Genesis 44, and it's a chapter where Joseph brings all the tests to their conclusion, the great consummation of this moment that will lead to genuine reconciliation. And like King Solomon, Joseph will show himself to be a very wise man in how he handles other individuals. And some have called this a master stroke of wisdom, how Joseph just spoke to these boys and brought them carefully, prudently, patiently to the place of repentance. These tests that he has put in place for his brothers, is not to humiliate them, it's not even to get revenge on them or hurt them for the sake of hurting them, but it has one object and one object only, to bring them to the foot of the cross, where these brothers of Joseph will say, we're guilty. We've sinned against the Lord. And in this chapter, you're going to see it, especially when Judah will speak for all of them. and confess that God has uncovered their sins of the past. It says in verse one, and he commanded, this is Joseph, now notice it's he's speaking here, he's planned this, he's prepared this, he's initiating this final great test, final great confrontation between him and these 10 brothers. And he commanded the steward of his house saying, fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. When they were gone out of the city and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men. When thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh? Whereby ye indeed he divineth, yet ye have done evil in so doing. And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing. Behold the money which we found in our sack's mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever? of thy servants it be found. Both let him die. We also will be my Lord's bondsmen. And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words. He with whom it is found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless. Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes, and laid it every man his ass, and returned to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? What, or know ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? And Judah said, What shall we say unto my Lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are thy Lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found. And he 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 you up in peace unto your father.' Then Judah came near unto him, and said, O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ear, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father or a brother? And we said unto my Lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. And thou saidest unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my Lord, The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass, when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, 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. And thy servant, my father, said unto us, ye know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me. And I said, surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from me and mischief before him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. 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, it shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. and thy servants will bring down the grey 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 for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of a lad, a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me? Lest perventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. Amen, and God will bless the reading of his word. Now, when these 11 brothers left Joseph's house that morning, early in the morning, Bible says when it was light, No doubt, they were feeling very confident, very relieved, maybe joyful, the thought of getting home, bringing the food to save the lives of their families and the business. Thankful that no other evil had come upon them compared to their previous visit. And as they came to the edge of the boundaries of the city that Joseph lived in, probably they were having a great sigh of relief. They may even have said, thank God, we've made it and we'll be soon home in just a few weeks. Benjamin's with them safely. Simeon is with them. Their bags are full of food and nothing has befallen them. And you can be sure they're about to discover just how quickly you can think that everything is going well and God can turn your world upside down in just a moment. Joseph sends this steward with this very specific instruction. what to do and what to say. Because Joseph had thought through the test, the last great test that he was going to bring his brothers to. Because Joseph knew that if he gave them the opportunity to give up Benjamin, the last son of Rachel, and they were willing to give up Benjamin, they were willing to hurt their father again, Then Joseph knew they hadn't truly changed. They hadn't truly repented of what they had done in the past. So this is a very clever and a very skillful test. It's really going to test their integrity, their loyalty, especially Judah, his promises to his father. It's going to test all those things. Their love for old Jacob. It's going to test that. And this steward carried out the instructions, and when he overtakes him in verse six, notice how they speak to him. They said, verse seven, wherefore saith my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to the sign. They said, they'd almost sense of, there's no way this could ever happen. We are honest men. They even invoke God's name. And then they began to plead their own honesty in the past. He says in verse 8, the money which we found in our sacks most. Remember the last time we were down and we found the money in our sacks, we brought the money back. We are men of integrity. There's evidence that we are honest men. He says, how then should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver gold? He says, why would we steal silver? We're not people who behave that way. And then they go on to say this in verse nine. He says, whomsoever, so confident are they of their innocency and their integrity in this matter, that they go much further than what would be required for stealing or one of them to steal something. They said, if anything is found in our possessions, that do not belong to us, the individual who the stolen possession is found, let him die. Not just go to prison, not just become a slave, let him die. And it says, and the rest of us will be slaves, bondsmen. These are very confident, aren't they? They're very sure of themselves. But you know, when a person is very, very sure of himself, God can make you very unsure, because what's going to happen in the next few verses? It says, and the chief steward says, now also let it be according to your words. You've spoken. You've taken an oath here. He says, let it be. Whatever you've said, let it come to pass. He says, he with whom it is found shall be my servant and ye shall be... He says, my master, Joseph he's speaking of, what he requires is only the one that's guilty. The rest are free to go. And so confident are they still that, look what happens in verse 11. It says, then they speedily, quickly, they're still really confident. Let's get this sorted. They take all these sacks down and they began to open them. And then the steward of Joseph began to search and he starts with Rubens, the oldest, then Levi and Simeon and then Judah, number four. And all the way down and as each sack is checked, verified, declared, No thing to blame. No problem. You can see them taking a sigh of relief. There's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. But there's one left. And suddenly the tension starts to ratchet up again. Because the one that's left is Benjamin. And if anybody they don't want anything to happen to, it's Benjamin. And as they begin to open Benjamin's sack, suddenly we're told the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Can you imagine the shock? Can you imagine the silence? And there's nothing they can say. Because by their own words they said, let us, there's no way, we wouldn't have done this. We are men of integrity and honesty. In fact, if anybody's found, let them die. They opened their sacks in front of this man. It's all done openly, transparently. There's no way they can plead. He'd slipped in the cup behind their backs. They're all watching. And all the power lies with this steward. They're in Egyptian territory. and the cups found in Benjamin's. Now what will be their reaction? Because now Joseph has given them a golden opportunity to get rid of the last son of Rachel, to do to Benjamin what they did to him, sell him into slavery. And this time they can tell their father, we had nothing to do with it. So this is going to be a great test. What will their reaction be? And you know, God knows how to get our attention when we don't want him to get our attention. God knows how to uncover the past when we try to cover it up. And sooner or later, every one of us will find a silver cup in the wrong place. that God has brought to light if we try to cover it up. And these men who were so confident, in fact, they were looking for justice. They're not gonna be looking for justice now, they're gonna have to look for mercy. They're gonna have to plead for mercy. And we're told their first reaction, verse 13, they rent their clothes. This is a sign I explained to you before, the Jews still do it to this day, of grief. They're very emotive people, Middle Easterners. You see that in Syria, when this Assad guy got the boot, those who are happy, they're on the streets, aren't they? And they're celebrating. And the Jews are the same. Today, even a Jew, if he lived in Lorne, if his father died or some tragedy came, he would take his shirt and he would cut the ends of it with the scissors, and he would cut the collar of his shirt, and he would go into work with the ends cut. And people would say, well, why are you doing that? To show my respect, the fact that I'm mourning the loss of a loved one. Can't go into shirt with a shirt torn off him. But that's how the Jews do it in Western societies today. They get scissors and they cut the ends of their shirts. And then they refuse to go. If there's a Passover meal or a special festival, they won't participate. They won't eat to demonstrate their mourning over the loss. And these sons of Jacob, they're really heartbroken. And you notice there's no scheming. These are boys who have lived their lives by lies and deception, fancy words, bluffing, but now they're just silent. God has silenced them. And now they have to face the music, and they don't know what to say, and they don't know what to do. We're told they came into the house of Joseph, and when they saw Joseph, verse 14 says, they fell down on their face, utterly humiliated, utterly brought low. And Joseph speaks to them. Verse 15, he says, what deed is this that ye have done? What have ye done? Do you know that such a man as I can divide? I have power, he says, I'm prime minister. I have life and death in my hand. You would steal from me? But notice who speaks in verse 16. And Judah said, now, if you know the history of Judah, you know it was Judah that sold Joseph into slavery. He was the one that came up with the idea. And if you read chapters back in the book of Genesis, you'll discover that Judah was a very immoral individual. Was a man who did what he liked and took what he liked whenever it suited him. Man of the world, a man of the flesh. Very far from a child of God. But for the first time, Judah is now becoming a man of God. And you have to ask the question, where's Reuben? He's the eldest. Why is he not talking? Where's brother number two, Levi and Simeon? Why are they not talking? Why is it down to the number four in the family? And the father of the royal tribe, because that's who Judah is. We'll discover that in Genesis 49. We'll talk about it on Sunday morning when we look at the Jewish history of the Lord Jesus Christ as we think about the Christmas season. Judah, the fourth son, was chosen to be the royal tribe, out of sync with the order of the family. God chose Judah. And Judah here is going to demonstrate one of the reasons why God chose this man. Because of all the brothers, he showed the greatest courage. He showed the greatest integrity. He showed the greatest loyalty. He showed the greatest fidelity to his father and the feelings of his father. And Judas speaks and he says, what shall we say now unto my Lord? He says, there's really nothing we could say. He says, what shall we speak? You can tell he just speaks, he's almost like saying, we just don't know what to say. He says, for how shall we clear ourselves? And then he makes this great statement, which shows that everything has now changed in the hearts of these brothers, particularly in the heart of Judah. Because he says, God has found out the iniquity of thy servant. Now he's not speaking about the cup, is he? Because by their own logic, only Benjamin's sack was the one that the cup was found in. But notice Judah says, God has found out ours, the servants, all of us, what we've done in the past. Now, as we've been going through this incident, if you remember, Reuben was the one who spoke out against him in chapter 42. And Reuben was the one who said, do you not sin against the child? Speak I not unto you, Genesis 42 verse 22. Sin against the child and you would not hear. Therefore behold, also his blood is required. Now Reuben was the one who said, There were sin in the past. The others had thought it, but this is the first time one of the brothers has invoked God's name and confessed on behalf of all the 10 of them, not Benjamin, but on behalf of the 10 of them, that God has brought their sin to light in what they have done in the past. And what a statement he makes when a person comes like that in a very public way. Now, by the way, they don't know Joseph's Joseph. They don't know Joseph's a believer in Jehovah. He's invoked God's name a few times, but as far as they know, he's a pagan Egyptian. And here is Judah speaking about the judgment of God on their sins. And he says, God hath founded, behold, we are thy servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And Joseph speaks a second time, verse 17. So after 22 years, maybe they've convinced themselves that God has overlooked their sin or God has forgotten their sin. They're now admitting it's unconquered. Joseph says in verse 17, 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 you up unto peace unto your father. Now what's Joseph doing there? He's giving them a second chance to walk away. He's giving any of the 10 an opportunity to say to Judah, well, you've made the big statement, you take the heat. And Benjamin, he sorted out, but he said, we can go, we can go. And of course, a repeated offer like that, even Judah might be tempted to say, well, I've made the offer. I've been rejected. Well, Benjamin has to take the medicine. That's all there is to it. Anyway, he should have checked his own sack. It's not my problem anymore. So this is going to really test how sincere and how deep is their loyalty to Benjamin and particularly their love for their father and the consequences of losing Benjamin would be for their father. So how will Judah respond? Verse 18, then Judah came near unto him. You get a sense Judas, maybe he doesn't want the others to hear. Maybe he doesn't want the elders to stop him. Or maybe he's just trying to get as close as he can to make this more personal. I don't know. Maybe a combination of things. And Judah comes near, and he's so respectful. 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 a Pharaoh. And then he begins to speak of his father. And he describes his father in a pitiful, gentle way. He says, verse 20, we have a father, an old man. He's an old man. And a child of his old age, a little one. And his brother is dead. And he alone is left of his mother and his father loveth him. He says the mother's dead, the brother's dead, and he's the only one left. And he tells the story of the exchange that went on when they were back in Canaan. And he says, It came to pass when my father, we told him the words, and he said, go down in the middle of it, and we had to tell him no. Then he says, my father reminded us, verse 27, you know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him, that's not sense, and if you take this also from me, a mischief shall befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. So he sets the scene. And he gives all the facts. And he makes as good a case as he can for the suffering of Jacob and what he's gone through. And now this is the first time any of these boys have showed any respect for their father, have showed any care for him. They're not young men anymore. Some of them are grandfathers themselves. But for decades, they have lied and cheated and taken advantage of their father. And even when they saw him in great grief over the loss of Joseph, they hardened their hearts, moved on. And never once did any of them try to go and find Joseph. And Judah Heath says here, He's lost so much. And we have to say, in this final test, Judah is going to rise head and shoulders above all his brothers. If ever there was a picture of royalty, leadership, you're gonna see it here. And the wonderful thing is, Here's a man that, humanly speaking, if you had seen him up to this point in his life, you'd have said there's no hope for him. You'd said he's so far gone in sin. He's told so many lies. He's been involved in so much deception and immorality. There is no way this man could ever be a man of God, ever be a role model. But you see, God's grace can do amazing things. can take the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives, the Saul of Tarsus can become Paul the Apostle. Not over 50 years, but in a moment of time. He who the Son sets free is what? Free indeed. A new creature in Christ Jesus. And here Judah rises above his past, and all the failures, and all the lies, and all the deception, and all the hatred that governed his lusts and his decisions for all those years. And now there's a completely different man speaking. And then he finishes by saying this, Verse 30, now, therefore, and anytime you see that expression, it means there's a conclusion that he's drawing from what he's just said. In light of what I've just said about my father, in light of what I've said about the feelings of my father and the losses he's gone through, therefore, here's the conclusion that I'm going to bring here. He says, When I come to my father, the lad is not with us. 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, he will die." He says, it'll be the last straw. It'll kill him. And he says, verse 32, your servant, thy servant became surety unto my father. And then he comes to a second conclusion, verse 33. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad. I'll be the substitute. I'll take the place of Benjamin. I'll give my life for his life. And Joseph knows having been a slave himself, and Judah having sold him into slavery, that this is a big statement. You can see Judah's past now is all at the forefront of Judah's mind. I sold Joseph into slavery, and now I'm willing to go pay the price. God's uncovered the sin, and now I want to go and die for Benjamin, so that my father is not hurt again the same way he was hurt the first time. And you can see that Judah is truly repentant, isn't he? It's not just sorry for what has happened. It's not just regret. You hear that a lot. I regret what's happened. No, this man's gone far beyond regret. He's repented. And so much and so deep is the repentance that he's willing to make restitution by taking Benjamin's place. and selling himself into a life of slavery for the rest of his days. That's some offer. That's some statement. Martin Luther, when he wrote a comment on this section, he said, it was the perfect model of prayer. It revealed a new judaism. has emerged in this situation—humble, simple, honest, respectful, sacrificial, repentant. And the cocky Judah of Genesis 38 has become a man of humility. and a man of grace. This was the man who closed his heart to the sufferings of his father for 22 years. This was the man who sold his brother into slavery, who led his other brothers into the decision. And now he says, I'm willing to die. I'm willing to pay. I'm willing to sacrifice. And his last words in verse 34 is so full of emotion, so full of love for Jacob. He says, how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that should come on earth? He says, I'd rather die than see my father hurt again. What a change God has wrought in the heart of this man, Judah. You know, in Genesis 49, when Jacob was thinking about Judah before he died, well, let's turn to it, Genesis 49, where this would close. Notice his description of Judah, verse eight of Genesis 49. And he goes through all the sons, one by one. Starts with Reuben, verse three. And he says of Reuben, unstable as water, my firstborn. So it was a great regret in old Jacob. He says, you were my firstborn. You should have been the next patriarch. But he says, you don't have the character. You're unstable. The Reubenites were always a weak tribe in the nation of Israel. And then he comes to number two and three sons, verse five. Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty. And Jacob says, verse seven, cursed be their anger. There's not much good he can say about them. But then he comes to son number four, verse eight, Judah. And Judah had let him down. In many ways, you could say Judah had inflicted the greatest blow on Jacob, because it was Judah who sold Joseph. He inspired and led the other brothers to the sale of Joseph into Egypt. Yet old Jacob could see a great change had happened in Judah. And he says, thou art he. whom his thy brethren shall praise. You know, the name Judah is a Hebrew word that means to give praise to God. So play on words here. He says, you're Judah, the one who brings praise to God, and your brothers will praise you because you brought praise on to God. And he goes on to say of Judah, thy hand shall be on the hand of the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Just as you sacrifice for all the rest, God's going to honor you by all the rest bowing down to you. Even Joseph's descendants will bow before the descendants of Judah, because who will emerge as Israel's greatest king David. Which tribe is he from? Judah. And of course, you can trace the royal line from David down the centuries to back to Bethlehem. We're at the Christmas season, and David's greatest son, David's greater son, will emerge the Lord Jesus Christ, and every son of Jacob will bow the knee to him, the King of kings and the Lord of lords." Judah honored God that day, and God has honored him century after century. Don't say, when you look at your relatives and your neighbors. Don't say, as you look around Lorne tonight, that it's too far gone. I'm sure Jacob thought that of Judah for many, many decades. That this boy, his fourth son, that there was no hope for, that he was incorrigible, he couldn't be changed. But here we discover in Genesis 44, who changed Judah? Wasn't Judah. Wasn't even Joseph. But who was the one who changed Judah? By his own words, Genesis 44, he says, God hath uncovered my iniquity, my sins. And Judah's appeal to Joseph that day is encouraging to us because it shows you and I that change is possible in the vilest of sinners. And we're at a prayer meeting tonight, and there's many in this room who have unsafe sons and daughters, grandsons, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. Some even here have unsafe siblings. Some even have unsaved parents, or even grandparents. And you say, well, how could they possibly be saved? Well, how could Judah ever be saved? Having lived the life he lived. You can't change them, just as Joseph couldn't change Judah. But there is one person who can change them. God can change them. Let us pray. Father, we thank you. for this wonderful story, a story that has us hanging on the edge as the scenes change so rapidly and the tension goes up and down. But through it all, we see the finger of God, the hand of God at work in the family of Jacob. God is working in old Jacob. He's working through Joseph. and he's working in all the hearts and the minds of the sons of Jacob. And most of all, what a change God made in the life of Judah. How we bless you for what grace can do to the most unlikely of converts. May it encourage us as we go to prayer this evening to say, I want to pray for my loved one. He may have done what Judah has done, but the same God that saved Judah can save him or her. For we ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.