Now would you please join with me in bowing your heads as well as your hearts as we seek the face of God together this evening and ask for His blessing upon the ministry and the hearing of His Word. Let us pray together. Our Father, once again this evening, we acknowledge to You and confess to You our native weakness, our present need, of understanding and grace, not only to preach Your Word, but also to hear it rightly. Father, we pray that You will help us to understand in a fresh way that the words that we consider this evening are the very words of the living God. And we would ask, therefore, that You would cause a holy hush to come over our hearts, that we might receive this Word into honest and good hearts that we might receive it with teachable hearts. Lord, we pray that You would deliver us from a mere ritual of preaching and hearing Your Word, that You would deliver us from that habit, that sense of rote and ritual, as we come to an exercise that we engage in each and every week. Lord, may the Word tonight come to our hearts with freshness. May it be living and may it be real. And we would ask, Lord Jesus, that You will speak to us and teach us the lessons that we stand in desperate need of this evening to learn from You. Father, may Your Word be fit and appropriate for the needs of all those who are here tonight. And may You descend upon us by the Spirit and speak to us in the pages of Holy Scripture. For we ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Our biographical studies of the life of Joseph have brought us to that portion in the account which I have described in past studies as being the very centerpiece and climax of the life of Joseph. We've been studying those seven special years which we could designate as the famine years. Now Moses has very carefully recorded the events of this seven year period for us in the book of Genesis. He has recorded it as a piece of history that is crucial to a proper understanding of the origins of the nation of Israel. In chapter 41, there is what we could call a prologue to the famine years in which the onset of the famine is described. And then later in chapter 47, there is an epilogue describing the results and the conclusion of the famine. And then sandwiched in between these two chapters are the events of the famine years. events that are essential to understand the vital position which Joseph occupies, not only in the history of Israel in particular, but also the position he occupies in redemptive history as a whole. Now the first major development during these famine years that the Genesis account describes for us has to do with Joseph's reunion with his brethren. And this is the portion that we've been studying now together for several weeks. We have already seen that Joseph's brothers have made their way in their first visit to Egypt in order to purchase the needed grain from Joseph in order to relieve them in their famine. As you know, Joseph immediately recognized his brothers, but he deliberately disguised himself, and so they do not know who he really is. We have seen that Joseph has been very kind and gracious and generous with his brothers in many ways, but he is also anxious to discover what kind of men they've turned out to be after all of these years. And so he is also very cautious and particular in his dealings with them. We have observed in Joseph a sanctified mix of kindness and firmness by which he hopes to eventually determine how he may righteously treat these brothers who twenty years prior to this had proposed to murder him and subsequently sold him into slavery. Now last week we came to chapter 44. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 44. And we saw in our study of this portion last week that Joseph's brothers have returned now a second time to Egypt where they find a warm and hospitable reception in Joseph's palatial residence. This evening we hope to cover the material in chapter 44 I hope that's not a too ambitious goal, but that's what we'll attempt to do this evening. The material in chapter 44 is before us. And in this chapter we have described for us the events immediately preceding Joseph's disclosure of his identity to his brothers. And so we're really ascending another high mountain peak. We're about to come to the very climax, at least what in my opinion is the climax of the Joseph accounts where he finally reveals his true identity to his brothers. And so as we ascend this next high mountain peak, we're on the uphill climb now as we go through chapter 44 and read together and consider together the events immediately preceding Joseph's revelation of his true identity to his brothers. Now this chapter 44 breaks up into five sections. I would like for you to notice with me first of all, Joseph's special instructions to the house steward regarding his brothers in verses 1 and 2. Follow with me as I read the first two verses of Genesis chapter 44. Then Joseph commanded his house steward, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain. And so the house steward did as Joseph had told him." Now just as the brothers are about to depart for Canaan, Joseph gives the house steward these three tasks to carry out with respect to his brothers. First of all, the house steward was to fill their sacks with all the grain that they could carry. Secondly, the steward was to restore the money to the brothers in their sacks as had been done the first time that they came to Egypt. He was to put each man's money back in the mouth of their sacks. Now these two instructions are indicative of Joseph's generous heart toward his brothers. He's being very kind and generous with them by giving them all the grain they need and also by restoring their money to them. But the third instruction given to the house steward reveals yet another of Joseph's intentions. Not only does he desire to be kind and generous to them, But this third instruction indicates that Joseph wanted to make some further determinations about these brothers. And so in his wisdom, he very shrewdly instructs the steward to put Joseph's silver cup into the mouth of Benjamin's sack. Now, Joseph has a method. He has a plan in giving this instruction. And the silver cup that he instructs the steward to put in the mouth of Benjamin's sack probably was the very same silver cup that Joseph had drunk from at the meal while he and the brothers were all dining together. Joseph apparently is not yet satisfied with the spirit of his brothers. He is not yet certain about the determination that he needs to make with respect to the character of these brothers. Perhaps he's encouraged somewhat by some of the things that he has seen, but still not completely satisfied. And so he apparently feels that he must test them further. He would be generous with them. He would be kind to them. But unless he was sure that they were really changed men, he knew that his generosity would not only spoil them, but it certainly would not benefit them. And so he has the silver cup placed in Benjamin's sack as a pretext to detain and examine these brothers on one further occasion. And so without any delay, the house steward carries out Joseph's special instructions. Notice secondly in this chapter, the brothers' departure for Canaan. And we have this set before us in verses 3-5. The brothers' departure for Canaan. As soon as it was light, the Scripture says, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, Up, follow the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one from which my Lord drinks, and which He indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this. The brothers depart for Canaan early in the morning. But before they are gone for very long, Joseph, that is, sends his servants after the brothers to recover the silver cup and to confront them with Benjamin's alleged theft. Now this cup is said to be the one that Joseph used for divination. Another term for this would be hydromancy. hydromancy. And if you look up hydromancy in the dictionary, you'll find that this is simply a term referring to the practice of learning secret things by the appearance and the motion of liquids. This is what's being indicated here by the term divination. Now apparently divining bowls and divining cups were commonly found in the homes of rulers and important officials in heathen lands at that time. And the hydromancy, the process or the procedure of hydromancy, included the throwing of some gold or silver or precious stones into these cups or bowls. Then the cup or the bowl would be filled with some sort of liquid. And then the individual would pronounce some incantations over the cup. And then supposedly secrets were revealed, either through voices heard or images that would appear in the liquid in the bowl or the cup. Now whether or not Joseph actually practiced divination is another question, and I'll leave that for just a few more minutes. I'll say more about that a little bit later. But again, we need to notice that while Joseph's treatment of his brothers, though his procedure in all of these things may appear to be highly unusual, perhaps even questionable, we must remember that his motives and his intentions are good. And as we are going to see, God honors the wisdom of His servant. We might liken the treatment of Joseph, the way he treats his brothers, to that of Frederick the Wise. Those of you that are somewhat familiar with church history, Frederick the Wise was the elector of Saxony, and Martin Luther was returning from the Diet at Worms. You remember that Martin Luther refused to recant, and he defiantly proclaimed to the assembly as he stood before the various Roman Catholic officials in that assembly, he defiantly declared to them that my conscience is captive to the Word of God Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen. And you may remember what happened to Martin Luther as he left that meeting. On the way, some individuals came and they captured him and they took him away. Well, actually, what had happened is Frederick's horsemen had overtaken Martin Luther and captured him, not to harm him, but instead to conduct him to Wartburg Castle, where Frederick gave him sanctuary from his enemies. And it was there at the Wartburg Castle for approximately a year that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. And so oftentimes it is that things have a certain appearance, and yet God is using those things for good. So it was in the case of Joseph. Joseph appears to deal cruelly with his brothers, but as we're going to see, his intentions are actually for the good of everyone involved. Notice in the third place in this chapter, the accusation and detention of Joseph's brothers in verses 6 through 13. The Scripture says that he overtook them and spoke these words to them. And they said to him, why does my Lord speak such words as these?" They're proclaiming their innocence. Why are you accusing us of these things, far be it from your servants to do such a thing? Behold the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. We have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your Lord's house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my Lord's slaves. So he said, now let it be also according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave. Now notice, he doesn't really speak according to their words. He says something a little bit different. He says, he with whom it is found shall be my slave and the rest of you shall be innocent. And then they hurried. Each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. And he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes. And when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city." Now we learned from this portion that Joseph's servants have overtaken the brothers, whereupon they are accused of theft and ingratitude." And the brothers are really quite surprised. They're overwhelmed with honest indignation, and they begin to loudly declare to the servant their innocence. They are certain of their blamelessness. This is a little bit different posture for them to be in from what we've seen in the past. Now they know that they're innocent. And so they loudly declare their blamelessness. They gladly cooperate with the servant with no resistance whatsoever. And they are so moved with zeal to clear their names and to demonstrate their innocence that in their eagerness, they actually speak rashly. And in order to clear themselves in their eagerness, they speak in haste, pronouncing an overly severe sentence upon themselves in the event of their guilt. So the steward concurs with their words and the search for the silver cup begins. The servant starts with the oldest, he goes right on down the line to the youngest, and lo and behold, you know what happens. The cup is found in Benjamin's sack. Now these brothers are utterly at a loss as to how to explain these events. And stricken with grief, they tear their clothes. Now children, tearing the clothes in the Old Testament is a sign of brokenness of heart. It's a sign of penitence. This is not some silly thing. It may seem silly to us, grown men tearing their clothes. But in the Old Testament, this was a custom. It was a sign of penitence and grief. And it's an indication to us of how grief-stricken these brothers were. They knew that they were in real trouble. And we know this because they were tearing their clothes. Before we leave this point, we must not fail also to observe the demonstration of their loyalty to Benjamin and to Jacob, their father. You see, the steward only wishes to take Benjamin as a slave and let the rest of them go free. That was a very merciful sentence indeed in view of this alleged crime. But the brothers are unwilling to part with Benjamin. And so they all load up their donkeys and they all make their way back with Benjamin and the house steward. Now, surely if there was any residual jealousy in their hearts toward this Benjamin, this one who was their father's baby, this one who was their father's favorite, this one who furthermore they had seen in the house of the Egyptian as being more favored than they were. You remember, Benjamin received five times the portions that they received. And so in view of all of these things, if there was any residual jealousy at all, or anger or hatred in their hearts at all toward this favored Benjamin, now would be the opportunity for it to show itself. If there ever was a legitimate providential opportunity to get rid of Benjamin, this was it. They could let Benjamin go back and they could be on their way and not have to worry about a thing. But you see, it was for the sake of their brother Benjamin and for the sake of their father Jacob that now they are willing to put themselves at great risk. And now they go back with Benjamin and with the servant. Notice in the fourth place in the passage, Joseph's confrontation of his brothers in verses 14 through 17. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. And they fell to the ground before him. And Joseph said to them, what is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination? So Judah said, what can we say to you, my Lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my Lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found. But Joseph said, far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave. But as for you, go up in peace to your father." The brothers come and they appear before Joseph. And immediately they fall down upon their faces in reverence and submission before the Egyptian ruler. And Joseph confronts them with their alleged crime. He calls them to account for their attempted theft and he implies the futility of such an attempt because such a man as he can practice divination. Now at this point we ask the question, did Joseph really practice divination? Now before we answer that question or attempt to answer that question, we must observe something that we are liable to overlook, something which I'm sure did not occur to the brothers. In verse 5, you'll notice it's implied that the silver cup that they took was the particular cup that Joseph used for divination. Notice it in verse 5. Is this not the one from which my Lord drinks and which He indeed uses for divination? And then down in verse 15, it is implied that their crime was discovered by the same practice of divination. Notice verse 15. Joseph says, what is this deed you've done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination? Now, do you see a problem here? If that cup was the cup that Joseph used to discover their crime, but he didn't have the cup, the cup was in Benjamin's sack, then how could he discover the crime? It's a curious thing. And though there are many possible explanations for this difficulty, we can't be sure about any one of them. But I just pointed it out to you as an observation. But now we need to ask, did Joseph practice divination? Personally, and this is only my opinion, I can't back this from scripture, but personally, I am not sure that Joseph ever actually practiced divination or that if he did, at least he didn't practice it very much. He certainly didn't practice it on this occasion. We know that. though he implied that he did by his words, but there was no supernatural power involved here. Joseph knew exactly what had happened. Joseph planned the whole thing. So we know that at least on this occasion, there was no divination involved, even though he implied it with his words. And then there's another consideration. We must also keep in mind that Joseph at every point has always acknowledged God to be the revealer of secrets. God is the one who reveals mysteries. And Joseph, certainly of all men, was not dependent upon the practice of divination for him to know these mysteries and secrets. God was the one who revealed the dreams and the significance of dreams and mysteries to him. And then we also need to remember that Joseph is presenting himself here in the assumed role of a secret identity. He's taken on the assumed role, not as a brother to these men, but the assumed role of an Egyptian governor, and that such men were known to practice divination. So for these various reasons, I'm not entirely persuaded that a man like Joseph practiced divination. At least, I'm not convinced that he did it very much, notwithstanding his statements to the contrary in this chapter. But in any event, I would not press the issue, and now we need to move on from this point. In verse 16, Judah speaks up for the group, and his words are very wise. Judah is very tactful in the way that he deals with Joseph. He acknowledges, first of all, guilt for sin. Now, he doesn't specify what the sin is. He doesn't acknowledge guilt for this particular sin, but he does acknowledge guilt for sin. He acknowledges guilt before God. He acknowledges culpability before God. We know, of course, that he's referring to that sin that had been carried out twenty years prior to this. The family crime. that now finally had been discovered. Now God had found them out, and this is the sin that Judah refers to. But notice how tactful that Judah is. He doesn't admit any guilt on Benjamin's part, nor does he indict Joseph for making false accusations. He's very wise. He's very tactful. He takes a very humble posture before Joseph. He doesn't argue with him. He knows that would do no good. So he just simply places himself and all of the brothers at Joseph's feet, at Joseph's mercy, and he basically says, we'll all bear the guilt. Not just one of us, but we're all going to bear the guilt. Joseph, this is an all or nothing proposition. If you take one of us as slaves, you get the whole lot of us. But it's an all or nothing deal. And then in verse 17, Joseph is insistent. He says, no, Benjamin will stay, the rest of you may go." Now you see what Joseph is doing? Joseph is testing his brothers, isn't he? And this is a severe test. He's putting his finger right on the pressure point. Benjamin. Benjamin is the key in all of this. He's putting his finger right on the Achilles heel. And now notice, fifthly and finally in the passage, Judah's powerful appeal to Joseph. This is found in verses 18-34. It's a rather lengthy section and I'm simply going to read this whole section through and just make a few summary comments, comments by way of overview and summary. Follow with me as I read verse 18 through to the end of chapter 44. Listen to Judah's appeal. Then Judah approached him and said, Oh, my Lord, may your servant please speak a word in my Lord's ears and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. My Lord asked His servants, saying, Have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, Yes, we have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him. But we said to my Lord, the lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die. You said to your servants, however, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again. And thus it came about when we went up to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord. And our father said, go back and buy us a little food. But we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down, for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us. And your servant, my father, said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces." Keep in mind, Joseph is listening to all this. The one went out and he is torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since. And if you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow. Now therefore, when I come to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, it will come about when he sees the lad is not with us that he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant, our father, down to Sheol in sorrow. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever. Now therefore, please let your servant remain, instead of the lad, a slave to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest I see the evil that would overtake my father?" What a persuasive case. Very persuasive. Martin Luther said this concerning this portion. He said, What would I not give to be able to pray before the Lord as Judah here interceded for Benjamin? For it is a model of perfect prayer, nay, of strong feeling The strong feeling which must underlie all true prayer. There are just three simple things that I want to point out about Judah's powerful appeal to Joseph. First of all, his appeal is factual and logical. Everything is recounted as it actually happened. Judah's thinking, as we've seen in the past with his own father, his thinking is clear. He doesn't twist the facts. He doesn't try to shade them or twist them to his own advantage. But everything is factual and logical. He's in touch with reality. He's in touch with truth. The second thing to notice about his appeal is that his appeal is hearty, it is urgent, and it is concerned. He's not cool and casual about this matter of getting his brother back. He wants something from this ruler. And he is determined to appeal to this ruler to get it back from him. And he appeals powerfully. He's concerned. He's urgent. He's earnest. He's willing to sacrifice absolutely everything for his Father. And Judah probably at this point is a fairly young man in his prime, perhaps even in middle age, but he's probably not a very old man at all. He has many, many good years ahead of him, and yet he is willing to forego his own life for the sake of an old man who's got one foot in the grave already. That's how much he loves his Father. And he's concerned for his father and concerned for his brother Benjamin. And so he's dead in earnest as he intercedes to the Egyptian ruler. And then the third thing to notice about this appeal, it is free from extenuating pleas of innocence. Utterly free from rationalizing and excuse making. At the bottom of his acknowledgment of the fact At the bottom of this urgent entreaty was a troubled conscience that would not dare whisper a word about innocence before the Egyptian ruler. A troubled conscience that would not permit him to whisper a word about any personal righteousness. At long last, Judah thinks to himself, the family crime has been discovered and now God is finding us out. Again, his conscience speaks and he has the sense that the whole reason that we're in this mess right now is because of what we did two decades ago to our brother Joseph. No extenuating pleas of innocence. He recognizes that even though he may be guiltless and innocent with regard to the cup and the money and the sacks, he knows that at the heart of it, he is not an innocent man. He's a guilty man. So he makes no claims of virtue for himself. He pleads only for his father and for his brother. Now, put yourself in Joseph's shoes. Joseph now sees what he had hoped he would see. You see it? Joseph is now seeing in his brothers the kind of character that he had hoped that he would see. And now we can also see Joseph's wisdom in dealing with his brothers as he did. Benjamin is the key in the whole thing. He wants to see these brothers, he wants to see their love for Benjamin, and he wants to see what their love for their father is like. And so he has arranged things so that he can make a righteous determination. And now he sees what he had hoped that he would see. These men were different men from what they were twenty years before. Instead of jealousy and anger, now they see positive self-sacrifice. Their own liberty meant little to them. If it was at the expense of Benjamin, they would rather themselves be slaves in order that Benjamin might go free. They're concerned about Benjamin. They're concerned about Jacob's well-being and their love for their father and their brother makes them willing to sacrifice absolutely everything for them. Now, you see, Joseph was watching their response. He wanted to see what they would do about their brother. And had they been willing to leave Benjamin, Joseph could have kept Benjamin there and left those brothers to deal with themselves. Go on back to Canaan, let them deal with themselves, never have contact with them again, perhaps even at some future date, send for his father and bring his father to Egypt, but leave those brothers to themselves. But he sees what he had hoped for. They have accepted their father's preference for the sons of Rachel. He furthermore sees the deep scars that their sin had left upon their lives all these years. He sees now that they are humble, broken, penitent men. Very moving scene before Joseph at this time. Very moving scene. And now he realizes this will be the time to reveal himself to them. Now we'll see when we come to chapter 45 in our next study that that's exactly what Joseph does. But we'll leave that for the next study. We're going to break off at this point. And this evening, in the time that remains, there are just two general areas of application that I would like to set before you that this passage presses upon us. Two general areas of practical application. First of all, from Joseph's example, we learn this lesson. From Joseph's example, we must not be naively, hasty, or premature in assessing the repentance of others. This is what we learn from Joseph's example. We must not be naive. We must not be hasty. We must not be premature in assessing the repentance of others. Now we're going to see in future studies, I hope that we can perhaps park here for a bit of time at some point in the future and have some lessons on the whole matter of forgiveness, especially forgiveness in the body of Christ. because Joseph points up some peculiar lessons in connection with forgiveness that I trust under God will be helpful to us. But for now, I would like for us to observe that from Joseph's example, we learn that we must not be naive or hasty or premature in rightly assessing the true repentance of others. That there is an important distinction that you and I must make between a refusal to forgive someone and taking time to assess someone's repentance. Now, they may appear to be the same thing. When we are seeking to assess the reality of someone's repentance, whether they've sinned against us or sinned against someone else, that very reluctance or the taking of time in assessing that repentance can appear to others as being a refusal to forgive them. And it may not be the case. So we must be careful to distinguish things that differ. Even though these two things may look the same, they most definitely are not the same. And they must not be confused with one another. When someone takes their time in assessing the repentance of another, that doesn't mean necessarily that they have an unforgiving heart. Now, forgive one another we must, especially where there is repentance. Whether there's repentance or not, forgive we must. The Bible makes that very clear. Jesus said, if you don't forgive men their trespasses against you, God won't forgive you. And it isn't always contingent upon whether they ask you to forgive them or not. Forgive we must. But you see, how we deal with that person whether or not they've repented to us or not. How we deal with that person afterward makes all the difference in the world. And in assessing their repentance, you and I must not be premature, we must not be naive, and we must not be hasty. Doesn't Joseph's example teach us that? Joseph very clearly was kind and generous with his brothers. And it's evident that he had forgiven them. He saw God's hand in all of these events. in everything from being sold to Potiphar, to being sold into the prison house, even to being exalted as a great ruler in Egypt. Joseph saw God's hand in all of it, whether good or bad. And yet Joseph was a very wise man, and he took his time in seeking to assess and determine the characters of these brothers of his. And Joseph, I say, is an excellent example to us in this regard, especially when there has been grievous sin. And don't any of you here tonight say, oh, but so-and-so has sinned against me so grievously. So-and-so has wronged me so grievously. Yeah, I'll forgive them, but they'll get theirs. And I'm not going to have anything to do with them. I'm not going to express any forgiveness to them. I'm going to harbor a grudge. because they've sinned so grievously against me. Let me ask you this. Whatever offense it is that somebody has committed against you, was it any worse than Joseph's brothers threatening to murder him? Throwing him into a pit? Selling him to a bunch of slave traders? Was it any worse than that? I doubt not. And we need to have the forgiveness and the kindness and the generosity of a Joseph, and at the very same time, the wisdom of a Joseph in how we assess the repentance of others. You know, the reality is that when there's been grievous sin, especially grievous sin that's been going on for a long time, don't naively or hastily conclude that it's just going to disappear overnight. That's a fool's dream. And God doesn't call Christians to be fools. He doesn't call us to be fools. He calls us to be wise in how we deal with one another. Husbands and wives, we all know those peculiar things about one another, don't we? About our spouses, those peculiar areas of weakness, those peculiar areas of need, and how good it is when husbands and wives call one another to account. And you can do it. You can do it graciously. You can do it lovingly. Don't be so foolish as to think that when there's been grievous sin, when there's been great offense in a marriage or in a family, just have an attitude. I'll just have an attitude of forgive and forget, and God will patch up the whole thing and everything will be just fine. No. There needs to be some gracious checking up on one another. And it can be done without leaving the impression that you don't trust your spouse. I don't trust you in this area or that area. I don't trust you with this thing or with that thing. You can graciously check up on one another. If your spouse has an eating problem, you can graciously say to them, have you been behaving yourself? Look them in the eye. You know what I'm talking about. Have you been behaving yourself? If your husband or wife has an area of particular temptation, you can ask him the same thing. How have things been going, dear? You know what I'm talking about. How are things going? You can communicate worlds by saying nothing. You can be communicating worlds. But what a blessing to have that accountability. And when you have that accountability, you ought not to be touchy and upset when your spouse raises the issue or brings it up. It's a real blessing to have that accountability. Far from cultivating mistrust and suspicion, such communication encourages openness and honesty and transparency and it encourages unity in the marriage. It opens up the lines of communication. There's the mutual recognition that ought to be in a marriage that we're both sinners. We both do wrong. We are both sinners, and we both know it, and we both have areas of need, and so we ought to be accountable to one another. But do not be naive and hasty in assessing the repentance of another. This is true for parents with children. Don't assume too quickly that all is well with your children. When they've committed some sin, something's happened, especially in some area of grievous offense, and so you sit down and you talk to them and you spank and you deal with it as best you know how, J. Adams would be proud of you if he saw the way you did it because you've just followed all the principles, all ten of his principles. You've followed them to a T. You've done a bang-up job. But don't be too quick to assume that the issue is over and done with. Yes, you love them. Yes, you forgive them. And you let them know that. But don't be too quick to assume that the issue is over with. Probably it isn't. It probably needs more attention. This principle applies in the whole realm of parents with spiritually awakened children. Here is the rationale for parents refraining from pronouncing absolution on their children and saying, oh yes, sweetie, you prayed a prayer. Yes, son. Yes, daughter, you prayed a prayer. And I know that you believe in Jesus, and now the Bible says if you believe in Jesus, now you're saved and you're going to heaven. Don't tell your children they're saved! How do you know your children are saved? How does any of us know our children are saved? Now I'm not saying to discourage them either, to make it seem like it's impossible for them as small children to trust in Christ and be converted and be saved. I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is don't be naive in assessing the repentance of a child. Why can we say that? Because of passages like Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful above all else and desperately sick. Who can understand it? What child, if you ask them, do you want to go to hell? The child is going to say no. Do you want to go to heaven? Of course. Just believe in Jesus, you'll go to heaven. Pray this prayer. Okay, I will. But the heart is deceitful. The child doesn't understand what they're doing. In the Gospel of Matthew 13, the parable of the soils. The seed was sown on all the different types of soils. And there was the one soil, the stony ground hearer, who received the Word with joy. Didn't reject it, but received it. Immediately, they were quick in their reception of the Word, and joyful in their reception of the Word. And then what happened? just as quickly as they receive the Word, persecution, temptation, and affliction comes, the sunshine of difficulty comes out and shines on the little plant of their profession, and in a moment, just as quickly, it withers away and dies. These passages demand that we be discerning. and that we not naively and prematurely assess the repentance of others. We don't do it to be mean. We don't do it to be nasty or to be uncharitable towards others. We do it because wisdom demands it. Righteousness demands it. That we be wise in discerning and assessing the repentance of others. You can apply this principle to the whole area of church discipline. Somebody commits a grievous sin in the church, they're placed under discipline. They come back and they repent. Well, that doesn't mean you lift the discipline immediately and just carry on like everything's fine. A year or longer. Why do we do that? To be mean? Or because we don't forgive them? No. It's because we don't want to be premature in assessing their repentance. We live in a generation of soft touches. Anybody and his brother walks into the church and they say, oh, yes, I love the message. Oh, yes, I believe in Jesus. Oh, yeah, sure. I believe I'm a Christian. I'm born again. And we're supposed to take them at face value. I'm not saying be mistrustful and suspicious and doubt everybody that makes that claim. But I tell you, you better be pretty careful about taking too seriously such claims by persons you don't know and who don't demonstrate the claim by a life of godliness and holiness. And in our generation, where it's considered unkind and harsh not to believe somebody if they say they are a Christian, if they say they are born again, we need to resist the tide and go against the tide. We may even have to resist the pressure that comes from some right in this assembly. You may have to resist the pressure that comes from some members in this assembly. When somebody comes in and they make a profession of faith, and there's a few people that get all excited about this person, and then you are reluctant, you're a bit reticent, you hold back in your statements. And somebody picks up on that and they think, how unkind of you! How ungracious of you! Here's somebody that God saved! Come on, get on the bandwagon with the rest of us! Get excited! God has saved this person! and you don't want to get on the bandwagon, you may be accused of being a bit stiff and stodgy. And I'm not saying unnecessarily discourage people or be a wet blanket or rain on people's parade, but be discerning. Be wise and understand that true conversion and true repentance and true faith are relatively rare things to find. They don't just happen all the time. So we learn in the first place from Joseph's example that we are not to be premature, we are not to be hasty in assessing the repentance of others. But then secondly and very briefly this evening there are lessons from Judah's example as well. Lessons from his example of an intercessor. Judah is a prime example of what true intercession is. Let's turn to the book of Romans chapter 9. The book of Romans chapter 9. We find the same spirit in the Apostle Paul. Remember his words in Romans 9 verse 2? He says, I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. He's talking here about his kinsmen according to the flesh, his fellow Jews, his brethren. He wishes they were saved also. And he says, I had this great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren. He says in chapter 10, verse 1, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. We find the same spirit in Judah. Judah is concerned about the welfare of another. And that concern is manifested and expressed by urgent, effective entreaties and intercessions for others. Brethren, all urgent prayer and entreaties are rooted in genuine, heartfelt concern for others. And my own heart has been very convicted this last week of how little I know of this in my own experience. I have relatives who don't know Christ. And I do not pray, I confess, I do not pray for them as I ought to pray. My prayers lack the urgency and the earnestness of an Apostle Paul or a Judah. And there's only one reason for it. The lack of concern is not there as it ought to be. And I suspect that I'm not alone in that regard. When was the last time you prayed for your children like Judah interceded for his brother? When was the last time you prayed for unconverted parents like Judah interceded? With a hearty concern Instead of just praying, Lord, bless. Lord, be with them. Lord, save them. Lord, convert them. You start getting specific in your prayers and urgent in your prayers. Oh Lord, my brother, my sister, they're lost. They're involved in such and such. They go to this church. They don't go to any church. Lord, I pray that You would come to them. Even in their ignorance, they don't listen to the preaching of the Gospel. They're rarely ever underneath the sound of the Gospel. But Lord, I plead with You to bring a Bible to them. Lord, move them. You can do it. Move them to open up a Bible. And to open up the Bible and to read in the Gospels, to read about the person of Christ, Lord, make them wonder, who is Jesus Christ? Make them hungry. Make them desire to know who Jesus is. And whatever in the world Jesus did on the cross, show them what that has to do with them. Convince them, Lord, that they will give an account to you in the day of judgment. Lord, show them their sin. Make them restless. Make them unhappy. Make them to have no peace whatsoever until they come hungry and thirsty and dried up in their souls, seeking it from Christ. Pleading for the salvation of relatives and friends. You know, we're perverse and wicked enough To even get so disgusted and so discouraged with relatives and neighbors and friends that we witness to over and over again that don't respond, that we punish them. We punish them by not praying for them. You ever done that? Unconsciously? I'm not going to pray for them anymore. They've made their own bed. They'll just have to lie in it. How we need to plead. even as Judah was pleading for his brother. Like Luther, we have to say, what would I give to prevail in prayer on behalf of others the way that Judah did? What a difference this could make in Wednesday nights. We have good prayer meetings here. I'm encouraged with the prayer meetings. But wouldn't it be wonderful if we had some pleaders on Wednesday night? Some real pleaders for the souls of men. where you sense there's a desperation in the voice, almost an unsatisfied attitude coming through the very tone of the voice. Lord, if you don't give me what I desire, there's going to be a piece of me that's going to be unsatisfied. A piece of my heart's going to be missing if you don't give me what I desire. Lord, I really want this from You. I pray that God would give us some pleaders. on Wednesday nights and make us to be pleaders in our homes. There's so much more that I would like to say on that point. But not only is Judah an example of intercession for others, but he's also a picture of our divine intercessor. Isn't he a picture of our divine intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ? In 1 John 2 and verse 1, the Scripture says that we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Hebrews 7 verse 25, Jesus Christ always lives to make intercession for us. And what a privilege, brethren, we have to know that there is a greater than Judah, one who is far more effective than Judah, pleading on our behalf. Pleading that his wounds, that his shed blood, his sacrifice, his sufferings, would be effective for us when we stumble and we sin and we fall. When you stumble and you sin and you fall, and you feel utterly defiled before God and guilty before God, which you are, remember the intercessor whose pleadings are effective before his Father. More effective than Judah! If Joseph couldn't refuse Judah, Will our Father refuse Jesus? Remember the great intercessor that God has given to us. As I close this evening, I want to point out to our unconverted friends who are here tonight, those of you that are here tonight that are not sure you're Christians, you're not sure you're right with God, you're not sure that you're really born again, you're not sure that you're really going to heaven, I want to point out to you that you're sort of like Joseph's brothers in a couple of ways. Remember when Joseph's brothers were confronted by the steward? What did they say? They said to the steward, how could you accuse us of such things? How could you accuse us of such crimes? Now those brothers, they weren't guilty of the crimes they were accused of. But you know, God comes in His Word and He says the same thing to you. He accuses many crimes. He accuses you of many crimes. And your adulteries, your murders, your thefts, your lies, your deception, your covetousness, your greediness, your selfishness, your gossiping tongue, all those sins in your life, God comes and He charges you with those things. And maybe you're here tonight like those brothers. You say in innocence, feigned innocence, how can you say these things about me? I'm not like that. I'm not guilty before God. I'm not a sinner. Oh, yes you are. And as long as you go on and fail to admit your sin and your guilt, there's only one hope, there's only one destiny open to you. And that is to go to a Christless judgment, without Christ as your friend, but Christ as your judge. to go into eternity without Christ, and face Christ as a judge, and give an account to Him, knowing that the penalty for your sin, you can never pay that purchase price. You can never come up with enough good works, enough good deeds. You can't come up with enough money. You cannot possibly, no matter how far down in your spiritual pockets you reach, you can't possibly come up with enough money to give to God to convince Him that He ought to accept you into Heaven. There's only one payment price that God will receive in that day. And it's not your works. It's the works and the righteousness of someone else. Jesus Christ. And the promise of the Gospel, the invitation of the Gospel is that whoever believes in Him, whoever turns from their sin and trusts in Christ, relies on Him to gain them acceptance with God, they shall be saved. It's a free salvation. It's all of grace. You don't earn it. You simply receive it by faith. You say that's too good to be true. Yes, it is. But it is true. Believe it. Believe it. That's what faith is about. Believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says, you shall be saved. Let's pray together. Our Father, we do pray that you will take these lessons that have been set before us in your holy word this evening and bring them home to each of our hearts. Lord, perhaps some have been more appropriate to your people than others. Perhaps some have needed to be reminded of the need for discernment in assessing the repentance of others. Perhaps others come to this place tonight weary in their souls in need of a fresh reminder of the effectiveness of the wounds as well as the intercessions of Jesus Christ for His people. Perhaps there are others here tonight who are not certain that they are Christians, who desperately need to be saved, who are fast sliding on their way to judgment, and who need your mercy. Father, we pray that whatever the needs might be, that you would take this word that you have brought to us and cause it to be sealed to each of our hearts. Lord, the seed has been scattered, the seed has been planted and sown. Now we pray that you will cause it to grow. Make it fruitful. We pray, Father, that you will enable us to learn the lessons we need to learn. Help us to be a discerning and wise people. Lord, we would say with the disciples as well to please teach us to pray. We need to learn how to intercede for others. We also would pray for our friends here tonight who are not in Christ that Lord you would cause the light of the gospel of Christ to dawn upon their darkened, their sin darkened souls and bring them into your kingdom. Have mercy upon us and cause your word to do its work in our hearts. We plead these things in Christ's name. Amen.