Well, good morning everybody Let's take our Bibles this morning and open them to Genesis chapter 42 And verse 27 The title of our message this morning is The Reality of the Afterlife. As you're turning there, I just got word maybe an hour or two ago that Pastor Joe Wall, who many of you know, has gone to be with the Lord. He was a man who was very instrumental in planting Bible churches like ours all over the Houston area. I think he played a role in the planting of Southwest Bible Church, which planted Sugar Land Bible Church. And I believe he played a role in also the planning of Sugar Land Bible Church. So he got promoted this morning, as I have the story correctly. Absent from the body is what? Present with the Lord. So praise the Lord for faithful people, but the Lord makes decisions on when to bring them home. I don't have any information on memorial service dates and that kind of thing. I'm sure that will be coming pretty quick. We continue our verse by verse teaching through the book of Genesis. God in the book of Genesis has raised up through unconditional promises that he has made to Abraham, the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel becomes a very big deal because God has obligated himself to bless the world through the nation of Israel. Those promises have been passed down to Isaac and then to Jacob. And now Joseph and his story becomes center stage. where God is using this man, Joseph, to preserve the nation of Israel. Joseph has been sold as a slave into Egypt, Genesis 37. Genesis 38 is what Israel would have been like if God had left her in Canaan. So God is transporting through these chapters his nation out of Egyptian bondage. excuse me, out of Canaanite corruption into Egyptian preservation. Joseph is falsely accused, chapter 39. Joseph has a prophetic gift of making short-term predictions, Genesis 40. Joseph is then elevated to second in command over all of Egypt, Genesis 41. 20 years have passed. And Joseph now has a reunion with his brothers, the very brothers that betrayed him and left him for dead. That's kind of an interesting thing when all of a sudden you're in a position of power and you have the ability to confront people that did you wrong. That's the opportunity before Joseph. And essentially what is happening here is Joseph doesn't know exactly how to treat these brothers. The seven years of scarcity have kicked in. The brothers, like the rest of the world, come to Egypt to receive grain in the midst of famine, including the household of Israel. This of course is God's plan and God's design in moving Israel out of Canaan into Egyptian preservation. And Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they don't recognize him. So he's testing their character to try to figure out, are they the same brothers character-wise that left me for dead at least 20 years ago? And so this is how the story of Joseph unfolds. What Joseph does is he tells them to return to Canaan. They've made reference to the fact that they have a younger brother in Canaan. We know his name, Benjamin. And Joseph says, okay, here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna leave Egypt with the grain that I have given you. You're gonna go get your younger brother and you're gonna come back to me in Egypt. And that is going to allow me to determine if you are liars or not. At this point, Joseph has accused them of being spies. And so Joseph is trying to figure out, have these brothers really morally reformed? Have they treated their youngest now, Benjamin, the same way they treated me 20 years earlier? So this is all a test. In fact, if you go back to Genesis 42 verses 15 and 16, you'll see the word test or tested used twice there. This is a character test. So now after this initial meeting, the brothers now leave Egypt and return back to Canaan. And on the way, they discover something. Notice if you will, verse 27. As one of them opened his sack to give to his donkey, now we're not told which brother this happened to, it's just one of them. As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money and behold, it was in the mouth of the sack. Now, when you go back to verse 25, you remember that Joseph put money in their sack. He actually put their money in each of their sacks. That's a big deal because they had given that money to buy grain. And now the money that they had used to buy grain, not only do they have the grain, but they have the money back. And again, this is a character test to determine what are they going to do with this money. Because it arguably could be argued as stolen money. So the tests that Joseph is putting his brothers through is very interesting because as we have tried to argue, Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ. Jesus tests us in the same way. Don't you agree with that? He'll put us into positions just to see how we're gonna handle those. Deuteronomy chapter 13 and verse three says, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul. Just as the Lord tests us, Joseph is testing his brothers. The money, was actually Egypt's because they got the grain. And not only did they get the grain, but they got the money back. What are they gonna do with that money? In this case, there's a happy ending. We won't be able to cover it today, but in Genesis 43, verses 21 and 22, the brothers bring the money back. So they pass the test. I'm just wondering in your life, are you passing your tests? Am I passing my tests? The Lord many times allows situations and circumstances into our lives just to test our character. Because the Bible says, if you're faithful with something little, you can be trusted with something much. If you're unfaithful with something little, how can such a person be trusted with more? And so many times we ask the Lord, Lord, why don't you use me in a greater way? Why don't I have a bigger responsibility? Well, maybe the issue is some of the tests that he has given us haven't gone so well. And he needs to wait till our character develops a certain way before we can be trusted with more. And so this typology between Jesus and Joseph, I find very, very interesting. So this particular brother who finds this money in his sack, as they're now headed from Canaan back to Egypt, reports it to the other brothers. And you see that in verse 28. He said to his brothers, my money has been returned and behold, it is even in my sack. And notice how the other brothers react to this. And their hearts sank. And they turn trembling to one another saying, what is this that God has done to us? I mean, not only are we in trouble with the Lord of the land, who they don't recognize is Joseph. Not only are we in trouble by being accused of spies, but now we're also in trouble because we could be accused of theft. Two charges and not one. Not only are we spies, but we are thieves. And as they come to this realization, they ask themselves, what has God done to us? They're actually trembling. Notice the word here, trembling. Two charges now can be waged against us by Egypt, the known power at that time. And they asked this question, what has God done to us? Why would they ask that question, what has God done to us? It has to do with a guilty conscience. They saw this as sort of the disciplining hand of God, the justice of God, the judgment of God, which they knew they deserved, because they're the ones that left their own brother for dead 20 years earlier in Genesis chapter 37. We call this a guilty conscience. The Bible teaches the reality of the conscience. Within every single human being is a barometer, a standard of right and wrong. God has taken his laws and put them into our hearts. Even people that do not know Jesus personally and never read the Bible suffer from this guilty conscience. Paul talks about it in Romans 2, verses 14 and 15. He says, when the Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves. in that they show the work of the law written on their hearts, their consciences bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. Every single human being on planet earth goes through life and they have thoughts of guilt for things that they have done that violate God's law. But when they do what is right, the conscience excuses. It's a constant battle within every single human being, accuse or excuse, and God designed it that way. Or else the human race, as lawless as it is, think how much more lawless it would be without this reality inside of all people called conscience. And the truth of the matter is we all have a guilty conscience. Do you know why that's true? Newsflash, we're all guilty. And there is no cure for a guilty conscience other than the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only solution. The book of Hebrews chapter nine, verse 14 says, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your consciences? from dead works to serve the living God. What can cure the guilty conscience which we all suffer from? I only know of one solution and that's Jesus who paid for all of our, the penalty for all of our sins, past, present and future. That's what these brothers are suffering from. They see this extra money in their sack and they say, God, as I read it, is rightfully visiting on us what we deserve. And you'll go through life thinking that way, with everything that happens to you until you come under the authority of Jesus, who came into the world to fix this internal problem in people, the guilty conscience. And so now these brothers are aware of this. They now report to Jacob, who is still in Canaan concerning what happened as Jacob had dispatched them to Egypt to receive grain in the midst of famine. Notice verses 29 through 34. Notice the return. When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them saying. So they've just made a giant trip They've gone from Canaan to Egypt and they've gone from Egypt to Canaan. Most likely they had this encounter with Joseph in Egypt at a place called Memphis. We largely believe that Jacob, their father, is still in a place called Hebron. That's the last location we learn of Jacob going all the way back to Genesis 37 verse 14. If you go back there at some point, you'll see the word Hebron. And all of that to say that not only is this real geography, which we point out constantly, You know, this is not just veggie tales. This is actual history and geography and geology and geography that these events transpired within. But beyond that, that's probably a distance on horseback of about three weeks, 250 miles. So during that 250 mile, three week trip, they had a long time to think about their own guilt before God. since their guilt seems to have been heightened by this discovery of the money now in their bags. And so they're thinking to themselves, not only are we being accused of being spies, but on top of it, we're being accused of being thieves. And the Lord, I think, is using this to bring these brothers to a place of repentance. And then as they're reporting back to Jacob, they kind of rehearse the accusation that Joseph, who they don't know is Joseph, said to them, Joseph here being referred to as the Lord of the land. They're now telling Jacob back in Hebron what happened. It says in verse 30, the man, the Lord of the land spoke harshly with us. He took us for spies of the country. Remember, Joseph had accused them of being spies. You're just coming here to run sort of reconnaissance, to figure out where Egypt is weak, and then you're going to invade us. Verse nine, verse 12, verse 14. And then you'll remember that the brothers, of course, denied this. Look at verse 31. It says, but we said to him, we are honest men and we are not spies. Now that has to be laughable at some point, honest men. I mean, does an honest person leave their brother for dead 20 years earlier? No, we're not spies, we're honest men. Why would they call themselves honest men? That's the capacity that fallen human beings in their sin have the ability to do in terms of deceiving other people and deceiving themselves in the process. I mean, never underestimate the ability of the human heart to deceive others and to deceive oneself. Second Timothy chapter three, verse 13, Paul makes this prediction about the end of the age. He says, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. In other words, people in the end times will be sort of in a state of deceiving others because they themselves are deceived. They pull the wool over other people's eyes because the wool has been pulled over their eyes. That's the nature of human beings in their depravity. There are people in this world, serial killers. You can go back and study this, very nice people, very well-dressed, very well-educated, very articulate, but hiding deep and dark secrets. That's what we all have the ability to do in our fallenness and in our depravity. And so you see it here with these brothers, you know, telling Joseph and now Jacob, hey, we're just honest people when nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, these people are actually experts in deception. And the only thing that's really holding them back from further deception is their own guilty conscience. You look at verse 32 and they're sort of continuing on with this defense that they gave before Joseph, explaining it to Jacob now in Canaan. It says, we are 12 brothers, sons of our father, one who is no longer alive and the younger is with our father today in the land of Canaan. So they had told Joseph, who they didn't recognize, although Joseph recognized them, were 12 sons. One is dead, Joseph. One is at home, Benjamin. We come from one man, Jacob, from the land of Canaan. Now, this is interesting because this description of the nation is given over and over again. Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and through Jacob, Jacob's dozen, who became the 12 tribes of Israel. This becomes very important in our time period because there are many people today that do not understand Israel. They have fallen for a false teaching called replacement theology, sometimes called supersessionism, Most Christians by way of denominational affiliation are sitting in churches that teach replacement theology, perhaps without even realizing it. It's the idea that the church is the new Israel. The church, which is composed primarily of Gentiles, has superseded, that's where you get the word supersessionism from, Israel's place. and therefore Israel has no future in God. And many of these churches sadly get involved in BDS, boycott, divestment, and sanctions. Even with the current issues happening in our country, many churches have jumped on board with the mantra that says, from the river to the sea, the land of Palestine, falsely named by the way, will be free. Why would a Christian get involved with that kind of boycott, divestment, and sanctions over the people of Israel in the Middle East? Why would denominational leaders spearhead such a thing? Well, the answer is replacement theology. The belief that the church has replaced Israel. The truth of the matter, though, is the name Israel has a technical meaning in the Bible. What do I mean by a technical meaning? A meaning that always means the same thing everywhere it's used. When the name Israel is used in the Bible, guess what it always means? It means Israel. It never means the Gentiles. It never means the church. Now it can refer to Israelis in faith or unbelief, but it never refers to a mixed audience of Jew and Gentile. It always refers to Jews. And that is not to be confused with the church. Not that an individual Jew can't get saved in the church age, many do. But the church in no way, shape or form ever becomes Israel in the plan of God. God has a separate plan and a separate program for national Israel, which he will fulfill. All of the promises that God has made to Israel are for Israel. The promises that he's made to the church are for the church. Two separate and distinct programs and never should the trains meet. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 32 says, give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. Meaning that the church of God is not Israel. It's distinct. In fact, this plan and purpose and program of God is so distinct that Jesus is coming back at a different time for the church than he is for Israel. Bible prophecy tells us that Israel is in for some buckle up, let's put it that way. It's about to get bumpy. She is going into the time of tribulation. Through that time of tribulation, two thirds of Israelis in unbelief will be broken off. Zechariah. 13 verses eight and nine talks about it. God is going to preserve a third, which will come through the great tribulation in faith. And that remnant will call Jesus back to the earth to save them or protect them from the Antichrist, who at that time will be indwelt by Satan. Matthew 23 verses 37 through 39. Once they come to their senses, and come to faith nationally, Jesus will come back to protect them. When he does, his feet will touch planet earth. That is not to be confused with the rapture of the church, which does not concern Israel nationally. It concerns the church, all believers, Jew or Gentile, believers in the very Messiah that Israel rejected nationally. all believers, Jew or Gentile, from the day of Pentecost until the rapture. When Jesus comes back, he's coming back in the rapture for the church. His feet will not touch planet Earth. He will take the church to heaven, where we will be with the Lord for seven years in the Father's house, only to return with Jesus at the end of the seven-year tribulation period to rule and reign under his delegated authority in the millennial kingdom. Israel means Israel. The church means the church. The two cannot be intermingled together as many are doing. And so when you see someone calling the church Israel or the new Israel, it goes directly against the definition in the Bible, going all the way back to Genesis. particularly verse 32, where Israel is always the 12 sons of Jacob. Who is Israel? Israel are the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a special group of people that God has a special program for. And once you get that clear in your thinking, you see how that could not be the church, because once you say the church is Israel, you're going outside of the definition that God gives there, right there in verse 32, and also into verse 33. So it's easy to sort of skip over these definitions of who Israel is, but you have to pay attention to them to get your theology straight. And in a book talking about the birth and growth of the nation of Israel, the book of Genesis, that's why Moses keeps reiterating this as he's writing about these conversations that transpired in the days of Joseph. If Israel means Israel and the church means the church and God has a special program for the nation of Israel, I as a Christian in my right mind cannot get involved in a movement called boycott, divestment and sanctions. I cannot get involved in a movement that tries to delegitimize the state of Israel as the river to the sea mantra attempts to do. Paul in Romans 11, verse 32 of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel in unbelief says, currently they're your enemies. And I think he says that because they were persecuting the early church in the book of Acts. Romans 11, 28, Romans 11, 32, right in there, he says, currently they're your enemies, but they are beloved. on behalf of the patriarchs. In other words, you look at Israel today, you see a work of God, which is incomplete. God has supernaturally brought them back from the four corners of the earth into their own land, exactly like he said he would do in the end times. And it's a beautiful thing to watch, but there's something missing. The ruach, which is Hebrew for spirit, has not yet been poured out on the nation. And so when I look at that and I see an unbelieving nation, how do I look at that as a Christian? Most of Christendom wants you to think of that as their usurpers, occupiers. They have no future in God, because we the church are the new Israel, which leads to sort of an anti-Israel mentality. But I look at it and I say, well, praise the Lord. Maybe today they're my enemy, so to speak, loosely, metaphorically, but they are beloved on the part of the patriarchs. And what God has started with the rebirth of the nation of Israel, he's gonna complete. And the ruach or the spirit is gonna come upon that nation exactly like God said it would. So I don't hate the nation of Israel or the Jewish people. I see it as a work of God in progress. And how few Christians and pulpits have this understanding and are sucked into sort of political causes against the Jewish people and the Jewish nation. Do you realize that Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, which is his diabolical work, written in advance detailing what he would do to the Jewish people. Do you realize that Adolf Hitler quoted or cited the theologian Martin Luther three times, at least, that I'm aware of? I mean, Hitler, when he was looking for theological support to eradicate the Jewish people, reached back into Christendom. and drug up quotes from his favorite German theologian, Martin Luther. Now, I'm a Martin Luther fan. I like Martin Luther. Martin Luther advanced the cause of Christ like very few people have, but he had a dark side, Martin Luther. It's given in his book, The Jews and Their Lies, which is not conspiracy theory. All you gotta do is go to the internet and download it for free. It's a track that spans, I think about 80 pages. Giving his anger and his venom against the Jewish people because they didn't convert to his Protestant movement the way he had hoped. And he said a lot of things like, let them be marked. Let them be, forbidden from charging interest on loans. I'm not blaming Martin Luther for the Holocaust. I'm just saying that Adolf Hitler, who caused the Holocaust, had a lot of fertile ground to draw from, from a Christian who was used of God but had this issue incorrect. This issue of Israel and the church, people wanna make this a secondary issue. I'm here to tell you folks that this is not a secondary issue. And the reason I say that is it relates to the character of God. If God cannot and will not keep his promises to the Jewish nation, then how can you trust him to keep his promises to you? If God is not gonna keep his word to the Jew, how can he trust him to keep his word to me and to you? I mean, it's pretty much that simple. I mean, if God removes his promises from one group and gives it to someone else, well, what's he gonna do with John 3, 16? Or Romans 8, verse 28. And so as long as the Lord gives me breath to speak on these things, I will keep speaking, Lord willing, on the distinctive program that God has for the Jewish nation. The test that The man of the land, who was Joseph, gave to the brothers, as repeated by them, back to Jacob, back in verses 33 and 44. It says, the man of the land said to us, by this I will know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households and go. But bring back your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men I will give your brother to you. Now that's Simeon who he has bound. And you may trade in the land. So pass the test. If you pass the test, I know your character is right. And I know that you've matured since 20 years ago when you left me for dead. And I'm ready to disclose myself to you. All of this now is repeated for the benefit of Jacob. Then the brothers make a second discovery. Look at verse 35. It came about as they were emptying their sacks. So the first time around, it was one of the brothers, we're not told which one emptied his sack, but now they all emptied their sacks. And they all discovered this extra money in their sacks. Verse 35, now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were dismayed. Notice the word dismayed as they're reacting. We're thieves, or they think we're thieves. because the money was supposed to go for the grain that we now have. So we're in big trouble with the legal system here. Not only are we being accused of being spies falsely, but now they've got us set up to be labeled as thieves. I mean, what a character test this is for these brothers. It's kind of interesting how the Lord is allowing them to live through the same sort of terror and dismay that they inflicted upon Joseph 20 years earlier. And by the way, the Lord will allow you to live such things in your life. I can give you a lot of examples from my own life where I've committed certain sins against people maybe forgotten about them, and the Lord says, I haven't forgotten, because I'm gonna make you live the same circumstance that you inflicted on somebody else. Well, Lord, why are you doing that? I thought you loved me. I do love you. But I want you to see how it feels like, what it feels like. When the same sin that you've inflicted on somebody else is now inflicted on you. And only if you walk through that valley Are you gonna be in a position to say, wow, sin is pretty serious with God. I don't wanna do that ever again, Lord. Thank you for taking me through that. I don't wanna make anyone else feel or experience what I made someone else feel or experience many years ago. And that's the process of growth. That's the process of development. That's the process of sanctification. As you walk with the Lord, you'll start to see that pattern in your own life. It's not there to discourage you. It's not there to destroy you. It's there to grow us into the reality of the notorious nature of sin and its evil effects. And then we go to verse 36, where Jacob, who's hearing all of this, reacts. Verse 36. It says, Their father Jacob said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more. Because Jacob, like they do, believes Joseph is dead. Simeon is no more. Remember Joseph bound Simeon back in Egypt and sent the rest home? And you would take Benjamin? So they wanted, remember Joseph's instructions, bring your youngest and bring him back to me, in this case would be Benjamin. And Jacob says, all these things are against me. Joseph is dead, supposedly. Simeon is jailed in Egypt. And now the Lord of the land wants you to take Benjamin back to Egypt with you. Now keep in mind that You can see that, I'm not sure how good your eyes are. But if you see Rachel, remember who Rachel was? That was Jacob's favored wife. That's the one he wanted to marry. And he got a surprise or two along the way. But he ended up with Rachel. Rachel has now passed away, Genesis chapter 35. And it was through Rachel, his favored wife, that came Joseph and Benjamin. So Joseph and Benjamin are full brothers. I mean, you already, the son of my favorite wife is already dead, Joseph, and now you want Benjamin too? Talk about having a bad day. You see Rachel there on the far right, and you see coming from Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin, full brothers, and that's why Jacob is reacting the way that he reacts. Now, Reuben is sort of functioning like the adult in the room, like the oldest. Which he is. You remember Leah, through Leah came Reuben. Reuben was the firstborn of the 12. And Reuben kind of acts like an adult, a big brother. Remember it was Reuben, he was the one that said, don't kill Joseph, just throw him into a pit. And Reuben, in his mind, thought he was gonna go and get Joseph out of the pit at a later point, only to discover that the pit was empty, because Joseph had already been sold as a slave into Egypt by the rest of the brothers. You remember, as Reuben is explaining all of these things to the rest of the brothers in Egypt, Joseph is listening, but they don't think Joseph, who they don't know is Joseph, speaks Hebrew, because he's got an interpreter. But Joseph heard everything. He heard Reuben's protestation of personal innocence. That's why when he had someone bound, he didn't bind Reuben, because he had just heard Reuben's innocence. He bound the second born, Simeon. So Reuben has these moments where he's actually acting like an adult. But he gets a little crazy with it. Look at verse 37, then Reuben spoke to his father, Jacob, saying, you may put my two sons to death if I don't bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will return to you. In other words, I'll go back, I'll get all of these issues fixed, I'm gonna bring back Simeon, And if I don't do it, you can take my two sons, Jacob, your grandsons, and you can kill them. That's a pretty aggressive vow that he's making. Reuben here is taking on the responsibility of the firstborn. I will leave with Benjamin and return with Benjamin and Simeon, is what he is saying. If not, kill my own sons. Now, why would he say that? Maybe there's substitutes for Joseph and Benjamin. And so essentially what Reuben does here is he makes a rash vow. I think he knew in the back of his mind that Jacob would not kill his two grandsons. But why is Reuben acting this way? Why does he act like an adult and then he says something rash? There's something very interesting said about Reuben in Genesis 49, three and four. We may get to Genesis 49 at some point if the rapture doesn't come first. But as Jacob is kind of at the end of the book of Genesis blessing his sons, he makes prophecies about all of the different sons and their future as Israel's 12 tribes. He says in Genesis 49.3, Jacob, Reuben, you are my firstborn. My might and the beginning of my strength, the excellence of dignity and the excellency of power. Then he says this about Reuben, verse four, Genesis 39. Unstable as water. Wow. You shall not excel. Because you went up to your father's bed, then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. That's something that we have studied and happened in Genesis 35. This is how Reuben, the firstborn, lost the rights of the firstborn. I mean, why is it that Jesus would come from the tribe of Judah, when Judah is the fourth born. That doesn't make any sense. Well, Reuben squandered his inheritance by acting rashly, Genesis 35. Simeon and Levi did the same thing by wiping out an entire town, Genesis 34. So Reuben's out, Simeon's out, Levi's out, the rights go to Judah. And the reason the rights went to Judah is because of Reuben's rashness, Reuben's instability. Reuben sort of doing things in his natural self, but not with the right stable framework that you would expect of the firstborn. This is why later on in Genesis 49, it says the scepter shall not depart from Judah. nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, a messianic prophecy, and to him be the obedience of the peoples. In other words, when the Messiah comes, he's coming through the tribe of Judah, not Reuben, not Simeon, and not Levi. Well, pastor, are you saying that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi aren't saved? Not saying that at all. Because when you look at the tribal allotment in the Millennial Kingdom amongst the 12 tribes as given in Ezekiel 47, you'll see the name Reuben there. You'll see the name Simeon there. And that middle section is the Levites portion. So Reuben amongst and Simeon and Levi never lost their salvation. What they lost is a privilege that they could have had. that they forfeited because they were rash and unstable. Reuben, you're as unstable as water. What's the application to us in the age of the church? I think the application is pretty easy to make. How important it is to become stabilized in the things of God. and not to become impulsive and rash and do a bunch of things out of the flesh. Because when we do that, we don't lose salvation. We're saved by grace and we're kept by grace. But I'll tell you one thing you do lose, we can lose is privileges above and beyond salvation. Ministry opportunities in the age of the church start to disintegrate. Rewards that could have been fully given at the bama seat judgment of Christ start to dissolve. The authority to rule and reign as God would have us to do in the millennial kingdom, those privileges shrink and you don't have the authority that you could have had. And so we ought not to be Christians that are as unstable as water. We ought to be people that are being built up in the things of God to become stable. Perfect people, no. But people that are not reactionary and impulsive with every life circumstance or adversity that comes our way. And that, beloved, is the purpose of church. That is why God put the gift of pastor-teacher within the church. to help those that are saved reach maturity so that they would not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that proceeds from the cunningness and the trickery of man. We're not gonna be like Reuben, as unstable as water. I'm being built up and fortified in the things of God. Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. See, Reuben had the chronological maturity, but not the spiritual maturity. There have been people that have been saved for a long time and they haven't grown. Doesn't take away one's salvation, it takes away privileges that God wants to give above and beyond salvation. To a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we will no longer be children tossed here and there by waves. Kind of sounds like the water imagery. Reuben, you're as unstable as water. by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love. How do I know I'm growing as a Christian? Because I can speak the truth in love. I'll be honest with you, speaking the truth for me is easy. Doing it in love is a different matter. We are to grow up in all aspects unto him who is the head, even Christ. For whom the whole body being fitted together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building of itself up in love. Praise God for the local church because that's the place where the Christian is to receive fortification and edification so that they become stable in the things of God. Not reactionary. and impulsive. And let God do that work in your life so you can be fully used of him and rewarded by him. And not like Reuben and Simeon and Levi who could have been the tribes through which the Messiah came and yet that privilege went to the fourth born, not the first born. So here's Ruben saying something somewhat rash. Hey, I'll take everybody back. I'll get, I'll bring Benjamin and Simeon back. And if you don't like it, you can kill your two grandchildren. You think Jacob is like, yay, what a great plan. Verse 38, but Jacob said, my son, shall not go down with you. In other words, I'm not forfeiting Benjamin to you. My son shall not go down with you for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you shall bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow. You don't get to bring Benjamin, Reuben, because if I give you Benjamin, I'm giving up the survivor of my favorite wife, the child of my favorite wife, now that Joseph is dead. He thinks that falsely, of course, but he believes it. Why would I give you Reuben as well? If I give you Reuben as well, then there's no remembrance of my favorite wife, Rachel. If Benjamin dies, then I will have lost both sons of my favored wife. And if that should happen, I'm gonna be so miserable that you're gonna be able to take my gray hair and take it down to Sheol. I'll go down to Sheol in sorrow if that should happen. Now, notice this, down to Sheol. Where is Sheol? Boy, I'm glad you asked. What Jacob is saying is, I'm so upset with this proposal that if I allow it to happen, not only am I gonna die, but my soul is going to go down to Sheol. Hence the title of this sermon, The Reality of the Afterlife. And I was hoping we'd get to this verse or else, I misnamed the sermon. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says of this, the danger to Jacob was if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. Jacob in the passage clearly anticipated going to Sheol at death and the direction of Sheol was down, not up. You might remember Jacob saying something very similar back in Genesis 37, verse 35, when he discovered that, or he thought, or was deceived into thinking that Joseph was dead. It says, and all his sons and his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, surely I will go down to Sheol, downward. in mourning for my son, so his father left him. And when we were in that verse, I showed you this quote from Arnold Fruchtenbaum, who said, Jacob's refusal is stated. He refused to be comforted, and he said, for I will go down to Sheol to my son in mourning, and his father wept for him. Where is Sheol? Sheol is the center of the earth. And before the death of the Messiah, all souls descended there upon death, but the faithful and unfaithful entered into different compartments of Sheol. This is spoken of in Luke 16, 24 through 26, the rich man who died in unbelief. Lazarus, the poor man, the believer also died. Jesus talked about this reality. And a lot of people are very afraid of what Jesus said. I don't blame him for being afraid. It's somewhat frightening. In fact, so afraid are people of what Jesus is saying here that they want to convert this into a parable. We have a problem with converting this into a parable. Jesus uses proper nouns. names of people here. Lazarus, Abraham, Moses also used at the end. That never happens in parables. Although in Luke's gospel, there's some surrounding parables. This doesn't fit the parabolic genre. This is a reality that Jesus described. In fact, this reality, unless it came from his mouth, I'm not sure I'd even believe it's true. I mean, this has to be a disclosure from the Son of God, the highest authority, to even believe such a place exists. It says in Luke 16, 24 through 26, he cried out and said, Father Abraham, this is the rich man, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may, look how physical this is, may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that during your life you received good things and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now he is being comforted here and you are in agony there. The two different sides of Sheol. And besides, all this between us and you there is a great chasm fixed so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able to, and that none may cross over from there to us. In other words, you've entered into a domain which can't be reversed. You know how this ends. I've got brothers that are going the same direction, five of them. Send somebody back to warn them. And it ends with they have Moses and the prophets. They have the word of God. If they're not gonna believe the word of God, they're not gonna believe a miracle. They won't even believe someone who comes back from the dead. They have the sufficient scripture which is capable of changing their destiny so they don't come here is what is being spoken of. Do you think Jacob had a knowledge of this place? I do, the way he talks down to Sheol, not up, down. Old Testament scholarship has done so much damage to the Bible. In this sense, I have been told in a lot of academic settings that the patriarchs had no knowledge of the afterlife. They had no knowledge of resurrection. Why would you say such a thing as an evangelical Old Testament scholar? Well, they say it because resurrection is not mentioned until Daniel 12.2, which is in the 6th century BC. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, those to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. They say that's the first reference to resurrection in the Bible, sixth century BC. You can't expect these people living in 2000 BC, much earlier to have much of a knowledge of future resurrection. And so what they say is you're reading the New Testament back into the old. Every time I hear it, I think it's wrong. I think they understood heaven and hell probably a lot better than most of us. Or else Jacob's reference going down to Sheol doesn't make any sense. Did they have a knowledge of resurrection? I mean, is this true that resurrection is a 6th century BC idea and not a patriarchal idea? Is that true? I don't think that's true at all. You remember when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Remember that? When we were in Genesis 22, about 15 to 20 years ago? Genesis 22, verse two, he says, take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering. on one of the mountains, which I tell you, the son you've waited for, now kill him." That's what God said. Genesis 22 verse five says this, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the lad will go over there, Mount Moriah, watch this now, and we will worship in return. How could he say, I'm gonna take Isaac and go over to Mount Moriah and we will come back after God said, take Isaac and kill him. Why would Abraham say we were coming back? You have to pay attention to the specific words of the Bible. Why would he say that? Because he believed in resurrection. Well, that's long before the time of Daniel. So what? Abraham believed in resurrection, he believed in the afterlife, just like we believe in it. In fact, Hebrews 11, verses 17 through 19, how come these Old Testament scholars don't consult the New Testament? They're afraid to because they think that they're reading the New Testament back into the Old Testament. The book of Hebrews clears the whole thing up. But by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. It was he, to him it was said, in Isaac your descendants shall be called. Verse 19, Hebrews 11. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead. from which he also received him back as a type. Abraham, this is the height of his faith. What was that commercial? Maybe we shouldn't talk about it, because it was a bigger commercial. It was something like, it doesn't get any better than this. And don't raise your hand if you know the commercial. When I see Abraham doing this, I think of that commercial. It doesn't get any better than this. I mean, a person's faith can't go higher than that. This is the height of Abraham, a man who messed a few things up along the way. But he said, God told me to kill Isaac, so I'm gonna kill him. And you know what? God's gonna raise him from the dead. Why would he think God is gonna raise him from the dead? Because God has made promises that can only be fulfilled through Isaac. God is gonna raise him from the dead and we're gonna come right back here. Doesn't get any better than this. That is the absolute height of faith. Book of Hebrews explains it. So believed the promises of Almighty God. that he believed that even if he obeyed the command to kill Isaac, it was a very simple thing for God to raise Isaac from the dead. Is that not a belief in resurrection? How can someone say, well, they didn't believe in resurrection back then? With that story, that account, I should say, as Joshua rightly said earlier, is in the record. I'm here to tell you folks, There's a heaven to be gained and there's a hell to be shunned. You don't have to get to the New Testament to see this. It's crystal clear even in the writings of the patriarchs. The writings of Moses recording the history of the patriarchs. And if they believed it was such limited revelation, Why is it so hard for us to believe it with the fullest revelation, the scripture? And by the way, no extra charge for this. I've been to Egypt. Egypt is a civilization next to Israel, as you know, that goes back to the time of Abraham, or perhaps earlier as well. Abraham, if our chronology is correct, likely saw what we today call the pyramids of Egypt. And the Egyptians everywhere believed in the afterlife. In fact, their tombs and what they put in the tombs was all arranged around an ironclad belief in the afterlife. And as we were exploring that ancient civilization, I asked our tour guide, Egyptian herself, how significant was the belief in the afterlife to the Egyptian culture? She said the belief in the afterlife was everything. Everything they did. revolved around their belief in the afterlife. And if a pagan civilization believed in the afterlife, how can a person say that God's monotheistic people didn't? That's crazy. Of course, the afterlife is real in Egyptian thought, just like it's real in Hebrew thought. And it should be real in your thoughts, because it is real. There's a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned. I understand that those two compartments were kind of adjusted related to the first advent of Jesus and his ascension. And if you get me going on all that, we may never get out of here. So I'm not gonna get into that. I'm just here to tell you that biblically speaking, the afterlife is real. It's just as real as this life right now. Just as real as I'm speaking to you and you can hear me is exactly what those in the afterlife are experiencing, heaven or hell. I can't think of a nicer, maybe the word nice isn't the right word, a better transition into the gospel. Because Jesus came into the world to keep us out of hell. I mean, we talk all the time about saved, saved from what? Save from this, eternal retribution. You don't have to go. I'm not going. You don't have to go either. Because you've trusted in the completed transaction of Jesus. His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension delivers us from all consequences of an eternal nature from sin, including this one. You know, as people this weekend are out shopping and enjoying life, Jesus says they are careening towards a judgment that they don't even understand is coming. And you would never understand it's coming unless you consult God's eternal word, which is enough to get us person saved. In this age of sort of psychological Motivational teaching. I think we need more messages on the reality of the afterlife. To keep people out of this horrific place. You can receive Jesus as your savior by faith alone, even as I am talking. It's not a matter of joining a church, giving money. It's a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you hear this message. and you trust in his provision, which is what it means to believe. And just like that, your eternity is changed. I hope that many, many people within the sound of my voice, either here in the building or watching or listening after the fact, will do this very thing, because this is what Jesus came into the world ultimately to accomplish. If it's something that you need more explanation on, I'm available after the service to talk. Shall we pray? Father, we're grateful for your eternal truth and your eternal word, how it speaks to us every chapter, every verse, every book. You've made it so clear. Help us to be a people that have embraced your solution to our problem. and are bold enough to share that solution with others. We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name and God's people said.