Sunday Night, February 9, 2020 PM

Them to confront their own sins, the sins that they had committed against him and indeed against their own father. And so he imprisoned Simeon, the second oldest, he imprisoned Simeon in Egypt and he gave instructions to his brothers, and they have no idea who he is, but 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, who they had 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 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 going to let him come. They're going to have to come back to get Simeon because he's now in prison in Egypt.

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 because 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. And he gets sold down to Egypt. So Joseph in his wisdom, his God-given wisdom, has reconstructed the whole situation again. They have a brother enslaved in Egypt.

He's in prison in Egypt. There's money on the line, the money he put into their sacks. Will 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 going to 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 their father and told him all the conditions. And he would hear none of it. Oh, I'm not going to send Benjamin back with you. We're not going to hear any more of it. So the situation is closed.

We're not going to talk about it any longer. 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.

Jacob Faces the Famine and Judah Demands Benjamin

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. Judah 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, the man questioned particularly about us and our relatives saying, is your father still alive? Have you another brother? So he answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, bring your brother down?

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 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 may 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.

Let me pray for us. Father, I thank you for the reading of your word and our time tonight has been a blessing already. I pray that you would help us to rightly understand this text and to apply it in the way that would be most glorifying to you and for our most good.

I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. It's interesting that the Thanksgiving time, Ms. Vonda talks about, you know, how are 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 a 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, 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, then 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.

It's how Jacob finds peace here. Find peace by trusting Christ your 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. I mean, 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 going to face a very bitter end.

Lamentations 4 .9 says, better are those slain with the sword than those slain with hunger. It's a 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.

We 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 is 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 is he going to do? 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 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 going to back down here. He says, look, if you will send our brother with us, we'll go down. But if you don't, we're not going. I mean, this statement that Joseph said, you will not see my face, has some very strong overtones, does it not, when we remember Pharaoh saying the same thing to Moses.

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.

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 Jacob in that. But I think the main point here in verses one 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 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, surely by now we could have returned twice. Now 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 to his 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, saying, my two sons for your son. Judah does something different, doesn't he?

He puts himself in the place of his brother, the one who is 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, then I will bear the blame before you forever.

So it's a brotherly covenant, it's a brotherly promise. So Judah stakes his name, his 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 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 necessity a future thing. I pledge myself, if in case this is necessary, this is what will happen.

It's a kind of, it's 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 what's going on.

This is why Jacob could have some peace. This is why he can live in hope. So if we're going to 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 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 in things pertaining 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 from underneath the blade of the fear of death, and all these things.

And for whatever confidence that Jacob could have that Judah pledged himself as surety, Judah's greater son is our surety and our exchange. So we can be confident. We can have peace by trusting in the sovereign surety that we have in Christ.

Jacob’s Faith in God Almighty and the Sovereign Hand of Christ

But notice how Jacob is confident in the sovereignty of God in verses 11 through 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, is 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 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're not 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.

And 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 would lose Benjamin, that his sons would die. Even when his sons went and fought and 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 lineage, of the survival of his sons. His greatest fear is that he's going to lose his sons. 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 may God Almighty... Do you hear it?

May 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.

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 am 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 Jacob's faith cuts through all of the questions.

This is what can often paralyze us in fear. But his 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 story, we may say, well, now the die is cast. But it's every decision is of the Lord. So he puts himself into the hands of the sovereign God. Remember, David made the same choice, did he not?

He was offered three punishments against the nation. He put himself in the hands of God Almighty and his compassions. So verse 15, the men took this present, took double the money in their hand. And Benjamin and Naomi rose 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, entrusting 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 your hands, I commit my spirit.

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 as our surety. So how are we doing? Well, sometimes it would be 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, right? We repent from complaints. I think one of the clearest measures of our faith has to do with complaining, 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? 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 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've 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. We 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 lackluster efforts, from our hampered 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.

Peter preached this way at Pentecost. He said, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge 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. 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 bondservants 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 to preach anymore in the name of Christ, otherwise you're going to be imprisoned or worse. And all they've got to do is look back at the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, recognizing the sovereignty of God in 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 sufferings of Christ, our Savior, for our everlasting good, we can continue to trust his sovereign hand and everything else. The big thing's 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 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? 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 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 his only begotten Son into his right hand.

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? Trusting 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 you have, but also trust in God. 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. 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. Oliver Cromwell took all of that and said this, trust God and keep your powder dry, 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 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? That's like me trying to be in control of my circumstances and my problems.

Right? I'm just worried I'm going to 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 length to your days or add anything to your stature?

Does it really accomplish anything? And the answer, of course, is no. He reigns from the right hand and he's brought us to God. And God is our father by 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 can be confidently out of control.

Let's close by singing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.