Well, having read from Colossians, so let's now keep our Bibles open, but let's turn back to the book of Genesis, and tonight we're going to look at Genesis chapter 43, and we'll look at, there are 34 verses in chapter 43, and we're going to be looking at all of them. You'll notice we're getting closer and closer to the end of the book of Genesis. We've been in this book for a little while now, but we're getting closer to the end of it. I don't know exactly what's going to come after that, but it will be sometime most likely here in the next handful of weeks or months. Well, last week we looked at chapter 42. We saw that Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt to look for food during this great famine. And we saw that when God providentially confronts us with our sin, as He did with the Joseph's brothers in this situation, and as God tests us to see if we have changed, which is something the Lord does through His providence, we need to respond by repenting, acknowledging our sin, and pursuing new obedience. And so tonight we continue in the story of Joseph. We'll really be in the story of Joseph all the way to the end of the book. And here in chapter 43, we see Joseph's brothers coming back down to Egypt, and this time coming back down with their brother Benjamin, as Joseph said they were supposed to do. So I'm gonna read now the entirety of chapter 43. This is God's perfect word. Now the famine was severe in the land, and it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, Go back, buy us a little food. But Judah spoke to him, saying, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. And Israel said, why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you still had another brother? But they said, the man asked us pointedly about ourselves. and our family, saying, Is your father still alive? Have you another brother? And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, Bring your brother down? Then Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him, for my hand you shall require him. If I did not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned the second time. And their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, then do this. Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also and arise, go back to the man, and may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved. So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand and arose and went down to Egypt. And they stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, take these men to my home and slaughter an animal and make ready. For these men will dine with me at noon. Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, It is because of the money which was returned in our sacks the first time that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us to take us as slaves with our donkeys. When they drew near to the steward of Joseph's house, they talked with him at the door of the house and said, oh sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, but it happened when we came to the encampment that we opened our sacks and there each man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it back in our hand. We have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks. But he said, Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. Then he brought Simeon out to them. So the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys feed. Then they made the present ready for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house and bowed down before him to the earth. Then he asked them about their well-being and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive? And they answered, Your servant, our father, is in good health. He is still alive. And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son. Now his heart yearned for his brother. So Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out. And he restrained himself and said, serve the bread. So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with them by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked in astonishment at one another. Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin's serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him. May God bless this word to all of us tonight as we consider it. Well, as the coronavirus has been causing problems throughout the world of many people, including ourselves, we've been constantly praying about this. We've been praying for the virus to come to an end. We've been praying for protection. We've been praying for God to use the virus and to be at work through the virus. We've been praying also for those who are sick from the virus. This is because, we assume this, but this is because as powerful as this virus may be, we know that God is more powerful. And being great in power, we know that he can do what is humanly impossible. And tonight, as we come into Genesis 43, we learn that not only can God do what is humanly impossible when it comes to viruses and other types of things like that, but we learn here tonight that God can also do what is humanly possible with our sanctification. With our sanctification. And that is, He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, spiritually speaking. He can give us victory over sin. He can make us more and more holy. In a word, He can change us for the better, which is a good thing. And what we'll see tonight as we think of that theme of God changing His people, we'll see tonight that He can change us like Judah. We'll see that He can change us like Jacob. And we're also gonna see that He can change us like Joseph's brothers. And then finally we'll see that He can change us, and He does change us, because of His great love for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we look at these verses, that is the main point we're gonna see, and that by God's grace we will obey and apply to our lives. And that is despite what sins you are struggling with, and you and I, we are struggling with plenty of sins, we need to know that God can change us. It's a simple main point tonight, but it's one that I hope will be written on our hearts that we will firmly believe and that will draw us back time and time again to the Lord in prayer and to the Lord in the means of grace that he would bring about this change in our lives. So again, tonight I want you to see that despite what sins you are struggling with, know that God can change you. And that's true for you, all of you who believe, no matter how old or young you may happen to be. Well, let's get into the text here. I want us to see first that God can change you like Judah. He can change you like Judah. So go back to the beginning of the passage with me, and let's look at verses 1 and 2 one more time. Now the famine was severe in the land, and it came to pass when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, go back, buy us a little food. If you remember from last week, when Joseph sent his brothers back home to Canaan, he said they were to get their youngest brother, Benjamin, and bring him back with them to Egypt. This way, he would know that they were telling the truth, and then he would release Simeon from prison. And so now, as we just read from verse one, now that Jacob wants them to go back to get more food from Egypt, of course, the brothers realize they can't go back unless they have Benjamin with them. Otherwise, we're told they would not be able to see Joseph's face or be able to get any more of the food. And to no surprise, I'm sure to any of you, this is something that Jacob did not want to do initially. We've seen that Benjamin was Jacob's favorite son now that Joseph was gone, and the last thing that Jacob wanted to happen was anything bad to Benjamin. In fact, we're told here, if you look at verse 6, that Jacob felt as if the brothers had wronged him for telling Joseph that there was another brother back at home. So at least initially, it's looking as if Benjamin would not be allowed to go. As Joseph said, he must if they want food and if they want to see Simeon again. And that's when Judah, one of the brothers, stepped up and did something spectacular. And we see it brought out for us here in verses 8 and 9. Then Judah said to Israel his father, send the lad with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. It's really amazing what he says here, isn't it? Knowing they all were going to die of hunger if they did not get more food, and knowing that Benjamin was needed in order for them to get more food, Judas said that he would take full responsibility for his younger brother. He said that he would be surety for him, which is a way of saying that he would bear the guilt entirely upon himself if anything happened to Benjamin. And if you think about it, it's absolutely astounding because it's a drastically different picture from the Judah we've seen in the past, isn't it? We've talked a little bit about this a few weeks ago, but back in chapter 37, you'll remember it was Judah who convinced the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery and to make a profit. What's more, back in chapter 38, we saw the sinfulness of Judah on full display. We saw that he was a man who failed to honor God in his relationships. He was way too close with the Canaanites. He married a Canaanite. He was a bum of a father to his children. We also saw that Judah was a self-seeking man. Instead of giving his youngest son, Sheila, to Tamar as he should have done, he withheld him to keep him safe. And he sinned against her, and he sinned against God, and he disregarded the Lord's covenant purposes in doing so. We also saw in that chapter that Judah was a man who looked for pleasure in the wrong places. He went to a pagan party and slept with a harlot. And he was a hypocrite as well, condemning Tamar for her apparent sins while completely ignoring his own sins. And so in a word, the Judah we've seen in the past in Genesis was a man who was largely self-seeking, who lived for himself, who thought nothing or very little of other people. And yet, here we see that it's Judah of all the brothers who offers to be surety for Benjamin. This little brother who also happened to be his father's favorite, just like Joseph. What's more, we'll see next week that it'll be Judah who will plead for Benjamin's safety and even offer himself as a slave in Benjamin's place. And so we see a very different picture here. And the point we're to get from all of this is that something has happened with Judah. And what has happened with Judah is that God had changed him. And brothers and sisters, the implication we're to see here from Judah's life, as well as from Jacob's life and Joseph's brother's lives, which we'll come back to momentarily, is that if God can do this for them, we need to understand that God can do this for us as well. As you know, as a pastor, one of my responsibilities is to help people deal with their sins and learn how to grow in their faith and obey the Lord. And some of you will know from personal experience that I do this as a fellow sinner, and so I don't make it about myself, but I do try to be open about my own experiences. and what the Lord has done in my life, and the things that I've seen God do in my life, because it's always helpful in my mind for someone to see that if God can bring about change in dealing with this particular struggle in that man's life, well then I know He can do the same in my life as well. And that's what God's communicating to you here, through the change that we see brought out for us in the life of Judah. And so if you're failing as a parent right now, if you're thinking only of yourself, if you're looking for pleasure in the wrong places, if you're even being hypocritical, then you need to know from Judah's example here that God can change you in all of those ways, just as he did with Judah. By His grace, you can grow in honoring the Lord more in your relationships with other people. You can be more self-sacrificing and not self-serving. You can learn to find pleasure in God more than in the sinful things of this life. Instead of living for yourself, you can learn to live more and more for God and for other people. Because that's what we see here God did for Judah. Here God again is telling us this is what he can do for us. So that's the first thing I want you to see here. God changed Judah, and God can change you in all the same ways that he changed Judah. But that's not it, because then as we see secondly on the outline, and as we progress through the passage, we're told that God can also change you like Jacob. Like Jacob. We've already mentioned this briefly, but let's consider Jacob's attitude towards Benjamin. As we saw last week, when the brothers first went to Egypt, Jacob would not let Benjamin go lest anything happen to him along the way. He kept his favorite son safe and protected him and tried to preserve him. And then when the brothers later returned from Egypt and told their father how the man wanted Benjamin to go back, Jacob responded with grief. We saw this last week. He felt like the world was out to get him, that things could not get any worse as a result of this. Then, as we've seen briefly in our passage this evening, when the brothers would not go back to Egypt without Benjamin, Jacob got angry with him. Jacob felt like they had wronged him and he accused them of doing so. And what's more, it seems that Jacob waited longer than he should have to send them back to get more food. Again, because he wanted to keep Benjamin safe. If you look at verse 10, Judah says there in verse 10, for if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time. Which is pretty interesting. Even though Simeon's been in jail and prison all of that time, Jacob lingered. Why? Because regardless of what was going on with Simeon, Jacob did not want to lose Benjamin. So what are we told here about Jacob? What we're told here is that Jacob was a man who wanted to be in control. Jacob was a man who did not want to trust God. Instead, he took great pains to bring about his own will, and he did so even at the expense of other people. Not only that, he was willing to sin against God and other people, his own family, in fact, in order to protect what he valued most. Now, trust I don't have to explain to you that that was all very wicked of Jacob. It was idolatry, in fact. Not to mention it was selfish and prideful. And if we're honest with ourselves, we're just like Jacob in a lot of these same ways today, aren't we? In all seriousness, how many times this week did you get mad because things did not go your way? How many times did you get impatient because someone or something was too slow? How many times did you worry when something was out of your control? How many times did you sin in order to get what you wanted? If you're like most people, it probably happened numerous times. Because like Jacob, we tend to think that we are God, that life should go according to our plan and that we should be able to have what we want when we want it. That's our simple nature right there. And so instead of trusting God and submitting to His will, as we talked about this morning, we tend to take matters into our own hands in order to get our own way. And so we get angry, we worry, we sin all to get what we want. Because, truth be told, we are idolaters just as much as Jacob was. We don't worship God like we should. Instead, we have other gods that we worship before Him every single day. Namely, we worship ourselves. And yet, What do we see here in chapter 43 with Jacob? As the text goes on, we see that God also changed Jacob. And of course, by implication, we're to learn that God can change us as well. Now look at verses 11 and 12. And their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, then do this. Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. And then it goes on from there, verse 13, take your brother also and arise, go back to the man, verse 14, and may God Almighty give you mercy before the man. So realizing the family needed food, and they wouldn't be able to go without Benjamin, Jacob finally gave in. He first gave them some fatherly advice. He said, if you're gonna go back, and it seems that you've done something wrong, at least in the eyes of this man in Egypt, then you need to take gifts with you, and you need to take double money back with you as well. This way you could pacify the man's wrath, and this way you would be able to buy us more food. Not only that, he finally says, and Benjamin can go with you. We saw that in verse 13. And then finally, I think even most importantly, he sends them off with a prayer in verse 14. According to J.G. Voss, These words in the prayer of verse 14 are not to be regarded as a grumbling complaint, nor as an expression of doubt, but rather as an act of humble submission to the will of God in true faith. In other words, here we see that Jacob had changed. Jacob in these verses, verses 11 to 14, is revealing to us that he's no longer trying to fight for control, but Jacob now has relinquished control. He did exactly what we looked at this morning in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And that is, instead of insisting on his own will, he submitted to God's will. And I think strikingly here, he did this not in despair, not in desperation, not even in resignation, but he did this in true faith in God. And that's why I think the prayer is so important. Because if you look again at verse 14, at this short prayer that's recorded for us here, how did he refer to God? He referred to him as God Almighty. And if you remember, it was God Almighty who appeared to Jacob earlier in Bethel, where the Lord had made promises to Jacob and said to him, Jacob, I will be with you. I will bless you. I will keep you. I will protect you. I will do all of these things for you. And that is the telling part that shows us Jacob has changed. And so while he once fought hard to protect his sovereignty and his will, here we see that Jacob is submitting to God's sovereignty and God's will. Jacob has come back to his senses and Jacob has realized that God has made promises to him. And even though he does not feel like trusting God to keep those promises, he will do so. because God Almighty has revealed these promises to him. And it's interesting, we see change expressed here in Jacob's life in other ways as well. If you look again at verse 13, Jacob referred to Benjamin as your brother instead of my son, which is what he had been doing in the past, such as in chapter 42. He's also called by the name of Israel here in chapter 43. That's his new name that was given to him by God, whereas he was referred to as Jacob in chapter 42, his old name that reflected his old character. Because, and again, this is the point to see, Jacob had been changed by God. He's no longer the idolatrous control freak, but now he is the submissive and faithful man of God. And brothers and sisters, the same can be true for you as well. Over the last couple of weeks, my daughter has been learning to walk. At first, it was barely a step. Then after that, it was a couple of steps. And she still is not fully walking, but she's making progress there. Because she's been trying hard, and as she's been trying hard, God has been developing her through it. And the same is true with sanctification. You may be struggling a lot with self-focus and on getting what you want right now. You may be struggling with not getting what you want right now. That doesn't mean you'll always be that way. As you keep trying to submit to God, which He requires of you, God is at work to develop you, to strengthen you, and to grow you. And so you can become one who lives this out, this faith in this submission to the Lord, where you entrust yourself entirely to Him. This is the change that God brought about in Jacob's life. This is the change that God can bring about in your life as well. Well, I trust you're catching on to the theme here. And so as we come to our third point of the outline, I also want you to see that God can change you like Joseph's brothers. Look with me at verse 15. So the men took that present and Benjamin and they took double money in their hand and a rose and went down to Egypt and they stood before Joseph. And as the text goes on, immediately then they were taken into Joseph's house, and they thought this meant that they were in trouble, but as Joseph explained to his steward, they were actually there to have a feast with Joseph. Remember, they don't know that this is Joseph yet, but Joseph's been waiting many years to be reunited with them, and he apparently wanted to celebrate the occasion with them. And so while they're waiting for Joseph to arrive, we're told that the brothers then tried to tell their side of the story to the steward, hoping, of course, that it would give them a favor with the man. And the steward actually alleviated their fears, because they thought they were in trouble for not paying the money, that they were thieves in Joseph's mind. And yet the steward said, no, I've received your money. Now it's possible the steward was just lying to make them feel better, but I think it's also equally as possible that he was telling the truth. That he really had received his money, not because the brothers had given it to them, but because Joseph had paid it for them. So that Egypt would not be ripped off, but also his brothers would be taken care of. But it's interesting, if you look at the text here, not only are their fears alleviated by the steward and what he said to them, but then we're told that they were given great treatment as they were in Joseph's house waiting for Joseph to arrive. So water was brought to them so that they could wash their feet, food was brought for their animals to eat, Then, when Joseph finally arrives, things get even better, because Joseph's not angry when he walks into the room, which I think they probably were expecting, but he's not angry with them, instead he asks them about their father, and about their brother Benjamin, and then they begin this feast. So it looked like they were in trouble, but here they are, feasting with Joseph, and look at how the chapter ends. It talks about the portion sizes. that were given to the brothers at the feast. And if you look at verse 34, Benjamin received five times more than the others. Now you can imagine this, being at a table and so forth, that this would have been obvious to everybody at the table. So everybody at the table got one steak. Here's Benjamin, he's got five steaks on his plate. Everybody would have been able to see that this is what was going on. And remember, they're living in a severe famine. And so undoubtedly, the brothers, as they saw Benjamin got five times as much food as they had, they would have wanted what their brother had. And that leads us to ask the question, what's Joseph doing here? Why do we care that he gave him five times as much? Why did he give him five times as much? Well, you might be able to guess. It's because Joseph was putting them through another test. And you see now that Benjamin was the favorite son, Joseph wanted to know. were his brothers the same hateful, envious people he always knew them to be. In other words, he wanted to see, are you going to envy Benjamin now that he's been given more food than you have? Just as you envied me in the past. Because remember, according to Genesis 37 verse 11, the reason the brothers sold him into slavery is because they were envious of him. And the extra portions on Benjamin's plate would reveal that they also envied Benjamin. Well, as we see in the final part of verse 34, the brothers passed the test. Moses says, so they drank and were merry with them. That is, even though their brother, the father's favorite, the one who had been favored again, receiving five times as much food, they all, despite those things, enjoyed the feast together. In other words, Jacob's prayer had been answered. The brothers received mercy at the hands of the man in Egypt, and not only had they received mercy from Joseph, they had received it from God. Because here we see that change was taking place in their lives as well. Instead of being the envious, hateful men they once were, now they were the kinds of men who could happily enjoy a feast with someone who had been favored over them. Now they were loving others, even protective of others, as we saw with Judah. Now they could be happy about the blessings enjoyed by others. Why? Because the Lord had transformed them. And again, that's what we're to see. This is what God can do for us as well in Jesus Christ. Whenever you have kids at a dinner table, inevitably at times there will be a discussion about the portion sizes on each of the kids' plates, especially if it's time for dessert. Kids have, it seems, an uncanny ability to know who has more on their plate of the good stuff than they do. And of course, as you know, whenever a child sees this, especially if it's something they really want, envy is soon to follow, wishing that their brother or whoever it is didn't have what they wanted to have. And if we're honest, we all can be like that at times, can't we? It may not be with food, but even as adults, we can be envious. over houses, over cars, promotions, paychecks, children, the things we get to do in life, vacations or lack thereof, we can easily become envious of other people because they have what we wish we had, but what we don't have. And yet here we're to see just as the Lord changed Joseph's envious brothers, he can change us as well. Instead of being angry that others have what you don't have, you can learn to rejoice with them and be content with what God has given you. You can learn to love and support other people who have the things you wish you had. That's hard for us. It's very hard for us. But God can bring that to pass in us. And so we see here then that God can change us like Judah, like Jacob, and like Joseph's brothers. And we have to understand that doesn't mean that the change will be perfect. This side of heaven certainly wasn't for these men. They undoubtedly still struggled, and we may struggle as well. But what it means is that we can have real and lasting change in us. And as we come to our fourth and final point on the outline, I want you to see that God often uses outward pressure and his love to bring about this change in us. And so having seen that God changed these men, I want us to finish by seeing how God changed these men. And the first of the two significant ways brought out for us here is that God brought about change by using outward pressures. So for one, he used the outward pressure of famine. Remember, this is one of the main reasons Judah was willing to be surety for his brother, as well as one of the main reasons why Jacob was willing to let Benjamin go to Egypt. It was because there was a famine in the land. And unless they were going to starve to death, which they didn't want to happen, these are the things that needed to be done. God also used the outward pressure of Joseph's policy. If the men were ever to buy food again, not to mention see Simeon again, they had to bring Benjamin with them to Egypt. And just as it was with the famine, this decree on the part of Joseph worked to loosen Jacob's grip on his favored son. As we've seen, he eventually realized that though it was scary and he would have to trust God, Benjamin needed to go. We also see that God used the outward pressure of relational strife to work this change in them. Jacob wanted the brothers to go back to get more food without Benjamin. Judah and the brothers said, we're not going anywhere without Benjamin. And undoubtedly, through that conflict that took place there, God brought about growth in Jacob as it pertained to Benjamin. And then finally we see that God used the outward pressure of His all-knowing presence. We've seen in the past when the brothers found money in their sacks as they were heading back home from their first trip to Egypt, they knew that God was aware of their sin. And we see a bit of something like that here in our passage as well in the seating arrangement that Joseph gave to the brothers at the table. If you look here at the passage in verse 33, we're told that Joseph sat them in their birth order, which no one would have been able to know their birth order except for the Lord. So in outward pressure, God worked to bring about change in their lives. And we have to understand, God also works the same way today. Or God may use lack or the loss of something or someone to work this change in you. He may use the decisions of your employer or your professor. He can use arguments and conflicts. He can do something in your life to remind you of his all-knowing presence. Of course, this is what he's doing in the coronavirus right now. He's bringing outward pressure onto our lives to bring about Christian growth and change in our lives. This is often how God works. It's not the only way He works to bring about change, but we should not be surprised when we experience this pressure, because it is one of the main worries that He works to bring about change. Paul says in Romans 5, verses 3 and 4, and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. So God will use outward pressure to change you. And then second, God will use His love to change you. As we've seen, though the brothers were scared when they arrived at Joseph's house, they were treated kindly and generously. They were given a word of peace. They were given water to wash their feet. Simeon was brought out of prison to join them. And of course, they were treated to a wonderful feast by the man who they thought was going to punish them. And to be sure, even though they had not stolen anything from Egypt, the brothers didn't deserve any of this. It was completely uncalled for, hence their surprise and fear when it was first made known to them. As we all can understand, a Hebrew man would never be brought into the palace of the Egyptian prime minister, and certainly would never be treated the way that the brothers were treated by Joseph. This was mercy. As Jacob had prayed for, this was love. This was grace, and undoubtedly as the outward pressures worked to bring this change about in their lives, the love of Joseph would have as well. It would have softened their hearts even more. Brothers and sisters, it's also the love of God for you that will work to bring about such change in you. Paul also says in Romans 2 verse 4, Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? That's true for believers and unbelievers alike. If you're outside of Christ this evening and you don't know God, the goodness and kindness of God to you should lead you to know Him and to trust in Him. And if you are already a believer in Christ tonight, the goodness of God should do the same thing. It should lead you to repent. As you think of God's common grace, such as your health, the world you live in, the family you have, and so forth, that should lead you to repent and to change. Most of all, as you consider His special grace, that's what should happen. Knowing you're forgiven of your sins, knowing you have been delivered from evil, that should drive you to forsake your sins. As Jesus once said, he who is forgiven much loves much. And so the more you apprehend the love and grace of God for you, the more you will hate your sin and strive to live in obedience. And so if we are to change, then not only should we welcome and learn from outward circumstances, we should also seek to know and appreciate God's love for us all the more. And in particular, we should meditate on the Gospel all the more. And let the wonderful truths of the Gospel fill our hearts and minds, because the ultimate reason any of us can be changed is the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. As Paul says in Romans 5, verse 8, but God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see, just as Judah offered to take full responsibility for Benjamin, Jesus Christ did the same for His people. In order to save us from our sins, He took the blame for our sins entirely upon Himself on the cross. He died so that we could be forgiven and so that we would be holy. As Paul says in Titus 2.14, Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people who are zealous for good works. And so that's ultimately why any of us can be changed and live in obedience. It's because Christ took responsibility for our salvation. And he accomplished it by dying on the cross for us. And so as I said earlier, We pray to God during this coronavirus pandemic because we know that God is greater. And friends, as we think of our own struggles with sin, we also need to know God is greater. God can change us in all of these same ways as he works through his grace and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So know whatever you're struggling with, if you know Christ, He can change you. And may He all, may He change all of us. Let's pray. Lord, tonight we pray for change. We pray that you'd help us to believe this truth, and we pray that we would see it lived out in our lives even this week. Lord, transform us, we pray. In Christ's name, amen.