Benoni and Benjamin

Q: What does the Bible say about the house of God?

The house of God is a spiritual dwelling where believers experience God's presence and blessing. In Genesis 35, the concept of God's house is highlighted as a spiritual place where God revealed Himself and made a covenant with Jacob. This spiritual house is not confined to physical structures but represents the believer's relationship with Christ. Jacob experienced renewal and blessing in this house, emphasizing that once we dwell with God, we are forever part of His spiritual house, akin to David's declaration in Psalm 23:6 that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Q: How do we know God's blessings are with us during trials?

God's blessings remain with believers even amid trials, as seen in Jacob's life. In Genesis 35, Jacob receives God's covenant blessings even while facing significant sorrow due to Rachel's death. This teaches us that experiencing trials does not equate to God's absence or disfavor. Jacob's life illustrates that God's people might walk through sorrowful paths while still being under His blessings. In fact, trials can shape our faith and deepen our reliance on God's promises, affirming that He walks with us through both joys and sorrows.

Q: Why is it important to remember God's promises?

Remembering God's promises brings comfort and strengthens faith during difficult times. In Genesis 35, Rachel's midwife comforts her by recalling God's promise of a son, which highlights the importance of remembering God's words in our moments of sorrow. This principle is echoed in 1 Thessalonians 4:18, which encourages believers to comfort one another with God's promises. Remembering God's faithfulness reassures us of His presence and plans for our lives, providing a foundation of hope that sustains us through trials and challenges.

Q: What does it mean that Jesus is the son of sorrow?

Jesus, as the son of sorrow, embodies the weight of our sins and sufferings. Jesus is referred to as the son of sorrow in Isaiah 53, highlighting how He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. This title not only reflects His deep compassion but also signifies His role in taking upon Himself the consequences of sin for His people. In the New Testament, we see that His sorrow culminated in the agony of the cross, where He suffered for our iniquities, fulfilling the prophetic words of Isaiah. Thus, He is both familiar with our sufferings and has triumphed over them for our redemption.

Q: How do we understand God's sovereignty in suffering?

God's sovereignty ensures that all suffering is under His control and serves a greater purpose. The theme of God's sovereignty during suffering is prevalent in the life of Jacob, especially as he navigates his profound trials while retaining his covenant with God. As seen in the narratives of Job and Abraham, suffering can be part of God's gracious design, ultimately leading to growth and deeper faith. This aligns with Romans 8:28, which assures that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Thus, believers can find peace in the assurance that their suffering is not in vain but serves God's sovereign purposes.

But in Genesis chapter 35, let's
look at this chapter again, part of it. And we saw in the first
part of chapter 35 what happens at Bethel. And you notice I didn't
say what happened past tense at Bethel, but we see what happens
at Bethel. We see in this chapter what happens
in the house of God. God appeared to Jacob. It's where
God reveals himself, in his house. Not in a building made of brick
or mortar or drywall. This is God's spiritual house.
This is our habitation as believers in this world is Christ. We dwell
in him. He's our heritage and our habitation
in this life. And in Bethel, God reveals himself
and blesses his people there at Bethel. That's what he did
with Jacob. He renewed his covenant, made
his covenant with Jacob there. That's what happens at God's
house. God told Jacob his old name. Where'd you learn your
name? By nature. In God's house. God changed his
name at Bethel too. And told him his new name. Said
your name will be no more Jacob. And then God told Jacob his name.
He said my name's God Almighty. This is what happens at Bethel,
the house of God. And then in this story, in verse
16, Jacob leaves earthly Bethel. Look at verse 16. It says that
they journeyed from Bethel. And there was but a little way
to come to Ephrath. And Rachel travailed, and she
had hard labor. Ephrath. But Jacob left earthly
Bethel, but never spiritual Bethel. This is, this is the first thing
we want to look at tonight. Once you come to dwell in God's
spiritual house, you don't ever leave. You don't ever leave. God doesn't put you out of his
house. And somebody that knows God's not going to leave. Where
are we going to go? Listen to what David said in Psalm 23,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Jacob
may leave earthly Bethel, but if he's God's, he'd dwell in
God's house forever. We don't leave God's house. And
this is the way of things. When the Lord blesses you, as
he promised Jacob that he would, you don't go from his house.
You always live in Christ and own Christ. You dwell with God,
walk with God, live with God. He is our life. Psalm 27, four,
one thing have I desired of the Lord, David said, and that will
I seek after. Do you desire something from
the Lord? Seek. Seek and you'll find, he
said. What are you seeking for, David?
What's the one thing you desire? That I may dwell in the house
of the Lord, that I may dwell at Bethel all the days of my
life. That's not earthly Bethel. Why
do you want to live there, David? to behold the beauty of the Lord,
that's Bethel, and to inquire in his temple. Where is the house
of the Lord? It's where his beauty is beheld
in the face of Jesus Christ. It's where we inquire of him. The word inquire means to seek,
inquire, consider. Our Lord said, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. And by His grace, we do that.
Are you living in Bethel? You are if you're His. Always. All the days of my life, David
said. In the latter part of chapter
35, Jacob's wife, whom he so dearly loved, Rachel, dies while
giving birth to a son. And here's another lesson to
us. Soon after the Lord met with Jacob, and renewed his covenant
with him, promised his blessings to him. He suffered this great
trial. And we sheep of God, we today
who are the objects of his covenant blessing as Jacob was. This time
of great sorrow in Jacob's life teaches us something. We know
how much he loved Rachel. He fell in love with her and
worked 14 years so that he could be with her. And though God had
just met with Jacob again and blessed him and revealed himself
to him as God Almighty, he promised his blessing upon him now. In
verse 11 and 12, he said, I'm God Almighty, be fruitful and
multiply. A nation and a company of nations
shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the
land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it
and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. But the life
and path of God's blessing for Jacob was not a path without
sorrow. Religion talks about the blessing
of God as never having any sickness or sorrow. They even go so far as to say
you won't have any financial troubles, you know, if you just
figure out the code, you know, that God has given us in the
scriptures. The believer not supposed to have any sorrows.
I don't see that in God's book, do you? No. No, there is such
a thing as the fellowship of his sufferings. And the Lord
puts us through some things in this life, and it's not the path
of faithlessness, as religions say. Well, the reason you got
troubles, you just don't have enough faith. No, this is the
path of God's blessing. You see, that's what God was
doing with Job. When he put him on the ash heap,
he was blessing him. Job just didn't know it yet. That's the
God that we worship. That's the God who's blessed
us and covenanted with us and walks with us in this life. He
takes us through sorrows. But he said, when I take you
through, they won't overflow you. The fire won't burn you. But he does try our faith with
fire, doesn't he? He promised that he would, and
he'll do that. He tried Abraham, didn't he? God's people not supposed
to have any trials, any trouble, any sorrow? You think it broke
Abraham's heart to raise that knife above his son's chest?
God put him through that. Yeah, but it all turned out okay,
Chris. So will your trial. So will your sorrow. Every one
of them. But like David said, we dwell
in God's house all the days of our life. When we go through
sorrows, when we don't go through sorrow, when we have times of
peace and prosperity and comfort in this life, we're living in
God's house. And when there's trouble, we're
in God's house. Jacob was in God's house when
he met Rachel. The Lord was with him then. He
had promised him then that he'd be with him. And he was. When he met Rachel and fell in
love with her, he was dwelling in God's house. He was still
there when Rachel died. All the days of our lives. And
this is so beautiful in the scripture that the New Testament is such
a wonderful place to be when you're studying God's Word and
to see the very words of our Lord as He walked. In the Old Testament, we see
ourselves in these characters, don't we? We see The same God
who blessed us and who has promised us his favor, walking with them. And we know he's with us. We
know that his mercy follows us all the days of our lives because
we see in these ones, we see our sinfulness in them and that
God didn't forsake them because of their sin. Nor will he forsake
me. When they committed horrible
error, and did foolish things, we see that and we go, oh, but
the Lord blessed them in spite of themselves. And so we look
back on our lives and we go, oh, and we see that the Lord
blessed us in spite of us. The Lord is to be worshipped
in all of his providences in our lives. When we meet our Rachel
and when we bury our Rachel, the Lord's to be worshipped.
He's to be thanked and praised for both. He gives and he takes,
and his name is to be blessed in both the giving and the taking.
Job had this grace in his heart. I blessed God the day that he
gave me my wife and caused me to fall in love with her. And
the days that he gave me my children, those were blessed days. And
I thanked the Lord for them. But my prayer is that he would
give me grace if he's ever pleased to take one of them away. Lord,
give me grace then to worship you. Be with me then. May your blessing be upon me
then too. May I dwell in your house then. And praise your name. Shall I receive good at your
hand and not evil. He's God Almighty as he revealed
himself to Jacob here in this chapter. And when Rachel died,
Jacob acknowledged he's God Almighty. As a church, we've been through
some trials, but we've had now a time of peace for some years
now. Isn't it wonderful? Thank God
for it. Thank God for it. If he ever
takes us through the fire again, remember who he is. Remember
what he's done for us. Remember who we are. and that
he had mercy on us anyway. May God give me grace to remember.
And as Rachel was dying in verse 18, it says she named this son
that she had Benoni, or Benoni, which means son of Sarah. But
we're told that Jacob named him Benjamin, son of my right hand. Do you see the gospel here? Rachel's
midwife, Comforts her in verse 17 It came to pass when Rachel
was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her fear not Thou shalt
have this son also. How did she know? Was she just
being like religion, you know, just naming it and claiming it
Everything's gonna be alright, you know, that's faith. No, that's
not faith this was faith because she's just telling Rachel what
God had already said and So she knew the same way any of us know
anything. In Genesis 30, when Rachel had
Joseph, bear Joseph, the Lord revealed to her then and there
that she would have another son. And so this handmaid comforted
her by way of repeating God's promise to her. That's a good
way to comfort somebody, isn't it? Remember what God said. I know your heart's breaking,
but remember what God said. We're instructed in First Thessalonians
4.18 to do that very thing, aren't we? Comfort one another. How? With what? With these words,
with the words of the Lord, with the promises of God, with the
truth that one of these days he's going to take us home to
be with him. Some of our loved ones are gone from here, but
Paul said, I wouldn't have you to be ignorant concerning them.
They're in the arms of the Lord. And one of these days, the trumpet
of the Lord is going to sound and we're going to meet them
in the air. And we're going to be forever with the Lord. All
of us, those who have gone before and us who remain, we're going
to be with the Lord together. And Paul said, comfort one another
with those words. Now you see in verses 16 and
19 where they were. Ephrath or Bethlehem, same place. where God prophesies later that
his son, his son is going to be born. In Micah 5.2, listen
to this. Micah 5.2, but thou Bethlehem
Ephrathah, that Ephrathah, that's a form of Ephrath. That's what
it was called, house of bread. Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou
be little among the thousands of Judah. Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." That's
God's Son going to be born. Herod demanded of the scribes
and chief priests of the book of Matthew where Christ should
be born, because he wanted to kill him. The wise men had come
and said, we've come to worship the King of Israel. And so Herod
demanded of the scribes and chief priests, those who knew the scriptures,
where's Christ gonna be born? In Matthew 2, 5 it says, they
sent unto him in Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written
by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not
the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall
come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. So Jacob and
Rachel have a son in Bethlehem after God has just given his
covenant blessings and promises to Jacob, promised him that nations
would come of him. They go to Bethlehem thereafter
and they have a son and he's given two names, son of Sarah
and son of my right hand. And many, many, many years later
in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them that are
under the law. Where was He born? Right where
God said He would be born, in Bethlehem. And who was He? The Son of Sorrow. In Isaiah
chapter 53, not only there called the man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, But what was the sorrow that Rachel spoke of when
she named this child what she did? Why did she name him son
of sorrow? Because of her labor. She had
hard labor. And she was in travail. And she
named him that because of what it says in verse 17 of our text. It came to pass when she was
in hard labor that the midwife said unto her, fear not, thou
shalt have this son also. And it came to pass as her soul
was in departing for she died. that she called his name Son
of Sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin. It was in reference
to the travail of her labor that she named him the Son of Sorrow.
And Isaiah said in Isaiah 53 concerning the Son of Sorrow,
he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He's the Son of Travail. And
he's travailing for a reason, for a purpose. His sorrows were
put upon him by God, as we read in that chapter, Isaiah 53. They
were my sorrows that became his. He was the man of sorrows because
of my sorrow that he bore. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. And he shall see, Isaiah said,
of the travail of his soul. He'll see what he suffered for
and the result of it. And he'll be satisfied. Everything
that he suffered in order to accomplish shall be accomplished. He'll be pleased with it. He
shall be satisfied with what is produced or accomplished by
his sufferings. Why is he the son of sorrow? God's son. because of the sorrow
of bearing my sins. Turn to Mark chapter 14, verse 32. Listen to the language
as my Lord begins to feel the weight of my sins upon himself
and yours, if you're his. Verse 32 of Mark 14, and they
came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And
he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray. And
he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to
be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And saith unto them..."
Now you think about who this is. This is the Son of God. This
is the One with all power to do as He pleases. The self-sufficient
God in a body. The fullness of the Godhead in
a body. And he said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death. Sorrowful unto death. This is
the kind of sorrow that can only end in death. We've never experienced
sorrow like this, and never will. Tarry ye here and watch. And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. I've
read much about this passage of scripture. And I'm not saying
this because I look down on anybody. I'm included in this, but it's
pathetic to see puny man try to figure out the Lord Jesus. It's just pathetic. If you want
to know what happened here, read what God wrote and ask for light. We're not going to understand
it. And he said, Father, Father,
Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away
this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. You know, we try to pray that
way. Lord, take this, these little petty sorrows. The Lord said
our afflictions are light. And when we read this, we get
a little bit of an idea of how light they are. But we're, we
think we're crushed under them and we pray that the Lord would
take them away. And we say, Lord, nevertheless, your will be done.
And we don't half mean it, do we? I just want them taken away.
I just want them taken away. But my Lord prayed, nevertheless,
not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth
them sleeping. And in this the way it is, our
Lord, he accomplished my salvation. And I just slept through it.
What was your part in it, Chris? And saith unto Peter, Simon,
sleepest thou? Couldst not thou watch one hour?
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly
is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed
and spake the same words. And when he returned, he found
them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. Oh, they are,
aren't they? Our eyes are heavy. We're so
weak. We're such creatures of dust
and flesh. Our eyes are heavy. The spirit
is willing, but all is flesh. Neither wish they what to answer
him. And he cometh the third time and saith unto them, sleep
on now and take your rest. It is enough. We didn't do anything,
but it's enough what he did, what he's doing. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the
son of man is betrayed. into the hands of sinners. Rise
up. Let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth
me is at hand. I don't know much about this,
but I know that my iniquity, all of my sin, everything that
I am and everything that I've done, and that of all of his
people throughout all ages was laid upon him. And I believe
that he felt the weight of that sin there in that garden. And
he bore that sin to Calvary and died for those sins and for those
sinners. And he paid for my sins there. We can't calculate his sufferings,
but I know this, it was enough. It was enough. He finished the
work of redemption that the Father gave him to do and the Lord poured
out his wrath upon his own son until it was enough. Surely we
can call him Benoni, son of sorrow. And he cried, it's finished,
as he gave up the ghost, having made an end of sins and having
made reconciliation for all the iniquity of his people for all
time. And having brought in everlasting righteousness, he cried, it's
finished. But he's also the son of God's right hand. He's not
a weak, defeated martyr. This is the son of God's right
hand. What does that mean? Turn to Hebrews one. Let's look
at a few scripture. I'm really real brief tonight.
We're almost done, but look at, look at a few scripture with
me. Hebrews one 13 one verse. Hebrews 1.13, but to which of
the angels said he, God the Father, at any time, sit on my right
hand. This is the God-man. The Lord
Jesus, considered as God, never left glory, but as a man, he
came down here and accomplished my righteousness and the redemption
from my sins. And the man Christ Jesus sat
down on the right hand of God. There's a man in glory. There's
a man on the throne of the universe, the captain of our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father never said to
another man or any angel even, sit on my right hand, but only
to the man, the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ, until I make
your enemies your footstool. Only this son, this holy thing
born in Bethlehem did God ever call the son of my right hand. This one who bears the sins and
sorrows of a people is the victorious son of God. What is the right
hand? Well, like I said, let's look
at some scripture together. Where did Stephen see him? As
Stephen was stoned and left this world in such a horrible manner.
There was something that caught his attention. There was something
that even a mob of angry murderers rushing upon him couldn't distract
him from. You remember Act 754? Look at
it with me. If you don't want to turn, I'll
just read it to you, but if you'd like to, like I say, we're almost
through. I just want to look at about
two or three passages of scripture. I just want to show that he that
was born in Bethlehem was the son of Saul, but he's the son
of the right hand, too. Acts 7, 54, when they heard these
things, when they heard Stephen preaching the gospel, they were
cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But
he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus. We've looked at that word
and before. It can mean and or it can mean
even. Guess what it means here. Read
it this way and saw the glory of God, even Jesus standing on
the right hand of God. Where's God's glory? Where are
you going to see God's glory? In the face of Jesus Christ.
He who is the express image of God, Paul said in Hebrews 1,
and the brightness of his glory. That's the glory of God. The
Lord Jesus is his glory. And he saw God's glory, even
Jesus, on the right hand of God, and said, behold, I see the heavens
opened and the Son of Man standing. on the right hand of God. He's
the son of God's right hand. We know that our Savior, having
borne our sorrows in order that we might be saved, is victorious
in that work. He sees of the travail of his
soul as the son of sorrow, and he's satisfied. And God the Father
is satisfied. How do we know that? Because
he's not only the son of sorrow, but the son of God's right hand.
Look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11. Hebrews 10, 11. And every priest
standeth daily ministering. In the Old Testament, that's
what they did every day. They stood ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices. Sheep, bulls, goats, which can
never take away sins. All they did was point to the
one who can take away, and who does, did take away sins. to
the Lord Jesus. But this man, verse 12, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. When he had offered that sacrifice,
when he had made that offering to God, will God accept it? And
that's the question. Every time an offering is made
to God, will God accept it? That's the question. He accepted
Abel's offering and didn't accept Cain's. And Cain was cursed from
that day forward. Cut off from his people. Will
he accept the offering? After this man had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God
from henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. We're still waiting on that,
aren't we? Paul said, we creatures of time now, in eternity it's
already done. We're already there with him.
We're already reigning with him. But us creatures of time, Paul
said, we see not yet all things put under his feet. We're going
to see it soon. It's already done. We're going
to see it soon. Why? Why was he able to sit down on
the right hand of God and wait there till all of his enemies
are made his footstool? For by that one offering. He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The travail of
his soul, the son of sorrow travailed, he undertook for our salvation,
the work of redemption, and he accomplished it. His blood was
sufficient, his holy spotless offering unto God of his own
precious blood. was sufficient to sanctify us
forever, perfect us forever. And so he sits. He's the son
of God's right hand. Before we leave chapter 35 and
let's look at one more thing in Genesis 35 and then we'll
be through tonight. In Genesis 35, remember in verse
11 how that God had revealed himself to Jacob. We talked about
it. He said, I am God Almighty. And then let's look into the
future a little bit. We'll study the rest of this
chapter one way or another by God's grace. But let's look into
the future a little bit. After Jacob now, toward the end
of his life, he suffers the loss of Joseph, his son. You remember
how his brothers were jealous of him. Now his father had made
him that coat of many colors. And they threw him into a pit
and left him to die. And went back and told his father,
Jacob, that he had been killed. And they put some blood on that
coat of many colors and said, your son Joseph's dead. And Jacob
had to bear that sorrow. And the rest of his sons went
to Egypt because there was famine where they were. They didn't
have anything to eat. And so they went to Egypt. And God had
already made Joseph, and he had already put Joseph in charge
of all the storehouses of Egypt, the only place where there was
any bread, any food of any kind, any corn, anything to eat. And so the rest of Jacob's sons
go to Egypt And they come back after speaking with Joseph. Joseph
gave him a little food and they had brought some money. And we'll
see it in what we're gonna read, but he didn't take their money. He gave him some food. He said,
you leave Simeon with me. And he said, he asked him, do
you have any other brothers? Because he knew, he knew that
they did. They hadn't brought Benjamin
with them because Jacob said, I'm not gonna let Benjamin go
with you, lest, as he said, mischief befall him. Here's the thing,
Jacob loved Benjamin. When he was younger, he couldn't
bear to see anything happen to him. So he didn't see in Benjamin.
And Joseph said, do you have any other brothers? And they
said, yeah, we have a younger brother, Benjamin. And he said,
you leave Simeon here and I want you to bring Benjamin when you
come back. When you run out of food, you come back and bring
Benjamin with you. And then we'll start reading
in chapter 42 of Genesis. I want you to see one thing before
we leave chapter 35. And then we'll look into this,
verse 29. of chapter 42, and they, all
of these brothers, all these sons of Jacob, 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, that's Joseph. Jacob didn't know it, and none
of these brothers knew it. He 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 12 brethren,
sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest
is this day, with our father in the land of Canaan. One is
not, that's Joseph. He's standing there looking at
him when they said that. I thought he was a goner. And
the man, the Lord of the country said unto us, hereby shall I
know that you 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 you are no spies, but that you
are true men. So will I deliver you your brother,
and you 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. Because they
had stolen this food. They hadn't paid anything for
it. But Joseph had put the money back. He had commanded that their
money be put back in their bags so that they wouldn't have to
pay for it. He gave them food for nothing.
But they were scared. They thought, well, we've stolen
from the prince of Egypt. We're in big trouble. And Jacob,
their father, said unto them, me ye have bereaved of my children. And Jacob is going through some
things now. He said Joseph is not. He's dead
now. And Simeon is not. You've left
him with this wicked ruler that spoke roughly to you. He's a
goner apparently too. Thinking the worst. Anybody here
like that? Thinking the worst. And you'll
take Benjamin away and all these things are against me. Oh boy,
you ever think like that? All these things are against
me. And then every once in a while, God turns the light on, and we
say, if God be for us. And 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 you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs
with sorrow to the grave. And the famine was sore in the
land. Jacob said at first, he not go. You're not taking my
son, Benjamin down there. No way. But the famine was sore. It was sore. 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 and 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, Jacob said,
wherefore dealt you so ill with me as to tell the man whether
you had yet a brother? Why in the world did you tell
him that you even had a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? They didn't know why he was asking
that, but Joseph wanted to know. He missed his dad. And he wondered where Benjamin
was. Do you have 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? We didn't know it was going to
happen like that. Can you imagine what Jacob's going through here?
He's already lost Joseph now, and he's already written off
Simeon, too. He hadn't lost anything. He just thought he had. That's
how we are. God's not even gonna let a hair
fall out of our head without him. And Judah said unto Israel,
his father, and this is beautiful. We'll have to look at this. I
don't know how we'll study through this, but we'll spend some time
here. Judah said, you send him with me and we 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. You
send him with me. Judah is the one that said that.
And our Lord Jesus Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
And he agreed to be surety for me. 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. And their father Israel said
unto them, if it must be so now, do this. We're going to starve
to death. He didn't have much choice, did he? He didn't want
to do it. 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. That's, you know, we try to do
something for the Lord. Joseph had everything he needed,
didn't he? He didn't need what they had,
but it was still, it was a blessing to be able to offer him a gift.
And I'm sure he received it. Don't you imagine? And take double
money in your hand. The money that was brought again
in the mouth of your sex carried again in your hand. Perventure,
it was an oversight. Maybe it was just a mistake.
So take that money and more to buy this food with. And take
also your brother and arise and go again unto the man. And look
at this. And God Almighty, the one that revealed himself to
me at Bethel, May he 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. And so he said, may God almighty
give you mercy. You can imagine what he was going
through. Have you ever been through anything even remotely close? But he remembered the Lord revealing
himself to him at Bethel this way. Every time that God is referred
to in the scriptures, he's not referred to this way. This is
him specifically referring to God as the way that he had revealed
himself to him at Bethel. May God Almighty, and this was
my prayer as I read this, may God Almighty, the one that revealed
himself to Jacob, and by his almighty grace has revealed himself
to us, the all-sufficient God, the son of sorrow, but the son
of the right hand, the son of exaltation and power and glory
and authority. May he give us grace to live
every day in all things that befall us in this life, to trust
him, and to lean on him as Jacob did here. May God Almighty have
mercy on you. Give you mercy in this man's
sight. The one who has promised his blessing to me, may he go
with you. May he determine the outcome. And may his name be
glorified. Let me just close by saying again,
when we go through some trouble, I haven't had much lately, When
we go through some trouble, remember who He is. Remember who He is. Remember what He's done for us.
Remember how He came where we were and took us off the dunghill
and set us among princes. Behold what manner of love He
bestowed upon us that we should be called His sons. And may we
know Him and acknowledge Him and trust Him always as God Almighty. The all-sufficient God. It doesn't
matter what I'm going through. And Jacob said, all these things
are against me. But if God be for us, who can
be against us? May He give us grace, whatever
we go through, whatever He takes us through in this life, to honor
Him in it. And I'm saying that now. It's
easy to say that now, isn't it? When my heart's broke, may I
honor Him. Honor God Almighty in it. It'll
take His grace, won't it? And so I pray for it even now.
Let's bow together.

Benoni and Benjamin

What does the Bible say about the house of God?

How do we know God's blessings are with us during trials?

Why is it important to remember God's promises?

What does it mean that Jesus is the son of sorrow?

How do we understand God's sovereignty in suffering?

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Benoni and Benjamin

What does the Bible say about the house of God?

How do we know God's blessings are with us during trials?

Why is it important to remember God's promises?

What does it mean that Jesus is the son of sorrow?

How do we understand God's sovereignty in suffering?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

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