So we're back to thinking about
the story of Jacob and Joseph, his son in Egypt, and the sons
of Jacob. And we're going to be reading
from Genesis chapter 42 and verse 27. This is the sons of Jacob
that we have before us here. And as one of them opened his
sack to give his ass provender in the inn, He aspied his money,
for behold, it was in his sack's mouth. 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? And they came unto Jacob
their father, unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that
befell unto them, saying, The man who is the lord of the land
spake roughly to 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, and the youngest 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 ye 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 he are
no spies, but that he are true men. So will I deliver you your
brother, and ye 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. And Jacob their
father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children. Jacob is not, and Simeon is not,
and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against
me. Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if
I bring him not to thee, deliver him into my hand, and I will
bring him to thee again. And he said, My son shall not
go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the
way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave. Amen, may the Lord bless to us
this reading also. The return home of Jacob's sons
was far from the happy occasion that might have been expected. Yes, they had the food that they
had gone for, so the immediate effects of the death of food,
the famine in the land, was lifted from the family and the servants. In that sense, the purpose of
the journey had been successful. But now the whole family was
thrown into great fear. Simeon, as we learned before,
was left hostage in Egypt. And Jacob, the father, now becomes
increasingly disturbed and fearful about the well-being of his youngest
son, Benjamin. And the rest of the brothers,
they imagine that they are now wanted for theft back in Egypt,
having not paid for their corn. And behind all their worries,
their consciences are accusing them of their crimes against
their brother Joseph. All those years ago, and yet
they cannot forget. Every time something happens
to them, every time they wonder about why has this thing occurred,
they construe it as God punishing them for their wickedness. This is not a happy family, despite,
as we have learned through a number of generations, these people
being the blessed possessors of the promises of God. There are three things that we
can learn from this passage today, if you will listen with me for
a few moments. The first one is this, and it's
kind of solemn and serious. And it's this, that sin brings
guilt. Sin brings guilt. We can see that in the lives
of these young men. Sometimes people imagine that
they can live as they like, they can do what they like, and no
one and nothing really matters. They can live and act as if there
is no God, as if there's no accountability and as if there's no judgement.
Well that is not true. There is a God. And we're told
in the Bible that he hates sin and he promises to judge sin
and to judge the sinner and to hold all men and women, boys
and girls, responsible for the things that they do and say. When Jacob's sons found their
money in their sacks, they were at once afraid. But it wasn't
really the fear of what was going to happen to them in Egypt. I'm
sure there was an element of that. Indeed, they may well have
wondered because they discovered this on the first night when
they stopped on their way home. They may well have wondered if
they were going to be overtaken in the way by the servants of
this Lord of Egypt. and were going to be taken back
to Egypt in order to be judged there. But what is interesting
about what they say and what they think is that it was their
conscience that was bothering and troubling them. They immediately
felt that God must be involved in this. And their question was,
what is this that God hath done unto us? Let me just tell you
this. I think that that was a good
thing. These young men realised that
God was watching them. They weren't entirely so very
young, really, if we think about it. They must have been in their
early 40s, maybe even 50. But they realised that God was
watching them, and he knew what they had done. In their heart, they knew God
held them guilty. And knowing we are guilty sinners
before a holy God is a good beginning. It should cause us to seek forgiveness,
to realise that we have a need before God's holiness should
cause us to seek peace with Him, both for our conscience and our
hearts' sake, and also because we have offended Him. And the
only way to forgiveness is if the Lord Jesus Christ takes our
sin and carries it away, carries it Himself and becomes substitute
for us. And that great work of substitution
was what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross when He died. And yes, it was almost more than
2,000 years ago And yet, here we are today, still getting the
benefits of the Lord Jesus Christ's suffering and death for sinners
like us. And the second thing I want to
show you is that, the first thing was that sin brings guilt, and the second
one is this, that notice the worry that Jacob had. for the things of the future. When Jacob heard what his sons
had to say, his reaction was, all these things are against
me. You know, I have a feeling that
Jacob had taken his eyes off God at this time and had forgotten
the promise that God had given him. I don't think he was trusting
the Lord as he should have done. Now you may well say to me, and
I would have to agree with you, that he had lots of reasons to
feel abandoned by God. He'd lost Joseph. He feared for
Benjamin. There was a great famine in the
land and upon his family. And in many ways, everything
may well have seemed to be against him. And he didn't know what
to do. But this is the very time when
Jacob's faith was called for. This was the very time that Jacob's
faith was needed. Now, I know the end of this story. I know that everything turns
out well for Jacob and his sons. Everything turns out just fine. And I would like to whisper in
Jacob's ear right now, in this place in the story, Jacob, It's
going to be okay. I know you're worried. I know
you're concerned. I know your heart is full of
fear. I know that you feel as if you've
lost so much, but I know that it's going to work out alright
because I know what happens in the end of the story. But is that not exactly what
the Lord had told Jacob already all those years before? Did the
Lord not say to Jacob, I will be with thee, I will deal well
with thee? God has told Jacob, it is going
to be well with you. and God whispering in Jacob's
ear that everything is going to be fine ought to be better
than me whispering in Jacob's ear that everything is going
to be okay. Let's not be too hard on Jacob,
but let us ask ourselves, has not the Lord promised to do us
good Has he not written it in his word? Is he not faithful? Yes, he is. Then we should trust
him too. Trusting in the Lord is waiting
upon him. It is being patient under the
trials and the difficulties and the hardships that we face, just
like Jacob. Faith isn't difficult when things
are going well. Faith is easy when life is easy. But faith when it is tried, faith
when it is tested and proved. When like Jacob it seems as if
all these things are against me. Then is when faith comes
into its own. That's when it's seen in its
true light. Let us trust the Lord, especially
in the hard times, because it is then that he proves himself
faithful to us. And here's one last thought,
and it's a positive note for us to end on. While all this
worry was going on in Jacob's heart and the fear in the sons
and in the family, the extended family, when all this worry was
going on in Canaan, lots of preparation was also going on in Egypt, where
Joseph was, by which he would do his family good. Now, Jacob and his sons would
have to wait a little while yet, and there would be other trials
that would have to be faced first of all. But unbeknown to them,
unbeknown to Jacob and sons, they had a brother right now
preparing a place for them at the very moment of their darkest
fear. and we have a brother too. Those of us who trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have a brother too. Not a younger brother as
Joseph was younger, a brother of all but Benjamin, but we have
an elder brother. who is right now preparing a
place for us, a heavenly mansion. And soon we shall be entering
into the enjoyment of that glorious rest. All thanks to our brother
who has opened the door of life for us and will bring us into
everlasting rest. We may be worried and concerned
and anxious in this life about many things. We may feel that
everything's against us, but the Lord is in control and the
Lord is preparing those good things for them that love him. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us and encourage us in them. Amen.