Genesis 43, Genesis 43 tonight, and we've been going through this study of this most remarkable man, Joseph, and what a man. He was not just in history, but in scripture. And he just is like a tower of strength and faith for you and I to learn from and be blessed by his example and also convicted. Because as we look at Joseph's life and we see ourselves in Joseph's life, we say, I'm not sure I would have made that choice. I'm not sure I could have been like him had his attitude. And Joseph's life is there to teach you and I that you could make those choices. You could be like him. It's just flesh and blood. And his story is recorded in scripture for you to say, I want to be like him. I want to walk with God like he did down in Egypt. One of the most difficult places to live the Christian life is in the home. in the family, particularly with relatives. And many Christians feel in this area. King David, we noted as we've been going through his life, was a great king. He was a great songwriter. He was a great worship leader. He was a great warrior. He was a great poet. He was a wonderful administrator of his empire and of the worship in the tabernacle. but he was a failure in his home. In fact, he wasn't just a failure, he was a catastrophic failure as a father and a husband. Joseph is going to demonstrate that that doesn't have to be true. Joseph got to the very top of the tree in the political world. in the social world out there, in a world full of corruption and idolatry and immorality. And he got to the very top, but yet he never took his eyes off God. And he walked with God from when we first meet him at 17 years of age, till he takes his last breath at Genesis 50 at 110 years of age. You see a consistency of character and a tremendous example of faith in the Bible. In fact, I go as far to say is there's few greater men in history than Joseph, few greater men in scripture than Joseph. He's often overlooked by Bible students. And it's no surprise that God gives him 13 chapters of the book of Genesis. He devotes to the life of Joseph. because he wants you to pay attention to this map and to learn from him. Let's read from verse 15. If you remember, we left off last week with Jacob surrendering to the will of God, having said he would never allow Benjamin to go to Egypt. He then is forced by providence to say, I surrender, and Benjamin will go with you. And I pointed out to you last week that God has a way of making us do what we even say we will never do. We can do that to the child of God. Verse 15, the men, the brothers took that present. This is the one that Jacob advised him to take. And they took double money in their hand and Benjamin and rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon. And the man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house. And they said, because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses. And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house. and said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food. And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight, and we have brought it again in our hand, and other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. And he said, Peace be to you. Fear not, your God and the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money.' And he brought Simeon out unto them. And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their asses provender. And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon, for they heard that he should eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And they asked him of their welfare and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye speak? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this your younger brother, of whom you speak unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother. And he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. And he washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said, set on bread. And they sat on for him by himself and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled one at another. And he took and sent messes or portions unto them from before him. But Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him." Amen, God will bless the reading of his word. Now in verse 15, these men left on this three week journey back down to Egypt. And no doubt on the journey, they were thinking of strategies, thinking through and discussing possibilities of what might happen when they got to Egypt. And the uncertainty, the pressure that Joseph put them under when they went down the first time would clearly have unnerved them. And these are men that are used to running a huge business. Jacob, their father, was a very wealthy man, one of the wealthiest men of the East. And they were used to being men in authority, telling other people what to do. They were used to having their way, even over their father. But now, for the first time, maybe for the first time in decades, since they were small children, they are afraid. And they're having to deal with people like Joseph and the leaders in Egypt who are stronger than them. And they're having to deal with situations that are out of their control. Of course, God is working through it all to unnerve them, to convict their consciences, to shake their self-confidence, to awaken the spiritual deadness in their lives and bring them to a place of repentance. And I'm sure Joseph was eagerly awaiting their return, particularly to see his full brother, Benjamin, for the first time in 22 years. And Joseph's going to have to control himself because having emotions is not wrong, but managing your emotions at the right time is where spiritual maturity and wisdom comes. And Joseph's going to have to handle that, especially when he meets Benjamin, that he doesn't act in a premature way and spoil the God-given opportunity to lead his brothers. to true repentance and then true reconciliation. Now, when they arrived in Egypt, they stand before Joseph. And Joseph does something which no doubt unnerved them even more. Because when they arrived down in Egypt in verse 16, rather than talk to them, give them what they wanted, food for their families, and make them pay for it and then send them on their way, which is no doubt what they were hoping would happen. Joseph does something very, very strange. He demands that they come to his house for a meal. Wow. Now these are farmers. These are men of the country. These are men that no doubt had traveled three weeks with the dust of Egypt and the desert on them. And suddenly they're faced with the prospect of going into a foreign culture, into a royal palace, and sitting down with the prime minister of Egypt and all of his leaders around him. That must have been very unnerving, particularly when they didn't speak the language. They didn't understand the culture. And they're already on edge. making sure they don't make any faux pas after what happened previously. And now he says, you come to my house and you come for a meal. And they can't say no. And there's a most unexpected twist in the tale. And you notice all along, Joseph keeps twisting the story, keeping them on edge. Just when they feel a little bit comfortable, he changes. He says, you come to my house. He doesn't speak to them. And he says, bring them to my house and I'll come and eat with them. So he doesn't speak to him. He leaves him to stew in this. You can imagine there'll be talking in their Hebrew language one to another. What's going on? Is he, what's this man up to? And we know already God has been working on them and they've started to acknowledge their sin. And Reuben even used the word sin in discussion with them previously. And we can be sure that this is really making them think. Maybe they even prayed. What's going to happen next? Can God get us out of this hole we're in? And the men were brought to Joseph's house. And we're told in verse 18, notice what happens. And the men were afraid. Joseph knew this would unnerve them. And it certainly did. They were afraid. They were on tender hooks. Extremely nervous. Now bear in mind, these are men that don't fear easily. These are men that are used to telling other people what to do. These are men of authority. Ruthless men. Now they're afraid. And they decide to talk to the steward, Joseph's representative, before they come into the house to sit at the meal. And they begin to explain to him, and they're so polite, they said, verse 20, oh, sir, oh, I don't think they use that term too easily, these sons of Joseph. And they said, we came indeed down the first time. And it says in verse 21, this made them start to be honest with him. They said, we found the money and we brought it again to you. We want to get this out of the way. They want to be honest straight away. Yes, they get found out. And verse 22 says, another money have we brought down our hands to buy for you. We're not here to cheat. We're not here to take advantage. We're here to pay our way. We want to be honest. We want to deal properly. And they say in verse 22, we cannot tell who put the money in our sacks. We didn't steal it. We don't know how it got there. And notice what the steward says, and this is so interesting. Clearly Joseph has had an influence, even on his staff. It's always good when Christians are in the place of authority and when you meet people who work with them and you can see their influence on the lives of those around them. And this steward said something that clearly tells us that Joseph has had a tremendous influence on him. Because notice the words that come out of his mouth. He begins with this, peace be to you. peace. Don't be afraid. Fear not." Now, Joseph is going to use similar language, Genesis 50, when he tells his brothers, don't be afraid. Fear not. I'm not against you. He straightaway tries to calm them. He's not cynical. He's not cold. He's not professional even. This man, he's a heart for them. He has an interest in them. And it's very interesting that Joseph has this man near and dear to him, connected to him. And notice what he says. He says, your God and the God of your father have given you treasure in your sacks. Isn't that interesting? Who does the man, the steward speak about? The Lord, God. Remember, we've noticed this throughout in Joseph's conversation. No matter who he's talking to, he's always bringing God into the conversation. And it's now starting to rub off on his staff. Maybe this man's even a believer. We just don't know. But certainly the influence of Joseph has influenced the conversation even of this man who's representing Joseph. And his first reaction when the brothers bring up this issue about their money, he says, God has done this. God has done this. And then he brings Simeon out onto them. And no doubt they were asking themselves, when is Simeon? Is Simeon going to be left in prison? Are we even going to see him again? Has he been sold to slavery? And Joseph suddenly brings Simeon into the picture. I'm sure that brought a sigh of relief. Maybe things are going well. He's accepted our explanation about the money. We've now got Simeon back. We've been invited to the prime minister's house for a meal, which is a sign of friendship. Things are looking positive. They're still on edge, but things are looking a bit brighter. And then it says they made ready the present for Joseph who is coming back at noon. So Joseph very cleverly makes them wait. No doubt to build up the tension, keep them on edge a bit longer. Don't let them get too comfortable. And these are farmers, men of action, men who are normally out working with sheep all the time. I don't imagine sitting around in a palace waiting would make them feel any more comfortable. And all these things, the wisdom of Joseph, you have to see it, how he handles these men, how he patiently carefully, prudently, wisely, organizes every one of these events. Even the steward, having him there at the door, a man of that character, a man who's able to talk about God, not by coincidence, but by the wisdom of Joseph. And when Joseph came home, and Moses, the writer of Genesis, just wants you to get this straight, because look at verse 26. When he came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand into the house. And then notice what it says, and they bowed themselves to him. Where? To the earth. First time, all 11 brothers on their, not just their knees, on their faces before Joseph. I remember what we said last week. 22 years before, God had sent the dream that one day Joseph's brothers would bow down before him. The first visit to Egypt, 10 bowed down. The next visit, all 11 is bowing down, just as God had said. No coincidence. No mistakes. And we reminded you last week of what Joseph's brothers said about his dream. Do you remember? When they tore the coat off him, they cast him into the pit. Remember they said these words, we will see what will become of his dreams. What they were really saying is we'll see what his God can do. They didn't deny that the dreams were real. And neither did Jacob their father. They didn't deny that God had sent the dream. They just refused to accept its meaning and his teaching. And they made this great declaration, we'll see, we'll see if God can do it. We decide our future. We rule our destiny. And you know, Lauren's full of people like that, isn't it? When you talk to them about God, they'll tell you, I decide my destiny. I do what I like. I live the way I like and with whoever I like. And if it suits me, I'll jump in and out of a home and in and out of relationships, and I'll do whatever suits me. Well, there's gonna come a day when they'll discover, no, you can't. No, you can't. Just because God gave them 22 years, it doesn't mean God has forgotten his promise here to Joseph and his brothers. And here we have 22 years later, all 11 of them, having sworn they would never do it, bowing to the earth, to Joseph. Moses just underlined, it's like Moses puts a big highlighter there, you know? Those yellow highlighters, it's almost like he puts a, don't miss it. God makes no mistakes. Whatever God promises, God delivers. And after they had bowed themselves to the earth, Joseph spake to them of their father. He says, is your father well? And I like even these questions, verse 27, because you can see there's a very personal, very friendly, almost loving. in question by Joseph here. And the questions come out one at a time. It's almost like he's desperate for the information. And he says to them, in verse 27, is your father well? I'm sure he was tempted to say, is our father well? He says, is your father well? The old man of whom you speak. And then, is he yet alive? As Joseph wanted to know. Is he still with us? And the rapidity of these questions, and the one after the other, you get the attention, there's an urgency there with Joseph. There's a desperation to find out, is the old man still with us? And they answered and they said, thy servant, our father, is in good health, he is yet alive. And then notice what happens, they bowed down their heads and made it, again, they fall down before Joseph. And Moses just recorded the second, just in case you missed it the first time. God kept his word. Verse 29, Joseph lifts up his eyes and he sees Benjamin, and then it records his mother's son. Oh, this powerfulness. First time he's seen his brother, the one that he's so close to, the one that never harmed him, growing up in the home in Canaan, the one that he was the big brother to. All the rest were older than him, but Benjamin was younger. What a bond they must have had. What a love Joseph must have had for his brother Benjamin. He says, is this the brother? Joseph says to Benjamin, you can see he just can't restrain himself. Even though he's being so careful to not reveal who he is, it just comes out of him. He says, God be gracious unto thee, my son. He just cries out a blessing. It just came out of Joseph before he could even stop himself, I would think. He just cried a blessing, may God be gracious unto you, Benjamin. And it so moved Joseph. that he had to leave the room. Now, the Bible says he went out and he wept. You may say, well, what's the significance of that? That's just a natural thing, maybe after meeting some of his family for a long time. But remember, in these 22 years, Joseph has gone through great hardship, great trial, great pain, great betrayal, great loss, not just from his brothers, but from Potiphar and his wife, from the Chief Butler and the Chief Baker and all of those things that came into his life and the humiliation of being a slave and the humiliation of being rejected by his brothers and the loneliness. Imagine never being able to tell anybody what happened to you. You're down in Egypt, you can't tell, my brother sold me as a slave. You couldn't tell people that, you'd be so ashamed. Just laugh at you anyway. And here's Joseph, he's been carrying this burden of pain, loneliness, betrayal for 22 years. And having endured all of that, it can make you a very hard person. It can make you a very cynical person. But the fact that he had to go out and spend time weeping, just when he saw his brother for the first time, tells you that the 22 years in Egypt doesn't have to make you a hard person. 22 years of suffering doesn't have to make you cynical. And Joseph, his heart was bursting with love and affection for his brother Benjamin. But you know, at the end of verse 30, many as a person would have said, enough. I need to go back and put my arms around Benjamin and get back to see my daddy. You know, Joseph is not just a man who has a heart of God. He has the wisdom of God in his heart. And he knows that this matter of dealing with the sins of his brothers is not fully complete. As much as he wants to embrace Benjamin and be reconciled, meet his father again, he knows that he has a duty, a God-given duty. Remember, God was the one who put him in the dream as over the brothers, as the patriarch, as the pastor, really, of the home. In the same way that Abraham was a priest and a pastor and a prophet in his home under the Old Testament age. And Joseph recognizes, no, God has put me in this position, and I have a duty to really work and deal with my brothers in the spiritual way, in a godly way. And rather than simply give in to his emotions, it's not wrong to have emotions, it's just wrong to let your emotions guide all your decisions. And even as parents, we could make that mistake, can't we? As spouses, we can make that mistake. As brothers and siblings, we can make that mistake of letting our emotional ties lead us to make the wrong choices. And if you remember, the very first sin in the world happened because Adam let his emotional relationship with Eve overrule his relationship with God. You ever think about that? Sometimes when I'm teaching the book of Genesis, I'll ask the students in Bible college, why did Adam eat the food? Because we know the Bible says he wasn't deceived. Eve was deceived by the serpent, he wasn't. You ever ask, think of that question. I think the answer has to be, or the answer that's implied, is that his love for Eve was so great. Remember, she was the perfect woman. And when he met her the first time, he said, this is her, this is the one, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And he was so overwhelmed with her that she had come to a point where he had to make a choice between her and God's will. And he decided, I'd rather die with Eve than live without her. Because when she came to him with the fruit, having ate the fruit, he knew, he understood what had happened, that she was now going to die. He fully understood the significance and the consequence, and he took the fruit to die with her. And he let his emotions overrule his duty. And Joseph here, although he has great emotions, No question. He never allows his emotions to overrule his duty. And that's hard. Even as a parent, you're tested, aren't you? As soon as a child begins to exert his or her will, it's a difficult thing to do, isn't it? To say to the child, no. When your heart says, just let them, make them happy. Just give in. And we as parents know that the moment you give in, you've lost the battle, isn't it? In fact, you might lose it for years. You might lose it for the rest of your life. And Joseph's very careful here not to let his emotions, and I'm taking a long time to make this point, but I think it's worth making. Be careful of your emotions because your emotions can overrule your duty. And Joseph doesn't do that. Look at verse 31. He washed his face. He said, no, no, I'm not gonna give in. And these were not sinful emotions. These were natural emotions, his love for his brothers, and particularly Benjamin. He washed his face and he went out and he refrained himself. In other words, he decided to discipline. And you can make a choice to discipline yourself, not to let your emotions override your duty. He could make the choice. Joseph made the choice. No, it's not about Joseph. It's not about Joseph's feelings. It's about Joseph's duties to his brothers. And then he does something which showed great wisdom and it really blew their minds because these are not stupid men. These are very shrewd businessmen. These are men that are good with numbers and money. and business. It says, he sat these men on the table by himself, it says. He sat by himself, they sat by themselves. And verse 32 explains that the Egyptians never would eat with other races. That's just a little, by the way, parenthesis, I believe, where the Holy Spirit is telling you why God sent the Israelites down to Egypt, because the Egyptians couldn't live beside them, close with them. They couldn't allow them to intermarry, because they saw them as a different race. And one of the reasons God was able to send Israel or the Israelites there for 400 years and them to remain a separate and prosperous people was because of this separation. that the Egyptians enforced. But then verse 33 tells us what Joseph did. He says, he sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And notice what happened. And the men marveled one another. at another. So he began by separating the Egyptians from the Hebrews. And then having separated them, he set them by age, from the oldest to the youngest, one to 11. Now you may say, well, that's not really that impressive. Well, it really impressed these brothers of Joseph because they knew something about Mars that maybe you don't know. Because the number of combinations, possible combinations, of getting that right, one to 11, oldest to the youngest, is almost 40 million possibilities. Just think about that. Just under 40 million possibilities, they said. of getting that right. 1 in 40 may reach him. And yet, when Joseph put them down, maybe he stood and says, you stop, you sit there, you sit there, you sit there, you sit there, you sit there, you sit there. They couldn't make believe. How did this man know to get it exactly right? One in 40 million possibilities. Arba, are you something special? Something's at work here. And you can be sure this spoke to them. God, there's something straight going on. And then they did one last thing. Before his final test. Verse 34. And it seems to be the way the ape was this. All the fruit must have come to Joseph as the prime minister had the banquet. And then he must have taken and then sent down to their tables. But as he sent his servants down to the table to take food from his table to the table of his brothers, he sent five times as much to Benjamin, five times as much. Now, why did he do that? You ever think? What was going on in Joseph's mind? Joseph knew from bitter experience that being a son of Rachel brought problems in the home. Jealousy in the home, envy in the home. And I think what he was doing, he was picking out Benjamin, showing favoritism to Benjamin, and watching to see what their reaction is going to be. Is the old hatred, the old jealousy that was there 22 years before, is it still there? Or have these brothers changed? The next time we come back, we look at chapter 44. Because one of the tests of the final test Joseph is going to look for before he reveals himself is this. Are they willing to sacrifice Benjamin, the other son of Rachel, in order to save their own skins? Well, that's going to be a test. Is there still lingering deep down any animosity towards the sons of Rachel? He's going to give them a golden opportunity to turn their back on Benjamin and say, well, Good riddance, not our problem. And we'll see that next time when we come to the final test that Joseph has for his brothers. Let us pray. Father, we thank you as we have looked at this passage, what lessons it has for us in the 21st century. We thank you for the patience of Joseph and the wisdom of Joseph. We thank you for his faith You think even that we see him influencing his own steward to speak of God to his brothers. What an example we have in this man. So much we could learn from him and to be like him in our own day-to-day lives. For these things we ask in Jesus' precious name. Amen.