Sunday Night, February 9, 2020 PM

To confront their own sins the sins that they had committed against him and deed against their own father

And so he imprisoned Simeon the second oldest he had imprisoned Simeon in Egypt and he gave instructions to his brothers and they have no idea who he is, but they he gives instructions to them that They're not allowed to come back and see his face and buy more grain or rescue

Simeon or any of it Unless they bring back this other brother. They speak of the youngest at home may have left behind They left him behind because Jacob was still playing favorites and this was the only remaining son of his favorite wife and he was by no means going to allow

Benjamin to go down to To Egypt and so Joseph is really pressing them hard and forcing them to make some decisions here

He's made it hard on them in several ways He has said you must bring

Benjamin back He wants to know how they're going to treat them. He wants to know if his father's gonna let him come

They're gonna have to come back to get Simeon because he's now in prison in Egypt Okay, and to make everything really hard on them

He took their money that they had used to buy the feed the grain and he put it back in their sacks

And sent them back with the money So now they have all the ingredients there that was to tempt them that were there previously the situation has been

Reconstructed in a way they sold their brother down to Egypt for 20 shekels of silver they're willing to Get rid of their father's favorite son

They're angry with their father and Joseph that there's this favoritism going on and they're willing to get rid of the favorite son for a bit of money

Okay, and and he gets sold down to Egypt. So now he so Joseph in his wisdom as God -given wisdom has

Reconstructed the whole situation again. They have a brother enslaved in Egypt. He's in prison in Egypt Okay, there's money on the line the money he put into their sacks well, they just take the money and run and leave

Simeon to rot and You have to bring the favorite son down to Egypt and he's gonna press the

Situation again to see what they'll do when the favorite son the one that they resent Is put in danger.

He's setting everything up because they need to be confronted with their sin They're already feeling pretty guilty as he had them all in jail for a moment before he gave them all these conditions

He overheard them speaking with one another and they're saying now comes the reckoning for the blood of our brother

They feel very guilty about what they did to Joseph and they really feel like they're getting what they deserve now so all that being said they went home and they were very alarmed to find that the money was in their sacks and they spoke with her father and told him all the conditions and He would hear none of it.

I'm not gonna send Benjamin back with you. This is not you know We're not gonna hear any more of it. So the so the situation is closed.

We're not going to talk about it any longer and but of course the problem is They're running out of food

So this now reopens the topic of Discussion.

So that's where we are now in Genesis chapter 43 and verses 1 through 15

Now the famine was severe in the land So it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt their father said to them go back

Buy us a little food Judas Judas spoke to him. However saying the man solemnly warned us.

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 do not send him we will not go down for the man said to us You will not see my face unless your brother was with you

Then Israel said Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother

They said and questioned particularly about us and our relatives saying is your father still alive?

Have you another brother so we answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say bring your brother down?

Judas said to his father Israel send the lad with me And we will arise and go that we may live and not die

We as well as you and our little ones I myself will be surety for him You may hold me responsible for him

But not bring him back to you and set him before you then. Let me bear the blame before you forever

For if we had not delayed surely by now we could have returned twice And their father

Israel said to them if it must be so then do this Take some of the best products of the land in your bags and carry down to the man as a present a little balm and a little honey aromatic gum and myrrh pistachio nuts and almonds

Take double the money in your hand and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks

Perhaps it was a mistake Take your brother also And arise return to the man and make

God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man So that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin and as for me

If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved So the men took this present and they took double the money in their hand and Benjamin Then they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph We pray for us.

All right. Thank you for the reading of your word and our Our time tonight has been a blessing already

I pray that you would help us to to rightly understand this text and to Apply it

In the way that would be most glorifying to you for our most good pray these things in Jesus name

It's interesting that the Thanksgiving time miss Bonnie talks about you know, how do you supposed to respond to this question?

How are you doing? It's a very common question How are you doing and we all have our ways of Responding to this very common greeting

So Someone says fine Fine Fine fine

Lots of different ways to answer that If you're old enough, you're allowed to say fair to middlin. I Tried it to the day and they said you're not old enough

Better than I deserve. That's common way to answer. It's a good way to answer What about if every once in a while we said this confidently out of control

CoC I'm CoC. I'm confidently out of control. This is a situation that Jacob finds himself in He's confidently out of control

You know, it's a I mean, we're really good at keeping our wagons in the rut, right?

We're good at polishing our sterling routine Doing what we do and getting it done

But when the comforts of familiarity When the comforts of competency are taken away, we don't tend to handle it very well

Right. I'm out of my league. I'm out of my comfort zone. These are the things that we say And if that's the case that our trust is quite simply misplaced

The more trust we place in our capacities the more trust we place in our own character the less fine we're doing and It's much better to disavow

Personal sovereignty. It's better to be confident in somebody else's control, isn't it? How do we find peace we find peace by trusting

Christ as our sovereign surety? That's how we find peace. That's how Jacob finds peace here

Find peace by trusting Christ or sovereign surety and that's why we can be confidently out of control

We need to be confident in our surety we see this in verses 1 through 10 Jacob and his family

Cannot continue to stay as they have been verse 1 says the famine was severe in the land The famine was severe in the land.

They can't continue to wander around and graze the sheep They can't sustain their flocks or their family.

Something's got to give them and they just can't keep on with the routine that they so desire to maintain

Jacob must face the inevitable Having to send his sons back down to Egypt or he's gonna face a very bitter end

Lamentations 4 9 says better are those slain with the sword than those slain with hunger

The terrible way to die So here comes a fearful confrontation fearful confrontation

He needs to be confident in Some kind of surety, but here's a fearful confrontation in verse 1

So it came about when they had finished eating the grain Which they had brought from Egypt that their father said to them go back and buy us a little food

Do we see how Jacob delayed here I Mean Judah mentions it. I mean we could have gone back and forth twice by now.

Do you see how his fear? Paralyzes him and then affects his entire family

Because he doesn't want to face the hard facts. And so he just freezes and they wait until They have no other option

You see what the anxiety does what the fear does? He dreads the prospect and so he doesn't even come up with a really good idea here.

He just tries to Whistle past the graveyard. He says Why don't you guys go down there and buy us a little food all sorts of problems with this

He doesn't want to face the reality of what? The Prince of Egypt told his sons.

He must bring Benjamin back. He doesn't even mention Simeon He just says go get us a little food.

I Mean, he's not even dealing with the fact that one of his sons is in prison in Egypt But what

Jacob does not want to consider Judah forces him to confront Judah spoke to him. However saying the man solemnly warned us.

You shall not see my face unless your brother was with you We find that Jacob is hard -pressed between two powers the

God crafted famine That is gnawing on his household and the

God -ordained Prince of Egypt demanding obedience What he's gonna do he just at this point he realizes he is not the master of his own destiny

He cannot chart his own course. He has to give one way or the other But his irrational response is just saying

You know go fix it. So Judah said speaks for all of Jacob's remaining sons when he says no

We're not doing it unless you send Benjamin with us And this is a very strong appeal to authority, but he really is not gonna back down here

He says look if you will send up if you will send our brother with us will go down But if you don't we're not going

I mean this this statement that that Joseph said you will not see my face

It has some very strong overtones. Does it not when we remember? Pharaoh saying the same thing to Moses.

This is this is this is not a I'll be too busy for you. This is a threat.

And so Judah says we're not going back down unless we have Benjamin with us and so Then Jacob complains so we go from the fearful confrontation to some foolish complaining.

I notice what Jacob does He says why did you treat me so badly?

By telling the man that you still had another brother and then Judah takes the time to point out What a silly complaint that is

But is this not what often comes out of our mouths when we realize we're out of control

We're hard -pressed and there's all sorts of problems that we cannot solve and all of a sudden very foolish complaints are coming out of our mouth and we can relate to Jacob in that But I think the main point here in verses 1 through 10 is a brotherly covenant here

Judah takes the initiative and offers himself as Surety to his father for his brother

Benjamin he offers himself as surety to his father For his brother

Benjamin essentially putting himself into Benjamin's place saying I will stand in for Benjamin Judah said to his father

Israel send the lad with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die We as well as you and our little ones

I have myself will be surety for him and you may hold me responsible for him If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you then let me bear the blame before you forever

For if we had not delayed sure that by now we could have returned twice Now this this offer is set into contrast with the one that Reuben made in the previous chapter

Reuben trying to convince his father to let them go back down and get the grain Said it was father

Let us take Benjamin. We'll go back down. We'll buy the grain if something bad happens to Benjamin. You can kill my two sons

And in this we see that Reuben is putting himself on the same level as his father Okay saying my two sons for your son

Okay Judah does something different, doesn't he? He puts himself in the place of his brother

The one who was at risk and he says to his father. I Will be surety for him.

I Will be surety for him send him with me and I will make sure that he gets back even at the cost of my own

Life and if for some reason it doesn't happen That I will bear the blame before you forever

So it's it's a brotherly Covenant, it's a brotherly promise

So Judah stakes is his name is standing Before his father on how he will care for how he will watch over how he will put himself in the place of Benjamin Reuben offers the lives of others for Benjamin Judah offers himself.

Do we see that? It was after this After this promise that Judah makes that Jacob relents after he has this confidence that Judah himself will be surety for Benjamin then he agrees

And begins to make plans for his sons to go back down to Egypt We're seeing that Jacob is living in fear.

Is he not this is why they delay this is why they haven't gone back down This is why he's complaining Jacob is living in fear because he can't control the situation

His heel grabbing skills are not going to help him here. All right, this is not taking advantage of Esau This is not pulling the wool over Laban's eyes, right?

This is only There's nothing he can do and it's only this when Judah offers himself a surety for his brother that Jacob then has some degree of Release.

Okay. All right, we can do this Now the word Judah uses here when he says I'll make my I'll be a surety for him

The word he uses means to take on a pledge or to give in pledge to exchange.

That's what the word That's what the word means So Judah has pledged himself in exchange for his brother

When the scribes in Alexandria translated the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek they used a word

Which means to wait for expect and to look forward to and what are they?

What are the scribes understanding about the offer? well it's because it was offering hope to Jacob and saying a pledge is by necessary by Necessity a future thing.

I pledge myself if in case this is necessary. This is what will happen It's a kind of a future thing.

And so it's giving Jacob hope For the future that Benjamin will indeed come back

Because Judah has pledged himself in place of his brother. So that's that's what's going on This is why

Jacob could have some peace is why he can live in hope So If we're gonna be confidently out of control, the question is brothers and sisters.

Do we have a surety? do we have a Surety, can we pray along with the psalmist

Psalm 119 122 be surety for your servant for good Do we have a claim on that?

Can we pray to God and say to him to pray to God and say be surety for us

Well, God has offered himself as a surety. He has indeed pledged himself in exchange for those that he would call his

Brothers indeed. He is not ashamed to call us Brethren and God has given given us

Christ God has proclaimed his name the name of Christ to his brethren in the midst of the congregation.

We sing his praise Hebrews 2 17 says he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertain to God to make propitiation for the sins of The people it is by this exchange that God has made our brother for us

That Christ brings many sons to glory. He brings us out of the prisons of sin out of the chains of guilt brings us out of from underneath the blade of the fear of death in all these things and For whatever confidence that Jacob could have that Judah pledged himself as surety

Judah's greater son is our surety in our our exchange so We can be confident

We can have peace by trusting in the sovereign surety of that we have in Christ But notice how

Jacob is confident in the sovereignty of God in verses 11 to 15 See Jacob realizes this is out of his hands and so he begins to arrange for some gifts

Now, what do you think about this list of gifts make a pretty good?

What care package for a hospital visit maybe? Hospitality committee, you know put out dozens of those right?

Doesn't sound like a lot does it? But what makes this gift significant I would think especially in the eyes of the ones giving it that they are enduring great famine

They don't have a lot of food left and so they are giving of their greatest that they have whatever it is and so Jacob's doing his best.

This is kind of sparse compared to remember the gift he gave to Esau That was a kingly gift

This is this is this seems to be not so much verse 11 But he does what he can and There does seem to be a little bit of remember the confusion about the money they found in their sacks

And so Jacob says all right in addition to this gift that we're going to give him as best as we can You're also going to take back the money that was in your sacks plus money to buy the more grains

You're bringing back double Because we need to do what we can to alleviate any problems when you get down there so, you know accused of being thieves and then be imprisoned or worse and then finally

He concedes the critical point in verse 13 take your brother also and in this way he tries to in Conceding the point you've got to go back down to Egypt.

He tries to do whatever he can to make it the best he possibly can make it and Now we have a confession of faith

Jacob is a man of faith Hebrews 11 21 reminds us that Jacob is a man of faith and What was his greatest fear

What was his greatest fear that he that he would lose Benjamin that his sons would die

Even when his sons went and fought the and it will actually just out and out killed all the men of Shechem he was rebuking them for making his name odious amongst the countrymen and even then he's worried about the survival of his of his lineage of the

Survival of his son his greatest fear is that he's going to lose his sons. He's good. He's already lost Joseph He believes he's already lost

Joseph. He's about to lose Benjamin. He fears that deeply but then notice what? He does he lays his greatest fear squarely into the hands of the all -powerful creator and make

God Almighty you hear it Make God Almighty Grant you compassion in the sight of the man so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin Now listen and as for me if I am bereaved of my children

I am bereaved that That pattern of speech does that remind you of anybody else?

Esther doesn't that remind you of Esther? Yeah the faith -filled resolve

Esther spoke 1 ,200 years later Has its roots here

Wherein Jacob lays his greatest fear into the hands of an almighty God if I bereaved of my children

I am bereaved I Think we see here that Jacob's Trust is honed and sharpened

To the precision edge of God's power and that is why They Jacob's faith cuts through all of the questions

This is what can often paralyze us in fear But as faith cuts through all of the questions it slices past all the objections

To the heart of the matter that everything balances on God's sovereign power Everything balances on God's sovereign power

John Gill says God has the hearts of all men in his hands kings princes governors even those who are the most cruel and hard -hearted rough and severe in their tempers and dispositions and So in a particular way we see in the text as seeing the story we may we make say well now the die is cast

But as every decision is of the Lord So he puts himself into the hands of the sovereign

God remember David made the same choice that he not when he was offered three punishments against the nation.

He put himself in the hands of God Almighty and his compassions So verse 15 the man took this present took double the money in their hand and Benjamin they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph I think it's good to remember

It was Christ's confidence in the sovereign goodness of his father that bore him along in his sufferings in our place and for our sake

He suffered as our surety in trusting himself to his father's Sovereignty in John 14 31.

He said so that the world may know that I love the father. I Do exactly as the father?

Commanded me. I remember he said not my will but thine He said into my into your hands.

I commit my Spirit and and I think he shows us what we're supposed to do.

We find peace by trusting Christ as our sovereign Surety the sovereignty of God and Christ is our surety

So, how are we doing? Well, sometimes the appropriate to say that we're confidently out of control

And what does that mean that we are confident in Christ? Well First of all, it means we repent from complaints

All right, we repent from complaints. I think one of the clearest measures of our faith has to do with complaining

All right, the depth of our faith may be assessed by the shallowness of our complaints

The depth of our faith may be measured by the shallowness of our complaints Do we complain like Jacob and his was indefensible whining?

irrational grumping There may be good things to complain about the psalmist complains about a lot of things and some of those things are very good things to complain about Okay But just how deep is the complaint here?

How does it affect our mouths to know that Christ our surety reigns as our sovereign how does it affect our mouths

How did it affect Job's mouth? Point you just you just have to clamp the hand over.

How did it affect Paul's mouth? All right, Paul made some complaints.

Okay, but how did it affect him? What are the what are the things that he felt that were needful complaints versus those things that he could finally just do without Trusting Christ also means redirecting our confidence

We got to cease all confidence In our own ability to do well to elevate our name Our confidence has to be in Christ We cannot proceed in obedience

Unless we have confidence in Christ's righteousness His name for our sake before the piercing holiness of God Matthew Henry says unless we bring

Christ along with us in the arms of our faith We cannot see the face of God with comfort

You can't see the face of God with comfort unless we bring Christ along with us in the arms of faith so we've got to redirect our confidence from our

You know lackluster efforts From our Hanford abilities. We've got to redirect confidence from us to Christ and his finished work

Our confidence has to be in the one who does have control and we see that he is absolutely in control of everything

When we look at the cross of Jesus Christ Now Peter preached this way at Pentecost He said this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and for knowledge of God You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death

But God raised him up again Putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power

So what is he saying you killed Christ whom God predetermined would die? That you thought you were murdering

This false Messiah, but in fact, he is the Son of God and God had ordained for him to die in this way

The same thing was prayed in Acts 4 For truly in this city they were gathered against your holy servant

Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate Along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur

And now Lord take note of their threats and grant that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence

Right confidence. Where's the confidence coming from? The fact that God is absolutely in control. They're under persecution

They're being told to be quiet not not to preach anymore in the name of Christ Otherwise, you're gonna be imprisoned or worse and all they do got to do is look back at the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross

Recognizing the sovereignty of God and all things and say in light of this Help us to preach with confidence if you know, listen if we can trust in God's sovereign hand and the sovereignty of God Sufferings of Christ our

Savior for our everlasting good. We can continue to trust his sovereign hand and everything else

The big things been settled so we can trust God for everything else, right? And trusting

Christ also means restricting caution restricting caution I mean

Although we can do what we can in all wisdom and we can righteously Steward the resources that God has given to us.

We cannot go on forever making plans All right. We just can't just keep on making plans making plans and eliminating all variables

God desires obedience more than sacrifice He desires faithful childlike adherence more than presuppositional precision

Is there going to be failure? Is there is the inadequacy going to be made obvious? Are we going to end up giving offense to others?

Sure Yeah, like, you know toddlers washing dishes, of course, there's going to be inadequacy

But we have to apply Paul's appeal. Don't we not do we not like in Philemon Philemon 1 17 through 18?

He says if you then regard me as a partner Accept him Onesimus the offender accept him as you would me

Philemon And of course Philemon thinks the world of Paul He's saying think of Onesimus like you would think of me

But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything charge that to my account Listen, that's

Christ's position for us So, okay So if we if we continue to just plan and plan and plan because we want to eliminate all inadequacy eliminate all

Possible failure then we're not really trusting in Christ okay, it's fine to go ahead and obey and whenever there's failure along the way and inadequacy and so on and so forth put that on Christ's account

Put that on Christ's account The father regards and accepts those born again by the

Spirit as he would his only begotten son to his right hand We don't have we we

Might just have too much caution to actually act right John Calvin writes, we must attend to both these points whenever we are perplexed in any business

Right trust in God and having to do what we need to We must not omit any of those things which are expedient or which may seem to be of use

And yet we must place our reliance upon God. So use what's expete use what you have But also trust in God with the tranquility of faith has no affinity with laziness

He who expects a Prosperous issues of his affairs from the Lord Will at the same time look closely at the means which are in his power and will apply them to present use you want success

You got to work Meanwhile, let the faithful observe this moderation that when they have tried all means they still ascribe nothing to their own industry

All right work as hard as you can but don't don't pat yourself on the back At the same time let them be certainly convinced that all their endeavors will be in vain unless the

Lord bless them depends on the Lord All of our Cromwell took all of that and said this trust

God and keep your powder dry All right, trust God and keep your powder dry

And he was leading a revolution. So that Trusting Christ also means retaining character. What do we see about Jacob?

He doesn't just Play loose. He says take the money back pay the money back

There may have been some mistake Let's make sure that there is no misunderstanding here about our integrity and and finally trusting

Christ means releasing control Releasing control. That's what

Jacob did If you put me in the cockpit of a sky crane All I'm going to be doing is holding on and hope

I don't do something catastrophic Okay It's like me trying to be in control of my circumstances in my problem, right?

I'm just worried I'm gonna do something catastrophic and it's a paralyzing kind of thing Jesus says that worry accomplishes

Nothing, right? Can anyone you by worrying and anxiety, you know add any links to your days or add anything to your stature?

Does it really accomplish anything? And the answer of course is no He is he rains from the right hand and he's brought us to God He and God is our father by Christ Christ and through Christ God provides all that we need

So as Jacob prayed for the mercy of God Almighty and as Christ prayed for God's will to be done

So we are to release control as we prayerfully cast all of our cares on the one who cares for us

And in that way we could be confidently Out of control. Let's close by singing the doxology