Let's read just the first seven
verses of Genesis 43, and then we'll talk quite a bit about
chapter 42, and then see, Lord willing, chapter
43 also. In chapter 43 it says, And the 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
shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. If
thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee
food. But if thou wilt not send him,
we will 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 you had yet
a brother. It's our nature to start blaming
people. Why in the world would you tell
him that? This is after all the food had
run out and some time had passed. And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have you another brother? And
we told him according to the tenor of these words, could we
certainly know that what he would say, bring your brother down.
You remember from chapter 42 now that Jacob's sons, all except
Benjamin, went down to Egypt to buy corn because Jacob had
heard that there was corn in Egypt during this terrible drought.
We saw that in verse two. It says, Jacob heard that there
was corn in Egypt. And this was a matter of life
and death. Life was preserved by way of good news. He heard
there's corn. Good news. Second Timothy one
nine, the Lord saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
But now is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the good news, through the gospel. Life was
brought to light through some good news that Jacob heard. There's corn in Egypt. You remember
hearing the good news? So these 10 brothers went down
to buy and bring it back home. And by the wisdom and authority
of their brother Joseph, there was indeed corn available, but
it didn't happen the way they expected. And this is so true
of the salvation of our soul. It's not going to happen the
way you expect, the way you want it to happen. You remember Naaman
the leper? He said, I thought it was going to be this way.
It's not the way you think. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Their problem was a simple one. And the solution was simple.
But this wasn't going to happen the way they expected. They didn't
know their brother Joseph. So far as they knew, they were
dealing with a stranger. But he knew them. He recognized
them. He knew who they were. All of this pictures God's salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph is Christ. By whose wisdom
and authority there is life. without the wisdom of God in
Joseph, without God gifting him to understand the dreams, and
without him having the authority that Pharaoh gave him, there
would be no life. He gave him full authority to
do what was necessary in order to preserve life. Joseph's brothers here are us,
Christ's brothers. His sheep, his people, all said
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call us his brethren.
We're his brothers. And all of it started with good
news from a far country. Way down there in Egypt, there's
corn to eat. Plenty of it. All you could possibly
want. Proverbs 25, 25, as cold waters
to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. God
sent word. to us all the way from heaven
itself. There's life, there's hope, there's
salvation, there's peace, there's rest. There's everything that
the sinner needs in my son. Go to my son. This is my beloved
son. Hear ye him. And they went and
they bowed down themselves unto Joseph, just as it was foretold
that they would. In Genesis 42, 6, it says, Joseph's
brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their
faces to the earth. And what blesses my heart here
is if you read chapter 42, these brothers were scared to death
of Joseph. He was a stranger. He made himself,
he spoke roughly to them and made himself strange to them.
But he did everything he did in order to supply them with
everything they needed. freely And he arranged it so
that all of his family would come and be with him where he
was he said don't come back without Benjamin and Particularly in
verse 43 where we'll spend some time this evening. We're pictured
particularly in Benjamin Because of Joseph's love for Benjamin
he arranged things the way that he did he wanted to see his brother
Benjamin And he arranged that all of his
whole family might come where he was. They might enjoy all
the benefits of being his family. At first, he spoke roughly to
them. Genesis 42, 7, you remember that. He spoke roughly to them.
He accused them of being criminals, and this is necessary. I asked
myself a question, and I want to ask you tonight. Are you afraid
of God? Now we don't fear God like Adam
did when Adam said, I was afraid and I hid myself. God said, where
are you, Adam? Adam said, I was afraid and I
hid. But it needs to start there. It's going to start there. There
must be an understanding somehow by God's grace and revelation
of our position and condition before God and the consequences
of being in that position and in that condition before God.
At first God speaks roughly unto us, does he not? Is that your
experience? I've heard some of you tell me
you were scared, scared to death of God in the beginning when
you began to hear the gospel, and rightly so. And I think all
believers to one extent or another experience this, I know they
do. He speaks roughly. Have you ever been confronted
with the law? Joseph accused them of being
traitors, being spies, being enemies to the country of Egypt. Paul said, I was alive once without
the law. What do you mean without the
law, Paul? You were a Pharisee. According to the letter of the
law and according to your peers, you were blameless in the eyes
of the law. But he said, I didn't understand.
I didn't have any idea what the law said. He said in another
place, you who would be under the law, don't you hear the law?
And what he's saying here is when he was alive without the
law, he didn't hear the law. He thought he did. But he had
no idea what the law said. I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came in power, in truth, in spiritual
understanding, sin revived and I died. Romans 7, 9. Do you understand in what sense
Paul died before God? And have you ever died before
God? The me, Paul says here, what
he's saying is this, the me who said I'll do my best to keep
God's law. I'm a Pharisee after all. I know
what the Bible says for me to do and I'm going to do it and
I'm going to obey God and he will accept me on that basis.
That's who died that day when the commandment came in spiritual
truth and understanding. That me died. When the commandment comes to
God's people in Revelation light, there's a roughness in that.
It does violence to the flesh and all that the flesh clings
to. All of your fond hopes of pleasing
God and being acceptable in the sight of God will vanish before
your very eyes. That's a violent, that's rough.
It's rough. And so they trembled before Joseph.
Joseph regarded them as criminals. He accused them. And this is
very interesting. Think with me. You remember what
he accused them of being spies. Were they spies? They said, we've
just come to buy some corn. We didn't come here to spy. But Joseph accused them. And what he accused them of,
they weren't guilty of. And Joseph knew it. He knew it. He said, you're spies in chapter
42 verse nine, knowing that they weren't spies. He knew why they
were there. He knew who they were and why they were there.
And here's the truth here that's taught. God in his law, by his
holy commandment accuses us of every evil and rightly so. We're
not falsely accused as in this picture. That's just a picture.
But here's the beauty of the picture. Though we are accused,
rightly accused, under the law of God, by his holy commandment,
yet in the sight of God, because we are in Christ, always have
been in Christ, always will be in Christ, we're not guilty.
He knows we're not guilty. He's the one that, in whose estimation
it counts. And in his estimation, we're
not guilty. We're not guilty. And we'll never
suffer any consequence for that sin of which we're accused. Is
that right? All right, now look at this.
Look at chapter 42, verse 21. Let's look at that verse together.
Now they're not guilty in the sight of Joseph. And we know
why that's true spiritually. Because we're in Christ. He is
our righteousness. As Adam represented us and fell,
and we all fell in Adam, Christ Obeyed the law of God. Kept perfectly
the law of God. Did always those things that
pleased the Father. And as our representative in Him, we're
holy. Just like we're sinners in Adam, we're holy in Christ.
He's our righteousness before God. He represented us before
God. And He died and washed away our sins. He paid the debt for
all of our sin. But, here's what's going to have
to also happen. Look at verse 21. They said one
to another, we are verily guilty. They're not guilty of being spies.
What are you guilty of? Concerning our brother, in that
we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would
not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us. We killed our brother Joseph. We're guilty. In the sight of
God, we've never been guilty of anything. And yet, we are
guilty in ourselves and we have to acknowledge it. Is that clear? I can't explain that. I don't
understand that. Now, both can be true, but I
know they are. I know in ourselves, by nature, we're the children
of wrath. We've always been the children of God's love. We've
always been in Christ. He's always loved us, isn't it?
While we were yet sinners, He died for us. But in ourselves,
we're guilty. And we're going to have to confess
it. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive.
He'll forgive him in a just way and faithfully do so. He won't
turn you away if you come for mercy. And so they were guilty. They said, look at verse 22.
And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying,
Do not sin against the child, and you would not hear. Therefore,
behold, also his blood is required. We said when we nail the Son
of God to a cross, His blood be upon us and our children.
In my nature it is. That is the condemnation. The
condemnation is that God's light came into this world and you
hated Him. You loved yourself, darkness, and hated Him and nailed
Him to a cross. Joseph never accused them of
that which they were actually guilty of. Never once did he
bring it up. that they knew and acknowledged
their guilt. And as Paul said in Romans 3,
19, we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become, what before God? What did they say? We're guilty concerning our brother. the world become guilty before
God Joseph's brothers said This is going to end badly and when
it does we're gonna be getting what we deserve But it wasn't gonna happen that
way They were trembling and afraid but Joseph look at verse 24 and
When they talked about this and he could hear them, they knew not that Joseph understood
them. You see, they're speaking a different
language. He had been speaking to them through an interpreter,
and they didn't know he could understand what they were saying.
And when they were talking about their guilt and their shame and
the consequences of their sin, they were scared to death, but
he turned himself about from them and wept. and returned to them again and
communed with them. And then He gives them corn,
He satisfies their need, and He does so freely. And this is
necessary also. He must put their money back
in their sacks. He must do that. Why? Well, in
the story, Joseph didn't need their money, for one thing. God
doesn't need anything from us, does He? It's the other way around. Religion's got it backwards.
God doesn't need you. He does not need me, but we must
have him. We must have him and his blessing.
But more importantly, because of what this pictures, he must
give their money back because we are justified freely. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. These brothers had something
to eat, not because of the money they had earned and saved, not
because of the labor of their own hands. They had something
to eat purely and only because Joseph was wise and powerful
and good and because he loved them. That's the only reason
they had something to eat. And it must be that way in the
picture because that's how it is in reality. We have one cause
of our salvation. The grace, love, mercy of God. That's three things. No, that's
one thing. The electing love of God. Jacob have I loved. That's election. Election is
not some cold truth. That theologians, you know, write
page upon page. You know what election is? You
know what the definition of election is in the scripture? Jacob have
I loved, and Esau have I hated. That's election. It's the love
of God. And that's the only reason. That's
the root cause of why these were saved alive. Because of the love
of Joseph for them. Why did God save us? Turn to
Titus 3. Titus 3 and verse 3. We see what happened to these brothers in this picture.
And we say in the same language of Titus 3, 3, we ourselves also
were sometimes foolish at one time. We were at one time foolish
like these brothers. They were envious and proud and
they would not submit to the truth of God. And they killed. They killed Joseph. They were foolish and disobedient
and we were too. And deceived. Serving diverse
lusts and pleasures. living in malice and envy, hateful,
and hating one another. They hated Joseph and killed
him, as far as they knew, and hated and started blaming one
another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our
Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, not because we worked and earned money and brought
some and said here we need some corn, but according to his mercy
he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Everything we have, everything
we needed, and everything we have from God is shed on us abundantly
through our Joseph, Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified
by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. While these brothers now They're
talking to Joseph, and it comes up that they have another brother. And as we read, he knew they
did. And as we read there, he asked about it. It wasn't in
the text of chapter 42. But he said, he asked, do you
have another brother? Is your father still alive? He
knew they had another brother. And Joseph demanded that they
go home, all except Simeon, whom he kept in prison, They go home
and come back with Benjamin, their youngest brother. And he
kept Simeon until they would do that. So they go back to Jacob
and look again back in our text and look at what Jacob said in
Genesis 42, 36. And I thought this was, this
was a beautiful picture of us and our gracious God. In Genesis
42, 36, Jacob, their father said unto them when they, when they
told him, you know, Benjamin, Got to come with us now or Simeon
is not coming home. And Jacob their father said unto
them, Me have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not. And Simeon is not. He's a goner. Ain't no way he's ever coming
home. And you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against
me. He said in verse 38 right after
that benjamin not going i'm not i'm not sending him with you
He said you're gonna bring down my gray hairs to the grave with
sorrow But think about the three things here in verse 36 that
jacob said were against him. He said all these things Are
against me what? joseph is not Oh, yes, he is We think everything's against
us, especially when we see the law and understand our position
and our condition before God. All these things are against
us. No, they're for you. They're for you. The law is not
going to be your condemnation. The law is going to be your schoolmaster
to bring you to Christ. And that's what happened here.
What Joseph commanded them to do, the result of it was, every
one of them going to live with Joseph, with plenty to eat. Joseph is not. Well, you're wrong
about that, Jacob. You don't know it yet, but you're
wrong. How often are we wrong? We say, God's against us. No, no, never has been, never
will be. Simeon is not. Simeon's a God
or no. You're going to see Simeon again
before long. And you're going to take Benjamin away, all these
things. No. No, Joseph did all of this because
he loves Benjamin. There's not going to be any harm
come to Benjamin or anybody else in his family. Not one hair of
your head will fall to the ground without your brother. All these things are against
me. No, they're all working together
for our good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called, Even while we're saying all these things
are against us, they're all working for our good. And then in the
first seven verses of chapter 43 there, as we read, we saw
Jacob out of sheer desperation. He says, go and take Benjamin
and go get us a little food, a little corn. And in verses
eight through 14, look at that. Let's read it together. And Judah said unto Israel, his
father, send the lad with me. They said, we can't go without
Benjamin. And Jacob still don't want that
to happen. He don't want to see that happen.
He thinks Joseph's already dead, and he thinks he's never going
to see Simeon again. Don't take Benjamin. But look
at what Judah said. Father, you send him with me,
and we will arise and go that we may live. You send him with
me, and we'll 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 this second time. We should have done this
right away. 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 and carry down the man a present, a little balm
and a little honey, spices and myrrh and nuts and almond. And
take double money in your hand and the money that was brought
again in the mouth of your sex, carry it again in your hand.
Peradventure, it was an oversight. And take also your brother and
arise, go again unto the man And God Almighty give you mercy
before the man. We're going to have to acknowledge
that's what we need. We don't need what's coming to
us. Oh no. Mercy. Mercy. We're mercy beggars. We're going to have to admit
it. We're going to have to acknowledge it. And Jacob's doing that here. That he may send away your other
brother in Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children,
then I'm sure enough bereaved, he said. Judah agrees to be surety for
Benjamin. We have reason to fear God's
law and authority by nature. We've sinned. They knew they
had sinned. And then they acknowledged it. And he said, we deserve the
trouble that we're in with this man. We killed Joseph. That's our problem and the cause
of all of our trouble. That's what they said there.
The cause of our brother. We're guilty concerning our brother.
His blood will be required of us. And maybe you're thinking,
you know, Joseph's not dead. That's true, but they killed
him nevertheless, didn't they? The Lord Jesus Christ is not
dead either, but you killed him as sure as you're sitting there. And I did as sure as I'm standing
here tonight. This is the condemnation that
God's light came into this world. And we love darkness rather than
light. Our natural hatred for and enmity
toward the Lord Jesus Christ is the condemnation. We're guilty
concerning our brother by nature. Now, Benjamin, as I said already,
is us, particularly in this chapter. And we're accused and afraid,
and we have every reason to expect death. They said we're guilty
concerning our brother, and this has come upon us. And Reuben
said his blood will be required of him. So they're going to face
whatever consequences there are for that sin before God. But here's the good news. We
have a surety. Who is it that was surety for
Benjamin? Judah. And even so, the line of the
tribe of Judah in eternity has agreed to be surety for his brothers. And I could give you about 14
points describing what a surety is and how our Savior is that for
us. But the scripture doesn't teach
that way. Our Lord didn't teach that way. He taught in simple,
beautiful pictures. Listen to the language again
in verses eight and nine. Judah said unto Israel, send
the lad with me, with me. As long as we're with him, we're
going to be all right. We're going to be fine. And we
will arise and go that we may live. We're not going to die
if we're with him. If we're with Judah, we cannot
die. Both we and thou, and also our
little ones, I will be surety for him. I'll be responsible. Is it clear in this picture what
a surety is? Would it help you if we went
to Webster? It's clear, and I'll be responsible for him. If he dies, if he perishes, it's
my fault. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. Oh, when you remember in his
high priestly prayer, our Lord Jesus Christ, he said, those
that you've given me, I haven't lost any of them. Those that
you require at my hand, here they are. I've brought them. I'll raise them again at the
last day. I'll not lose a single one. I've kept them. I've revealed your word to them
all through that prayer. He acts as our surety, as our
high priest, as our mediator between us and God. 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. I cannot perish, because if I
perish, then Christ must perish. Perish the thought that he can
fail. My surety has been victorious. He has not lost any of those
who are required at his hand by the Father. And look at verses
15 through 25. And the men took that present,
double money in their hand. And Benjamin and rose up and
went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. And when Joseph
saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring
these men home. And slay and make ready, bring
them where? Home. Where's home? Joseph's house. Not down back
down there where Jacob, Jacob's coming home too. Home is with
Joseph. Home is with our savior. Paul said, to be absent from
the body is to be present with our Lord. That word present means
at home, at home. We're gonna go home to be with
Joseph. That's what all of Joseph's dealings,
all that he did was designed and purposed to bring all of
his family home, bring them home. And slay and make ready, for
these men shall dine with me at noon. Verse 17, And the man
did as Joseph made, and the man brought the men home, into Joseph's
house. And the men were afraid, because
they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, because
of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time,
we are brought in, that he may seek occasion against us. They're
still feeling guilty. They know what they deserve. and fall upon us and take us
for bondmen and our asses. And they came near to the steward
of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house
and said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy
food. And it came to pass when we came to the end that we opened
our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth
of his sack, our money in full weight, and we have brought it
again in our hand. And other money have we brought
down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money
in our sacks. And he said, peace be to you,
fear not. They said, we didn't buy what
we've received. We didn't pay for it. We're afraid.
You don't need to pay for it. Peace, peace be unto you. Fear not. Your God and the God
of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had
your money. And he brought Simeon out unto
them. And the man brought the men into
Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their
feet. And he gave their asses provender. And they made ready
the present against Joseph came at noon. For they heard that
they should eat bread there. What was given to you, that servant
said, was given to you freely. You don't need to pay for it.
You can't pay for it. There's no reason to fear. Simeon
is brought out to them, and they begin to see, now, perhaps this
is going to end well. If it does end well, it's not
a financial transaction. It's not going to end well because
we're not guilty. We're guilty concerning our brother.
We know it. It's not going to end well because
we're not guilty. It's not going to end well because
of our ability to pay. He won't take our money. It's
going to end well because of the authority and kindness of
Joseph. And they begin to see this now.
that Joseph has been gracious to them and they didn't even
know it. And what they still don't know
in this verse is that it shall be well with them because Joseph
is their brother and because he loves them. Now look at the
final verses. Look at verse 26. And when Joseph
came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand
into the house and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he asked
them of their welfare. And said, is your father well,
the old man of whom you spake, is he yet alive? And they answered,
thy servant, our father, is in good health. He is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads
and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin. Now here's us, particularly.
His mother's son, his brother. And said, is this your younger
brother of whom you spake unto me? He knew it was. And he said to that young boy,
God be gracious unto thee, my son. God be gracious unto thee. And Joseph made haste, for his
bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep.
And he entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and went
out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. And they
set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for
the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves, because the
Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews. For that is
an abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him. It might be an abomination to
the Egyptians, but he ate with them. You remember that woman
at the well? She said, why are you talking
to me? The Jews don't have anything to do with the Samaritans. That's
abomination. Our Lord, eats with publicans and sinners. Aren't you glad this man receiveth
sinners? It's abomination to eat with
them. Not not to him. It's not. That's his brothers. Don't talk like that about them.
That's his brothers. Peter said, I can't go preach
to them. I've never eaten anything. I've never done anything like
that. In that picture, you know, where
the Lord told him to eat those unclean. He said, I've never
eaten anything unclean. And he said, you go preach to
the Gentiles. He said, I can't do that. And
the Lord said, don't you call unclean what I've called clean.
They're clean in my sight. And they sat before him, the
firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to
his youth. And the men marveled one at another." They're beginning
to wonder, don't you think? They're beginning to understand
something. We didn't understand much right
away either, did we? We knew the Lord had been gracious
to us. When Benjamin is brought in and Joseph says, God be merciful
to you, my son. An Egyptian saying that to Benjamin? They knew, they marveled. They
didn't know for sure. It probably seemed too good to
be true that they were sitting and eating with the prince of
Egypt, don't you imagine? And he took and sent messes unto
them, food from before him and Benjamin, but Benjamin's mess
was five times so much as any of theirs, and they drank and
were merry with him. Seemed like Benjamin was Joseph's
favorite. You know who that is? That's
us. That's all of us. Just like we're
all that lost sheep out of those hundred, one sheep got lost. Which one was that? All of us.
All of God's people. We're his favorite. Before we ever knew who the Lord
was, he loved us. He purposed to save us. He provided
for us everything that we needed. He interceded for us. There in
verse 29 when he said, God be merciful unto you. He prayed
unto God, God be merciful unto this one. And then our Lord pray
and intercede for us even on the very cross that we knelt
into. Father, forgive them. Be merciful unto Benjamin. and all because he loved us. And we, like Joseph's brothers,
didn't see the tears of compassion that he wept for them. The word
bows, it says that his bowels were moved, did yearn upon his
brother. That word there is from a root
word, rakam, which means to love deeply, to have mercy, to be
compassionate. We know what it means before
we ever read that definition, don't we? Because we know how
our Lord Jesus Christ feels toward his sheep. To love deeply, to
be merciful, to show compassion. And the word yearned, it means
to be kindled or to burn hot. His deep love for us burned. We're Benjamin. guilty and we
know it but the very one whose blood we're guilty of before
God now they said we're guilty before God concerning our brother
his blood will be required of us but the very one whose blood
we're guilty of has all authority to save and he's willing to save
and he's purposed to save because he loves us like no other person
has ever loved These brothers don't know about
Joseph's tears of his love for them. And we didn't know the
Savior's love for us for so long. Let me ask you this. Do you know
it now? Do you know it now? It seems too good to be true
to think of our Lord Jesus Christ as he's pictured here. Toward
us. But by God's grace, that's the
joy of my heart, to know that He loves me. Like John, I'm the disciple whom
Jesus loved. How about you? Let's bow in prayer.