If you would please turn with me in the written word of God to Genesis chapter 43. Little by little, our study of Genesis is winding down. God willing, when we get through with it, whatever month that is, we will be looking at Philippians in this epistle of joy, which I think, during the midst of a COVID virus, is a perfect place to go, learning to be content in whatever circumstances God is putting us in. And then, God willing, after that, we want to begin thinking through the life of Christ together from the Gospel of John. We are in Genesis 43 this morning. and read all 34 verses of this chapter. 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 with me so wrongfully, 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. 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. 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 the present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand and rose 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 our 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, O 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, and 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 he 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. 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 went there. 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 him 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 married with him." Let's pray. Father, without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will not be better for having heard your word preached. Father, forgive me and cleanse me from every sin of my heart that would grieve your spirit and keep you from speaking to your people. And Father, in your people's hearts, cleanse away their sins too, that they may have ears to hear your truth. Lord, let us not hear the word and walk away unchanged, but rather, Lord, change us, transform us, convict us, but also comfort us. Some don't need conviction, some need encouragement and comfort. And Lord, I pray that you'll give them what they need. Others need to be reproved, and I pray, Lord, that you'll give them reproof where they need it. And for those who are outside of Christ, whether people be far away from the kingdom or whether they have drawn near to the kingdom but have not yet entered in, we pray, Lord, that you will minister to them as well and draw them to yourself. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. God in his providence has reunited Joseph with his 10 oldest brothers. He recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. And though 20 years earlier they had sworn to Joseph, you will never rule over us, we will never bow down to you, they come to him and without even knowing who it is, they fall upon their face and they bow down in front of him prostrate. Because what God prophesies to happen will always take place. Man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. And when God has decreed something to happen, men and devils can resist it, murmur against it all they want to, but it isn't going to stop it from happening. Have you ever noticed when you read the gospel accounts, you get to the place where two days before Jesus was betrayed, he says to his apostles, go and prepare a place, for the Son of Man will be betrayed and crucified during the Passover. If you'll notice, just a couple of verses later, the text then tells us that the Sanhedrin gets together, the rulers of the Jews, and they say, we're going to arrest him, but not during the feast. But it is interesting, despite the fact that the men planned not to arrest Him during the feast, that's exactly when they arrested Him, because that's what God had prophesied. The point being, the forces of evil were not the ones who were in control. God the Father had the destiny of His Son in His hand, and the truth is, He has your destiny in His hand too. You realize that whatever God has decreed for you will take place. that He knows beforehand the days you're going to live, and the boundaries of your habitation, where you're going to live, and all of that has already been written in His book. And it's going to happen just as He said. And if you're in Christ, that's the best of good news. Because everything He's ordained for you is going to prove to be profitable for your happiness. Not necessarily your short-term happiness, not necessarily in the immediacy, but ultimately, for God to make you more conformed to the image of his Son is to make you happy. because there's no other way to be happy than to be holy. And that is exactly what God has ordained in our lives. It's a great comfort, isn't it? No matter what you're facing, God is using it for your good and not for your harm. But we saw last week that Joseph is using the cloak of anonymity to test his brothers. Twenty years earlier, when they had sold him into slavery, they threw a big party. They showed no remorse whatsoever. And he wants to see, are they remorseful? And ultimately, are they repentant? And so, he speaks harshly to them. And he accuses them of being spies. Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Have you come in here to be spies and to spy out the land? And they say, we're not spies. We don't belong to a militia. We belong to a family. And he says, no, surely you are spies. He's testing them. And then they insist, we are honest men. by which they perjured themselves. They were not honest men. We know that from the rest of Scripture. Joseph knew their character. And so he puts them to the test. He throws them in prison for three days to let them rethink their life and think about things. But through it all, what he's testing is to see, do they really have any remorse over the sin that they committed against me? And behind it all, as I told you last week, behind the harshness, I believe there was beating a compassionate heart. Because the truth is, Joseph had the authority as the second highest ruler in all of Egypt, and by that, the second most powerful man in all the world. He could have ordered these men to be tortured and then beheaded. What restraint he is using, if his heart was set on vengeance, he could have done it, but he doesn't do that. As a matter of fact, he comforts them after three days in prison and comes to them and lets them go. And he says, I fear God. And that had to relieve their anxiety somewhat because he's saying, I recognize that I will give an account to the Lord for what I do to you. Here was a man fearing God in the place they least expected it. And then he says, let's do this. Let's keep Simeon in prison. The other nine of you go home. Bring Benjamin back with you. And when you bring him back, then I'll know you're honest and true men." So that's the test, and when they are sent away, he shows further compassion to them in this way. Not only does he give them the grain that they need, he gives them all their money back, has it put in by stealth back into their sacks. He doesn't charge them for all the grain to feed a very large family. And furthermore, he gives them provisions even for the journey. So it's not just the food for when they get home, it's the provisions on the way, something they had not asked for. But his testing is not yet over because he did pick up they are remorseful. Because remember, Joseph is not speaking to them in Hebrew. He's speaking through an interpreter. He's speaking Egyptian to keep up the illusion that he doesn't know who they are. And so they don't know that he knows what they're saying. So they're speaking to each other in Hebrew, and he's hearing everything they're saying. And they say, the reason all this has come upon us is because we are truly guilty of what we did to our brother. And his facade begins to crack. He has to run out and weep and compose himself, wipe away his tears, come back in and keep his composure. because his heart's breaking over this. But why hasn't he revealed himself yet? Why is he going to do some more testing in the next couple of chapters? I would submit to you it's for this reason. Remorse is not the same thing as repentance. Repentance starts with remorse. But if it's godly remorse, it will lead to repentance. And repentance will show itself in fruits that are consistent with repentance, not fruit that just passes for a little while, but fruit that remains. Be conscious of that. If you're sharing the gospel with someone and they're broken over their sins and they begin to weep, that's a good thing. But you know what? That in itself doesn't mean they're repentant. Because there's worldly sorrow that leads to death, and there's godly sorrow that leads to repentance, which leads to life. He knows his brothers are sorrowful. He does not yet know if they're repentant. So as we focus on chapter 43 this week, I want to preach it to you under three headings, which focuses upon three different men in our narrative. First of all, we see in verses 1 to 14, a reluctant father. Secondly, in verses 15 to 25, we find something we're not expecting, and that is a God-fearing steward. And then in verses 26 to 34, we find Joseph to be a gracious host. So we find a reluctant father. a God-fearing steward, and a gracious host. First of all, a reluctant father. There's two practical realities that are pressing in upon Jacob, because remember that when the brothers came home, told them everything that was going on, they said, the man told us we had to bring Benjamin back with us, and he refuses to let Benjamin go. Despite what the men had told him, that a wild beast had killed Joseph, it's obvious that Jacob suspected some kind of foul play on the part of his sons. He knew of their hatred for Joseph. And so he says, you have bereaved me at the end of chapter 42. You have taken away my son Joseph, and now Simeon is in prison, and that's your fault too. And if I let Benjamin go back with you, I'll be bereaved of even him. And so he had refused, adamantly, not to send him back. But there's two realities that are pressing upon him, and that is, number one, the famine's getting more severe, and secondly, they're running out of food again. They're running out of the supply. Brothers and sisters, we need to remember that whenever we come to the Bible, all of us have cultural blinders on us that keep us sometimes from seeing it. And that's not just true of us in Georgia or in the United States. That's in every culture. We all bring our own experience to the Bible and we need to recognize their presence there. But what I would drive home to you, particularly this morning, is this. You and I don't know what it is to go through a famine. We've never been through a famine like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were. Think about how many modern conveniences and all the technologies we have today. If all the crops in Georgia fail, then we can have crops imported from another state. If all the crops in all of the United States fail, we have wonderful things called refrigeration. and airplanes, and boats, and we have trains, and we have 18-wheeler trucks, and we have an international highway system. We have all these things that allow us to make sure that the grocery store down the street, even in the midst of hard times, is well-stocked. And we can't imagine what it is to go down the street and not be able to just get money or get food. I know we're going through a pandemic. I know that we're going through hard times, and yet, compared to what some of our brothers in all the world are going through, what we're facing is very little. Because what would it be like if you had money to buy food, but you have no food to buy? Some of our third world countries, that's where things are. What if you couldn't have deodorant? You don't have to have deodorant to live, but it does make living a little nicer. It does make it a little bit more comfortable to live with one another. What if when you went to brush your teeth, you had to take your toothbrush and rub it in soap because you didn't have toothpaste? Some of our brethren around the world, that's what they're going through. They read a text like this and they get it. And they feel it. And they know the urgency. We are struggling for our survival. Even when we think about food, through the pandemic, I found myself growing grateful as I watched my wife and my children eat three square meals a day. and snacks in between, and even an ice cream sandwich afterwards. And I look at all that, and I almost want to weep with joy to say, thank you, Father, that my children don't want for food. They have what they need. And all through this pandemic, have we not been given the things that we need? And we shouldn't feel guilty about that, but we should certainly feel grateful about that. You realize, I don't know if you know this, even when there's not a pandemic going on, one-seventh of the world's population lives in perpetual hunger. We don't know what that's like. But for Jacob and his sons, they knew what that was like. It was desperate times for them. So everything's getting worse for Jacob. And so he says to them in verse 2, Go back, buy us a little food. By the way, Benjamin can't go with you, but go back and get us some food. Well, this starts a bit of an argument between him and Judah. Judah says back, since the man told us, you're not going to even see my face if you come back and don't have your younger brother. And so there's no point in us going. If we go there, we're not going to be able to get food. So here's our counter-proposal to you. If you don't send Benjamin, we refuse to go. And he's got the weight of argument upon his side because here's the thing. Okay, some bad thing could happen to Benjamin on the journey. That's true. But if he stays here, we know for certain he absolutely is going to die. He's going to die of starvation. Our very survival as a family is on the line. Well, there's some pushback that Jacob gives to him in verse 6. Why did you deal so wrongfully with me? Why did you sin against me as to tell the man whether you still had another brother? That's kind of an extreme reaction, isn't it? But then they say, the brothers respond and say, well, he asks us pointedly, do you have a dad? And do you have a younger brother? And we told him we had no way of knowing that he was going to say, well, bring your younger brother here. As much as it pains me to say it, I see eye to eye with the sons here. The way of truth is upon their side, and let's be honest, Jacob's having a bit of a pity party here. He really is. It's a problem with pity parties. Whenever you throw one and invite all your friends, nobody comes but you. And he's having a pity party for himself about this, and he says, this is not going to happen. Dad, there's no point. We're not going to be able to obtain food if we go without Benjamin. Well, then in verses 8 to 9, something extraordinary happens. Something unexpected. Judah has a proposal. Put the land into my hand, let me have Benjamin, let me be put in charge of making sure he has safe passage to Egypt and back. And notice what he says next, I myself will be surety for him. Now I want you to remember who Judah was. Do you remember that when Joseph was sold into slavery, it was Judah's idea? He said to the brothers, let's sell them into slavery. We can get rid of our brother and we can line our pockets with some silver. It's a win-win for us. He was the very person who had that idea and proposed that to the other brothers. The very next chapter then, he gets his own daughter-in-law pregnant. He didn't know it was his daughter-in-law. He thought she was a prostitute. But she knew his character well enough to say, if I hide my identity and dress like a prostitute, my father-in-law will certainly sleep with me. That tells you just how wicked this man was, that she could count on his behavior. It's this man, and now what he's saying is, I will be the guarantee that he comes back. And if anything happens to Benjamin, impute it to me. Charge it to my account. Hold me liable for anything bad that happens to him. Now, why am I taking the time to flesh this out for you? I'll tell you why. I believe it's because of this. I believe the Spirit of God's hinting at something for us here. Judah's act, which was a very selfless act, and that's totally unexpected from Judah, but this very selfless act is just a hint, a foretaste of something far greater one of his descendants would do many, many centuries later. Because Jesus Christ was born of the tribe of Judah. Listen to the words of Hebrews 7 verse 22, "...by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant." He has become the guarantee that all His chosen people will inherit the blessings of the new covenant. Because when He died upon the cross, do you realize Jesus did not die to make anybody savable? Jesus died to secure the salvation of God's people, to make it absolutely certain that we would inherit the forgiveness of sins and ultimately eternal life. He pledged himself as surety to his father regarding his brethren, just as Judah pledged himself as surety to his father for his brother. Now, I'm not trying to imply in any way, shape, or form that Judah is meant to be a type of Christ. What I am saying, though, is there is in his act a foreshadowing of what his descendant, the lion of the tribe of Judah, would do. More about that at the end, as you would imagine. But let's pick up the narrative again in verses 11 to 14. Jacob finally relents. What choice does he have at the end of the day? Sometimes it's a blessing when God's providence narrows down your choices so you have only one option. And there's only one option before Him. He has no other choice. If He doesn't send Benjamin, they're not going to get food and they're going to die. So He has no other choice. So He gives some very practical counsel to His sons. I find it interesting, verse 11, this is the second time in this chapter that He's called Israel. It's not called by the name Jacob, but by the name Israel. What's the Holy Spirit doing? It's going to be okay. It's my covenant. I've made a covenant with Him. I'm going to preserve them. It's all going to turn out okay. It's reminding us of God's covenant with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob. When their father Israel said to them, this must be so, do this. There's a few things still being produced in the land. There's balm and there's fruits. There's a little honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take that as a present to this ruler, this governor. Then he says in verse 12, take double money in your hand. Whenever you have a limited supply and an increased demand, what happens? It's called inflation. It may be that the price has gone up for grain the second time around because many months have passed. So take double the money so you're prepared, a bit of practical wisdom there. And then also take back with you the money that was returned to you. Because remember that when they came home and found the money in their sacks, they were like, we can be charged with stealing the grain, that we didn't pay for it. He said, maybe it was just an oversight, and take that back in good faith and give it to them, so that they know, here it is, and here also is the money we have for something else. And then finally in verse 13, here's his relenting, take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. Take Benjamin with you. And then in verse 14, very touching, he invokes the blessing of God. He says, "...and may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother in Benjamin." What's he saying here? The word God Almighty, those words translated that way is the word El Shaddai. It's when God said to Abraham, I am El Shaddai, walk before me and be blameless. It's calling to mind God's covenant. Here is Jacob calling to mind the covenant God had made with Abraham and saying, this God, I remember your covenant. Now God, you remember your covenant too. and give a safe journey, but he's also acknowledging something else. He's acknowledging God's providence. That God ultimately is the one who has ordained the destiny of my son Benjamin, whether he will return safely or not. And he's also got this governor's heart in his hand. What's the scripture say in Proverbs? The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and like a watercourse, he directs it wheresoever he wishes. May God grant you mercy and favor in the sight of this governor, and may Simeon be released from prison, and may Benjamin be returned as well." But then notice he says, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. Now you may look at that and think to yourself, wow, he's still having a pity party. But I don't believe he is. Rather, what I think he's saying is this. He's acknowledging something. You know what? Benjamin's fate is not in my hands. I'm not the sovereign of the universe. And furthermore, it never really was to begin with. There's times that we get so anxious and we worry about things. Why? Because we think that our anxiety can somehow make us masters of the universe. If I just worry enough, if I'm just anxious enough, I'll turn out the result differently. You know, the only thing you can create with anxiety is an ulcer. You cannot change destiny by it because it doesn't make you sovereign. Worrying about it doesn't make you sovereign. And here he's recognizing this. He's saying, his fate is in the hands of the Lord, it always was. And what he's saying is, basically, the Lord's will be done. The Lord's will be done. So what we've seen is a reluctant father. What we see next is a God-fearing steward. Notice verse 15, they took the present, and Benjamin took double money in their hand and rose and went down to Egypt, and they stood before Joseph. So now they're in his presence again. And Joseph gives some practical counsel. Again, remember, he's not speaking in Hebrew. He's speaking in Egyptian through an interpreter. But he tells the steward of his house, go kill the fatted calf and make ready. I'm going to eat lunch with these men. And he tells them to do that. Well, all these men, here is him saying something in gibberish, at least as their concern, to his steward. And then the steward says, follow me. Now, who was the steward? The steward was to Joseph what Joseph had been to Potiphar and then to Pharaoh, the governor of his house, the man entrusted with the care of his home. And so they said, follow me. So the men follow him. And as they come near to Joseph's house and they're about to enter in, the men are full of anxiety. Oh no, it's come back to haunt us. He's brought us into his house so that he can not slaughter the fatted calf, but so he can slaughter us. What he's going to do is he's going to bring us inside and he's going to accuse us of stealing the first time. And so they do something very wise. You know, this is a hard chapter to wrap your mind around because suddenly Jacob's sons are doing the right thing. We're not used to that. But there is a first time for everything. And so they're beginning to do the right thing here. And so they say to the steward when they're standing at the door of the house, they say, Sir, we need to tell you something. When we went back after getting our grain the first time, the money was returned in our sacks. And here it is, and here we've brought it back to you, and we've brought additional money to pay for the next shipment of grain. And what happens next is the most unexpected thing they probably could have ever imagined. Because as we see the response in verse 23 of this story, remember who the steward is. He's not a Jew. He's a man who has been raised as a raw pagan, ignorant of spiritual things, in an extremely idolatrous country. And so what he says next must have shocked the men. Notice the first thing he says, verse 23, "'Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. Don't be anxious in your heart even another second. Be at peace.'" We've got this, we understand what's going on. And then notice what he says. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. Is that what you expect to hear from an idolatrous pagan? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's given you this money. It was He who returned this to you. And I want you to know something else. This steward was an extraordinary theologian. Look at the final phrase of what he says. I had your money. Wait, wait, wait. I put your money back in your sacks, but then he's just said, God put your money back in your sacks. Do you realize that thousands of years before our confession of faith was ever written, what this steward is acknowledging is the doctrine of first and second causes. I put the money back in your sack, but I'm just the secondary cause. It is God Himself who is always the first cause behind everything, because He's decreed to come to pass whatsoever comes to pass. Now, is that the thing that they would have expected to hear from the steward? And the thing I want to drive home to you is this. Where did this man learn that? Where did he learn about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? And where did he learn the doctrine of first and second causes? Well, he lived in Joseph's home. That's where he learned it. Because Joseph taught him. He taught him about the truth of God. Doubtless, he must have taught his wife, and his children, and all the servants who lived in his home, including the steward. He taught them that there was this man named Adam, and he had a wife named Eve, and they were our first parents, and they transgressed God's commandment. And God cast them out, and that's how sin and misery entered the world. But you know something? Before God kicked him out of Eden, he promised he was going to send a deliverer. And we are waiting expectantly for that deliverer, and He's revealed Himself to my great-grandfather Abraham, and to my grandfather Isaac, and to my father Jacob. And He's my God, and through faith in this coming Messiah, I am waiting for Him to come. Why don't you put your faith in Him too, and let's wait together. And let's wait for the coming Messiah. And that he knew the doctrine of first and second causes, and learned that from Joseph, as obvious as you go on down the narrative, because Joseph repeatedly is going to come back to this. What you meant for evil, secondary cause, God meant for good, first cause. He learned his theology from the one man in all of Egypt who loved the Lord. Now, do you understand, here's a man who knew these things, And yet there were no local churches anywhere in all of Egypt. There were no synagogues where God's truth was taught in Egypt. There was one man who knew the Lord and instructed his household. I'm going to come back to that at the end too. But where did he learn it? He learned it from Joseph. And so what do they do? Look at the kindness they showed. We haven't brought you here to slaughter you. We've brought you here to lavish hospitality upon you, is our point. Verse 24, they brought the men in Joseph's house. Simeon is released. They get reunited with their brother after several months of separation. He gives them water. He washes their feet, which is a big deal when you're wearing sandals and walking across a desert. Their feet would have been swollen, so they wash their feet. He gives their donkeys feed. And then they make their present ready for Joseph, because they hear that they're going to eat bread together with him. So what have we seen? We've seen a reluctant father. We've seen a God-fearing steward. Third, we see a gracious host. And the gracious host, of course, is none other than Joseph himself. Verse 26, when Joseph came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand. Remember, the present was the pistachio nuts and all that kind of stuff. And they give it to him. And notice what it says, and they bowed down before him to the earth. This is now the second time we've read this. Twice Joseph had dreamed that they would bow down before him. Twice they have bowed down before him. Well then, he asks them, the first thing upon his heart and mind is to ask about his father. because he knew that Jacob was an old man. It's been several months since they had left and now have come back. Is it possible my father has died in the interim? And so the first thing out of his heart and out of his mouth is, is my father well? Oh, maybe not my father, your father. Is he okay? And not only do they say, yes, he's alive, they say he's well. He's not sick. He's in very good health. Well, that's very, very good. And then notice how they answer, verse 28. They answer, Your servant, our father, is in good health and he's still alive. And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. This is now the third time they've bowed down. Now, what's interesting is several commentators point this out. Notice what they called Jacob, your servant. Joseph, your servant." And then they bow down. People have pointed out, remember the second dream Joseph had? It wasn't just his brothers who bowed down to him, it was Jacob as well. It's as if, by proxy, Jacob is now bowing down, your servant, and they bow down. In other words, the point being, everything God prophesied to happen has happened. It's happening exactly as God said it would. You might say it this way, because God cannot lie, He's always true to His word. What He has promised, He will always perform. What He has prophesied, He will always come to pass. I've been saying that to you over and over again. You're going to get to where tomorrow morning, on Monday morning, when your alarm clock goes off, the first thing that's going to come to your head is this. because God cannot lie. He's always true to his word. Whatever he's promised, he will perform. Whatever he's prophesied will come to pass, because God cannot lie. We have a book full of fulfilled promises and not one single broken promise ever that God has failed to perform. Everything he's prophesied to come to pass will. He's prophesied Jesus is coming again. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen because he promises and he cannot lie. Well, they prostrate themselves, and now his next concern, verse 29, is for his younger brother, Benjamin. And realize that he had a special place in his heart for Benjamin. His ten older brothers were his half-brothers. They had the same father, but they had different mothers. But Benjamin alone is also the son of Rachel. They came from the same womb. They were nursed at the same breasts. This is his full-blood brother. And furthermore, Benjamin was a wee little lad when the brothers had betrayed Joseph. He's the only one of all the brothers who is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. And his heart yearns for him. And he looks at the brothers and says, is this the younger brother that you told me about? Because looking at him, he wouldn't recognize him. He was a tiny little fellow when he saw him last. That was 20 years ago. And here he is before him. And then he gives a benediction, God, be gracious to you, my son. And now he's going to lose his composure again. It's the second time it's happened. His heart's yearning for his younger brother, but the thing is, it's not yet time to reveal himself to his brothers. Are they really repentant? They don't know that yet, and so he just excuses himself, and he just absolutely, royally loses it. And weeps profusely. He dries his tears, says to himself, keep it together, man, and walks back outside and keeps the face on. And notice what happens next. Notice the lavishness of the feast. Verse 32, they set three tables. They set one for Joseph, and he ate by himself because he was royalty, so the servants didn't eat with the royalty. Secondly, there's one for the Hebrew brothers. The 11 brothers are gathered around that table. And then the Egyptian servants have their own table, separate. And notice what it says at the end of verse 32. The Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. You know what we call that? We call that ethnic prejudice. It's nothing new. It didn't begin with slave ships crossing the Atlantic, and it didn't begin with Jim Crow laws as sinful and wicked and vile as those things are. Brothers and sisters, we need to realize something. There are not races. There's no such thing as racial discrimination. Because there's only one race. The human race. God is made of one blood, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And you know what ethnic partiality and ethnic prejudice really is? It's just sin. Wherever form it comes from and from whatever heart it comes out of. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is. Do you realize that because we're all fallen, all of us are carriers? We all carry it around inside of us. It's God's mercies that not for everybody does it go to root or grow up. But it's a sin thing. You know where ethnic prejudice began? It began in the Garden of Eden. It began when Adam and Eve fell into sin. And the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve carry it about with them. And it's not a white thing, and it's not a black thing. It's a human thing. It's a sinful thing. It's a sin against the God who created men, and it's a sin against the men God created. Whatever form it's found in, whether it comes out of the heart of an Asian, or whether it comes out of the heart of a European, or an African, or a white man, or a white woman, whatever it's found, it's sin. You think you're immune to it? Ask yourself, have you ever looked at someone who married someone who was of a different ethnicity or skin color? A white man marrying a black woman. or a Mexican marrying a European, have you found yourself, oh, well, that's wrong, or that's sin? No, it's a sin to think that. It's a sin to think that, because it's not a sin for different ethnicities and skin colors to marry one another. Just ask Moses. As a matter of fact, better ask Miriam, because Moses married a black woman, an Ethiopian, and Miriam did not like it, and God struck her with leprosy. Just remember that. It's sin in our hearts, but you know what? Protests and rallies and government legislation isn't gonna change men's hearts. The only thing that can reconcile us to God and man to man is the gospel. In the Gospel, there's neither Jew, nor Greek, nor Barbarian, nor Scythian, nor slave. There's no discrimination because it's all leveled. And we're all made to stand level at the foot of the cross. As a matter of fact, there's only one multi-ethnic rally that's going to be perfect and perfectly unified, and it's not going to happen in this present age. It's going to happen before the throne of God, when we stand there from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation and sing together with one voice and one heart the song of Moses and of the Lamb. And that is going to be a true multi-ethnic reality. And there'll be no protest. There'll be nothing but praise. There'll be nothing but worship. But in the meantime, when we see ethnic prejudice rise up in our hearts, let's recognize it for what it is and call it what it is. It's sin. And by God's grace, put it to death. It's not the civil rights movement that will fix that. It's the gospel, and it should be the church that's embodying that in the way that we live. Isn't it funny how we're reading from an ancient text that's 3,000 years old and yet so relevant for what's going on to us today, isn't it? Because the Bible is more relevant always than the latest headline on CNN. As a matter of fact, I don't think there's anything relevant on CNN or Fox News. There's just not a whole lot there worth reading. But the Bible is always relevant and timely. It's timeless and timely all at the same time. But that was an aside. Here we go. Verse 33. How did he know our birth order? Nobody told him that. And there's something going on here. He's hinting at how And maybe he's setting him up for what's going to happen in the next chapter. Didn't you know I could discern who stole my cup? Because I discerned your birth order without you telling me. Aren't you figuring this out? Right? That's a part of it. But they're astonished by this. But then notice what it says. It says, But Benjamin's serving was five times as much as any of the others. He can't help but show a little favoritism here. It doesn't mean that Benjamin was a glutton, by the way, that he ate five times as much. I doubt he could eat all that was put in front of him, but the idea was everybody else would see very clearly he's really showing a lot of favoritism to Benjamin. But notice how the chapter ends, and it's a very sweet ending. So they drank and were merry with him. Now maybe you're tempted to say, boy, they're throwing aside temperance and moderation and now gluttony and drunkenness are the order of the day. I do not believe that's what you're supposed to conclude. Do you see what's happening here? The famine, a worldwide famine, is affecting every nation on earth. But yet here is the entire covenant family except for Jacob and his wife. But here's the covenant family having a feast In the middle of a famine. What is that but God showing Himself faithful? And if you were in the middle of a famine and suddenly somebody put a lavish feast in front of you, you'd eat a lot too. You'd store up like a camel for the future, right? But here's God showing His grace and His provision. I've got this. I'm going to look after my people. It shows the compassionate heart of Joseph. Look at Joseph. He's showing hospitality to his enemies. The very men who betrayed him. You might say he's loving his enemies, not treating them as they deserve, but treating them in contrast to what they deserve. And then how the Lord does with us. We haven't been able to take the Lord's Supper. I miss it. I can't wait till we get to take it again. But when we do, what a feast. What a feast it is for us to gather together and to realize, I'm not worthy to come to this table, but I'm invited anyway. because of what Jesus has done for me. Even so, what do we see here but a picture of God giving abundant supply to a people in the midst of a famine. There's three applications I want to make from our text this morning. The first is this, you owe a perpetual debt of gratitude to God for every blessing he's lavished upon you, whether those blessings are spiritual or material. Beginning of our exposition, I told you that we, as citizens of the United States, don't really know what it is to live through a famine. Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ and other places know exactly what that's like. And that shouldn't make us feel guilty, it should make us feel generous to help them in any way we can, but it should also make us grateful. You know, we don't realize how blessed we are and how many creature comforts surround us that make our lives so much easier than we even realize. You don't realize it until you go on a mission trip to a third world country and then have no hot water to take a shower in. And if you have hot water, you don't have water pressure. And you don't think that's much until you don't have it. And then you can't wait to get back home when you do have it. When I was in Africa, there were places we'd go, we didn't have much water pressure. Some places didn't have hot water. But we were in one place, we had this hot, steamy shower, and it was all this water pressure, and we had a hard time getting out of the shower. We were like, oh, this feels so good, after being in the hot African sun all day. Well, all these things we have because of God's blessing. And here's the question, here's the problem. When you and I get used to having those things, then we come to expect to have those things, and that we're somehow entitled to those things. But if God gave you and I what we deserve, we wouldn't even be sitting here, we'd be in hell right now. Everything we have is a gift of his mercy. Every little thing. And God hasn't just given us our daily bread. He's given us an abundance. We've realized, looking at our pantry, that if we couldn't go to the grocery store for the next few weeks, which with eight people in my house, that's a big deal. But if we suddenly didn't do that, we could make do with what's in our pantry for several weeks. We might be eating beans and water and that's it, but still we would have something. Far more than what most people have, God has lavished an abundance upon us, and it behooves us then to be giving Him perpetual thanks for those things. But if those are material things, what about the spiritual things? Because if there's a famine in the land, there's an even bigger famine of hearing the Word of the Lord. There are millions of people in this world who don't even have one verse of Scripture translated into their own language. Does it ever hit you? Think what it would be if you didn't have your Bible to read? We have not only the Bible in our language, we have it in multiple translations, multiple versions. I have multiple versions upon my shelf. Some of them are collecting dust because I don't use some of them as much as I do others. And yet some people don't even have one sentence. Imagine not even having John 3.16 in your language and never having heard that God has a son who died for sinners like you. What if you're a Christian, and you've come to faith in Christ because you've heard the gospel, but you don't have a Bible to read what you're supposed to do as a Christian now? And you don't get to feed your soul every single morning. We have been given the Bible, we've been given God's Son. We've been given the Holy Spirit. You know, that's something we ought to think about. Jesus said that the world cannot receive the Spirit. Not they won't, they can't. They have no ability, no capacity to. And yet you and I have been given freely the Holy Spirit through the merits of Jesus Christ. To have the Holy Spirit living in your home means you're richer than anybody else in all the rest of the world. It's a very big deal to have the Holy Spirit and then to have the church. And we're not having yet, we may come to this, we're not having to meet underground. We don't have to meet in some cavern or cave. We get to meet freely. We get to know one another, fellowship with one another. We get to do that this afternoon. I rejoice in those things. Never take those things for granted. What would you do without your brothers and sisters in Christ? If God has not withheld His Son, the greater gift, then how will He withhold the lesser gifts? What has He withheld from us that we need? Nothing. My point is this. A. W. Tozer said it this way years ago. He said, I am grateful to God for all these and many other blessings, and I will not let Him forget that I am. I will not let Him forget that I am. Go and do likewise. You know, when you do an edifying word study, just take your concordance out and look up the word thanks or thanksgiving and see how many times in our Old and New Testaments it recurs. I mean, just over and over with thanks, with thanks, with thanks, with thanks. Abounding in it with thanksgiving. God wants us to be a thankful people and He has every right to expect us to be. And when we're silent and we don't give Him thanks, we're showing how ungrateful we are. Lord, we're entitled. Why should I give you thanks? No. As I said to you before, what if tomorrow's blessings were based upon today's thankfulness? Let's give Him thanks. If you struggle with having joy and lack of joy, I suspect that cultivating a thankful heart is also cultivating a joyful heart. Second thing. I promised you I'd come back to this. It's the responsibility of every Christian home to make certain everyone in his household knows who God is and is well-versed in the gospel of his only begotten Son. How many times has this been pressed upon us in the pages of Genesis? The land of Canaan was a pagan land. There were no synagogues. There were no local churches. There were pagans aplenty. There was idols aplenty. There was temples aplenty, but not temples for the living God. There was all kinds of abominable practices. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah. All the horrible, lawless, wicked things that went on. And yet, despite that, there's one family where the lamp stands burning bright. Everywhere Abraham goes, everywhere he travels, what does he do? The first thing he comes, he builds an altar. What is an altar? It's a place of worship. Here's a place where my family can gather around and we can talk about the Lord and we can worship the Lord and offer to Him such things as He requires. Isaac does the same thing, following after the pattern of his father. It takes Jacob a little bit longer. But finally, he owns that the God of Abraham and Isaac is also his God, and he begins to build altars and to worship. And now, here's Joseph, not even in the land of Canaan. He's thrown out by force. He is sold. He's kidnapped. He's taken away to a foreign land, but he takes his religion with him. He takes the worship of God with him. There is nobody else in the land of Egypt worshiping God, but there'll be one person who's worshiping Him. One place where the light will be kept. And now we encounter, of all things, an Egyptian steward raised in raw paganism declaring things like, your God has given this back to you. He's the God of the first cause, and I'm just the secondary cause. How did he learn that? He learned it because Joseph explained it to his household. You know something, parents? Your children should hear the gospel more from you than they ever do from me. You know why? Because I'm just their pastor. You're the parents. And for you to lead your family in family worship is no small thing. I'm sure you're tempted to think it is. Because maybe dads, husbands, you think, I'm just not real good at it. I'm not real good at a whole lot of things. Maybe I'm just not real good at it, and my kids are not as enlightened as they are bored. And I'm looking and wondering, is this getting through? Is it making any sense? They're not listening. They're yawning. What's the point? But do you realize, in our life, Our next door neighbors are dear friends of ours, and they've moved recently. They've moved about 20 minutes away. We're going to spend some time with them, God willing, this evening. Dear friends, they love the Lord, very grateful. Nice to have somebody living next door to you, you can trust your children with. That's very rare, isn't it? But now they've moved. And that means, as far as we know... Now, I'm not trying to belittle my neighbors, because we've got neighbors full of a lot of common grace. But not many full of saving grace. As a matter of fact, we only know of one neighbor right now who has saving grace, and it's our beloved Laura, who lives a couple doors down from us. Outside of that, I'm sure there's some other Christian families, but if there are, we don't know about them. You know what that means? It means that God is not being worshipped in many houses in my neighborhood. but he can be worshipped in two houses. And when something's rare, it makes it even more exceedingly precious and valuable. Your children may seem bored right now, but someday they may rise up and call you blessed. Thank you, Dad, that I heard the scriptures in my home. We sang your praises in our home. We prayed to you in our home. And now that I'm an adult and out in the world and seeing how the rest of the world lives, I'm realizing this is very rare. But even if your children don't bless you, it's your duty, your God-given duty, and heaven prizes faithfulness. Be faithful. Be faithful. Look at Joseph. He carried his religion with him when nobody else around him worshipped the living God, but he did. And what he continued in faithfully began to spread. It began to spread to others as he sought to be faithful. Go and do likewise. Third and finally, and I promised you I'd come back to this one as well. Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, has become surety for his elect people. Judah became shorty for his brother. And that was a very great blessing for Benjamin. I'm sure it comforted him to hear his brother saying these things. And as a matter of fact, as we're going to see, God willing, in the next chapter, it's this very truth. Judah would be true to his word. Because when Benjamin was accused of a crime, Judah says, blame me. Punish me and let the boy go free. And it's this very thing that will finally, completely finally crack the veneer and Joseph can't take anymore. And says, everybody go out. I'm your brother Joseph. Now, if Benjamin was blessed by Judah being surety for him, how much more have you and I been blessed by Jesus being surety for us? Think about what that means. It's declared in the very opening page of the New Testament. The angel says to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus. It means God saves. For he will save his people from their sins. He's not going to try to save them. He's not going to make them savable. He's going to save them. And who's he going to save? His people. He will positively do it. He will accomplish it. It's illustrated in Paul. Paul in the book of Philemon. I heard a man by the name of Ed Donnelly say this, and I've never looked at the book of Philemon the same way again. You kind of read Philemon and go, okay, well, there's this slave, and he runs away and escapes, and meets Paul, and he leads him to Christ, and it just so happens in God's providence he led his master to Christ, and now he's sending him back to reconcile to each other. Okay, that's nice. Next book. But you need to stop and realize, this is what Ed Donnelly points out. You ever notice how Paul reconciles them to each other? He imputes his good reputation to the pilfering, thieving slave. Receive him as you would receive me. And then he says something else. If he's stolen anything from you, charge that to my account, and I'll repay. I'll pay his debt. Don't require it of him. I will pay his debt. And what Ed Donnelly said is this, where did Paul learn that? He learned it by the Gospel. He says, it's suddenly as if it's not Paul talking to a master and his slave. It's rather that we have gone back into eternity past, and there the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are entering into covenant together, the covenant of redemption, about God's elect. The elect have been chosen. Their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And it says, if Jesus is saying to the Father, Father, receive them as you would receive me, and if they have wronged you, put that to my account. I, Jesus, will repay. Give them all my righteousness, and give me all their sin." That's what it means that Jesus is our surety. If you're in Christ, Jesus is the guarantee that your sins have been forgiven. Jesus is the guarantee you're going to spend eternity in heaven with Him because He's given you eternal life. That's what it means to have the line of tribe of Judah be your surety, your guarantee. When I used to do roof repairs all the time, I would give a guarantee. If it leaks for the next year, I will come back free of charge and fix it and keep on fixing it until it doesn't leak anymore. But what if I said to them, okay, you pay me this much money, I'm going to repair your roof, and then I'm going to give you a potential guarantee. And they look at me and go, what's a potential guarantee? Well, you're going to pay me a lot of money. I'm going to get up there and fix the roof. But if it leaks again, I might come back and I might not. It's a potential guarantee. You would say, who in his right mind would hire you to do that? Because that's not a guarantee at all. There's no certainty behind it. Well, see, what Jesus has given us is not a potential guarantee. He's given us absolute certainty. He has paid our debt. in full. It's my very favorite statement on the cross is when he says to Telestai, it is finished. The debt is paid. They owe nothing else because I've paid their debt in their place. That's what it means to have Jesus be your surety. And if you're here and you're outside of Christ, that same gift is offered freely to you. It is yours for the taking, literally. It's a free gift. Can't earn it. Can't deserve it. Can't pay for it. It's offered freely by grace. It's received freely by faith. Through faith in Christ, Jesus can become your surety. The guarantee that you will inherit eternal life. If you're outside of Christ, flee to Him. Put your faith in Him. Receive the gift offered freely by faith that you might be saved. Only a fool would turn down such an offer. Because what an offer it is, an offer for eternal life. You can get riches in this world and you know what? You can't take them with you. But the riches you accumulate in heaven endure for all of eternity. Flee to Christ that you might be saved. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for your truth. We thank you for your word, so timely and so timeless to us, Lord. We pray that you will apply these things to our hearts and our souls and draw us clear to yourself. Stir up holy affections in us. Help us, Father, to be faithful, to train our wives, our children, our households in your truth and in your old paths. Help us to endure even when we don't see the fruit from it. We pray, Father, that we will always get our eyes upon Jesus Christ, our surety. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.