July 3, 2011
Scripture:
I’d like to read a verse from Psalm 34: “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (v.1). This morning we’ve gathered together to give the Lord the praise of our hearts. The Psalmist says he will praise the Lord. May we ever be found giving him the praise and glory of our mouths as we think of all we have had before us this morning.
Hymn 130-To God be the glory
Prayer
Genesis 41:56, 42:1-21
When we ended last time, the famine had come to Egypt. V. 56 says that it covered the face of the earth; however, only Egypt had prepared for it.
In today’s chapter, we go from being in Egypt with Joseph to being in Canaan with Joseph’s brothers and father. It had been over ten years since Joseph was sold by his brothers; they were probably thinking, “we got away with it; no one will ever know.” However, there is a verse that says “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
The famine had come to Canaan and Joseph’s brothers and father were running out of food. Then Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So, he sent his sons to go to Egypt to buy food. It says that Joseph’s ten brothers went to Egypt … but didn’t Joseph have eleven brothers? He did, but Jacob didn’t want to send Benjamin, so he kept him back.
When the brothers got to Egypt, they presented themselves to Joseph, since he was the one distributing the food reserves. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognised them, but they didn’t recognise him. They bowed before him in reverence. Remember that Joseph had dreamed that they would do this; they thought it would never happen.
What is a spy? A spy is one that finds things out. Joseph told his brothers that they were spies and that they weren’t really coming to buy food. Their reply to him was they weren’t spies and that they were true men. They didn’t realize who they were talking to: Joseph knew what they had done. We will see as we go on how Joseph made them remember what they had done. As they talked more with Joseph, he asked them about their family. They told him that they had a father and another brother, as well as a brother who “was not.” The brothers didn’t realize that they were talking to the one that was not!
Joseph told the brothers that to prove that they were not spies, they would have to send one brother back to get their younger brother. Joseph then put them all in ward (or prison) for three days. Joseph came to the brothers on the third day and told them that he feared God. You might wonder if the brothers feared God! The plans changed a little bit: instead of one going back and getting Benjamin while the others stayed in Egypt, all of them were to go back, except one. That one was to be kept in prison until they brought Benjamin.
After all these years, the brothers are starting to feel guilt for what they had done to Joseph. They are feeling the truth of the verse, “Your sins will find you out.”
Luke 5:33-39
As we’ve said, this chapter has four main stories in it; and the story of Levi was the fourth. His heart had been taken up with money, but the Lord had come and turned it, and now he followed the Lord. Directly after this, it seems, he threw a feast for Jesus.
Of course, the scribes and the Pharisees had to come and ask “Why do you eat with publicans and sinners?” Our Lord explained that, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The Pharisees thought that they were righteous, but really they were only self-righteous. Their form of righteousness only came from themselves. Romans tells us “There is none righteous” (3:10). It is God that imputes (gives) righteousness to us, we cannot earn our place before Him.
This self-righteousness was the big problem of the scribes and Pharisees. We see it again in chapter 18:10-13. The publican had repentance, and therefore was justified. ‘Justified’ means “accounted righteous”. Sometimes we say justification means, “Just as if I’d never sinned”; but “accounted righteous” is a better definition because it means “I’ve sinned, I’ve been forgiven, and I’ve been given righteousness”. When we are saved, our sins are taken away, and we are imputed righteousness. Jesus took our sins upon Himself at Calvary, and all that we have been given is from God. The Pharisees were trying to keep God’s standard in their own strength, but we know that all “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The Pharisees then ask, “Why don’t your disciples fast?” Jesus said, “Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” He was telling them, “The Bridegroom is here; I am the Bridegroom!” Hosea tells us that Israel is Christ’s earthy Bride, and the New Testament tells us that we are His heavenly Bride. Jesus was also telling those around Him that there would be a day when the Bridegroom (Himself) would not be with them. He would leave at the Ascension.
The Song of Solomon is all about the Bride and the Bridegroom. For a time the Bride lost her Bridegroom, and her heart ached for Him. When two people are engaged, or married, and there is a necessary separation between them, there will be messages sent back and forth. There will be expressions of love, and one thing that you will hear again and again is the words, “When we’re together again…”. Those two long to be together. That should be our desire with our Bridegroom.
“Tis the hope of his coming that gladdens my heart,
That drives away sadness and bids care depart,
No dread of the morrow, no sorrow I see,
For Jesus is coming, He’s coming for me.”
Our hearts should be knit together with His. It’s a heart thing. For the Pharisees, it wasn’t in their hearts; it was in their heads.
After Jesus answered their question, He told them a parable. This parable has two parts: the first is about the garments, and the second about the wine/bottles. Both bring out something different. The Lord was telling the Pharisees that they were bothering with old stuff. He told them that no one cuts up a new garment to patch an old one. The old garment was the law, and the new garment was the system of grace that Jesus was introducing. (This new garment makes us think of the “best robe” that the father gave the prodigal son in Luke 15.) Not only would you ruin the new garment by cutting it, but the new materiel would rip the old one! Meanwhile, this new garment has a strength that will never grow old or rip.
Also, if you put new wine into old bottles (wine skins), the bottles will break. There is an energy here that is from the Holy Spirit. Not only are we given new life, but we are given the energy to live that life. The Pharisees didn’t have that energy. The law shackles a man, but the Gospel gives freedom, energy, and desire to please the Lord.
Our Lord had to tell all this in a parable because He hadn’t died yet. They didn’t fully have this new system yet; it was established at the cross. The Pharisees were trying to patch up the old system, but Jesus was taking away the Law to establish Grace. The Pharisees had drunk so long of the old wine of the law that they weren’t saying, “The new (grace) is better.” The Lord was making new vessels of mercy to hold the new wine of the Divine life.
Hymn 381 - I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
Prayer