All right. Good to see you tonight. Thank you for being here on this Tuesday night. I guess it’s Tuesday, isn’t it? I get my days mixed up here when I get in these meetings and I appreciate the good message from Brother Haynes. Has been a blessing to know them over these years and preaching the church over there and get to know the family. And I do have to correct one thing that Dale said. If you don’t know Steven, just leave it right there. I’m kidding you. Tell him I said that when you see him. Amen. But thank you for being here. Thank you for the good preaching and enjoy that good song. That Rachel and Terry. I was getting ready to say, Brother Jim’s wife, it’s terrible to get old. Brother Sam was talking about getting old. I tell you how you can tell when you’re getting old. You’re getting old when you go to the restaurant and all the waitresses call you honey and sweetheart. And when they start doing that, you know you’re getting old. I was in the hotel the other day and I needed some towels and the lady was out there and I said, I need some towels. She said, sure, sweetheart, what can I get for you? And I thought, I must be getting old if they’re talking to me like that. But I’m glad to be here tonight and I appreciate the good meals we’ve been enjoying and a good place that we have to stay. It’s good when you have a bed and breakfast that comes complete with grandkids. That’s a blessing. We’re going to go back to the book of Genesis for a few moments tonight and I’m going to read a little bit in Genesis chapter 44. In fact, I’m going to read a lot in Genesis chapter 44 and it may take me longer to read the Scripture than it does for me to preach. I don’t know, we’ll see. But in Genesis chapter 44, you know the story. We went through it last night, the account. And I’m going to read a little bit also as we get in the message in chapter 37. But Joseph’s brothers have sold him into slavery and he’s been carried off to Egypt, sold to Potiphar and through a series of events, the providence of God has brought him to be the second ruler in Egypt. And there is a famine that has come up and there’s no corn in Canaan land, there’s no bread where Joseph’s brothers are and they have to come to Egypt. And Joseph, because of the providence of God, has been put in charge of all the goods of Egypt. He’s second in the land in ruler ruling, second only to Pharaoh. It’s an interesting thing if you study the life of Joseph and all the events that have brought him here. You’ll keep reading a word, the word hand. Joseph in the hands of his brothers, sold, bought off the hands of the Ishmaelites potiphar’s wife had her hands on him. And it seems like everybody’s got their hands on Joseph. But when he’s made second ruler in the kingdom, Pharaoh says to him nobody raised a foot or a hand without you. Tell him so. So God’s remind us he’s in charge now. These boys have come. They want to buy Corn and Joseph. They have to buy it from their brother who they sold into slavery. They don’t know that it’s him. He does not reveal himself to them. But he begins on a program to reconcile those boys unto himself. He had the power of life and death over them. He could have, as we put in our vernacular today, gotten even with them. But I’ve always wondered this who decides when you’re even somebody? I’m going to get even. Who decides when you’re even? I don’t know how you know when you get even. But Joseph is not interested in that. He wants to bring those boys to a place of repentance. He’s done several things. We looked at some of those last night. So I won’t go through them all. But in chapter 44 I’m interested in this. Joseph has fed them. We talked about this meal in chapter 43. But in chapter 44 and verse one, joseph does an unusual thing. And he commanded the steward of his house, saying fill them in sacks with food, as much as they can carry and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth and put my cup, the silver cup in the Sachs mouth of the youngest and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. And when they were going out of the city and not yet far off, joseph said unto his steward up. Follow after them. And when thou DOST overtake them, say unto them wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this in which my Lord drinketh? And whereby indeed he divineth ye have done evil in so doing? And he overtook them and he spake unto them these same words. And they said untime therefore saith my Lord these words god forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing. Behold, the money which we found in our sacks mouths we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal out of thy Lord’s house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found? Both. Let him die, and we also will be my Lord’s bondman. And he said now also let it be according unto your words. He with whom it is found shall be my servant and ye shall be blameless. Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground and opened every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the eldest and left at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin sack. Then they rent their clothes laid at every man his ass and returned to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house for he was yet there. And they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them what deed is this that ye have done? What ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine. And Judah said what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? For how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord’s servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And he said, God forbid that I should do so but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. And as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. Then Judah came near unto him and said o my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord’s ears. And let not thine anger burn against thy servant for thou art even his. Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servant, saying, have ye father or a brother? And we said unto my Lord We have a father an old man and a child of his old age a little one. And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother and his father. Loveth him. And thou setest unto thy servants bring him down unto me that I may set nine eyes upon him. And we said unto my Lord the lad cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father his father would die. And thou sent us unto thy servants except your youngest brother come down with you ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass, when we came up unto thy servant, my father we told him the words of my Lord. And our father said, go again and buy a little food. And we said, we cannot go down. If our younger brother be with us, then we will go for we may not see the man’s face except our younger brother be with us. And thy servant, my father said unto us ye know that my wife bear me two sons. And the one went out from me. And I said, Surely he has torn in pieces. And I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him ye shall bring down thy gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant my father and the lad be not with us seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life. It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father saying, if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondment to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren, for how shall I go up to my father and the lad? Be not with me, lest per adventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. Now, we’ve read quite a little scripture, but we needed to, and I’m going to preach for a few minutes. I don’t know what to title the sermon. I’m going to call it tonight, for lack of a better title, the Journey of Judah. When I look at the life of Judah and read what he has to say in Genesis, chapter number 44, and then I think about what I have known about him and read about him up until this chapter, I say to myself, a great change has taken place in the life of this man Judah. He is not in chapter 44 what he was in chapter 37. And I want us to see the change, and I want us to think about what it was that changed him, because I want to be changed. I want to be different. I don’t want to be the same today than I was yesterday. So let’s think about him for a moment. Go back with me to Genesis, chapter number 37. Here is the story and the account of them, these brothers hating Joseph. We won’t be able to read all of this. We don’t have time for it. But Joseph is sent by his father to check on his brethren, and when he’s on his way out to check on them, the Bible tells us in chapter 37 and verse number 18, and when they saw him, a fire off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Now, notice it says they conspired against him. The Bible does not tell us who the instigator was. The Bible does not tell us who first came up with the idea. The Bible does not tell us. I know that they have at least talked about it for a while before he gets there, because the Bible does not call it a crime of passion, but rather a conspiracy. If you want to have a conspiracy, there must be two things involved. There must be premeditated attack, and there must be more than one involved in the attack. So we don’t know who started it. We don’t know who thought it up, but we do know that Judah was part of it. So we know, at the very least in this passage that Judah is going along with the conspiracy. If he was not the instigator of it, he is certainly not stopping it or trying to slow it down. He’s getting in it with both hands. I’m thinking about this verse in the Book of Proverbs, my son when sinners entice thee, consent thou not. But I don’t know. Here is a man, this Judah. He is consenting unto this sin, consenting unto this conspiracy. So can I put it this way. He does not have the courage, at least at the moment or even have the wherewithal or even the desire to stand against the crowd and against what they’re planning. He is at very least involved in it. And so it said, when they saw him afar off before he came near unto them they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another behold, the streamer cometh. Come now, therefore let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And we will say, some evil beast that devoured him and we shall see what will become of his dreams that they’re not telling us. Who said this? Somebody said it to somebody else. We don’t know who the speaker was, but they’re all involved in it. Verse 21 and Reuben heard it. And he delivered him out of their hands and said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father. And it came to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat his coat of many colors that was on him. And they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty. There was no water in it. And they sat down this verse always gets a hold of of me. And they sat down to eat bread. Think of the hardness of their hearts. If you had taken your own flesh and blood and cast him into a pit and you were deciding how to go about to kill him. It seemed like you would lose your appetite. It seemed like you’d be looking over your shoulder. But they sit down at the mouth of this pit and eat a meal while their flesh and blood is in the pit. And the Bible will tell us I think it’s Chapter 41. The Bible will tell us later on, Reuben will recount to us that he pleaded with them while he was in the pit and they didn’t care. And the Bible said in verse number 24 they took and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and mirth going to carry it down to Egypt. Now watch verse 26. And Judah said we don’t know who instigated the whole thing. We don’t know there was no leader in it that we’re told. We do know that Reuben tried to stop them from what they’re doing. But now we’re going to hear from Judah. And the Bible says this and Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. So here is a man who’s bothered by how his father feels about his brother. He’s upset because his brother has been put in a position above him, in authority over him. He’s angry because of the dreams that God has given him. And so this brother said, I’ll tell you what let’s do. Let’s do this. Let’s sell him into slavery. I’d like to submit to you that that would have been in that day and in any day, a fate worse than death. If they had killed him, his suffering would have been over. But they’re going to sell him. And the writer of the Psalms tells us that they watched him carried off in fetters and in irons. They stood there and watched their brother. It was Judah’s idea. They watched him as he was carried off, led off in chains with slaves, their own flesh and blood. They have sold him. I’m sure they have an idea what’s going to happen to him. I’m sure they have some idea what happens to a slave and how he’s treated, but it means nothing to Judah. But then notice this. Judah said unto his brethren, what prophet is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell in the Ismaites. But listen to this next phrase, and let not our hands be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. Now, think about that. Think about the hypocrisy of that statement. I’ll tell you what let’s do. Let’s sell him. Then. We didn’t do anything wrong. He’s going to let the Ishmaelites do his evil deed for him, and he’s going to be like Pilate, washing his hands and saying, he’s going to be like that woman in the book of Proverbs, chapter number 30, where she eateth the wicked woman, the adulter. She eateth and wipe out her mouth and say it, I have done no wickedness. And here is Judah saying, we didn’t do anything to him. It’s the Ishmaelites. It’s the Medianites, the hypocrisy of this man in this statement. He is a wicked, ungodly man. He’s going to let the Midianites do his dirty work for him. That’s where we find him in Genesis 37. But in our text in Genesis 44, something has happened to Judah. He’s not the same man he was in Genesis 37. His speech is not the same. His actions are not the same. His heart is not the same. He is a different man. Scripture how is he different? Well, first of all, he’s different. He takes the lead in trying to help Benjamin. It is Judah that steps forward and says to Joseph, he doesn’t know it’s Joseph. As far as he knows, it’s the lord of that country that spoke roughly to him. All he knows is this is the man who has the power of life and death over him. Judah does not say, well, good riddance to Benjamin. Good riddens to him. We got rid of Joseph, now we’re going to get rid of Benjamin. We’ll be done with a whole lot from Rachel’s children. He doesn’t say that. He walks up to Joseph and says, and I’m going to tell you this. If I’ve ever read anything eloquent in my life, I read it here in this passage. He says, Let me speak a word in my Lord’s ear. He takes the lead. He’s not running with the crowd anymore. He’s not following whatever everybody else is going to do. He’s stepping out in leadership. But not only is he taking the lead, he is humbling himself. Think about that wording. Let me speak a word in my Lord’s ear. He didn’t say, now, hold at you. You just wait a minute. You have no right to do what you’re going to do. You’ve got no right. No. He said, I want to speak a word in your ear. Think of the humility. He’s gone from hypocrisy to humility, from anger and to a humble heart. He not only humbles himself before the Lord of that country, but he also, in chapter 44, freely admits that he has done wrong. He has said in his hypocritical heart, back in chapter 37, our hands aren’t on him. We’ll say in the midday nights, anything bad happens to him, it’s up to them. Our hands are clean. But here’s what he says here. He says in verse 16 what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy servants. He doesn’t try and wiggle out of his sin. He doesn’t try to say, Our hands are clean. He doesn’t try to say, we’ve done no wrong. He freely admits and owns up to the fact that he’s reaping what he sold, that God has found him out. And then I want you to notice this he is willing to pay whatever price needs to be paid and notice the price he offers in verse 33 now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. We’re our far cry from the fellow who said, let’s sell our brother. Let’s let him be the bond and let’s let him be the slave. And now we’ve come to the place where Judah said, you know what? If somebody has to pay, I’ll pay. I’m the guilty one. We’ve come a long way, this man. Have we? Yes. It’s a firecry from Genesis 37 to Genesis 44. And so I’m looking at it and I’m thinking to myself, how does he get here? How does he go from where he was in chapter 37? To chapter 44, what has changed this man? I was reading today, I was reading a man that I’ve read many times and have enjoyed reading what he has to say, his commentaries. But he made me mad today. Sometimes commentaries ought to be called cemeteries because they’re full of dead men’s bones. He made me mad today. He said what Joseph was trying to do in Genesis 44, putting the cup in Benjamin sack, was he was trying to separate Benjamin from those brothers so he could get rid of them and rid of his father and just have Benjamin. And I thought to myself, what have you been drinking? Everything we read in this story, we didn’t have time to look at it all the night. But everything we read in this account of Joseph dealing with his brothers always has the same thought and goal in mind to be to have them reconciled under him. He’s not trying to get rid of them if he wanted to get rid of him. He has the power of life and death over them. The first time they showed up, he could have looked at them and said, I’m Joseph, and you know who you are, and you’re through. I’m in charge around here, and now you’re the ones that are going to pay. If that’s what he had in mind, that’s not what he has in mind. So what has changed him? What is Joseph doing? And what has changed Judah? I began to read again in chapter 44, and I found a word that’s mentioned 15 times by Judah himself in this passage. So, preacher, what is the word? It’s the word Father 15 times in this chapter. As Judah goes through this eloquent pleading with Joseph, he’ll keep bringing up, daddy, my father, my father, my father. Here’s what I think has happened. When you’re little, a little child, and you do wrong and then you get punished for it, you get corrected. The next time you think about doing wrong, you have second thoughts about it because you fear your Father’s hand. You remember what happened the last time and you fear his hand. But that’s when you’re little. When you’re little, it is his hand that concerns you. But when you grow up, it is not the Father’s hand you think about when you get ready to sin. It’s the Father’s Heart. It’s not what he will do to you. It is what you will do to him. Go back to Genesis 37 when they sell Joseph. The Bible says in verse 31, they took Joseph’s coat and killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said this if we found no now, whether it be thy son’s coat or not, and he knew it and said, It is my son’s coat. An evil beast that devoured in Joseph is without doubt rented pieces and Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted. And he said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Judah has seen his father’s weeping heart. He’s seen him broken. He’s seen him brokenhearted over the loss of a son. Now there is another son at stake. And Judah has come from the place he has gone beyond the place where he thinks only of what he wants and only of how this will affect him. That’s not what he’s thinking about now. Now he has come to the place where he’s thinking about how this will affect his father. And he says this in verse number 34 of chapter 44 after he said, now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the land abandonment of my Lord. And let the lad go up with his brethren, for how shall I go up to my father and the lad? Be not with me, lest per adventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. Judah said, I’ve seen this before. I saw it before I saw the broken heart of my daddy. And he said, no matter what it costs, no matter what it takes, no matter what I have to pay, I will do anything so that I don’t have to see my father’s broken heart again. What’s happened to Judah’s life has ceased to be about what he wants and has become about what his father wants. You and I need to grow up so that life is not about anymore what makes me comfortable and what pleases me, but about what pleases my heavenly father. It’s not about what will it cost me. It’s about what will it do to my God. I thought about this today. I thought when we read this passage, we notice that sin brings sorrow to the father. You say, well, preacher, God does not sorrow over sin. You remember Hosea, Israel? God is speaking about Ephraim and he said, when Israel was a child, I loved him. And I called my son out of Egypt. He’ll say in that passage? I taught Ephraim to go. And the picture in that passage is of a father teaching a child to walk. God said that’s what I was to Ephraim. I was his daddy. And he was trying to walk, and he was wobbling around. But I taught him how to take steps. I took time with him. I taught Ephraim to go. And he talks about that taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them. He said, I drew them with the cords of a man with bands of love. And I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws and I laid meat unto them. He said, he shall not return to the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king. He goes out and talks about but then he says this eight how shall I give the up Ephraim? How shall I deliver the Israel? How shall I make the astma? How shall I set the isabolem? My heart is turned within me. My repentance are kindled together. God said, when I think about having to bring judgment upon Ephraim, my heart is turned within me. When I think about their sin, my repentings are kindled. What’s he saying? He’s saying it affects my heart. It affects how I feel. I want us to understand. When we sin, it brings sorrow to the heart of God. I’ll tell you what has changed Judah. He has seen the sorrow of his earthly father. And what will change our living is when we see the sorrow in the heart of our Heavenly Father. Sin affects God. It brings sorrow to the Father. We also noticed that this sin brought separation from the Father. He doesn’t want to see that separation anymore. And then he realizes this, that because of the sin, there must be a sacrifice, and he’s willing to pay it. Yeah. You know who Judah looks like when we get to the end of chapter 44? He looks like Jesus. Yes. He sounds like Jesus. He said, if somebody has to pay, I’ll pay. Don’t make Benjamin pay. Let him go free. Isn’t that what Jesus said? He said someone must pay. I’ll pay. He bore my sin upon the cross of Calvary. I’ll tell you what’s happened to Judah. He has grown up. It’s time for you and I to grow up. And life will not be about pleasing ourselves, not pleasing our Heavenly Father. When we get to this chapter, judah looks like Jesus, and isn’t that the goal of every one of us? Ought to not be the goal. Someone would see Christ in us in the way that we live. That ought to be the goal. We ought to get to the place where we’re not fearing his hand, but we’re concerned with his heart. We don’t want to break the heart of God. That’s what a mature child does. So I’ll not do that because I don’t want to break my Father’s heart. That’s where Judah has come. That’s where I’d like to be. I hope that’s where you’d like to be. Let’s pray. Father, we love you, and we pray you help us tonight. A lot of things go on in this life difficulties and struggles and trials. Lord, help us to be concerned with Your heart, with what pleases you and what displeases you. Help us to grow up in our Christian life. I remember where Peter and John said, whether it be right to obey you or to obey, God said, we’re going to do what God would have us to do. They were more concerned with pleasing God’s heart. Help us to grow like Judah. Has grown. Help us not to be petty. Help us not to despise others because we envy them. Help us not to be hypocritical. Help us to grow, to take responsibility in our Christian life. To recognize, Lord, that sin brings sorrow to your heart. Help us to bring joy to you as a Son can bring joy to His Father. Help us to repent. Help us to be right. Help us to say, like Paul, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Help us. I pray, Lord, if there’s somebody here lost without God tonight, help them to know that Jesus paid their penalty on the cross of Calvary, and they are guilty. Because all of sinned and come short of the glory of God, they are guilty. But Jesus took their guilt upon Himself, died in their place. Helped them tonight see their need of a Savior and help us to grow. And I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let’s stand to our feet a moment.