Who are you?

Good morning. Bruce and I are of course quite excited about the trip that will begin about three days from about now. And it'll take us a couple days to get to Uganda. We're even in this last few days have been kind of going back and forth quickly about this detail and about that one. And quite a time. Uganda's 10 hours ahead of us. So I was thinking, well, a week from now, I'll be giving the message over in this little village of Shisenyo Village, Mango Village over in Uganda.

I'll be, believe it or not, wearing a suit and tie because that's just practically required over there. Teaching people who, for the most part, don't have shoes and live on houses with dirt floors and thatched roofs and mud walls. And no electricity, water, telephone or other utilities. Really an amazing contrast. The church over there has no building to meet in on a regular basis, but it's larger than ours.

It gets larger by the week. I think it was about two Sundays ago where there were seven Muslim families that came to the Lord just on Sunday. And the response to the gospel is really amazing, really phenomenal. Anyway, we've got a lot of both exciting challenges as well as opportunities in front of us and so we'll certainly be appreciating your prayers and would ask for your prayer for each of us and for the church body there. Some of our key contacts, just so you'll have names, the fellow who is the pastor over there is Joseph, Joseph Molaco. Joseph is a fellow we'll be in contact with. And two other fellows who just last June became believers after being Muslims is Issa and Khalid. So you can pray for those fellows as well.

Those will be our three primary contacts while we're over there. So, with that, let's step into the passage here. One of the things we started off with the very first Sunday was we said we wanted you to memorize the book of Genesis. Having said that, we said you can relax because we really want you to memorize just eight words. And so let's go through those. Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations, and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.

We're reaching the stage now where Joseph has definitely become the focal point. We are very near the last chapters of the book. Chapter 42 that Randy introduced for us today, from here until the end, which is Chapter 50, has got a definite trend and some themes that we'll want to take a look at. The big picture and major theme here will be the process of restoring severely broken fellowship between Joseph and his brothers. That will be one process that will continue and actually not be completed until the very last chapter.

Second, his brothers sold him off after they discussed killing him. Can you imagine overhearing the discussion of, you know, hey, let's do him in. No, no, no, let's not do that. Hey, let's sell him to those guys. Okay. This is quite a discussion to be listening to and also to be realizing you've got no part in the decision. Okay. It's going to happen however they decide.

Joseph, at this point in time, Didn't know what his brothers had told their father. No idea. Hadn't seen him. There was a great deal else he didn't know when he first saw them, which takes place in this very chapter we're looking at here. And now the tables were turned. Before, he had no power at all.

Whatever they decided, that's what happens. Now he is second in power in Egypt. And not only are they coming to Egypt, but he is the guy who will decide what happens to them next. And they most desperately need the food that he has complete control and charge of.

Here is the timeline that you also have on page one of your handout. And it extends from the time when Joseph is age 17 to age 30, when he is a slave. The last few years of that being in prison. And then from age 30 to the rest of his life when he is a ruler, number two in Egypt during this time. This 17-year-old event was this event we referred to before.

He was sold by his brothers and then taken down to Egypt. And by the way, that doesn't necessarily mean he got a camel ride. He may have been drugged behind a camel, okay, tied with ropes and drugged behind a camel all the way down to Egypt. So it might not have been a very nice ride. And I don't have to tell you what comes out of the, well, the tail end of camels.

Okay. Joseph is made second in rank in all of Egypt here at age 30 years old. So here's this 13 year period of time sold by his brothers at age 30, made second in rank. Okay. The first seven years of that second in command position, he is basically manager of all agriculture. And it's an agricultural system in which the pharaoh owns a significant number of the lands out there. The farmers typically, not always, but typically worked land that was owned by pharaoh. Seven years of good crops end there at age 37.

So that's the good crops, right? Okay. Joseph's family moves to Egypt a couple years later. So this is the period of time that we're stepping into now. The time of the end of the good crops for the first couple of years of the very severe famine that follows. So his family moves to Egypt and then seven years of bad crops end there by the time Joseph is age 44.

And we'll, of course, in the future here step into those last couple of marks Jacob dies, and ultimately chapter 50 at the very end when Joseph himself dies. We've got some critical questions to think about. They're questions for you to ponder, questions for you to ask of the text, not just today's chapter, but in chapters to come. You see what I mean here?

Now that 20 years have gone by, two decades have gone by since Joseph last saw any of his family, the question you can imagine in his mind, I see my brothers I see my brothers, have they changed? How have they changed? Have they changed at all? Do they realize now that 20 years has gone by, do they realize that what they did was wrong before God? Do they realize that? Has that sunk in? Or are they just the same hard-hearted, foolish guys that they once were? Has anything changed? How is God going to work things out? Because after all, Joseph had had, at about age 17, these two dreams. Both of those dreams indicated that Joseph's brothers and his whole family would bow down to him. Remember the double dreams? The pairs of things? The double dreams.

How is that going to come to pass? How is that going to happen? Here, he's going to recognize his brothers here at the very early verses of this chapter. How's that going to work itself out to my whole family bowing down to me? How, oh boy, how would he ever forgive what his brothers had done to him?

Imagine being there, you're Joseph, you're 17, your brothers obviously outnumbering you and older discussing, I wonder if we ought to kill him. Let's throw him down this hole, this pit. Hey, I have an idea. Let's sell him to those guys over there. Who knows what they'll do to him? Probably try to get some money, but who knows? And then even more questions come up. Now that Joseph has power, he has the power of life and death.

He can say, those guys, they're gone. They don't even live the next hour. They're done. You guys take care of it. He could have said that. How far will he go with the power that he has that holds even to life and death? Oh, revenge could be so easy. A few spoken words and it's done.

How will he weigh, how will he think about the awful things that his brothers did to him and the awful things that have happened since they sold him off? After all, he's been falsely accused, spent the last several years in prison before being put into this high position.

Will Joseph decide that God bears the blame? God's at fault and I'm mad. Will he decide that? Or will he decide that God's ultimately going to work this all out for a good and valuable purpose? Whatever that might be. One question here is, did Joseph just do everything right? Or was Joseph also being impacted? Was there something going on with Joseph in the midst of this? Let's take a look at that. Was Joseph right on, dead on, just doing the objective thing? Or was there something else happening?

Some have said that Joseph just did everything right with his brothers and no questions asked, since after all they were tested by what Joseph did. But was Joseph just making a bunch of logical, objective choices, or was something else happening in his heart?

Was there also a way in which he was a part of the process here, personally? Did Joseph have deep emotional responses to seeing his brothers again? Did he say, oh, there's my brothers. I know what I'm going to do. Or did he say, oh, there's my brothers, and was he gripped at heart about it?

Though Joseph could have been far more harsh with his brothers to the point of death, was what he did completely right, even if the end result worked out? Was it the very best choice? Well, let's take a look. Here's Joseph at the very end of chapter 41 we looked at there. Remember what he did. He married Asenath, who was the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of Ann, and had two sons. One was Manasseh, and he said, God has made me forget all my trouble in all my father's household. He's made me forget all the trouble in all my...

That's what I think of them. It's a lot of trouble. All my household, that's what I remember, and that's what I'd like to forget. And the next part there, name the second son Ephraim, for he said, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. This is where I'm at right now. This is the land of my affliction. I want to forget what's back there and even right here where I'm second in command is still the land of my affliction.

Is that going to be his final assessment? Let's take a look here. Interesting, if you look through Genesis, 42 and on the subsequent chapters we're going to keep running across. He, that is Joseph, turned away from them and wept. Joseph hurried out for he was deeply stirred over his brother and he sought a place to weep and he entered his chamber and wept there.

We keep going through Genesis 45.2. Joseph wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it. 4514 Joseph fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. He was deeply gripped by what went on. A few verses later, right following that, Joseph wept on them. 4629, Joseph wept on his neck a long time. And finally, in chapter 50, the very last verse, Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Speaking of his brothers. Joseph, as we go through this process, was deeply gripped. continued to be deeply gripped and, as a matter of fact, over a period of years continued to be gripped by what happened, continued to be impacted by it.

What is the point at which Joseph reveals himself? Not some logical, oh, I'm going to do it when this happens, but when he just couldn't even contain himself anymore. That's what chapter 45 verse 1, and Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood with him. He had all the Egyptians leave and then he revealed himself to his brothers. It was deeply gripping for him.

Joseph is going to falsely accuse his brothers in the process that we're going to see. He's going to tell them in this very next chapter here that we're looking at being spies at least three times. Joseph is going to place them all in prison with false accusations and then send them all back home except for one. He'll make demands that will place his own father under great stress and sorrow. When his brothers return, he will set them up to be falsely accused again.

But Joseph also is going to be generous with his brothers. We're going to see that. He's going to send them back with their sacks full and returning the money that they paid, which strangely enough won't make them overjoyed but distressed. Joseph will feed them with his own food, the royal best.

In the end, Joseph will have his whole family come in Egypt as his royal guest to provide for them all the rest of their days. Through the famine, five more years, and through all the rest of the times that were then, Joseph will show them mercy and grace. At the very last verse of chapter 41, before we step into this, Here's the situation. The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Egypt, because of the Nile and getting its water as it did from places like Uganda, Egypt was the breadbasket of the world actually for many centuries. Even during the times of the Roman Empire, they fed Rome substantially from Egyptian grain. They had grain ships going constantly from Egypt into Rome. So for quite some time, Egypt was kind of the breadbasket of the Mediterranean and surrounding areas.

True in this case as well, and especially during this time of this widespread famine. So Jacob sends these ten brothers, the oldest ones, for food. He says, hey, Egypt's got it, you go get it. There was a severe impact everywhere and that was true in Canaan.

Canaan really had no major rivers in that area. The area between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, certainly there was the Jordan. The Jordan was very low in elevation. The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level, and the River Jordan goes below that, so it's quite low. But the high land there has no major rivers, so when things are dry, it's really dry. And so the famine was intense. Having heard that Egypt had food, he sends his 10 oldest sons to go buy.

He didn't, however, send Benjamin. Benjamin was Joseph's younger brother, and so far as Jacob knew the only remaining son of his favored wife who had died, Rachel. And so he said, no, you can't take him. You need to go just the ten of you. Jacob is afraid of losing Benjamin, so Benjamin stays home. After all, so far as Jacob knows, he's lost Joseph. He doesn't want to lose the very last and youngest and only son of Rachel.

So now here is Joseph, the man in charge of Egypt's great food reserve. You can imagine the possibility, and I think it's a strong one. Here's Joseph in charge of all the grain. He knows that people from all over that part of the known world are coming for grain.

And he says, I haven't been there, but knowing the land, it is quite likely that I will see my brothers here. You can imagine him anticipating it, looking for them. all the while. Yes, he has to keep carrying on his job, but in the back of his mind, he's searching the crowds that come for food for his brothers. As the people come for food, he sees his own brothers among them, these ten.

His brothers are not expecting Joseph to be second in Egypt, for sure, but Joseph really fully disguises himself. First thing is expectation. Are they expecting that guy that's in charge of all the food is Joseph? No. After all, they sold him off as a slave, right? Why would he be the second in all of Egypt and in charge of all the food? So they're not expecting him.

Further, the Egyptians, even the men, wore makeup. And the toughest thing going down there, and I'm sure it was difficult on Joseph. You know how the Egyptians always have to walk like this? That was the toughest part. And so I'm sure that disguised him as well.

Now, beyond that and having makeup, he also, instead of coming to them and speaking in Hebrew, he speaks through an interpreter. Verse 23 says that. He speaks through an interpreter. barking harshly at them with accusations in Egyptian. And then the interpreter carries over the accusation. So even though they don't understand what Joseph is saying, they catch the tone of voice and the words. As a matter of fact, it's so harsh that they report that to their father when they go back. So between his position, second, and everything about his appearance and his manner of speaking, he's disguised himself.

They don't suspect, oh, that's Joseph. They, after all, had not seen him for 20 years either. It says here in verses 8 and 9 that Joseph recognizes, remembers, and says. He recognizes his brothers. They don't know that it's him, though. He recalled the dreams that he had. Isn't it interesting? When he sees them, all of a sudden it goes back 20 plus years. Now, and he is recalling the dreams that he had had.

And both of those dreams, dreams of stars, dreams of sheaves, both of those dreams said that his brothers would bow down to him. Here it is. They're coming and they're going to be bowing down to him because he's the one who's going to be able to give them food so that the family survives.

Joseph opts to disguise himself in the waves that we've talked about here. And he comes off with this accusation. You're spies, he says in Egyptian. And the tone of voice, even though they don't understand Egyptian, the tone of voice comes across. It's alarming to them. You're spies. You're looking for military weakness.

Between Joseph's accusation and the brothers' defensiveness, it goes back and forth a few times here in the next several verses. Their primary defense is, why would somebody spying send a whole bunch of brothers? And so that's their major defense. We're brothers of one father. Why would a bunch of brothers come on a spying mission?

You'd lose them all. After all, the consequence of being caught as a spy in Egypt? Death penalty. Death penalty. Probably do like they did to the baker. Make you bird food. By the way, accusing them of spying here is a death penalty defense. It's a bit like his brothers debating whether to kill him or not. Some two decades plus before. In addition to that, for Joseph to falsely accuse them of spying perhaps gave them a taste of what it was like for him to be falsely accused.

Remember that? Potiphar's wife falsely accused him. You guys want some taste of your own medicine? Well, let me falsely accuse you. In the end, Joseph tells them that he will do some testing of their truth-telling. We'll see whether you're men of truth or not.

Keeps them all in prison for three days, where he can watch them and listen to their discussions. By the way, which prison would he likely put them in? The one he had been in, right? That was the royal prison and being second in charge, he had the option of putting people there, very likely in the same place. Quite familiar with it.

Joseph puts them in the prison for three days, something like one day for each year that he was in prison, right? On the third day of the imprisonment, Joseph tells them he'll let them go if they'll leave one brother behind while the rest of them take food home and return with their youngest brother. So you guys can go and we'll give you food, take back to your families. I'm going to keep one of your brothers here and you're going to come back with your youngest brother. They discuss their joint guilt along with Joseph's and Reuben's pleadings, and when the brothers had sold Joseph to the slave traders. Isn't that interesting? They go back in their discussions while they're in prison, talking about, oh boy, now we remember. Isn't that something? This has been years, years. Now all of a sudden, they're in prison. The discussion comes up.

Joseph gave orders to keep Simeon and to send off the others. Before that took place here, let's take a look at their discussion. Here's what they said. Then they said to one another, truly we are guilty concerning our brother. Oh, that was nice to hear. And by the way, Joseph could hang around the prison, which he knew very well, and listen and he could hear their Hebrew, they didn't know that he understood it.

Then they also said, because we saw the distress of his soul, Joseph's soul, when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us. This distress has come upon us because we didn't listen to Joseph's distress. Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not tell you, Do not sin against the boy, and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood.

They didn't know that this Joseph was listening in on their conversation, which was in Hebrew, which he understood. Here's how Joseph responds, verse 23, They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. And verse 24 and continuing, He turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them, he spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey, and thus it was done." Giving everything they're going to need, and giving their money back too. Oh, that'll get them, okay? Here is their response. What is this that God has done with us?

Joseph had his brother's sacks not only filled with grain, but with the money They had paid for the grain. Not money like in coins. They hadn't developed those yet, but more like money that was weighed out. Gold and silver pieces and nuggets. On opening the sack on the way home, one of them discovered that the money for the food was in the sack. They didn't know that they all had the money for the food in their sack. At discovery of one of them having the money for the food in their sack, they were all greatly distressed. It was about to get a lot worse. The brothers interpreted the money in the sack as punishment from God. Now isn't it interesting that they did, even though these guys had a flawed character from way back, they did make the connection. God has something to do with this. We'll give him credit for that going that far. God has something to do with this. When the nine brothers, now there's just nine, you can imagine Jacob, one, two, three, where's ten? Where's ten? As they're coming closer, right?

They tell what seems to be a short version. And interesting, as you look at the details, they kind of put a positive spin on a few of the little details. Like, you know, Simeon's back there. They didn't say if Simeon's in prison. They're keeping him. So they put a positive spin on this story. But nonetheless, this is really distressing and disappointing. Here they are back, probably in Hebron, is where this would be located, having made this trip through the desert of Shur. You know, that's where Yashur, okay, okay, here we go.

When they see their father, every single one of them finds, and the father as well, that the money is back in every single sack. They discover that not just one has the money in the sack, every single one has the money in the sack. Now they are really distressed. Uh-oh, we are in deep Deep trouble. We've got to go back to get our brother. But now we have each one of us money in the sack. If we go back, we're never coming back.

This is getting really bad. They're all very dismayed. Jacob figures that Joseph and Simeon are both no more. And now I'm in terrible trouble. Things are looking really awful. In Genesis 42, 36-38, their father Jacob said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. You guys have really made a mess. Joseph is no more, so far as he knows, and Simeon is no more. Yeah, you guys haven't told me the whole story, but I'm figuring out, by the time this whole thing gets unraveled, he's gone.

And you would take Benjamin, based on the demands of this number two fellow, the Lord of the land as he's called. All these things are against me. Hey, is this guy a pessimist or what? Things are looking downright nasty for him. Then Reuben spoke to his father saying, you may put my two sons to death if I do not bring them back to you. Put him in my care and I will return him to you. He says, I'll take up the challenge and put my two sons at risk. And Jacob is saying, that doesn't help. So it's not going to work. So finally, Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead. You're not taking Benjamin. His brother Joseph is dead. And he alone is left.

If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow. Sheol is the Hebrew place of the dead, and this expression Here it shows up in Genesis 37, several chapters back, and then again in a couple of chapters, and then continues on even in 1 Kings in a couple of places there. This expression of, go down to Sheol, you know, my gray hair is like, it's really bad and it's never going to get any better and I will be sad and depressed until I die. That's the expression.

Now, as we go through this passage, some of the things that we notice and see are that Joseph is merciful here. Were there some tough things he did? Yeah. Some of the actions we might say, well, he could have done differently, but in fact he was merciful.

He didn't carry out the punishments that he had the authority to carry out, which was, those are my brothers, kill them. That's what he could have said. He didn't carry that out. As a matter of fact, the prison was only three days and not three years. He didn't carry out the punishments that his brothers deserved and withheld cruelty. He was merciful rather than cruel and vengeful.

And we're also called to that. Are we not? We have the passage there in Romans 12. Don't seek revenge. And so he was merciful. He was also gracious. If mercy is withholding punishment or refraining from cruelty that might be deserved or called for, then showing grace is giving when an item of favor or a favor is not deserved or earned by the one receiving it. That's grace. What is grace? While we were yet sinners, undeserving, Christ died for us. That's grace. Joseph gave to his brothers beyond what was deserved. There wasn't any deserving it or earning it, but he did give to them. Joseph lived out grace among his undeserving brothers. These are the ones who had sold him off, even discussed killing him.

Not only filling their sacks full of grain and giving them extra provisions on the way back, you not only get the sack that you bargained for, but extra provisions to take along the way so you don't use up what you've got. And there's more to come. He's going to do that again. They put money back in there. We also are called as believers to show grace. To show the Lord's grace. Grace to one another. To live that out. Live it out in what we speak. Live it out in what we do. Grace not because it's a good idea. Not because that's God's advice or you really ought to. but grace because that's of God's very character. Grace because that's His life shown through us.

Now, one of the things we saw in this chapter, we're going to see some more, Joseph's brothers were beginning to see things in terms of God's working. The reality is what they saw in terms of God's working was God's discipline in their lives. And they're saying, What is God doing to us? We really did wrong against our brother and that's why this is happening. They were beginning to see God's working in the sense of discipline in their lives. In our own lives, difficulties come of one of two categories. One is the trials and suffering that the Lord intends to grow us spiritually and to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.

Or it may be God's discipline. And you know what? It's important to discern which one it is. It's important to discern which one it is. If I'm going through a tough time with something, It's important for me to understand, is this something that I didn't do anything to bring about or to deserve, but God has allowed it in my life to grow me, to conform me to the image of the Son? Or is this something like Joseph's brothers began to see, oh boy, I've done something and now this is discipline, the Lord's discipline to get me back on the path that I should be on.

The ultimate end of conforming is that we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. There will be a day, I hope it's today, when we will be ultimately conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ as John puts it in 1 John 3. We will be like Him. We will see Him just as He is. We will be ultimately conformed. It will happen. Romans 8 says it's predestined. If you're a believer here this morning, a day will come, and perhaps today, when you'll be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It will happen.

Joseph himself was beginning to see things in terms of God's working. Yeah, it wasn't the discipline for himself, but he would eventually come to see these injustices that his brothers carried out on him, the slavery, spent 13 years in that, false accusations, certainly at least from Potiphar's wife, and imprisonment, those were all to God's good purpose. Joseph took the first steps toward forgiving. By being merciful and gracious, Joseph was taking the first steps towards totally forgiving his brothers. Now notice I said first steps.

He's not done, is he? He's got more things to deal with. As a matter of fact, we're going to find out that it isn't until the last chapter of Genesis, and even that partway through the chapter, that His forgiveness comes out in full. It's going to take a while, but the Lord's working on it. He's going to tell them there in Genesis 50, God meant it for good, in order to bring about this present good result.

For us in the body of Christ, the basis of our forgiveness of one another is that in Christ we're already forgiven. It is not as presented to the Jews in the Sermon on the Mount, forgive in order that you be forgiven, but rather forgive because you've been forgiven.

See the difference there? Law says forgive so that you'll be forgiven. Grace says, well you've already been forgiven, therefore forgive. See the motivation is different, isn't it? That's grace-based motivation. Forgive not because you better do it in order to be forgiven, but forgive because you've already been forgiven. It's a settled issue. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. It's a done deal. Forgive because you've been forgiven, not in order to be forgiven.

As believers in Christ, we're to aim for restoration and resolution of problems. If a believer steps off the path of fellowship with the Lord and with one another, what's our goal? Ah, there's a believer out of fellowship. Boom! No, that's not the solution. The goal is always restoration. The goal is resolving the issues and the problems. That's where we're aiming. For problems between ourselves and others, including other believers, we're called to seek to restore fellowship. By the way, that's not the same as compromise. Restoration is where we're headed, and ultimately, That's what Joseph is working towards and what the Lord is wanting to bring about between Joseph and his brothers.

Did they do something horrifically awful? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And you know, the truth is, we may be on either side of that coin in our own hearts and lives. We may have had something terrifically awful and it might have been a while since that happened. Or maybe not. We may have had something terrifically awful that we've been on the receiving end of.

And the Lord's intent is just the same. For forgiveness. For restoration. And most especially among us as believers. Or it may also be that we were the one that needs forgiving too. And the Lord calls for that as well. The Lord calls for that as well. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, and it's really the beginning of chapters to come, we see in the big picture a process taking place. And it's a valuable one. It's a lesson that, well, there's multiple lessons, but they count for here and now. And we pray, Lord, that you would teach us these lessons of perspective, of recognition, that indeed you are the one who deals with every injustice.

And we thank you, Lord. We can count upon you. Every injustice will be dealt with. And by that, we're thankful that we can look to your graciousness as you carry that out. And we look for your working in our hearts, Lord, that we would both be the ones who forgive, because that's, after all, what you've accomplished, as well as the ones who are forgiven, because you've paid the price. I just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.