Genesis 4212-38

As we come to the end of Genesis chapter forty two, we come to a very interesting passage of scripture as it relates to preaching and teaching, because in this passenger of Scripture we have Joseph testing his brothers. The question is, how does Joseph's testing of his brothers fly or relate to me, to which I would respond, just wait, because it absolutely does, because all of us need to answer the question that Joseph is basically asking of his brothers, and that question is this, Have you been changed? That's what he's trying to figure out. Have you been and changed? Or are you the same men that you were who sent me to this place. That's a very interesting and challenging question for us, have you been changed? Because you can take that question to an extreme and completely misunderstand and misapply the Gospel. If you ask some people how you know if somebody's a Christian, they will answer you. You ask them questions and see if they believe the right things. However, others would argue, if you want to know somebody's a Christian, you watch their lives and see if you live the right way. Well, which one of those is right? The answer yes, Christians believe the right things and behave the right way, but they behave in accordance with what they believe. And oftentimes, if we're not careful, we will fall into the ditch on either side of this road. We will fall into the Antinomian ditch that says, it doesn't matter how you live, as long as the information to which you give mental assent is the right information. And then you can fall on the legalism side of the ditch that says, well, all that information is just information. What matters is that we do the right things. But as we look at Joseph and these seven tests that he gives his brothers, I believe they correspond to some tests that we ought to give ourselves. And if you will remember, we'll make several references to it this morning. But if you will remember when we were in First John. First John is a book filled with a number of tests, three main tests in particular. And so when we read in First John five thirteen, that famous verse everybody knows First John five thirteen. I write these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life when you get there, and that sounds really good until you ask a question, what are these things? And that's the question we tried to answer when we went through First John. John says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. What are the these things? Well, a couple of them will look at here. But when we went through First John, we saw that John is basically making the argument that right belief will lead to right behavior, and that we need to examine ourselves based upon what is being produced in our lives. Difficult to juxtapose those things at times, but today we will try to do so. Look with me, if you will. Genesis chapter forty two, beginning at verse twelve, and there are seven tests. Test number one verses twelve to sixteen. That test is, is Benjamin still alive? Look at verse twelve, and you have to back up and remember at verse eleven that very profound statement that they made in verse eleven. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. And again they've never been spies. However, they've been murderers and slave traders. Spies not a tough leap amen. So he asks them a few questions, since they have made an assertion about their character. Look at verses twelve through sixteen. He said to them, no, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see. And they said, we, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more. That's that's interesting. There's actually twelve of us. Okay, we're good guys. We really are good guys. And there's actually twelve of us except the one that Daddy wouldn't let us bring because of the other one that we kind of got rid of. But other than that, you can trust us verse fourteen. But Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you are spies. By this, you shall be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested whether there is truth in you or else, by the life of Pharaoh. Surely you are spies. So there's the first test. Number one, is Benjamin still alive. Joseph doesn't know the answer to this question. He has no idea if the men who stand before him are older, more vicious versions of the scoundrels who sent him on his journey, or if they had actually been changed, if they could actually be trusted. Now, let me say here that this is not going to the question of whether or not Joseph forgives his brothers. Joseph has already, I would argue forgiven his brothers, since forgiveness essentially goes to the heart of retribution and withholding that retribution from another. If he hasn't forgiven his brothers the minute he realizes that it's them, they get what they have coming to them. But the fact that they don't get what they have coming to them immediately is evidence. I would argue of Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers. But there's a difference between forgiving somebody and trusting them, and he's testing them, And the first test is is Benjamin's still alive? Go get my baby brother, Benjamin and bring him back. They don't know who Joseph is. Joseph is not saying these things outright. He doesn't They don't know what kind of tests he is given to them, but he has said twice here that they're being tested. Test number one is, is Benjamin's still alive? Test number two, will someone volunteer to go? Verses sixteen and seventeen. We already saw in verse sixteen, send one of you and let him bring your brother while you remain confined, that your words may be tested whether you are whether there is truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh. Surely your spies verse seventeen, and he put them all together in custody for three days. There's a question number one, is Benjamin alive? The second test is actually related to the first test. If Benjamin's not alive, nobody's going to volunteer to go get it. If Benjamin's not alive and these men haven't changed, one might volunteer to go get Benjamin to get away from them, but they won't allow them to volunteer because they know they'll be left. So test number two is will someone volunteer to go? There's a third test Verses eighteen to twenty, and that test is what will someone volunteer to stay? Look at verse eighteen On the third day Joseph said to them, do this, and you will live, for I fear God if you are honest. Men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households. And bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you shall not die. And they did. So, there's the second test. Will somebody volunteer to go? Or the third test? Brother, will somebody volunteer to stay? Or actually that that was the third test? Will somebody volunteer to stay? Will somebody volunteer to go? Nobody did? Secondly, will somebody volunteer to stay? Is Benjamin alive? We don't know. Will somebody volunteer to go? Get Benjamin? Not so much? Will somebody volunteer to stay here while the rest go and get Benjamin? Well, there's a fourth test. If you look at me beginning in verse twenty four, or just verse twenty four gives us that test. Then he turned away from them and wept, and he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. There's a fourth test. Will they abandon another brother. If these are the same guys that I know, then what's going to happen to Simeon again? Joseph hasn't seen his brothers in over twenty years. But if they are the same man that they were the last time he saw them, Simeon will be abandoned in Egypt. But if they're not the same, if God has wrought a change in their hearts, they are not going to abandon another brother in Egypt. The fifth test twenty four to twenty eight. That test quite simply is will they steal the money with in verse twenty four, turned away and whipped, he comes back and he gets Simeon Verse twenty five. Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them verse twenty six. Then they loaded their donkeys and their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of the sack. He said to his brothers, my money has been put back here. It is in the mouth of my sack. At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, what is this that God has done to us? What is this that God has done to us? Will they return the money again? If you don't know the way this thing ends, that's the question you're left with right now. Is Benjamin alive? Don't know? Will somebody volunteer to go get him? Don't know? Will somebody volunteer to stay? How about if I just take Simeon? Will they come back and get Simeon. Fifthly, if the money is put back in their sacks, will to be honest about it? Or will they take the money and leave their brother again? The question is simple, have they been changed? Two last questions beginning of verse thirty five back in twenty nine, just to bring us up to speed. When they came to Jacob, their father and the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, the man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies in the land. But we said to him, we are honest men. We have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, by this, I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men. And I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land. Verse thirty five. Here's the last two tests. By the way, these are tests that Joseph gives indirectly, and they are these. Does their father trust them? Does my daddy trust these boys? That's an indirect test that Joseph is giving. If these boys have been changed, my father Jacob will trust them, and they will send He will send my brother Benjamin with them. If their hearts have not been changed, if there has not been a transformation in these ten men, and they are the same untrustworthy men as I suspect. Since Benjamin is not with them, then Jacob, my father will not be able to trust them with my brother. Test number seven, will Benjamin trust them? Will Benjamin trust them? Will my baby brother Benjamin be willing to go with these men, because remember their sibling rivalry. They don't like Joseph. Joseph's the favorite son. Why because he is the son of the favorite wife who was not able to bear children. And if you remember, this favorite wife, who was not able to bear children, bore Joseph and another boy. That boy was Benjamin. So if all Jacob has to remind him of the favorite wife, the one he wanted in the first place was Benjamin, and Joseph is now gone. They'd have to be changed men in order for him to trust them. Is the sibling rivalry still there? Did these men still hate the offspring of my mother simply because we were the offspring of my mother Verse thirty five. As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father, said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more. And now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons. Isn't that just valiant? Of him, not me, kill my two sons. If I do not bring him back to you, put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you. But he said, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to shield. I want you to hear what you just learned about Jacob. He hasn't been changed. The root of the problem with his boys is favoritism. And what does he say? No, you can't have Benjamin because the other one that I loved more than I love you, you took him away from me. He's gone now, the only one left. He's got eleven sons. He's got twelve. One he doesn't know he still has. But he's got eleven sons, and the words out of his mouth are the only one left is Benjamin still holding on to the favorite life. Here's the other thing he says, Benjamin, he says, Simeon's dead. How about that? So much for no man left behind? Amen, Simeon. He doesn't say, you know what, everybody, all of us, you boys, get your things. You boys get that money, Benjamin, Come on, you ride with me. We are all going back to Egypt, because I'm not losing another son. No, Jacob says, I got two boys gone. Now the Simians are right off. And if what's required to get him back is to risk losing Benjamin, then it's done. See Chapter forty two doesn't hold out a lot of hope for us the end of chapter forty two. I'm glad that Genesis doesn't end at chapter forty two. Amen, anybody else glad that Genesis does it end of chapter forty two. But Genesis chapter forty two, if we just take it in and of itself, it does not leave us with a great deal of hope. The brothers have been tested. Here's one that we know that there's seven tests, and there's one of them that we get an affirmative answer to, and that's test number one. Is Benjamin alive? Well, we got the answer to that when we get to end to the end of chapter forty two. Yes, Benjamin is alive. Very good. How about number two? Somebody gonna volunteer to go get in? No, how about number three, somebody gonna volunteer to stay? No, how about number four, Are they gonna come back and get Simeon? So far? The answer is no. Number five, Are they gonna return the money? So far the answer is no. Number six. Does Jacob trust them? The answer no. Number seven. Does Benjamin trust them? We have to assume that the answer to that is also no. So as late as chapter forty two, there is still a need for the intervention of Almighty God in this family. As late as chapter forty two, we are still seeing all of those things that have brought us to this place of great peril. As late as chapter forty two, you still can't answer these very necessary questions in the affirmative. As late as chapter forty two, and as late in these men's lives as their fifties and sixties, for the older boys, we still can't answer the question in the affirmative. Why is that important? Here's why that's important. We need to recognize that this doctrine that we've talked about, this great doctors from the election that we've talked about, has to be understood in its entirety. We have to understand that Jacob and his sons, though they have been called out by God, carved out by God, elect by God, that God's electing work ultimately brings about a change in those whom He saves, and we haven't seen that yet. They don't just need to have someone in their past history who had an encounter with God where God made a covenant for us to be able to look at chapter forty two and say, oh, that's okay. They're all right. No, they're not okay. They are not yet transformed. They're not okay. It's not enough that they belonged to the right family, it's not enough that they're part of the right lineage. The question is have they been changed? And that's the same question for you. Have you been changed? Or are you one of those countless numbers of people in our greater culture at large who answer the question are you a Christian? In the affirmative and basic on the fact that number one process of elimination Christians, Are you a Christian? Well, let me see, I'm not a Muslim, I'm not a Buddhist, I'm not a Mumman, I'm not Yes, I'm a Christian. Process of elimination Christians, or secondly, that other group of Christians that are those Christians by inheritance. Are you a Christian? Yes? My mother was a Christian, my grandmother was a Christian. Of course I am a Christian. How about those others, those individuals who argue because I had an experience one time, I'm a Christian. I can remember the day, I can remember the hour, I can remember the moment, I can remember the tears that were streaming down my face. I can tell you with certainty that because of that experience, in that moment and time, yes I am a Christian. But we don't ask the other question, is there evidence of that in your life? Have you been changed? Yes? Yes, But I pray to prayer and I asked Jesus into my heart, have you been changed? Didn't you hear me? I said, I cried, yes, I know, but have you been changed? And if you press that point with the average person in these United States of America who says that they're a Christian, ultimately here's the response you will get. Who are you to judge me? Joseph's asking these questions of his brother, And I'm gonna argue that we need to ask these questions of ourselves. Now. In order for us to do this, there has to be some groundwork. Lag So let me do a couple of things. Number one, I want to read you from the scriptures several passages that allude to some of the same tests that Joseph was giving to his brothers, directly and indirectly. And I also want to explain this in the context of our understanding of the doctrine of salvation, specifically in our understanding of the doctrine of sanctification. Because we've got to understand this. Let me give you this first of all. Matthew Chapter seven, verses fifteen through twenty. Matthew, Chapter seven, verses fifteen through twenty. I won't have you turned to all of these, but at the end of the Sermon on the Mountain we just finished up a few months ago, here's where we were. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Our grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thissels. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. And you say, well, that's great, But he's talking about profits. Yes, he is very next verse verse twenty one. Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, will enter into the kingdom, but he who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. As many who are gonna come to Jesus on that day, Lord Lord, may we not prophesy in your name, and in your name perform many miracles and cast out many demons. And I'll say to them, depart from me. I never knew you, you worker of iniquity. The question have you been changed? Just like Joseph is asking his brothers, he doesn't know. He didn't sit his brothers down and say, hey, brothers, I'm Joseph. Can you guys tell me whether or not I can trust you. He tested them, by the way, it's not an unbiblical concept. Bible says you should test yourself. Second Corinthian Chphter thirteen, verse five. Examine yourselves to see whether you were in the faith. Test yourselves or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test test yourself again and our culture. The extent of the test is I remember a moment where I was very sincere. Insufficient evidence, insufficient evidence. The question is have you been changed? One John two, verse twenty nine. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. Have you been changed? Listen to this from Lorraine Betner and its classic work, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. Listen to this. I want to read this, and I want you to hear this carefully. Betner writes, and this is in his Answering Objections section, because one of the objections to the doctrine of election one of the objections to the doctrines of grace. One of the objections is, well, if you believe in election and predestination, then don't you believe that people can just live any way they want to live. So Bettner takes that objection head on, and here is his response. The objection is sometimes made that this system encourages men to be careless and indifferent about their moral conduct and their growth in grace, on the ground that their eternal welfare has already been secured. This objection is primarily directed against the doctrines of election and the perseverance of the Saints. Again, if you believe in the doctrine of election and the doctrine of the perseverance of the Saints, which some people falsely give this title, this one saved, always saved, which is translated as, once you walk down the aisle of prayer prayer, no matter what happens after that, you're automatically going to Heaven by virtue of you having walked in an island prayer to prayer. So people usually mean when they say once say'd always say, they're not talking about this same doctrine. So that's the argument. Listen to Betner as he responds this objection, however, like the one to the effect that this system discourages all motives to exertion, He's talking there about evangelism. That's the argument. Well, if you believe in the doctrine of election and predestination, why are you gonna go to evangelism. The answer to that question is twofold one because God told me to, and two because the doctrine of election and predestination is the only thing that guarantees my success in evangelism. We will be successful in evangelism because of the doctrine of election and predestination is completely answered by the great principle which we hold and teach, namely that the means as well as the end are foreordained. Don't miss this. God's decree that the earth should be fruitful did not exclude, but included the sunlight, the showers, the tillage of the husbandman, et cetera. If God has foreordained a man to have a crop of corn, he also foreordained him to plow and plant and cultivate, and to do all other necessary things to secure the crop. Just as a purpose to build includes the hewing of stone, the squaring of timbers, and the preparation of all other materials which either into the structure I'm sorry, which enter into the structure, and as a declaration of war implies arms, ammunition, ships, and all other necessary equipment. So the election of some to the eternal enjoyment of heaven includes their election to holiness. Here it is not the individual as such, but the individual as holy and virtuous that is predestined to eternal life. You can't separate the two. You can't separate the two. God does not just elect certain individuals to have a certain eternal destiny, but the life that is produced in them is consistent with his election of them. So I ask again, have you been changed? That's the question that Joseph's brothers eventually have to answer in the affirmative, and you and I have to answer that question as well. Have you been changed? Or are you depending upon a long ago and far away experience that has not been followed up by evidence that it meant anything? Have you been changed? Here are the universal elements of those tests. There are four seven tests. Four of them are universal, and we need to ask ourselves these questions right here, right now today. Question number one, do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? What is that? That's test number one? Is Benjamin still alive? That's what he's asking. He's asking do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? We should also say this about the test with Simeon. Simeon's abandoned here in Egypt? Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Now here's what I didn't ask you. What I didn't ask you was have you, on occasion in your life struggle with something that you struggle with before in the past. That's not what I asked you. I asked you, do the sins of your past continue to character your present? Are you still that same person? Is that who you are? Is that what characterizes you? Is that the way you walk? It's in the First John three fifteen. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. That goes straight to the heart of the question that he's asking them. Have you been changed or are you different? Listen to this from First Corinthians, chapter six, verses nine through eleven. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Knows? He didn't say, do you not know that those haven't prayed a prayer will not inherit the Kingdom of God? He didn't say, do you not know that those who haven't walked an aisle will not inherit the Kingdom of God? He says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? When God saves you, he means your righteous He continues, do not be decesded. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkers, nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And if your sin was not listed there, it's only because he ran out of room. Amen. So if you sitting there going sho glad, I don't struggle with any one of those. Trust me. You're in the list next line. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Such were some of you. Can God save a man from the most wretched of sins? Yes, God can, and he saves a man, and he rescues a man, and there is a change. A man is changed when he's saved. But what does this mean? Again, we have to be very careful. Let's drill down a little further here. Listen to our Confession of Faith on the question of sanctification, because this does raise questions. Chapter thirteen of Sanctification and our Confession of Faith, there are three paragraphs here, and I want to read all three of these paragraphs here. There are short paragraphs, but I want to read these because you've got to see this overall picture of sanctification in order to deal with this properly. Because once, whenever, in the midst of our culture you start talking about righteousness and the way that we live, immediately people want to fold their arms, turn up their nose and call you a legalist immediately. No. No, we're saying about grace alone, Amen, Grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Amen. You get absolutely no disagreement. What's so, however, but that salvation produces some thing. Listen, Dark Confession, Chapter thirteen, on sanctification number one. They who are united to Christ effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also further sanctified really and personally through the same virtue by His word and spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Sin is broken in you, and righteous holiness increases in your life. And without that holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Are you saved by that? No, you're not saved by that, But you are most assuredly saved to that, and saved for that. Have you been changed? Paragraph two? This sanctification is throughout in the hole man, yet imperfect in this life. There by the still some remnants of corruption in every part. Whence arise a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. There's the answer to the other question. Are you saying I gotta be perfect? No, the doctrine of sanctification does not teach that you have to be perfect. Amen. But it is a process, and we make progress. And the other thing is we war? We war? Are you battling that sin or have you excused it? Are you warring against that sin? Or do you have a reasonable justification for your practice thereof? Are you fighting with everything that God has planted within you? Or have you given up the fight because you've found a group of people who will give you a pass. You know, one of the greatest evidences that a person either doesn't understand this doctrine or is not born again. Is that all too familiar phrase, Well, nobody's perfect. If that's your response, be afraid, Be very, very afraid, because that's not the way the believer responds to sin. The believer responds to sin with hatred. The believer responds to sin and repentance. The believer does not respond to sin or those who bring his sin to him with well, nobody's perfect. The believer recognizes that this is a battle, that this is a war, and the believer is always ready to engage in that battle, and engage in that war, and never ever ever to give it up. Third paragraph in which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome. And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life, and evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King in his word hath prescribed to them. Amen, we gain victory, We gain ground. God changes us by the way in the scriptures that's born out. Listen to this one John one five through ten. If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. There's no perfection here. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and justin forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and this word is not in us. There's the picture that first test. Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your presidents? Your president? Or do you bear evidence of the work of sanctification being wrought in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, but you don't know my sin. No, I really don't, and I don't have to. Here's what I know. I've said it before, and I've said it again. It's not bigger than a dead Jesus. Whatever your sin is, it's not bigger than a dead Jesus. And if the power of God, the spirit of God can raise Christ from the dead, what is it that you think he can't do in your life? Have you been changed? The second of these areas, have you learned to love your brothers? First? Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Secondly, have you learned to love your brothers? Test two, three, and four? Test two, will someone volunteer to go and get Benjamin? Test three? Will someone volunteer to say you while the other brothers go and get Benjamin? Test four? Will someone come back for Simeon? All of these tests point to the same question, have you learned to love the brothers? That's a question that Joseph is asking his brothers, and that's a question that is asked of every New Testament Saint John thirteen thirty four and thirty five A new commandment. I'd give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have walked an aisle and pray to prayer no if you have love for one another. That is why the doctrine of adoption is so important in the order of salutis or the order of salvation. We missed that, We've completely lost that doctrine of adoption. And we understand, you know, and we understand justification and sanctification and glorification, and we get that, but we forget that adoption is a part of that God adopts us into his family and as being adopted into the family of God. There's two evidences that we ought to look for. Number one, do we begin to look like and conform to the family into which we have been adopted? And number two, do we love that family as our own? Do you love the brothers? Do you love the brothers? Do you recognize the Church of the Living God as the most real family that you will ever have? Do you see that? Do you get that? Do you recognize that? Or do you somehow believe that there is a unity in a bond that is stronger than the unity and the bond between God and those whom He saves and those who are part of the family of the elect. Have you gotten that yet? Have you realized that that Ultimately, we are going to spend eternity, not necessarily with those who share our blood in our veins, but with those who have been washed by the blood of Christ. Have you come to that realization yet, that even those in your blood family, that even in your blood family, there are people in your blood family to whom you are close, but there are others who are your brothers and sisters for real. You follow me? Are you like me? Do you have those in your blood family that you wish would become part of your real family? I do. I have members of my blood family that I beg God for that they will become members of our real family. Have you been changed? Do you love the brothers? Do you love the church? Do you love to gather together with the saints? Do you look forward to the Lord's Day? Do you look forward with anxious anticipation to those moments where we come together in this place and lift our voices to our heavenly Father and unite our hearts as brothers and sisters, redeemed by God and set apart for Jesus Christ. You love the brothers? Listen to this first John five one through five. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. But everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Have e been changed? And finally, Philippians two three four, do nothing for rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have you been changed? Do you love the brothers? Or is this someplace you gather so you can tick off a box. Is the worship of the Lord and the fellowship of the saints as vital to you as anything else in this world? Or is it merely your duty that you're afraid not to do because you're trying to please God? Have you been changed? The third of these four? Do you exhibit godly character when nobody when nobody's looking, Do you exhibit godly character when nobody is looking? Number five? Test number five is will they steal the money? Will they steal the money? What's the question? The greater question that's being asked is do you exhibit godly character when nobody is looking? That's the question, that's the one you have to answer. Because the fact of the matter is, we can all learn to go along and get along. We can all be socialized into the community of the church. We can all have our behavior modified because of our exposure to one another. We all have just enough desire for other people to like us, for us to do the things that are necessary for that to take place. But that is not the test of authentic Christianity. The test is is that who you have become when nobody is watching you Ephesians chapter five, verses seven through fourteen. Therefore, do not become partners with them, For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. We walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light is found and all that is good and right and truth. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. And anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, awake, o sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Is that you? Fourth and final tests, Have those closest to you seen a change in your walk as well as your talk? Have those closest to you seen a change in your walk as well as your talk? This is tests six and seven. Does Jacob your father trust you? Because if you've been changed, Jacob, your father will have seen that change. And Jacob your father will trust you. If you haven't, there's no way you're coming back here with mentionmin Does Benjamin trust you? Or does my baby brother know what you did to me and still see it in your eyes and in your heart? Have those closest to you seen a change in your walk as well as your talk? Those who know you, those who live with you, those who walk with you, have they seen it? Hey? Here, I'm not asking that. I'm not asking if you have been able to satisfy the critics. News flash, you will never be able to satisfy the critics. You know what I mean by this question. If your life has been changed, those closest to you will see it, and they will know it. Matthew five or the first proverb of twenty three twenty four. Listen to this directly applied to this particular test that Joseph gives his brother, The Father of the righteous will greatly rejoice. He who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Hey man, Joseph's basically asking are you that son? Have you become that son? To Jacob Matthew five fourteen to sixteen, You're the light of the world. A sitting on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father, who is in heaven. Have you been changed? Finally, Second Corinthians five seventeen and eighteen. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Have you been changed? Or do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Have you learned to love the brothers? Has God created in you a desire to love the brothers, a unity with the brothers, an identity with the brothers? Do you exhibit godly character where nobody's looking? Have you seen the change? Have you recognized a difference in the man in the mirror? Finally, have those closest to you seen a change in your talk as well as your walk? Now, let me be careful. Here's what I'm not asking. What I'm not asking is are you willing to redouble your efforts and be better at outward adherents to these things? That's not the question I'm asking. I'm asking you, has God done this in you as evidence that the work of Christ has been applied to your heart, as evidence that you have been converted, as evidence that you are genuinely and authentically born again and the child of God. I'm not asking you what you can produce. I'm asking you what's been produced in you by God? Have you been changed? Do you delight in these things? Do you yearn for these things? Do you war for these things? By the power and presence of the spirit of God in your life, or have you just become accustomed to making the excuses. We've got an excuse around every corner if you want one, Do you use them or do you deny them? For some the excuse of your heritage. Isn't it amazing how just about every heritage there is has an excuse for some form of sinfulness. Amen. Whether it's my Irish heritage and my drunkenness, whether it's my you know, red hair and my temper, whether it is my you know, Latin blood and my short fuse, whether it is my you know, my my my background as a black person, and the oppression against which I get to rage. In other words, we all can point to something to excuse our sin. Do you Some of you may not have it in your heritage. You may have it in the form of a diagnosis. There's sin in your life that hasn't been overcome. Will you know? The people who don't believe the Bible have told me that there's an excuse for this thing that the Bible calls sin, that they don't they got a name for it. Do you use that? How about your past? Someone hurt you, someone abandoned you, someone scarred you, someone mistreated you, someone brutalized you, someone stole from you, and because of whatever it is fill in the blank. Because of whatever it is, God just needs to understand that with everyone else it's sin, but because of what you've been through, it's different. If we could go on, but I don't think we have to. Everyone in the sound of my voice knows exactly what we're talking about and exactly what's at stake. And the question still remains, have you been changed? Well? What if the answers know? If the answers know, be very careful and precise here. If the answers know, then your response is not to come before God again and say, oh God, I'm so sorry that last time I promised you to do better and I really didn't do better. But this time I mean it more than I've ever meant it before. Newsflash, you're a liar and secondly, you're an idolatry. I'm not an idolator. I'm praying to God. Yes, you're praying to God, the only one who can overcome your sin, and promising him that you are going to do what only he can do. That's idolatry. No, your answer is to run to the cross, to run to Christ. That's your answer. Your answer is to believe what the Bible says about him. Your answer is to turn from your sin and make a beeline for the cross. Your answer is to trust in Him and his finished work and nothing else. Your answer is by his grace to be bathed in his forgiveness, and as a result of that, to be strengthened in your inner man to both will and to work for his good pleasure. That is your answer. It is Christ and Him alone. Because the question is not have you changed? The question is have you been changed? If the answer is numb, then flee to the Redeemer, Savior and changer of souls. Let's pray, Father, as we vow we confess our great need of you, our great need of the work that you have accomplished and completed on the cross, of our great need of the application of that work to our lives. As we come to you, abandoning all else and clinging through repentance and faith that Christ does our only hope