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Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could please find your seats and grab your songbooks. Let's turn our hymnals to song 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Sing it out. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. It tells me of a Savior's love who will die to set me free. It tells me of his precious blood, the sinner's perfectly. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. It tells me what my father had in store for every day. And though I dread a dark sun path, yields sunshine all the way. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. It tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest love, who in each sorrow bears a part that none can bear below. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. Good singing. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for this day and the opportunity to be gathered together as a church to sing praises to you, Lord. I pray that you would just fill every person here with the Holy Spirit. Help us all to pay close attention to the word of God being preached tonight. And I pray that you just bless all the people here. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, let's put our next song. 187, Jesus Loves Me. I know every kid in here knows that song, so I expect it to be loud on this one. 187, Jesus Loves Me. 187, Jesus Loves Me. Sing it out. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he who died. Heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin. Let his little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he will stay. Post beside me all the way. Thou hast bled and died for me. I will henceforth live for thee. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Good evening. Thanks so much for coming to Sid Bass Baptist Church. If you don't already have a bulletin you can slip your hand nice and high. And we would love to get a bulletin to you. On the front we have the Bible memory passage. We're on verse 10. Any child 18 or under able to quote that can receive an ice cream treat. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as our church stats. I'm going to get a quick count for any soul winning report. Was there anything to report from Monday? Seven for Monday. What about Tuesday? Four for Tuesday. What about, I know tonight I did not get the van count. So let's just double check. We have the one. Looks like four for tonight. Praise the Lord on that. Also on the right continue to pray for all of our expecting ladies. We also have our prayer list. We'll cover a few different things here. And I have a couple to add. Continue to pray for the Negara family for their health. Continue to pray for Ms. Lucy's mother's tumors. If you continue to pray for brother Cameron Hall's leg. Both of our friends continue to help pray for their churches abroad. Also brother Jeremy Gore's surgery is coming up January 30th. Continue to pray for Ms. Nexus Cooper for her recovery. Also pray for the Glossos for his job. I think it was just related to medical tyranny as it were. And then also if you pray for the Oz family. Ms. Anna had a little minor surgery that she's just recovering from. Also brother John Ball was asking for prayer for headaches. So we have a lot of prayer requests there. I think we even still have some people that have been out sick. So if we'll just say a quick word of prayer for our church family. Thank you Heavenly Father for our church. Thank you so much for all the ladies that are expecting. I pray that you just continue to bless them. Bless their pregnancy. Help their babies to develop. And for them to have a timely birth. I also pray that you would just bless all the rest of our church family with their various health concerns. We'd help our friends that are abroad that their churches would be able to successfully carry out the gospel. And to be able to meet and to be encouraged. I pray that you'd also just help the rest of our church family that are struggling with other various concerns. That you'd be with them. Give them wisdom. Give them favor. And I pray that everything that we do here would just be in honor and glory of your son. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. We have a baby shower this Saturday, January 29th in honor of the Glossos. Miss Tina Glossos and her baby boy. It is from 1230 to 230 here at the church. If you're able you can bring a dessert or dish to share. She's also registered on Amazon if you'd like to get them a gift. It is nursing's only preferred. But again, emphasis is all ladies are invited. So, you know, it's a great way to meet other ladies in the church. And we just please ask that you would sign up. One other thing, we had put in the bulletin about donating to the church. Had there been a shift? Just temporarily while we had a lot of banking issues. But those have been resolved for now. So if you want to go online, you can go online to our portal, the Steadfast Baptist Portal. And you can donate that way. Or if you write a check, you can write those to Steadfast Baptist Church. And all the donations will be going that way. Additional note, tithing statements. We prepared tithing statements very recently. And we're in the process of emailing those to everybody that we have on file, their email. If for some reason you don't get it or you need a printed out copy, just ask us and we'll print that out. If we don't have anybody's email, if we like missing an email, we'll try to just either mail that. Or we'll hand it to you in person. And if you don't give us any of that information and we can't find you, then sorry. But essentially if you want that printed out, we'll print it for you. Otherwise we'll just email you a copy and you can print it at your own discretion. We are trying to provide it to everyone that donated and we have an electronic copy of their donations. So if you just put cash on the plate, we don't have any idea who did that. But as long as you donated either by check or online. Additionally, if you donated to Pure Words Baptist Church at any point in time, you're going to receive two statements. You'll receive one from Steadfast Baptist Church and then you'll receive a statement from Pure Words Baptist Church or your tithing and everything like that. Also considering the nature of some of the situations we've had to deal with last year, it is possible there's a mistake. There's always possibility. There's a human error or something. So if you did notice something was off or you're not noticing something, just contact us. We'll fix it. I think in the past year we've had one or two people occasionally where a check got missed or something happened. And so we'll more than happy fix that if for some reason the tithing statement is off. But you should receive those. And if you don't, let us know. But we're going to try and get that all out before the end of January. On the back, we have other upcoming events. Waco Soul Waning Marathon. There's a cheat over here. I made a little video about it as well on our YouTube channel that has some more details about that. March 24th through the 26th, we're going to have a Soul Waning seminar here. April 29th, homeschool field trip. You have to have just at least one child, five or older that you're homeschooling. It's a Friday. We're going to go to the Fort Worth Zoo. So it's going to be a lot of fun. Also, May 21st, there's the Austin Soul Waning Marathon. October 5th through the 9th, we have the Firebreathing Baptist Fellowship. So a lot of events. And there's going to be Soul Waning Marathons for Pure Words and Oklahoma City. And I'll probably announce those as well when we get a little bit closer. We have the congratulations to the Cardona family on Josiah James. He was born on the 21st, 8, 34 AM, weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 20 inches long. And he looks like a Cardona is what I said, and I still stand by that, all right? I think he looks kind of like his mom. Congratulations to them. Do we call him JJ? Is that acceptable? Okay, all right. JJ is an acceptable term, all right? I said that. I was unsure. Also, just a couple reminders. We have a couple mother-baby rooms in the back. Please try to make sure to pay attention to the posted signs. But the mother-baby room is just for those who are unable to walk. So only crawlers or just very small infants. And if you have a toddler that can walk, please make sure to use the other room just so we can maintain safety and everybody is being taken care of there. Also, please don't allow children in those areas without their parental supervision. So we just don't want, especially after services or before services, we just don't want anyone to get hurt or someone not being paid attention to and something like that happens. I think that's pretty much all I had for announcements at this time. We'll go ahead and go to our third song for the evening, number 12. Number 12. All right, that's song number 12, Blessed Redeemer. Song 12, Blessed Redeemer. Up Calvary's mountain, wonderful morn, walk Christ my Savior weary and worn. Facing for sinners, death on the cross, that He might save them from endless loss. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding for sinners fleeing, blind and unmeaning, dying for me. Father, forgive them, thus did He pray, even while His life blood flow fast away. Praying for sinners, wild and such spoil, no one but Jesus ever loved so. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding for sinners fleeing, blind and unmeaning, dying for me. Oh, how I love Him, Savior and Friend, how can my praises ever find Him? Through the years unnumbered on Heaven's shore, my tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding for sinners fleeing, blind and unmeaning, dying for me. As the offering plates are passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 44. That's Genesis chapter 44. We'll be reading the entire chapter prior to the sermon. Genesis chapter 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 servant should do according to this thing. 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 will be my Lord's bondmen. 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. 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? Watch 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. As for you, get you up in peace under 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 a sparrow. My Lord asked his servants, 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, a little one, and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth them. And thou settest 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 settest 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 we will 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, Ye 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 ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey 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 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. 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. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, God, we thank you so much for Genesis chapter 44. We pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit now, and enable him to expound this chapter to us, so we can learn more about your word, this portion of scripture. And also, Lord, I pray that you would give us ears to hear, softened hearts, and minimized distractions, so that we can learn as much as possible over the course of this message. And I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. So we're continuing our study in the book of Genesis. We're in chapter 44. This chapter we left off with the other sons, the other brethren of Joseph, have met with them. They returned the money, or at least they attempted to return the money. They brought Benjamin with them, and Joseph has had a meal with them. They ate together. They left off with Benjamin getting five times the amount of food as the rest of his brethren. And so chapter 44 is kind of skipping in time a little bit. We kind of see now the brethren are headed back, and Joseph has concocted a plan here on their return. It says in verse 1, And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill them in sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sacks' mouth. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sacks' mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And it did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. Now, as you kind of understood from the previous chapter, and some of the previous chapters, that Simeon was entrapped, he was captured, and kind of left behind as they went back home. And it kind of seemed like Joseph was using that as a way to figure out if his brethren were really honest or really truthful, because he kind of put them in the exact same scenario they were with Joseph in the sense that they had all their money, they had all their food, but they don't have Simeon, right? So they could have lied to their father and said that something bad happened to Simeon, and they got all their money back, and then they just none the wiser. But they returned for Simeon, and they brought their brother Benjamin. Now, Joseph's going to end up doing the exact same thing again, where he's going to trap his brethren with a very similar example. And he may not be convinced at this point that they came back for Simeon, especially considering the fact that when they showed back up, they didn't even ask about him. Nobody ever seemed to ask about Simeon. Joseph is just like, oh, yeah, here's Simeon, by the way, and they're just like, oh, okay, you. We forgot about you. But it could be that maybe they favor Simeon over Benjamin, and really I believe that Joseph just wants to ensure what's happening to his younger brother, because he loves his younger brother. And he has a strong feeling for his younger brother. We see that through his emotional reaction. We see that through the fact that he's giving him more food. And so I believe he's concocted this plan in an effort to essentially steal his brother back if his brethren are still wicked. So he concocts this plan to essentially give them all their money back, give them all their food, but put a silver cup into the youngest sack, into Benjamin's sack specifically. Now, that would make sense, because Benjamin is his kin. It's not only his brother on his father's side, but also on his mother's side. And by kind of creating this little scheme, he's going to give them the opportunity to do the same thing they did to Joseph to Benjamin, okay? Now, it says in verse number 3, 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, 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? It is not this it in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth. He have done evil in so doing. And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. So Joseph is constantly giving instructions unto his steward, and you know what I like about this steward? He's asked to do a bunch of weird stuff, and he just does it. He doesn't ask questions. I don't even think he understands what's going on whatsoever. Nobody knows what's going on. You know, if you want to be a good steward, whenever your boss just says something, you just do it. You just follow, and you know, again, this isn't like crazy criminal things that he's asking you to do or anything, okay? We understand that, but it is a little bit kind of shady, but you know what? This guy's just like, Yes, sir. You know, he just does whatever he's instructed. Now, it does say divineth here. Obviously, you know, divining in the Bible is kind of considered like a negative thing, you know, divination or a type of sorcery or witchcraft, and I believe that Joseph, he's just using this as just kind of to go along with his scheme. Obviously, Joseph's not into witchcraft or sorcery or magic or anything like that, and the reason why he knows what's going on is because he's the one that planted the evidence, okay? He's the cop that planted the evidence on the criminal, essentially, okay? He knows why things are happening. So he's just using it to kind of trick the brethren to kind of confuse them, and so they go out. It says eventually that the servant says these words unto them. Verse number seven, it says, And they said unto him, so this is the children of Israel returning and replying according to this accusation, 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 sacks 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 thy servant should be found, both let him die, and we also will be my Lord's bondmen. Now, that's pretty extreme, okay? First of all, you know, he brings up the fact that, hey, look, we already brought money back that we could have gotten away with stealing. Doesn't that kind of evidence the fact that we're not here, you know, causing mischief? We're not here trying to steal or anything like that. But then whoever it is that, you know, it kind of says they, you know, I don't know, I guess they all kind of agree to this, but this is a really hasty vow. Like, hey, wherever you find this cup, just kill them and we'll all be slaves. Like, that's kind of a weird thing to say. And really, to me, whenever I read this, I kind of cringe for a moment because I'm just kind of thinking like, you know, you never really want to go over the top anytime you're trying to convince somebody of anything anyways, okay? Keep your finger here. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 for a moment. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5. In fact, you know, in the New Testament, Jesus says, swear not at all, neither by heaven, you know. And anytime someone's kind of doing these like over the top type promises, swears, o's or something like that, it usually means that they're kind of lying. So, which we know that they're not lying, but, you know, it's not really a good thing to do. You know, it's not good to just like have these over the top type of swears, you know, on my mother's back or, you know, or on my mother's grave or on, you know. You don't want to be saying these type of things or say, hey, if you find it, fire me now, sue me and do it. It's like, why make such a suggestion, right? You should just say no, right? Let your nay be nay is what Jesus Christ said. Let your yay be yay. If someone accuses you of doing something, there's no need to have these over the top type o's or promises or swears or anything like that because what happens when you do get caught? And again, they didn't think they had done anything wrong, but do you really know for sure? Have you really checked the bag yet? I mean, don't really necessarily want to just make these over the top promises and swears and o's when you're not really exactly sure what's going on. Ecclesiastes chapter number five, look at verse one. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. They consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. You know, the Bible says you should be very, very careful the things that you say, especially when you're uttering something like, you know, I promise, I swear, or if you were to go over the top and say, I promise on the Bible or I swear to God or anything like this, you know, you really shouldn't even do that according to the New Testament. It's very clear. But if you did do that, you better be very certain that you do it or you keep your word or what you're saying is exactly truthful or honest. You know, you don't want to be making some kind of a promise or oath to God that you're never going to keep. You know, God gets very angry at that. Look what it says in verse four. When thou vowest to vow unto God, defer not to pay it. We have no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou has vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error. Wherefore, should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands. Okay, so according to the Bible, we're not supposed to promise or swear anything in a hasty manner. We don't want to make these over-the-top promises of the Lord or anything like that. But go to Proverbs, chapter number six. Go to Proverbs, go backwards just a hair, to Proverbs, chapter number six. Not only should we not make these kind of oaths to the Lord, but, you know, really, we shouldn't make them to anybody. You know, you don't want to have these over-the-top statements or these type of exaggerated promises. Look at Proverbs, chapter six, verse one. 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. So the Bible's saying when you make an oath or a promise, even if it's on the behalf of someone else, that you're snared with that oath, with those words, with that promise. You know, I always think of being like a guarantee on a loan when I read a verse like this. Or, you know, co-signing some kind of a loan or some kind of a financial thing. You know, you don't want to just go ahead and co-sign with someone that you're not really sure about. Or make guarantee for someone that you don't really know. Or vouch for someone that you're not really certain how they're going to do. Whenever you help someone or assist someone, you should realize that they could fail. Bad things could happen and you have to be careful and be prepared to pay that bounty, pay that fee, pay up, you know, when they fail. When someone else screws up. And that's why it's important not to just make some kind of a promise or, you know, I got him, I got this person, whatever. It's where you end up having to suffer when they screw up, when they do evil, when they do wrong. Just like to me in this scenario, it's kind of similar to our story. You know, it's like, hey, if one of my brethren stole, I go to prison for the rest of my life for what they did. Like, isn't that kind of stupid? Like, it's one thing to say, whoever you find it, kill him, right? But it's another thing to then say, and we'll also be your slaves on top of that. Like, I'm looking over at Ruben thinking like, hmm, you know, you're looking at some of the, is a car? Like, you know, do you really want to go to prison for the rest of your life because is a car decided to steal? No, you know, I don't want to, right? That's kind of a stupid promise. That was a stupid vow to ensnare yourself and to become surety for all your brethren when your brethren are kind of scumbags anyways. You know, they literally sold Joseph into slavery for a few bucks. Like, why would they not have potentially stolen money out of, you know, Joseph's house? You don't know. And just because you think you know someone, you know, it's still stupid to make these kind of promises, these kind of vows, these kind of O's. Like, oh, no one at Steadfast Baptist Church would be an infiltrator. No one at Steadfast Baptist Church would believe any weird doctrines, you know, or say anything weird or do anything weird or whatever tried to attack us or whatever steal from the church. I mean, they would never do such a thing, right? I mean, that would be kind of silly to say stuff like that, wouldn't it? It would be kind of naive, essentially. And so you don't want to make these kind of silly vows, go to Proverbs chapter 20, go to Proverbs chapter 20, because you never really know. And so it's important, you know, it's one thing to just say no. But then why do you have to go and say, kill us and we'll be your prisoner forever. Like, that was dumb to say, you know. And that's why I say I always kind of cringe when I read these kind of verses. So that's what you have to understand. Sometimes you read things in the Bible. It's not like this is a good example. Like, when we read this, we're not like, oh, sweet. So whenever someone asks me, I'll say I'll be your slave, you know. You know, put it on my grave, you know. Just kill me now or whatever. No, no, no. Just say no. Did you steal? No. Church the bag, you know. Let's find out what happened. Proverbs chapter 20, look at verse 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and after vows to make inquiry. Now, here's the thing. When they previously journeyed back, right, what happened? Didn't they end up finding money in their bag that they had no idea how it got there? Wouldn't you think like, could that possibly happen again, right? Could someone have put the silver cup in your bag? Because I remember there's been times where I've had a lot of pressure on me or heat put on me about something that happened. And this is sometimes a thought that I have. I'm thinking like, did someone lie about me? Or did someone do something, you know, dirty against me that's going to be used against me, right? And so that's always a possibility. And so realizing that could actually happen, why would I then want to make some kind of over-the-top oath about the cup being in my bag? You know, why wouldn't you think like it's possible someone planted this cup on me, you know, or the cop? I mean, the cops have never planted anything on anybody for any reason, right? You know, that's why it would be silly to make over-the-top promises to cops or let them, you know, trample your rights. You know, trample your Miranda rights or trample, you know, a search warrant when they don't have probable cause. Like why should I just let cops search my house or search my family or search whatever when they don't have a legitimate reason to do so? You should not just offer for people to just take advantage of you and do these type of things because you never know. And you never know what they might find, you never know what they might plant, you never know what they might twist and use against you. I mean, it's really kind of a naïve approach to just, I think, you know, you're never going to find it, you know, just whatever. You got to be careful. And when we look at this verse, this is kind of an interesting verse when I think about this particular situation. Because it says it's a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy. So this would be, he's just kind of carelessly, you know, consuming some kind of a good, some kind of something that's, you know, holy is something that's separated, you know, special, set apart. And it says an after vows to make inquiry. So this is what I believe this proverb is saying. It's essentially saying, like, what if you just went out into your flock and you look at a sheep and you say, I want to eat that sheep. And you go and you grab it and then you essentially sacrifice it, kill it, eat it, and you have a good dinner. And then afterwards, you decide to be like, you know what, I wonder if that sheep was actually vowed to the Lord. Maybe I should go and check out and see if that was actually something that I wasn't supposed to eat, you know. But kind of too late now that you've already devoured it. Now that you've already taken and eaten it, you know, now you go and try to figure out what's going on. So again, why would I want to sit here and promise, think about it this way, why would I want to promise that there's not a silver cup in my bag before I check my own bag? Wouldn't you want to, like, wait a second, you can search it. You know, wouldn't that make more sense than just making the promise, like, kill me and whatever. Or how about this, let's search all the bags real quick and then we'll get back to you for an answer, right? And see, this makes a lot more sense. When someone's putting pressure on you, putting heat on you, it's better to go ahead and just double check, you know, triple check. Make sure you know what's going on before you just kind of make some kind of over the top, grandiose statement, make a public statement. And you notice the world's pretty good at this. Anytime the world's getting heat or pressure, they're like, we're not sure, we'll check, we'll get a public statement later, you know. Or they use vague language to try and, you know, basically cover themselves or to ensure that they're not being ensnared with some kind of statement that can later be proven false. And it kind of makes me think of this verse here where it's kind of essentially saying, like, you don't want to go ahead and just take the Lord's money, take the Lord's sacrifices and goods, things that were vowed, and then later figure out, oh yeah, that wasn't something I was supposed to do. You know, you need to figure that out first before you kind of open your lips or do something hastily. So if we go back to our story, I just, I wanted to show a couple of verses there for you, kind of, you know, while we're thinking about this. Be careful the things that you say, right? And knowing the story, they're going to get caught, aren't they? Now, it says in verse number 10, it says this, and he said, now also let it be according to your, under your words. He with them is found shall be my servant and ye shall be blameless. So he's like, hey, you guys think that, you know, there's nothing going on? Well, be it then. If we find the cup, he's the person that we find the cup, we're going to go ahead and capture him. And notice that his punishment's way less than what they suggested. But he's essentially just kind of saying, like, oh, prisoners? Okay, well then we'll do that. Whoever we find the cup, we'll take him as a prisoner. And notice what he suggests for the others. He says the rest are free to go. And the rest of you are just blameless. Okay? Now, if we pause here for just a moment, would this not be, again, the exact scenario that Joseph was put in, right? Because if they find the cup in Benjamin's sack, which we know that they will, couldn't they then take Benjamin and the rest of them could go back home and tell their dad again, hey, well, sorry, on the way, something bad happened, we don't know. And not only do they get to go back with the food, they get back with all their money again, which would be another picture of exactly what happened. So the scenario is built again, hey, give me Benjamin and you guys just nuts to you, you go back. And if they took that deal, it would kind of show that they were super wicked and then Joseph's rescuing Benjamin away from those wicked evil brethren and trying to preserve his brother's life. So it's a really clever scenario that Joseph has concocted to essentially try to figure out how to rescue his brother Benjamin away from these men. Now, Joseph's not a dunce here, he's a very wise person. So every decision he's making, all these scenarios, all these things that he's coming up with, even from just a simple carnal perspective are very wise, okay? And we understand there's other spiritual pictures here. I'll kind of get to some of that in a minute, but even just from a pure on the surface carnal perspective, this makes a lot of sense. Verse 11, then they speedily took down every man's sack to the ground and opened every man his sack, and he searched. So the steward's looking through the bags 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. Verse 14, 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? Woe 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. So what was the reaction? The reaction was way different, wasn't it? They could have just left, been blameless, lied to their dad again, round two, but instead they returned back to the city, and Judah is kind of the spokesman for the children of Israel, and he says, Hey, you found us, we'll all be your servants. So he's kind of making another suggestion of being a servant, even though he doesn't have to, showing that he's very greed, they all rent their clothes, so obviously they want to essentially, you know, make amends. Look at verse 17, and he said, God forbid that I should do so. So this is Joseph speaking, okay? He says, 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 now Joseph is offering a second time the opportunity to essentially get away scot-free, because perhaps, again, we're thinking about Joseph's plan here, right? Perhaps Joseph is saying, well, it's not so much that they care about Benjamin. They just really don't believe that they're on good terms with Joseph after all this happened. Maybe they're just coming back and saying all this, going through this hoopla, just to make sure that we're on good terms. So I'm just going to say it from the horse's mouth, I'll take Benjamin, you guys go in peace. Notice he's not even saying, like, I never want to see you again. Notice he's not saying you guys are bad guys or whatever. He's saying you can just completely get away scot-free, I got Benjamin, you guys go on, go back home. He didn't ask for their money back or anything like that, right? So they can get away scot-free. Now, we understand from the story that they're not going to take this deal. They've changed kind of their opinion about this. But there's also a spiritual picture that we can take here and get kind of a spiritual understanding from this. Go up to Matthew 26 for a moment, go to Matthew 26. Now, think about what he just said. If we take the one, then the rest of you have peace with Joseph, right? This makes me think of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? And notice what takes Benjamin is the silver cup, right? It's the silver cup that basically is what sells out Benjamin, isn't it? Well, that makes me think of another piece of silver. How about Matthew 26? Look at verse number 14. Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went and the chief priests and said unto them, What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. But notice the same way that Benjamin is the one found guilty is the same way that Jesus is going to basically have this guilt and they have the silver and the silver and think about it both ways. Benjamin didn't do anything wrong. It was planted on him, wasn't it? The iniquity was laid upon him. And think about this. Whose iniquity was laid on Benjamin? Was it Benjamin's iniquity? No, because Benjamin never did anything wrong, according to the story. Obviously, we know he's a sinner, but I'm just saying in the story, it's actually the children of Israel's iniquity that's been laid on Benjamin and Benjamin has to carry the weight and the burden of his brethren's iniquity and he's their substitute and then they have what? Peace. Returning under their father. I mean, this is none other than the gospel basically being spelled out for us. We have the silver, we have the silver, kind of this interesting picture. And it's cool how Benjamin also pictures the Lord Jesus Christ at different stages throughout the story. Now, go to Ephesians, chapter number four. That's kind of a cool little nugget here that we have. But let's also think about something else, okay? Judah is going to end up making an offer to take his place to. We can see another spiritual picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll kind of get into that a little bit. But if we think about the story, you know, they've been offered this opportunity to basically betray their brother again and they don't take it. And they change. I mean, they completely do the opposite. Now, they're all willing to sacrifice and they're willing to basically surrender themselves as slaves and bondmen unto this man. They feel really bad about the sin that they committed in the past when it came to Joseph. You know, as they're going through the story, they're constantly bringing it up and they're talking about all man and the iniquity and blah, blah, blah. So obviously, they feel bad about their sin and now they want to essentially repent of their sin, okay? And we understand that when it comes to salvation, salvation is a free gift. You don't have to repent of any sins to go to heaven, okay? But that doesn't mean that repenting of your sin is not a good idea. It's actually a great idea and it's something that we should do. And what I like about this story is it shows that even though someone may have been wicked in the past, even though someone may have done really bad in the past, that they can have an opportunity through Jesus Christ to do right in the future, to redeem themselves. You know, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ wants to redeem us from iniquity, okay? And, you know, he wants to purify us and he wants us to clean up our lives, okay? So, I do not believe, even though we're sinners and even though we'll never be perfect, that we're just eternally doomed in the sense that until you die, you can't clean yourself up at all. No, no, no. I believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, that sinners can turn into just men. That the wicked can give up his wicked lifestyle and can be a righteous, godly Christian, okay? And in Ephesians chapter number 4, it talks a lot about this. Look at verse number 20. We have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That he put off concerning the former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that he put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. So, the concept that's being laid out here is the fact that now that you're saved, let's put on the new man, let's walk in the new man, let's be different than we were before. You know, we talk about lying, right? Especially in soul winning, because it's so prevalent. You know, everyone lies and people lie a lot. But what is the Bible literally commanding here? Verse 25, wherefore putting away lying. You know, you should figure out how to stop lying. And I'm not saying you're going to be perfect, but you know what? As a Christian, you should get to a point where you virtually never lie. You know, where you're just always honest, you're always telling the truth, you're not deceitful, you're not defrauding people, that people can take you for your word, when you make a promise, you're going to keep that word, you're not going to break it. You know, to me, it's very grievous to try to break my word. And I'm not perfect. Sometimes, you know, I fail and I struggle to always keep that. But, you know, even if it's at my own detriment, he that swereth his own hurt and changeth not, is the song that we sing. Meaning what? Even when it's inconvenient, even when it may cost you something, financially, time, effort, energy, you know, if you make a promise to someone, you need to keep it. You know, when someone asks me to do something, and I say, I'll do it, I'll be there, whatever. You know, to me, that's serious. You know, and we want to make sure that we keep it, no matter how small, no matter how trivial. You know, we should put away lying. And obviously, that's not necessarily a purposeful lie to make a future promise and then basically break it, but it's a form of a lie, breaking a promise. You know, we're supposed to be the truth with people. Verse 26, be ye angry and sin not. Now, notice the Bible doesn't say never be angry. It actually, if you think about it, it's commanding you to be angry. Be ye angry. But then it's saying, but sin not, right? I mean, look, you know, if you're a righteous person, there's going to be plenty of stuff that angers you. Sin should anger you, okay? Evil should anger you. Lies and deception and all these things should anger you. You know what, we need to learn how to control that anger and basically put it in the right vehicle. You know, allow that anger to motivate us to be a better person. Allow that anger to cause us to draw closer to the Lord. Allow that anger to cause us to cry out to the Lord, to pray and to seek the Lord. But, you know, we're not supposed to then blow off our mouths. What do angry people do that are not controlling it? They yell, they scream, they treat people poorly, or they maybe sometimes bottle it in and then that anger transforms into bitterness. You know, we talked about the water cycle. You know, water goes to gas and then clouds and then rain. Well, some people take anger and they allow that gas to turn into bitterness. And then that bitterness is just waiting for a hailstorm to come on you eventually, okay? Where they just explode and it's just like, where did all this hail come from? You know, it came from bitterness. That came from anger that was unresolved, okay? That's why it's also saying in the latter portion of this, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Meaning you're supposed to deal with anger every single day. Every single day. Whatever you're angry about, you're supposed to let it all go for the next day. Like, I don't know about that, Pastor Shelley. Look, we're talking about getting better, okay? Now, you say, well, what am I supposed to do with all this anger? You know, give it to the Lord. Casting your care upon Him. You know, getting on your knees, praying to the Lord. You know, if He's going to give you new mercies every morning, you know, we're supposed to strive to give new mercies to everyone else. You know, forgiving our brethren as the Lord forgives us, okay? And has grace and extends mercy to us. Look at verse 27. Neither give place to the devil. You know what the devil wants? The devil wants you to just be an angry person all the time. You know, angry people are not fun to be around. They're not enjoyable. They don't accomplish things well. You know, when you're angry, you get very impatient, make a lot of mistakes. Often, anger can even blind you a little bit in your judgment. All kinds of bad things happen when you're angry. You know, we shouldn't live angry lives. We have to learn how to deal with that. Otherwise, we're just basically allowing the devil to win. You know what the devil likes to do? He likes to get under your skin, okay? And you know what the devil's minions like to do? Is they like to get under your skin and make you angry. They're called trolls, okay? The goal of a troll is to make you angry. You know how you defeat a troll? Don't get angry and don't talk to him. Because the only thing he wants to do is to get you talking and get you angry because then you'll blow off your mouth too. And then you'll basically look like him, you know? And it says in verse number 28, Let him that stole yield no more. You know what I like about this verse? Is I think about his brethren. Because his brethren, you know, they basically sell their brother out for a bunch of money and just because they did that, does not mean that they're going to be a thief for the rest of their life, that they have to steal again, they have to sell their brother out again. You know, just because you've done wickedly in the past does not mean you have to do it again in the future. You know, you commit fornication yesterday, well, just don't do it again in the future, all right? You stole something, don't steal again in the future. You know, you had a big lie, don't lie again in the future, you know? Even worse things, you know, people that have committed abortion, well, don't do it again, right? I mean, you know, you got divorced, don't do it again, right? Hey, you committed adultery, don't do it again, right? And obviously we understand that from an eternity perspective, you tell one lie, you're a liar for the rest of your life. But that doesn't mean that just because you're a liar that one time you should just keep lying. Like, oh, well, I guess I'm a liar, might as well just lie it up, you know? No matter what label you have, you know, you need to improve and get better. Don't just continually lie and steal and cheat. And I like his brethren in this story because we see a complete transformation of the person. They don't want to do it again. They're learning from their mistake. And you know what? We need to realize we need to learn from our mistakes. And you may have been wicked in the past, but you can be righteous today. You can do the right thing now. And you can improve and you can get better. And no one is perfect. No one has arrived. We need to constantly strive to get better. But don't allow your past to hold you back from doing right in the future. Don't say, well, you don't know what I was like. Well, I don't care. What do you like right now? What are you doing right now? You know, let's talk about Judah's past for a moment, okay? Judah slept with his own daughter-in-law. And he got her pregnant with twins, okay? I mean, not really a great person. You know, when you talk about some of the things that he did, right? He participated in selling his brother to slavery, right? He knocked up his own daughter-in-law. I mean, imagine him in an interview. So tell us about your strengths and your weaknesses, Judah. What do you think is like your worst thing, you know? Well, I did sell my brother into slavery. You know, I did knock up my daughter-in-law. But I thought she was a whore. I didn't realize it was her. I was just trying to sleep with a prostitute. I mean, it's like that doesn't really get better, you know? It's just kind of like, what's going on with this guy? But, you know, in this story, he's going to be the hero, isn't he? And you know what? You could be someone's hero. You could have been a horrible person in your past. You know what you could do? You could knock on someone's door, and you don't have to tell them that you knocked up your daughter-in-law and you're from Kentucky or anything like that. You just say, hey, I'm in Texas now, and I've got the gospel right now, and I'm ready to give you the gospel. You know, they're going to be thankful when they get in heaven that you gave them the gospel, that you helped save them, you helped bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ, you did that one just right. Don't let your past define your future. Judah is not allowing his past to define his future. He's making the right decisions now. He's saying, you know what? I may have screwed up in the past. I'm not going to do that again. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now, let me make one statement about that. Nothing that Paul says in any epistles is corrupt communication, FYI, okay? The words like bastard, okay, are not corrupt communication. Corrupt is speaking lies. You know, it's speaking false things, false doctrine. You can see the nicest false doctrine ever, that's corrupt communication, and you can use some really coarse language that's found in your Bible, and it's not corrupt whatsoever, okay? Because you're ministering grace unto the hearer, okay? Verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So, you know, even though we can't lose our salvation, you don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit all the way up to that point. That doesn't make any sense. You know, and notice that the Holy Spirit is not some abstract concept, but rather it's a person with feelings. How can you grieve an abstract concept? Don't grieve the wind. You know, the wind doesn't have any feelings, my friend, okay? The wind, as far as I'm concerned, is just an abstract thing that we feel and we experience, okay? But the wind doesn't have a personality. The wind's not a comforter, you know, an adversary, all right? But the Holy Ghost, he is our comforter. He guides us in all truth, and, you know, he has a personality. He cares about us. He loves us. And you know what? You disappoint him when you sin. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about when you sin, the Holy Spirit is disappointed. He feels bad. He doesn't like it. You know, the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside of us, and, you know, he takes it personal when you sin, because we're literally grieving him when we're choosing not to walk in the suggestions that he's made for. It's very similar to if you're telling your child what to do, and just right in front of your eyes, they just don't do it, right? Wouldn't that make a mother or a father grieve? Wouldn't it make you frustrated? It hurts your feelings that your children aren't listening to you. They're not obeying. It's the same with the Holy Ghost, who's with us at all times. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. We've been sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, okay? Yet when we sin, even if you're by yourself, you're not, the Holy Ghost is there, and you're grieving the Holy Ghost. Another great reason not to sin. Not to do things, even, oh, no one's looking. Well, the Holy Ghost is looking. He might throw a couple verses your way, all right? Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake is forgiving you. You're supposed to forgive one another like Joseph is going to have a hard task here to potentially forgive his brethren, isn't he? I mean, it would be pretty hard to forgive your brethren for betraying you the way that they did, you know, but that's the right thing to do is to forgive your brethren to do the right thing. We'll go back to our story. Back to our story. So what I like about Judah is not only does he picture the Lord Jesus Christ, but he shows us a picture of the redemption that comes for Christians through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the work of following God's commandments. And, you know, I think that's why a lot of people, you know, a lot of people that get saved have a sincere desire in their heart to clean up their lives, to get better, to do the things that are right. So that's why sometimes people get a little mixed up on works and salvation. You know, they'll say, well, I know it's just faith alone, but if you have the faith, you'll do the works. And I think that's just coming from a sincere heart to want to do the works, but we have to understand that it's not automatic. It's something you have to choose on a daily basis. You have to listen and hearken unto the Holy Spirit's guiding and prompting through the Word of God. That's going to help you to actually do the works because before you weren't doing any of them. So it's not like, oh, I was doing none, but now all of a sudden I do them all. You're probably still on the none plan. You need to start figuring out how to start getting some works into your life, incorporating a little bit and getting used to the prompting and the leading of the Holy Ghost through reading your Bible, praying, going to church, hearing preaching. God will like the preaching. Well, the more you read the Bible, the more you'll like good preaching, okay? That's what I think. Look at verse number 18. Then Judah came near unto him and said, O my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word of my Lord's ears. Let thy anger burn against thy servant. Thou art even as Pharaoh. My Lord asked the 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. Now, just a couple of comments. It's interesting how they describe Benjamin, right? Notice how they describe him, a child of his old age, a little one. I mean, they're saying this guy is a little one, you know, not like super old or anything like that. Again, kind of gives credence to my thoughts and ideas that Benjamin probably wasn't alive whenever Joseph, uh, was sold into slavery, but you know, it's not conclusive. It's just kind of a hint. Look at verse number 21. And now set us 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 or if he should leave his father, his father would die. Here's another thing. Joseph in chapter 37, go back to chapter 37 for a second. And we kind of are introduced to Joseph and look what it says in verse number. Let's just start reading verse number two. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah. So notice when Joseph was 17, he was considered a lad. So in Genesis 44, when Benjamin is described as a lad, he could be 17 to be potentially older than 17. And I believe he probably is. What age? I don't know, but I would say, you know, he's a little one, he's a lad. So he's probably not 30 though. He's probably not, you know, 40 or something like that because they're not going to use descriptives like lad, little one, or these type of words to describe Benjamin. He's obviously very young. And it says that his father would die if, you know, he didn't have Benjamin. Showing that the father really loves Benjamin. Similarly, how he loved Joseph. Okay. Verse number 23. And thou saidest unto thy servants, except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 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, ye know that my wife bear me two sons. The one went out from me, and I said, surely 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. My servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. So, what's interesting is how, how much Jacob loves Benjamin. So much so, that his brethren suggest the idea, and it really even came from the mouth of Jacob himself, Israel himself, that if Benjamin dies, he's just going to die. Like, he's just going to be too sorrowful, too sad. And you know, what's kind of interesting is that old couples, like older elderly couples, when one spouse dies, often the other spouse will die very shortly after, because it's like their life is kind of tied in the other person. And you know, it's very difficult sometimes on a person when they lose their spouse or someone that's very close to them, because they have so much love for them, that'll often just cause them to die. And we see that that's kind of the case here that's being suggested for Jacob and for Israel. And really, you know, one of the lessons we can learn from this is just the simple fact that other relationships are important to our life. You know, when you don't have any reason to live, oftentimes it causes you to die, literally. You know, having someone in your life helps you. And I make this suggestion in the sense that, like, you know, we all have elderly people in our lives, grandparents, even parents, uncles, aunts, and these type of people. And if you just neglect them and you give them, you know, no person in their life, it'll sometimes kill them. So if you really want to see the parents and your grandparents and these type of people live long lives, you have to put some light in them by talking to them, calling them, visiting them, you know, giving them a reason to live. You know, once you take away their reason to live, you know, and this is kind of sad for me, but my grandfather, the last grandparent that I had, he passed away last year kind of during the COVID thing. And so on my knowledge, he never had COVID. I'm sure he died from COVID because everybody did. But here's the thing that was sad. He lived, my uncle lived there and they would visit him all the time and see him and he was in good health. I can't remember, he was either like 98 or 99. I mean, he was going to make it to 100. I mean, you know, he was old, but in good health for that age. And he loved playing golf and things like that. But during the COVID, what they did is they basically just shut the doors and locked all of the patients in, didn't allow any visitors. And they're basically just sliding food under the door. Not only that, during that time, you know, they stopped doing anything on TV. Like all the TV shows kind of just stopped. And my grandfather is a really big baseball fan. I'm not. But, you know, and the fact that there's 180 games or something like that a season is just crazy. But I guess it's great for someone like him because he can watch the baseball game. But you know what, they took away sports. So it's like my grandpa's in a room by himself. He can't even watch baseball on TV. No one can see him just sliding food under the door and then just goes. Why? Because no one can see him. And you know what, it's really frustrating because I know if people could have been in his life and seen him, probably would have lived longer. And I'm just saying, you know, obviously if I'm that old, I want to go to heaven anyways. But I'm just saying like, you know, if you want people to survive, you've got to think about visiting them, talking to them, seeing them. If you want to live a long life, you need some kids to come see you. So you've got to have some kids. And you know what, not all of them are going to be great. So that's why you've got to have so many that you get like at least one or two that like you, you know. That want to stick around later in life and go see mom and dad, right. Because not all of them are going to turn out that great, okay. And you know, I'm obviously trained up a child in the way he should go and when he's old and not in the department. I hope all your children turn out great, okay. I'm just saying statistically, lots of people, especially non-Christians, they don't, you know, their kids don't really care that much about them. And they don't want to see them later. And you know, typically the kids that will come see you are the ones that you invest a lot of time, effort and energy. Not the ones you shipped off to boarding school and preschool and didn't have any time for them. They end up not having a lot of time for you later. Go if you would back to, or we're still in our story. Look at verse 32, let's finish this chapter. 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, 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. So I kind of talked about this in previous chapters, but Judah also pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. Willing to take the blame, willing to essentially, you know, exonerate his brother, allow everybody to go back home. He'll take the debt, he'll take the payment. And so we kind of see that substitution, that substitutionary atonement as it's described. Him taking the place of and not having done anything wrong, but he makes that promise and he's willing to do this. And really think about Judah's motivation here is simply just to be pleasing to his father, right? He just cares so much about his father. He wants his father to be pleased. And so ultimately he is doing this for his father's sake in the same way Jesus is doing this. And what it does is it really just shows love, okay? And, you know, it shows the love of Jesus and it shows the love of the father if you think about this story. Go over to 1 John. I kind of want to touch a few verses in 1 John. We'll be finished this evening. But one of the greatest things about this chapter is it articulates the greatest truths found in the Bible and that's just love, okay? And when we think about Jesus, we're thinking about Judah here. Judah pictures the Lord Jesus Christ and his love. His love for the father and following the father's, you know, commandment here and willing to lay down his life for Benjamin, essentially. Willing to substitute his life for Benjamin's life. Look at what it says in verse 11, chapter 3 verse 11, 1 John 3 verse 11. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain who is of that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew him, his own works were evil and his brothers righteous. Marvel not my brethren if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. You know, we just need verse 13. You just need to mark that Marvel not. It's like people are like, oh, why do people hate you? Marvel not. Oh, why do people hate Christians? Marvel not. You know, it's just obvious, right? Why is it that Cain killed Abel because he was righteous? Because he was sacrificing unto the Lord. He doesn't like the way he sacrifices, okay? Look at verse 15. Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer. Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. What does the Bible say? God laid down his life for us. Who are we talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. He laid down his life for us. And not only did Jesus Christ die for us and sacrifice for us, but the Bible says that's supposed to be our example. And you know what? We see this in the Bible. Judah is literally laying down his life for Benjamin. You know, we understand the symbolic significance of these passages, but Judah was a real person with real feelings, with a real life, with real family, with real desires, with real ambitions, with a real house, with a real job, everything. You know, a real father. And he's saying, he's willing to say, I'll say bye to my dad, to my house, to my wife, to my children. You know, for him it was kind of weird, right? But think about it. He's not making a vain utterance here. He's literally saying, I will lay down my life for Benjamin. And here's the thing. True Christian love is one that would be willing to sacrifice things for their brethren. And it's crazy to me to read a passage like this, okay, and then the just complete absence of willingness for people to sacrifice for their brethren in such a minor way. Like giving someone a ride down the street, or giving someone a meal, or calling someone, or praying for... I mean, think about the level of sacrifice that is often asked of us for our brethren that people are not willing to do. Judah's willing to literally say goodbye to his entire life for his brethren. I mean, that's a much more extreme example. And you know what? That illustrates true love. Love is willing to sacrifice something for someone else. If you really think in your heart that you love people, here's my question. What are you willing to sacrifice for that person? Because it's not like, I love this person. You know, I love to hear them laugh. I love for them to buy me things. Man, I love it, you know, when they tell me how great I am. You know, that's not love. Everybody likes to be around people that are buying them things, or that are telling them wonderful things about them. But what does real love look like? Real love looks like sacrifice. Saying, you know, I'm going to lay down something that I enjoy, I like, for the betterment of them, to help them, to do good unto them. Look what it says in verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? If you can't offer someone, you know, the clothes off your back, a ride, help, assistance, prayer, doing these things, you know, here's my question. Do you really love that person? And you know what? Love is not convenient. People think that, you know, I'll love you while it's convenient for me. I'll love you while it benefits me. I'll love you while you love me back. This is not love. Love is I'll love you when you don't love me back. I'll love you when it hurts. I'll love you when you're not going to do good unto me. You know, if you want to have a great marriage where it's filled with love, you have to ask yourself this question. How do I respond to my spouse when they don't deserve it? How do I respond to my spouse when they've done me wrong? How do I respond to my children, my spouse? Am I willing to do things that I don't like for the betterment of my spouse, for the betterment of my family, for the betterment of my church, for the betterment of the cause of Christ? You know, soul winning is filled with love. Because guess what? Soul winning is not convenient. Soul winning is a complete sacrifice. It's a complete detriment to your schedule, detriment to, you know, going, I forgot my coat, it's cold outside. It wasn't fun. If you had asked me, hey Pastor Shelley, do you want us to stand outside for a couple hours right now, I'd be like, no. Sounds terrible, right? It's a little bit of a sacrifice, isn't it? You really want to knock on people's doors that aren't interested in talking to you? Not really. You know, I hate sales jobs. Who hates sales jobs? Okay, we got a few hands in the house, all right? Actually a lot. I despise it, you know, especially when you have to sell a product that you don't really believe in. Oh man, that's the worst. I work for Wells Fargo Bank and we had to go and sell ourselves, basically trying to get accounts every single day. And we had no, we didn't even have gimmicks to give them. Like, you know, sometimes they would have like an, you know, open an account with us and we'll give you 50 bucks for free. Or, you know, open an account with us and we'll give you, they have these like plush ponies that Wells Fargo used to give out. Who knows what I'm talking about? Plush pony, did anybody get one? No one really cares, okay? Somebody cared out there. But it was like, we didn't even have gimmicks. It was like, hey, do you want to open an account with us? And they'd be like, what do I get? An account. You get to bank with us, don't you feel like? They're like, okay, well, do you have good interest rates? We have the worst. Well, tell me about your fees. They're the highest. You know, what else do you got? It's like, do you want an account? You know, it's like, that sucks, right? I mean, at least when you're going out, you're like, I've got the truth in my hand. You know, I've got the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've got good news for you. You know, at least you can believe in your message, right? I mean, when you're actually selling something, and we're not even selling, we're giving away for free. Selling things, it's just frustrating. Nobody wants to hear you, you know, blab about these type of things. You know, when we're talking about love, okay, love's not selling things. Love's giving things away. Love's a sacrifice. Love is a detriment to you. And what is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ didn't come here to sell us something. Jesus Christ came here to give us something. You know, Jesus Christ doesn't sell the gospel. Jesus Christ didn't come down to say, hey, what do you got for me, buddy? Look what I gave to you. Give, got something for me? No, Jesus Christ says, I got everything for you. You don't have to give me anything. Just take it. Please just take it. Please take it. Please come to heaven. That's the gospel message. Please. I paid for it. I got your names on the list, if you want it. All of your sins paid for, just a free ticket straight into heaven, and people just still refuse it. They still reject it. But you know what? They're rejecting love. That is what true love is. They hate love. They despise love. And when we look at our brethren, we should see, if you really think you love people, show me how much you love people. Right? It's not saying tell me how much you love people. It's saying show me. It says in verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Don't tell me you love me. Show me that you love me. You know what? A person that can't do anything for you doesn't really love you. Jesus Christ said, if you love me, keep my command. Okay, that's what it has in the Bible here. And it's all Jesus, all right? Look at verse 7 of chapter 4 now. There's the Jesus picture of love, ultimate picture through Judah. Here's another picture, and this is probably the greatest picture in our passage. Okay? If we were to pick out, what is the greatest picture of Genesis 44? It's that of Jacob's love for Benjamin. And who's Benjamin? Us. Think about our story. It's so incredible because Judah's playing Jesus here. Then who's Benjamin? Us. And who does the Father want more, Judah or Benjamin? He wants Benjamin more. He's willing to sacrifice Judah for us. I mean, and if we really think about the symbolism here, God the Father is willing for his perfect, holy son who's never done anything wrong to literally go through the most gruesome, painful experience ever, shameful experience ever for a bunch of scumbags, you and me, a bunch of sinners. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But, you know, when we read the word of God, we have to realize it's all about, you know, God the Father wanting us to be reconciled. He really cares about you. He really cares about me. Look at 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. The love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son in the world that we might live through him, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. There's a three-word phrase you should underline in your Bible. He loved us. Obviously, the Bible's all about Jesus, but it's also about us. And it's ultimately about God's love for us. He loved us. He loved you. He knows every... I mean, he knows the count of hairs on your head. For some of you, that's more love than another, okay? But you know what? He still loves you. He knows everything about you. He knows every thought. I mean, you know, some of those aren't very good, but you know what? He knows about them. I mean, think about the fact that God the Father spends, you know, he could do anything he wants, but he chooses to know everything about you and to care about every step that you take, every, you know, blink that you have, every dream. It's all about his love and his care and his affection, and he just... His life is bound in the lad. And it's like God the Father, if you think about it, you know, in Jesus Christ, their lives are bound in us in the sense that Jesus is willing to sacrifice his own life just for us, measly us. A creation that constantly rebels against God, a creation that constantly sins against the Lord, yet he still loves us. Why? Because it's love, my friend. You say, I don't believe in love. Well, have you realized how crappy you are and God still keeps you alive? What could be a better picture of love? He's given you so much chance, so much opportunity, and not only just to get saved, but after getting saved, to do right. Because you screw up so much. Just illustrate for you how much God the Father just truly loves us. It says in verse 10, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us. When we understand the capacity of God's love, when we see the example of God's love, it should motivate us to choose to love our brethren. And again, it's not, oh, I love that guy. No, it's doing something for him. It's going out of your way. It's being inconvenienced, cheering on your brethren, laying down your life for your brethren, ministering to others, serving others. You know, if we want to be a church that Jesus Christ is very pleased with, it's going to be a church where everybody is sacrificing for one another and laying down their lives for others and supporting other people. That's what the ministry is all about. You know, you don't need a title to be a minister. You don't need a title to serve other people. And, you know, some people, they think like that they serve church to see what they get out of it. You miss the boat. You know, you serve church to just help other people because you just love other people. Not seeing whatever you're going to get out of it, not seeing how you're going to be rewarded, because ultimately then you're not really doing it out of love. The world, they make you think that they love, but really they're just kind of doing it to see what they get out of it. Vicariously living through their children, tax shields, just so they can brag about the things that they did later, just to try and make them feel better, inside or something, you know, just trying stuff. But, you know, Christians are supposed to do it out of a motivation because you just truly love someone. You truly just care about people. Let us be a church that truly loves one another, not just in word only, but also in deed and truth. Clothes and prayer, thank you, Heavenly Father, for this example that you've given us, this picture that you've given us of your love. We understand that we could never love in the same capacity, in the same way, but I pray that you would help us to strive to have a similar love, to see your example and to be willing to make sacrifice for the brethren, to perfect our love by seeing the example that you set through the gift, the unspeakable gift, of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that we would strive to be pleasing in your sight, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. For our last song, we'll go to song 397, Little Is Much When God Is In It. 397, Little Is Much When God Is In It. In the hardest field now right wind There's a work for all to do Hark the voice of God is calling To the hardest calling you Little is much when God is in it Labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it If you'll go in Jesus' name Cause the place you're called to labor Seems so small and little known It is great if God is in it And he'll not forget his own Little is much when God is in it Labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it If you'll go in Jesus' name Are you laid aside from service Body worn from toilet care You can still be in the battle In the sacred place of prayer Little is much when God is in it Labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it If you'll go in Jesus' name When the conflict here is ended And our race on earth is run He will say to all the faithful Welcome home my child well done Little is much when God is in it Labor not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can win it If you'll go in Jesus' name