But look at Genesis 43, verse number 23.
Genesis 43, verse 23, the Bible reads,
and he said, peace be to you, fear not,
your God and the God of your father
have given you treasure in your sacks.
The title for the sermon tonight
is treasure in your sacks, treasure in your sacks.
So tonight I'm gonna be preaching
about a spiritual sack that you have, okay?
Now very quickly, just the literal reading of this
is if you remember the story from a couple weeks ago,
we were looking at how the brothers of Joseph,
remember they were hungry, they went to Egypt,
they got their food, they were traveling back.
Not only were their sacks full of food,
but it was also full of the money
that they paid for the food, okay?
And so they received, as it were, a double blessing.
Not only did they have food,
they had the cost of the food there as well,
and so there was treasure in their sacks.
And brethren, we need to look at this story,
we need to take the spiritual lessons
that we can from here, and we all have spiritual sacks.
You know, as a child of God, as someone that is saved,
born again in Christ, we've all not just been saved,
but we've been given a sack, a spiritual sack,
and we've been given great treasures in that sack.
So as we go through this story in this chapter,
we wanna take the spiritual lessons and see,
you know, what treasures do we contain
in our spiritual sacks?
Verse number one, and the famine was sore in the land.
So remember, how long was this famine?
Seven years, right?
They got food, they went to Egypt,
they've come back, we're not sure how long
they've been feeding, eating the food
that they collected the first time,
but the famines continued.
The famine has continued, it was sore in the land.
Verse number two, and it came to pass
when they had eaten up the corn,
which they had brought out of Egypt,
their father said unto them,
go again and buy us a little food.
So again, there it is, they've run out of food,
they need to go back to Egypt,
they need to get food once again,
or they're gonna go hungry,
they're going to potentially die from hunger.
Verse number three, and Judas spake unto him, saying,
the man did solemnly protest unto us, saying,
you shall not see my face except your brother be with you.
If thou wilt send our brother with us,
we will go down and buy thee food.
But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down,
for the man said unto us, you shall not see my face
except your brother be with you.
So who's the brother they're referring to there?
That's Benjamin, the youngest brother.
Joseph, of course, just remembering the story,
identified his brothers,
and he hadn't seen his full-blooded brother
in many, many years, and his desire
was that they would bring back Benjamin with them
so he could lay his eyes upon his youngest brother.
But I want you to notice,
what is bringing them to this need, this need for food?
We know it's this drought, okay?
Now, what's quite interesting about this is,
have you ever wondered what is this,
why is this happening in the land, right, in Egypt?
Why is this famine happening in the land of Canaan?
What's the purpose of this?
I mean, obviously, this is something God set in motion.
God gave a dream to Pharaoh that this was going to happen.
Why did God give them seven years of plenty
in the land of Egypt,
and why did God allow these seven years of drought?
You know, I mean, that's quite an important question,
because this is affecting entire nations.
This is affecting most of the population in the land, right?
This is a big deal.
Have you ever wondered, what's the purpose behind it?
Well, if we just look at our Bibles,
you know, there's no other reason except for two things.
Number one, to promote Joseph to second in command,
and number two, to bring the family reunited once again.
I mean, think about that.
I mean, that's what we learned from the Bible, right?
And so, this is seven years of famine.
They've run out of food.
They've got to go back to Egypt.
They've got to go back and face Joseph.
And I was just contemplating that.
God, would you really do that?
Would you really cause the land to flourish,
cause the land to go through famine,
cause all these hardships on the people just for Joseph?
Yes, yes, and I was just thinking, well, that's amazing,
that for Joseph's sake, for him to be taken out of prison
to be promoted second in charge of all of Egypt
and be reunited with his family,
God allowed these 14 years, you know, 14 years,
seven years of plenty, and these seven years of famine
just for Joseph, just for a child of God.
He caused this discomfort throughout the entire land.
And you know what I thought of immediately
when I was looking at this and just contemplating it?
You know, I think of Romans 8.28.
I know this is a very famous passage
that is often read, Romans 8.28, but yet it is so true.
And we know, it says, and we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to his purpose.
And we know that all things work together for good.
All things, brethren.
You know, these seven years of famine,
was it hard on the people of the land?
Absolutely, but you know what it was doing?
It was working good things to Joseph.
You know, God had to allow this
so Joseph could benefit from it.
You know, quite often when we think of this passage,
we think about the hardships we go through, right?
The very personal things that we face,
maybe relationships, maybe our finances,
maybe our jobs, maybe illnesses that we may have.
We think about these things.
We often look at this passage and say,
well, God, these difficulties,
these hardships I'm going through,
you mean it for good, you mean it for good.
But there is a condition.
There is a condition in that verse.
I'll just read it once again.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that love God.
It's not just that you are saved.
It's not just that your sins are forgiven
and you're on your way to heaven.
You know, there are many Christians, many saved people
that just do not really love God, right?
You say, well, how do we love him?
Well, you know, very easily, there's two ways.
You know, John 14, 15 says,
if you love me, keep my commandments.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
How can you be a judge of how much you love God?
Well, how well do you keep the commandments of God?
How well do you keep the commandments of Christ?
And if you're doing a poor job on it, guess what?
You're not loving God.
You're not loving God if you're doing a poor job
in the commandments, right?
Doing the things that Christ has asked you to do.
If you're not doing them, you don't love God.
Now you're saved, you're saved,
but you're not loving God.
And here's the thing.
If we want all things to work together for good,
you have to love the Lord.
You can't just think it's gonna happen
just because you're saved.
No, you gotta be saved and loving the Lord
and keeping the commandments, living a righteous life.
We see Joseph, even in his hardships in prison, right,
being sold as a slave, he still served God.
He still had a heart for God.
He still fellowshiped with God.
He still did that which was right
even when he caused him problems,
when he caused him difficulties.
He still did what was right.
And God said, well, this is a man that loves me.
I'm gonna make sure all things work together for good.
Yes, even a famine.
Even seven years of famine is for the purpose of Joseph
that he would benefit from that.
So it's not just, it's keeping the commandments,
but I should say John 8 42.
John 8 42 says, Jesus said unto them,
if God were your Father, ye would love me,
for I proceeded forth and came from God.
Neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
So what does Jesus says?
If God were your Father, you would love me.
You know, if God is not your Father, you cannot love Christ.
The only way you can possibly love Christ
is if you love the Father, okay?
So how is it that we can make sure
that all things work together for good for us?
Number one, you gotta be saved.
You've gotta have God as your Father,
and only then can you love Christ.
And number two, you've gotta keep those commandments, right?
Do the things that God has shown you in the word of God,
do them, and the promise is everything,
all things will work together for your good, all right?
So, you know, we've had the fires, right?
The fires, you know, throughout Australia, say, why?
Well, you know what?
All things work together for good to them that love God.
Somehow, if you love God,
somehow that's gonna benefit you.
It's not just the personal things, right?
The drought was benefiting Joseph.
I mean, whatever issues are in this world,
whatever problems are in this world,
whatever natural disasters are happening in this world,
whatever there is, brethren,
it's working together for your good.
If you can own that, if you can just believe that truth,
that's gonna help you get through the difficulties.
It's gonna help you go through the trials.
Whatever it is, even if it's nothing,
if it's not happening personally to you,
just other factors that's going on,
maybe outside of your control,
it's working for your good, brethren.
You know, God is looking out for you.
He wants the best for you.
You know, if we go through drought, we don't know.
It could be for our good, all right?
And I believe these fires were to just bring back
a fear of God into Australians' hearts.
Hey, you know, how can that serve us?
Well, maybe now when we go door to door sawing in,
when we warn people of hellfire,
they can just, in their mind,
subconsciously think of the fires that happen in Australia
and have a healthier fear of God
and be more receptive to the gospel.
We don't know, right?
We don't exactly know.
I mean, was Joseph expecting this drought
and how this drought would benefit him?
I'm sure he had no idea until it started to happen.
And so, brethren, you know, we need to think
everything that happens in this world,
no matter if it affects you directly or indirectly,
it's there for your good.
You know, God will use it to help you flourish,
to help you be productive, to be a greater person,
and you just need to hold on to that truth.
So what I've got for you, brethren,
the first treasure in your sack,
the first treasure in your spiritual sack
is that all things work together for your good.
All things work together for your good.
I mean, isn't that a great treasure to have in your sack?
And if you just had a sack right now,
and you know, in that sack, you know,
this is a promise that everything that happens in this world
is for my good, as long as I love God,
as long as I'm doing what God has asked me to do.
What a great treasure.
What an amazing thing.
That's gonna help you through every,
every trial you could possibly face.
Let's keep reading, verse number six, Genesis 43, verse six.
And Israel said, wherefore dealt ye so ill with me
as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?
So Jacob or Israel says, why did you tell him
you had a brother?
Right, remember they gave too much information?
They gave information which Joseph didn't even ask.
Verse number seven, and they said,
now they're lying here, and they said,
the man asked us straightly of our state.
He says, look, he just straightly asked us.
You know, he just went for the questions.
He asked us, right?
He asked us of our state, and of our kindred,
saying, is your father yet alive?
Have ye another brother?
Did Joseph ask that question?
Have ye another?
We'll have a look at this shortly.
And we told him, according to the tenor of these words,
could we certainly know that he would say,
bring your brother down?
So let's have a look at this once again.
Just keep your finger, they go to Genesis 42.
Genesis 42, verse 10.
So they're telling their father,
well, the man, you know, the second in command,
this guy, asked us about a brother.
Do we have any other brothers?
Is that really what happened?
Genesis 42, verse 10.
And they said unto him, the brother speaking to Joseph,
nay, my lord, remember how he was accusing them
of being spies?
So he says, nay, my lord,
but to buy food are thy servants come.
We are all one man's son.
We are true men.
Thy servants are no spies.
And he said unto him, nay,
but to see the nakedness of the land, ye are come.
Has he asked about a brother?
No.
And they said, thy servants are 12 brethren,
the sons of one man in the land of Canaan,
and behold, the youngest is this state with our father,
and one is not.
So that's what happened, right?
The story here is,
Joseph didn't even ask him about this brother,
but I guess they were nervous.
They felt under pressure.
You know, they felt like they were being threatened
for this being called spies on the land.
They just volunteered this information,
and they're trying to save face with their father.
So they're first like, you're idiots.
Why did you say that about your brother?
And so, oh man, he straightly asked us the question, right?
Where is your brother?
You know, and it's a lie.
You know, it's a lie from the mouth of the brothers there.
I just thought it was kind of funny
how they're just always constantly covering up their sins,
right, covering up what they did to Joseph, right,
pretending that Joseph had been attacked
by a wild creature.
I mean, they were full of lies, verse number eight.
And Judah said unto Israel his father,
send the lad with me, that's send Benjamin with me,
and we will arise and go that we may live and not die,
both we and thou and also our little ones.
He says, look, you're so concerned about Benjamin,
but let him come with me.
Otherwise, we're all gonna die anyway.
We either risk Benjamin on this trip,
or we all just perish in the land of Canaan with no food.
So obviously, when you have that choice before you,
you might as well take the risk, right?
Verse number nine, what does Judah say?
I will be surety for him.
So surety is basically saying like,
I'll take responsibility for him.
I'll be accountable for the life of Benjamin.
It's kind of like, we get that word insurance, right?
This is, you know, you take out insurance
when you want to protect something.
You know, and Judah's saying like,
I'm gonna be the insurance for my brother Benjamin.
Of my hand, shout thou require him,
if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee,
then let me bear the blame forever.
Let me bear the blame.
He says, look, if I don't bring back Benjamin,
this will be a stain on my name
and my reputation to the day I die.
He's just asking, he's begging of his father
to let Benjamin go with him.
Now, this is an amazing parallel here.
If you can please keep your fingers there
and go to, keep your finger there,
make sure you keep your finger there,
and go to Hebrews chapter seven, Hebrews chapter seven.
And obviously, when we see Judah saying this to his father,
probably you think of Jesus Christ
because Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah, right?
Jesus Christ came from the tribe of Judah.
And what did Judah say once again?
He says, I will be surety for him.
And then he says at the end, and set him before thee,
then let me bear the blame forever.
And I think this is just an amazing parallel with Christ
in Hebrews 7, 22, Hebrews 7, 22.
It says here, by so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, a surety of a better testament.
You know, the reason we're in the New Testament
is because Christ came and confirmed that New Testament
for us with his death, with his shedding of his blood,
with his resurrection, right?
It's Christ that gives us the surety of the New Testament.
Look, drop down to verse number 25, Hebrews 7, 25.
Hebrews 7, 25, it's kind of like how Judah saying,
I will be surety for Benjamin, look at verse 25.
Wherefore, he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Okay, that he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
And what did Judah say?
He says, look, if I can't deliver Benjamin,
he says, then let me bear the blame forever,
the blame forever.
And here's what's amazing about Christ,
is that Christ bore our blame forever, for all eternity.
Right?
Jesus Christ, all our sins, all our unrighteousness,
our wickedness, breaking the commandments of God.
You know, the times we've just gone after the world,
we've gone after our flesh, we've hurt our Lord God,
that blame, our sins were laid on Christ.
Christ is our surety, you know, and he took that forever.
Christ is like our insurance, right?
I mean, we are sure of heaven because of his sacrifice.
We are sure of eternal life because Christ took the blame
for our sins on the cross.
I couldn't help but see the parallel there with Judah.
What he's desiring to do for Benjamin
is very similar to what Christ has done.
Yeah, he's done it successfully though, right?
He's done it successfully.
And look at verse number 25 again, at the end of it.
Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
We can never lose our salvation.
We can never out sin our way out of heaven
or anything like that.
Christ is always there making intercession for us.
No matter how much you mess up your life, Reverend,
if you're saved, no matter how backslidden you are,
Christ will be there making intercession for you forever.
You know, he's your surety of the new covenant.
He's your surety of heaven.
You know, he promises you eternal life,
you can never lose it.
Why?
Because he took the blame.
He took your blame for all eternity.
And so the second treasure that is in your spiritual sack
is that Jesus is our eternal surety.
Jesus is our eternal surety.
The fact that he lives forever,
that he rose again from the dead, that was so important.
Not just to die for our sins, but he rose again, he's alive.
He had victory over death, victory over hell,
victory over sins, complete victory over that
which put us in bondage, complete victory,
and we are victorious through Jesus Christ.
Amazing thing that we can have the victory of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's our surety.
That's the second treasure in our sack,
that Jesus is our eternal surety or eternal life.
You can never lose it.
You never have to be afraid, right?
Never have to be afraid
that you will not have that eternal life.
Please go back to Genesis 43.
Genesis 43 verse 10.
Verse number 10.
For except we had lingered,
surely now we had returned this second time,
and their father Israel said unto them,
if it must be so now, do this.
Take of the best fruit in the land in your vessels
and carry down the man a present,
a little balm and a little honey,
spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds.
So this is a very expensive present
because we know they're going through drought.
We know they're struggling for food,
but he says, look, yeah, take Benjamin,
but take a present with you, right?
Take some honey, some nuts, these kinds of things,
some spices, as a gift to this man, all right?
Try to win him over with this gift,
and this reminds me of how he dealt with Esau.
Remember how he dealt with his brother Esau?
He was afraid of Esau.
He was afraid for his life,
and before he went to see Esau, he arranged a gift.
He arranged a present with all these animals
and stuff like that.
Well, obviously, he's taken that lesson.
That worked well with his brother Esau,
and now he's instructing his children,
hey, go and take a gift.
Go and take a present for this man.
Verse number 12, and take double money in your hand,
and the money that was brought again
in the mouth of your sacks.
Carry it again in your hand.
Peradventure, it was an oversight.
Take also your brother and arise
and go again unto the man.
But notice verse number 12, it says,
and take double money, okay?
Twice as much as you took last time.
Why?
Because it was returned to them.
It was returned to them,
and I think we see, again,
a great attribute to Israel here.
He says, look, you were meant to pay for that food,
but you got all that money back.
He goes, this time, yeah, go and buy some more food,
but go take back the extra that you received.
Go and make sure that things are settled, right?
Make sure that you settle that account with those people,
and I think that's such a great characteristic,
because this is something we need to,
as Christians, we need to do in our lives,
because I don't know, have you ever had that experience
when you've gone to the shops,
and maybe you've been given extra change?
Maybe you've been given more money than what you paid,
right?
And then the temptation is,
well, do I walk away with that?
Do I say anything,
or do I let him know that I've been overpaid?
Have you ever been overpaid at work?
You received your pay slip.
You had to look and go, well, this isn't right.
I've been paid double.
Has that ever happened?
It's happened to one of my employees,
and she was like, do I say something?
She was like, for about a week, do I say something?
And eventually, she came to me and told me I was overpaid,
and this is a great characteristic to have,
and I've been honest with your dealings,
making sure that things are balanced.
There's gonna become times
when you get cheated out of your money.
It doesn't feel good, all right,
but there'll be times when you receive
more than what you should've,
and what we see with Jacob here,
he's got, or Israel, he's got the heart,
say, look, you need to go and make things right.
Okay, don't be a, it's theft,
and if you take more than what you should've received,
that's theft, and Jacob wants to make sure
that things are right, okay?
And I think that's just a great attribute to have
as we go through this chapter,
but let's look at verse number 14.
What else does he say?
So he says, look, he allows Benjamin
to go with them, verse number 14,
and God Almighty give you mercy before the man
that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin.
Your other brother, that's Simeon, that was arrested,
and if you remember the story,
if I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
Now, the word bereaved is basically to lose a loved one,
is what it's saying, right?
He says, look, if I lose Benjamin, I lose him,
is what he's saying.
If I lose Simeon, I lose Simeon.
You know, he's gotten to a point
where he's accepted the difficulties.
He did not wanna let Benjamin go,
but he's gotten to a point where he's just accepted,
we can't, there's nothing we can do.
Benjamin's gotta go, we've got no food,
we're all gonna perish, you need to go back to Egypt,
and the only way you're gonna bring back food
is if you take Benjamin with you,
and now he's accepted the fate.
Benjamin's gotta go, and he's asked for the mercy of God.
He says, and God Almighty give you mercy before the man,
so he's praying, obviously praying to the Lord,
asking that the Lord be merciful to him and to his children,
and he's willing to let Benjamin go.
And I think this is difficult, right?
This is difficult sometimes, you've gotta let things go.
There are things that are outside of your control,
right, there are things in your control,
and if things are in your control,
yeah, serve the Lord, do what's right,
but there are gonna be times in your life
when things are outside of your control, right?
I can't control my height, I can't control my appearance,
you know, I can't control those that may hate me
and not wanna have anything to do with me,
I can't control relationships that have broken down
necessarily for just standing on the word of God
and they just don't like it,
there are some things that are just outside of your control.
You know, if you're applying for work,
you apply, you apply, you do the interview,
it's outside of your control
whether you get the job or not, it's up to that person,
but all you can do is just ask God for his mercies,
ask God to guide you, to lead you,
to be merciful towards you,
and you just let that in God's hands,
and that's such an important thing to do, Brevin,
especially for the concerns, the worries,
the things you have no control over.
What's the point of worrying about it?
You know, Jacob had to realize,
I've gotta let Benjamin go, you've gotta let him go.
You know, one day my kids are gonna grow up,
I don't want them to leave the house,
I praise God if they find a spouse
and they get married and leave the house,
some parents find it very hard
to let go of their children,
and then they interfere with that relationship,
they interfere with that marriage
and cause marital problems.
You know, Brevin, if your children get married,
you've gotta learn to let them go.
You know, they start a new family,
you've gotta let them cut those apron springs,
let them live their life, don't interfere in their life,
don't go and criticize their spouse,
so you're just gonna cause problems,
you've gotta learn to let things go,
and Jacob was able to do that,
but why can he let things go
is because he was relying upon the mercy of God.
Says, God, I've got no control over this,
it's gotta happen, but please, intercede,
please show your mercy.
So the thing about letting go,
whatever it is in your life that you need to let go of,
the only way you can do it properly as a Christian
is if you ask God for his mercies.
You know, that God will be there overseeing those things.
Lots of things, like I said, your appearance,
maybe illnesses or sicknesses that you have.
I said wrongs, maybe wrongs that you've done in the past.
You know, great sins you've committed in the past
and you just, you can't fix those things.
You've gotta, you know, just gotta let that go.
You've gotta let it go so you can move forward
and do things for the Lord.
And I'm just reminded of one of my favorite verses
in the whole Bible, two verses in the Bible,
Lamentations 3.22, I'll just read it.
It is of the Lord's mercies, it is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not.
Why is God merciful?
Because his compassions never fail.
We have a compassionate,
we have an everlasting compassionate God.
You know, you can't get out of his,
no matter how much you mess up your life,
he's going to show you compassion.
Say, but he's gonna chastise me.
Yeah, that's compassion.
All right, he's trying to fix you.
He's trying to correct you.
He's gonna try and show you a better way.
Even being chastised by God is his compassion on you.
And the Bible says, you know, he's compassionate,
he's merciful, and verse number 23,
they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
I'll just read the whole thing.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed
because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
Every morning, the mercies of God are brand new.
If you messed up yesterday,
you sinned against the Lord yesterday,
you messed up, you forgot to read your Bible,
God was far from your thoughts yesterday.
Well, you know what, this morning, his mercies are new.
His mercies are new.
You could have gone to the Lord,
asked him for his compassion yesterday,
you're gonna mess up today as well.
And when you do, you go and seek the Lord's mercies.
You know, his compassions fail not.
It's amazing because if not for God's mercies,
we would be consumed, we'd be destroyed,
if not for God's mercies.
And so I just wanna encourage you, brethren,
seek the mercy of God.
You know, things that are outside your control,
maybe you're too weak to handle a difficult situation,
go and ask the Lord for his mercies.
That's the third treasure in your sack.
The third treasure in your spiritual sack
is that God's mercies are new every morning.
Every morning, his mercies are new.
You know, you can break his laws today
and ask for his forgiveness today.
And God's not gonna be sick and tired of you tomorrow
when you go again and ask him for forgiveness.
His mercies are new every morning.
What a great treasure to have in your sack.
To know that you can always be right with God.
You can always go back to the Lord,
no matter how much you mess up your life,
no matter how far you've been from the Lord,
you can go back and seek those mercies that God has.
And when you're going through those struggles,
when you're going through difficulties
that you need to let go of,
you just gotta put them in God's hands,
you know those mercies are new again.
They're refreshed once again.
Verse number 15, Genesis 43, 15.
And the men took that presence,
and they took double money into their hand,
or in their hand, and Benjamin,
and rose up and went down to Egypt,
and stood before Joseph.
And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them,
he said to the ruler of his house,
bring these men home and slay and make ready,
for these men shall dine with me at noon.
And the man did as Joseph bade.
And the man brought the men into Joseph's house.
So Joseph sees his brothers, he sees Benjamin,
he says all right to his chief steward,
he goes let's put in a feast,
let's feed these guys, we're gonna have lunch together,
bring him into my house.
Verse number 18, and the men were afraid.
Of course they were afraid,
they were already afraid of Joseph,
and now they're in the house of Joseph?
It says because they were brought into Joseph's house,
and they said because of the money
that was returned in our sacks,
at the first time that we brought in,
that he may seek occasion against us,
and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses.
So Joseph's trying to do something nice for them,
they're thinking he's gonna destroy us, right?
Verse number 19, and they came near to the steward,
sorry, and they came near to the steward of Joseph's house,
and they communed with him,
that's they spoke with him, the steward,
at the door of the house, and said,
oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food,
and it came to pass when we came to the inn,
that we opened our sacks, and behold,
every man's money was in the mouth of his sack,
our money in full weight,
and we have brought it again in our hand.
So they're saying, look, we found that money,
came back to us, we're bringing it back, right?
They're trying to appease Joseph,
and they're doing it through the steward.
Verse number 22, and other money have we brought down
in our hands to buy food,
we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.
Then look at verse number 23,
so we get the title for the sermon,
and he said, this is the steward saying to the brothers,
peace be to you, fear not, your God,
and the God of your father
have given you treasure in your sacks.
I had your money, and he brought Simeon out unto them.
So the fourth treasure, look at verse number 23,
he said unto them, peace be to you.
The fourth treasure in our sack
is the peace of a settled account.
The peace of a settled account.
What does the steward says?
He says, don't worry, I know you paid for it.
He said, I had your money, all right?
When you paid, it was in my hands,
it was in the books, it was accounted for, you paid.
Don't worry about it, he's saying, right?
He's saying the account is settled,
and he's saying because the account is settled,
you can have peace, you can have peace and don't fear.
And look how he recognizes the God of Jacob, right?
He says, your God, the God of your father
have given you treasure in your sacks.
And the treasure that we wanna take out of this, brethren,
is the peace of a settled account.
What am I talking about?
Is that now that you're saved,
we know that it's eternal security,
now you can have peace, peace in your life.
How many people in this world
don't have the peace that we have?
They don't have the peace of God, why?
Because they don't know what happens after death.
They don't know whether they're going to go to heaven.
You ask them, are you 100% sure
that your soul would be in heaven?
I hope so, I don't know, I've never thought about it.
They haven't got the peace of Christ,
they haven't got the peace of God in their hearts,
but one great treasure that you have in your sack
is the peace of a settled account.
What a great burden to have off your shoulders, right?
To know that it's been paid full in Christ,
and there's nothing that you need to bring.
It's a settled account.
Even if you try to come and pay for it with your money,
don't worry about it, it's been paid for.
It's been 100% paid for in Jesus Christ.
You try to bring anything else, it's pointless.
The account is settled, the steward says.
And brethren, your account with God is settled.
It's set, it's paid for, your sins are paid for.
You have everlasting life.
You never have to worry about going to hell.
You say, well, sometimes I still think about it,
sometimes I still have doubts.
Sometimes I wonder, you know, am I truly saved?
Well, brethren, the only reason
you could possibly have doubts
is if you think you have to add something to the payment.
You know, if you think the account hasn't been settled,
and you think there's something I have to do more
to settle this account with God,
that's the only thing that will take away the peace.
That's the only thing that will create doubts in your minds.
And brethren, you need to just fully understand
and appreciate this one simple truth
that Christ has paid for it all.
All of it, all of your sins, your past, your present,
and even the sins to the day you die,
on that last day that you take breath,
those sins you commit on that day,
they've already been paid for in Christ.
2000 years ago on the cross of Calvary,
shedding his blood, washing us from all our sins,
it's been taken care of.
You know, if you have doubts, please speak to me,
because I don't want you to have doubts.
There's no need for you to have doubts.
The account has been settled.
You don't need to bring anything else to the table.
It's been done.
It's been settled in Jesus Christ.
And that, once you understand that truth,
you can now have the peace of God.
I live peaceably.
You know, when am I gonna die?
I don't know, it doesn't really matter,
because I know when I die, I'm gonna be with God.
I'm gonna be with Christ, all right?
I'm gonna be able to enjoy eternal life.
I don't have to worry about this sinful flesh.
I mean, for me to die is gain,
you know, the apostle Paul said, right?
To live is Christ, and to die is gain.
And I'll just read a passage to you.
It says here in Romans 5, one.
Therefore, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace with God.
How?
Being justified by faith.
We just believe that Jesus did it all for us.
We trust that he's done it all.
We call upon Christ to save us, peace forevermore.
What an amazing thing.
What an amazing thing that we can appreciate.
But do you think of that as a treasure in your sack?
That's an amazing treasure to have.
It's gonna give you a lot of joy in life, right?
When you don't have to worry about
what's gonna happen after this life,
you know it's gonna be better for you,
and you know your neighbors, your unsaved friends,
your community don't have the same peace
that Christ has given you.
That's an amazing treasure to have in your sack.
Let's keep reading, verse number 24.
So the fourth treasure was peace of a settled account.
Verse number 24.
And the man brought the men into Joseph's house
and gave them water, and they washed their feet,
and he gave their asses provender.
And they made ready the present against Joseph.
So I'll read that again, verse 25.
And they made ready the present against Joseph
came at noon.
Seems to be the way it's written.
But it's saying, look, when Joseph came,
they've got their present ready to present it to Joseph.
For they heard that they should eat bread there.
And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present
which was in their hand into the house,
and bowed themselves to him, to the earth.
And he asked them of their welfare,
and they said, is your father well?
The old man of whom you spake, is he yet alive?
And they answered, thy servants,
our father is in good health.
He is yet alive, and they bowed down their heads
and made obeisance.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin,
his mother's son, and said, is this your younger brother
of whom you spake unto me?
And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
That's all he could say to him.
And then look what happens, verse number 30.
And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn
upon his brother, and he sought where to weep,
and he entered into his chamber and wept there.
Now brethren, I just want you to notice something.
We've seen Joseph weep many times now.
This is another time that he's wept, right?
And sometimes we think that it's not manly to weep.
It's not manly to shed tears.
Well, you know what?
Jesus wept.
Okay, there's a memory verse for you, right?
Jesus wept, okay?
And there's no manlier person in this world
than Jesus Christ, okay?
And what do we see with Joseph?
He's a strong man.
I mean, he's gone through hardships.
He's gone through the trials, and he's successful.
And yet, even he is able to afford, you know, shed a tear.
Even he's able to weep.
And I'm just thinking about, we're gonna watch
the documentary on Friday, you know,
what's it called again, Deported.
All right, and they had different sessions on on Thursday.
And so we had, there was some brethren that went there
to the screening before I got to it.
And one of the ladies said, you know,
I was weeping, I was crying through the documentary,
you know, especially at the end.
And I was like, I'm not gonna cry.
Believe it or not, brethren, toward the end there,
I felt my tear fall on my cheek.
And then I was like, oh, I can't show that.
It's fine to weep, man, it's fine.
You know, when there's a challenge,
it's actually, it actually helps not, you know,
it actually helps take a lot of that burden,
that pressure that you have in your heart.
Sometimes it's just necessary to weep.
You know, it's a manly thing to weep.
And if Jesus Christ can weep,
we too should be able to weep.
Now, I understand if you're like Joseph
and you need to run into your bedroom and weep there,
no one else can see you, all right?
I'm with you guys, if that's something you need to do,
that's something, you know, that's fine, all right?
But let's keep going, verse number 31.
And he watched his face and went out and refrained himself
and said, set on bread.
And they set on for him by himself,
and for them by themselves and for the Egyptians,
which did eat with them by themselves,
because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews,
for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
So it's quite an interesting lunch that they're having here.
The brothers from Israel, from the land of Canaan,
they're basically having lunch by themselves at a table.
Okay, then the other Egyptians that are served,
that work there, I guess, in the house of Joseph,
they're all by themselves on one table,
and then Joseph is all by himself in another table.
Okay, so it says there that it was an abomination
unto the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews.
So that's just an interesting tradition that they had.
And then you see, obviously, with Joseph
having a higher position of authority,
he wouldn't even eat with the servants.
So let's keep going, verse number 33.
And they sat before him, the firstborn,
according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth,
and the men marveled one at another.
I was wondering, why are they marveling?
Why are all these brothers marveling
that they're eating this lunch?
I just realized it's because they're seated in age order,
from eldest to youngest, right?
And they're like, how did this work out, right?
They're marveling at it.
How could Joseph possibly know who's the youngest
and who's the eldest, and of course,
he knows because he's their brother.
So they're marveling at that.
Verse number 34, and he took and sent messes unto them,
that's the food and the provision
that's been provided to them,
them from before him, but Benjamin's mess
was five times so much as any of theirs,
and they drank and were merry with him.
So brethren, the last treasure in your sack,
when we look at this story, especially look at Benjamin,
that he had five times so much as any of theirs.
The fifth treasure in your sack
is that God will always give back more.
God will always give back more.
What did they come?
They came with Benjamin.
Whether they brought Benjamin,
they also brought the present.
They brought the gifts, right?
And this is something that they had to sacrifice,
obviously, in a land of drought,
and even the sacrifice of the father
to send Benjamin out there.
They were bringing a great gift.
They were bringing a great present,
but then they were able to just sit down
and have a great meal, a huge meal.
In the house of Joseph, second in command of all of Egypt,
they're having a great meal there,
and Benjamin gets five times as much as everybody else.
So God will always give you back more.
You can never out-give God is another way to say that.
That's another treasure in your sack.
And what that means is,
no matter what you do to serve the Lord,
no matter what you've given up tonight
to come to the house of God,
to sing praises to the Lord,
to hear the preaching of God's word,
you sacrificed a few hours.
I'm sure a few of you could have, in the flesh,
you could have easily said,
how about we just stay home tonight?
You know, we're tired, we've got a lot to do.
Maybe we're not well.
But you just said, no, we're going to give God
the honor of being in his house.
You've given something to the Lord.
Well, I promise you this, God's gonna give you more.
You know, you cannot out-give God.
Maybe it's the hour of going out,
thoughts of your soul winning.
You know, maybe it's just being the best husband you can be.
You know, loving your wife as Christ loved the church.
Maybe for the wife, even when you wanna bite back,
maybe when you wanna speak against your husband,
you decide, I'm gonna be submissive.
You know, the way that I, you know,
been submissive to my husband,
the way the church is submissive to Christ.
Maybe that's what you're sacrificing.
Maybe that's what you're giving to the Lord.
Maybe it's given up the fleshly entertainment
that once it's attained your hearts and your eyes
and given up the worldly things.
You know, maybe it's given to the local church.
The final, you say, well,
it's difficult for me to give to church.
It's difficult for me to give to the body of Christ.
We could really use this.
You can't out-give God.
No matter what it is that you do with your life,
how much you serve him,
you go to your workplace and say,
well, Christ, I'm setting you as my employer.
I'm gonna work hard.
I'm gonna work harder than I've ever worked before
because I'm gonna work for your name.
You cannot out-give God.
You know, God will always give you more.
Luke 6 38 says,
give and it shall be given unto you.
Good measure, pressed down and shaken together
and running over shall men give into your bosom.
For with the same measure that ye meet,
with all it shall be measured to you again.
You know, the thought that I get
when I read this verse is of a soda can, you know,
like getting a can of Coke or something, right?
You know, you shake that can.
It's pretty full.
You shake it.
What happens when you open it up?
It blows up, right?
It goes everywhere.
Well, that's kind of like God.
You know, what you give to God,
God's gonna give it back to you.
And when you open, it's gonna be running over.
When you open it up, it can't fit the container.
You know, your sack will be overflowing
when you get to heaven.
You'll be struggling to maintain all the treasures,
all the gifts that God has for you in heaven.
He's gonna be like, Lord, I need a bigger sack.
It's gonna be, you know, running over.
And what you give to God today,
yeah, God may give it to you in this life, you know,
but he also is laying up your treasures in heaven.
We talk about the treasure in heaven a lot,
but it's a real motivator, you know,
to, we're probably not gonna be
the richest people on this earth.
You know, maybe some of you will never be a homeowner.
You know, it's not the big thing in Australia,
being a homeowner.
You may never be a homeowner,
but you're gonna have a mansion in heaven.
How good is that?
Right, streets of gold, all right?
I mean, I just, we had the bins out full of maggots.
There aren't gonna be maggots in heaven, all right?
There's not gonna be any moths corrupting
the great gifts and the great things,
great possessions that we have in heaven.
You know, you can never outgive God.
You know, never for a moment,
if you give something to the Lord,
you give something to this church to serve this body
in whatever capacity you can,
never think it's a waste
because God will always give you back
more than you've given him.
So that's the fifth treasure in your sack.
Let me go through those treasures once again.
Number one, the first treasure in your sack
is that all things work together for your good.
Number two, Jesus is our eternal surety.
Number three, God's mercies are new every morning.
Number four, you have the peace of a settled account.
And number five, God will always give back more.
Let's pray.