Would you please turn with me in the written word of God to Genesis chapter 44. Our text this morning will be the entirety of chapter 44 all the way through chapter 45 and verse 15. And I rejoice as we think through what we're going to be examining this morning. It is full of encouragement. As a matter of fact, I'm having to wrestle to not make more applications than I probably should. because I could spend as much time making applications of our text as I could giving you exposition of the text, because it's just that rich. But I trust the Holy Spirit knows how to apply to us things that I could never think of and never could imagine. In Genesis chapter 44, we're going to begin our reading in verse 1. And he, that is, Joseph, and he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sack with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack. Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money. So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, Get up, follow the men. And when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one from which my Lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing. So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. And they said to him, Why does my Lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your Lord's house? From whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my Lord's slaves. And he said, Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless. Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. So he searched. He began with the oldest, and left off with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city. So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there, and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination? Then Judah said, What shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my Lord's slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found." But he said, "'Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.' Then Judah came near to him and said, "'O my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant. for you are even like Pharaoh. My Lord asked His servants, saying, Have you a father or a brother? And He said to My Lord, We have a father, an old man and a child of his old age who is young. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him. And you said to your servants, Bring him down to Me, that I may set My eyes on him. And we said to My Lord, The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die. But she said to your servants, Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more. So it was when he went up to your servant, my father, that we told him the words of my Lord. And our father said, Go back and buy us a little food. But we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down. For we will not see the man's face unless the youngest brother is with us. Then your servant, my father, said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn to pieces, and I have not seen him since. But if you take this one from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever. Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?' Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him. And he cried out, Make everyone go out from me. So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. And Pharaoh said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near to me. So they came near. Then he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land. And there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God." And He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry, and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to Me, you and your children, your children's children, your flocks and your herds and all that you have. There I will provide for you, lest you and your household and all that you have come to poverty, for there are still five years of famine. And behold your eyes, and the eyes of your brother Benjamin, see that it is My mouth that speaks to you. So you shall tell My Father of all My glory in Egypt and all that you have seen, and you shall hurry and bring My Father down here. Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. And after that, his brothers talked with him." Let's pray. Father, it's not enough just to preach right doctrine. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to fall upon us, Lord. Not just for me as one who preaches, but for Your people as those who hear. We ask, Father, through the merits of Christ, that you would send the dew of the Holy Spirit to water the seed of the word in the hearts of your people. Break up the foul ground of hearts. Take away our stony hearts and our impenitence and our hardness of hearing. And cause the word of God to go deep in our hearts. Let the taproots go deep into the soul of our hearts. Let the stalk grow upward. And let the branches grow outward in love. And let us bear fruit. Fruit that remains unto holiness for Your glory. We pray for anyone here who's outside of Christ. Father, I have the ability to call people to Christ, but I have no power to draw them effectually to Christ. That power is with You and You alone. That power is the power of Your Holy Spirit. And we pray this very day that the Spirit of God would draw men and women irresistibly to Himself. And we ask this in Jesus' name and for Your glory. Amen. By the time we arrive in Genesis chapter 44, 22 years have passed since Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He was only 17 years old when he was betrayed. He'd been sold into slavery, and for 13 years he was a slave, and a part of that time he was also a prisoner. He had been thrown into prison because he was falsely accused of attempting to rape Potiphar's wife. But then at the age of 30, Pharaoh had his dreams that troubled him. Joseph was summoned and he was made the second highest ruler in all of Egypt, which meant in that day he was the second most powerful ruler in all the world. Well then, seven years of plenty took place. in which Joseph wisely set aside 20% of all the proceeds that were coming up from the ground in preparation for the seven years of famine. Which, by the way, you've got to think through that and realize that in order to obey God's commandments, you have to have faith in God's promises. He would not have set aside those 20% in the years of plenty if he did not believe God's command and God's prophecy that indeed there would be seven years of famine. But he trusts the Lord, he obeys the Lord, and now two years have passed. This is now the second time that he's seen his brothers. They came the first time, he spoke gruffly to them. He recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. And he uses the cloak of anonymity to test them. He wants to find out, are they the same men who sold me into slavery or has something changed? Do they have any remorse? And not only do they have remorse, have they been brought to repentance over their sins?" And that's what he's examining and teaching. You know the story, he sent them back the first time with grain. But he said to them, you must bring back your younger brother to me. Or else you will not see my face." Jacob was very reluctant to allow Benjamin to go with him, because Jacob favored his son Benjamin. He was the second-born son of his favorite wife, Rachel. He'd already lost Joseph. He did not want to lose Benjamin. But then Providence makes it so that Jacob has no choice. Benjamin's going to die if they don't go to Egypt and get food, because they're going to starve to death. And so he reluctantly submits himself to it and sends his sons away with Benjamin in tow. They come in and they're greeted in a way they did not expect. Joseph did the last thing they would have expected, and that was he threw them a party. He showed them extreme hospitality and has been extremely gracious to them. And he's seen evidence thus far. Evidence that they're remorseful. They don't know that he understands Hebrew. And they're telling each other, it's God coming after us because of what we did to our brother such a long time ago. And he had lost his composure and had to excuse himself, go to the other room, bring himself back. But now the second time, when he comes before his brothers, he sees Benjamin, he pronounces a benediction over him, and again he's about to lose it, and he has to pull himself away. and compose himself, and then come back and be with his brothers. And that's where our text comes, but we need to remember some things. Remember what happened 22 years earlier. The brothers were intent on killing their brother, hiding the body, and concocting a lie. Reuben stopped them from their purpose, and then Judah had the great suggestion, hey, there's Ishmaelites coming through, let's sell our brother as a slave. And so they sell him as a slave. Before that time, they had had him down in a well. They could hear his cries, his agonized moans, because they did not know what was about to happen to him. And they turned a deaf ear to him and had a party and had a big supper and fared sumptuously. And they sell their brother and they're happy because he's gone. They have money lining their pockets. And worst of all, they come home to their father. And they tear up his cloak and put blood on it and say, whose is this? And they let him come to his own conclusions. A wild beast has torn my son and killed him. And they watch their father's hair turn grayer and grayer and grayer with grief. Year after year after year, they see him carry this pain, and they don't relieve his burden. Better our father should suffer than that our sin should be exposed." This is the wicked men that is what they were 22 years ago. Joseph has a question. Has anything changed? Have they repented? And what we're going to see is absolutely extraordinary. So, I want to preach our text to you under three headings. First of all, we see a searching test in verses 1 to 17. Secondly, and surprisingly, we see a selfless plea given from the last person we would ever expect. And finally, we see a shocking revelation. So, a searching test. A selfless plea and a shocking revelation. First of all, a searching test. The steward that we met in our last chapter, who is the manager of Joseph's household, looms large in our text. Verses 1-13 are all what he's doing. Joseph has specific commands that he gives them. There's a three-fold command that he gives at the very beginning. Fill them in sacks. And he doesn't just say, fill them with food. He says, fill them as much as they can carry. He's not being stingy. He's not just giving them enough for their need. He's giving them an abundant supply. Which tells you, again, that behind his gruff exterior, Joseph has a compassionate heart. He wants to give them all that they need to supply for their large family. The second thing he does, he says, return their money into the mouth of the sack. He had done this the first time around. He's saying, I'm not going to charge you anything, even though I'm giving you an abundance of groceries. All this I'm doing out of benevolence. I'm doing this for free. But then he has a third and final instruction. He had a silver cup. And apparently he had had that silver cup with him at the dinner the day before when he had eaten with his brothers. And he says, put it in the youngest man's sack. Put it in Benjamin's sack. And so he does so. And he has something in tension. There's some more instructions he must have given to the steward, as we'll see in just a moment. But the men in the morning get up. They've had a really good meal. They find all their sacks full of grain. They're closed off at the top, tied off with a rope, put some on their donkeys, and they begin to journey out the city. And as they're just a little way away from the city, Joseph has something else to tell his steward to do. Go and overtake the men. Go overtake them and say to them, I showed you all this hospitality and this is how you repay me? You stole my cup. How dare you return evil for such good that was lavished upon you?" And so that's what he does. He overtakes them. and says in verse 5, "...is this not the one from which my Lord drinks, and with which He indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing." So He overtook them and He spoke to them these same words. Now we need to ask a question here. Did Joseph really practice divination with his cup? And the answer is no. Someone who loved the Lord like Joseph did would not be a practitioner of the occult. In those days, and I'm sure it's still around today, there was belief that certain items had magical properties to them. Some people believed that you could look down into your cup and the contents of it, swirl it around, and you could discern things from it, that there would be magical things taught to you, future events predicted, and things like that. And here is Joseph saying, this is the cup I used to practice divination, and you stole it, and it's all the more valuable because of its magical properties. Now we may pause and ask ourselves, was Joseph sinning by doing this because he's deceiving his brothers, isn't he? It's obvious why he's doing it. He's letting them believe he really is an Egyptian, not a Hebrew. He wants to keep the veneer of his disguise intact. I can certainly respect the test that he was exposing them to, but can we justify his action? And my answer would be no, we can't. No, it's not right to deceive like this. John Calvin makes the point that not everything in historical narrative is meant to tell us, go and do likewise. That we recognize what's going on here. In fact, two principles to bear in mind whenever you're reading historical narrative and seeking to interpret it. First of all, historic narrative is infallibly descriptive, but it's not always meant to be prescriptive. It's not meant to say, go and do likewise. Sometimes it is. But usually there's indicators in the text to tell us that we're supposed to imitate. Or some later scripture points back to it and says, just as this man did, so you should do. But also, there's a principle, I call it the 3P principle, and it's this, precept takes priority over precedent. As you seek to live your life, give credence to God's commands and give that the priority, rather than saying, well, so-and-so did this and that and the other thing, therefore I should do the same. People do this all the time with Deborah. Well, Deborah was a prophetess and she was in the ministry, therefore women can be pastors, right? Wrong. Because the New Testament gives us command, a precept, that women are not to rule or teach men inside the local church. We have a precept that takes priority over a precedent. You can say, well Deborah was a prophetess, yes, but you're not her. This was God dealing with her uniquely in that stage of historical redemption. But nonetheless, that's not a normative for the whole church. Even so, we're to look upon this and realize Joseph probably was sinning against the Lord by promoting this deception. But it should be a reminder to us that even the sweetest and best of saints is not sinlessly perfect. Even Joseph was not saved by his own works. Joseph had to be saved through the blood and righteousness of Christ, just like us, because he was fallen. So his method, we cannot affirm in every point. But nonetheless, it does have the desired effect. We can certainly say that. Well, verse 6, the steward overtakes the eleven brothers. And notice verses 7 to 9. He's accused them by a question, why have you taken this cup? And the men in this case are truly innocent. And so they respond out of a clear conscience and out of an innocent conscience. They say, why does my Lord say these words, far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing? Didn't we bring the money back that you gave us last time? And we returned it to you and we showed the integrity of our hearts. Why would we bring the money back, which was put back in our sacks, and then suddenly turn around and steal your silver or gold? And so confident are they of their innocence that they make a bold affirmation, Search us, search our things, and whoever you find the cup with, kill him. Give him the death penalty, and make the rest of us your slaves. And notice that in verse 10, the steward has a counter-proposal. He says, let it be according to your words, but here's his counter-proposal, and here's what Joseph must have given him some instruction about, because we'll see that Joseph says the very same thing later. He says to him, here's what we're going to do. I'm not going to kill the person we find the silver cup with. I'm going to make that man my slave, and the rest of you, the other ten, can go free. You can go free and go back home and be about your business. The one I find the cup with will be my slave." They're fine with that. They think they're innocent. They haven't stolen anything. They put all their things back on the ground. All their sacks. So that this man, the steward, can search them. And the steward knew exactly where he put the cup. He put it in the youngest man's sack. So it seems that he has a flair for the dramatic. He deliberately starts with the oldest and works down to the youngest. And he opens the first one's sack. Everything's there. Second one's sack. There's no cup there. Then they get to Benjamin. The one that they knew, that Jacob cared about, had reluctantly sent. And there is the cup, sitting in Benjamin's sack. And the men tear their clothes, and they're grieved. And you need to understand something, and it's very important to get this. As far as the men knew, Benjamin was truly guilty. He really had stolen this cup. They had no way of knowing otherwise. And they grieve and they mourn and they're like, wow, this is not going to be good. Now, here's the thing I want to point out to you. Think about the brilliance of the test. Because the goal here is to find out, are these men repentant? 22 years earlier, Rachel's oldest son, Joseph, had been sold into slavery by these very men, and they profited by 20 pieces of silver by selling him. Now, if they allow Benjamin to be caught into slavery, they'll get something far better than 20 pieces of silver. They'll get their freedom. They're going to get their freedom, and they're going to get a clear name. They're going to be declared innocent. The question is, what will they do? If they had had the same choice 22 years earlier, we know exactly what they would have done. Sure, take him into slavery. We don't care. As long as we're free. Will they do the same thing now with Rachel's younger son, Benjamin? Derek Kidner gives a brilliant summary of this test. He says, quote, Joseph's strategy, already brilliantly successful in creating the situations and tensions he required, now produces its master stroke. Like the judgment of Solomon, the sudden threat to Benjamin was a thrust to the heart. In a moment, the brothers stood revealed. When the steward converted their challenge of verse 9 into a chance of freedom at Benjamin's expense, all the conditions were present for another betrayal at a far more compelling price, their liberty, than the 20 pieces of silver they had once shared together." End of quote. So it's a brilliant test. We've seen, then, a searching test. In the second place, we see a searching or a selfless plea. Now, look at verse 16. I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, sorry. Go back to the first point. Let me finish up a few things there. Look at verse 14. Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph's house, and he was still there, and they fell before him on the ground. This is now the fourth time they've fallen down prostrate before Joseph. Joseph had dreamed 22 years earlier that they would fall prostrate in front of him twice. Now they've done it four times. Whatever God prophesies to happen will come to pass, and come to pass abundantly. And notice how the fulfillment far exceeded even anything that the prediction could have said. So they bow down in front of him. And Joseph says to them, what deed is this you've done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?" There's the perpetuation of the deceit. But still he's saying, don't you know I can divine things? You think I wouldn't figure out who stole my cup? Surely I would. And then Judah said, and notice what he says in verse 16, What shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves?" Now notice what he says next, because it's very un-Judah-like. God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my Lord's slaves, both we and he with whom the cup was found. Now do you hear what he's saying? There's two remarkable things about his saying. Number one is this, it wasn't you who divined this. It was God who saw this. What's he acknowledging? He's saying, our brother stole this cup from you. We didn't know about it, but he stole it. But God's eyes are in every place, keeping watch over the evil and the good. He's omniscient. He knows all things. He's omnipresent. He is in every place. And furthermore, He's just. And He's the one who's called our iniquity. But the second thing to notice about this is our iniquity. Not what Benjamin did, But he's imputing Benjamin's guilt to themselves. Again, very un-Judah-like. And then Joseph says in verse 17 the very thing that the steward had said, "'Far be it from me that I should do so, and I'm not going to make you all my slaves.' The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave, and as for you, go up in peace to your father.'" You have the free ticket to walk away free of charge if you'll just sacrifice your brother in it. So, that was the searching test. Now, we can get to Roman numeral 2, a selfless plea. Verses 18 to 34. It's interesting. It's all the words of one man. It's all Judah. Judah's doing all the talking here in this passage. And it's remarkable. And if verse 16 hinted at, this is very un-Judah-like, what he's going to say next is going to just floor us. Look at verse 18. Judah came near to him and said, O my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are even like Pharaoh." This was a man who was a very rebellious man, a very self-willed man, and now what's he doing? He's approaching Joseph, acknowledging his great authority. You are in superior authority over me, and I'm coming to you to appeal to you as one who is your servant. recognizing your lordship. And then, beginning in verse 19, he reminds Joseph of the things Joseph already knew about their previous conversation the first time they'd ever come to Egypt. When we were here, you asked us pointedly, do you have a father or a brother? And the answer is, yes, we have both. We have a father who's older and we got a brother who's younger. And he said to Miss, Bring him to me. Let me meet him and see him face to face. But he said, He is alone, left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." Here's Judah recognizing this was Rachel's last son that was remaining. His other son is dead. Now, is that Judah perpetuating a lie that Joseph was dead? Or is it that after 22 years, assuming that he had been in hard slavery for all that time, he must have already died? I don't know. Whatever the case, Joseph is no more, and Benjamin is there. And then you said, your servants, bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him. And we said, the lad is dear to his father, and if we bring him here, our father will die. But you were insistent. You said, you must bring him or else you're not going to see my face again. In other words, you won't be able to buy any more grain if you don't bring your brother because I'm not going to even talk to you or see you face to face if you don't. So, verse 24, we already know this. He went back home, told Jacob everything that had been spoken. The time came when times got desperate and all the grain was used up. And our father said, go back and buy us a little food. But we insisted, we can't go back unless we take Benjamin with us. In verse 27, your servant, my father, said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons, and the one went out from me. And I said, Surely he is torn to pieces, and I have not seen him since. But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave. That's what he had said, but obviously reluctantly had allowed them to take Benjamin back. Now, verses 30 to 34. Oh, it's so remarkable. Now therefore, this is what Judah is saying to Joseph, when I come back to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, it will happen when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And notice what he says next, it'll be our fault. Your servants will bring our father's head down to the grave. And then he volunteers, in verse 32, something he did not have to say. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever. He did not have to volunteer that information to Joseph, but he did anyway. And it's not only he's volunteering information that wasn't asked of him, it's the fact that he's being true to his word. Judah is being true to his word. Isn't that very different from the Judah we have seen in the past? And then verses 33 and 34 are absolutely show-stopping, because they're amazing for what they say. Notice verse 3. There's two things going on here. Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. Now bear in mind, as far as Judah knows, Benjamin truly is guilty. He really has stolen the cup. But what he's saying is, punish me for my brother's sin. Let me live the rest of my life as a slave, that my brother might go free. Now remember, way back when Joseph had been sold into slavery, whose idea was it? It was Judas. So our brother is a slave. We can line our pockets and get rid of him. And we'll concoct a story and tell dad he was eaten by wild beasts. And yet this is the same man saying, let me not know a day of freedom for the rest of my life. Impute my brother's sin to me. Let me pay for his crime. Let him go free." And then notice the next thing, verse 34, "...for how shall I go up to my father, if the lad is not with me? Lest perhaps I should see the evil that would come upon my father." Here's a man who for 22 years perpetuated a lie before his father that Joseph was dead, and now he says, I would rather I be put as a slave than I hurt my father again. This is the guy who became a best friend with a Canaanite, because birds of a feather flock together. He got his own daughter-in-law pregnant, and this is, oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were a prostitute. My bad. I mean, this is a wicked, vile man. And yet, here's the man that I'm beginning... I'm looking at this piece of work here. I'm looking at this scumbag, and I'm beginning to admire him. Punish me instead of my brother. And I'd rather be a slave the rest of my life than I ever add any more sorrow to my father." And the point is this, brothers and sisters, what a change saving grace makes in the hearts of people. How different it makes us, because when God saves a sinner, He changes his heart. He gives him a new nature with new loves, new drives, a wholly different man. This is not the same man we read about 22 years earlier. He's become something very, very different. And it's an amazing thing to watch what God's sovereign grace can do. It is absolutely amazing. More about that in a moment. What do we see? We've seen a searching test, and we've seen a selfless plea. Of all people, Judah is the one making this selfless plea. In the next place, we see a shocking revelation. Now, Joseph, twice, has almost lost it. And now, when Judah comes and lays bare, punish me instead of my brother. I would rather you punish me than my father should die. It's just too much. He can't bear it anymore. And there's almost a violence to him. Get out of the house! If you're not a Hebrew, leave. Because I'm about to become real undignified. I'm about to lose it and I need to talk to my brothers and I don't need anybody else around." But he can't even contain it there because he starts crying. And he doesn't just cry, it's like he's been holding all this emotion back for months on end. And now the dam is broken and the water comes rushing forth and he can't stop it. And he's wailing so loudly that not just everybody inside the house can hear him and see him. Even Pharaoh's house down the street over at the temple or over at the palace can hear him wailing. Even the Egyptians he's ejected hear him crying and wailing. And these men must be looking at him and thinking, what in the world is wrong with this man? And then it says in verse 3, Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. And what a shock. What a shock. Andrew Fuller does a great job in his commentary talking about the shock this caused. He says it this way. He starts off with these words, I AM JOSEPH. He puts it in all caps with three exclamation points after it. I AM JOSEPH. If they had been struck by an electrical shock, he says, or if the most tremendous pill of thunder had instantly been heard over their heads, its effect would have been nothing in comparison to that which these words must have produced. They are all struck dumb, and as it were, petrified with terror. If he had been actually dead, and had risen, and appeared to them, they could not have felt greatly different. The flood of thoughts which would at once rush upon their minds is past description." End of quote. What am I shocked to think that you have put away your brother 22 years ago and suddenly he's standing in front of you? I am Joseph. And they're shocked and they're dismayed, they're mute, they can't speak, they don't know what to say. So he invites them to come close to him. Before, remember, he'd stood off at a distance. Even when he ate with them, he had a separate table from them. Now he says, come near to me. And he says it again, verse 4, I am Joseph, your brother. Let the shock come in a second time here. whom you sold into Egypt." Now, how many people knew about them selling him to Egypt? This is proof positive that, yep, I'm really him. Then he says this very quickly, and it's a remarkable statement, verse 5. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. You're just the secondary cause. God is the first cause. It wasn't you who sent me here. God sent me here. God used your sin to prepare to spare your life. Isn't that just how God is? He can take even our sinfulness and use it, ultimately, for our good. God sent me here. It was His providence that put me here. Don't beat yourselves up because you can't resist what God has said. God has decreed it, and it's going to happen. And then he says, for these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five more. They'll be neither plowing nor harvesting. And then look at verse 7. God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you, that is, a remnant for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Now, a couple of things to note about that. First of all, do you recognize that what he's saying is God is being true to His covenant with Abraham? What did God say to Abraham? I will make your descendants greater than the number of the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. But if they die in a famine, that's not going to happen. But what do we see here? God is preserving the Abrahamic seed, and by that He's preserving the Messianic seed. The promise, which is what this entire book is about. The promise, I will send the seed of the woman to deliver you from the tyranny of the serpent. And over and over again, we've come to find that in the family of Abraham is where that seed's going to come from. And Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and then in Jacob, as we're going to find out, it's in Judah. It's in his seed that the Messiah will come. So here's my point. Do you realize that when God preserved this family, He was also preserving the seed, which means God had you and I upon His heart. Because this was all about your redemption and mine. Because if the seed of Abraham dies, the Messianic seed dies with him. But this was God intervening supernaturally to preserve us. To redeem us through the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But there's something else to note here. Notice what he says. He doesn't say, God sent me here to preserve the Egyptians. or the surrounding Gentile nations. No, to save your lives with a great deliverance. In other words, it was on your behalf, on behalf of God's chosen covenant people, that this entire thing happened. And the Egyptians and the surrounding Gentile nations, they're the beneficiaries, but only in a secondary manner. It was for God's chosen people that God did this. More about that in a moment. Verse 8, he reiterates the same thing. So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God. Don't flatter yourself. Don't give yourself too much credit. You, Pharaoh, all of them, they're just secondary causes. God is the primary cause. And He's made me a father to Pharaoh, Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. You didn't want me to be your ruler. God Himself made me a ruler here. And then verse 9-11, he has a message for them to send to their father. Can you imagine? You think your son's dead and 22 years later your son's come back with a message. We've met Joseph and this is what he's told us to tell you. And what's interesting in verses 10-11 is that, and actually verse 9 as well, As you see the word your, that second personal pronoun, it's your singular. You and your is you singular. So Joseph is giving a very personal note to Jacob. Hurry up and go tell my father, and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me. Dad, you haven't seen me in 22 years. You're going to live near my house. You're going to be able to see me a lot. You and your children, your children's children, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, everything you have. And there I'll provide for you. Imagine you're in the midst of a famine and you don't know where tomorrow's meal is going to come from, and here's your son sending you a message saying, God has already provided everything you need for the next five years. It's going to be okay. Everything you need is already stored up here. I'm going to take care of you. This is Joseph honoring his father. Because honoring our father and mother means taking care of them when they're old. So, he says, come near me, there's five years of famine left, God has said it, so come here and be with us. Verse 12, he now addresses his brothers again, says, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin have seen me, you've seen me with your own eyes, you've heard me with your own ears, you can bear witness that indeed it is me and prove to my father that I am alive. And you'll go and tell him about all my glory in Egypt and all that you've seen, so hurry and bring my father down here. Verses 14 and 15 are very touching. Verse 14, he weeps yet again. This is now the fourth time. He falls upon the neck of his brother Benjamin and weeps and sobs uncontrollably, tears of joy. And Benjamin sobs when he realizes the brother he thought was dead is alive. And then, look at verse 15. These are the very men who betrayed him, the very men who sold him into slavery, and what's he doing? He weeps over each one of them. He comes and embraces them in his arms, loves upon them, tears of reconciliation, tears of forgiveness, tears of joy, and they speak with him. They speak with him without fear, because they've been reconciled. Now I told you in the beginning, there are so many applications I could make from this text that literally I could spend as much time giving you applications as I have giving you exposition. But I'm going to constrain myself, I'm going to control myself, and I'm going to limit myself to four. So listen. First, as you observe the unfolding of God's providence, never forget that His concern for His people is central to everything that He does. His concern for His people is central to everything He does. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he didn't say, God sent me beforehand to spare Egypt and the surrounding Canaanites and the surrounding nations. Now, they were preserved by him being there. But he says, no, it was for you. It was for your house, for Jacob's house. Matthew Henry puts it this way, God's Israel is the particular care of God's providence. Joseph reckoned that his advancement was not so much designed to save the whole kingdom of Egyptians as to preserve a small family of Israelites. Our confession of faith affirms the same exact truth, chapter 5, on God's providence. Paragraph 7 says, "...as the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it takes care of His church, and disposes of all things to the good thereof." Brothers and sisters, is it just me, or do you think we're living in the midst of insanity in our culture? This pandemic we're going through right now, Nobody alive has ever remembered going through a weirder time than this. And as you read our Harvestville Prayer Guide, which I trust you're using, Do you not notice that everybody who's submitting prayer requests is saying the same thing? Here's the negative impact that COVID is having upon our congregation, upon our church. Our plans have been disheveled. We're struggling to find food. We have people unemployed in our churches, etc., etc., etc. And it's spiking higher now than it has been in the entire time. And we look at that and we think, wow, what in the world is God doing? And how can this turn out for our good and for the good of our church and the good of God's people? And if that wasn't enough, The ethnic tensions that are tearing us apart? Last Monday, I read, while I'm in the gym, I'm seeing the television say this, $1 billion has been cut in funding for the police departments in California in the middle of the largest crime wave anybody has ever known. We're eating ourselves alive. What insanity! What sin does to a culture and to a people! We hate God. We don't want God. We're rebelling against Him, using every excuse to rage against Him. It's insanity! What on earth could God have in store for us? Are we going to survive? Are we going to make it through it? How could God ever use this for good? How could God ever use ten brothers selling their younger brother into slavery for good? Well, we know with a bit of hindsight exactly how he did that. Or someone being falsely accused of trying to rape a man's wife. How could God use those things that were so very bad for his ultimate good? Well, he did. And the reality is, we can't look upon our circumstances and our culture with the eyes of the flesh, because if you do, you'll get cynical and you'll despair, and you'll just throw up your hands and say, what's the use? But what we have to do is look with the eyes of faith and say, God has promised. He's in control. And He is using everything in this world for His glory, and ultimately for the good of His people. Now, I don't know how He's going to be glorified, or how this is going to turn out for our good. I can't see it. Neither can you. But we have His word. We have His promise. In the middle of a culture gone insane, remember something. God's on His throne. And He's in control. And He's gonna work this out. Some of it's gonna glorify Himself in the manifestation of His justice and His wrath. And then it's also gonna be glorified in the salvation of sinners. That's how God's always glorified. So, let's trust Him. Let's look with the eyes of faith and dare to believe that what God has promised, God is able to perform and always will. Has that not been driven home to us over and over and over again throughout the text of Genesis? Second, the doctrine of first and second causes is a tremendous help in enabling you to be merciful in your heart to those who have wronged you. What did Joseph say? You have sold me into slavery, but God sent me here. You know, I wish I could tell you that we can truly have friendships that last forever. We say BFF. My daughter likes to write under my youngest daughter's BFF, best friends forever. And there's nothing wrong with that, of course. But you know, the best of friends sometimes separate. The very person who admires you the most today, I'm sad to say, may tomorrow stab you in the back, run the knife all the way through your heart, and then twist it. And I wish I could say that that was just the world that act like that, that only non-Christians act like that. It's not. What did David say in Psalm 55? You know, if someone who hated me did to me the things you did, I can bear that. But it was you, my friend, that I had sweet fellowship with in the way as we went together to worship God in the temple. You were the one who betrayed me! Of all people! My companion! My brother! I wish we could say that all those things would be reconciled this side of heaven. But they won't always be. What did Paul say? He says, as far as is possible with you, be at peace with all men. The implication of those words is it's not always possible. The reality is there are some conflicts, whether in family or church or home, whatever it may be, there are some conflicts that just will not be reconciled until the other side of glory. And I wish it wasn't that way. But we have to say to ourselves, if we've been wronged, Lord, I commit myself to you and trust that on the day of judgment all will be made right and all will be equally balanced and you'll vindicate me in your time, but I'm not going to take vengeance myself because you've told me not to. I'm going to leave that to you and trust you that you know what you're doing and leave my vindication to you. It's easier to say than it is to do. And if people that have wronged us will not acknowledge their sin and be reconciled and repent, we can't be reconciled, can we? We can't act like there's not a big pink elephant in the room of sin that hasn't been dealt with. But how do you have peace in your heart in the meantime? How do you have peace in your heart and not grow bitter and angry and all those things? Well, here's what Joseph saw. He saw his brother sin, but then he saw God's providence. that behind even the conflict, God was the first cause. They violated God's precepts, yet God's decretive will had something else in view. And when they got his eyes off the sin and got his eyes on what God's providence was doing, it enabled him to show mercy to his brothers when the time came for it. Now thankfully, in his case, he got to see that they were repentant. and was reconciled to them. But I submit to you that for you and I it's the same, that we have to realize God is not taken by surprise by anything that happens in your life. And even when there's conflict that is not reconciled, and we've done all we can to be reconciled to someone, we have to trust God has a purpose. God has a reason. I don't know what his reason is, and he hasn't promised me he'll even tell me what the reason is. But nonetheless, I have to trust Him. He knows what He's doing, and I will defer to Him and believe Him." You know, the church at Corinth said horrible things about Paul, and Paul who had led them to Christ, of all people. And they judged him and thought him an inferior apostle to other people, and he said to them, you know, it's a small thing for me to be judged by you. At the end of the day, he's saying, your opinion just really doesn't count for much. And then he said, I don't judge myself either. There's one who judges me and that's God himself and I commit myself to him because I can't judge myself fairly and I commit myself to the one who judges rightly. And so that's what he did. Brothers and sisters, looking at God's providence and getting your eyes off of other sins against you is how we heal and how we go on. Third, God has the power to transform the most wicked and vile of hearts. When we were surveying Jacob's life, do you remember that we didn't find many things to commend him to us? There just wasn't a whole lot to like about Jacob, was there? He was a mama's boy. He was an indoor guy. Mom, let's cook up a new recipe. Whereas Esau was the outdoorsman, the hunter, the manly man, as it were. He was a deceiver, a conniver, a man who did all kinds of horrible, horrible things. The way he treats Leah, it's hard not to just loathe him because of the way he neglects her and then will come to her house just to have a conjugal visit with her and get her pregnant and that's it. It's really hard to like Jacob in those early days, but then he encounters God in the form of a man and wrestles with him all night. And what a different man Jacob is after that encounter. how God transforms him. You never would have thought that such a deceitful man would ever be an object of saving grace. Or look at Judah, the man who concocts the idea, let's sell Joseph into slavery, that's great. The man who gets his own daughter-in-law pregnant. Tamar knew his character so well that she knew, all I have to do is dress like a prostitute, he'll sleep with me. That's how vile he was. And yet, who would have ever thought this man would be an object of God's mercy and not of His wrath? We could go farther. We could talk about Paul. It's really interesting in the book of Acts. There's a passage in chapter 21, in verse 8, where the Bible tells us that Paul and his traveling companions met Philip, the evangelist who had four virgin daughters, and he invites them into their home and they lodge there all night. And you could kind of pass over that and not think much about it, except the same verse makes this comment. It throws in these words. Philip, who was one of the seven. And as soon as we hear he's one of the seven, we're reminded of the first seven deacons, right? We go back to Acts 6, we go back to Acts 7, and we remember that the people stoned Stephen to death, and that there was a young man named Saul, who was guarding their coats while they did. And the text ends by saying, And Saul was consenting to his death. And Paul made havoc of the church. And yet the brothers came, took the body of of Stephen, and made great lamentation over them." Philip was one of those seven. Stephen was his dear friend. They were colleagues. They worked shoulder to shoulder in providing for the needs of the widows. And here is Paul, who is consenting to his death, an instrument in his destruction. And yet, years later, Philip is lodging Paul. letting him sleep under his roof with his family there with him, trusting him, not afraid that he's going to sneak up by him by stealth and kill him. What a remarkable change the sovereign grace of God makes in men's lives. That the very man who was an instrument of my friend's death is now my guest in my home. And there's two things I'm trying to drive home to you about that. Number one is this. I'm realizing more and more in recent months something about myself, the Lord putting his finger upon something. And that is, first of all, the doctrines of free and sovereign grace, which we believe and preach here, are no hindrance to evangelism. I know that. I've known that for years. I've preached that for years, right? But here's what's been the great eye-opener for me. It's my failure to believe in God's sovereign grace that is the great hindrance to my evangelism. You say, you're a failure to believe. What are you talking about? I believe them. I mentally assert them. But believing them experientially in my life, in such a way that I believe God has the power to change the hardest of hearts, that is hard. And I'm coming to realize that unbelief, that practical unbelief in my heart, so often is the greatest barrier to me making Christ known to other people. because I get jaded. You look at the hardness of men's hearts, you see their hatred just spilling out of them about the things of God, blaspheming God's name, tearing His name apart, and you say to yourself, there's no point in evangelizing because it's just not going to make any difference. And right now I'm actually reading a book that's already been very helpful to me. You know what? Our evangelism may not make a difference if we're thinking of it from the perspective of how many people are going to be converted. Even if no one's converted, evangelism, if it's done right, if God's truth has been spoken, it accomplishes its purpose. Because sometimes people are hardened under the gospel. But it's accomplished its purpose, hasn't it? That's not the purpose we want. It's not what we desire. But for others, for some, they will be softened. under the gospel. But I have to dare to believe that my job is simply to be faithful to make Christ known and to believe God really can change the hardest of heart. I mean, look at Paul. Could you imagine going to the church of Jerusalem when they were under persecution from him and say, by the way, guys, Future generations are going to read about how God converts this guy, this Osama Bin Laden that's terrorizing you. And he's the greatest persecutor of the church in all the world. He's going to become the greatest church planter. And for 2,000 years, people are going to study his methods and try to imitate them. They would have laughed you in the face. That guy? Really? Or who would have said, Judah, the guy that got his own daughter-in-law pregnant, that fellow? He's going to be the forefather of the Messiah? And God's going to save him and make him a man who is going to be actually willing to come before his brother and say, punish me in the place of Benjamin? What a change saving grace makes. But here's my other application. If you're here on the outside of Christ, and you think, my case is too hopeless. I'm too great a sinner. I've done too much wickedness. There's so many things I've done you don't know. You wouldn't even be talking to me or letting me in the room if you knew all the things I've done. God can't save me because I'm too vile. I'm just not a good church goer like you people, or whatever. There's vile sins I haven't told my parents, I haven't told other people that I would be ashamed to be exposed, but I know God knows them and there's no way on earth He could ever forgive me. Look at Judah. Look at Jacob. Look at Paul. Look at Matthew, the dirty IRS tax collector. And yet, these people were God's chosen people, and God saved them. If He can save them, and frankly, if He can save me, He has the power to save you. And that leads me to my fourth and final application, which I would say I've kept the best for last, because I want to make this application drive home to you. I pray the Spirit will drive it home to your heart. It's this, Judah freely offered to be punished for a crime committed by someone else. The Lion of the tribe of Judah was punished for the sins committed by others. In other words, what Judah offered, Jesus has done. We speak of Jesus' death as the vicarious death of Christ. Vicarious means substitutionary. He died in the place of someone else. Daniel chapter 9 says it this way. The Messiah will be cut off. He'll be put to death, but not for his own crimes, it says. Isaiah 53 says it most eloquently. You know it. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He took an innocent victim, put our sin upon Him, and punished Him. He poured out His wrath upon Christ so that He could pour out His grace upon us. So that He could give us His righteousness in exchange for our sins. That's what He's done. And the Bible tells us, it gives a promise. And the promise is to every single one of you in this room without exception. that if you will believe in your heart, God has raised Jesus from the dead, and confess with your mouth, Jesus the Lord, you will be saved. It's Romans chapter 10. It goes on to say in the same text, "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Do you know why the word, whosoever, is put there? It's like when you fill out a legal document, and it says, I, and then you have a dotted line to fill in your name, and then it says, pledge to do X, Y, and Z. That's what the whoever is. God is inviting you, the Holy Spirit is inviting you, whoever you are, to put your name in the place of whoever by faith. to say, heaven itself, eternal life itself, forgiveness of sins, has been offered to me freely in the gospel, and it's mine for the taking by faith. The Bible does not say, if you're elect, come to Jesus and believe on Him and you'll be saved. If you're a sinner, come to Jesus and believe on Him and you will be saved. The offer is free to every last one of you. And it's because Jesus was punished in our place that He can forgive the most vile of sinners. Because of His pardon that was there, the wrath of God has been turned away, it's been quenched. And because of that, anyone and everyone can come to God through faith, to repent of your sins, to believe on Jesus Christ, to stop trusting your own righteousness to save you, and to trust Him to save you. Jesus has done what Judah offered to do. That is, He's become the surety of everyone who believes on Him. So if you're here and you're outside of Christ, come to Christ. Believe on Him. Know He is a sufficient Savior, who has the power to forgive you, and the willingness to forgive anyone and everyone who comes to God through Him. You know, if somebody has an ability to help me, but they're not willing to help me, that doesn't help me at all. But if they're able to help me, and they're willing as well, then that's a great help to me. There's an old hymn that says, He is able, He is able, He is willing. Doubt no more. Jesus is able and willing to save anyone. Everyone who comes to God through Him. He's in the business of saving sinners. God desires to save sinners more than sinners desire to be saved. Because frankly, I didn't desire to be saved until God drew me to Himself. Flee to Him, that you might be saved. Because there's wrath coming. There's a day of judgment coming. And if you are outside of Jesus Christ on that day, He will cast you, body and soul, into hell. You better fear Him. Paul, in your face, kiss the Son, knowing there is mercy to be found in Jesus Christ. May God grant you grace to repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ that you might be saved. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. full of exceedingly great and precious promises. We pray, Father, that you would help us to believe your word and your promises. For those of us who are in Christ, Lord, help us to believe your sovereign grace has the power to save sinners from their sins. Lord, to take the hardest of stone and melt it like wax. and help us to be bold, therefore, to make Christ known in a proper context, a proper way, as we are out and about among those who are lost. And for those who are here who are lost, Father, help them to believe your promise that if they will come to Christ, he will in no wise cast them out, that they might embrace that promise by faith and be safe from their sins and from the wrath that is to come. Do these things for your glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.