🎵Music🎵
If you'll grab your seat, take a green hymnal and turn to page 21.
🎵Music🎵
What a wonderful Savior.
🎵Music🎵
Number 21 on the first.
🎵Music🎵
🎵Christ has for sin a tomb in me🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵We are redeemed, the price is paid🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Jesus🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Lord🎵
🎵I praise Him for the cleansing blood🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵That reconciled my soul to God🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Jesus🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Lord🎵
🎵He cleansed my heart from all its sin🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵And now He reigns and rules therein🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Jesus🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Lord🎵
🎵He gives me overcoming power🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵And triumph in each triune🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Jesus🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Lord🎵
🎵To Him I've given all my heart🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵The world shall never share apart🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Jesus🎵
🎵What a wonderful Savior🎵
🎵It's Jesus, my Lord🎵
Page 100. Day by day, page 100.
Page number 100, see it out on the first.
🎵Day by day and with each passing moment🎵
🎵Strength I find to meet my trials here🎵
🎵Trusting in my Father's wise bestowing🎵
🎵I've no cause for worry or for fear🎵
🎵He whose heart is kind beyond all measure🎵
🎵Gives unto each day what He deems best🎵
🎵Lovingly is part of pain and pleasure🎵
🎵Mingling toil with peace and rest🎵
169, Come Thou Fount. Page 169.
Page 169 on the first.
🎵Come Thou Fount of every blessing🎵
🎵Tune my heart to sing Thy grace🎵
🎵Streams of mercy never ceasing🎵
🎵Call for songs of loudest praise🎵
🎵Teach me some melodious sonnet🎵
🎵Sung by flaming tongues above🎵
🎵Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it🎵
🎵Melt of thy redeeming love🎵
Kayla?
355.
Page 355.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Sing it out on the first.
🎵What a Friend We Have in Jesus🎵
🎵All our sins and griefs to bear🎵
🎵What a privilege to carry🎵
🎵Everything to God in prayer🎵
🎵Oh, a peace we often forfeit🎵
🎵Oh, what needless pain we bear🎵
🎵All because we do not carry🎵
🎵Everything to God in prayer🎵
Come on. 260? 16?
Page 216. Show your goodness and mercy on the first.
🎵A pilgrim was I and a wandering🎵
🎵In the cold night of sin I did roam🎵
🎵When Jesus the kind shepherd found me🎵
🎵And now I am on my way home🎵
🎵Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me🎵
🎵All the days, all the days of my life🎵
🎵Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me🎵
🎵All the days, all the days of my life🎵
🎵And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever🎵
🎵And I shall feast at the table spread for me🎵
🎵Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me🎵
🎵All the days, all the days of my life🎵
Last one. Miss Sarah?
Page 35.
That was a good one. I'm ready for this one.
I don't think I'm ready. Do you have another song?
Okay, sorry about that. Just kidding. 134.
Just not quite ready for that one. Page 134. My anchor holds.
Page 134. My anchor holds. See it out on the furs.
🎵Though the angry surges roll🎵
🎵On my tempest-driven soul🎵
🎵I am peaceful for I know🎵
🎵Wildly though the winds may blow🎵
🎵I've an anchor safe and sure🎵
🎵That can evermore endure🎵
🎵And it holds, my anchor holds🎵
🎵While you're wildest in a gale🎵
🎵On my bark so small and frail🎵
🎵By His grace I shall not fail🎵
🎵For my anchor holds🎵
🎵My anchor holds🎵
Good afternoon, welcome to Church Foundation.
Let's take our bulletins and go to some announcements.
I think we're out of bulletins, so if you don't have one already, you're out of luck.
On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says,
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved. Psalm chapter 62 verse 2. It's a great scripture there.
And our service times are 10 30 a.m. Sunday mornings and 3 30 p.m. for the Sunday evenings.
Tonight we're in Genesis chapter number 43. Thursday Bible study is at 6 30 p.m.
We're going through the book of 2 Corinthians.
Soul winning times are listed below. We had soul winning today at 1 o'clock.
We had, I don't know how many soul winners we had, but we had five salvations.
So praise God for that. So great job everybody with the soul winning.
And you can see our praise report, the salvations, baptisms, and ten souls.
And on the opposite page there, on the inside, we have our upcoming announcements.
March 24th, which is this coming Thursday, I'll be preaching at FWBC LA.
April 10th is the Lord's Supper for the p.m. service.
That's the week before Easter, the Sunday night before Easter.
Easter Sunday is the 17th. We're going to start doing a big push right at the beginning of the month
for soul winning with some Easter invitations.
And then we're going to have a potluck. And I was thinking about doing a men's preaching night.
We haven't done a men's preaching night in a while.
So I'll give myself a break on Sunday night and let you all preach.
So I want to get some, I want to get some feeding too.
So no, but if anybody wants to preach that Sunday night, just let me know.
Anybody want to preach for sure on Sunday night, Easter Sunday?
All right. We've got a couple there. All right. I'm sure Sean will.
Oh, you aren't going to be here. You're going to be preaching in Spokane. OK.
Well, anyway, so if we don't have enough sign up, then we'll just maybe have two guys do a half hour sermon or something like that.
Anyway, let's see. And then April 22nd through 25th is a Detroit soul winning trip.
Deacon Corbin Russell will be preaching there on Sunday, the 24th location to be determined.
And that's going to be, I know Tim thought there's only be about 25 people.
I think there's probably more than that. So we'll see what happens.
Further Corbin's rent out of place is probably sued about 50.
So if anybody listening on the Internet's plan on going to that may have an RSVP'd in some way, shape or form or let Timo know.
Please let people know, let people from our church know, or just email us at SureFoundationBaptist at gmail dot com.
Let us know your plan on going, how many people are going with you.
And then April 24th will be preaching at Shield of Faith Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho, for the pastors Appreciation Week.
And I think it's Pastor Jones' birthday. I'm not sure if it's that day, but it's kind of a celebration for that.
And so June 1st through 4th is our church camp that's at Union Rogue Baptist Camp.
And we're going to go back there after two years of it being shut down because of COVID.
June 10th is our Northeast New IFB Conference Night in New Jersey.
And the night will start at 6 p.m. with food and fellowship and service begins at 7 p.m.
So I'll be preaching at 7 o'clock and Pastor Jimenez will be preaching after I'm done.
And then there'll be baptisms. Also, there's a soul-wanting marathon that is going to be taking place that next day.
It's an all-day soul-wanting marathon in New Jersey.
I'll be participating in that as well with Pastor Jimenez.
And then I'll fly home and be ready to preach on Sunday morning.
July 14th through 17th is the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
So make sure you're making plans for that if you're going to be able to go.
And all the other information here, you all know I sang happy birthday to everybody this morning.
So I'm going to just get through the announcements and we're going to sing another song and we'll receive the offering.
Go to page 106 in your green hymnal, page 106.
Page 106, Abide With Me.
Page 106, Abide With Me. See it out on the furs.
Brother Mona, if you'll bless the offering, please.
Father, Father, thanks so much for this great Church, Lord, and thank you for the privilege to hear your word preached.
I pray you bless this offering and all we do, Lord, is adhere to your glory in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, go ahead and turn with me to Genesis, chapter 43.
Genesis 43, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. One of the ushers will bring you one.
Genesis, chapter 43.
Genesis 43, the Bible reads, And the famine was sore in the land, 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, buy us a little food.
And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye 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, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether he had yet a brother?
And they said, The man asked us straightly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother?
And we told him, according to the tenor of these words, Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones.
I will be surety for him, of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.
For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned the second time.
And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this, take of the best fruits 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,
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, go again unto the man.
And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin.
If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
And the men took that present, and took double money 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.
And the men were afraid, 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 we are brought in,
that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for our men and our asses.
And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house, and said,
O 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.
And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food, we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.
And he said, 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.
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, came at noon, for they had 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 and to the earth.
And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom he spake, is he yet alive?
And they answered, Thy servant 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.
And Joseph made haste, for his bows did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep.
And he entered into his chamber and wept there.
And he washed 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 him by themselves.
Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marvelled one at another.
And he took and sent messes unto them before him, but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs.
And they drank, and were merry with him.
Brother Timo, will you pray for us?
And then we're in Genesis chapter number 43.
And you'll remember last week that basically Joseph had told them that don't come back unless you come back with your brother.
And he sent them away, and said, unless you're, you know, he accused them of being spies.
And so the only way that he was going to believe their story is if they came back with their brother with them, Benjamin.
And Jacob kind of coddles Benjamin, kind of like he did with Joseph.
And for good reason, because, you know, when he sent Joseph out, then Joseph disappeared.
And then, of course, the last time when his brothers came, he took Simeon and bound him.
And so now he's lost two sons.
And then now at the end of last chapter, he basically said, I'm not sending Benjamin with you because, you know, it kind of seemed to me like,
he kind of was like, eh, every time I send you guys out with one of my sons, something happens to one of them.
So basically that's kind of where we're at.
Simeon is kept captive, and now they've run out of all the corn that they had bought, the wheat, whatever you want to call it.
And basically the sons are not allowed to go back to Joseph without Benjamin with them.
So here we are in verse number one, the Bible says,
And the famine was sore in the land, 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, buy us a little food.
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.
And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother.
And he's kind of like saying, Hey, dummy, why did you tell him you even had another brother?
Like, why are you even telling him this information? Like, you're telling him information he didn't ask for.
Verse seven says, And they said, The man asked us straightly of our state, and of our kindred, saying,
Is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words.
Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
And so that's a good point and retort to him that, you know, how could they have known?
But what they don't realize is that Joseph is their brother.
So they either think he's sold off into slavery or he's dead.
They pretended that he was dead and they told their father that he was dead and that he had been attacked by a wild beast.
But they don't really know where he's at, but I think that they do assume that he's probably dead.
And I kind of brought that up in the last sermon that he, you know, maybe they thought he was dead because
the people that he sold him to, you know, maybe slaves don't last that long in the hands of the people that took him.
I'm not really sure, but, you know, some people could really make you serve with rigor like the Egyptians end up doing later on.
So, it says, And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go,
that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones.
So Judah comes up with the plan here and says, Hey, send him with me, and we will arise and we will go, that we may live.
And so, you know, obviously Judah is the tribe which the Lord Jesus Christ comes from.
And, you know, I believe that him stepping in and trying to intercede on the behalf of his family and his siblings
and all their children is a picture of Christ stepping in to, you know, go and be sent out into the world to redeem the world
and to help everybody to be saved also.
But I know I bring up a lot of pictures of Christ, but, you know, the whole book of Genesis,
and especially this story, has a lot of pictures of Christ.
And obviously, you know, some of these things just remind me of things in the New Testament that have happened,
and it might not be necessarily, you know, just a lockdown thing,
but I personally think that a lot of the things in here have resemblances of things you see in the New Testament
that Jesus does with his disciples.
And, you know, there was 12 children of Israel, but there was also 12 apostles in the New Testament.
And so I don't think that that's accidental.
And I think that we can see tonight in some of these verses pictures of how Jesus dealt with the apostles after his resurrection.
So, because if you think about it, they think Joseph's dead.
Joseph is a type of Christ, there's no doubt about that, but Judah also in this chapter is a picture of Christ.
So, but, you know, the way he deals with his brothers when they come to Egypt this time,
you'll see how he treats them, and then how Joseph's servants also treat them.
And that's kind of one of the focuses of my sermon tonight.
But a picture of Christ willing to go into the world that man would not live and not perish in death and hell,
this is the picture I see of Judah here saying, hey, I'll go.
You know, send me that we may live and not die and also our little ones.
And that reminds me of how Isaac was willing to also be bound and willing to die
even though, you know, Abraham, he allowed Abraham to tie him up
and to, you know, basically he was standing over him ready to kill him.
And even though Isaac didn't understand what was really necessarily going on,
he still, you know, he still stayed there and stayed still.
It's not like Abraham had to beat him up and put him on the sticks or whatever in order to sacrifice him.
Let's turn to Genesis chapter 22 and look what it says in verse number 7.
Genesis chapter 22 verse number 7, the Bible says,
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father.
And he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be, oh, sorry, excuse me,
I think I cut off the verses that I was supposed to put in there, good night.
That's what happens.
All right, Genesis chapter 22 verse 8, sorry about that.
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering.
So they went both of them together.
So this is the, you know, God has asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.
And Abraham believes God.
He knows that God is going to raise him from the dead regardless of whether he sacrifices him or not.
And he's willing to trust God in this aspect.
And so he takes his son, he takes him to sacrifice.
And look at verse 9, it says, And they came to the place where God had told him of.
And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son,
and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And so Isaac is a young man at this point.
And so he just laid there, apparently, and let him do this.
So this is a picture of Isaac being the son of God.
Isaac's the only begotten son of Abraham, even though he did have another son called Ishmael.
But, you know, after this happens, he says, hey, you did not withhold your only son to me.
It's the only son that was, you know, he's the son that's in the line of Christ.
And so it says he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
So what did Jesus Christ die on?
He died on a tree, right?
He died on a cross.
Isaac is bound and laid upon the wood.
And Christ's hands and feet were nailed upon the cross,
and Isaac was bound upon these sticks here, and this wood.
So, and he was going to be a burnt offering, but of course the angel stopped him right before he was about to kill him.
And so you see the picture there of Isaac also being a type of Christ.
Now let's look back at Genesis chapter 43 verse 9.
It says, I will be surety for him. This is Judah speaking.
I will be surety for him of my hand thou shalt require him.
If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.
And I've mentioned this in another, you know, sermon when I was talking about other types, you know, types of Christ in Genesis.
And this is definitely, I believe, a picture of Judah saying, hey, I'm going to bear the blame for this happening forever.
And just like Christ bears the blame for all believers, or for all people in the world forever,
everybody's sins were laid upon Jesus Christ.
And then this is a picture of Judah also being willing to take the blame forever for not doing what he said he was going to do here.
So he offers himself, he kind of basically says, if I don't do what you say, then I'm going to be cursed.
And I'll be taking the blame forever.
So this picture is of Christ being the redeemer of the tribe of Judah.
And so, and we know who is actually picked as the line of Christ.
Is the line of Joseph the line of Christ?
No, he's not. He was good, he pictures Christ in many ways, but he was not in the line of Christ.
He was a picture of Christ, a great picture of Christ, and Judah is kind of a picture of Judas,
and he's also a picture of Christ at the same time.
So it's very interesting because Judah was pretty bad in his early years,
but then you see Judah step up to the plate and start trying to do the things that were right.
And so who else kind of pictures Christ?
Well, I didn't really talk about this last week, but Simeon was bound and then put into prison.
But it wasn't Simeon that is the type of Christ, is it? I mean the line of Christ.
The line of Christ did not go through the tribe of Simeon.
And it wasn't Reuben either, you know, who...
He offered his two sons, he said, hey, if I don't bring him back to you, then kill my two sons.
But the line of Christ did not go through the tribe of Reuben, did it?
It went through Judah that offered himself and interceded for the whole family,
and like in reality in the picture, the whole world.
Because ultimately, the whole world is saved through Christ,
and Judah's line goes up and then all the people of Israel are saved alive
because they're in this drought and all this stuff that's going on,
and they would have basically starved to death.
You know, this was a very bad famine.
And ultimately, as we go through the rest of the chapters, it's going to kind of explain to us
that God was doing this for the betterment of all mankind.
So you have Judah here picturing the Lord Jesus Christ and him saying,
I'll take the blame forever, I will go, I'll be surety for him.
Of my hand thou shalt require him.
And that just shows that he was willing to step in and be an intercede for the people.
Now, let's turn to Hebrews chapter 7 verse number 25, Hebrews chapter 7 verse number 25,
and we'll see how Jesus interceded for us also.
Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says,
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.
So Christ, you know, he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
He has become the high priest, and it says that in verse 26, it says,
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens,
who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice for his own sins,
and then for the peoples. For this he did once, when he offered up himself.
For the law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity,
but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated forevermore.
So the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, he doesn't need to have these daily sacrifices and all that stuff,
because he offered himself once for all of mankind,
and he made intercession and still lives to make intercession for us,
and he put his blood on the mercy seat. Jesus Christ is the high priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek, and so this is what Judah is the picture of also.
So let's turn to Galatians chapter 3, verse number 13.
We'll just keep our finger in Genesis 43.
Turn over to Galatians chapter 3, verse 13.
The Bible says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,
for it is written, Curse is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
So Christ is our Redeemer. Christ is the one that stepped in and paid the fine for us,
so that we don't have to go to hell. He redeemed us from the curse of the law,
because everybody in this room, everybody in this whole world,
has had the curse of the law placed upon them, and the curse of the law is death.
You're going to die because of that curse, but he was made a curse for us.
When he hung on the cross, he didn't become a sinner, he took upon himself the sins of us.
So he was not a sinner himself, but he interceded and took upon himself the curse for us,
for it is written, Curse is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
So when he hung on that cross, he became a curse for us, he became sin for us.
He became sin, but he was not a sinner, if that makes sense.
And doctrinally, that is very important that you understand that.
He did not become, he wasn't a sinner, but he became sin.
He became a curse on the cross for us.
Now look back at Genesis chapter 43, verse 10.
Genesis 43 verse 10 said, 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 fruits of your land and your vessels, and carry down the man at present a little balm,
a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds.
So I was just thinking about kind of, you know, obviously it's just at face value this is just,
you know, take this guy as some presents, let's earn some favor with this guy.
And sometimes, you know, you give somebody a little gift or something and they're like, oh that's really nice.
But, you know, you see a lot of hospitality in this chapter.
You see a lot of hospitality being given and Jacob is just like being, you know,
even though these, his sons are being treated ill, but he doesn't know why.
You know, they don't realize that Joseph is doing this on purpose and so they're like afraid for their lives.
They're scared. They're going through, you know, anguish and feeling persecuted.
But they deserve it. They know they deserve it.
In the last chapter it talked about how he said it's because of what we did to Joseph.
His blood is required at our hands.
And so they kind of probably think he's dead.
I mean if they're saying his blood is required at our hands, right?
Or the fact that they sold his hide, you know, as a slave.
But I was thinking about these little presents that he asked to give.
And Jacob was saying, hey, you know, if this is the plan then we got to do it because otherwise we're going to die.
So, you know, here's the presents he gives.
He gives a little balm, a little honey, a little, so the spices, the myrrh, the nuts and the almonds.
And it says, and so, you know, all these represent Christ or attributes of Christ in some way, shape or form.
So obviously a present is a gift.
And, but the balm is for what?
It's for healing.
Balm is something that, you know, you hear of the balm of Gilead.
Is there no more balm of Gilead?
And, you know, the Bible talks about balm being something good to heal you like a physician.
Jesus Christ is the great physician.
And then, you know, you've heard the song Honey in the Rock.
Well that comes from a Bible scripture, you know, inside the rock is that sweetness.
And there's honey in the rock for you, right?
But also if you think about the sweetness of God's word when, sometimes when there would be visions in different parts of the prophets
and even in the book of Revelation that talks about them eating that book and it's sweet as honey and it goes in
and when it goes into their stomach it's bitter.
But then you also have the myrrh.
It specifically says myrrh and spices.
And so spices and myrrh and I would say that probably represents like the embalming of Christ.
You know, there was gold, frankincense and myrrh were given to him by the kings or the wise men from the east.
I say kings because the three kings has brainwashed me after all these years.
You know, we three kings, three gifts.
So it could have been three kings though.
We don't know how many kings there are.
No, I don't know.
It's kind of a, that's a good song but it's probably not very biblical.
But anyway, so, but we got the myrrh, the spices.
You know, obviously those were brought to him and those represented, you know, Christ, his burial.
When he was buried he was embalmed with different things, myrrh and those types of spices.
But also there was special spices and things like that for the anointing oil.
And of course Christ was the anointed one.
He was anointed by God to be the Messiah.
And so that has that little picture there with the spices and the myrrh then.
I don't know about the nuts but the almonds, obviously Aaron's rod butted when they put it into the Ark of the Covenant.
And so that was a miracle obviously.
And it was showing that, you know, Aaron was legitimately the high priest and that God had called them.
And so obviously we know that Christ is the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So, you know, these almonds might represent that.
You know, maybe I'm just looking too deep into it too.
I mean, I don't know.
But I think it's interesting the Bible just explains this part and gives us the details of everything that they, that he said to give to them.
I think it's very interesting that it all kind of has some kind of connection with teachings or attributes about Christ.
Now let's look at verse number 12 that says,
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, paired venture, it was an oversight.
So remember they had their, their sacks were still full of the money.
They were supposed to pay for all the grain that they took back, the corn that they took back.
And when they opened their sacks, all the money that they were supposed to pay for, everything with was still in there.
And he did that on purpose, Joseph did.
And so I don't know if that was just to freak them out and torture them a little bit, but they were freaked out about it for sure.
And so it says, carry it, so he says take, 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, paired venture, it was an oversight.
And it says, take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man, and God Almighty give you mercy before the man that he may send away our brother and Benjamin.
If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
And, and so that term bereaved means, you know, deprived of a close relation, and of course his sons are very close relations to him and he loves them very much.
It doesn't seem like he loves Simeon very much, but he just kind of was like, yeah, it's okay, I'm not giving Benjamin back for Simeon, it's not going to happen.
But you know, he's also probably thinking, well, you know, he's already there, he's already locked up, I'm not going to sacrifice one more of my sons.
Every time I send him out, something bad happens.
So I can understand him thinking that way, and feeling that way, but it came to the point where Jacob just had to trust God, and trust in the plan that they put together.
You know, and that's why he put this present together for him.
That's why, you know, he had an offer in the last chapter for Reuben to do the same thing, but he didn't trust in Reuben.
Why? Because Reuben was unstable like water.
Reuben went and lay with his concubine, and he already knew about it.
And so he's like, how am I going to trust the word of someone that actually, you know, I mean, slept with his wife? Right?
I mean, it's pretty bad, it's a wicked sin, it's actually a death penalty situation for him.
Excuse me.
But, you know, he had the chance to trust in Reuben, but he didn't trust in him.
He trusted in Judah.
And Judah didn't seem like a very trustworthy guy from previous chapters, right?
Judah went into a harlot.
And Judah was part of the, one of the people who were saying that we should just sell, or we should just kill Joseph.
Excuse me.
But, so it says in verse 15, it says,
And the men that took the present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and he said,
And he said, The ruler of this house, of his house, bring these men home, and slay and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon.
Excuse me, I got like a frog in my throat or something here.
Ribbit.
So, I just, just thinking about this, like, even though these guys have done him dirty, you know, he wants to see Benjamin, he loves Benjamin.
And he tells one of his servants to make ready, to slay and make ready, and that he's going to dine with them at noon.
This is kind of what made me think of John chapter 21.
Jesus appears to his apostles, his disciples, and Peter is out fishing, and he's supposed to be preaching.
But he's out fishing instead, and he has some of the other disciples with him.
And he, if you want to turn over to John chapter 21,
I'm not saying this is necessarily a picture of the same thing, but it does kind of remind me of this,
in the way that Jesus, you know, if Joseph is representing Jesus,
and, you know, he wants to treat these 12 men in a good way, or these 11 guys in a good way,
and what's he do? He says, hey, slay and make ready, these men shall dine with me at noon.
And in John chapter 21 verse 12, you see Jesus, you know, he basically, they've been fishing,
he says, you know, cast in and bring these fish in, and they cast in, they finally catch something,
and then in verse 12 it says, Jesus saith unto them, thank you, come and dine,
and none of the disciples durst ask who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord.
Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
So Jesus, you know, prepared a meal for them when he appeared to them after he had resurrected.
Obviously they don't know that Joseph is alive at this point yet,
but I just thought it was interesting that, you know, Joseph is still using great hospitality to his brothers,
and even though, you know, they totally screwed him over.
So, but Jesus, you know, treated his disciples after he appeared to them alive.
You know, he'd appeared to them before, but it says in verse 14,
this is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
But you see, Jesus taking great care for his disciples, even though he's not with them all the time after he resurrects,
it's kind of like he just chooses different times to appear to them.
This is the third time he appeared to them, and he's like, hey, let's have some barbecue fish,
let's hang out, let's spend some time together.
And so, this is the third time that that happened, and Joseph, like Christ, was hospitable with his servants,
and he had his servants comfort them and treated them really well, like Christ would, like we should be also.
As Christians, you know, if you think we're Christ's servants, you know, and Joseph pictures Christ,
he has his servants, what do they do?
They treat his brothers with respect and sit them down and take care of them,
and we'll look at that a little more as we get through the chapter here,
but it says, you know, well, they're supposed to be, I think that we're supposed to be hospitable,
like Christ is being hospitable here, but he wants us to be hospitable.
Pastors are supposed to be hospitable, that's part of the qualifications of a pastor,
is that we're supposed to be given to hospitality.
And let's look through some verses here real quick about hospitality, in Romans chapter 12 verse 13.
It's not just pastors that are supposed to be hospitable, though, it's other Christians.
So, you know, we are the servants of Christ, and Christ is our master, right?
So we should be like him. Was Christ hospitable? Yes, he was.
You know, even though our kind of Peter's still doing something wrong here, he's like,
hey, let's come and eat together, let's come and dine, and we'll sit together.
You know, they had some fish and some honeycomb and stuff like that.
And, but Romans chapter 12 says, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given to hospitality.
So we are supposed to be given to hospitality as Christians.
And it shouldn't be something that we do, you know, with a grudge.
You know, we should do that because, you know, God, you know, I mean, just look at Jacob,
you know, his sons are being mistreated by this guy, and he's like, here, let's send this guy a present.
Maybe that'll help him, you know, be a little more endearing towards you guys.
Because, again, they don't know that Joseph is Joseph.
They think he's just this hard man that was speaking harshly with them,
and, you know, sending back their sacks filled with money.
He's just toying with them, basically.
But still, after all that, Jacob is still like, hey, even though he's captured my son,
even though he wants to see my other son for whatever reason,
Jacob is still treating him like Christ would treat us.
And so we're supposed to treat people with respect and with hospitality whenever we can do that.
Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 2.
1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 2.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 2, it says,
a bishop then must be, remember this morning when I was talking about the qualifications of the bishop,
it says, a bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality.
So, and it says apt to teach.
So we're supposed to be given to hospitality.
We're supposed to be hospitable to people that visit us.
We're supposed to be hospitable to our church members, you know,
and this is talking about a pastor specifically here,
but the last verse was talking about just Christians in general.
Turn to Titus chapter 1 verse 8.
Just like maybe a page or two over in your Bible, Titus chapter 1 verse 8 says,
but a lover of hospitality.
So we're supposed to be given to hospitality, but it also says,
but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate.
So as a pastor, my responsibility as a pastor is to,
you know, I'm supposed to be given to hospitality, but also a lover of hospitality.
So we're supposed to love to be hospitable to people.
But, you know, I would say this, that, you know, every, you know,
a pastor is supposed to be an example of the believers.
That just means that believers are supposed to be the same way.
So, now you might not be able to meet every qualification of a bishop or a pastor,
but these things are given to us too.
You know, you're not, that doesn't qualify you to be a Christian.
It's just something that we should love.
We should love to be hospitable.
We should love the fellowship.
We should love to hang out and do things and help people and be good to each other, right?
So, and then look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9.
That's the last verse I'll have you look at in this, about hospitality,
but 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9 says,
Use hospitality one to another.
I'll read it again. There's still some people turning to there.
1 Peter 4 verse 9 says,
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
So, it's not something you're like,
I'm going to have so-and-so over for dinner again.
You know, it shouldn't be like that.
You know, you should love to be hospitable to people.
And obviously, you can't have people for dinner every night.
I get that. You know, it would get old.
But, do you love hospitality?
Do you love, you know, doing things for other people?
Do you love, you know, having people over for dinner or taking people out to dinner?
Or, it doesn't even have to always just be dinner, you know?
But, a lot of it seemed like, you know, food has something to do with it.
These must be Baptists here in Genesis, right?
You know, if they're not eating, they're not eating or whatever.
Even Jacob is like, send them some food.
Send them some nuts and almonds and, you know, here's some spices and some balm, you know,
when he gets chapped lips from eating all them salty nuts or whatever.
But anyway, food has something to do with it.
And even when he's, you know, he's about to set his, his brothers are about to sit down to eat,
that's what the hospitality is though.
He's treating them well and he's feeding them.
It's just, you know, Jacob, when he had, when God literally showed up at his front door,
he's like, slay the calf and make ready.
And he's like, Sarah, fix them some dinner.
And, you know, Jesus ate steak.
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ ate steak with the two angels that came with him
and before they went and torched Sodom and Gomorrah, they had a nice steak dinner.
And, you know, Abraham knew, hey, I got to treat these guys right.
Here's some milk, here's some butter, here's some steak.
You know, it was, you know, it was grass fed, obviously, if they had grass there,
or grain fed or whatever, but it wasn't no GMO cow, okay?
It was good food.
So, anyway, Genesis 43 verse 17 says,
And the man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.
So Joseph told this man what to do.
He said, hey, we're going to feed them, I'm going to come at noon.
And the man brought the men into Joseph's house,
and the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house
and they said because of the money that was returned in our sacks
that the first time are we brought in that he may seek occasion against us
and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses.
So they're afraid, you know, because he's kind of been messing with them
and toying with them, and they're like, what is he bringing us over to his house for, you know?
Because, look, Joseph's basically the king of the world at this point.
He's the governor of all the land of Egypt,
the most powerful nation in the world,
the only one that has bread and food for everybody,
and this guy Joseph was like, why does he care?
You know, they're probably thinking like, why does he care?
Why does he want us to come over to his house so bad?
Like, he just wants to trick us.
Again, he just wants to take us as bondmen and steal our asses.
And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house,
and they communed with him at the door of the house.
And said, oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food.
So here they're trying to make their excuses like, you know, we really didn't do anything wrong.
They're going to really lay it on thick here.
Oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food.
And it came to pass when we came to the inn and we opened our sacks
and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of a sack.
Our money in full weight, and we have brought it again in our hand.
And other money have we brought down in the hands to buy food.
We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.
And so they're basically just like trying to explain themselves because they're right.
They did put the money back in their sacks because Joseph told them to do that, right?
And so, you know, and honestly if you think about all this, Joseph is testing them.
This is like a test from Joseph.
And so, you know, if you think about also Christ tests us in our life.
We go through trials, we go through things, and sometimes God wants to test us to see
how we're going to respond to certain situations.
You know, they've already messed up and done a lot of stupid things,
but really they're trying to be honest and true at this point.
But God wants, you know, God wants us to see this picture of these guys getting tested
and Joseph is the one that's testing them.
He wants to see how are they going to respond when they get some adversity.
What are they going to act like? What are they going to do?
And God wants to see that in us too when we go through trials and temptations
and tribulations and family problems and work problems and money problems
and food problems and whatever problems we have.
How are we going to respond?
Are we going to turn our back on Christ and walk away and do our own thing?
Or are we going to continue to follow Him even though the times are hard?
Even though we're in adversity.
Because that's where the rubber really does meet the road.
You know, that's where the medal of a true Christian is going to be shown.
You know, and I'm not saying that people have failed.
You know, people are going to fail.
We're going to fail in some of these tests.
We're going to fail in some of these trials.
But, you know, that hopefully will make you stronger.
Failure makes you better.
And so these guys have failed in a lot of different areas, but they're being put to the test again.
You know, because as Christians, we're going to fail in areas too,
but God's going to put us to the test again.
You know, and maybe we get that area of our life right.
Maybe we stop doing whatever it is we're supposed to be, you know, stop doing.
And then we get that right.
He puts us through the test again.
You know, life is like a series of tests.
And we're always constantly having to pass and get new achievements, right?
We're always supposed to, you know, we're supposed to be moving forward and getting better for the cause of Christ.
And just in our daily lives, you know, time management's a big deal, isn't it?
A lot of people are like, I don't have time to read my Bible.
I don't have time to do this.
I don't have time to go to church.
And it's like, it's just a bunch of excuses.
You have time.
You just need to learn to make the time.
Stop making excuses for yourself because, you know, you just need to stop making excuses.
Excuses are like armpits.
Everybody has one and they stink, right?
Excuses are just good for nothing.
You know, we have 24 hours.
Everybody has the same amount of time.
And, you know, how you choose to use that time is up to you.
But don't sit there and say, I just don't have time.
Because you do have time.
You know, maybe you just need to get up earlier in the morning.
I don't have time to read my Bible in the morning.
Get up earlier in the morning.
As much as it sucks.
Here's the thing that I've wrestled with my whole life about getting up.
And I used to be one of those people that would like get up at the last second,
get ready at the last second, get to work.
You know, I'd still be early to work, but, you know, a few minutes before work.
And now I'm like almost an hour early to work every day.
This is like something I had to incorporate into my life
because I just realized that if I'm always constantly rushing to the next checkpoint,
then I don't have time to just sit there and do what I need to get done.
As a pastor, I need to read the Bible in the morning.
I need to read the Bible for a long time.
Because it's important for me to know what I'm talking about,
to preach the Word of God, to know what God says, to know what the Bible says,
is my responsibility.
And so I take that responsibility very seriously.
And if I haven't read my Bible in the morning,
I hate it when people walk up to my car because I'll park
and then people walk up to me to talk to me.
I'm just like, come on, man, leave me alone.
I'm reading my Bible.
And it's just like, you know, but that's my time.
That's the time I choose.
I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning so I can read my Bible.
You're like, you're crazy.
Well, you know what else is crazy?
Rushing, going through rush hour traffic.
I know the traffic's a lot better when I go early.
But you know when it's bad?
When it's like everybody else is trying to go at the same time.
And then you're like, I don't know if I'm going to make it.
I don't know if I'm going to make it.
I can't believe I'm stuck in traffic.
It's like, you're stuck in traffic because you left too late.
That's why.
So anyway, I mean, God puts us through trials and tests.
You know, we need to be able to fight through that adversity
and still continue to serve God with all of our heart,
with all of our mind, with all of our soul, with all of our strength.
So where are we at here?
So he says, so verse 23 back in our text in Genesis 43 says,
and he said, peace be to you, fear not.
Peace be to you, fear not.
Where have you heard that before?
I mean, it's just something that God says to people all throughout the Bible, right?
And so who's saying this to them?
It's Joseph's servant.
Peace be to you, fear not.
God and the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks.
I had your money and he brought Simeon out unto them.
It's all these things that they fear.
He kind of just like rests his shirt, hey, just like, hey, you know,
and he knows that they're afraid.
He knows that they're afraid and that's why, you know, when we're afraid,
you know, we just need to realize that God is, you know,
just repeatedly over and over again in the Bible says, peace be to you, fear not.
You know, the only people we should be fearing is God himself.
And so he's just like, hey, I know you didn't really, you know,
you don't deserve to be punished for this specific act
because they didn't put the money in the sacks, did they?
And so God is fair when he meets out things,
but I just think it's really interesting that the words he uses
are the same things that Jesus tells us.
Fear not, peace be unto you.
You know, God your father hath given you the treasure in your sacks
and your money and he brought Simeon out to them.
So that kind of relieves some of the pressure that was going on
because they didn't realize, you know, they didn't know what was going to happen.
I mean, they're in this situation where he says,
don't come back without your brother.
They come back with the brother and then he's like,
you're going to eat, you know, in Joseph's house.
And they're like, uh-oh, what's going to happen next?
So let's look at a couple more verses over in John.
Let's turn to John, chapter 14, verse 27.
John, chapter 14, verse 27.
And here's a couple examples, I just want to show a couple examples
where Jesus actually says these exact words.
John, chapter 14, verse 27 says,
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you,
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
So basically the same things that were said in Genesis 43, verse 23
are said to us by Jesus in this verse.
And there's multiple verses I can show you about this.
But let's look at just one more passage before we move on.
John, chapter 20, verse number 19.
John, chapter 20, verse 19.
It's a few pages over in your Bible.
So in John, chapter 20, verse 19, it says,
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them,
Peace be unto you.
So why did he say that to them?
Because they were freaked out.
You know, they thought Jesus was dead,
and then he just like appears in the midst of them.
Like, bing!
You know, he just appears to them.
And he stood in the midst of them, and then they freaked out.
Because we've never seen anything supernatural like that happen before.
I mean, anybody ever seen someone that was dead,
and all of a sudden they're just right there.
It's like, I'm going to freak you out.
You know, when people see angels in the Bible,
what do they always do?
They just fall on the ground like they're dead.
Right?
It freaks people out to see things that are like supernatural like that.
So, and then in verse number 20 it says,
And when he had said so, he showed unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you.
As my Father has sent me, so sin I you.
So just a couple of verses where Jesus is saying basically the same thing.
Peace be unto you.
This is something that's a theme throughout the Bible,
that when people are afraid, God wants to comfort them and say,
Hey, don't be afraid.
You know, peace, I want peace to be unto you.
Don't be afraid of me.
God doesn't want us to, he wants us to be afraid of him, obviously.
You know, fear the Lord, we're supposed to fear the Lord,
that's the beginning of wisdom, it's the beginning of knowledge.
But as far as like, when he's being tender with us,
when he's appearing to them as the resurrected Christ,
he doesn't want them to be afraid of that.
He wants them to embrace that and to see it for what it is.
He wants people to see him as, you know, because God is love.
You know, God loves us, he wants us to be comforted in him,
and, you know, he doesn't want us to feel like we're the dog
that's going to get smacked with the newspaper every five seconds, right?
Because, you know, some people can paint God like that,
he's just this, you know, he's just always mad at us.
He's not always mad at us.
You know, he's mad at us sometimes.
Sometimes he's mad at you, some people in here more than others.
You know, probably me, but, you know, God can be mad at you,
but, you know what, God is love, and God can be angry.
You know, people are complex individuals.
God is a complex God.
He's not just one way or the other.
You know, he's loving and wrathful.
But the Jesus that's presented to us in all these other churches around here
is that God is always happy with you, you've never done anything wrong,
you're free in Christ, bro, you can just do whatever you want,
you can dress however you want, you can wear your clothes however you want,
you can wear your hair however you want.
God isn't mad at you no matter what.
That's Joyce Myers.
That's Joel Osteen.
They're going to tell you all that stuff.
When you walk out of their church, after you've paid $300 to sit in that seat,
then you're going to feel good about yourself.
Hey, they robbed you and you feel good.
You know, you went to Tony Robbins' seminar, basically.
And he's told you how the keys of life and how you can be better and richer
and you can drive the sports car that you want to drive someday.
And God loves us. He does love us.
But sometimes you should walk out feeling like you're the worst human being
on the face of the planet.
Because sometimes we just need to get things right.
When we're in church, you know, the Bible should speak to your heart.
If you're paying attention and listening to God's Word,
God is going to teach you things and reveal things to you through the preaching.
He's also going to reveal things to you in your private Bible reading.
And when we're coming to church, we should be ready to learn.
Put some toothpicks in your eyelids and get ready to learn.
I know that sometimes our days can be long and hard
and when you go soul-wanting and you've just put all this virtue out of your body,
it's hard to sit through a sermon sometimes, and I understand that.
But we should still be ready to learn and be ready to hear what God has for us in the sermon.
So let's go back to our text, Genesis 43 verse 24.
It says,
And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water and they washed their feet.
Where have you seen that before?
He washed their feet and gave their asses provender.
So, you know, just like Jesus washed the feet of his disciples,
you see Joseph, the hospitality he gives, obviously that was probably a hospitality that a lot of people gave.
You know, where they'd wash the feet of people and things like that.
It says, you know, but I'm sure if it was a poor person, they'd probably not.
You know, if you have servants and people, you know, they'd probably do those type of things.
But, you know, they're washing their feet, they made ready the present against Joseph,
came, against Joseph came at noon, and they heard that they should eat bread there.
So the rumor is, they're about to eat some food, okay.
And they're Baptist or whatever, so they're like, yeah.
And with Joseph, he's like, is there hummus involved?
But anyway, when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in the hand into the house and bowed themselves to the earth.
Now remember, the prophecy that, or the dream that Joseph dreamed is that they would come and bow themselves before him.
Remember in the last chapter, they came and bowed themselves before him and now here they are doing it again.
And they were really upset when he dreamed that dream, and here they still don't realize that this is Joseph that they're bowing to.
It says, and he asked them of their welfare and said, is your father well, the old man whom he spake, is he yet alive?
And they answered, thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive.
And they bowed their heads and made obeisance.
So they bowed their heads again, they're bowing down to Joseph just like he dreamed.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin and 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.
And here's another thing, like some clues that maybe they're dealing with saved people, the brothers here.
It's like they're like, God put that money in your sacks.
And they're just like dropping these nuggets of, you know, peace be unto you.
You know, it's like you think that they'd pick up the clues after a while that, you know, they're dealing with someone that's saved.
You know, they're not, the God, the God of your fathers are like specifically saying that kind of stuff.
And it says, 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.
And he washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said, set on bread.
That's what a man would say, right? Set on bread, let's eat boys.
And they set on for him, they set on him by himself, for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves.
Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
And you'll see later on in the book of Genesis that it talks about that being shepherds like they are is an abomination to the Egyptians.
So, you know, Egypt represents the world in the Scriptures, and going back to Egypt represents going back to the world.
Egypt is definitely a picture of the world when, when Job, or not Job, excuse me, when Abraham, you know, offered to give, you know, what his,
Goodnight, I can't remember his name. Not Job.
Abraham's nephew. Lot, Lot. I always get Lot and Job mixed up.
But anyway, Lot, you know, when he sees the well-watered plains, it's like the land of Egypt.
And Egypt was the place where Abraham went, remember when there was a plague, or not a plague, but a drought in his day, right?
And so Lot knew what Egypt looked like. He saw what it looked like, and he looked at this place, he's like, I want to go there.
That's like the land of Egypt. And so the Egyptians consider, you know, eating with the Hebrews an abomination to them.
And they also consider their livelihoods, what they actually do for a living, as an abomination.
But that's the same thing that the people in the world today think of us as also. They think, you know, it's an abomination to hang around with a Christian.
Now, you're saying, well I know some people that don't really feel that way, but they're not, they're okay with hanging around with compromised Christians.
See, you know, Lot hung around Sodom. How could you be comfortable in a place like Sodom?
How could you be comfortable in a place like Sodom? And Jerusalem was compared to Sodom in Egypt, okay?
So Egypt and Sodom are a lot alike. And so, if you think about it, why do they think that eating with the Hebrews is an abomination?
Why do they think that their jobs are an abomination? Because those are the things that God holds dear.
And so the world does not want to eat with us in that way. The world does not want to fellowship with Christians.
You know, Joseph set by himself, the sons of Jacob set by themselves, and the Egyptians set by themselves.
They have enough sense to separate from us, but how come we don't have enough sense to separate from them?
How come Christians don't have enough sense to separate from the things of Egypt? Why?
Because we always just like to shoot ourselves in the foot. We always like to just go back to the vomit.
We're like the hog that wants to roll back in the mud. And, you know, we shouldn't have a desire in our hearts to look back and go back to the land of Egypt.
You know, Lot chose that land because there was something about Egypt that he liked. There was something about the land of Egypt that he liked.
And it says that Sodom was like the land of Egypt. So this should be a warning in our heart when we want to go back to the things,
and if you think about Egypt being a picture of the world, those are the things that we should resist.
We should resist wanting to go back, because you know what? The things that the Egyptians do are an abomination to us.
In reality. Wasn't Sodom an abomination to God and an affront to him so much that he destroyed it from off the face of the earth with hellfire?
Yes. And yet Lot was there, and they had to drag him out of there. They literally just like scooped him up and walked him out of there.
You know, we shouldn't be so comfortable as Christians that we can just hang around the Egyptians of this world and feel comfortable.
They don't feel comfortable with us. I mean, I don't know if you felt some of that pressure yesterday, but I sure did.
There were some people that were not comfortable sitting in this building yesterday.
And there were some people that were giving me dirty looks yesterday.
You know why? Because the Egyptians, to us, were an abomination to them.
And look, I'm not saying don't love them, don't help them, don't give them the gospel, I'm not saying that,
but to be comfortable with just sitting down and eating with them, and I'm saying we should sit down and eat with people if we're trying to get them saved.
Don't get me wrong, but what I'm saying is we need to be separate from the world.
If we love the world, and the things of the world, it's going to compromise us.
And if you're so compromised that you're super comfortable with the Egyptians, then you're not right with God.
And you need to fix that. Because the Egyptians, they know what we are, and they think we're an abomination.
We're an abomination to the world. We're the off-scouring of the world.
And don't ever forget that. When you think that they're like, oh they're cool with us, until you bring up Jesus,
then they stop being cool real quick, don't they?
When you say, hey you know what, I don't want to carve pumpkins with my kids on Halloween, that changes their mind real quick, doesn't it?
What do you mean? You're going to deprive your children of Halloween?
Uh, yeah, it's an abomination to me.
So why would we be okay with something that's an abomination to God?
You know, the roles need to be reversed here, but it's funny how it says the Egyptians didn't have any problem identifying what they find as an abomination.
But Christians are like, oh we're going to love these homos, we're going to love all these weirdos.
I don't think so, folks. I don't think so.
They're an abomination. Whatever God says is an abomination, that should be an abomination to you too.
I'm not talking about mixed fabrics, folks, okay?
I'm not talking about shellfish.
I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about Peter Pan.
I'm talking about my little brony.
I'm talking about skinny jeans.
I'm talking about those kind of people.
Those things that are an abomination to God should be an abomination to us.
We should not embrace those things.
And we need to say, hey, I'm not going to sit with this crowd over here.
I'm going to be with God's people.
Just like the Egyptians were smart enough here to say, you know what?
And they're wrong for being that way.
But again, later on, we'll see in the later chapters, I think it's later, it's almost at the end of the book,
but, you know, they go to the land of Goshen for a specific reason.
Because that was set aside for people that are shepherds,
and it's an abomination for the Egyptians to hang out with people that are goat herders or whatever.
You know, Bronze Age goat herders.
It's wrong for them to hang out with them or whatever, right?
So anyway, it's a picture of the world wanting nothing to do with people that are saved.
Unless those people are compromisers.
They'll hang out with compromisers, but the moment that compromiser says,
why do so wickedly, my brethren?
When they act like that, then what happens?
Then they go, we'll deal with thee worse than we were going to deal with them.
Right? Isn't that how they act?
Because in reality, they really don't have love for you like you think that they do.
Like, oh, they love me. No, they don't.
As soon as you bring up Christ, you're an abomination to them.
That's the truth.
Look at verse 33, it says,
And they set before him, and the firstborn according to the birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marvelled one at another.
And he took and sent messes unto them before him.
But Benjamin's mess, I'm guessing that this is like another sack of food or something like that,
was five times so much as any of theirs.
So Joseph's like, I'm going to give him some special treatment,
because he's my, my blood, my full blood brother.
And they drank, and they were merry with him.
So, so everything's going great, but things are going to change next week a little bit for them.
And Joseph's really going to put them to the test in the next chapter.
So next week we'll see Joseph kind of spring his trap.
But you know, he still is being gracious to them, even though he's testing them.
He's like, God's going to be gracious with us.
You know, he's not going to test us more than what we can handle, right?
He's not going to put us through more than we can handle,
but with that temptation, offer us a way to get out of that.
And I didn't quote that verse right, but you know what I'm talking about.
So anyway, let's pray.
That's Genesis chapter 43.
Heavenly Father, we thank the Lord so much for a great day in your house.
We thank you for the five people that were saved.
We thank you for the young man that was saved yesterday.
And we just want to give you praise also for the people that are saved up in Tacoma, Lord.
And we just thank you for a church that's willing to go out and hit the highways and hedges
and spend the time going soul-winding, Lord, and just bringing more people into your kingdom, Lord, like we're supposed to.
I pray that you'd help us, Lord, to remember that we need to separate from Egypt,
and Lord, to not be disillusioned with the things that Egypt has to offer.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to not look back and just to continue to push the plow forward
and that when our day comes that we can say that we finished the course, we've kept the faith.
Lord, we thank you for everything that you do for us, Lord.
We thank you for all the visitors we had this weekend,
and we just want to pray that you bless them, Lord, for being here and our faithful church members here, Lord.
And we pray that you just bless us as we go our separate ways tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Page number 61. Sing it out on the first.
We say goodbye in sorrow Till we meet at Jesus' feet
We'll never say goodbye in glory In the morning over yonder
We'll never say goodbye in glory We'll never say goodbye up there
Our children leave the homeness For school or wedding bells
For country's call or mission field May take them far as well
Now wedding bells are heavy And God's way always right
In absent ones we'll greet them In the city always bright
We'll never say goodbye in glory In the morning over yonder
We'll never say goodbye in glory We'll never say goodbye up there
We greet and part with dear ones We say hello, goodbye
And letters bind our fellowship We miss them though we try
To feel them always near us And follow them with prayer
The parting days are ended When we meet them in the air
We'll never say goodbye in glory In the morning over yonder
We'll never say goodbye in glory We'll never say goodbye up there
Oh happy, glad homecoming With Jesus in the sky
For sometimes He seems far away Though always if we try
We find Him near to help us His Spirit dwells within
But only perfect union When we haven't entered in
We'll never say goodbye in glory In the morning over yonder
We'll never say goodbye in glory We'll never say goodbye up there
Good singing brother, Ryan Holmes, will you dismiss us with the word prayer?