WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters in Milan, Italy, from Chiesa Rifromata, 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Philadelphia. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:14.240 It's always a pleasure to be with God's people all over the globe, to know that we are one 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:19.240 in Christ, that we have the same Father in heaven, the same elder brother and Savior, 00:00:19.240 --> 00:00:20.240 the Lord Jesus. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:22.839 We're endowed by the same spirit. 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:29.960 Well, I want to turn your attention now to Genesis 45 and this chapter that we read. 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:38.640 This scene really should give hope to any family that is dysfunctional. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:45.000 It should give hope to any married couple who quarrels or to any individual who struggles 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.280 with bitterness and finds forgiveness and reconciliation with other people difficult. 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:54.560 What do we see in this scene? 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.299 We see a divided family reconciled. 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:04.620 We see those who deserved justice receiving grace, receiving mercy. 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:10.140 We see mercy triumphing over judgment. 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:15.039 We see God working in the hearts of His people, causing them to persevere in the faith and 00:01:15.039 --> 00:01:18.679 grow in their sanctification. 00:01:18.679 --> 00:01:25.239 The story of Joseph, as we know, is a marvelous story, a wonderful testimony of God's providence 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:32.280 that Joseph, through a number of different events and calamities that befell him, ends 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:34.719 up in Egypt. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:43.519 Through all of that, God spares the 12 tribes of Israel so that really the Savior can come. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.199 He spares them from famine. 00:01:45.199 --> 00:01:50.759 It's an incredible story of God's providence and sovereignty. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:57.080 But it's not just that, it's also a wonderful story of how God restored and renewed the 00:01:57.080 --> 00:02:01.760 deeply broken relationship of this family. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.560 And that should fill our hearts with hope today, because the people in Jacob's family, 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.400 in so many ways, look like us. 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:11.800 They're ordinary sinners. 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:14.800 They struggle with bitterness when somebody hurts them. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.840 They may find it difficult to forgive. 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:23.120 Here wells up in the heart, especially over years, and especially if it's something that 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:26.599 was done, it was very harmful to us. 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:32.280 They look a lot like us, all of the people in Scripture do, in some way or another, because 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:34.719 they're sinners. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:40.360 They fail, and they feel the unpleasant consequences of sin. 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:47.080 And yet, like us, they too were justified by faith alone. 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:50.520 They too were saved by the same Savior. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:59.000 And as with us, their faith during their journey didn't always look bright and resplendent 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:00.000 and perfect. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.600 In fact, often when we look at the patriarchal family, we think, really, this is the covenant 00:03:05.600 --> 00:03:06.600 family. 00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:12.840 These are the people of faith, and they look awful in so many ways. 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:18.240 And yet, it was an enduring faith that they had by God's grace, and that gives us hope 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:20.039 today. 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:27.360 And so today, the same God who restored and renewed Jacob's family can bring peace to 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:35.120 our broken families and reconciliation to our relationships with others. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.000 And that's hopeful for us today. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.800 The same gospel that restored them is able to restore us today. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.520 And so let's consider briefly three things. 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:54.199 What the brothers deserved, what the brothers received, and how the brothers responded as 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:55.520 we think about this story. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:57.680 First of all, what the brothers deserved? 00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:58.680 What did they deserve? 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:03.599 Well, Joseph, as you know in this story, it's been many, many years since he's seen his 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:04.599 brothers. 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:06.039 His brothers had sold him into slavery. 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:08.759 He ends up in Potiphar's house. 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:09.879 He's falsely accused. 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.719 He ends up in prison and through all sorts of events. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:17.519 He ends up the second in command over all of Egypt, really the second most powerful 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:20.199 man in the entire world. 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:26.879 Then you remember there, Pharaoh was having these dreams about seven cows that were getting 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.639 eaten up by seven others. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:34.879 And it was a prophecy about seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:40.360 And so Joseph said, save up all of the grain and the food for seven years and then you'll 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:44.439 have food to go through the seven years of famine. 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:52.480 And so it's during that time, the time of famine, while Jacob and Joseph's brothers, 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:59.319 ten of his brothers, because Benjamin had not yet been born, but then he grows, and 00:04:59.319 --> 00:05:03.560 they come down to Egypt to get grain. 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:08.959 And Joseph's there as the second in command looks like an Egyptian. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.040 He's speaking in a foreign language. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.560 They have no idea that it's their brother. 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:20.240 But when we come to this text, we come to this part of the story, he reveals his identity. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.600 And so that's where we're at. 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:26.120 And he's not excited to see them at first. 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:27.360 He's not like my brothers. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.720 And they're not, as soon as he reveals his identity, saying, oh, it's Joseph. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:37.760 They're terrified when he reveals his identity. 00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:39.920 And it took him some time to reveal his identity. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.000 He didn't trust them at first. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:45.720 He's checking to see where they're really at. 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.800 He's probably struggling with forgiveness. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:53.960 These are the guys that ripped him away from his family, from his mom and his dad, stole 00:05:53.960 --> 00:05:57.040 his life, sold him into slavery. 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.920 It was probably difficult for him. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:02.800 But here he finally reveals his identity. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:09.720 You remember how one of the brothers, Judah, from whom his tribe came, the Lord Jesus, 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:14.319 offered to be a substitute, you remember, for his younger brother. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:23.280 And through hearing that confession and hearing that offer to be the substitute for his brother, 00:06:23.280 --> 00:06:26.160 Joseph has finally moved to reveal his identity. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.160 It's me. 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:30.280 But verse 3 says that they were terrified. 00:06:30.280 --> 00:06:32.040 Why? 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:34.400 Because they know what they deserve. 00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:36.800 They deserve justice. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:38.920 They deserve justice. 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:42.520 Like our first parents, Adam and Eve, who hid from the Lord after sinning. 00:06:42.520 --> 00:06:49.240 Well, Joseph's brothers felt the weight of their guilt and the crushing burden of their 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:54.280 own culpability and then the fear of punishment. 00:06:54.279 --> 00:07:00.439 They realized that Joseph, their own brother whom they had harmed, is now in a place of 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:06.319 power, in a position where he could bring justice upon them. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:10.119 He wields the hammer of justice. 00:07:10.119 --> 00:07:13.359 They deserved it and they knew it. 00:07:13.359 --> 00:07:19.319 And justice is a good thing, just as we heard in the prayer on a day like today, Remembrance 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:20.319 Day. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:21.919 Justice is important. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:24.759 We have to have justice in a world. 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:27.319 Imagine a world where there was no justice. 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.640 Imagine if all crimes went unpunished. 00:07:30.640 --> 00:07:35.600 Imagine if you went to school and you never got a grade that you had earned. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:40.160 Or imagine if you had a job and you never were paid for it. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.600 Justice is fundamental for society. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.040 We expect to receive justice. 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:51.759 We want to get what we deserve for our efforts. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:56.240 It's the fundamental principle of the law that we all understand because it's been written 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.879 on our hearts since creation. 00:07:59.879 --> 00:08:07.079 But that also means that when someone does wrong to us, well, we want justice done to 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.120 that person. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:11.039 We want to assert our rights. 00:08:11.039 --> 00:08:12.879 I've been wronged. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:18.680 That's why you don't have to teach a child to say things like, that's mine. 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:20.039 Stop it. 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:21.879 That's not fair. 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:23.520 You don't have to teach a child to say these things. 00:08:23.520 --> 00:08:25.000 They already know. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:26.800 It's written on the heart. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:27.960 We're hardwired. 00:08:27.960 --> 00:08:30.680 We're programmed for justice. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.879 We understand justice. 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:39.440 But this intuitive thing, justice, it's funny because we want it all the time for others, 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:41.960 but we don't want it for ourselves. 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:47.399 When we're the ones that are guilty, when we're the ones that have done something wrong, 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:49.960 well, it's a little different. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:55.240 You want others to pay for the things that they've done against us, but we always don't 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:59.120 want to pay ourselves, of course, when we've done something wrong to others. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.680 Then you want mercy. 00:09:00.680 --> 00:09:03.160 You don't want justice. 00:09:03.160 --> 00:09:09.320 And it's easy for excuses and self-justification to bubble up. 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:11.759 Well, I only meant it this way. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.840 I didn't really intend it like that. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:20.800 We try to justify our sin because we fail to see our guilt or we just want to make it 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:22.519 a little softer if we can. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:26.360 So it's not so heavy on us. 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:32.120 We have a hard time sometimes seeing ourselves as real sinners. 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:37.399 And then often when we do, when we know we've blown it, when we know we have failed, then 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:39.800 we want to run and hide. 00:09:39.800 --> 00:09:43.920 Like our first parents, Adam and Eve, we become terrified like Joseph's brothers. 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:45.600 Well, here they are. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:50.600 More than 20 years had passed and they had hidden their guilt. 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:57.639 They had stifled their shame and suddenly everything's out in the open. 00:09:57.639 --> 00:09:58.639 Everything's there. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.840 They're in front of Joseph, the second most powerful man in the world. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:05.840 There's no escape. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:06.840 What do they do? 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:11.840 Well, that's the first thing, what they deserve to notice, what they received. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:17.680 In verse 4, Joseph said to his brothers, please come near me. 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:18.680 Come near. 00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:22.680 Surprisingly, he speaks words of tenderness. 00:10:22.680 --> 00:10:30.720 He had the right to strike the hammer of justice, but instead he decided to show mercy. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:36.080 Now I don't know about you, but I could sympathize knowing Joseph's story. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.840 At that point, he wanted to, as we say, vent and unload a few things and maybe raise his 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:46.040 voice a little and start listing all the things that his brothers had done. 00:10:46.040 --> 00:10:49.480 Do you have any idea how you hurt me? 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:53.080 You stole my young adulthood. 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:54.759 You took my life away from me. 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.520 I haven't seen my father, my mother. 00:10:57.520 --> 00:11:02.320 I've never had the opportunity to meet or know my younger brother. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:10.600 Do you know what I suffered with those slave traders and in Potiphar's house and in prison 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:11.700 and look at me? 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:15.800 You took it from me and now you're going to pay. 00:11:15.800 --> 00:11:18.560 If that were cast in a script in a movie, we would get it. 00:11:18.560 --> 00:11:19.560 We would understand. 00:11:19.560 --> 00:11:22.600 We'd all feel that way a little bit. 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:28.680 And yet here, we don't see him getting angry, that kind of anger that wells up in our own 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.959 hearts, that sense of justice, that desire for justice. 00:11:32.959 --> 00:11:37.279 On the contrary, he decides to show mercy and grace. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:38.639 Mercy and grace. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:40.239 Two wonderful words. 00:11:40.239 --> 00:11:41.239 Mercy and grace. 00:11:41.239 --> 00:11:44.079 What's the difference between mercy and grace? 00:11:44.079 --> 00:11:47.099 Because there is a difference. 00:11:47.099 --> 00:11:52.679 Mercy is not getting the judgment or the justice that you deserved. 00:11:52.679 --> 00:12:01.839 So mercy would be like if you violate a traffic law and you deserve, we say, a ticket in the 00:12:01.839 --> 00:12:06.799 United States and you don't get the ticket. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:15.039 So I can remember one time in San Diego, California, in the church that I pastored, true story, 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:20.359 driving to church and then get to church and realize I forgot my sermon and it was on the 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:25.800 other computer, this was a long time ago, and drive back home. 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:29.759 Coming back to church to get there in the time of the call to worship and going much 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.519 faster than I should and then getting pulled over by the California Highway Patrol at the 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:41.000 one off ramp where the entire congregation also gets off to go to the church, all craning 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:47.639 their necks and seeing their minister there pulled over by the police with the... 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:53.840 When you think, I'm guilty, I've gone past the speed limit, what do I deserve here? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:01.480 I deserve a large fine in the state of California, remedial traffic school, which was a thing 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:11.759 then, all the mocking and the shame of my teenage kids at the time and a lot of justice, right? 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:17.759 And the police officer comes to the door, asks for the documentation, I handed to him and 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:21.879 I tell him straight away because to be honest, I was more concerned about missing the call 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:22.879 to worship. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:27.159 Officer, I'm the pastor of the church down there at Maston, Magnolia Boulevard and we're 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:31.879 about to start and I'm so sorry, I wanted to say, can you make this quick? 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:37.799 And he says, hold on a second and he goes and he checks to make sure I'm not a real criminal 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:44.279 or anything and he comes back and hands me my documentation and then pulls it back and 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:47.079 says, what's the last word in the Bible? 00:13:47.079 --> 00:13:48.079 Excuse me? 00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:50.959 He says, come on, you're supposed to be a pastor, what's the last word in the Bible? 00:13:50.959 --> 00:13:58.599 I said, amen, true story, he hands me the documentation and says, slow it down, Pastor Brown. 00:13:58.599 --> 00:14:01.479 What did I receive there? 00:14:01.479 --> 00:14:03.839 I received mercy. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.920 I did not receive the judgment I deserved. 00:14:07.920 --> 00:14:11.680 Now grace goes one step further. 00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:17.120 Grace is getting a gift, a good thing that you did not merit. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.800 So let's imagine now that the police officer said, well, not only am I going to let you 00:14:21.800 --> 00:14:30.639 off this time, which I don't have to, but here, it was $500 for you and your wife to 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:36.519 go out for a lovely evening or weekend and I'm going to pay the insurance premiums on 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:43.919 your car and here, here's a free pass to drive as fast as you want on the freeway. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.559 That would be ridiculous. 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.840 That would be absurd, right? 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.399 It would be strange. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.919 But here's the thing about grace. 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:55.000 It is strange. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.319 It is absurd. 00:14:57.319 --> 00:14:59.639 It doesn't make sense. 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.199 It's counterintuitive. 00:15:02.199 --> 00:15:07.199 It's counterintuitive that Joseph would say, not only am I not going to punish you for 00:15:07.199 --> 00:15:10.879 all the stuff you did, but here's the best of the land. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.279 You have want of nothing. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.759 Go get dad. 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:16.600 Bring him down here. 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:20.519 You have the fatted calf. 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:22.480 Want of nothing. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:31.519 It's absurd that God the son would come into this world, not to die for the righteous, 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:39.440 but to die for sinners, for criminals, to have their crimes laid on him and for him to be 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:41.120 punished for it. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.320 It doesn't make sense. 00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:45.440 It would be too good to be true. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:46.440 It would be shocking. 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:47.440 It would be strange. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.960 And yet that's how grace works. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:57.920 Because Joseph said, look, God sent me here before you so that a remnant of you may be 00:15:57.920 --> 00:16:01.519 preserved on earth and to save the lives of many who have survived. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.120 So it's not you who sent me here, but God. 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:10.280 The brothers expected judgment, but instead received mercy and then received grace. 00:16:10.280 --> 00:16:13.600 It sounded too good to be true, but that's how grace works. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:19.320 This is why Paul says that the preaching of the cross is madness for those who perish. 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:28.640 It seems completely absurd that God would suffer for the wicked. 00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:38.320 It seems illogical for God to forgive sins for people who did not merit that forgiveness. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:44.920 To reconcile us to himself when we're the ones who did wrong to him. 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:51.479 And then to give us eternal life, to give us adoption, to justify us, the promise of 00:16:51.479 --> 00:16:56.679 the resurrection, a living hope, all of this we receive for free. 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:00.839 It would make sense if God gave us what we deserve, but grace doesn't work like that. 00:17:00.839 --> 00:17:06.319 Grace means receiving a good gift that I don't deserve. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:16.079 Now often in our relationships with other people, we have the opportunity to show mercy 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:21.000 and grace instead of judgment. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:30.079 As those who have received mercy and grace, we have opportunity to extend that to others. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.839 There's a choice often. 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:38.519 And the question is, what would we have done if we were in Joseph's place? 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.319 Would you have punished them? 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.240 Or would you have pursued peace? 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:49.519 Would you have given them what they deserve? 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:54.399 Or would you have chosen to reconcile with them? 00:17:54.399 --> 00:17:56.720 There's a difference. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:00.799 And the question is, what will you choose the next time you suffer from a broken relationship 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.240 with someone? 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.039 And what does God want us to do? 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:10.480 Now, of course, I'm not saying there's no place for discipline in the church when a 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.559 member is unrepentant, but that's a different matter. 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.119 In that case, we're not the judges. 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:18.079 God's word is. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:25.680 But oftentimes we appoint ourselves, prosecutor, judge, jury, in our broken relationships when 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:36.560 there is a choice to pursue peace, to pursue reconciliation or not. 00:18:36.560 --> 00:18:39.120 God wants us to seek peace and to pursue it. 00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:46.120 And seeking peace and pursuing peace is not simply avoiding the person, but pursuing peace 00:18:46.120 --> 00:18:52.279 and saying, come near to me, even as Joseph said to his brothers. 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:56.720 Now the grace of God, that's what Joseph did, even if it wasn't easy at first, because 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:58.399 it's never easy. 00:18:58.399 --> 00:19:01.319 It took him a little time before he did. 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:04.759 The last thing is notice the way the brothers responded. 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:15.599 The broken relationship of this family because of grace and mercy and because of what Joseph 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:19.839 sought to pursue with his brothers this reconciliation. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:28.119 Finally it opens up this possibility of there to be shalom in the family again. 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:31.240 Peace, stability. 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:35.480 We read in verse 15, he also kissed his brothers, weeping. 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:40.720 After this, his brothers began to talk to him. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:46.519 How much they must have had to say to each other and that they couldn't say until grace 00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:52.440 and mercy had broke the ice and it opened up the way. 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:59.240 Not because of judgment, but because of grace, shalom in this family was possible again. 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:04.960 And since forgiveness had been granted, there was no place for retaliation or bitterness. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:09.400 Notice the imperative of Joseph to his brothers in verse 24. 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:13.759 Let there be no quarrels with you now on your journey. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.920 He knows his brothers, he knows what they're going to do. 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:19.920 The brothers were not to blame each other for what had happened in the past. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.079 See, I told you not to sell him. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:23.079 No, it was Simon. 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:31.119 No, you said if Joseph had forgiven them, how much more should they forgive each other? 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:33.720 And the same goes for us, loved ones. 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:35.960 The same goes for us. 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:41.960 God has canceled our debt in Christ by the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:48.039 The one who like Joseph was betrayed by those close to him. 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:53.240 The one who like Joseph suffered unjustly. 00:20:53.240 --> 00:21:03.400 The one who like Joseph, his suffering brought life for others because he has granted our 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:09.600 forgiveness because he has security turned alive for us. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:14.879 Because it's his blood paid for our crimes. 00:21:14.879 --> 00:21:17.519 How much more must we forgive others? 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:22.919 It's on the basis of the gospel that we can forgive. 00:21:22.919 --> 00:21:30.079 On the basis of God satisfying his justice through Jesus Christ for us, that we don't 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:34.319 have to go around holding debts over others. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:38.679 Like Joseph's brothers, we too need forgiveness and we've received it. 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:39.880 Now we were enemies. 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.000 We were reconciled with God through the death of his son. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:49.039 And so now we can pursue that reconciliation with others. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:54.000 Our reconciliation with God that we've received through Christ, so it's not only vertical, 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.160 but horizontal, so making the shape of the cross. 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:04.840 Because without Christ, there's no peace with God and there's no peace with others. 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:12.039 As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his beautiful book, The Common Life or Life Together, I 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:14.759 think we say in English. 00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:17.879 Without Christ, he said, we would not know God. 00:22:17.879 --> 00:22:21.759 We could not invoke him or even reach him. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:26.899 Without Christ, we could not even know our brother or approach him. 00:22:26.899 --> 00:22:29.959 It is our very selves that bar the way. 00:22:29.959 --> 00:22:34.639 But Christ opened the way that leads to God and to his brother. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:39.360 Now says Bonhoeffer, Christians can live in peace among themselves. 00:22:39.360 --> 00:22:41.520 They can love and serve each other. 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:46.120 They can become one, but always and only through Christ. 00:22:46.120 --> 00:22:48.720 Only in Jesus Christ are we one. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.480 Only through him are we mutually bound. 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:54.120 He remains the only mediator forever. 00:22:54.120 --> 00:23:00.560 It's because of Christ that we have the power to forgive. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:07.440 It's because of the forgiveness we've received through him that we now can be people of reconciliation 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:08.440 and peace. 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:17.679 And so today, as Joseph said to his brothers, Jesus also says to us, come near. 00:23:17.679 --> 00:23:20.000 Come near to me. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:27.839 Come all you who are weary and heavy laden, weary and heavy laden with broken relationships 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.480 maybe. 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:31.880 The need to forgive. 00:23:31.880 --> 00:23:34.440 He says, I will give you rest. 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.039 Take my yoke upon you for it's easy. 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:40.559 My burden is light. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:41.559 It's not heavy. 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:48.000 It's not crushing like that sense of guilt we have or that sense of anger we have towards 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.400 those who have hurt us. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:54.000 Rather we're brothers because of Jesus Christ. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:59.599 And so he says, put on therefore as God's he lacked holy and loved with sentiments of 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:06.880 mercy, benevolence, humility, meekness and patience, bear with one another and forgive 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:08.000 each other. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:14.519 If one has something to complain about one about each other, forgive because as the Lord 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:20.240 has forgiven you says Paul, so too you must forgive others. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:27.200 These are someone whom you must forgive today, someone in your life, maybe a brother, a sister, 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:35.960 a friend, a neighbor, a relative, a spouse, someone who maybe you've been avoiding. 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:44.559 You have the opportunity to apply the gospel that has rescued you and to be free. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:52.559 And Jesus wants to free us from the prison and the jailhouse of resentment and bitterness. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:59.399 He's paved the way for peace and reconciliation through his blood and through his righteousness. 00:24:59.399 --> 00:25:01.279 And so look to him. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:06.519 Christ made peace with God for us and he is our peace with others. 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:07.519 Amen. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:08.519 Let us pray. 00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:13.119 Our God and our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the gospel. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:18.759 We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ through whose life, death and resurrection we have 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:25.039 received complete forgiveness for all our sins, past, present and future, things we 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.359 have done and things we have left undone. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:32.919 And oh Lord, in that and in the knowledge that we've been clothed and the perfection, 00:25:32.919 --> 00:25:38.839 the obedience, the righteousness of Jesus, that it is His performance that saves us 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:45.599 and that we have the living hope of the resurrection and the life of the age to come and the new 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:46.799 heavens and new earth. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:50.000 Oh Lord, fill our hearts with gratitude. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.559 Fill our hearts with love for others. 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.000 Strengthen our faith in Jesus. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:02.199 Strengthen our hope in heaven and make us, we pray, oh Lord, as forgiven people, forgiving 00:26:02.199 --> 00:26:03.720 people with others. 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:10.720 But we ask this through Christ our Lord.