I want to speak to you tonight from the 14th verse of the 43rd chapter. Jacob, after releasing Benjamin, makes this statement, and God Almighty give you mercy before the man. You know, every family must deal with troubles and adversity. I've known all of you for a long time. There's not a person here tonight that I haven't been with you in times of sickness, times of death, times of adversity. Sometimes our problems are caused by our own actions or our own attitudes. They're the fault of another person. Or sometimes they happen and there's just no explanation for them. Why did that happen? We don't know. Jacob has ignored, I mean completely ignored, the demands of the Prime Minister of Egypt to send Benjamin down to stand before him. He does this partly because of his love for Rachel. I'm surprised how many men are not hard-hearted in the sense of being mean, but just not as outgoing as they should be in their love for somebody. When you see that in a man, it's a special thing. Jacob loved Rachel. He worked 20 years for her. He loved her. She had no children. And God gave her a son by the name of Joseph and he's lost him. But he gave her another son as she died named Benjamin. And he grieves over the loss of Joseph. And the idea of turning loose of Benjamin just breaks this old man's heart. But they're out of food. And the other sons have been warned by the Prime Minister of Egypt not to come back, not to appear before him unless they bring their younger brother. In desperation, Jacob finally relents in his objection and chooses to pray. for God's sovereign mercy to protect them and enable them in Egypt and to return them home safely with food for the family. I want to speak to you tonight, if the Lord will help me, for a few minutes, a message that I have entitled simply, Jacob's Prayer for Mercy. There are three or four things I want us to see in this section of scripture that I read to you. First of all, we find Jacob's remorse over the demand to send Benjamin. From verse 36 to verse 38 of chapter 42, we see Jacob's response. You know, we all face spiritual enemies. I don't know if you have any physical enemies, but most people have some, whether they know it or not. But we have many spiritual enemies. But we have a God who is greater than any circumstances. And He's the conqueror of all our enemies. In fact, Paul said He's made us to be more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Sometimes I feel awful alone. I don't know if you ever feel alone or not. Sometimes problems come. Troubles come. You don't know what to do with them. You just feel so alone. But we're never alone. God's always with us. David said in Psalm 94 14, For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. God won't cast them off. I've had a few dealings in my life, not too many thankfully, but a few when a family And a child that was so bad and caused so much trouble that the family just had to practice tough love and say, you're gone. Until you straighten up, there's limits and you've reached the limit. Those are tough times. Tough times. I tell you, God never forsakes children. You may believe that Everything in the world is against you. You may think that everybody is against you. It's easy to get into that kind of attitude. But my friends, God never leaves nor forsakes His children. The writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 13, 5, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper. And I will not fear what man will do unto me." What a blessing to be brought to that place. In the next couple of verses, Reuben stands up and makes a foolish vow. He said, you let Benjamin go and if I don't bring him back, you kill my two sons. Now that's not real smart. That's not going to help Jacob to kill two of his sons. Reuben is just a, he's a sad story of ill-timed efforts at leadership that just fall on their face. Reuben's hardy and he's full of enthusiasm, but sometimes to be eager and to be earnest distresses our family. Reuben's bold talk is actually of no value when the time for bold action has passed by. He never said anything when they were down in Egypt. And now he's talking big. But Jacob understands the undependability of Reuben. He's not going to trust him at all. And he says to him, my son shall not go down with you. You know, for such people, leadership is self-serving. It's not a work of self-sacrifice. I don't want to get off on a political tangent, but the Republican convention is going on this week, and I'm mindful of that. It doesn't make a difference to me what you are or not. It doesn't make a difference who does what. Because I see this in both the political parties in our country. There are no people, they talk about serving the people, but ain't nobody serving the people. serving yourself. When you get to a situation in this country where you have to spend $3 million to get elected to an office that pays $100,000 a year for two years, you can kid me about serving me, but you're not serving me. We've lost this spirit of self-sacrifice. There was a time when men and women, especially men, led this country in roles of authority and they did so at great cost to themselves. Do you realize that almost every signer of the Declaration of Independence was killed for signing the Declaration of Independence? That was self-sacrifice. Reuben would make a good politician. But Jacob was still hurting over the loss of Joseph. He hadn't forgotten this. And the fear of losing Benjamin is a terrible pain to his heart. He says there in verse 38, his brother is dead and he is left alone. And if mischief befall him by the way in which you go, then you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. He said if you lose him, it will kill me. The idea of losing Benjamin was just too painful. Jacob learned to trust Judah more than Reuben. If you look at verse 37, Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I'll bring him to thee again. Now look over chapter 43, verse 9. Here's what Judah said. Judah said, I'll be surety for him. I'll stand up for him. I'll defend him to the best of my ability. Of my hand shalt thou require him. You can expect him to be delivered. And if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever." He said, you can blame me for as long as you live. But he didn't make a foolish statement like Reuben did. You can't do that. Now, the second thing. that we see here. We see the first five verses of chapter 43. There's a need for another trip. I find out as I get older I don't care as much about traveling as I used to. I used to think nothing in the world. I'd sometimes go five, six, seven months at a time and I'd come home for a day or two just to get tickets and wash clothes and take off again and do that constantly and it didn't bother me at all. I tell you, I'm just perfectly content to stay in Stringtown nowadays. But the famine had not relented, and they were running out of food. It says the famine was sore in the land. It was extreme. It was punishing. It was brutal. You might not be able to afford or you might not be able to have exactly what you want to eat at a given time, but if you don't have anything to eat, You're an unusual person. I saw those people yesterday, I think it was, on the news. They were down there in Louisiana. They were crashing the grocery stores. They're like people around here having a winter time. The man would say, we're gonna have a quarter of an inch of snow, you know. And everybody runs to the store and gets milk and bread and stuff. You know, we're gonna lock up. They had a famine. And it wasn't just in their town. It wasn't just in their state. And it wasn't just in their country. It was over that whole part of the world. You know, when we think we're in control, we think we can keep God and His standards at a distance. That's what's wrong with the world today. The churches and the preachers don't preach the God of the Bible. And so people have been taught about a God who can only do what you'll let him do. And I'll tell you, a God that can't do anything unless I let him is not frightening to me. If that was the only kind of God that there was, I'd still be an atheist. But when we lose control, we have to acknowledge this is God's world. And we have to come to grips with that truth. And I'm telling you what, whether you believe it or not, I believe it and I'm convinced of it. About 98% of the people in that world out there never have come to see that. They see it when they get cancer and they see it when they are in a serious situation for just a moment, but it doesn't hang on. The people of God are the only people who really understand that God is in complete control. The famine becomes more severe rather than milder. Usually when we have a problem, whether it's a rainstorm or grocery stores are low on milk or low on bread or whatever. I went to a grocery store the other day and they didn't have but just maybe four or five half gallons of the milk that I use. I said, you're all about out of milk. Cows must have laid down. They said, no, we've got another truck coming in in just about an hour. I said, matter of fact, he's late. We're expecting him already. I said, well, you've got enough here for me. If it had been about a dozen people there wanting those six jugs of milk, we might have had a disagreement. The famine became more severe. It came to pass when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt. Apparently, they're pretty well out of food. But their father said unto them, Go again and buy us a little food. I like that he said a little food. God has let them experience here a pinch of need, a pinch of circumstances. And he imposes on Jacob's family a pattern of necessity. Go again and buy us a little food, not too much. Just a little. There's a necessity of nature. They're hungry. They're out of bread. It's 250 miles to Egypt and 250 miles back as they get back. And they're out of bread. And they can't create it. They can't create it. There's a necessity of will. Both Jacob and Judah have learned that their wills are imperfect. And they're powerless in the circumstances that they're dealing with. And there's a necessity of circumstances. These must be dealt with as they are in God's designed and intended purpose. Now, I'm going to tell you something. If I have a choice between going hungry and having something to eat, I'll take something to eat. But if God and His purpose and His providence for whatever reason and for whatever length of time wants me to go hungry, I'll go hungry. He's in control. I don't blame Him for that. Jacob's life has changed greatly in the two years. It's been about two years since they went to Egypt. Poor old Simeon is still down there in prison. Benjamin must go with them to Egypt. As unthinkable as that must be to Jacob. He just doesn't even want to think about it. But Judah is starting to grow up. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest us, saying, You shall not see my face, except your brother be with thee. If you don't bring your brother, you won't see me. If you don't see me, you won't get any food. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy the food. But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. For the man said unto us, You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." Judah is saying to his daddy, You may not believe this prince of Egypt, but we do. We do. The journey is necessary. We go on a lot of trips that aren't necessary. We just like to go on a trip. This trip is necessary. And it's necessary that Benjamin goes with them. And if Benjamin does not go, they can make that trip of 250 miles each way. They can walk, ride their camels, their mules, or whatever they do, however they got there, and it won't do a bit of good. Because the man in Egypt They said, don't come before me without your brother. Now the interesting thing is if there's no food gain, you're all going to starve to death anyway. This is their only hope. Their only hope. Now Judah responds in the next few verses to Jacob's complaint. And Israel said, wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether you had yet a brother? Jacob responds in a normal human fashion. He complains. That's just as normal for us as humans as it is for a cat to climb a tree. He complains. Why did you tell him about your brother? I read this in, I don't remember whose commentary it was. I never had thought about it, I should have. But in verse 8, oh John Trapp, that's who it was. Judah said unto Israel, his father, send the lad with me. John Trapp says that this lad is now 30 years old. And he's got 10 children. We're not talking about Most people read this and think you're talking about a little 7 or 8 year old boy. You're talking about a man 30 years old. His brothers are a lot older than he is. Joseph was a lot older than he was. But Judah's offer is to stand surety for Benjamin. Judah said unto Israel, His Father send the lad with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die. Both we and thou and also our little ones. We're all going to die if we don't get some food. He said, I'll be a surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require him. And if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. He says, I'll do my best to bring him back to you. I'll do my best. But if I don't, None of us get back. If I'm the only one that gets back, hold me responsible for whatever happens to me. Blame me. I'll take the blame for it. We've got to get some food. As this surety Judah is a solid type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, that's what He did for us. He stands as our surety before God. He is a surety to God for the discharge of our debt and of our duty. I've had a few people in my lifetime pay for something for me. Sometimes it didn't really amount to that much. Don't buy me a hamburger at McDonald's. I'll appreciate it and I'll eat it. But it probably won't turn my world upside down. But I've had times in my life when I didn't have two pennies rubbed together in my pocket. I remember one morning I went to preach at a church and I went there to preach that Sunday and that Sunday night and there was a real old lady and Sunday night as I was standing at the back door she came and she shook hands with me and she put something in my pocket and I didn't know what she was putting in there. And she said, maybe God will use this to help you. And the next day I had to buy books for the semester at school. I didn't have any money. And I got started home in the car and I reached in my pocket. I said, where'd she put my pocket? I pulled it out and it was some money. I don't remember exactly what it was. It wasn't a lot of money, but 16, $17. But back then that was a lot of money. I got to school next day and my books cost $15.85. You see, God can be trusted. He is surety to God for all our debt and for all our duty. I get amused at these people that I hear talking about all they're doing for God. I'm doing this for the Lord. I'm doing that for the Lord. I'm doing this for God. I'm doing that for... Listen, you aren't doing anything for God. When you've done the best you can do, you haven't done anything. God doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. He tells us to do things and we ought to do what He tells us to do. We ought to strive to do what we don't think we can do because He can do it. He is also God's surety to us for the performance of His promise. Hebrews 7.22 says, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testimony. And Judah faced the reality of possible failure. He told his father, he said, if I don't bring it back, you blame me. You blame me. I got some good news for you. If you didn't already know it, I hope you already knew it. The Lord Jesus Christ can't fail. He's our perfect surety. Judah is growing mature. In verse 10 he says, for except we hadn't lingered, surely now we had returned a second time. He says to his father, if you hadn't held us up by holding on to Benjamin, we'd already gone and got food and been back. Now we have to wait because it's 250 miles down there and 250 miles back. Verse 11 through the 14th verse we find Jacob's submission. He agrees to send Benjamin to Egypt. He says, And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so, now do this. Take the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present. a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds, and take double money in your hand. And the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carried again in your hand. Peradventure, it was an oversight." I read that the other day and I thought, they sure got a lot of money. And then it dawned on me, the only thing they need to buy is food. And there isn't any food. There isn't any food. Jacob has no alternative. He learns to adapt to the greater needs of his family. Men are worse than women at this, but all people do this at some time or another in their life. They're dead set on doing what they want to do. One of the things that happens when we grow up, mature a little bit, we start setting our will apart. for the benefit of others. I know some men that are 65 years old and are just as spoiled rotten as they were when they were 15. I know some women that way too. I met a woman the other day. Came out of a place of business and there was a lady there in a car and she waved at me. I went over to see who it was. I couldn't see. And I talked to her for a few minutes and I thought, I hadn't talked to her for a long time. She sure is different. She's been through about six or seven years of sickness. She didn't have a word to say except to the praise and glory of God. I got back in my car and I thought, man, God sure can do miracles. The peace offering that they send, this gift, is about as sensible as a sinner trying to appease God's wrath, you know. Lord, if I ever get on another airplane, I'll give you half of what I got. I'm not getting on another airplane. Jacob also sends double money. You know, the brothers got 20 pieces of silver when they sold Joseph. But now they must take twenty bundles of silver just to buy some grain. Can you imagine going to the store and getting a one pound sack of flour? Get it to the register and the lady says it will be a hundred thirteen dollars. About what that looks like. Now Jacob orders them to take their brother There is no other remedy or Jacob would never have released him to make this trip. Someone once wrote, Great God, the good thou hast to give, whether we will it or not, let us still receive, no mischief thrive, to work our overflow. What God tells you to do He'll do for your good in His glory. Jacob now must change. He must go from the self-centric man that we read about in chapter 42, verse 38, to a man who trusts God, not just to deliver Benjamin, but to deliver all of his sons. I think it's interesting there's no reference here to Simeon. Simeon's been in prison in Egypt for two years. Jacob's first and last recourse was his trust in God. There's sweet assurance for the soul in trust in God that there's not anywhere else. He's now cast upon the Lord. He said, take your brother and arise and go again unto this man. And God Almighty give you mercy for the man. He prays for Benjamin's safety. But he's equally content that God's will should be accomplished. Because he says in the last statement, if I be bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved. If I lose y'all, I lose y'all. If some of you come back, some of you come back. But I'm prepared to deal with it. Have you ever felt like you were at the end of your rope? I say that full well knowing that most of you here are at an age in your life where you have probably found the end of that rope a number of times. This is a statement of acknowledged limitations. He said, if I be bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved. Parents usually face this when their children become adults. I watch other people's children. I watch mine too. And every once in a while, I see a child Always been a half a bubble, off plumb. And I watch them start changing. And I think, I believe there might be hope for them. It's always refreshing. Always. We often face this when we deal with financial problems. If you live long enough, Diana's the youngest one here, and she hasn't found out that there's more needs than there is money. She hasn't lived long enough, but I think she's found out. She's found out working ain't nearly as much fun as somebody handing it to you. We deal with those problems. We're hungry. There's no food in the land. It's down there 250 miles away. We don't even know if we'll sell it until we get there. I know, but go anyway. Relationship problems sometimes drive us to this end where we just have to throw our hands up and say, Lord, you take care of it. There's not a thing I can do about this. Jacob has no real option. Benjamin has to go to Egypt. I read this the other day. I think I read it in James Montgomery Boyce's commentary he said the end of the rope is a good place to be if you can find God there he said stubbornness however will completely miss the point I see a lot of people get to the end of the rope and they just get frustrated and give up or quit or they just sit and fume the children of God get to the end of the rope and they, like Jacob, say, God give you mercy. If I'm bereaved, I'm bereaved. You know, this is a great theology for life. This is a lesson that's well worth learning. I remember when I was first saved, I didn't know I didn't know Genesis from Revelation. I didn't know anything about the Bible. I studied it for the first three or four years I was saved. That's all I did. I worked, studied the Bible. But I had so many people who told me things that weren't true that it warped my idea of things. And I kept running into things that, this makes sense. And then finally a situation came up in my life where I had to deal with the sovereignty of God. And boy, it was a wonderful relief to understand the sovereign work of God. And after about two years of rejoicing in that, God made me to see that it's not just the theology. It's an attitude about life. God is in control and we can turn to Him for direction and hope whatever is going on. Jacob is now an old, old man who is about to be left alone by the departure of his sons. An old man who is going to sit and mull old men know what it is to mull. To mull over their absence for many days. I don't know how long it'd take you to walk 250 miles, but it'd take me a long time. And hopefully they can walk back 250 miles. And he does this while praying and trusting that God will bring them home safely. He said, if I be bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved. There are three lessons I want us to learn, Miss. I want to lead with you. First of all, we must learn. We must learn. I hope you've already learned it. If you haven't, you must learn it. that it is useless to contend with Almighty God. There are some fights you can't win. There are some wars that you'll never be victorious in. There are some battles in which you can never be the conqueror. And any battle, any war, any conflict that you have with God's perfect purpose, that's your state. I don't always understand what God's doing. I don't even pretend to. I just rest in it. The second thing I would advise you is to surrender your soul and your life to the Master at all times and in all things. For some reason my mind wasn't working good and I can't think of it. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 I think it is. 17 or 18. I love this verse. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. in everything give thanks for this, whatever it is, whatever it is, life, death, wealth, poverty, acceptance, rejection, whatever it is, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Well, to praise Him, every day. I've gotten to be older. I'm not quite as busy as I used to be with stuff I had to do in this world. I have more time to read. I have more time to rejoice. And I live constantly with the knowledge that God will be with me. that he'll bless me to the very end of my life however long that is, I don't know, don't want to know, don't care to know and then he'll call me home to rest in perfect peace I went to see Brother Elbert a day or two before he died I sat there and talked to his daughter for a minute. He was sleeping. And I got up and left. And I got in my car and I just put my head down and said, Lord, I don't got to tell you what to do. But if you could let me die like that man's dying, Be pretty wonderful. Be pretty wonderful. In 1719, Isaac Watts wrote a hymn. And I want to read you a couple of verses of that hymn. He said, Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice ascending high. To thee will I direct my prayer. To thee lift up my eyes. Oh, may the Spirit guide my feet in ways of righteousness. Make every path of duty straight and plain before my face. Jacob said, God Almighty give you mercy before the man that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. We'll stop there tonight and next week we'll find out what happened when they got to Egypt.