THROUGH THE BIBLE - Genesis..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well good evening everyone. I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this Resurrection Sunday.

How blessed is the Resurrection Sunday for the life of those who are found in our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the world recognizes this day as Easter. They'll take the holidays, they'll take the Friday, the holiday on the Friday and the holiday on the Monday, but very few apprehend the truths behind what Easter is, who our Savior is, that God, the Son of God, God himself would become man. And he'd come into this sin-saturated world and live a perfect, sinless life. on behalf of his people and then humble himself even to death, even to death upon that cross on behalf of his people.

He would die a death that is worthy of wretched sinners on a Roman cross, a death worthy of the vilest of people. His beard would be plucked, he would be abused, he would be beaten and hung on that cross, not as a victim, but willingly giving his life for behalf of his people. And then he would be buried for three days. But praise God, the woman came to the tomb and Jesus has risen. He has risen indeed.

He has conquered over death. Where, oh death, is your sting? Where is your victory? For those who are in Christ, we enjoy the victory over death because of what Christ has done. Because by faith we have been forgiven because of the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

So for us, beloved, for us believers who trust in the Lord, Resurrection Sunday is every day. It's at the forefront of our minds. It's how we live. It's how we breathe. Every day we're reminded of what Christ has done for us and we live our lives in light of these truths.

Amen. Amen. Let's open our Bibles now. We've come to a time of corporate reading as we always do as a family of believers. And we're up to Genesis chapter 43.

As you're all aware, we're working our way through the book of Genesis. So we're in chapter 43, still in the life of Joseph. We'll read together as a as a church and then I'll spend a few minutes just giving an overview or a summary of the chapter and then we'll hand over to our brother Nelson who will be preaching the word for us this evening. Genesis chapter 43. Now the famine was severe in the land, and when they had eaten the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food.

But Judah said to him, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel said, why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?

And they replied, the man questioned us carefully about ourselves, our kindred, saying, is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? What we told him was an answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel, his father, send the boy with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die.

Both we and you and our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. If we had not delayed, we would have returned twice.

Then their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, then do this. Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio, nuts, and almonds. Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that you returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.

Take also your brother and arise. Go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man and may he send back 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 with them and Benjamin.

They rose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the stewards of his house, bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready for the men to dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house. And they said, is it because of the money which was replaced in our sacks the first time that we are brought in so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys?

So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke to him at the door of the house. and said, Oh my Lord, we came down the first time to buy food. And when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not, we do not now know who put our money in our sacks.

He replied, Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. Then he brought Simeon out to them.

And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when they had given their donkeys fodder, they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. And he inquired about their welfare and said, is your father well? The old man of whom you spoke, is he still alive? They said, your servant, our father, is well.

He is still alive. And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son. Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep.

And he entered his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself, he said, serve the food. They served him by himself and them by themselves and the Egyptians who are with him by themselves because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.

And the men looked at one another in amazement. Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table and Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him. This is the word of the Lord. Well, the famine in the whole land continues.

And Jacob and his family have once again run out of grain. In the previous chapter, chapter 42, Jacob comes to find that there is grain in Egypt. And with the food situation reaching critical point, he sends his son to Egypt to buy food. But Benjamin, the first time around, he stays back. Jacob was not prepared to part with his beloved son, Benjamin.

He's already lost Joseph some 20 years earlier, and he still had not been able to recover from that grief. Now the journey to Egypt was certainly not uneventful. Ten brothers departed from the land of Canaan, but only nine returned. You see, Joseph had recognized his brothers, but they were oblivious to his true identity. This is not only because he'd grown up from being a teenager.

Last time they saw him he was 70 and now he's approaching 40. But also because of his attire. This Egyptian was dressed in the Egyptian dressing and all the ornaments that go with it. So he was unrecognizable to these men. But nonetheless, Joseph recognized his brothers.

And he knew who they were, and he had a plan. And his plan was to one day reunite his family, but not before his brothers were tested. So in the sovereignty of God, Joseph would discover if indeed the last 20 years have caused a true heart change in his brothers or not. He wanted to test their authenticity and the authenticity of their claim in verse 11 that said, we are honest men. That was the claim from their mouth.

So what does Joseph do? He fabricates an allegation against his siblings. And after three days of confinement, he holds to Simeon and he tells the brothers, go back home to the land of Canaan, but don't return. Don't return unless you have your youngest brother, Benjamin, with you. So last week.

we acknowledge that this is indeed grace. Our brother explained that passage for us then. Because as we read the text, it becomes apparent to us that the guilt of what they had done to Joseph some two decades ago is being surfaced by God, and their consciences are being pierced. God is doing this by His grace to give them a chance to acknowledge their sin and their evil act, and to come to Him in repentance true repentance. Beloved, if you are a true child of God, you would know what a peace conscience feels like.

And you would acknowledge that although it hurts and it's not pleasant, it is grace. When the brothers returned to Canaan, Jacob is told of what had happened. But even after desperate pleas by these brothers, and even the eldest, Reuben, putting his own son's lives at stake, Jacob stubbornly forbids his son, Benjamin, to make the return trip with them. You see, his love for Benjamin far outweighed his love for Simeon. it far outweighed his love, it seemed, for all his sons.

Now time had passed, and the famine continued, and the food they'd brought out of Egypt had now again run out. So we don't know how long it's been since they've returned from Egypt. And therefore we don't know how long Simeon has been held by Joseph. But we do know around two years or about two years into the famine at this point, we know this in the next chapter. And we know that Jacob now comes to his sons once again and says, go to Egypt, go again, we need some food.

But we know the text tells us that Judah stands up and says, we refuse to go unless you send us Benjamin. He reminds his aged father that this was the express instruction of the governor of Egypt. So now Jacob finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Either he yields and sends his beloved son, or his whole family perishes in starvation. It's at this point that Judah rises up and gives his father the assurance that he can be entrusted to protect Benjamin.

He can be entrusted to bring Benjamin home. He's basically putting his own life on the line. You see, Judah is assuming the lead role now, and we need to recognize this. Reuben has lost the respect of his father. We know why.

He had relations with his father's concubine. And his next two sons, that is Simeon and Levi, well, they brought shame to the family in their unbecoming conduct when they, in their unrestrained anger, went out and slaughtered all the men in Shechem. We remember that story. That was avenging the defiling of their sister Dina. So Judah now stands up, and he bears the responsibility for Benjamin.

But what a change. Only 20 years earlier, it was Judah's idea to sell Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. Has he become a new man? Well, from his words, it seems like he's repented from his evil ways. It seems like now he's willing to put his own life on the line for his brother, Benjamin.

But beloved, talk is cheap. It's so easy to say the right things at the right time in order to get what you want. But the true test of authenticity, the true test of faithfulness, is if one is able or prepared to act upon his words, even if your life is at stake. Soon Judah will be tested exactly in this way and his true colors will be on display. And he passes the test.

Now so much is going on beneath this passage with the sanctifying work of our Lord in the souls of the brothers, but I believe that the Spirit of God is also working on the heart of Jacob. And I say this because I believe that the patriarch has a problem, and I believe his problem is with idolatry. It's not very clear because we can easily justify Jacob's reluctance to send Benjamin, for many reasons, all that he has from Rachel. That's a good enough reason. His beloved wife has passed away.

Or he doesn't trust his sons with the care of Benjamin. He may not have known of the crime that they committed some 20 years ago, but I'm sure he knew their character. And I understand all that. But the truth is staring us in the face. You see a close examination of the last two chapters and will realize that Benjamin has become Jacob's purpose for living, even his source of joy.

That's idolatry. Beloved, purpose and joy ought to be found and rooted in God alone. And Jacob knew this, but I believe he needed to be reminded once again. So now by allowing Benjamin to depart to Egypt, Jacob is having to trust wholly in God. Do you realize what he does when he makes the decision to allow his son to go?

He turns to God and he prays that he be merciful to whom? To all his sons. To all his sons that are going to Egypt. Not only to Benjamin. And the you in verse 14 is plural, although we don't see it as clearly in our English, but the you is plural.

He petitions God not only for Benjamin, But he also even names Simeon, and he desires the return of Simeon. Finally, finally, Jacob is sounding like a godly father. A father who loves all his sons, and not only the ones of his choice. This is God's sovereign grace, beloved. God's sovereign work in the life of his people.

Beloved, when we find ourselves pressed and having no good options to choose from, we must trust that God is orchestrating all the events around our life for the good of His own people. And primarily, that good is to be holy as He is holy. That means for us Christians, that is to grow into the image of Jesus Christ. It is to be more like the beloved Savior. The process hurts, and it's not always immediate.

You see, Jacob still has some self-pity. It's obvious he oozes through the text, but God is refining him, and that cannot be denied. So when the men arrive in Egypt, they're taken to Joseph's home to feast with him, and although Joseph has not harbored any resentment towards them, his brothers remain fearful. Why would the governor of Egypt welcome us into his home? They're afraid, and even their paranoia has convinced them that Joseph wants to enslave them somehow, and because they didn't pay for their food on their last trip, they even say, and this is what anxiety does, that the second most powerful man in the land had a purpose to take their donkeys.

Think about that for a moment. It sounds pretty silly, and it is, but that's anxiety. It fabricates a myth and causes someone to believe that myth. But I want you to take note of the steward's response in verse 23. When they offer to return the money, he says, peace to you.

Don't be afraid. And hear these beautiful words. Your God and the God of your father has put these treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. How did the steward know about the God of their father?

Why would an Egyptian man speak so favorably about the God of Israel? You see, it's because Joseph was unashamed of God. and he obviously didn't remain silent either. You see, God's people cannot remain silent about the goodness and the greatness of their God, even in a pagan land. Now in the home of Joseph, they will be subject to another one of his tests.

After sitting them down in order of age, and that alone has freaked these men out, They're given food to eat, but not any food. So if you realize the text tells us the food came from the governor's own table. Beloved, these men are being honored. But then there's a twist. See, Benjamin receives five times more food than the rest.

You got to ask why? Why does he receive five times more food than the rest? You see, what was the response of the brothers the last time this sort of bias or partiality was experienced? You can just remember back. How did they respond way back to Jacob's partiality towards Joseph?

Well, we can say it didn't end well for Joseph. Will they act with the same jealousy now? Will they expose the envy of their heart now, not to Joseph, but to Benjamin, who seems to be honored by this governor, this governor of Egypt, or have they learned their lesson in the last 20 years or so? Well, the text tells us it seems like they passed the test. Because the last words of this chapter, although difficult to translate in the Hebrew, I'm no Hebrew scholar and I'm only going by what they say, it infers that they ate and drank and were merry.

And that word for merry is intoxicated, but in the context it means to be merry. You see, they were unbothered with the portions and it seemed that the sanctifying grace of God had worked wonders in their hearts already. Probably a lot more to go, but it's evident God is at work in the heart of His covenant people. Throughout this book, beloved, we see two parallels. Two parallels working side by side.

One is God in achieving or fulfilling His promises with His sovereign hand. And the parallel on the other side is God sanctifying his people along the way. These two go tandem. They go hand in hand for the people of God of all generations. And so brothers and sisters, if you belong to Christ, you've been saved and forgiven by our resurrected savior.

If you are one with him, then you too are being sanctified. You see, the Messiah born from this people that God has preserved through famines and wars and plagues, then you must believe that if you believe in this Jesus, that He, that is Christ, God through Christ, is supernaturally working in and through you to make you holy. And you see, Paul reminds us of this truth when he says in the book of Philippians, he who began a good work, in you will bring you to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Beloved, do we believe these things? If we do, we need to rejoice because we're found in Christ and he is our righteousness.

Amen.