As a believer in Christ, have you ever wondered if you'll really make it to heaven? Do you ever doubt your salvation, or fear that God's gift could be rescinded? If so, you're in for a reassuring message today on Truth for Life. Alastair Begg is going to share the antidote to such fears and mistrust. The death of a family member is one of the hardest things that.
any of us will have to face in our lives. And indeed There are few things which send shock waves throughout a family unit. Quite to the degree that the loss of a loved one does. And especially when that individual has been, as in the case of Jacob, the head of the family over a significant number of years. And when that most precious and important individual is removed.
a number of things happen. Not least of all, family relationships are shown up. for what they really are. Crisis, coming in various forms and certainly in the form of death, crisis does not so much create situations as reveal them. And the death of a loved one will indicate very quickly and very clearly to a group of individuals what those people really believe.
and indeed will make it very obvious to others how these people choose to behave. And over the years, in both experiencing and observing this fact. It's become clear to me that it is often not until after the funeral service that the real issues, the concerns, and the conflicts come to the surface. I've done many, many, many funerals over the last 21 years or more. and have sat at all kinds of meals subsequent to funerals.
and have discovered as time has gone by that it was only Custom or good manners that allowed the particular group of people with whom I was spending time to give this manifest display of family unity. Because within a very short period of time, after the routine had returned to normal, grievances that had previously been repressed but not forgiven. Old wounds that had been covered over lightly but never dealt with. and poison that had never been adequately removed All began. to come to the surface.
And that's why you see It is in the routine of life, in the forming and reforming, in the establishing of relationships, in the taking care of the little things, in the sorries, in the pleases, in the cards and the notes, in the forgive mees, that life is put together in such a way that when these times of real difficulty emerge within a family, what will be revealed is a genuine and consistent sense of unity.
Now, to the degree that that is true in any situation, given all that we know of Joseph's family. It's hardly surprising That in the death of Jacob, there was the potential for them to experience the challenge of old fears. and buried animosities. And the family was about to reveal, particularly these brothers, something of what was going on all the time. Under the surface.
Again, I say to you: the real test of family unity. is not to be found in the funeral meal But in the everyday of events of life, to which we return so soon after those difficult days.
Now what I'd like to do is simply note with you two factors this morning. First of all, to consider the question which was posed by the brothers, and then to consider the answer which was provided by Joseph. The question that the brothers asked. And it is there for you in the second half of verse 15. What if Joseph holds a grudge against us.
and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him.
Now there's a sense in which it is not surprising. There is almost an inevitability about it. They would be less than human if the thought did not cross their minds. But it is clear that it was more than simply a passing thought. They give voice to a genuine concern in this issue here.
And it is clear that the assumption which underlies it Is simply this: that the restraining factor in Joseph's life to this point. The one thing that had kept Joseph from expressing vengeance was, in the minds of these brothers, nothing other than the continued presence of Jacob. That in the back of their minds, they had the notion that were it not for the fact that their father was still around, if he were to be gone. then there is no saying what Joseph might do to them. with Jacob their father in the grave.
Joseph would be free to repay them.
Now, I don't know how you feel about that question. I don't know whether your minds track in that same way, whether you find that understandable or challenging. Certainly I find myself asking why would that ever be their assumption?
Well, they would be justified in assuming that it would take place because frankly, if you take the scheme of life and the majority of men, then that's probably what would happen in the majority of cases. That circumstances such as had been held in check as a result of the structure of the family would, now that it had been broken apart, lay open the possibility for revenge, especially on the part of the one who had received so much. of bitterness and cruelty at the hands of his brothers. Also, it was their assumption not simply because of that being the common practice. But I think probably because that's what they would have done.
And we tend, you see, to impugn the motives of others on the strength of our own bad attitudes. That incidentally is part of the explanation of what it means to prefer one another beyond ourselves. or to consider others more highly than ourselves. I've tried to explain to you before that this does not mean in terms of giftedness. That where there is an individual who is obviously particularly gifted, for example, let's say in the realm of music.
That when he is asked or she is asked to play for the accompaniment of others in some function, that they say, Oh, no, no, no, I am not a very good player, but if you go to Miss X or to Mr. X, they are wonderful players. When in point of fact, they can play with all of their fingers, but not at the right time and in the right way. And what this individual may feel themselves to be doing is saying, you know, I am preferring them above me. I am saying that they are better than me.
But that's nothing more than false modesty and stupidity, and it's got nothing at all to do with Philippians. What it means is simply this: that when the brothers recognizing their own bad motives. Looked at Joseph if they Had valued Joseph above themselves, they would never have made this assumption because they would have said, While we, the rascals that we are, would probably do this. We know that Joseph, the wonderful chap that he is, certainly wouldn't. That's part at least of what it means.
But they reveal their own cruel hearts and they impugn the motives of another, suggesting that he is about to do to them what they probably would have been prepared to do to him. And indeed they attribute to him the evil which they would have advanced If the roles for a moment had been reversed.
So their fear and their mistrust reveals also that they did not fully believe the earlier expressions of forgiveness. which Joseph had provided.
Now if you turn back for just a moment to chapter 45, let's remember how Joseph responded when he revealed himself to his brothers. Genesis chapter 45, we won't go through it all, but look at verse 4. Indicated to his brothers in verse 3 that he's Joseph. This has totally flabbergasted them. They are terrified in his presence.
They can only think in that moment, boy, we're for it now. This guy's in charge of the whole of Egypt. We're trapped here. We did all that to him. Goodness only knows what he's about to do to us.
And then he responds in verse 4. Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come close to me. And when they had done so, he said, I'm your brother, Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Don't be distressed. Don't be angry with yourselves for selling me here.
Because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. You can imagine their eyes as large as saucers wondering: can this chap, can this Joseph be for real? I mean, we remember him before with his coat and his telling our dad about what we were doing, and now listen to what he's saying, and then in verse 14. How they must have wondered as he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and as he wept and Benjamin embraced him weeping. and how the other older brothers must have stood back and perhaps said to themselves, well, we knew he always had a thing for Benjamin.
We knew that he loved Benjamin and obviously Benjamin is special to him. And then as he lets go of Benjamin and as he comes and he grabs each of his brothers in turn and as he kisses all his brothers and as he weeps over them and as they then go and engage in this wonderful conversation.
Now that is what had happened 17 years before.
So for the brothers to ask the question Here In verse 15 of chapter 50, is to make clear that they imagine Joseph to have been playing the hypocrite for 17 years. The underlying assumption is that either his protestations of affection and reconciliation. Were real, but only for a moment, and the passing of time would allow him to do differently, or they were never real in the first place. That all the time Joseph had been waiting for his opportunity. to mete out punishment on those who had treated him so cruelly.
What if Joseph Pays us. Back. I'd like to pause for a moment. And Advance this. This holds up a mirror.
to many of our lives. Not necessarily in relationship to sibling rivalry. But particularly in the lives of not a few. Who Having come to Jesus, Years ago, in repentance and in faith. And having received from Christ The offer of forgiveness.
Having been welcomed by him, drawn to himself, Caught up in his embrace. And yet you still live. regularly Asking yourself the question, What if It wasn't real. Or what if It comes out differently. Or what if I'm not really forgiven.
Or what if I'm not going to heaven. What if the promises are faulty?
Okay.
Now for some people this never crosses their minds, but for others, and indeed it is a significant company of individuals, these experiences of doubt and of misgiving are frequent. And they happen to more people than are actually prepared to admit them. And they happen because, in large measure, We as individuals do not bring what we feel emotionally. Underneath the reality of what we know intellectually.
So that we allow ourselves to be buffeted and to be torn as a result of our own emotional interchanges. Luther knew something of this when he penned these words. For feelings come and feelings go.
Now feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God. Naught else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet token, There is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be broken.
Now, one of the great questions of the study of the brothers is simply this: were they genuinely penitent in chapter 45? Were they genuinely repentant? If they were, then they would not be condemned by God. But the fact of the matter is, they may be condemned and in some degree punished by themselves. And that you see is why, for some of us singing this morning, no condemnation now I dread, Jesus and all in thee is mine.
Alive in Him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine, we have this sort of funny feeling in the back of our mind saying, Well, if there is no condemnation that I now dread, why is it that I felt the way I felt this week when I was accused, when I accused myself of my own sinfulness, when I wondered, when I asked the question, what if?
Well, the answer is, and it is referred to in 1 John chapter 3, it is that often our hearts will condemn us. Indeed, John says, and he's writing a book on Christian assurance, in 1 John 3.20, he says, whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. In other words, the reality and truth of who God is and the promises He has made are more significant than the doubts and the misgivings which so frequently can rise in the life of a believer. And therefore, the antidote to this kind of self-condemnation, the antidote to these fears and these mistrusts, is a solid, experiential grasp of what the Bible has to say. And so I want to pause purposefully and take you to Hebrews chapter 10 and speak for a moment to those who are saying of their own Christian experience, what if?
In the same way that these brothers were asking the question about whether Joseph's professions of forgiveness and reconciliation were real. Hebrews chapter 10. We noted last week that John tells us in 1 John 3:5 that part of the purpose of Christ's coming is that he might take away our sins. 1 John 3:5, He appeared that He might take away our sins. When you come to Hebrews chapter 10, you find that the writer of the Hebrews is making the exact same point.
Verse 5, therefore when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, Here I am. It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do your will, O God.
And in the doing of his will, in the offering of himself as a sacrifice, we're told in verse 10, and by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Now I can't expound this whole chapter and hope to get back to Genesis 50, but I want to give you an outline through it for your own personal study and encouragement. I want you to notice a number of things, and I'll simply say them without expansion. Notice here. that all that God wants has been accomplished. in the giving of his son.
and all that we need. in terms of salvation has been accomplished. We are in Christ, verse 10 tells us, those who have been made holy. Through the perfect work of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is in need of no contingency plan.
It was a once and for all sacrifice. It was the will of God, says Isaiah 53, to bruise his son. In the great mystery of the eternal covenant of redemption, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit determined how this would be worked out in time. And so we see that God's will is expressed in the giving of his Son. And Jesus has done all that needs to be done in relationship to sin.
Verse 12. when the priest had offered for all time. One sacrifice for sins. For all time, one sacrifice for sins. In contrast to the routine priestly function referred to in verse 11, where it had to be performed again and again, offering the same sacrifices over and over and over again, coming again and again and again, because there is absolutely no assurance of forgiveness of sin.
And today, in churches all across Cleveland, people will celebrate in the re-sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ because they have no assurance that on Calvary, a once-for-all sacrifice for sins paid and dealt with sin and guilt. And only, you see, when we come to understand and believe this, will it allow us to live with confidence and sing with reality, we stand in grace, without adding, at least I hope we do. Or without adding, well, we were last week, or we will once we finish this service, or we will once we've taken that or experienced this. No, no, no, no. The believer says, There's no what if to this.
What if he would change his mind? What if he would turn his back on us? What if he would now met out punishment upon us? There is no what if because he has done all in relationship to sin, he has done all in relationship to God. He sat down at the right hand of God.
He sat down in acceptance. God the Father planned this salvation and God the Son procured this salvation and God the Spirit applies this salvation. You see, what was the great need of the sacrifice of Jesus? What was the problem? Not our predicament.
But God's wrath. God's wrath. Because if God had been complacent in relationship to sin, There would have been no need of a sacrifice. But because God was so holy that he could not even look on sin, and because all of his wrath had been revealed against all of the unrighteousness and the wickedness of men, the great need was for the wrath of God to be propitiated.
So that in the dying of the Son, the Father's wrath is propitiated. Christ takes the burden of our sin and our rebellion and our guilt on Him. And we As a byproduct. Discover the wonderful provision of forgiveness. and freedom.
and hope. Because in the death of Christ, he has done all in relationship to sin, he has done all in relationship to God, and he has done all in relationship to Satan. Verse 13, since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Satan was checkmated at Calvary. Right?
And the Father and the Son and the Spirit are content. For the time being, to wait for the inevitable submission of the defeated foe. All has been done in relationship. to sin. Yeah.
You're listening to Alastair Begg on Truth for Life. He's titled today's message After the Funeral. We heard the conclusion on Monday. You know, it's easy to become fearful if we don't know what the Bible teaches, and in to day's world it's not always easy to discern what's true and what's not. Here at Truth for Life we are committed to being a trusted source of Biblical truth.
From our free website with thousands of Alistair's sermons to the biblically sound resources we offer at cost, the teaching from Truth for Life presents a clear, relevant exposition of the Scriptures. And you may not realize this, but Truth for Life is entirely listener funded. That means it's the giving from your fellow listeners that covers the cost of producing this daily programme and distributing it throughout the world. If you have benefited from Alistair's teaching, would you consider becoming one of our monthly Truth Partners to day? With a commitment of just twenty dollars a month, you'll be invited to request both of the books that we recommend each month.
Right now we're featuring Alistair's book, The Hand of God, Finding His Care in All Circumstances. Be sure to request the book when you sign up to become a truth partner. It's quick and easy to do online at truthforlife.org slash truthpartner or you can call us at 888-588-7884. Let me remind you, if you missed last year's Deeper Faith Cruise with Alistair, there's still time to join this year's voyage. The cruise departs from Amsterdam on September 5th.
You'll enjoy a week of worship, Bible study, and Christian fellowship as you explore the beautiful landscapes of Norway with fellow believers. To learn more, visit DeeperFaithCruise.com. Thanks for studying God's Word with us. Hope you have a great weekend and that you're able to worship with your local church. Monday, we'll learn how, like Joseph, we can endure hardship without bitterness.
and forgive mistreatment without seeking revenge. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
