Our Problem with Guilt

[0:00] The scripture reading for today is taken from Genesis chapter 42, reading from verse 1 to the end. Genesis chapter 42, starting at verse 1.

[0:14] ! When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, why do you look at one another? And he said, behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt.

[0:25] Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die. So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him.

[0:43] Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land.

[0:56] And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him, with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them.

[1:09] Where do you come from? He said. They said, from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them.

[1:23] And he said to them, you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. They said to him, no, my Lord, your servants have come to buy food.

[1:34] We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. He said to them, no, it is the nakedness of the land you have come to see.

[1:46] And they said, we are servants of twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.

[1:57] But Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you are spies. By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

[2:11] Send one of you and let him bring your brother while you remain confined that your words may be tested. Whether there is truth in you or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.

[2:24] And he put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day, Joseph said to them, do this and you will live. For I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody.

[2:39] And let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households. And bring your youngest brother to me so your words will be verified and you shall not die. And they did so.

[2:51] They said to one another, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother. In that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not listen. This is why this distress has come upon us.

[3:04] And Reuben answered them, did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. They did not know that Joseph understood them.

[3:17] For there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simon from them and bound him before their eyes.

[3:28] And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to replace every man's money in his sack. And to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed.

[3:42] And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, my money has been put back. Here it is in the mouth of my sack.

[3:54] And this their hearts failed them. And they turned trembling to one another saying, what is this that God has done to us? When they came to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them saying, the man, the Lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land.

[4:13] But we said to him, we are honest men. We have never been spies. We are 12 brothers, sons of our father. One is no more and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

[4:24] Then the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, by this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the farming for your household and go your way.

[4:37] Bring your youngest brother to me, then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men. And I will deliver your brother to you. You shall trade in the land. As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack.

[4:51] And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father, said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simon is no more.

[5:04] And now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, 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.

[5:16] But he said, my son shall not go down with you. For his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to shield.

[5:31] Here ends the reading. Thank you very much for reading, Professor Jameko. One of the realities of the human condition is that there are experiences that we all share in common.

[5:45] And one of those experiences is guilt. And simply put, guilt is the emotional discomfort that we feel when we recognize that we have done something wrong.

[5:58] And sometimes our guilt flows from knowing that we did what we ought not to have done. Sometimes our guilt flows from an awareness that we haven't done what we should have done.

[6:17] And sometimes we have false guilt. Sometimes we feel guilty about things over which we have no control, like an accident that we couldn't prevent, or a friend or family member who made a bad decision, and we're thinking that maybe if I'd said something, I could have prevented the bad decision by warning them.

[6:41] But here's what I know. When we think about guilt, the guilt that comes to mind is not the false kind of guilt.

[6:53] The guilt that comes to mind for us is actual guilt. Guilt that is associated with sins that we have committed.

[7:05] Wrongs that we have done. And our common experience with guilt really points to another common reality that we all face.

[7:16] And that is that we have a sinful nature. We have a sinful nature whereby we are able to come into this world and without being taught to sin and to do wrong, all of us have an ability to do what is wrong.

[7:38] And God has created us. He has given us consciences. He has revealed himself in all creation. And he's revealed himself in such a way that we know that we are accountable to him.

[7:53] And when we sin, we experience guilt. And what do we do with our guilt?

[8:07] The truth is, in another part of our human nature, we tend to cover our guilt. We tend to hide or bury our guilt.

[8:19] Well, this morning, as we continue our sermon series in the book of Genesis, we come to an account in Genesis where after 20 years, Joseph's brothers have their guilt aroused concerning their mistreatment of him.

[8:43] As we heard in the reading already, it was through God-ordained circumstances, through a famine that God ordained that brought them to Egypt where they would unknowingly meet their brother.

[9:01] and in the hardship of those circumstances, the Lord caused them to be faced with the wrongs that they had committed against their brother and they were overwhelmed by guilt.

[9:16] this morning, my prayer for us is that as we consider the guilt of Joseph's brothers, that the Lord will help us to see what we need to address our own guilt.

[9:33] And I say this without fear of contradiction. All of us, to one degree or another, wrestle with this issue of guilt because we are sinners.

[9:48] And because we are sinners, we sin. And associated with our sin is guilt. And so may the Lord help us as we hear his word this morning to see what we need to address our own guilt.

[10:06] But first, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we pause in this moment to look to you and we ask, Lord, that you would draw near to us corporately and individually knowing what each of us needs.

[10:24] And Father, we pray that you would speak to our hearts and our individual circumstances. Speak to us, Lord, concerning this issue of guilt.

[10:38] and Father, we ask that we would all hear your voice and more than that, we would respond to your voice.

[10:51] So draw near to us now, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, although only chapter 42 was read this morning, this morning's sermon is based on chapters 42 and 43.

[11:05] and they cover the first two trips that Joseph's brothers make to Egypt in the time of the famine, where they go to Egypt in search of grain because the famine was so severe in the entire region.

[11:23] And in these two chapters, there are two repeated themes that stand out in these two encounters that Joseph's brothers make with him as they go to Egypt.

[11:38] And I've organized them under two simple points. The first one is guilt awakened. We're told in the opening verses of Genesis 42 that Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain.

[11:56] They had no idea that they were going to meet Joseph whom they had heartlessly sold into slavery some 20 years before.

[12:09] And they certainly had no idea that he was governor of Egypt. From all accounts that we can see, they literally thought that he was dead.

[12:21] And so I think it's important to see the context of this that this is really 20 years later. 20 years had elapsed. Remember that Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery.

[12:34] Then he spent 13 years as a slave in Portipha's house and in Pharaoh's prison. And then he was 30 years old when he became governor of Egypt and there was going to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.

[12:51] And now those seven years of plenty had elapsed. So the 13 years he spent in as a slave and now the seven years, 20 years have elapsed since he would have seen any member of his family.

[13:11] And so this is very significant that Joseph and his brothers are encountering one another. They are in one another's presence. 20 years had elapsed during that time.

[13:28] And the narrator is helping us to see how things have changed. In verses six and seven, the narrator tells us that Joseph is governor of Egypt.

[13:40] He is second in command to Pharaoh. He is the most powerful man in the land. And the narrator says, and his brothers come to Egypt looking to buy grain.

[13:53] And we see how God is orchestrating this because his brothers come and they bow down to him. And the narrator tells us that Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

[14:07] And Joseph remembers the dream that he had, a dream that no doubt he had forgotten through all the hardships that he went through. He couldn't see how those dreams and the elation that he had about those dreams when he was younger, or the pain that he was going through.

[14:23] He couldn't see the connection between those dreams and the reality that he was living. And so no doubt those dreams were dismissed out of his mind. But now his brothers come and they bow down before him and he is reminded of his dream.

[14:42] It's easy to read over this. Just take a moment to think about this experience. You're the most powerful man in Egypt.

[14:52] Maybe second to Pharaoh, but functionally Pharaoh says whatever Joseph tells you to do, do that. So he is the man who's in charge. And your brothers, who heartlessly, evilly, sold you into slavery, no regard for you, no concern for you, they now come before you and they are desperate.

[15:18] They're without food, the whole land is without food and you are the person not only in charge of Egypt, but you're the one who's in charge of the food. And they come and they prostrate themselves before you.

[15:35] They don't recognize you, but you recognize them. that's the scene that the narrator sets up for us as he takes us into this account.

[15:47] And what we see is that Joseph delays revealing himself to his brothers. He doesn't reveal his identity to them right away. And what we see as this story unfolds is that Joseph likely wanted to see if his brothers had changed.

[16:04] He wanted to see, he knew he had changed, but he wanted to see if his brothers had changed. And so what he does is he sets out to accuse them of being spies.

[16:18] He says to them, you are spies and you have come to scope out the nakedness of the land. And this accusation results in them defending themselves.

[16:29] And they say, no, that's not true. And they begin to rehearse their family history. They're 12 brothers. one is back. The youngest one is back in Canaan with our father, and one is no more.

[16:44] And again, they believe that Joseph is dead. And so Joseph devises a plan, and he says, okay, I'm going to prove if you men are honest men or not.

[16:57] I'm going to put you all in prison. I'm going to let one go back and carry food and then bring the younger brother back, and then if he comes back, I'll know that you told me the truth.

[17:09] He puts them in prison for three days. And then Joseph has a change of heart. We see in verses 18 to 20 that he has a change of heart, and he tells his brothers, he says, you know, because I fear God, I'm not going to do that.

[17:29] Here's what I'm going to do. Rather than send one of you back and keep nine of you, I'm going to send nine of you back and keep one of you.

[17:40] And the nine of you can go back and take food for your households who are famished. And that was the kindness of the Lord because nine of them could certainly take back more grain than one of them.

[17:54] His heart was moved in compassion towards his family, and so he allowed nine of them to go back and carry grain, and he keeps one of them.

[18:07] And then something unusual happens. Something that is very unusual happens in verses 21 to 23.

[18:18] Look again at what it says. They agree to do what Joseph says, and then immediately we read this. Then they said to one another, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we would not listen.

[18:40] This is why this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them, did I not tell you not to sin against the boy, but you did not listen?

[18:54] So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. Again, the belief that Joseph is dead. Now the distress of the situation that they faced, above all the other things that could have come to their minds, these ten brothers, what comes to their mind is the heinous sin they committed against Joseph and the guilt that was associated with that sin.

[19:25] These brothers were so overcome by guilt that in the presence of a man who knew what they were saying, the interpreter who was between them and Joseph because Joseph was pretending not to understand Hebrew and for all intents and purposes he looked like an Egyptian.

[19:43] But this interpreter understood what they were saying and they're so overcome by grief in a moment. And think about it, how do you move from this man saying, I think you're spies, spies, I'm going to keep one of you, let the other ones go back and carry grain and then bring your brother back and then I'll know that you are not spies.

[20:08] How do you move from that to all of a sudden remembering, oh my goodness, this distress has come upon us because of what we did to our brother Joseph. They don't know who he is.

[20:20] 20 years have elapsed. Why is it, how is it that their guilt is all of a sudden awakened in the midst of this distress that they are experiencing?

[20:35] They say, we are guilty concerning our brother. They acknowledge to one another this heinous crime that they committed against their brother.

[20:51] And what's interesting is, for the first time we find in this entire account in Joseph's family, that his brothers referred to him as their brother. They always referred to him as the dreamer.

[21:05] They referred to him as the spoiled son of their father. But now they are referring to him as their brother and they are overcome with guilt about what they have done.

[21:21] him. It's interesting to think about how this takes place because the very nature of what they did was something that you just don't talk about.

[21:36] It could very well be that this was not a conversation that they ever raised, though they were all part of each other crime. They'd sold their father a lie, and it could very well be that in this moment, for the first time in 20 years, this issue comes to the fore.

[21:56] We're told in verse 24 that Joseph turned away weeping, and when he returned, he took Simeon, and he bound him as a prisoner in their presence.

[22:14] Now, you may wonder, of all the brothers, why Simeon? Simeon was not the eldest, Reuben was the eldest, Simeon was the second eldest, but in this encounter, Joseph learns for the first time that Reuben was trying to rescue him.

[22:36] He didn't know that before. He learns for the first time that Reuben was the brother who had concern for him, who was saying to his other brothers, don't harm the boy. And so it is likely that Joseph was kind to Reuben, not to put him in custody.

[22:56] He allowed him to go, and he took Simeon instead. A second unusual event happens in this account in verses 26 to 28. The brothers are on their way back to Canaan, and look at what it says starting in verse 26.

[23:14] Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed, and as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack.

[23:28] He said to his brothers, my money has been put back. Here it is in the mouth of my sack. At this their hearts filled them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, what is this that God has done to us?

[23:44] And just notice that. Of all the different explanations that could have come to their mind, of all of the different ways they could have explained why it is that this brother found his money in the neck of his sack, their mind goes to God, God, what are you doing to us?

[24:09] And not one of them, all of them, all of them come to this conclusion that God is doing something to them. Joseph's brothers were aware that God was sovereign, that he was sovereign over all that was happening to them.

[24:26] And they interpreted that it wasn't a good thing. We see that they were overcome with fear. Their hearts filled them, we're told, just because money was found in the sack of one of the brothers.

[24:44] And they were correct. God was dealing with them. God was the one who brought the famine about. God was the one who caused them to come to Egypt. God was the one to bring them face to face with their brother against whom they had sinned.

[25:04] God was the one who was awakening their hearts to what they had done. God He brought conviction to cause them to experience the guilt that they were experiencing.

[25:22] And brothers and sisters, what happened to Joseph's brothers is no different from what happens to us. We have a sense of accountability and responsibility before God for our sins, and especially our hidden sins.

[25:39] sins. And oftentimes, it's in times of difficulty that our minds would turn to our sins and wonder and think, is God dealing with me concerning my wrong?

[25:56] Is God punishing me for the wrong that I have done? This was the case of Joseph's brothers. In this time of stress, in this time of great difficulty, their lives were probably at ease before this time.

[26:11] We know that their father was a wealthy man. They had all that they wanted in Canaan, but for this famine to bring them to a place of difficulty and need.

[26:23] And they were hungry on the brink of starvation. And as their minds began to reflect, their minds reflected on what they had done.

[26:37] something they would not ordinarily think about. There's a third awakening of the guilt of these brothers, and we see it in verse 35 of Genesis 42.

[26:56] Notice again what it says. As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. This is after they had gone home and they were relaying to their father what happened.

[27:12] And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. Now in this moment, I think the only reason that they don't say something, they said something the two other times.

[27:31] They said this distress has come upon us because of what we did to our brother the first time. And then the second time when one brother found money in his sack, they said, what is God doing to us?

[27:43] The only reason I believe they didn't say anything on this occasion is because they were in the presence of their father to whom they had lied about what happened to their brother.

[27:56] And so though they are fearful, though their hearts are failing them, they say nothing, but they are overcome with guilt concerning what they had done to their brother.

[28:10] And this is how guilt functions. Whenever we have any sense of our guilt and the sin that is the root of that guilt, it never happens in a vacuum.

[28:27] It isn't that left to ourselves that we all of a sudden think about wrongs that we have done. No, it doesn't happen that way. It happens as a part of God's gracious conviction upon our hearts.

[28:47] But guilt over our sins can be awakened for all kinds of different reasons. Humanly speaking, in terms of what we may say the triggering points may be for them.

[29:00] For some of us this morning, this very sermon could be the basis for awakening guilt in our hearts. And no doubt, for some of us, that is the reality.

[29:16] That our hearts in this moment are awakened concerning guilt. And I wonder what, if any, guilt or shame or remorse comes to your mind in this moment.

[29:33] Perhaps it's something that you may have done with others, as was the case with Joseph's brothers. Perhaps it's something just between you and the Lord.

[29:44] Perhaps it's something that was unwillingly exposed, but you still feel the guilt, the shame of it.

[29:57] Perhaps it's something that you willingly confessed to others and to the Lord, but yet you still feel the weight of guilt.

[30:10] And the question is, what do we do with guilt? What do we do with our guilt? our natural response to deal with guilt?

[30:26] Across the board, our common response is consistent with how our four parents, Adam and Eve, dealt with their guilt. We try to cover it.

[30:37] We try to hide it. In Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve, when they sinned, their first response to dealing with their guilt was to set about for themselves to make loin cloths of fig leaves to cover themselves.

[30:56] Not a permanent solution, something that they would have to do again and again and again. And then they set about to do the impossible, which is to hide from the Lord.

[31:09] And they run from the Lord. In their pitiful state, in their sin, and in their guilt and in their shame, they do the opposite of what they needed to do in that moment.

[31:22] They needed to run to God, but they naturally, in their sinful condition, ran from God. And brothers and sisters, we're no different. Our natural response, our reflex response to sin and guilt is not to run to God.

[31:41] It is to hide from God. And it is to try in our feeble human efforts to cover our own sin. And what we see in Genesis 3 of God being the one to call out to Adam and to go after Adam and say, Adam, where are you?

[32:04] And then to take Adam and Eve and to do for them what they needed to be done, something more permanent, to give them a more permanent garment. That is what we need as well.

[32:20] And this brings me to my second and final point, which is grace extended. First, guilt awakened, as we see in this passage, but also in this passage, what we see in the midst of the fear, in the midst of the guilt, we see grace being extended.

[32:51] Now, it's far easier to see the guilt awakened than it is to see the grace extended. It's easy to see the guilt awakened because we are drawn to it explicitly.

[33:02] The brothers themselves admit their guilt, and three times we see them having their guilt aroused and awakened about what they did to their brother Joseph.

[33:16] But the grace that is extended is not as explicit. The grace that is extended in this passage, in these two chapters, becomes easier to see, again, when we contemplate the reality of the situation that Joseph's brothers found themselves in.

[33:40] Think about it for a moment. Just imagine, just imagine that you were mistreated by someone, whether a family member, whether in a work situation, whatever the case may be, you were helplessly, you were in a helpless situation, and you were mistreated, by someone.

[34:07] And just by a turn of events, the tables turn, and you now find yourself in a position of power, a position where you're not going to be questioned, and that was Joseph's situation.

[34:24] You now find yourself where the tables have turned, and those who mistreated you, those who harmed you, are now at your mercy. How do you respond?

[34:38] This is the situation that Joseph found himself in. The tables had turned. The perpetrators of a great evil against him were now at his mercy.

[34:58] They had come prostrate before him, bowing before him. And again, the narrator wants us to see this from the very outset. He tells us, Joseph is governor over the land, and his hungry brothers come bowing before him.

[35:17] to the first extension of grace that we see in this passage is that Joseph spared his brothers' lives. Joseph was the most powerful man in Egypt.

[35:34] He could have killed his brothers. He recognized them. He could have killed them. Pharaoh would have said nothing. No one would have said anything because Joseph was the man who was in charge.

[35:46] the fact that Joseph spared his brothers' lives was an extension of mercy and grace to them.

[35:58] Joseph also extended grace to his brothers by giving them grain for themselves and the rest of their family back in Canaan. If Joseph had sold them the grain, grain, if he had sold them the grain, that would have been mercy.

[36:22] It doesn't do that. In this account, Joseph does not sell them the grain. He gives them free grain, and what it does is it amplifies the grace that they received.

[36:36] They receive free grain from the one whom they evilly mistreated. He allowed them to carry enough grain, not just for themselves, but also for the family that was back in Canaan.

[36:58] And the fact that Joseph took no money from them helps us to see the very nature of grace. That's what grace is. Grace cannot be bought. We can't buy grace. Grace is, by its nature, unmerited, undeserved.

[37:15] The minute we give something, it's no longer grace. And so Joseph instructs his servant to put their money back in their sacks.

[37:28] And this man, who had been so severely mistreated, robbed of 20 years with his father and brother and being with his family, going through hardship of slavery, in the kindness of his heart, he gives his brothers grace and doesn't even charge them for the grain that he gives them.

[37:53] Grace is kindness to the undeserved. Over in chapter 43 and verse 11, we see their father Jacob responding to grace the way we tend to respond to grace.

[38:08] You ask us the question, what is grace? And we can answer it. Grace is God's unmerited favor. But when you watch us live, we live not the definition of grace, we live the definition of works.

[38:21] And that's what we see their father Jacob doing over here in chapter 43. Let's look at what he does starting in verse 11. It says, then their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, then do this.

[38:39] Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

[38:51] Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned into the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise.

[39:04] Go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you grace before the man. And may he send back your other brother and Benjamin.

[39:17] And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. When Jacob finally decides that he's going to let Benjamin go to Egypt, he tells his sons, take a gift for this man, take a generous gift for this man, the various produce of the land.

[39:39] And then he is praying that God Almighty would give his sons mercy before this man. But Joseph's heart was already extended towards them in mercy.

[39:54] Joseph's heart did not need to be motivated any further by gifts to his brothers. The kindness that they received from his brothers was not based on them sending the money back or sending the gifts back to Joseph.

[40:11] He needed no incentive to show them grace, and that is the nature of grace. Jesus. In verses 16 to 18 of chapter 43, we see Joseph's brothers terrified about going into Joseph's house.

[40:30] They began to speculate, why does he want to bring us into his house? And then they foolishly began to think that Joseph, the most powerful man in Egypt, with wealth at his disposal, all the necessary food that the region needs, he is the one controlling it, and they think, oh, he's going to assault us and steal our donkeys.

[40:53] That's the irrational way that they were thinking. They thought that they were going into a situation, into a house of judgment and wrath.

[41:11] Little did they know they were going into a house of mercy and grace. And see, that's the way it is for us guilty sinners.

[41:22] We are aware, we don't deserve grace and mercy. But that is exactly what Joseph's brothers received that day.

[41:34] They received grace and mercy that they did not deserve. again, we see the grace amplified in the fact that these brothers had their monies returned.

[41:54] When they go to Joseph's servant in verse 23 of chapter 43, and they tell him, oh, we found our money in our sacks when we came the first time, and so we brought back double the money.

[42:10] Look at what he says to them in verse 23. The servant says to them, peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you.

[42:23] I received your money. Those are true words because that is exactly what happened. The grace that Joseph's brothers received was the grace that God worked in Joseph's own heart to enable him to be gracious to his brothers.

[42:45] God was the one who was at work to return to them the payment that they tried to give for what they had received.

[42:59] It's easy to miss that grace was extended to Joseph himself. And we reflect back in chapter 41 in the previous sermon how Joseph came to the place where he was able to name his first son Manasseh and he said, God has caused me to forget all the toil and the trouble of my father's household.

[43:24] And he named his second son Ephraim because he said, God has made me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. This was God's grace to Joseph.

[43:38] And this was the grace that he was able to extend to his brothers. We're able to see the work of grace in Joseph's life.

[43:54] I think if there's anyone that we read about in scripture, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, who humanly speaking had every reason to harbor grudges and to be bitter, it was Joseph.

[44:13] But behind his rough words, speaking to his brothers, behind him treating them as a stranger, was a heart that had been affected by the grace of the Lord.

[44:26] The very first time as he heard his brothers confess, we're told that he had to turn away to weep. That was the heart behind the hard words.

[44:37] The hard words were just to be a mask for that tender, grace-affected heart that God gave him. And later, in chapter 43, we see him again in verse 30, turning away to weep in compassion.

[45:04] Brothers and sisters, we cannot tenderize our hearts. We cannot make our hearts graceful and gracious when we have been sinned against in grievous ways.

[45:21] I remember a number of years ago, we were doing some ministry at Simpson Penn Boys School, and there was a pastor from one of the churches we were working with from the States, and he came and he was sharing a very painful experience that he went through.

[45:39] He was talking about how God enabled him to forgive the persons who sinned against him. And he said something that has stayed with me to this day.

[45:51] He said this. He said, true forgiveness, forgiveness from the heart towards those who have sinned against you is a miracle.

[46:07] Not just mouthing words to say it's okay, not just mouthing words to say don't worry about it, but the ability to truly forgive from the heart is not a human endeavor.

[46:23] That is a divine endeavor. God enables us to do that. And Joseph is able to do this with his brothers because God extended grace in Joseph's heart.

[46:38] And he was able to extend that grace to others. perhaps the most profound picture of grace extended in these two chapters is in verse 34 of chapter 43.

[47:04] Here we see Joseph's brothers. They are at ease. They are so comfortable. They're eating and drinking in the presence of one who had every right to meet a retribution against them.

[47:23] Every right. Humanly speaking, he had every right to take vengeance against them. And there they are eating and drinking so much.

[47:35] Literally, they got drunk in his presence. They were at ease in the presence of the one whom they had sinned against in the most evil way that you can imagine that one can treat a sibling.

[47:59] it's a wonderful picture of grace but there's an even more profound picture of grace see Joseph's brothers didn't know that he knew the more profound picture of grace is when we know that the one who's giving us grace is aware of our deeds of our sins and see that's what it is for us brothers and sisters we're not absent-minded like Joseph's brothers receiving grace in a vacuum no we receive grace mindful that God is the one against whom we have sinned and he is aware of our sins he's aware of our sins even to a greater extent than we are aware of our own sins and he gives us grace upon grace upon grace upon grace that's the more profound grace and when we consider this picture in many ways

[49:22] Joseph is like a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and you and I are like his brothers who've sinned who deserve wrath and judgment judgment and yet we receive mercy and grace we receive mercy and grace though we deserve to receive judgment and wrath but when you look at what Joseph did on its face we can't see a basis for what Joseph did in a naked sense but the basis for the mercy and grace that we receive is that God sent his son God doesn't just say to us don't worry about it our sins aren't just covered and put to the side no

[50:23] Jesus Christ came and Jesus lived that perfect life that none of us could live and Jesus bore the sins in his body on the cross that you and I committed and it's on that basis that God is able to treat us as forgiven it is on that basis that he's able to extend grace to us and so now when our when our guilt is awakened ultimately our guilt is not awakened to point us to our sin our guilt is awakened to point us to our savior the one who bore our sins the one who enabled us to have grace extended to us and see brothers and sisters this is why we need to cherish the gospel because in the gospel the gospel reminds us of the truth the truth of our sin and the truth of Christ's work on our behalf to enable us to receive

[51:34] God's grace and so our being reminded of our guilt if we rightly hold the gospel before us that should result in joy and thanksgiving to God that we have been forgiven because of Christ's work on the cross the gospel reminds us of our savior and it points us to him I think it's important as I close this morning to remind us that these two chapters in Genesis they're more than just an account of human relations between brothers being now reconciled they point us to an even greater story than that where the God of the universe is working in history to reconcile sinners like you and me to himself where he is the one who's extending grace and mercy that we don't deserve and he's reconciling us to himself and reconciling us to one another he is ordering all things again he was the one behind the famine he was the one who brought them to the brothers to Egypt and as we're going to see as this unfolds he is the one who's going to bring Jacob as well and the whole family to Egypt in fulfillment of his word to Abraham that they're going to sojourn in a foreign land and then he's going to bring them out he's going to take them to the promised land he's going to redeem them out of Egypt and that points to the new covenant whereby

[53:22] Christ redeems us through the Lord Jesus Christ and brothers and sisters God does all of this despite our sins and is reminded to us that we don't need to try to hide our guilt we simply need to go to the one who makes atonement for our guilt and he has done that through his son the Lord Jesus Christ let's pray heavenly father we are so grateful this morning that we don't have to run from you we don't have to try to cover our guilt ourselves and atone for them but we can come to you when our guilt is awakened we can come to you and find grace upon grace extended to us because of the

[54:28] Lord Jesus Christ who in his living and in his dying atoned for our sins and made it possible that we can be forgiven and reconciled to you father I pray that all over this room this morning on the days ahead whenever our guilt is awakened for those of us who have trusted in the Savior that we would be pointed to the grace that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ I pray this morning Lord for any present or watching online who do not know the Savior Lord have mercy on them would you open their eyes would you grant the gift of faith and enable them to believe the gospel would you give them the new birth Lord would you give them new life we ask this in

[55:30] Jesus name amen