20251130_IWillNotLeaveThee

[0:00] Yes. All right. So, second trip to Egypt. Things got really bad. Joseph tells his sons, hey, get up and go buy us some more. What do they say to him?

[0:20] ! We can't go back unless what? Unless Benjamin goes. Well, they did a lot about, don't they? He doesn't want to send Benjamin. Benjamin is the youngest son of all of them, and he's the youngest son of one wife. Who was she? Rachel.

[0:53] So, he's the favored now. So, Judah says, hey, well, you know, Reuben made a kind of a rash offer. Hey, kill my two sons if we don't bring him back.

[1:09] Judah said, I'll stand surety for him. Let the blame be on me. Finally, it got bad enough that Israel does what?

[1:25] He says, okay, take him, and if I'm bereaved, I'm bereaved. Who's back in Egypt right now? Is there Simeon?

[1:44] Simeon's in prison right now, being held as surety. If you want to prove you're not spies, you bring Benjamin here. You bring your youngest brother.

[2:00] So, they do that, and they come into Joseph's house, and they're going to have lunch with him. So, that's where we're going to start.

[2:21] We're going to start there. This will be verse 30. We'll begin with verse 30. Dinner at Joseph's house. Okay. So, when Joseph sees Benjamin, his emotions are aroused, aren't they?

[2:45] How do we know that? What did he do? Okay. He didn't do it in front of him. He sought out a secret place, and he wept over him.

[3:08] So, he's glad that Benjamin's alive. This is his family. He's already been emotional when he saw his brethren, but he's been setting them up with the money in the sacks and stuff.

[3:26] They brought it all back. They brought a gift. Now, they're having dinner or getting ready to have dinner. And so, Joseph finds a place to weep, and then he washes his face, and he went out, and he composed himself so he's not bawling in front of him.

[3:51] So, the seating arrangement's recorded. What is the seating arrangement? Okay. Well, that would be for them. What about the rest of the party?

[4:21] Okay. Okay. Joseph sits over here by himself, and I assume that's because of his position.

[4:33] So, people don't eat with the high official unless the high official says, we're eating together.

[4:45] Now, they're eating together, but they're not, yeah, they're in separate table areas, apparently. So, Joseph's seated by himself. Then what?

[4:59] The Egyptians who are going to, of his household that are going to eat there. And when they, when we read household, the way we use it today, commonly, means the people that live in my house, right?

[5:19] But when we read household here, it includes the servants and that kind of thing. So, everybody that lives off Joseph's pay, if you will, is part of the household.

[5:40] And so, it would go for Israel's household. If they said the house of Israel, meaning Jacob, okay, the house of Israel, that would include his whole family and all the servants that live off that income.

[6:00] So, Joseph's by himself. The Egyptians are by themselves. They don't eat with the Hebrews. By the way, why? Right.

[6:17] They, no, we're not going to do that business. In fact, we can't do that business. That's not acceptable.

[6:28] We, see, we often hear about, especially when we're reading in the Gospels, we, or with Paul, we often hear about how the, how the Jews would not eat with Gentiles.

[6:45] Here, the Gentiles refused to eat with the Hebrews. And the deal is, in the case of the Jew and the Gentile, it had to do with the law of Moses.

[7:00] In the case of this, it has to do with what the Egyptians see as acceptable behavior. And they, the Hebrews are not acceptable because they're, does anyone know?

[7:17] You'd have to get in your time machine and go a little further, but. Right. That was the point.

[7:28] Yeah. The, people who keep the sheep and cattle, they're not, you know, we don't associate with them. I mean, do you know where their feet have been?

[7:40] You know. No, I'm, I'm making that part up. But, they consider it an abomination. Okay, so we know the seating arrangements. Now, what was the, what was the seating arrangement for the brethren again?

[7:58] The oldest to the youngest. In their order. What was the reaction of the brothers? Yeah.

[8:10] What's going on here? Isn't this a coincidence? Right? Okay. So, we move on. Now, Benjamin, though, gets a little special treatment.

[8:26] Here we go with special treatment again. Right? So, what was Benjamin's special treatment? Yeah.

[8:39] I don't know how he ate it all, but. Yeah. You think he's a teenager, don't you? An eating machine, right?

[8:53] Right? But, so, Benjamin gets, a hint's dropping here and there, isn't it? But, we're not getting the hint yet.

[9:06] And, whether that's the Lord's or mine or the brethren's nerves, I don't know. Well, in any case, they're not really getting it, but they are amazed that isn't this a coincidence that we're all sitting in order.

[9:23] All right. Now, Benjamin gets five times as much as the rest of them. And, they drank and they were merry.

[9:36] That is, they had a good time at the banquet. Now, they're feeling a little better. There. So, Joseph, we're beginning with chapter 44, by the way, at this point, if you're wondering.

[9:58] Joseph now talks to his steward. What does he tell him to do? Okay. So, what was the same about the first trip?

[10:25] Fill up the bags and put the money back in there. What was different? Okay.

[10:38] And, he told him to put it in a specific stack. Yeah. He said, okay. You see that guy right there? I want you to put my cup, my special cup, into that one.

[10:56] Now, if he didn't tell the steward why he's doing this, the steward's got to be wondering, okay, what's going on?

[11:06] But, or maybe the steward just thinks what the brothers are thinking. Maybe he's setting them up for something. But, anyway, in any case, the steward does what he's supposed to do.

[11:23] At dawn, the brethren leave, right? And, before they go far, what does Joseph do? Yeah.

[11:39] And, he tells him something specific. What's he tell him? I'm sorry.

[11:50] I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I gave you a banquet. Why have you done evil? And, he told him specifically what sort of evil.

[12:04] What's he say? What's he use it for?

[12:16] Not only drink, but divination. Now, what does that mean?

[12:32] To discern things, or divine things, if you will. Now, be careful here. When he says divine, he's not talking about God.

[12:43] He's talking about being able to discern what is true. We would call it fortune-telling, maybe.

[12:56] Or, soothsaying. Or, divination is what the word is here.

[13:11] Now, you've done evil to do this. Now, that's what he told him to say.

[13:28] When, we're at verse 6, when Joseph's servant caught up with them, what did he say? What did he say? What did he say? He's, yeah.

[13:43] He repeated Joseph's words. Now, what's the brethren's reply? Reply. Okay, that's, this is their defense, isn't it?

[14:12] Why would we do this? We brought the money we found back. We were honest. We brought it all back. We brought money to pay for it.

[14:27] But, they do make, during their protestation, they make a pretty rash reply. What is it? We'll stay as slaves and let him, we'll kill him.

[14:46] Or, you kill him. Now, what happened the first trip when they stopped at the inn?

[14:57] At the inn was their dwelling, you know, where they camped. On the way home, the first time they've been to Egypt, on the way home, what happened when they stopped?

[15:14] One of them found money in his sack. What happened when they got back to Israel, to home? All of them found their money.

[15:27] What was their response? They were scared. What's going on? And, they thought, okay, God's repaying us.

[15:39] Now, they make kind of a rash statement, don't they? They're pretty confident for something that has just happened.

[15:52] Well, it's happened some time ago, that's true. But, at this point, they're saying, okay, if you find that cup, he can die and we'll be slaves.

[16:05] Not that they had any voice in the matter, but that's their rash statement, nonetheless. So, what does Joseph Stewart say about that?

[16:20] Well, yeah, he said, let it be your word, but then he modifies their word.

[16:39] Yeah, the one who has the cup. He'll come back with me as the slave. The rest of you, you'll be free to go.

[16:54] So, then he starts digging through. Where did he find the cup? Right where he put it.

[17:04] But, you notice, how did he go about finding it? He went from the oldest to the youngest. So, he didn't let on that he knew where it was this time.

[17:19] He had told them, remember, when they came back? He had said, don't worry about the money. I had your money. I'm the one that put it in there. Well, he doesn't tell them that this time.

[17:34] This time, oh, look, Benjamin has the cup. Now, what did the brothers do? Why?

[17:45] This is a cultural thing that I don't get.

[17:56] It's a little easier to get than some of the things we've read culturally. But, to show anguish or remorse.

[18:10] They tear their clothes. And then they pack up and go on to Jacob, right? Okay. Okay.

[18:22] They all return to the city. They don't go on as they were instructed. They're going all back. Now, by this time we're at verse 14.

[18:38] When they arrive at Joseph's house, he's still there. So, what do they say to Joseph? Well, what does Joseph say to them?

[18:54] Maybe I should start there. Why'd you do this? Don't you know that a guy like me can figure this out?

[19:14] Don't you know? Did you not figure it? Did you not know before you stole it? He's still accusing them. Before you stole my cup, didn't you know that a man like me can figure out who took that?

[19:32] Even though you took the cup he divines with. But, nevertheless, that's what he tells them. Now, what does Judas say to Joseph?

[19:52] Yeah. What are we going to say? How can we speak? How shall we clear ourselves? Now, he makes a comment.

[20:06] What is it? By the way, in this day of grace, does God know the iniquity of the heart?

[20:22] does God know the iniquity of the heart better than the person who is carrying the heart, if you will?

[20:37] Yeah, what did David say under inspiration of the Spirit? You know my down-sitting. You know my uprising. You know the thoughts before I think them.

[20:47] You know the words before I say them. Where can I go to flee from your presence? It's a wonderful psalm, by the way, because it gives us a lot of theology packed into that little song.

[20:59] And, he tells us, as far as God is concerned, he sees everything. In another way, again, in the Psalms, he says, nights like day before you.

[21:21] There's nothing hidden from your sight that God sees it all. Now, isn't it wonderful that I'm not punished for that?

[21:38] Well, you may not think it's wonderful that I'm not, but you think it's wonderful that you're not, don't you? I sure am, because if every wrong thing that I ever thought or did or said was punishable, I'm in trouble.

[22:05] I'm in trouble. Because the word of God tells me that the best day I ever lived with the best thought I ever had is like filthiness before God.

[22:17] The righteousness of God is perfection. perfection. And that's why we need a righteousness that is perfection to cover it. And how do I get that perfect righteousness?

[22:32] It's because the one who is just, God, is not only just, but he's also the justifier of them that believe.

[22:44] And if we trust Jesus Christ, we don't have to stand accountable. Now, that does not mean, by the way, as we know, that does not mean that my actions will have no consequence.

[23:03] The Christian still bears consequence. Sometimes those consequences go a whole lot further than we ever thought they could.

[23:16] or would. And sometimes it goes generationally even. However, thanks be to God, when God looks upon the person who trusts Jesus, he doesn't see my iniquity, he sees Jesus Christ.

[23:39] He sees a saint. That's scary, isn't it? Well, it is. It is, and should be. It should be.

[23:50] But I'm thankful for that. Okay, now, what does Joseph reply? Well, they, Judah says to Joseph one other thing.

[24:08] Not only that God is repaying the iniquity, but what? We'll be your slaves both and Benjamin.

[24:24] We'll all be your slaves. So what does Joseph reply to that? I'm sorry? God forbid, but the one who had the cup, he's going to be my slave, and the rest of you go in peace to your father.

[24:57] Well, verses 18, we're at verse 18 now. Verses 18 through the end of the chapter is going to be Judah's appeal to Joseph.

[25:18] When you look that over, he's going to, okay, we don't have anything to stand on that I can claim for legally.

[25:30] that is, I can't justify anything that's happened. I don't know how it happened, but I can't justify it. But he is going to make an appeal, and he's going to make an emotional appeal.

[25:43] and, okay, so let's look at that. Now, who makes the appeal?

[26:00] Judah is going to make the appeal, and he's going to say to Joseph, what? How's he going to do this? Set this up as a picture?

[26:33] Yeah. Now, he's not going to do this in front of everybody, though, is he? See, he walks up to Joseph, and he said, could I have a word with you, please?

[26:46] Don't be angry with me, and you're like Pharaoh. He understands the position here. Oh, by the way, well, yeah, don't take it the wrong way.

[27:05] By the way, when they came back to Joseph's house, they bowed down the fourth time. Right? That's the fourth time, at least recorded. So, he makes this appeal basically on emotion.

[27:21] And he says, this is why I'm asking you this. And he describes, now, what does he leave out? Well, in the description that he gives, he gives, he reiterates what we read a week ago, right, about their interchange with their father.

[27:54] He describes how it went. Here, he says almost word for word how it went. Do you see that?

[28:08] Now, he lets out a little more of the truth in verses 27 through 29 than we have heard the brothers say so far.

[28:35] What has he let out now that hasn't been let out before? Yeah, and verse 27 when these two boys were the sons of this one wife and our father said and he quotes his dad.

[29:20] He doesn't say we made him think but he does say our father said one of my sons has been torn to pieces and now you're taking the other one basically so I haven't seen him since then so he's getting a little more open but he hasn't concealed anything much at this point he's pretty plain with it now he finishes his plea there at the end of the chapter and he says if if the boy doesn't go back if Benjamin doesn't go back with me dad's gonna die in agony he'll bring we will bring his gray hair to the grave right and

[30:22] I Judah will bear the blame now he finishes that he has the he's made his plea now he's gonna make a request he set the stage for his plea what's his request okay what does he quote well let your servant abide instead of the lad as a bondman to you my lord and let the lad go home with his brethren I'll be his substitute who's saying this by the way it it was Judah incidentally or coincidentally no incidentally it was

[31:26] Judah that came up with the idea of selling Joseph rather than killing him Reuben had planned to let him go the others wanted to kill him except for Judah and they saw the Ishmaelite caravan and they said hey Judah said why why should we raise our hand against our brother let's sell him and then they took the coat back remember oh is this we don't know whose coat this is but it looks familiar okay who was it again who is this brother Judah that's going to be important especially it's especially important now as we're putting up all the Christmas decorations isn't it

[32:27] Judah will be the father of the tribe of the kings kings let's let's rehearse that just a little bit remember Judah's physical union with his daughter in law Tamar remember that okay so from Ruth would someone please be willing to help me out here so be ready with your Bibles to turn but from Ruth chapter 14 or 4 Ruth chapter 4 begin with verse 18 what was the name of one of the sons that came from that relationship

[33:35] Ferez okay we're concentrating on Ferez Ruth chapter 4 verse 18 would someone please begin to read aloud must I call okay now Judah begat Ferez by Tamar his daughter in law okay and to Ferez begat who okay keep going then please with verse 19 amen

[35:01] But Salmon, Boaz's father, had married Rahab. Okay, so Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed, Jesse.

[35:29] And Jesse, who is the progenitor of Jesus, the Messiah. Later on, by the way, and very importantly, I believe, one of Judah's descendants, Jesus, is going to be the substitute for us.

[36:14] See, Judah is offering himself as the substitute for Benjamin. This is a pretty nice type of Christ coming to bear here.

[36:29] And so, another couple of folks, please, would you help me with Galatians chapter 4? And someone, who would read Galatians chapter 4?

[36:42] Thank you, Roger. And Ephesians in chapter 1. You know, I have to read the whole chapter, just a few verses, but I want to get who would be willing.

[36:56] Okay, thank you. I'll ask. Galatians chapter 4, beginning with verse 4.

[37:25] Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, thank you. Now, when did this happen?

[37:41] In the fullness of time, when God said it would. When it was in God's plan. And he sent forth his son, born of a, born under thee, to redeem them that are under thee.

[38:02] Was Jesus sent to redeem only the Israelites? Okay. Now, this letter is from what? Galatians.

[38:15] Who's he writing to? Gentiles. But even though the Gentiles were not given the law in Revelation, they are under condemnation of the law.

[38:38] Even though they didn't have the law in front of them. Okay. When again was it? In the fullness of time, this happens.

[38:50] Okay. Ephesians chapter 1. Begin with verse 9, if you would, please. Okay. Hang on right there.

[39:20] Hold on. the mystery of his will. Now, who's talking here? Paul, writing to the church, specifically at Ephesus, but to the church.

[39:41] This is in the church age. So, Paul writing to the church says that the mystery of God's will, now, Paul mentions several mysteries.

[39:55] This particular one has to do with God's end game, if you will. This is the point that God is moving toward.

[40:07] So, in those verses, is it according to God's response? No.

[40:18] It's according to his good pleasure. It's God's decision. He decided, and who counseled him as to it?

[40:32] Right. He purposed this in himself. It is in the Godhead. So, God has already decided this, and that, when is this going to happen?

[40:50] In the fullness of time. When God purposed it. Specifically, it says, in the dispensation of the fullness of times. And he is going to gather everything under Christ.

[41:06] Things which are in heaven. Things which are in earth. Okay. Now, verse 12, this is the point.

[41:18] Verse 12 there, please. That's it.

[41:28] God's good pleasure has to do with his glory. He will glorify himself even in that wonderful grace which he grants to us.

[41:46] That is pretty amazing. He will use us to glorify himself before angelic beings.

[41:59] Things in heaven and things in earth. It's a wonderful thing. Have a wonderful week. God willing, we'll see you next week beginning with chapter 45.