In this sermon, the speaker discusses a story from the Bible about Joseph and his brothers during a time of famine. The brothers go to Egypt to buy grain, but they are unaware that the ruler they encounter is actually their long-lost brother Joseph. Joseph tests his brothers by secretly returning their money to their sacks, causing them to fear that God is punishing them. Despite their fear, the brothers continue on their journey, planning to return the money when they come back. The speaker emphasizes the idea that sometimes God allows difficult circumstances in our lives to test and refine us.

Now, will you notice verse 25, Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way, and thus did he unto them. He just couldn't refrain from not taking money from them at all. They filled their sacks, and the money they'd given him, he just put it back in the sack. And thus did he unto them. And they laded their asses with the corn and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass for a vendor in the inn, he spied his money, for behold, it was in his sack's mouth. He said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it's even in my sack. And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us? Now, they recognized, you see, the hand of God in their life, and they feel like it's a judgment from God upon them. Now, who listening in is going to say that this is not a judgment of God upon them? The thing that would ordinarily have been good news and would have been a wonderful thing. Would you mind going down to your, whatever your supermarket is? I was going to call one by name, but it might be just here in Southern California, and you wouldn't know what I was talking about. But whatever your supermarket is in the place where you live, suppose you went down there and got your weekend groceries in, that you filled up two of these great big carts. And I saw a woman the other day buy that many groceries. And she had about three children with her. And I found out and just, you know, I remarked about the groceries. She had more groceries in those two carts than were left in the supermarket. And I commented, and she said, Well, I've got three more at home. She had three with her and then a husband herself. That was a lot to feed, of course. But suppose you went down, spent $50 at the supermarket, and the bag boy got it all together for you, put it in the carts, and you went out and got in your car, and you found your $50 there at the top of one of the sacks. Would that be bad news to you? Especially when you found out from the grocer it was just a little gift from him to you. Well, may I say to you, ordinarily that'd be good news. In fact, that would be something that would be very encouraging. But it wasn't for these boys. They already feel like they're in hot water with this hard-boiled ruler down there in Egypt that's made it so difficult for them. Now, they came unto Jacob their father, unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them. You might ask the question of why didn't they go back? What would you have done under the circumstances? I think they recognized they would have been in really hot water had they gone back. At least they thought they would have been. That this man would then accuse them of stealing the money. They are not taking any chances. They're going on home. And they intend to bring it back when they come back again because they felt like they'd be returning if the famine continued, and it was to continue.