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Genesis 44 now, and I'll just remind you where we were in Genesis 43. We saw that the famine was sore in the land, if you remember, so Jacob sent his sons again, it was the second time, to buy corn from Egypt, and they pointed out they wouldn't need to, sorry, that they would need to bring Benjamin with them as a lord over Egypt, as far as they were aware, although it was Joseph obviously, demanded that they bring their brother Benjamin if they wanted to be able to, well, get Simeon back, and also to get more corn from him, so Jacob said, okay in the end, but bring him a gift to sweeten him up, and he sent a little of this and a little of that there. They arrived, and if you remember, they, you know, they were a bit unsure what to expect, and then they, next thing you know, they got a lunch invite, they still thought it would end in trouble, so they were still a bit kind of worried, and then the steward of Joseph's house reassured them, bringing out the imprisoned Simeon, and saying, no, it's alright, I'll put the money back in your sacks, etc. Eventually, Joseph was reunited with Benjamin, which was an emotional time for Joseph, but he hid it, he went out of the room because he was upset, seeing his brother for the first time in what was over 20 years. They end up having a segregated lunch together, which seemingly ended well, so at the end of the chapter it said, and they set on for 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 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 mess unto them from before him, but Benjamin's mess was five times as much as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with him. And then we're into Genesis 44, and verse 1 says, so we're kind of continuing on from this, 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. I'm going to pray in and get started with this message. Well, thank you for your word, thank you for this chapter, thank you for the things we can learn from this chapter, Lord, the great truths we can get out of this chapter, help me to preach those clearly and accurately, and in a way that everyone will really just take them in and really have attentive ears, Lord, help keep the distractions to a minimum, and help everyone to just really focus on what your word is saying here, the message that I think you're trying to get across to people today, through this chapter, through me, Lord, in Jesus' name, for all this. Amen. Okay, so they've had this meal together, right, it finished with some sort of sweet drink, I believe, as I talked about last week, they're merry or content, is a way we would say it, and we looked at that obviously last week, they're content, they've eaten a lot, they've had a drink at the end, he's then told his steward to fill their sacks up with food and then put the money back again, so remember they've come with money to pay for the food, and he then said in verse 2, 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. Now Benjamin was the youngest, obviously, okay, if anyone's forgotten that. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. So they're sent away first thing in the morning, verse 4 says, and when they were gone out of the city and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men, when now does overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have you awarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing. So he's not saying that he's doing magic with his cup, in case anyone's ever wondered here. Divine can also mean to guess or to conjecture, is a word we might use as well. So Joseph is the Lord of Egypt, he makes decisions for the land, doesn't he? And the statement is kind of, for me, uplifting his authority. It's like saying you're stealing out of the hand of the man that makes decisions for the whole land, that's what I believe is what he's getting across here. You're like, what on earth, you know, why would you take that out of this guy's hand? You know, this is a guy that makes the decisions for the land. And it then says in verse 6, and he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. And of course it would be a fair assumption to make that he's got a load of men with him, so I don't think this guy's gone off solo and he's trying to arrest, you know, 11 men together. I'd imagine that he's probably got a group of men with him. And it said in verse 7, and they said unto him, wherefore saith my Lord these words, God forbid that thy servant should do according to this thing. Behold the money which we found in our sex males we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we still out of thy Lord's house silver or gold? So they're saying, why on earth would we do that, considering we brought back with us all the money from last time, okay? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my Lord's bondmen. Probably not the best offer to make, okay? Not a good idea, considering last time, you know, this wasn't a very wise thing to do. If you remember last time, the money had been put back, so it's not like this sort of shenanigans was was new to them, and now they're going, well, whoever it is, let him die. So this was a foolish thing to do, and you know, you could preach a message off that, but there's something else I want to really focus on tonight. But needless to say, you know, making offers, making promises, making vows, you need to be very sure about what you're what you're saying, and what could be the repercussions of that. But verse 10 says, and he said, now also let it be according unto your words. He with whom it is found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless. So it feels as though he's moved the goalpost slightly, doesn't it? Because he's just said, now let it be according unto your words, but their words were, in verse 9, their words were, with whomsoever thy servants of thy servant so it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my Lord's bondmen. And he said, let it be according to your words, he with whom it is found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless. So he's kind of changed it slightly. Verse 11 says, and 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. Now remember he knew that he'd planted it in Benjamin's. Okay, so he's not unaware of this. So he's playing games here, really with the tension of going through all the bags first. So can you imagine that? They're going like, starts at the oldest. He could have just started at Benjamin, but he's gone at the eldest all the way through. I mean this is a bit of a sick game really, isn't it? They're thinking, oh we've gone away with it, we've gone away with it, and then finally it gets to Benjamin, the guy that they, you know, their father's so worried about and everything else, and sure enough it's in Benjamin's bag. Okay, then they rent their clothes, and laid in every man his ass to return to the city. Now rent their clothes was an outward sign of grief that we see a lot of the time in the Bible. It's like, they're kind of just ripping their clothes. It's like, I can't believe this, whatever part of their clothing. They're kind of, you know, just obviously so stressed out by it. 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 you have done? What ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? So he's saying, don't you know that I have power over you? That's what I believe he's saying here. He's going, don't you know that I have power, okay, that I'm able to do what I want basically, type thing. Like, what on earth are you doing? 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. So it seems as though they're accepting that Benjamin must have taken it, doesn't it? Okay, can you imagine the trip back? I mean, poor Benjamin here, he's obviously, you'd imagine, protesting his innocence. They're just saying, look, you know, I can't believe this, you know, they're kind of accepting it. They're going, God has found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is standing. So they're trying to take some of the blame. Judah obviously, as we see in a minute, is petitioning for him. And here he's trying to say, look, it's all of us. But, I mean, Benjamin, I mean, that must have been a pretty rough journey back, what he's saying. I didn't, I promise you I didn't. Anyway, 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. Now, at this point, you have to ask yourself, okay, what on earth is Joseph actually trying to achieve? I don't know if you ever read through this and read through these things and just be like, why is there a point in all of this? What is he actually trying to do here? Why is he sending them away with things, pulling them back, you know, what's it all about? Now, my thoughts are this, is that I believe, at this point in time, he just wanted his brother to stay with him. He wanted his brother Benjamin. That's who he wanted. If you remember, the first thing was all about bringing Benjamin, wasn't it? It was like, he arrested them, then he kept Simeon, then he said, you won't see my face unless you bring back Benjamin. So he really wanted Benjamin. Then, having brought Benjamin, he's then saying to them, right, basically, he sends them off and then brings them back so that Benjamin will stay with him forever. So it's kind of all about Benjamin right now. The rest of them, if you're, he doesn't trust them, does he, the rest of them? This is what I believe. So he, had he told them previously who he was in the first visit, he probably expected them to never return. I mean, don't forget, these are guys that sold them into slavery in the first place. So when he said, I'm Joseph and, you know, I'm your brother and everything else, he probably thought they would just go off. Even if he said, please bring everyone back, I'm going to, you know, provide for you, he probably thought they would just go back and pretend, you know, we can't go to Egypt anymore, there's no food there or something else, or we've been told we can't go back there. He probably just expected the worst from these guys. He kept Simeon because he wanted them to bring Benjamin, whom he now wanted to have, like, for them to have to leave behind. And he was happy to sustain them with corn, it seems. However, he wanted his brother there. So that's what I see looking at this, he wanted his brother Benjamin. Remember, it's his full brother, it's the one that didn't sell him into slavery. The rest of them, it seems like he doesn't have too much care for. When they, when they offered, if you look at, look again at verse nine, when they offered for the culprit to die, the steward changed it slightly. They said, with whomsoever thy servant sit be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen. And the steward said, and he said, now let, now also let it be according unto your words, he with whom it is found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless. And then here in verse 17 it says of Joseph, 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. So he was happy to send them away and keep Benjamin there. That's what it's all about, okay, it's all about him. And that's where he currently is at this point. That changes shortly, but at this point in time, his thought process is, you lot can go, I want my brother Benjamin. And I'd imagine he was probably planning to reveal himself to Benjamin afterwards, but that's where Joseph is at this point in time. Verse 18 says, 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 you 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, 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, you 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 for me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. If you take this also from me, a mystery befall him, you should bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. So he basically saying, If that would happen, I'm probably just going to die, okay? I'm done. There's no way I would survive that grief. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant, my father, then a lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, so this is obviously he's not relaying now what his father's saying, he's saying this Judah to Joseph, 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 grey 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 bear the blame to my father forever. Remember we saw this in the last chapter. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad abomber 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. In case you're thinking you're going to get an early finish tonight, you're not, okay? So okay, there's a bit to talk about here, but what a change in Judah now. Firstly, let's just look at that for a second. What a change in Judah. Turn to chapter 37. This is Judah that was the one who wanted to sell Joseph into slavery to earn some silver. Okay, don't forget that. Chapter 37 and verse 26 it said, And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brethren and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. This is verse 27 of chapter 37, And let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh, and his brethren were content. Then they passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt. So Judah, we see then after this year, seemed to be fornicated with some worldly woman. Then in chapter 38, said in Genesis 38 in verse 1, And it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren and turned into a certain Adulamite, whose name was Hera. Remember this was his buddy Hera, his hall monger buddy. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shewa, and he took her and went in unto her. Now at some point he married her, whether it was before or after. Shewa's a Canaanite, he shouldn't be marrying a Canaanite woman. He raises three sons, of which two are so wicked that God kills them, if you remember. He promises their widow Tamar, because she had been married to both of these sons, his third son, and then he basically reneges on that. Then after his wife dies, ends up finding what he thinks is an harlot, in verse 13 it says, And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath. For she saw that Sheila was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot, because she had covered her face. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to her, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee. For he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? So he gives us some of his possessions as a pledge, but then he can't find her later, to then be able to pay her what he is meant to pay her. Then the hypocrite, after this, wants to burn his daughter-in-law for sleeping around, for what he says is playing the horn. It says in verse 24, And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law have played the harlot. And also, behold, she is with child by Hordom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man whose ease are, am I with child. And she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, a signet, and bracelets, and staff. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I, because I gave her not to Sheila my son. And he knew her again no more. Now that happened at some point in the last 20 years, all of that story. And now he seems to be a different man, doesn't he? And bearing in mind that he ends up with basically two adult sons, and it seems that Sheila even got to that age as well. I mean, I'd imagine they were born quite close to each other. This last bit probably happened fairly recently, okay? I think this last bit was probably pretty recent. And now, after all of that, he's a different man. Now he's offering himself to his father as security for Benjamin, isn't he? So now he said, look, I'll give my life, I'll pay for it with my life, for the good of everyone. He could have just said, oh, I can't be bothered. I'll go and find some food somewhere else. Instead, he said, look, I'm going to offer up my life and bring Benjamin for everyone. And obviously, we saw that picture there as well. But he's offering himself. And then in chapter 43, we see that where it says, And Judah said unto Israel his father, chapter 43 and verse 8, sorry, chapter 43a, 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'll 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. Then here in chapter 44, he then proves that this wasn't an empty offer. So look at verse 32 again. Chapter 44 and verse 32 says, For 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. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, abombment to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. So he's saying, look, let me stay, please let the lad go back. For how shall I go out to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. Now, what's the lesson here? What's my point? My point is that people can mature. People can change. That's my point. Judah has changed massively. This is Judah, like I said, sold him into slavery, whoring around. He's like, he's just full of all this just unrighteousness and everything else over the last 20 odd years, 20 plus years. And now you've got Judah who's offering himself and he's sticking to that as well. He could have gone back and just said with all the brothers that the guy wouldn't have it. Benjamin stole some stuff. What was I meant to do? But instead he's saying, please just take me instead. And that's a big change in this guy. This is a guy that sold the brother in, who sold Joseph into slavery in the first place. And point being, people can mature and it's not just that kids can as well. So it's not just, okay, well, this is, you know, he was a child. Because Judah was a young man when Joseph was sold into slavery, wasn't he? When he was a fourth born, there was still quite a few brothers before Joseph was born. So there's a good few years at least. I mean, this was a young man, somewhere in his 20s, even maybe 30s, when Joseph was sold into slavery. He went on to have, like I said, those sons pretty close together. And throughout that whole time, there's all this questionable behaviour, even up until the end. Even up until the end, where he's basically lying with a harlot and then saying, let the daughter-in-law be burned. Basically very similar to what he had done. But something changed for Judah. And you get the feeling it was after he had been about to burn Tamar. That's when we see this big change in him, don't we? He's about to do something. He's saying, let her be burned, and then he's exposed, isn't he? And my point is this, is that whether it's the result of a key moment in your life or not, everyone here has the ability to change and they have the ability to improve. We all do. Everyone here has had that ability, and everyone in here can continue to have that ability to change, to improve. You don't have to be the person you were. You don't have to be the person you are now. We should all be looking to change and to improve and to keep just persevering, keep trying to become better people. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. You don't have to be the person that you were 20 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, even a year ago. And it's not just about whether it's before faith or during faith. You have the ability to change. We all have the ability to change. Judah has changed massively. Judah is a different person now to the one that we knew before. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And that's essential, isn't it? Because some of the creatures that many of us probably were needed renewing. I'm sure most people here can look back in their past and go, I needed renewing. I was a different creature. OK. And hopefully that's what everyone will be saying. And hopefully, maybe in another 10 years, you'll be looking back and going, I'm glad I got renewed a bit more. Because without that, without that, we, for example, I don't think, I don't think anyone here would be here on a Wednesday night listening to preaching, trying to get strengthened up before a soul winning marathon coming up on Saturday, before church then on Sunday, before all. And really, what it comes, what it really comes down to is serving God. And ultimately, what does that come down to is going out and preaching the gospel. And without that renewing, none of us would be here doing that. Whoever you were, however well raised you might or might not have been, you wouldn't be here trying to win people for God. And that's the point here in 2 Corinthians 5. Look at verse 18. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, has given to us a ministry of reconciliation. That's what it's all about. That's why that constant improvement is so needed, because we have a serious job to do. We need to constantly improve. We need to turn our lives around from where we were. And we need to constantly do that as well. We need to constantly renew, constantly pull away that baggage, that sin, the weight of that sin which just so easily beset us. We need to get rid of that. And we need to make sure that we're constantly striving to improve, because without that, you're either going that way or you're going that way. And when you go that way, you're going to eventually stop soul winning. You're going to stop getting people saved. You're going to stop doing things for God. And that's something great about a church like this, okay, is watching people change and grow over the years. Just in the three years. There are many people at this church, which three years ago were completely different people. And that's an amazing thing. I love watching that. You love to see that. It's just, it's such a satisfying part of it, is seeing people go for maybe, you know, whoever they were a few years ago, two years ago, even one year ago, with many and then seeing what they are now and hopefully seeing that improvement just continue, continue and continue. There are so many success stories here. People who were just completely different three years ago. People who were completely different two years ago. Even in the last year, there's been many changes in many people's lives. And what's the result of all of that? Just more people saved. That's the result. It's more people saved. So it all comes back to it's more people saved. And with that in mind, we don't want to hold past sins, past behaviour against people who have clearly repented, like Judah clearly has here, and moved on. Judah's put that behind him. We see that example with where he's saying, let her be burnt. And after he's like, yeah, no, she's been more righteous than me. You see that change. And now we're seeing the result of that. We're seeing Judah as a guy now who's a great example, isn't he? He's saying, look, I'll give myself for my brother here. Okay. And we want to be able to let people live stuff down is my point. Now, just to make it clear, I'm not talking about reprobates. I'm not talking about church destroyers. I'm not talking about perverts. Okay. It's like, oh, well, they're a bit of a freak in the old days, but you know, hopefully they'll like that sort of stuff. You know, if it's reprobate stuff, you're done. Yeah. But regular people have moved on from their past. And that's, this is one of the things you've got to understand as well, is that it often differentiates the genuine, is growth. Because here's the thing is that if you're in a church like this, let's, let's, something that we all know, getting saved doesn't result in an automatic change of behaviour, does it? I think, you know, I think everyone here is pretty, pretty aware of that. Obviously, I preached a whole sermon about that recently, right? But continuing in his word does. That does result in it. If you're in a church like this, you're hearing the word preach, you're reading the Bible, you're, you're, you're soul winning. You're, you're doing the things that God wants you to do. You should see a change in your life. You should see some genuine change. And it should be, in a way, it's going to be noticeable, really, to people that kind of get to know you over years. You'll see that change, see that change. That's a genuine change that we should see, shouldn't we? We should all, if you're in church, you're soul winning, you're reading the Bible, you're listening to preaching, you're in church regularly, you should see a change in your life. Turn to Revelation 12. And when you see people growing, changing, becoming that new creature, don't be like the devil and his children that want to live in a church. That want to then constantly accuse, constantly bring people back, constantly talk about stuff of the past, sins of the past, things like that. Revelation 12, 10. Revelation 12, 10 says of the devil, Revelation 12, 10, it says, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. That's a big accuser, isn't it? That's what the enemy wants to do. He wants to bring up the past, doesn't he? He wants to say things like, well, I remember when so and so did this, however long ago. And again, I'm not talking about some reprobation coming to life, but we should just with normal regular people, just give people a chance to change. Like Judah here, Judah's a different man. And you could, now here's an interesting thing with Judah. This is what I want to argue, is that it's a change in Judah that results in Joseph's change of heart. That's what we see in this passage. The change in Judah results in Joseph changing. So he gives this long explanation, okay, that ends with this in verse 32. For thy servant, back in, sorry, back in Genesis 44, verse 32, For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I should bear the blame to my father forever. And 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. Then Genesis 45 says in verse one, then, so this is after this long speech of Judah's, yeah, then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause every man to go out for me, and there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud in the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard, and Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph, does my father yet live? And bear in mind, we just had this long conversation, he's going, does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. Do you think perhaps he'd been taking everything they'd said with a pretty big pinch of salt, maybe? This wicked bunch that sold him into slavery and everything else, he'd heard Reuben's lies early on, if you remember in Genesis 42, 22, it said of Reuben, answer them, saying, Spake unto you, saying, do not sin against this child. And you would not hear, therefore behold, also his blood is required. So he'd already heard that stuff, he'd heard them talking amongst each other, he probably didn't trust them one bit, and he'd been treating them pretty roughly the whole time, really just wanting his brother Benjamin. That's what it was about, he wanted Benjamin. He's not just doing all this stuff, oh, this is a good old laugh, yeah, we just have a bit of fun, send them off, bring them back and everything else. The whole point was he just wanted Benjamin, up until this point he just wanted Benjamin. Then on the back of this conversation with Judah, he has this change of heart. Because at this point he's saying, I'm keeping the brother, you lot go. That's what he's saying, that's what his steward had said, he said, no, no, you lot are going to be all right to go, we're going to keep the brother. That was the whole point, that was the whole goal, bring Benjamin, I'm going to keep hold of Benjamin. Then he changes his heart. And there is, you could say, a bit of a contrast here as well. You've got the previously righteous man of God, Joseph, yeah, he was a righteous guy up until some point, and we could probably have a good guess when this was, sneaking around being deceitful, really, isn't he? Is this a behaviour of a man of God? Or is this the behaviour that God wants from a man of God? Genesis 44 said, and he commanded the steward of his house, saying, fill the men's sacks with food as much as they could carry, and put every man's money in his sacks mouth, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the sacks mouth 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 in 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, when now does 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 inside doing. He's falsely accusing them. That's what he's doing. He's setting them up, falsely accusing them, pulling the steward into it too, who I believe was a man of God who was saved. He's got him involved in it as well, and it's pretty wicked, really. That's the truth. I mean, but Joseph, isn't he like the hero? Because what people like to do, and this is kind of like the way the Quran works, okay, is they like to just look at things, and who's a goodie, who's a baddie? Joseph is a goodie, can't do anything wrong. And that's how they kind of, that's how the Quran's written. It's like they're just sinlessly perfect, yeah? And oh, a prophet can never do anything wrong. It's like, absolute idiots, yeah? It's because they've got a fake, just version of the stories and things like that. But no, Joseph is sinning here. That's a sin. And it's quite a bad sin as well. Like I said before, could you imagine how they felt on the way back? Imagine, even if it was a short trip, how did Benjamin feel? This false accusation, so he could keep him behind and then send them all off and be like, right, now I can reveal myself to you. And then you've got the previously unrighteous Judah offering his life for his brothers, seemingly inspiring Joseph to a change of heart. Look, of course you can't miss a picture of salvation too with Judah here. The one whose seed Christ is born to, okay, this is Judah, offering his life in exchange for Benjamin's, okay? So there's that picture. But there's also here, I think probably the regular Genesis theme of two brothers as well, picturing the physical and spiritual nation. Look at verse 27, it says, And my servant, my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out for me, and I said, Surely he is torn in peace, and I saw him not since. So that's Joseph for me representing the rejecting physical nation in Benjamin, the kept spiritual nation. It's the two brothers again, the older one, the first one going out from him. But back to the effects of Judah on Joseph, Joseph seemingly going downhill with all of that wealth and power. In verse five, he told his steward to say this, Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh? Remember, he told him this. And whereby indeed he divineth, ye have done evil in so doing. It's like lifting himself up as well, isn't it? It's like, you know, how dare you do this to, you know, the big I am type thing. And he said similar in verse 15, it says, 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? Now, it's not that he's just playing the acting game here. Remember, he wanted to keep Benjamin, but he's coming out with this, you know, how dare you do this to me? Now, it looks as though that power has gone to his head. That's what I believe. Power's gone to his head. He's playing, he didn't have to do all this stuff. He's playing these weird, dishonest revenge games. And again, look, we said earlier, he's justified in wanting some revenge, okay? Sure. I think anyone here would have been the same, would have wanted some revenge, but it doesn't mean it's okay. It doesn't mean what he's doing is suddenly in God's will, just because many of us would maybe have done similar stuff. I don't know if we would have done the weird silver cup thing and everything else, but maybe if it was a brother that you just wanted to stay behind, maybe it worked out that, yeah, this would be a good way, and then they can all just go and they'll never come back and he can stay with his brother and give them their food to go and sustain them with. I don't know. But it seems to be Judah's good works that provoke Joseph to sort himself out. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. And here's an application, okay, as well. Is whatever your past, whatever your background, not only can you get right with God, like we've seen with Judah, not only can you sort yourself out, not only can you improve and shouldn't you be constantly looking to improve regularly in your life, but you can provoke, even the seemingly got it all together, lifelong righteous believer to good works. So just because you might have a cloudy past, a shady past, maybe even as a Christian, you've made some mistakes, maybe you've back said, maybe you've been kicked out of church, maybe whatever it is, you can still sort yourself out. You can still sort yourself out to a point where you can provoke and inspire what seems to be righteous men of God, the hero of the story and everything else, to actually better works, to sorting themself out. These verses are obviously famous in Hebrews 10, but let's start a bit earlier in verse 22. Verse 22 in Hebrews 10 says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. So it's your faith that allows you to draw near. God wants you near, okay? Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So first it's the blood of Christ, which obviously eternally cleanses us, but it's the pure water of the word of God that will sanctify us daily. We need that regular washing of water by the word, right? And we all need sanctifying daily. Everyone here does. There's no one here that's sinless. No one, not one of us is sinless. There's no one here that doesn't need sanctification. We all need regular sanctification by the word of God. He said in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised. And just you trying to get right, okay? Trying to clean up your life can provoke even the most mature Christian to good works. Says in verse 24, let us consider one another, apart from those guys that are really sinless. No, just one another, just everyone. To provoke unto love and to good works. And that's what I believe happened with Judah and Joseph. I think Judah has sought himself out, got right. He's there offering himself. It was an honest account that he gives him. He says, please take me instead. And he provokes Joseph to then change his mind. His plan was to bring Benjamin. He's saying he's going to send him off. He's going to keep Benjamin. And then suddenly it's then. It's after this whole conversation, it's a long monologue that we see of Judah that's not there for an accident, that he then says, okay. And then he can't deal with it anymore. And then he reveals who he is and he sorts himself out. And one of the ways we do that, to provoke unto love and to good works, is not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of summies, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. Now, look, you've heard many messages on that. I don't want to just preach on that again. We know the truth about that. We know how important that is. But it's not just about that. It's not just, well, as long as you come to church, that's all right. But even a new believer, even a new believer with a load of sin in their life, who's still sorting stuff out, on fire for the Lord, can inspire the more seasoned veteran. Just someone on fire. Sometimes you get those people that maybe they're quite new to things, but they're just on fire. They got zeal. They just, they want to get out. They want to get soul winning. They just want to do stuff, you know? And that can provoke you, can't it? Be like, yeah, sometimes you need to see that sometimes, don't you? Even someone from maybe a pretty nasty background can be an example still of selflessness, like Judah here. What an example of selflessness there. It's like, take me. Imprison me. Take me instead. Please. He's begging him, really. So please just take me. Of zeal, maybe. And someone could just be an example of zeal, of righteousness. Sometimes you just get someone, like I said, who just seems zealous. You get someone who's maybe new, maybe rough around the edges or whatever else, but they just seem to just want to make that moral decision. They want to make the right thing. They care about being right, being morally right, not looking morally right, being morally right. And things like that can provoke us, can't they? Now, Judah couldn't interpret dreams, as far as we're aware, but he could give his life for his little brother. He could care about the effect on his father, couldn't he? And this for me was what provoked Joseph. And also, another thing, notice the difference in circumstances that resulted in this contrast between the two. Joseph is a now prosperous believer. He's got the high-flying job. There's not many more high-flying jobs than that. He's got power. He's got authority. He doesn't want for anything. In a time of famine elsewhere, Joseph's got it all, hasn't he? Judah was along with his brothers at the point of starvation. They were getting close, it seemed, having to go on a seemingly perilous journey to humble himself before this guy, that at this point, they didn't know who he was, and were just thinking this guy's a complete lunatic. And he's having to go back there. But in 2 Corinthians 12.10, Paul said, Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. And my point is, is that as much as we want the easy life to be prosperous in a carnal way, that's usually when we're furthest from God, isn't it? Because we all, all of us, the flesh wants, if only I could have it easier, if only I could have a bit more of this, or, you know, if only I, you know, I didn't need to work as hard for this or do this. A lot of the time the flesh wants that. But that's when we become weakest, isn't it? When we have it all, is when we, this is the great Joseph. Joseph, what an example he was after being enslaved, at a bad time in his life, yeah? What an example he was after them being imprisoned, at a bad time in his life. But now he's prosperous, now he's doing well, and now he's sneaky around, deceptive, falsely accusing, and he needs Tudor to be an example for him to get right again, to provoke him to love and to good works. Because it's when we have necessities, it's when we have distresses, it's when we have weakness, that we rely on him, isn't it? That's when we rely on him. And we don't want to have to, but we do, and that's the reality, isn't it? And that's a lot of the time when we get right, it's when things are hard, times are hard, you're thinking, am I being chastised, I don't know, maybe I need to sort out this, I need God's favour, and I need to, that's when we get right, when we're doing things right, when ultimately we don't go like Joseph did here. Paul said, then am I strong? That's what he said. He said, then am I strong? In those times, he said, he said, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong? So when you have those times, when you have those hard times, when things are difficult, when you think, why does it have to be so difficult? Sometimes you feel like that, don't you? Sometimes you're just like, I can't believe we're going through this now, I can't believe this, I can't believe this is happening, I can't believe that. Sometimes we get like that. Ashamedly, but we do, don't we? And they're the times where you should say no, because you know what? During this time, during this hard time, during this test, during this trial, during this challenge, that's when I'm strong, that's when I'm close to God, that's when I'm praying to God, that's when I'm more likely to be pulling open my bubble. That's what we should do. Now, do you know what the people that drop out do? What the people that fall away do? Do you know what they do? They can't deal with it. And in times of persecution, tribulation, especially for the word's sake, they're done, aren't they? They just get angry with God and walk away. But they're the times where you should pull closest to God and when you do, you get even stronger, don't you? And you learn and you grow and you get stronger and you're like, okay, I understand. I understand. Sometimes it takes a bit of persecution. It takes a hard time to understand God more, to get to know Him more, to get closer to Him, to grow more. And what we don't want to do is don't be the quitter. Don't go through a hard time and then quit. Judah didn't. Judah's got himself sorted, got himself right, hasn't he? And Judah now is being a great example to Joseph. So for me, there's definitely some good lessons here that we can learn from Judah and Joseph here. And lessons, and even for yourself, because like I was saying, yeah, we don't want to be holding things against people. Because a lot of people, look, people just do that. You go, oh, I heard that they used to do this, or I remember when this person did this, or I remember a conversation we had then, or I remember this and that. And again, unless it's like just exposing some wickedness, that's in the past, isn't it? And it's the devil that wants to constantly accuse, that wants to try and pull things up, and obviously slant things and change things and take some half-truth and change it and everything else. We don't want to be like that, but also don't be like that with yourself. I think some people just, they cannot, they look at themselves and often, the sad reality is that we walk in a church and everyone, usually, a lot of the time, to some degree, are going to be on some sort of better behaviour in church. I mean, if you're not, then you've probably got issues. You come in church and it's the worst of you. Well, that's a bit strange as well, right? So we do, and then what happens is, people look around the church, they just say, I just can't believe I hold you there. I'm just so terrible. You know, I do this and I've done this and I had that in the past and I've behaved like this and maybe I still behave like that. And people get insecure. But the reality of it is, is that everyone in here is a sinner. Everyone continues to sin. Everyone has issues. Everyone has problems. And you need to be able to forgive yourself and move on as well. You need to be able to say, yeah, look, I'm not perfect, but I'm here to serve God. And be able to say, yeah, look, I've done this. I mean, is anyone here? Can anyone say that, you know, that they raised such scummy children that God killed them, killed two of them in a row, as adults, so it wasn't that they were killed young, they were killed as adults. And then ended up with, you know, Renee, you're on a deal with the third child. And then having all the way, by the way, already committed a load of whoredom, then went and found some, basically what you thought was a prostitute, impregnated her, and then tried to burn her, burn, sorry, burn the woman that you thought had done something similar. I mean, the hypocrisy, the wickedness and everything else. And now look at him. And look, everyone here can move on and keep moving on and keep, and you, look, you bring it to God, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just, forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all our righteousness. And we want to be able to move on ourselves as well. Obviously, we want to not hold things against other people and people in our life, people are like, you might get someone saved and remember as well how long it took many people here to be at this point in their lives. Because it can be frustrating when you get family, friends, even just people around and people say that maybe you're able to disciple a little bit, you haven't even come to church yet, lost cause, can't believe it. So how long did it take you to get in a proper church? Because a lot of people, it took a long time. And it doesn't mean they're a lost cause. And if someone's rejecting a bit and someone doesn't want to grow or someone, maybe they're still in some sin that's maybe preventing them wanting to come to church, it doesn't mean they're a lost cause. And Judah here showed that he wasn't a lost cause. I mean, it took Judah, I don't know, it took Judah 20 years for us to see at least any example of some righteousness from Judah. I mean, he was a pretty wicked guy. Sorry, I forgot the first bit. He sold his brother into slavery. He was part of the gang that wanted to kill him and then decided, no, actually, let's sell him and get some money out of it. I mean, I don't think anyone here's done that. I don't know. Maybe you have, I don't know. But we can all move on, can't we? We can all move on and we can all constantly try to improve and become better people. And Paul said then, am I strong in those hard times? And that's the times when we can get even stronger, when we're going through tribulation, when we're going through problems. And then lastly, lastly in this chapter here, continuing the general picture of the tribulation, we've seen God's people being falsely accused, arrested, taken into some form of custody. And Luke 21, 12 says, but before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you. Talking about the end times, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being bought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And I think we're just continuing that picture there. We're continuing to see that. And like I said, Joseph representing the anti-Christ, talking about his power and I can certainly divine and everything else. And what do we see in the tribulation? We see him basically putting himself above God, don't we? Okay, so that's what, I think we're continuing that picture there. We're going to continue a bit as we go through the last few chapters, that picture of the tribulation. But that was Genesis 44. And on that, we're going to finish off in a word. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, that example we see there, that contrast between Judah and Joseph, Lord, and what a turnaround there, and what a change in both of them. But also not just a change in Judah for the better and not just a change in Joseph for the worse, but then we're going to see then that inspiring Joseph to then get right again to do what ultimately your will for him was to do, to be able to provide for his family, to provide for them during that famine, Lord. We thank you for the lessons we've had so far out of the book of Genesis, and thank you just for the many teachings you've given us and help us to just really think about these things, to not be hard on ourselves when we do mess up, Lord, to treat sin with the seriousness and respect that we should, but also to remember that you will forgive us, Lord, when we bring these things to you, that we can get right, that we can put these things behind us, that we're new creatures in Christ, Lord, and help us to just keep, just aspiring to be better, to keep persevering, to keep pressing on, Lord. Help everyone to just have a good end of the week now and to hopefully make it on Saturday for the soul-winning marathon, Lord, and help us get many salutations there. And Jesus, thank you for all this. Amen.