Music
Sing above the battle strife
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
By his death in endless light
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
Sing it softly through the gloom
When the heart for mercy craves
Sing in triumph for the tomb
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
Give the winds a mighty voice
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
Let the nations now rejoice
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
Shout salvation full and free
Highest hills and deepest caves
It's our song of victory
Jesus saves, Jesus saves
Amen, great singing brother Bill, can you open us with a word of prayer?
Amen, page 209
Sunshine in the soul, page 209
There is sunshine in my soul today
For glorious and bright
Then glows in any earthly sky
For glorious and bright
Jesus is my light
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus
shows a smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There's music in my soul today
A carol to the king
And Jesus
listening can hear
The songs I cannot sing
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus
shows a smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There's springtime in my soul today
For when the Lord
is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart
The flowers of grace appear
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus
shows a smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There's gladness in my soul today
And hope and praise
And love for blessings
Which he gives me now
For joys laid above
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus
shows a smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
Praise him.
Good afternoon. Welcome to Foundation Baptist Church for our evening service.
Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements. If you need a bulletin,
would you lift up your hand and Brother Ryan, give you
a bulletin. On our front cover, we have a verse of the week. It says, Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they have God, because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. 1 John chapter 4
verse number 1. That's a very applicable verse for us
and our service times are 10.30 a.m. Sunday morning
Sunday evening 3.30 p.m. We're in Genesis chapter 44 tonight. Thursday Bible study
is at 6.30 p.m. We'll be in 2 Corinthians chapter number 10
and our soul winning times are listed below. We had soul winning today.
Was there any salvations? One salvation.
Anybody else? Praise God for one.
It's actually not March anymore, it's April.
That's one for April.
I had a report
from Brother Ian this afternoon. He baptized four today
so that brings nine total for the year.
He preached a sermon about the Lord's Supper this morning so four people got baptized
because they want to partake I think. So that's good though. Amen.
And let's see the attendance totals are down there. On our
inside right page there is our upcoming
events and we're going to have a soul winning marathon this coming Saturday. We'll meet
here at the building at 9.30.
And then we'll go out. We'll have some coffee and stuff like that here.
Donuts or whatever. And then we'll go out soul winning for a couple hours.
We'll have lunch. I'll make sure everybody knows exactly what's
going on before the end of the week here. And then we'll
go out for a couple more hours. And then there's the Lord's Supper service
on the PM service next Sunday night. And then Easter Sunday
is the 17th. We're going to have a potluck after
the service. Miss Sherry can you please make sure to put a sign up
in the potluck department for
church. This says potluck sign up
for Easter Sunday. And then we're going to have a men's preaching night. So a men's
preaching night on the evening service.
And then April 23rd through 25th is the Detroit soul winning trip.
It'll be about 10 or 12 hours or more of soul winning in a
really receptive area. And then we're going to have
a couple, we're going to have people from all over there but I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people that haven't
said they're going to go because this is what always happens in events. So right now I think
Brother Temo just doesn't realize this but he said I think we've got about 30
people coming. I was like yeah okay. So that's how many people said they're coming
but then all the people that fail to communicate. What we have
here in this movement is a failure to communicate.
For real. But that's okay. I'd rather have them not communicate and come
than to communicate and then not come. So I'm sure
there'll be more. But anyway, it's going to be a great event.
Deacon Courtney Russell is going to be preaching for us on the Sunday morning the 24th
and then Brother Dylan Oz, my son-in-law, will be preaching for
us in the evening service. So he's very excited about seeing everybody.
And then that same day I'll be preaching in Boise for
Pastor Jones for Pastor Appreciation Weekend. So
it's not very much appreciated for me because I've got to preach. No I'm just kidding. I'm happy to preach.
And give him a break. So anyway, I'm just looking forward
to being able to fellowship with all the brethren there. And the
deacon for Verity Baptist Church, Brother Oliver Gonzalez
will be there preaching Friday night. So it's going to be like I think
I don't know if it's a soloing marathon but I know they're having some food and stuff like that. It's a Baptist meeting
so you know there's going to be food there. So that type of thing. So if anybody isn't going
to Detroit and wants to go to Boise, you're more than welcome to come to that.
And I'm sure the more the merrier. May 7th is the Ladies Tea. It's going to be at
10 am here at the church building. And it will be catered food from Chuck's.
So I don't know
it's some kind of sandwiches or something but if it's from Chuck's
then you know it's going to be high quality. Then there's going to be some tea.
And like the gloves and all that kind of stuff.
So y'all have fun ladies. But I hope you have a good time.
May 28th is going to be May 7th. May 28th is going to be
our fellowship preaching with Sure Foundation Baptist
North at the border like we did last time.
Now I don't know if anybody bought passes. I think those passes
are still good. But if you just paid for the data park then they're not still good.
But I think it was just like 10 more dollars to do like the
full on all parks. You can park for free
type of thing. So that might be something to consider if you're there.
But I'll pay for your parking so just come grab me and
catch me outside and I'll pay for your parking.
So there's going to be two services there but the day before
which is Friday we're going to do a soul winning marathon.
Maybe mini marathon. I'm not sure but Brother Robert is going to find a park for us to
go hang out at and then we're going to preach the gospel in Blaine
for the day. So unfortunately the Canadians can't come down to that
just yet. I think they're still in full lockdown measures under their
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so
he's a real peach of a leader there anyway.
But anyhow I'm glad to get to spend some time with
them though and hang out with them and fellowship and preach. So June 1st and 4th
is church camp. June 10th is the Northeast New IFB conference night
in New Jersey and we're going to have some food and fellowship
at 6pm. The service begins at 7. I'll be preaching and then
Pastor Menes will be preaching after me and then we're going to have some baptisms
and there will be a soul winning marathon the next day which me and Pastor Menes and his whole family is going to be
there so it's going to be a great night. A great couple days there.
July 14th through 17th is the Red Hot Preaching Conference and
a special prayer please this week for our church in Spokane.
It's just a special unspoken. I hope that everybody would join
with me in praying about that special unspoken and all the other
stuff is pretty much done except for
where's Temo? That little weasel. Is he in here?
Oh man. That's it. I'm just going to have to
if he comes in late, guess what's going to happen? Here's what's going to happen.
He's probably listening right now so I'm not going to tell him what's going to happen. Okay. Never mind.
Let's move on with the service and sing another song and we'll receive the offering.
Page 246 in your green hymnals. We're going to sing
Redeemed page 246.
Redeemed page 246. Sing it out loud with me on the first.
Redeemed how I love to proclaim
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed through His infinite mercy
His child and forever I am
Redeemed, redeemed
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed
His child and forever I am
Redeemed and so happy in Jesus
No language my rapture can tell
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell
Redeemed, redeemed
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed
His child and forever I am
I think of my blessed Redeemer
I think of Him all the day long
I sing for I cannot be silent
His love is the theme of my song
Redeemed, redeemed
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed
His child and forever I am
I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose law I delight
Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
And giveth me songs in the night
Redeemed, redeemed
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed
His child and forever I am
Amen. Great singing. At this time we will receive our offering.
Brother Ramon, can you bless the offering for us?
.
If I go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter 44
Genesis 44, if you don't have a Bible
raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one
Genesis chapter 44
.
Genesis 44, the Bible reads
And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food
as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.
And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest
and his corn money. And he did according to the word
that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away
they and their asses. And when they were gone out of the city
and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up,
follow after the men, and when thou dost overtake them
say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing.
And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.
And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my Lord these words, God forbid
that thy servants should do according to this thing.
Behold the money which we found in our sack's mouth, we brought
again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal
out of thy Lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servant
it be found, both let him die
and we also will be my Lord's bondmen. And he said,
Now also, let it be according to your words, He with whom
it was found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless.
Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened
every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the eldest,
and left at the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
Then they rent their clothes, and laid at every man his ass, and returned
to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there.
And they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them,
What deed is this that ye have done? What ye not,
that such a man as I can certainly divine? And Judah
said, What shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak?
Or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.
Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also
with whom the cup is found. And he said, God forbid that
I should do so, but the man in whose hand the cup is found,
he shall be my servant, and as for you, get you up in peace
unto your father. Then Judah came near unto him, and said, O my Lord,
let thy servant I pray thee speak a word in my Lord's ears, and let
not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou art even as
Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servant, saying, Have ye a
father or a brother? And we said unto my Lord, We have a father, an
old man, and a child of his old age, little one, a little one,
and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father
loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me,
that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my Lord,
The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would
die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother
come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass,
when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my Lord.
And our father said, Go again and buy us a little food.
And we said, We cannot go down if our youngest brother be with us.
Then will we go down, for we may not
see the man's face except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant
my father said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two sons,
and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn
in pieces, and I saw him not since. And if ye take this
also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down
my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy
servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life
is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass, when he seeth that
the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servants shall bring down
the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.
For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying,
If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall not bear the blame to my father forever.
Now therefore I pray thee, Let thy servant abide instead of the lad
a bondman to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren.
For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?
Lest, peradventure, I see the evil that shall come on my father.
Brother Bill, will you pray for us?
Amen. Genesis chapter 44.
It's been a couple weeks since we've been here,
and I just wanted to kind of remind you where we were at before.
Remember Simeon was taken captive
basically by Joseph. He was bound up.
He was taken captive by Joseph.
He was bound up, and then the children of Israel
went back down to their father and they said, hey, the only way we can go back up
is if Benjamin is with us.
And Jacob refused to send Benjamin because
he said every time, basically he was thinking like every time I send one of my sons
something bad happens to him. And so he just basically refused to do that.
Then they run out of food, and then Jacob decides that the time
is right, and he's just going to have to basically trust that his son is going to be okay.
And then he sends them back there, and then they
kind of have this meal with Joseph, and
Joseph then, they end up
bowing down to Joseph. This is I think the second time that they bowed before
him, and he treated them good. He gave them hospitality,
and basically treated them good even though
his brothers up to this point have not treated him
right. Now they don't realize that this is Joseph still even to this point.
And so we're going to pick up here where they
were sent back. They're going to be sent back after
this feast that they have with Joseph. So let's pick up back in verse number 1
here, and it says, and he commanded the steward of his house, saying, fill the
men's sacks with food as much as they can carry, and put
every man's money in his sack's mouth.
And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest,
and his corn money, and he did according to the word
that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men
were sent away, they and their asses, and when they were
gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said
unto his steward, Up, follow after the men, and when thou
dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have you rewarded
evil for good? So Joseph is
going to test his brothers. Now he knows what they've
done to him, they've done evil unto him, and I think that he's really trying to get back
to the heart of finding out, you know, what his brothers are really
like now, because they seem to be talking like they do care about their dad.
They do, you know, even though they lied to him and said that Joseph was killed by a wild animal,
and, you know, Reuben lay with his father's concubine,
I mean, the ones that were born of the bondmaids were not
the best of the kids in the group.
So this morning I talked about, you know, how Judaism is a false religion, and
basically the children of Israel would corrupt themselves, and
here in the beginning, where, you know, where all the tribes
are named from, these guys, some of these guys have done some pretty bad stuff. Remember Judah
went to, you know, he's known to be with Harlots, and
he's the one that wanted to sell Joseph, or I think he wanted to kill Joseph in the
beginning, and then Reuben kind of stuck up for him. So some of these guys, you know,
it just kind of shows that, you know, people can be saved and do some pretty
bad stuff, because I believe that probably all of these guys were saved,
but obviously, I mean, people
that are saved can do bad stuff, you know, as far as, I mean, they went as far as
to, you know, sell their brother into slavery. I mean, that's pretty bad, right?
A lot of them have done things that are worthy of death. Reuben, what Reuben did
was worthy of death. In the law of Moses,
if you do that, what he did with his father's concubine,
which was his wife, then you would be put to death for that.
So, I think there's, you know, and
God tests us in our life, too. Sometimes we get put in awkward positions,
sometimes we get in positions where we could compromise, and God
is testing us to see whether we're going to do the right thing or not.
And I think that's what Joseph is doing in these chapters here, is he just wants
to see what these guys are all about. Are they going to make the right decision?
Are they going to do the right thing? You know, and I believe that
he gets his answer, and in the next chapter,
he's going to reveal himself to them, but let's get through this chapter first.
But I also think that this is a foreshadowing, when it says,
wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? And it kind of reminds me
of when Christ comes and the children of Israel do him
evil for the good that he does. And so,
obviously Joseph being a type of Christ, I think this is kind of
foreshadowing or maybe a picture of that when Christ came,
he was literally treated evil for the good things that he did.
I mean, he was good. Everything he did was good. There was nothing that Jesus did that was bad.
He didn't have the same kind of nature that these sons here,
the children of Israel have, where they're doing all these bad things, and then
but there is redeeming qualities in them. Not all
of them are necessarily showcasing the story. A lot of them are just silent throughout this whole thing,
but obviously Judah is a big player in this whole thing,
and Judah is also the tribe where the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to come from in the future. And we
see that Judah's qualities here, even though he had done wrong
in times past, you know, he does kind of
redeem himself to a certain extent, and he actually, you know,
Reuben said, well, if we don't bring Benjamin back, then kill
my sons. And it's like, what grandfather is going to say, okay, I'm going to kill your
sons now? That's kind of ridiculous. But what Judah said is,
if I don't do it, then let me be blamed forever. And that was a
picture of how Christ is blamed forever for our sins
that we've done by taking our place for us on the cross. He switched places with us.
If people will accept it, but not everybody accepts that.
Not everybody believes on Christ, but it doesn't make him any
less those people's savior than it does ours. We just,
you know, Jesus is the savior of the whole world. He's
the savior of every reprobate. He's the savior of every lost person.
He's the savior of every atheist. Whether they believe
that or not, it doesn't matter what they believe, it matters what they believe
for salvation's purposes, but it really doesn't change the fact
that God sent Jesus Christ
and He is the savior of all mankind.
He did everything that was necessary to become their savior,
and the Bible actually says, especially to them that believe.
So He's the savior of all mankind, especially to them that believe.
So we're His, He's our savior, but we're saved.
He's their savior, He's people's savior that's not saved too,
like multitudes and multitudes of people. Billions of people are going to
be in hell someday when they wake up in hell.
There's a lot of people that are already there. The Bible says hell hath enlarged
yourself. And so hell is getting bigger by the day
because there's more people, there's more population. This is the biggest population the world's
ever seen, that we know of. I mean the pre-flood
could have been bigger, but I highly doubt that it got to be
8 billion or what, is it 8 billion now or somewhere close to that now?
I highly doubt that it got to be 8 billion people in 1500 years.
So this is the biggest the world's ever been population
wise, and there's more people going to hell now than there ever has been.
If you think about it, every day people die, every second someone's dying.
All around the world. So, and I also think that
even though Benjamin does not actually steal
the cup, in the future they're going to give
a man named Judas 20 pieces of silver to kill
a good man. So I think that this picture
of this silver being in the bag of Benjamin
is kind of a, you know, obviously he didn't do it
but years later there is going to be someone that betrays
for silver and is found in the mouth of his sack.
So look at verse number 5, it says,
Is not this it which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
he divineth? You have done evil
in so doing. So this is actually Joseph's literal cup.
And it's a silver cup, and you know
he's basically saying whereby indeed he divineth. And divination
is like a wicked sin in the Bible,
but I think he's just like trying to tell them, he's trying to make this facade of
him being this bad harsh kind of guy, and he's just
I mean he's kind of, he's embellishing things a little bit here, which would be
kind of a little bit like a lie. You know, I mean
because obviously he doesn't divine by the cup that he's using and
you know he's really kind of laying it on pretty thick for them.
It says, And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words,
and they said unto him, Wherefore, saith my Lord, these words,
God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing.
But you know what, they've done a lot worse things before, haven't they?
So I mean to me I just think that's a funny thing for them to say,
but you know in the moment when you're caught, and you know they're caught
but they didn't even really do anything wrong. But they realized, remember last chapter
they realized that there's something that's going on like
God is like paying them back for what they did to Joseph.
And it says, Behold the money which we found in our sacks mouths we brought
again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we
steal out of thy Lord's house silver or gold, with whomsoever
of thy servants it be found? Both let him die,
and we also with my Lord's bondmen.
This is just like, I don't understand
why they would say this. With whomsoever of thy servants it be found,
let him die. Now don't you think that's kind of an extreme
thing to say? Because thus far they've been being
accused of all this stuff that they really haven't done, and then they're saying hey
we'll also be the Lord's bondmen. Like they don't think that
they're going to find anything, but they're wrong.
And so that should just show you that the things that we say
we should really be careful what we say
with our mouths. We should really think about the things
that we say, we should be
you know, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 5. There's things we
should just think about before we say something. You know they're just like
whoever did it, let them die. And it's like well what if
they didn't think about the point well maybe he did take it. You know they don't know.
They don't know whether Benjamin took it or not,
they don't think he did, but them saying that
I mean if Joseph was a wicked person like they think he is
then they would be held to their words. And they also said then we'll
be your bondmen. So you don't want to say things that you don't really mean.
You don't want to say things and promise things and
do things that you can't really back up.
Or that you won't back up, or that you won't do. Don't put yourself
in a position where you have to you know, wreck your integrity.
Look what it says in Ecclesiastes 5 too, it says
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be
hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven
and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be
few. That's some excellent advice from God.
Be not rash with thy mouth, don't be just so hasty
to utter things before God. Don't be hasty to promise
things that you can't back up, or that you don't
want to back up, or that you won't do.
And I remember as a young, unsaved person
more than once promising
if God would just get me out of this situation that I would be good
from now on and do this and this. Who's done that before? Everybody pretty
much. You liars, no I'm just kidding. I'm just joking.
But I remember one time
I don't want to tell this story, never mind, I'm not going to tell this story.
I think I've told this story before but
there has been times when I promised God that I was going to do something and didn't do it
and ignorance of the law
does not mean that you get out of it. Just because you don't know what the Bible
says, just because you've never read the Bible cover to cover, you know
obviously I'm sure God might hold me to that even more
as a saved person.
Isn't it funny how unsaved people will still make
deals with God that they're not really saved by or that
they say around other people that they don't believe in.
But it's like you get yourself in a really difficult situation
and the most ardent atheist
is going to be praying in a foxhole when bombs are going off around them.
Because when you're terrified, when you're in a situation
where you think there's no escape, it's funny how many people are believers at that moment.
But we should not
be rash with our mouth, we should not be hasty to utter anything
before God. Because God is in heaven, endow upon
the earth, therefore let thy words be few.
So don't just shoot off at the mouth over things that you
don't know what you're talking about or promise to do things that you shouldn't
be promising. It says, for a dream cometh through the multitude of business
and a fool's voice is known by multitude
of words. How would you know that someone's a fool? Well just
they just say too much. They speak everything that's on their mind,
they tell every secret about themselves and they just
you know, that's what the Bible says, a fool is known by the multitude
of words. When thou vowest to vow unto God
defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure
in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed.
So sometimes, I mean in the Bible, vowing is kind of a big
deal, right? I mean it's talked about all throughout the Old Testament
and you know, vowing, I don't
think vowing is a sin. The sin is to vow something
and then to not keep it. Because God is going to
hold you to what you say. So that's why the Bible says
not to be rash with your mouth, not to let your heart be hasty
to other things before God. And it says
better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou
shouldest vow and not pay. So don't, if you
can't do it, if you're not planning on doing it, don't
say you're going to do it and then not do it, whether that's
I'm going to give a special offering, I'm going to
I promise I'm going to get up and, I vow that I'm going to get up and read my Bible
every day at 4 o'clock in the morning. If you do that
God expects you to keep your vow.
And you know, I don't know about you, but I don't always like waking up
at 4 o'clock in the morning to read the Bible. And there's times
on the weekends where I sleep in. Sleeping in
I mean, 4 o'clock in the morning is pretty early to get up, I think.
But you know, Jesus woke up early in the morning. He woke up before it was light outside.
I think it's a, the Bible teaches that waking up in the morning
is a good thing to do. And you know, work while
there's daytime. You know, do things early.
You feel like you get more done when you get up early too, I've noticed. And I noticed
that some of my kids have been getting up early. I was like, I went
I was up early the morning of the morning and Josh comes up and I was like, what are you doing up this early?
Going to work out with Remy.
So obviously I know Remy's getting up early, so that's good. You know, get your workout done
early in the day. You know, read your Bible while you're working out.
I don't know. Anyway.
But the Bible says that we're supposed to pay or vow
we've got to keep it. So look at verse 6. It says, Suffer not thine mouth
to cause thy flesh to sin. See, the Bible's teaching here
that not to open your big trap
because if you don't do it, it's a sin. Right? Isn't that what it's saying?
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin.
Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error.
Oops, I didn't mean to say that. Too late!
That's what it's teaching. It's too late. Once you've said it, you can't take it back. Right?
Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice
and destroy the work of thine hands. So what does the Bible say
is going to happen if you don't keep your vow that you vowed?
That he's going to destroy the work of your hands. He's going to be angry at your voice
when you try to make stupid excuses as to why you're not doing what you said you were going to do.
So that's why it's so important to
when you speak to make sure that you have a purpose in your speech.
You're not just rambling about saying things for no reason.
Promising things you can't keep. Saying you're going to do something
and not doing it. Look at verse 7. It says, For in the multitude of dreams
and many words there are also diverse vanities.
Let me read that again. For in the multitude of dreams
and many words there are also diverse vanities.
Multitude different types of things. It's just vanity. Emptiness.
It means nothing. It says, But fear thou
God. So who should you fear? God. When should you
fear him? When you say something and then don't do it.
This is actually a very important teaching. I think that
it's a good thing for our young people to learn, but it's also a good thing for adults
to learn. You know, sometimes I forget that not everybody grew up in a Baptist church or
maybe was saved and got into a... you know, some of this stuff
to me is just like I've learned all this stuff a long time ago, but I forget that we have like
a really young group of people here and
these things are important to say because I don't think I ever remember a pastor
preaching about this, you know, this subject about
vowing. But what's a good vow to keep? Your wedding
vows. Your wedding vows are good vows to keep. You know, the Bible says
that it's the wife of thy covenant.
When you get married, what are the vows?
For richer or poorer, better or for worse,
sickness and health. You know, a lot of people just throw those vows right out the window
as soon as someone gets sick. Oh, sorry.
As soon as someone is poor, oh, sorry.
And it's just that's the way this world is, but that's not the way Christians should be.
And so the divorce word should never pop into your...
Isn't that a hasty thing to come out of your mouth?
Be not rash with thy mouth to utter things before God.
When you vow to vow to stay married, tell death,
do us part, then to say that
stupid word in front of your kids, in front of your spouse,
it's wicked. It's wrong. Don't do it. Just if you've done it before,
ask God to forgive you and just stop saying it.
Stop doing it. Stop threatening it.
Because you know what, it makes the other person feel like garbage. You shouldn't say it.
And again, it's a vow that you've made unto God.
So why would you sit there and say, you know what, I'm going to break my vow because
you didn't bring me, you didn't buy the car I liked or because you forgot to pick up your
underwear or you forgot to pick up your socks
or you didn't cook me dinner when I got home. That's it. I'm divorcing you.
But obviously, thanks
to get a little more serious than that. But it's the little
things that kill. You ever heard that saying before? Sometimes people
can pass over big transgressions, but when it's like the little things that build up
and then you start thinking evil thoughts in your heart
against your spouse, it's not right. But just remember what you vowed.
So when you start speaking against the vow that you made
that you would stay together forever or at least tell
you're dead, that's not forever, but at least until they die
and I'm not saying kill them
some weird sneaky way either. Because then you're going to
get judged for that too, right?
But I mean, that's something that we learn.
I don't even think that's necessarily a learned behavior. I think it's just something that when
people fight, sometimes spouses can just be like
and you're just so at each other's nerves that you'll just start saying things that you don't mean.
Or you'll start saying things that you wish you hadn't said.
And sometimes those things hurt to the core and you cannot
take them back. Just like when you tell God you're going to do
something and you say well, and this is what people that want to get divorced
do, is that they'll sit there and say well, it was
an error. It was an error. It was something I shouldn't have done. I should have never married them.
I didn't even know them. Too late. You married them.
You vowed the vows. You married them. It's your fault
you didn't get to know them. It's your fault. And obviously
you can't ever really really know somebody until you live with them. But you
can get the gist. You can see how they
keep their car or how they keep their house or whatever. You can
see how they act before you marry them. You can get to know them. And that's why I always
say that you should date for a season with someone
before you. A season of life. Pastor Menes
has a good rule of thumb on that where he tells people when they
come, you should be engaged for a year
and then get to know each other and then get married. And so
that's a good way to think about it because you go through all those seasons of that year
with them and you get to know them. Hey, where are we going
for Christmas? Well, your parents' food sucks. So we're going to my
parents' house every year. And then you're like, well, no we're
not. We're going to my parents' this year and then you go to this year. And it's just like those things can turn
into huge fights. I know I bring that up again because maybe I've gone
through it. And my family's food did suck. But
my wife's family's food was better. And as I learned that
No, I'm just kidding. It's that southern food.
Anyway, but I'm just saying that
when it says, suffer not thy mouth in verse 6
Yeah, you're still there. Look at verse 6 again. It says,
suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Neither say thou before the
angel that it was an error. Wherefore God should be
angry at thy voice? Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice?
So that applies to any vow that you would vow, right? And when you get married, don't you
vow before the Lord? I mean, maybe you got married at a courthouse, but you're still
vowing some kind of vow. When you get married
God expects you to stay married till death do us part.
So, you know, don't threaten those
things. Work through those things. The best thing to do
sometimes is to just take a break. And I'm not saying break
and be gone for three weeks. I'm saying just take a break away from each other when you're
kind of at odds and give each other some time. Not everything
has to be fixed right at that second. That's a young person's
fight. That's a young married couple's fight. Well, we need to work this
out right now. It's like, I don't want to. No, we're not working this out right
now. It's like, we need to though. And then it's like, ahh.
You don't have to work things out right then. But, you know, the Bible
says not to let the sun go down upon your wrath. So you should work it out soon.
But this thing about vowing vows
is something that's important. And really,
I don't think anybody here goes around here vowing vows about everything.
Because, you know, you kind of know
that it's a dumb thing to do, especially if you can't do what you
said. And if you can't do what you said you're going to do, then don't say
you're going to do it. But once you've vowed the marriage vows
that's where it mostly applies probably in our lives today
is in the marriage vows. You know, if your spouse got sick, would you stay with them?
Would you take care of them? Would you, you know, because if they
you know, sometimes people get sick and you have to take care of them for a long period of time
and maybe they're crippled or maybe they're just really
you know, whatever the disease is, there can be some really bad things and then you
are taking care of them because you know what, you said in sickness and in health.
Hey, be there for the good times, be there for the bad.
So turn to Proverbs chapter 6, verse number 1.
Proverbs chapter 6, verse number 1.
So basically
I'm just kind of going off of the fact that these guys
said hey, whoever has that silver cup in his sack,
kill them. And then if he does have, if whoever has it
the rest of us will be your servants.
Dumb thing to say. So Proverbs 6 says
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou
hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared
with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken
with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son,
and deliver thyself when thou art come into the hand of thy friend.
Go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
So what is this talking about? Well, it's talking about
if you're saying hey, I've vouched for this person and you know what
I'm going to, it's kind of like co-signing a loan. Have you ever had
someone ask you to say hey, can you co-sign for me? It's usually when people have bad credit
and they ask their parents to help them sign for
a car or something like that. But I remember my grandpa
told me a long time ago, he was like, don't ever sign
co-sign for somebody for a loan or a car loan, any kind
of loan. Don't ever do it because they'll never pay you back, especially if it's family.
And I won't. I will not
I've never asked anybody to do it and I won't do it myself because
it's just not a good thing to do. Being surety, you're saying hey,
if that person fails to make their car payments, I'll make their car payments.
It's kind of a dumb thing to do, isn't it? Especially if they're like, well,
they're just not a very, first of all, they already aren't responsible enough to have
their own good credit. Why don't you build your credit the way everybody
else has to build their credit at a high interest rate and then
you make your payments for like six months or something and then your credit gets better.
And then the next time you get a car, you know, the first time you get a car,
if you need to do it on credit, you're going to pay a high
fee for the usury, right? The juisery.
The juisery is going to be high and then
you build your credit that way, if that's what you want to do.
So you get the used car, you pay that off, and then
you're going to have better credit to buy a nicer, better car.
That's how you build your credit. You know, you have to put yourself
out there and kind of get raked over the coals credit, you know,
usury-wise in order to build a credit score. I'm not saying anybody has
to do that. I'm just saying that that's how it works. That's how credit scores work.
But, anyway,
if you do that, then you can build your credit,
but the people that want to do it
the fast and easy way and they don't have to go that hard way to earn their
own credit, then that's when they ask mommy and daddy to co-sign for the loan.
So surety is basically saying, I vouch
for that person. I know they're going to do the right thing. You know, that guy's a good guy.
I vouch for him. That guy's a good guy. I know he'll
pay his loan. I know he'll pay it back. But the Bible says,
thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the
words of thy mouth. Once you're surety for that
person, then you're vouching for that person
and then you're snared. Because, hey,
have you ever got somebody a job and then they sucked
or they did something bad and made you look bad? It's annoying.
And so, like, I really try to avoid helping other people get jobs
because I've been burned so many times, but it's like
at some point it's like, yeah, I mean, you're
kind of vouching for that person. If you say, hey, you should hire so-and-so. They're a good
worker or whatever, and you don't really know that, then you're basically being surety
for a friend that might suck at working.
And then they're going to look at you and say, why did you say that that guy was
good? You're snared with the words
of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. So,
you know, I mean, it might be good to make sure that
that person is a good worker or make sure, you know, just don't
you know, you only have to be burned a few times that way before you just stop
helping people do that unless you know for sure. So, don't write
checks with your mouth that your body can't cash. It's basically
the same, it's probably said a different way, but
anyway, a check is something that you're promising to pay,
right? It's a piece of paper, it's not cash, it's not real money.
It's like, here's my check, but don't write checks
that you can't, that you know are going to bounce.
So, turn to Matthew chapter 5, 33, Matthew 5, 33.
Now, swearing and
vows, in my opinion, are different.
And because, you know, God's not going to say if you vow a vow, it's a sin if you
don't vow it. If it's not, you know, the Bible
doesn't say don't vow vows. It says don't vow vows that you can't back up.
That you can't, that you're not going to keep. Swearing is like
basically saying, may this happen, you know,
I put this on my mama that this is going to happen or this
you know what I'm saying? It's like, it's different. Like, may all the hair
may I be filled with pimples on my face, you know, for the next
five years if this doesn't happen. I swear
on the Bible. I swear, I put that on my mama.
That's different, isn't it? It's like
you're basically, you're swearing things that
you know, let's look at the verses, okay? It says again in verse 33
You have heard that it has been said by them of old time, thou shalt not
forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto
the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you,
swear not at all. Neither by heaven, for it is
God's throne. Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool.
Neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not
make one hair white or black. So maybe that was a popular
saying back then, like, you know, may all my hairs turn gray if
you know, this doesn't, if I don't do this or that. You know, it's like people
when they say, I'm telling the truth, I swear to, what do they say?
God, don't they? And so you're swearing
on the most holy name in all the universe
that you're telling the truth. And people do this all the time.
Christians don't do it necessarily all the time, but because they know this
universe. That's like when you're in court, do you swear
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you
God. Why do they do that?
And they still do it in court today. And then
Christians, you usually know if someone's a Christian, it's because they say, I affirm.
Because you're saying, yeah, that's basically another way of saying affirmative.
Yes. Because Jesus said, but let your
communication be yay, yay, nay, nay
for whatsoever as more than these cometh
of evil. So don't embellish what you
say you're going to do. You don't have to swear by your head.
You don't have to swear by your baby mama. You don't have to swear
by your sons and daughters. You don't have to swear
to God. You don't have to swear on the Bible. Jesus is saying,
why don't you just be plainly honest and just say yes.
Or no.
That's some solid advice.
Because swearing to God and then
lying, or maybe you just don't remember it accurately.
Maybe you just don't remember exactly what was said.
So then you're saying, you know, hand on the
Bible. Isn't that what they do in court? They bring a Bible in
and have you swear to God on the Holy Bible
that you're going to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
And if you say yes and you don't do that
I mean
even an atheist knows that God's going to punish you
for doing something like that. And you might not even intentionally say something
that's not the truth, but the fact that you swore that you would do that
and then didn't do it, isn't something coming out of your mouth
that shouldn't be coming out of your mouth?
You shouldn't do that. You can't do that. You shouldn't do that.
And so it's a big lesson for us. It's something that Christians
need to know. Don't swear at all. And it's not
talking about cussing. It's talking about
saying that this is the truth, nothing but the truth
so help me my dead homies or so help me my mama.
I put that on my mama. You ever heard people say that?
I put that on my mom and dad, my brother and sister
and it's just like, it's a dumb thing to say because like, is that really going to make someone
you know, I remember when I was in high school people used to say this all the time
put that on something. Put that on something.
Like I put that on God, that's what people would say or I put that on
they would say that kind of stuff. But it's something that we shouldn't do as Christians
it's wicked. So look at back in our text in Genesis
chapter 44 verse 10
listen to what's said back to them after they say this
and he said, now also let it be according
unto your words. So what does that mean? He's accepting
that they said let this person be killed
and all of us your servants, right?
He with whom it is found shall be my servant
he shall be blameless. So he's changing it.
But he, you know because Joseph
even though he is acting like he's a hard man, every once in a while he'll slip in and say
I fear God. Have you ever noticed that like through this whole
story that he just keeps saying stuff like that? Because then in verse 11
then they speedily took down every man his sack in the ground and opened
every man his sack. And he searched and began at the eldest and left
at the youngest and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack and they rent their
clothes and laid it every man his ass and returned to the city
and Judah and his brethren came to
Joseph's house for he was yet there and they fell
before him to the ground. So here's the third time that they've bowed themselves
before Joseph after he dreamed that dream when he was 17 years old
and notice how it says and Judah and his brethren
came to Joseph's house. I find that interesting why it's like
basically now it's putting Judah in the leadership position of this group
and in reality, Reuben is the eldest
but he's not going to get to enjoy the spoils of being
the eldest because of what he did with his father's concubine. But it says in verse 15
And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this
that ye have done? Wot ye not that such a ban as I
can certainly divine? And Judah said,
What shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak?
How shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the
iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants
both we and he also with whom the cup is found.
So now here's Judah basically saying this is
what we said was going to happen and he said God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. I don't think that Judah's talking about
the silver. He knows that they didn't steal it. What's he talking about?
I believe he's talking about the fact that they sold Joseph
into slavery and the fact that they basically believe that he's dead
and that they deceived their father. That's what I think he's talking about.
You know and the Bible does say be sure your
sins will find you out. That's one of the scariest verses in the Bible.
You can pretend all you want, you can hide, you can
lie, you can deceive, but you know what? God will
find you out. Be sure your sin will find
you out. And so their sin did find them out didn't it?
The chickens have come home to roost and it's
going to be bad. So anyway look at what it says in verse 17 and he said
God forbid that I should do so but the man in whose hand the cup is found
he shall be my servant and as for you
get you up in peace unto your father. He's like so I'm
taking Benjamin as my servant. Get out of here. You guys go.
Go to your father. But notice how he said God forbid that I should do so.
So there's again a clue that he believes
in God. But yet then he's talking about divining from the divining cup
and you know he's married to this priestess of On
and you know so he's dressed like an Egyptian no
doubt about it. So he is deceiving them to a certain degree.
Then Judah came near unto him and said O my Lord let thy servant I pray
thee speak a word into my Lord's ears and let not thine anger burn
against thy servant for thou art even as Pharaoh.
So here's Judah he's coming and he wants to plead with
Joseph to do the you know so that he'll have mercy.
And it says my Lord asked his servant saying have you a
father or a brother and we said unto my Lord we have a father
an old man and a child in his old age a little one and his brother is dead
and he alone is left of his mother and his father loveth him.
And thou saidest unto thy servants bring him down unto me
that I may set mine eyes upon him and we said unto
my Lord the lad cannot leave his father for if he should leave
his father his father would die. And thou
saidest unto thy servants accept your younger brother
or excuse me your youngest brother come down with you he shall see my face
no more. Basically Judah is just explaining
what was said before. And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant
my father we told him the words of my Lord and our father said go again
and buy us a little food. And we said we cannot go down
if our youngest brother be with us then we will go down for we may not see
the man's face except our youngest brother be with us.
My servant my father said unto us he know that my
wife bear me two sons and the one went out from me
and I said surely he is torn in pieces and I saw him
not since. And if he take this also
from me and mischief befall him he shall bring down my grey
hairs with sorrow to the grave. So and you notice that
Judah is telling the story and he's telling it with the lie
still in there. Because Judah knows that his
you know he knows that his father believes this lie
but the thing about lying is once the lie is told
it's hard to you know to save face a lot of people will just
continue with the lie when they should just be honest and tell
the truth. And the other thing is that you notice is
that Judah does care about the state of his
father. Judah cares about whether his father is
going to go down with sorrow to the grave. I think that all the brothers feel this
way. I think that they've had a change of heart when it came to all this but
sometimes you've done something and you reap what you sow
and like this is years and years later and they're still
haven't reaped it fully yet. But now the things that have you know that
they've done have come back upon them and
they kind of recognize that but Joseph
really wants to make them you know squirm a little bit here
is what it seems like to me. It says now therefore when I come
to thy servant my father and the lad be not with us seeing that his life is
bound up in the lad's life it shall come to pass when he seeth
that the lad is not with us that he will die and thy servant shall
bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow
to the grave. For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father. See there's that word surety
when he was surety for that lad
that he would take his place that his sons
or that he would bear that forever right? He said
thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father saying if I bring him not unto
thee then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.
And so that's where you see that I believe
that Judah really takes on this
form of the redeemer. He's willing to put
his life in the place of somebody else, his brother Benjamin
and bear the blame to the father forever.
The father being represented here by Jacob and Judah obviously
being represented as Christ. So
that is exactly how it works.
Jesus Christ became surety
for every single person in this world and takes the blame
for our sins forever. Turn to Galatians
chapter 3 verse 13. Galatians chapter 3 verse 13.
I think we sang that song Blessed Redeemer didn't we?
Before we had the service.
It's a great song.
Go to Galatians 3 verse 13 it says Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us for it is written cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. So
how did he redeem us? Well he became a curse
for us. And actually in the Old Testament it is written
curses everyone that hangeth on a tree. Anybody that was put to death was
supposed to be, they were hanged on a tree that they were supposed to be taken down
before sundown. That was actually in the
law of Moses. I can't remember exactly what scripture it was. I just read it not too long ago.
But the law was that if you killed
somebody that put someone to death you had to take them down
before nightfall. And so Jesus Christ when he was on the cross
the body was begged by Joseph of Arimathea
so he could bury the body before sundown and that happened.
So Christ is obviously that picture of one that hung upon the tree
and it says that he was made a curse for us.
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the spirit
through faith. And so Christ did that for us
and Judah is a picture here of
and he says thy servant, like he's the servant, became surety
he said you know what I'll take his place
if he doesn't do it I'll take care of the debt, I'll take care
of the bill. And so that's a great picture of
redemption by Judah here in Genesis chapter 44
and it's no doubt probably why God allowed Judah to be
the tribe that Christ came from. So
look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21
2 Corinthians 5 verse 21
so he was made a curse for us
but he didn't do something to make himself
like he didn't do any transgression obviously to make
himself a curse for us. But look what 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 says
it says for he hath made him to be sin
for us. So he made him to be sin
but he wasn't sin full. See the difference? So when Christ went
down to hell in the heart of the earth which was a bunch
of bozos teaching that that's not true that used to believe that
you know it's funny how they all just quit believing the
they leave you know our circle of churches or whatever and then they start teaching
you know basically go back to the vomit of the
old IFB teachings that Jesus didn't go
to the heart of the earth for three days and three nights but that's another
sermon for another time but it says for he hath made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. So Christ knew no sin but
he became sin. He didn't deserve to be killed
on the cross and on the tree but being
killed on the cross and on the tree made him become
a curse for us. So Jesus Christ
you know didn't deserve to die. He didn't deserve to be put to death
like he was and he was not a sinner but yet
became those things for us and this is the time of the year that I
like to focus on this because it's so important. There's so many people
out there that just believe in a workspace salvation. It's like no Christ
did all the work for us. We didn't have to do anything.
You don't have to repent of all your sins. You don't have to change your life and
turn over a new leaf. Christ does that for you. All you have to do
is have faith and believe in him and all these people
that are peddling this work salvation could go to hell.
And in fact that's where they are going to go. You're like I don't think you should say that
Pastor Thompson. They're false prophets. Get it through your brain.
They might say what seems to be the right things sometimes. They might be real nice.
They might dress real nice. They might say the right things at the right times
but you know what if they're preaching a false gospel they're going to go to hell.
And good.
Whoa. Yeah. Good. Because then they can't
take any more people with them. That's my policy on it.
I don't care. You know God says let them die to death.
If a person is a false prophet let them die. That's what he says.
He said in Deuteronomy chapter I believe
13 that anybody that tries to draw away
people from the true and living God
that their hands are the first ones upon them. Whether that's your spouse
whether that's your children. Anybody. Because God expects
you to pick him above all people. Including your closest
relatives. Because that's how much he doesn't like
false prophets. Why? Because they kill whole generations. I was just thinking about this this morning
I don't even know why I was thinking about it but I was just thinking about it.
I've got a tall family. In case you've seen
I've had some pictures on Instagram and someone's like who are those people? Those giants you're with.
It's like my cousin is 7 foot tall. You know what I call him?
Sir. But my grandfathers are both
6'5". My dad's like 6'3", 6'4". My brother's 6'3", 6'4".
So we've got a pretty tall family. We have this picture where we're all together.
But it made me start thinking about like in generations past
which one of my ancestors failed to give
the gospel to the next generation of their children? Which ones?
Because I'd like to just go back in time and slap them.
Because you know the most important thing to me is that my children serve
God and that my children's children serve God and that my gray
hairs would go down to the grave in joy and in happiness knowing
that my children are all saved, my grandchildren are all saved, and hopefully
their grandchildren are all saved. I want to stop
this dysfunctional family
that just, you know, this dysfunctional family that I'm part of, I want to
do something different. I want my branch to be a branch of righteousness.
I want my children's branches to be branches of righteousness
and you know what? If we quit on God, if we just walk away from the
faith like a lot of people do, you know there's a lot of people in this room that might just quit.
They're sitting here listening to this sermon and they're going to quit someday.
They're going to walk away and you know what? They're going to be selfish.
Because you know what's more selfish than anything else is to walk away knowing your kids
aren't saved or walk away and just say, you know what, we're not going to do this
church thing anymore while your grandchildren go to hell
because of it. Because you failed to reach that next
generation. You know, I want to be
a family that's known for loving the Lord and you know what? I
have a big branch that goes back and I don't know any of my
family members that were saved in the last generation or the generation before
that. I don't know. I mean there could be.
But if there is, I don't know them. But
Christ did all that so that we could live for him, so that
we could live unto him and he became sin, he became
a curse for us so that we could have that abundant life.
That life abundant. And he
did it so we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
See, he makes us the righteousness. His
righteousness is put upon us. That blood is imputed
upon us and it is
founded unto us for righteousness when we put our faith in him. Look at Exodus
chapter 12 verse 13. Exodus chapter 12 verse 13.
Exodus 12
verse 13 says, And the blood shall be to
you for a token upon the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you
when I smite the land of Egypt. Again, the land of Egypt
represents what? The world. And so
when God destroyed the firstborn of the land of Egypt, he's basically
destroying the world, the worldly ones.
But when he looked at the houses that had the blood stricken
upon the door frames, the door posts, then he passed
over them. And that's the same thing he does when a believer is saved.
The blood of Christ is put upon you and
God, when he sees you, he passes over you in judgment and he says,
there's my son. There's my other son. Oh, there's my son. There's my daughter.
They're all, he sees them all as someone
that is righteous because of what Christ did for you. Christ
bears the blame of sin for all mankind
forever. He was surety for us.
He was surety for us. He's like, you know, brother Bill,
I vowed for him. I vowed for him because you know
what? He put his faith in me and I'm vouching for him and no matter
what he does, and I know he's going to do something wrong,
but I got his back. I'm paying
for that that he did. Right? Does that make sense?
Like, that's what surety is.
So like, when you go to, I mean, don't co-sign for people, okay?
You've already done it and you've dodged the bullet. They actually
paid their debt. Just be careful
because some people won't pay.
But you know who will always pay? Christ will always pay.
So even if you fail to live a sinless life,
like you're going to, he still covers
you. He's got your back. He's got that surety for you.
Look at verse 33, the last verse in our text back in the, oh no,
that's the last verse, sorry.
Let thy servant abide instead of the lad
a bondman to my lord, and let the lad
go up with his brethren. So here it is, Judah putting
himself in the place like Christ, let me
be your bondman. Let thy servant abide instead.
Let me take the punishment that he deserves.
So it's a beautiful picture of redemption in Genesis.
And Judah fits the bill
in this verse. So again, surety is a person who takes
responsibility for another's performance of an undertaking.
For example, their appearing in court or the payment
of a debt. I'll read that one more time. Surety,
a person who takes responsibility for another person's performance,
you guys aren't going to make, your performance is going to suck,
okay, he takes responsibility for that
of an undertaking. For example, their appearing in court
or the payment of a debt. So
he comes in, he's got your back in the courtroom. He comes in,
he's got your payment of the debt. He's done it all. He's paid the debt,
he's vouched for your terrible performance by
being a perfect performance. So he's been the
perfect example and the sinless
son of God. He took our place. He is the kinsman redeemer.
You know, he's the relative that buys you out
with the allotted price. You know what the price was? It was costly.
Salvation's free, but it came at
a cost to somebody. His name is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ took our place and he
came about and he took on himself the form of a servant.
I'm not going to have you turn there, but I'm going to read these verses that I love.
Philippians chapter 2 verse 7, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. Isn't that what Judah said?
Does my servant abide instead of the lad for the
bondman? And it says, he took upon himself the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. So
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the perfect son of man
came, left heaven where he's
richer than anybody else and became poor.
Became, you know, someone that wandered from place to place
not knowing where he was going to sleep every night, in the cold,
working hard, depending on other people,
depending on God to feed him every day and make sure he had the clothes that he needed
and water to drink and
took upon himself the form of a servant. That's humble.
To be God and make yourself a servant
that gets done and washes his disciples feet, that's humble.
So it's not like God, when God asks us to be humble and not proud,
it's not like he's asking us something that he wasn't able to do himself.
Does God have a reason, like not to be proud but like
God is above everything else, better than everything else,
smarter than everything else, more powerful than
anything else, can be everywhere at all times
and yet was humble enough to become a man that he created,
like a man which he created, and not only be just a man that he
created, but a man that he created
in the most humble position you could actually be in, someone who's a servant to other people,
an attendant, so that we could
go to heaven. That's pretty dang humble, right?
Look at verse 34, for how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not
with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on
my father. So Judah here,
I believe that Judah here passes the test
of Joseph, and in the next chapter we're going to see him actually
reveal himself to his brothers and totally freak them out,
but everything that's done, we'll see
as we go along here that everything was done for a reason. Why did all this happen to Joseph?
For a good reason. Why did everything happen to Christ?
For a good reason. Look at all the things, he's a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,
and he did all that stuff for a reason.
He did it for others. He did it for
your salvation. Alright, let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much
for this great chapter in the Bible, Lord, and the pictures that it shows us
of Christ being our Redeemer, and being a surety for us,
and Lord, we don't deserve salvation, but
I'm so thankful for it. Thankful that
you would actually save someone such as myself
and I'm sure a lot of the people in this room feel the same way. I just want to
say thank you, Lord, and that you take us all home safely
and that you bring us back when your doors are open again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Page 310 in your green hymnals, sing that song.
Page 310. Footprints of Jesus,
page 310 in your green hymnals.
Page 310, sing it out with me on the first.
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard
Thee calling, come follow me
And we see
Where Thy footprints falling lead
Us to Thee
Footprints of Jesus
That make the pathway glow
We will follow the steps
Footprints of Jesus, where e'er they go
Though they
lead o'er the cold, dark mountains
Seeking His sheep
Or along by Siloam's
Fountains helping the weak
Footprints of
Jesus, that make the pathway
glow
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where e'er they go
If they lead through the temple
Holy, preaching the
Word
The poor and lowly serving
The Lord
Footprints of Jesus
That make the pathway glow
We will follow the steps
Of Jesus, where e'er they go
Then at last
When on high He sees us
Our journey done
We will rest where the steps of Jesus
End at His throne
Footprints of Jesus
That make the pathway
glow
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where e'er they go
Thanks for attending this Sunday.
Great seeing everyone.
Brother Robert, can you end us with a word of prayer?