Genesis 42, we'll be looking at the entirety of the chapter as our sermon text this evening, all 38 verses. As you're turning there, I'll just remind you where we are in the book of Genesis. Last week we looked at chapter 41, and we saw that Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, and as a result of that, Joseph was exalted. that he was the exalted, humble servant of God that we saw last week. And in being that person, he was also a perfect and beautiful foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world as a humble servant of God, and yet is at the right hand of the Father today, exalted overall as the King of kings and Lord of lords for all that he has done for our salvation. So we're here in this story with Joseph, and today as we get into chapter 42, we'll read about the time when Joseph's brothers first came down to Egypt looking for food in this difficult period of famine. So let's give our attention now as we read these 38 verses here in Genesis 42. This is the word of our Lord. When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, why do you look at one another? And he said, indeed, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down to that place and buy for us there that we may live and not die. So Joseph's 10 brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers. For he said, lest some calamity befall him. And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, where do you come from? And they said from the land of Canaan to buy food. So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them and said to them, you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. And they said to him, no, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all one man's sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies. But he said to them, no, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land. And they said, your servants are 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more. But Joseph said to them, it is as I spoke to you, saying, you are spies. In this manner, you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you and let him bring your brother, and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies. So he put them all together in prison three days. Then Joseph said to them the third day, Do this and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house, but you go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. And bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified, and you shall not die. And they did so. Then they said to one another, we are truly guilty concerning our brother. For we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear. Therefore, this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them saying, did I not speak to you saying, do not sin against the boy and you would not listen. Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us. But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave a command to fill the sacks with grain to restore every man's money to his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money, and there it was in the mouth of his sack. So he said to his brothers, my money has been restored, and there it is in my sack. Then their hearts failed them, and they were afraid, saying to one another, what is this that God has done to us? Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. But we said to him, We are honest men. We are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan. Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this I will know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone, and bring your youngest brother to me. So I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land. Then it happened as they emptied their sacks that, surprisingly, each man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me. Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me. Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, 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 left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave. And there we come to the end of our passage tonight. Well, as you know, one of the main stories on the news these days, it seems, is how our president is responding to the pandemic. It always seems that in some way, this is a part of a discussion, the discussion that's going on. And depending on what media outlet you're listening to, some think that our president is doing a wonderful job right now, while others think that he is utterly failing right now. But setting all of that aside, one thing is for certain, and that is it does matter how he is responding to this. Is he doing the right thing? Or is he doing the wrong thing? I'm not going to answer that question, but that's an important question we have to ask ourselves, because as the leader of our country, we understand that his actions are never insignificant. And they certainly are not insignificant in a time like this one. As we look at our passage this evening, we're reminded that it actually matters how all of us respond to difficult providences. In particular, it matters how we respond to the times when God providentially confronts us with our sin. And that's what we're going to be talking about tonight. Because when God providentially confronts us with our sin, He also will sometimes then test us later to see if we have changed and if we're dealing with our sin. And whenever we're in either of these situations in God's providence, we too, like our president, are faced with a choice. Are we going to do the right thing? Are we going to respond in the way that we should? Or are we going to do the wrong thing? and respond in a way that we should not. Of course, we all know, and as we'll see this evening, God wants us to do the right thing. And the right thing in these circumstances is for us to turn away from our sins and keep his commandments. And so as we take up another chapter here in the story of Joseph. That's the main point I want you to see and to seriously think about and apply to your life tonight. And that is when God providentially confronts you with your sin and tests you to see if you have changed, respond by repenting and pursuing new obedience. Respond by repenting and pursuing new obedience. Well, let's consider here firstly tonight that God's providence is always at work in your life. Let's go back to the beginning of the chapter, verses one and two. When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, why do you look at one another? And he said, indeed, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down to that place and buy for us there that we may live and not die. As we saw last time, there were going to be seven difficult years of famine in Egypt, but not just in Egypt, in other parts of the world as well, including Canaan, where Joseph's father and brothers were living at the time. And so this is why we see here at the beginning of our chapter that Jacob tells his sons to go by food in Egypt. In fact, it seems Jacob's a little frustrated they had not already gone down to Egypt to buy food. And so he gives them this instruction, but he also makes it clear there was a caveat, and that is Benjamin was not going to be going to Egypt with them. That's brought out for us in verse 4. because Benjamin's now the favorite son. If Joseph is gone, now Benjamin has taken his place, and as he says at the end of the chapter, if anything would happen to Benjamin, of course his heart would be broken. This was his attitude. So the ten brothers then made their way down to Egypt to buy food, and notice what happened when they arrived. Verse 6. Now Joseph was governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth." Now if you remember, when God gave the dreams of greatness to Joseph many years in the past, it was revealed to him that his father and his brothers would bow down to him. And what did we just read here in verse 6? When the brothers came to Egypt looking for food, that's exactly what happened. Moses says they bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. And so just as we saw last week, these dreams then are now starting to come to fulfillment, that the brothers are now bowing down to him. And as we're told in the following verses, he recognized them. Now, the dreams are still not entirely fulfilled because Jacob has not yet come down to Egypt, but they're pretty close to being fulfilled because the brothers here were prostrating themselves before him. And yet, if you remember, when everyone found out about these dreams that Joseph had had, the brothers insisted this would never happen. Genesis 37 verse 8, for instance, says, And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. In fact, if you remember, they took action to ensure that this would never happen, that they would never bow down to their brother. This is why they hated Joseph and sold him into slavery. And yet, what do we see here in chapter 42? The brothers are bowing down before Joseph, exactly as God had revealed in the dreams. Well, how did this happen? The answer we're to see here is that this happened because of God's providence. His providence was at work in their lives. Think about it with me. They went to Egypt, why? Because there was a famine and Egypt had food. And what's more, it was God who made sure that there would be food for people to eat in Egypt. And when they went down to get the food, it was their brother Joseph who was in charge of the food. Why? Because God had put him in that situation. So if you go back and you think about all that's happening here, Joseph's brothers were bowing down before Joseph. Why? Because God had providentially put them in this situation. As he worked sovereignly in the world, he brought them to this place. And that's what I want you to see, because that's what He's doing in your life and in my life as well. Psalm 139, verse 16, I think is one of the clearest places in Scripture that tells us about the providence of God. And it says, your eyes, speaking of God, saw my substance being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. As I look back over the last 20 years of my life, I'm often amazed at what all has happened in that time. Because 20 years ago, I was a bass player living in West Virginia, hoping to become a professional musician. And yet now, here I am, a Reformed Presbyterian pastor living in Lafayette, Indiana. I'm not sure I'd even heard of Lafayette, Indiana 20 years ago, but this is where I find myself. Because this is where God wanted me to be on this day and at this time. So God worked providentially to bring me to this place. And that's true for you. Every little detail of your life, where you are today, all the things that have happened, where you'll be 10 years from now, it's all God working providentially, accomplishing His perfect plan for your life. And as we come to our second point on the outline, we need to understand that God, as he works providentially in your life, will sometimes confront you with your sin. And so let's go back to the text and look at verse seven. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, where do you come from? And they said, from the land of Canaan, to buy food. As I mentioned earlier, Joseph immediately recognized his brothers, but as we're told here, they did not recognize him. This is understandable if you think about it. It had been 20 years since they had seen each other, and now Joseph had an Egyptian name. He was clean-shaven like an Egyptian. He was dressed like an Egyptian. He even spoke the Egyptian language. Now what's more, thinking their brother was either dead or a slave, it never would have crossed their mind that he was a top-ranking officer. So they're not aware of the person they're speaking to, but Joseph is fully aware of who they are. So as one author puts it, now Joseph had absolute and perfect advantage over them. And seeing that to be the case, Joseph decided to do something with them. And that is, he spoke harshly to them, and he accused them of being spies. Verse 9, you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. And this actually wouldn't have been that out of the ordinary, because the Egyptians often feared invaders coming from the northeast, from the direction of Canaan. And at this particular time, when Egypt was weakened by the famine, They were especially on their guard for spies and for foreign invaders. As one commentator says, thus it would have sounded natural enough, not only to the Egyptians, but even to the brothers themselves, for him to make such an accusation. Nobody was surprised by it. And yet the brothers protested. They said in verse 10, no, we're here just to buy food. In verse 13, they said, look, we are all brothers of one man. They even talked about Joseph, how there's one brother who's no more. And they mentioned Benjamin, this brother who was back at home with their father. Joseph didn't believe them, or so he said. Of course he knew what was going on. And so Joseph then decided to put them through a test. A test that would prove the truthfulness of their words. And the test was this. Go back and bring Benjamin to me. Because if they could prove that Benjamin really existed, then he said, I'll know your honest men. But if you cannot bring Benjamin back to me, then I will have all of you killed. Now it's interesting, if you look at the text, at first only one of them was to go back, and the rest of them, the nine, were to stay in prison. But then he changed his mind, and he said, okay, we're just going to have one of you stay in prison, And the nine of you can go back. And that's undoubtedly because he loved his family back in Canaan and wanted to make sure plenty of food got back to them. But what I want you to see in all of this is that Joseph was giving his brothers a taste of their own medicine. Because he knew who they were. He didn't need any proof, any further proof. But having sinned against him in the past, he now wanted them to know what it's like. You see, there are many parallels to be seen here. I just want to point out a few of these parallels for you. As they oppressed him in the past, so here he oppresses them. As they accused him of being a spy in the past, you'll remember from the very beginning Joseph would bring back bad reports about them to their father, which they hated, so now he accuses them. of being spies. As they threw him into a pit, perhaps for three days, so he put them in prison for three days. And as Simeon was likely the one who instigated his poor treatment in the past, so he bound Simeon and kept him in prison until the brothers returned. In other words, here in Genesis 42, we see a complete reversal of what the brothers did to Joseph back in Genesis 37. And at first glance, it seems like, Joseph, what are you doing? This is just overcoming evil with evil. But what he's really after here is awakening the consciences of his brothers, because he wants them to be convicted of their sins. As we'll see later in the fourth point, Joseph has a loving purpose in all of this. He is not retaliating, and he is not simply overcoming evil with evil. Commentator John Currett explains it like this. He says, Joseph is setting up circumstances in order that the consciences of his brothers might be pricked. This is so that they might have a sense of remorse regarding what they had done to him. And we have to understand that here Joseph is acting like the Lord in doing this. Because in his providence, this is what God does in the lives of all of his people throughout the world. He will sometimes orchestrate events in your life and mine to show us our sin. Occasionally, one of my boys will do something to upset his brother, and that brother will do the exact same thing right back to him. And of course, that's a common experience when you have young kids. You all know what that's like. It's never the right response. But as I think about that response, I can't help but feel like that has to happen sometimes. It's not the right response. I want to be clear about that. But that is what kids need to experience at times. Because it's when you get a taste of your own medicine, that's when you really start to see your sin for what it is. When you're on the other end of the sin. And as adults, we need those experiences as well. We need to be on the other end of our sin. If we're being prideful all the time, we need to see someone else be prideful towards us. If we're the one who's grumbling and complaining, we need to see someone else grumble and complain. If we're the one speaking critically of others, we need someone else to speak critically of us, because when that happens, we're then able to see our sin more clearly. and understand what it really is. And that's what the Lord does for us in His sovereignty at times. Through the actions of others, He will providentially work to confront you, to show you, here is a sin in your life. Here's something that needs to be corrected. And then as we see thirdly on the outline, He will also providentially test you to see if you have changed. This also likely happens in His providence. So look with me now, let's go down to verses 25 and 26. Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. Here we're told, as Joseph sent the nine brothers back to Canaan, he was generous with them. He not only gave them sacks of grain, but he also gave them provisions for the journey, we're told, and he gave them all of their money back, though he did not tell them he had done so. And from Joseph's perspective, he was doing this out of love for his brothers. He wanted to be generous for them. He didn't want them to starve. He wanted them to flourish. He loved them. And yet when the brothers discovered the money in the sacks, they saw it a little differently. Look at verses 27 and 28. But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money, and there it was in the mouth of his sack. So he said to his brothers, my money has been restored, and there it is in my sack. Then their hearts failed them, and they were afraid, saying to one another, what is this that God has done to us? Because you see, if their money is still in the sack, that meant Joseph had not been paid. And if Joseph had not been paid, then that meant he thought of all of them as being thieves. This was not going to end well for them, if that was the case. And they understood this. And as the brothers said here, they actually thought, this is God coming after them. This is God coming after them for what they had done to Joseph many years prior. Commentator Alan Ross says, The brothers who knew they were guilty could perceive that it was God's retributive hand, for this was the second time they had come home with money, having abandoned a brother to prison in Egypt." And when they got home, we're told it only got worse, because then they realized that all of their money had been put back. We see that in verse 35, and they were afraid as a result. In fact, we're told in the final verses that Jacob was convinced that things were as bad as they possibly could be for him. Because Joseph was gone, Simeon was likely to be gone, and now the brothers were saying they had to take Benjamin, and so that meant he was probably going to be gone now as well. So here we see that by putting the money back into the sacks, Joseph caused them to become quite scared of what would happen. And yet Joseph was not just trying to scare them. He was being generous to them, as I said earlier. But with that, he was also testing them one more time. You see, Joseph's brothers left him for dead in Egypt after selling him for money. So now Joseph is putting them in a situation where they're faced with that same choice one more time. Would they take the money and forget about Simeon who's in a prison in Egypt, just as they had done with him? Or would they return the money and come back to get Simeon, which they didn't do but should have done with him? In other words, Joseph wanted to know if they would repeat their past sin against him or not. To put it another way, he wanted to know if they had changed. Were they different now? Or were they still the same self-centered, hateful brothers he always knew them to be? And again, Joseph is very much like the Lord in all of this, because this is what God does at times in his providence. He doesn't tempt us to sin. We want to be clear about that. But having confronted us with our sin, he will sometimes put us in situations where we also will be forced to make that same choice. Am I going to commit that same old sin one more time? Or am I finally going to cut it off? Have I changed? Am I obedient to God? Or am I still living in that sin? Earlier in my Christian life, I struggled a lot with worry. In fact, when I was a new young believer, I was often consumed with worry, worry over my health, in fact. Now, thankfully, by God's grace, I think I've been able to grow in that area. And sometimes it seems like perhaps I've even gotten beyond the struggle, but then every once in a while, something will happen. And usually it's something health related with me or most likely with my children. And there's the temptation again. There's the temptation for me to worry, and I'm always faced to decide, am I going to do it? Am I going to give in to that same old sin of worry that I did many years ago? Or am I different now? Am I going to trust the Lord? God will sometimes do that in your life as well, where you'll be faced with the choice. Will I give in one more time? or will I fight against it? Again, the Lord is not tempting you in these situations. He does not tempt anybody, but using evil, he does test his people. And so just like Joseph, he will test you in this way at times. And then as we see fourthly here on the outline, I want you to understand that though this can be difficult, God does have a loving purpose behind it. So go back now and let's look again at verse 7, the first part of the verse. We've already talked about how he understood these were his brothers, and he spoke to them in harshness. He spoke to them in such a way that seemed to be oppressive and dangerous. And yet, we have to keep in mind, Joseph was not mad as he talked to his brothers. He was only pretending to be harsh. Why? Because underlying all of the harshness was a tenderness and a deep love for his brothers. We'll look more in the next point at their acknowledgement of guilt in verses 21 and 22. But notice how Joseph responded when he heard them admit what they had done to him in the past. Verses 23 and 24. But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter, and he turned himself away from them and wept. It's pretty interesting, isn't it? Joseph was moved by their admission of guilt. He didn't stand there and think, you're getting what you deserve. This is what you deserve, and I'm so glad about it. No, he is crying when he hears their words. And this will not be the only time we'll find Joseph crying because of his brothers. In Genesis 43, when Benjamin finally makes it down to Egypt and Joseph finally sees him, his heart, we're told, was yearning for his brother. And yet not being able to reveal himself to his brothers, yet he had to quickly go into his chamber where he wept. Then later in Genesis 45, right before Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, he's overcome with emotion again, and we're told that he could not restrain himself. And so he sent out all of the people, and he wept aloud. So loud, in fact, we're told that the entire house of Pharaoh heard him. And you see, the reason Joseph kept breaking down in tears before he revealed his identity to them is because behind the roughness, was a great tenderness and love for them." Put another way, though Joseph was bringing them pain, Joseph had a loving purpose for everything he was doing. For one, he wanted to be reconciled to his brothers. And in order for that to happen, they had to be different. They could not be the murderous brothers he once knew them to be. I heard another pastor once say, helpfully so, forgiving others does not mean there aren't any consequences. In other words, in some situations, it is right for us to insist upon change before being fully reconciled. Cases of domestic violence, in fact, would be a great example of that today. But more importantly, Joseph did what he did to the brothers because he believed the covenant promises of God. Remember, Jacob's family members were the ones God had chosen to bring his blessing of salvation to the world, and Joseph believed that. In other words, Joseph believed that these brothers, the ones who had sold him into slavery and cast him off to be dead, these were the ones, along with him, that God had given the responsibility to bring salvation to the world. And in order for them to do that, Joseph understood they had to be different people. They had to be different people. They needed to be holy. They needed to be devoted to God. And as the one appointed by God to rule over them, Joseph saw it as his responsibility to help them in that direction. And that's ultimately why he did what he did here. Why he confronted them with their sins and tested to see if they were any different. Because if they were to be God's people who would bring God's blessing, then they needed to be repentant and obedient. That's not to say they needed to be perfect. But they needed to be living in a way that is becoming of a child of God. Brothers and sisters, it's for the same reason that God providentially confronts you with sin and tests to see if you have changed. For those of you who are parents, there undoubtedly have been times in your interactions with your kids where you have spoken to them with sternness. And yet it's not always because you're angry with them. Now sometimes you may be angry with them, and that's a different story, but at other times you're speaking sternly because you really want to make sure your child learns his lesson. That is very important to you, and it's very important to you because you are a loving parent, and you want what's best for your child. In a similar way, even though it does sometimes seem like God is mad at us when these things are happening, we need to know there's a loving purpose behind it. God's not taking His anger out on us, but no, He's working to bring us to repentance. He's working to give us an opportunity to pursue new obedience. Because that's how the people of God are to live. How you and I are to live, both for our own good, but also for His glory. Romans 8, 28 and 29. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. In other words, God's not doing these things in your life for no reason. He's doing them because He loves you and He's committed to you. And out of His love for you, He wants what is best for you, which is that you become more like Jesus. And so then, as we see fifthly and finally on the outline, we need to respond to these providences by repenting of our sin and by pursuing new obedience. Let's go back one more time and look at verse 21. Then they said to one another, we are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear. Therefore, this distress has come upon us. Having been confronted with their sin, this was the brother's response. They acknowledged their guilt. That is, they admitted the fact that even though they heard Joseph cry out for help when they threw him in the pit, they ignored him and they let him suffer in anguish. In other words, the point had been made in the brothers' lives. Getting a taste of their own medicine, they now knew that they were truly guilty for what they had done to Joseph. And here we see they acknowledged it to one another. As Ruben says in the next verse, they had sinned against the boy, and now his blood was required of them. Now they hadn't actually killed Joseph, but for all intents and purposes, that's exactly what they had done. Now we have to be careful in how we understand this, because this does not seem to be perfect or even full repentance. But I do think it is, at the same time, a good example for us, because this is where all repentance begins. with an acknowledgement of sin and guilt before God. Shorter Catechism question 87 asks, what is repentance unto life? And look at the answer. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God and Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience." Again, it doesn't seem that the brothers fully repented at this point, but they did come to have a true sense of their sin, which is the first part of real repentance. My friends, I want to ask you tonight, when you are confronted with your sins, how do you respond? Do you cast it aside? Do you ignore it? Do you pretend it never happened? Do you disagree with God's assessment? Or do you humble yourself and acknowledge what you've done wrong? As our minds are directed here, that's the response that God is working to bring about in our lives. When He confronts us, we are to admit our sin and turn away from it. Commentator R. Kent Hughes says, true guilt is a grace because it brings the guilty to seek forgiveness and to repent. And then also, as God works in our lives to confront us with our sin and test us to see if we've changed, we should respond by pursuing new obedience. Look with me at verse 37. Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, 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. When the brothers returned to their father in Canaan, this is what Reuben said to Jacob. He was willing for his own two sons to be killed if they did not bring Benjamin safely back from Egypt. And you see, the reason Reuben made this offer is because the brothers were not going to let Benjamin die in Egypt like they had done with Joseph. Alan Ross, again, is helpful. He says, Reuben, representing the brothers, was determined to return and see the matter through. His oath, even though a foolish way to guarantee the safety of Benjamin, demonstrated his concern for the safety of Benjamin, as if Benjamin were his own son. He goes on to say, the brothers, and especially Reuben, were willing to comply with the Egyptian governor's test, for they had changed. They had not changed perfectly, but by wanting Benjamin to go down with them, even promising to protect his life, they were demonstrating that they would not let anything happen to their brothers. Not to Benjamin with them, not to Simeon, who was down in Egypt. In other words, Joseph's plan was working. It had caused them to see their sin and it had driven them to change their ways. And friends, that is what God is after in your life and in mine as well. He does not want you to keep giving in to the same old sin. He wants you to turn from it and live in new obedience. And brothers and sisters, you can do this and you should do this. because of God's grace to you in Christ. We see a beautiful picture of that here with Reuben. Just like Reuben offered his son, the Father in heaven offered up his son for you. And his son actually did die for you. Why? So that you could be forgiven of all the times you continue to give in to that same old sin. But also so that you could have everything that is needed to say no to that temptation and finally walk in newness of life. So if you're in Jesus Christ this evening, you need to know you can respond this way. You have everything that you need to respond this way and you should respond this way. Therefore, knowing God's loving purpose in your life and God's ever so powerful grace in your life. respond to his providence with repentance, and respond to his providence with new obedience. May the Lord help you and me to do that this week. Let's pray. Gracious God, we thank you that you are committed to our sanctification, even when we are not, and certainly more than we ever are. Lord, you want us to be holy. You have given your son so that we would be holy. Lord, we often don't want to be holy because we love sin and we think that sin is better. And we pray that you'd forgive us of that. Lord, give us the desire for holiness that matches your desire for our holiness. Lord, thank you that you are working even in your providence to show us our sin and to draw us back to you. And we pray that that would be the case for all of us, even this week. Lord, may we not be those people who continuously give ourselves to the same old sin. But Lord, may we continuously give ourselves to righteousness and to a pursuit of obedience. Lord, would you give us the desire and the strength in the moment to do that? Lord, thank you that we have all of the resources we need because Christ has been given up for us. Lord, would you bless us to respond appropriately even this week? And we ask this in Christ's name, amen. Well, just like this morning, we have Elder Jeff Kessler here to lead us in our time of sharing and prayer. Well, good evening. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we indeed have heard a lot about your providence tonight, and we are encouraged that in this particular story that you and your providence worked it out, that it caused sinners to repent. Lord, I couldn't help but think about the circumstances that we find ourselves in with this virus, not only in Indiana, but in the whole country and indeed the whole world. And Lord, it is a hard providence. It's something that we don't like, but yet Lord, if because of it, you would cause many, starting with your own people, starting with your own people in the Lafayette Reformed Presbyterian Church to turn from sin and to live more holy lives, that Lord, this indeed would be a good outcome from an otherwise hard providence. So Father, we pray for that and we pray that all of us would examine our lives and look for sin and that we would, Lord, that you would give us the grace and the mercy to repent of our sin and then we would turn. And Lord, as we think about that, we even think about it in a bigger way for our entire nation. We often on Sunday nights pray for repentance and revival. And Lord, we want to do that again tonight, that you would cause many in our land to turn to Christ in faith and repentance. and that we would indeed pray for revival that many of us would pray for revival and that it would that you would send it to us and that it would affect men and women and boys and girls for many many years and even generations to come. Lord we Tonight do want to pray for Larry Walker. We prayed this morning about how his neck is causing him considerable pain and Lord Maple Ann told us later today that Indeed, he has a doctor's appointment coming up. I believe that at least one possibility would be for a shot of some sort of a medicine to help relieve the pain. So father, early this week he does have that doctor's appointment. I pray that you might give the doctor wisdom and whatever treatment is decided upon, that you would use it in his life to cause him to have less pain. And Lord, we just also pray that as he and Maple Ann wait for relief, that you indeed would give them the patience that they need and that they would keep their hearts and their eyes focused upon Christ. Lord, we also continue to hear good things about the health of Marlene's brother. We are very thankful to hear that he's headed towards rehab. Lord, compared to where he was just not so many days or at least just a few weeks ago when they literally didn't know if he would make it another day or two, Lord, we see this as a great blessing. Father, we pray that you might use it in his life, that he wouldn't count it as just being lucky or or something of that sort, but Lord, that he would see it coming from your hand and that you would use it in his life to change his heart and that he might have faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that you would give all of us wisdom in the coming week. We pray that you would help us to live our lives for your honor and your glory. Father, we pray for those that are hurting in our community and in our state and nation and indeed around the world, Lord, we've heard reports of just sick people that are afraid to go to the doctor because of COVID and are putting up with it at home, and some of them with very serious illnesses. And so we pray for them. Lord, we know that there are people who are lonely and those who are in despair even, which can lead to mental problems and even suicide. And so Father, we pray for all these people. We pray for children that are in homes with angry or alcoholic or on drugs parents, that you would protect them, Lord, that you would watch over them. Lord, we do, even as we think about this morning's sermon and on work, we continue to pray that for our economy, it would be your will that it wouldn't be too bad and that it would recover fairly quickly after people go back to work. Father, We give you the honor and glory. We often don't give you near as much honor and glory as you deserve, but Lord, we do give you honor and glory for who you are, for what you've done for us, for saving us from our sin, and for being our creator and our king. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as we come to the end of our service tonight, we'll go out with the blessing of God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, your heavenly father, and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all both now and forevermore. Amen. I hope you all have a great rest of your evening tonight and a good week. I encourage you to keep in touch with the people within the congregation and to remember your neighbors and other friends and see how we can be building one another up even in this time of separation. God bless you all this evening. Okay.