In Genesis 43, verse 8, Judah
is speaking to Israel, the father of Benjamin. And Judah said unto
Israel, his father, send the lad 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. 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. Chapter 44, this is after Joseph
has said, Benjamin is staying with me. Verse 30, now therefore, when
I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing
that his life is bound up in the lad's life. Well, there's a sermon there,
isn't there? It shall come to pass when he
seeth that the lad is not with us, that he'll die. And thy servant
shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our father, with
sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, and here we have the heart of the gospel. I'm not taking that too far in
any measure. Here we have the heart, the soul
of the gospel. Now, therefore, I pray thee,
let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my Lord,
and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go to my father?
And the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that
shall come on my father. Now you will remember that Joseph
had had the silver cup planted in Benjamin's sack, And he sent
them all back to Canaan laden with corn, but planned all along
to bring them back shortly because of the cup that was planted in
Benjamin's sack. Joseph had said that the one
in whose sack the silver cup was found would remain. And we
know that was found in Benjamin's sack and Joseph planted it there. We considered this last week.
The one who was not guilty of the betrayal of Joseph was the
one who had the evidence of the crime. That is the gospel. So. Joseph has them return back
to him. And we read in verse 14 of Genesis
44. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house. They had been found out according
to Joseph's plan. For he was yet there, and they
fell before him on the ground. Now there, that happens again.
That almost seems to be their familiar position by this time.
You'll remember Joseph's dreams. Here they are again at his feet
on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, what
deed is this that you've done? What ye not that such a man's
eye can certainly divine? I can see, I know exactly what
takes place. Now, did Joseph have some kind
of supernatural power? He may have, I don't know, but
I know this, the reason he knew that the silver cup was in Benjamin's
sack was because he planted it there. And he had every intention
to bring him back. But I, he says to these brethren
of his who do not yet know who he is. He said, don't you know,
I can see exactly what take place. You can't pull in one on me.
I see what's going on. Here's Judah's reply. And Judah
said, what should we say into my Lord? What should we speak
or how should we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity
of thy servants. You know, they've been living
with this for 22 years. God had found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants,
both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And Joseph said, God forbid that
I should do so. But the man in whose hand the
cup is found, he shall be my servant. And as for you, get
ye up in peace under your father. You're free to go. Benjamin's
staying with me." Now, this is when Judah brings this impassioned
speech about him becoming surety for this young boy. Verse 18,
then Judah came near unto him. And said, oh my Lord, let thy
servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord's ears and let not
thine anger burn against thy servant for thou art even as
Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servant saying,
have you a father or a brother? Now Joseph was speaking through
an interpreter and he knew they had a father and a brother. And
he asked them, do you have a father? Do you have a brother? And we said unto my Lord, verse
20, we have a father, an old man and a child of his old age,
a little one. And his brother is dead. His
brother, Benjamin's brother is dead. Joseph knew they were speaking
of him at this time. And he alone is left of his mother
and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants,
bring him down into me that I may set mine eyes upon him. You remember
when he accused him of being spies the first time that came
down, he said, you're not going to come here again, unless you
bring your brother and prove yourselves to be real and true
men. And that's when they went back
to their father with the corn. And we said unto my Lord, the
lad can't leave his father. If he should leave his father,
his father would die. And this is a life and death
situation. If we don't come down with him and get corn, we're
all going to die of starvation. If we come back with the corn,
but we don't have our brother, our father will die. That's how
much he loves the land. Verse 23, and thou saidst unto
thy servants, except your youngest brother come down with you, you
shall see my face no more. Now we have a predicament here. And it came to pass when we came
up into thy servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord.
And our father said, this is after some time had passed, go
again and buy us a little food. And we said, we cannot go down.
If our youngest brother be with us. Then will we go down, for
we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother be
with us." They said, Jacob warped to their father, Jacob, we're
all gonna die if we don't bring Benjamin down. Verse 27, a nice servant, my
father said unto us, you know that my wife bare me two sons. And the one went out from me
and I said, surely he's torn in pieces, I saw him not since.
And if you take this also from me, and mischief befall him,
you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
Now, therefore, when I come to thy servant, my father, I come
back without Benjamin, and the lad be not with us, seeing that
his life is bound up in the lad's life. It shall come to pass when
he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he'll die. and thy servant shall bring down
the gray hairs of thy servant, our father, with sorrow to the
grave. For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now therefore,
I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman
to my lord. And let the lad go up with his
brethren for house. I go up to my father in the lab,
be not with me less per adventure. I see the evil that you'll come
on my father. Then Joseph could refrain himself
no longer. That is when he made himself
known to his brethren. And we're going to consider that
next week, Lord willing. The heart of the gospel substitution. That's the heart. That's the
soul of the gospel. Many years ago, a preacher by
the name of Scott Richardson, some of you, maybe many of you
know of him. He made this statement. I want you to listen to it. He
said a message without the cross. is a mistake in its conception
and a crime in its execution. Do you believe that? The subject of the scripture,
the subject, not a subject, the subject of the scripture is the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The subject of the scripture
is what we just read of. Let me abide in his place as
his substitute and you let the lab go free. Now turn with me
to first Corinthians chapter one. Verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize. Wouldn't it be a thrill if anyone
in this room who has not confessed Christ in believers, baptism
wanted to confess Christ and believers baptism. We'd be thrilled. But what does Paul say? That's not my job. Cross didn't
send me to baptize. He's not saying anything against
baptism. We love baptism. But he says
this, I wasn't sent to get results. I wasn't sent to baptize people. I was sent to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words. Not
by dressing up the cross and making it more appealing to the
flesh, to try to make it to where people would be more likely to
believe. Not with wisdom of words, trying
to explain away and take the offense out of the cross. Not
trying to soften it up. Lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect. Now, do you hear that? If I use
wisdom of words to remove the offense of the cross, no one
will be saved. God will not bless that for the
preaching of the cross. That's the message of the Bible. The doctrine of the cross, the
word of the cross, the message of the cross. Do you know the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ displays every attribute of God? It's the most God-like thing
God's ever done. It's the most glorious thing.
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching, the doctrine,
the word of the cross. It's to them that perish, foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it, the word of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the preaching
of the cross, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the power
of God. Look down in verse 23, verse
22 rather. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom. Now the Jews are the religious
people. I need some evidence to let me know what you're saying
is true. I need a sign. I need some proof. I need some evidence that there's
something to this message. I need a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
Now this is not talking about that fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom. This is talking about wisdom
to make this world a better place. We want to make this world a
better place. We want to improve education.
We want to improve healthcare. We want to get rid of poverty.
We want to make this world a better place. They seek wisdom. Paul says, but we preach Christ
crucified. Now what is meant by that? That
means the only way a sinner can be saved is by Jesus Christ,
the God-man coming and keeping the law for them, bearing their
sins, being put to death on the cross as a sin-bearing substitute. And if he died for you, you must
be saved. It's not an offer. He's not offering
you forgiveness. He's not offering you salvation.
He saves. It is finished. We preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block. Why? That kind of teaching that
all that's required for you to be saved is for him to die for
you? Why? You'll take away any motivation
for good works? You'll take away any motivation
for evangelism. I stumble at this. I can't go
there. That's the Jews' reaction. The Greeks, well, how's this
gonna help society? How's this going to help poverty?
How's this going to make this world a better place? How is
this going to help technology? How's this going to do what we
need to do to make this world a better place? It's foolishness. But unto them which are called,
there's the difference. But to them which are called,
what? Christ, the power of God, And
Christ, the wisdom of God. The cross is the wisdom of God
in making a way for him to be perfectly just and justify an
ungodly sinner so that they stand before God having never sinned
with a perfect history. That took the wisdom of God and
it took the power of God to execute it. It wouldn't happen without
that. Now look what Paul says in chapter
two, verse one. And I brethren, when I came to
you, I came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, I made this
my resolve. I knew this ahead of time. This
was my determination. Not to know anything among you. saved Jesus Christ and him crucified. I'm not interested in any other
subject. I love what Charles Spurgeon said. He said, if we
confine our preaching to the cross and speak of nothing else,
it will be a widening rather than a narrowing of our ministry. The cross. Do you see what Paul
said where you would determine, right with Paul, not to know
anything among anybody save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we don't know a great deal
about before creation, obviously. There was a time when all there
was, was God. There was no time. There was
no matter. There was no space. I've always loved this statement
by Spurgeon. I am quoting it. He said, there
was no angel to flap his wings through the unnavigated ether.
All there was, was God. Here's what we know about before
time. Christ is the lamb slain. The lamb having been slain. from the foundation of the world. And God created the universe
for Christ to come and be slain. That is God's purpose in all
things. The Lamb slain. Listen, before you ever committed
a sin, before you were even a twinkle in your mommy or daddy's eye,
Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
He creates the world, he puts Adam in the garden, and he says
to Adam, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He did die. Now you'll remember,
I think it was in a message recently, God's only looked at two people,
Adam, the first Adam, and the second Adam. Do you know the
fall didn't even take place until Adam ate the fruit? When Eve
ate the fruit, nothing happened. It was when Adam ate the fruit
that their eyes were opened. He is the man. In Adam, all die. And that death, without that
death, there'd be no cross. You know, God brings good out
of evil. Don't ever forget this. God always brings good out of
evil. You may not understand what he's
doing at any time, but he does. And we don't need to understand
what he's doing. We trust his character. God brings good out
of evil all the time. And what good came out of the
death of Adam? After Adam fell, we're given
the first gospel message. Serpent. You're going to bruise
his heel on the cross, but he's going to crush your head. And then our first parents saw
the first shedding of blood, and God flew a lamb. I think it was Christ who flew
the lamb. You know, when they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the cool of the evening, I have no doubt that that's Jesus
Christ, the Lord. He slew that animal. You see,
they tried to make a covering for their nakedness. Any covering
we make won't work. And he removed that and clothed
them with the skin of that lamb, the cross. The very first story outside
of the garden, Cain and Abel. Cain brings the fruit of the
ground. Abel brings the blood of a lamb
he'd slain, knowing that that blood would not put away his
sins, but it was the lamb that it pointed to. He believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ just the way you and I do. His only hope
was the blood of Christ, and when he comes into God's presence,
he comes with the blood. The scripture says God had respect
to Abel and his offering. Now you think of what's the value
of something for God to respect it. God respected Abel and his
offering. They couldn't be separated. But
to Cain and his offering, he had no respect. Now what happened? Well, I can see Abel and Cain
having this discussion. Cain's angry. Why did he accept
your offering and not mine? That doesn't seem fair. I've
given my best to this. And I can see Abel explaining
to Cain, perhaps with tears in his eyes. We can't come into
God's presence in and of ourselves. We're sinful. The only way we
can come is through the blood. Abel grows more angry. Blood, I'll show you blood. He
bashes his brains in. What was the issue of the first
murder? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2,000 years pass, and men have
been able to develop their iniquities as such. It always was that way,
but now it comes out more. And the scripture says 2,000
years later that God saw the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. So what did he do? He told Noah
to make an ark. He gave him the exact dimensions
of that ark. And you know what? Inside of
that ark, everybody was saved. The wrath of God hit the ark
from every angle. Who was saved? Only those in
the ark. The wrath of God was poured upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody in him saved, safe,
and secure. Abraham is probably considered
the most significant figure of the scripture as far as men go. Believers are called children
of Abraham. And I can show you so many different
times where he made altars, offered sacrifices. The first thing God,
the first time God appeared to him, the first thing he did was
make an altar. Now turn with me to Genesis 22 for just a moment. You know, the story of God saying,
take now your son, your only son whom you love and offer him
up as a burnt offering to me on a mountain that I'll show
you up. Look in verse. 10, and Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay a son. And there's nobody that
has thought, could I do that? Could I do that? Pick up the
knife to slay my child? If you believe God would raise
him from the dead after you did it, you would. Abraham knew that
would took place. And in his mind, that boy was
already dead. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, hear mine. He said, lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked. And behold, behind him a ram
caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son." Just like Judas said, let me go in his stead. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it said to this day in the
mount of the Lord, it should be seen, the Lord shall provide,
the Lord will see to it. Now I have, I'm gonna skip all
the rest of the Old Testament stuff because we'll be here all
night if I do this. So let me get to the end of the message.
When John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ announced him What
did he say? Behold the Lamb of God. This is that Lamb that was slain
to cover. This is the Lamb Abel brought. This is the Lamb the first thing
Noah did. He got out and offered burnt
offerings when he got off the ark. This is Abraham's substitute
lamb. Oh, don't you love that scripture
where the Lord said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And I
have no doubt that he was talking about that. Don't you reckon
he rejoiced when that lamb was provided for his son? Oh, I'm
sure he was skipping down that mountain so happy. This is the
Passover lamb where God said, when I see the blood of that
lamb, I will pass over you. This is the lamb spoken of in
Leviticus 16. Isaiah is, he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Now this lamb had already lived
30 years. Don't you love the way the Lord
veils it all in secrecy? We wouldn't have got it anyway. Only that one statement from
when he was 12 years old, but during that 30 year period, he
worked out a perfect righteousness. And then his public ministry
begins when John the Baptist announces him, behold, the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now this Lamb,
the Lamb of God. You know, read the book of Revelation. How many times is the Lamb mentioned?
The Lamb of God. Well, the Lamb had three years
of public ministry, preaching the gospel. Then he's nailed to a cross. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is slain in time. Acts 4, 27, 28, the early church
shortly after his resurrection made this glorious statement.
For of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, both who now has
anointed Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. You see, this
had all been determined before the foundation of the world.
And you read of his death, it's almost like the people who put
him to death, it's like they said, well, what do we do next?
Let's look in the Psalms, let's look in Isaiah. I mean, they
just did what God said they would do. Why is God's purpose? Number one. Number
two, why was he nailed to a cross? Why did he not answer for himself? Because he was guilty. You know, included in this thing
of the lamb is the fact that sin was transferred. We just,
you read about that in the law of the two birds. That's in there,
that's in the Leviticus chapter 16, where the priest lays his
hand on the head of the sacrifice. The sins were symbolically transferred. When the Lord died on the cross,
they weren't symbolically transferred. He bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. And he became guilty of the commission
of those sins. He never committed them, but
he became guilty of the commission of them. And that is why he died. God's purpose, he was guilty. And in him doing this, he was
saying, let me abide in Todd's dead. and let Todd go free. When he said it is finished,
all my sins were put away. If you're a believer, I don't
have any doubt that you have sin on your heart. It's been put away. It's gone. You stand before God without
sin because of the lamb slain. Now, when I see the glory and
the completeness of his substitutionary death, that is when God has made
himself known. When did Joseph no longer, was
he no longer able to refrain himself and he made himself known
to his brethren? When he heard Judah make that
statement, let me abide in his stand. This is always the case in Revelation
chapter 12, verse 11, when we read of the accuser of our brethren,
that accuses our brethren day and night. Could he make any accusations
against you which were false? Any accusations he makes, they're worse than he makes in
reality. How did they overcome him? They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. In the time when time is no longer,
heaven, eternity, no more time, what is the song? Worthy is the
Lamb. that was slain. When with the ransomed in glory,
his face at last I shall see, it will be my song through the
ages to sing of his love for me. The heart and the soul of the
gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. That your son. Became our surety. And how we thank you that he
was willing to go to the cross, to glorify
you and magnify you and save us. Lord, as we in obedience to your
command, observe your table and remembrance of you enable us
to truly, joyfully, believingly, Remember that thy son, his broken
body and shed blood is our surety, set us free. We give thanks. We ask that you
would enable us to preach this message everywhere we go. In
Christ's name we pray, amen.