going to,
after the service, stay up here. I don't accidentally infect anybody.
I think I'm getting on the tail end of it, but you don't want
what I've had, so I don't have to stand back that door for you.
No, I love you. I love you. Lord willing, we'll see you Sunday.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how I thank you for
this time together. We can gather together with one
heart and one accord to gather together out of the world and
hear one more time our Savior. Father, I pray you take your
word as it's been preached and you use it for your glory. Reveal
the glory of Christ our Savior to each heart here this evening. Let us leave here rejoicing in
Christ our certainty. The responsibility to keep to
save ourselves and to keep ourselves and to Bring ourselves all the
way through this vile, sinful world, and to bring ourselves
to glory, that responsibility is not ours. It's Christ's. Father, we're thankful. And I
pray you'd cause us to rest in him. Father, it's in his name,
for his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Shawn, come
lead us in a closing hymn.