In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the story of Joseph and his brothers in the book of Genesis. He highlights the moment when Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers and forgives them for selling him into slavery. The speaker emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and how Joseph was able to see God's hand in his circumstances. He also challenges the listeners to examine their own hearts and consider whether they are able to forgive those who have hurt them.

Genesis chapter 42. We left off at verse 23. Joseph, in our last study, had been brought out of prison, interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, is set as prime minister over the entire land of Egypt, given an Egyptian name, Zaphnath-Penea, and given a wife, Asenath, one of the daughters of the priest of On, Hierapolis, and he now has governed Egypt under Pharaoh through seven years of incredible prosperity, storing grain, it finally says, like the sand of the sea without number. And then the seven years of famine began, and evidently two years into this famine, Jacob said to his sons, go on down to Egypt to buy grain. Egypt was known for being productive even in times of drought, because they had developed a system of irrigation because of the Nile, and even when the Nile was low, they had a series of buckets, and they would use a treadmill and pedals, and they would raise buckets of water and dump it into their canals, irrigation, and Egypt was known for producing crops even when there was drought. So go down to Egypt and buy grain. But don't take my son Benjamin with you. He sends down the other ten. Of course, as they come down, it says Joseph recognizes them. They don't recognize Joseph. They haven't seen Joseph for 20 years, since they sold him into slavery. He was 17 then. He is 37 now. He is dressed like an Egyptian. He is speaking Egyptian. He is an Egyptian garb. And as they come to buy grain, Joseph speaks to them through an interpreter. He has interpreters there that speak different language because he's doing business with all nations of the world. One of his interpreters now speaking Hebrew to his ten brothers, and Joseph had accused them of being spies. They said, no, we're not spies. He said, yeah, why are there ten of you? And they said, well, we're all brothers. We have one father back in the land of Canaan. And he says, is that all? And he said, well, we have two brothers. One of them is not, he says to Joseph as he's standing there. And the other one, our youngest Benjamin, is back home with our father. And Joseph says to them through the interpreter, well, I think you're spies. And the way that I'll know that you're honest men is I will keep you all in prison here, and I'll send one of you back to fetch this younger brother. And if he comes back and I see that your story is true, I'll know that you're honest men. He puts them in the prison for three days, and they're in there stewing in their guilt for three days. Shakespeare said that suspicion haunts the guilty mind. And these men, after 20 years, are still troubled about what they'd done to Joseph, how they had lied to Jacob and said an animal had torn him apart. And he brings them out three days later, and he says, he says, go back to your family. Take your grain because I fear God through the interpreter. I will keep one of you here instead of nine of you. And then when you come back with your brother, the one that I keep shall not die. And as he said that, then the brothers turned to each other and started to argue and not knowing that Joseph understood Hebrew. And they're saying this is because of what we did to our brother. When he was crying to us out of the pit, we didn't hearken to him. We didn't listen to his voice. Ruben chimes in again and says, I told you guys not to do that to the lad. You know, again, somebody saying, I told you so after 20 years, you know, I told you not to do that, you know, and then, you know, he's and it says, Joseph now at this point is overwhelmed in his heart. And that's where we had left off. Verse 23 of chapter 42 says they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spoke unto them by an interpreter and he turned himself about from them and wept and returned to them again and communed with them and took from them Simeon and notice he bound him before their eyes. So Joseph breaks down as he listened to this conversation, his own brothers talking about what they had done to him, not knowing that it was him that was listening and it breaks his heart and he has to run to another room and he's weeping there and he composes himself. He comes back then and he takes Simeon and makes them watch as he puts the shackles on, binds him in front of them and then takes Simeon away to prison and sends them now back to Canaan. Verse 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with grain to restore every man's money into his sack and to give them provisions for the way. Thus did he unto them. Now he knows there's five more years of famine and these guys are going to be back and they loaded their donkeys with grain and they departed about 250 miles from Memphis to Hebron. And as one of them opened his sack, the idea is his personal sack to give his ass, the donkey in the inn. He saw his money and behold, it was in the sack's mouth. He said unto his brethren, my money is restored and lo, it is even in my sack. And their heart failed them and they were afraid, saying one to another, what is this that God is doing to us? Now again, these are guilty men. If you find a sack of silver or a sack of gold and say, oh no, God's getting me, you're really guilty. Most people would find a sack of silver or a sack of gold and say, oh God, you're blessing me, Lord, a sack of money, how much you love me. These guys find the sack of money and say, what is God doing to us? He's getting us. We're not like that at all. Suspicious of God's blessings. And they came to Jacob, their father. Now imagine them in their journey, on their donkeys, talking about what is this? I can't believe the money's in here. What are we going to tell them about Simeon? This guy wants us to bring Benjamin back. Dad's never going to let us bring Benjamin back. And one of them's going to be saying, yes, Simeon's going to rot in Egypt. Dad's not going to send Benjamin. You can imagine. They came unto Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan. They told him all the things that befell them, saying, the man, from now on that's Joseph, they call him the man, the man who is the Lord of the land spake roughly to us. He yelled in Egyptian and the interpreter interpreted. They didn't know what he was saying, but the idea is he was not a happy camper. And he took us for spies of the country. We said unto him, we are true, are honest men. We're not spies. We're twelve brethren, sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord of the country, said unto us, hereby shall I know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brethren here with me. Take food for the famine of your households and be gone and bring your youngest brother unto me. Then shall I know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So will I deliver you, your brother, and then you shall traffic or do business in the land of Egypt. The idea is it came to pass as they emptied their sacks that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. All of them chips off the old block here. And Jacob, their father, spiritual giant, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob, their father, said unto them, me have he bereaved of my children. Joseph is not. Simeon is not. And you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me. Now, you know, this is a guy who God has appeared to and spoke to. We often think, well, if God would just appear to me, I wouldn't have any problems anymore. Just kind of appear in my bedroom, talk to me for a little while, and I wouldn't have any problem doubting after that. Jacob's life is filled with doubt. God had appeared and spoken to him. Everything is against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not. And his kids must be thinking, oh, great, Dad, thanks. Reuben says, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver him, Benjamin, into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. Most scholars feel Benjamin around 21 years old, somewhere around 9, 10 years younger than Joseph. And he said, My son shall not go down with you. Notice, that's singular. Jacob says, My son shall not go down with you. For his brother is dead, and he's left alone. He's the only son I still have. Now, the nine brothers must feel like, what are we? Dirt. What do you mean? You've got one son. You know. He alone is left, and if mischief befall him by the way in which you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Dad saying, Simeon can rot. You're not taking Benjamin back down there. Now, 43 says, The famine was sore in the land. It came to pass when they had eaten up all the grain, which they had brought out of Egypt. Then their father said to them, Why don't you go down a little and get us some more food? Now, it's good for Simeon. I don't know how long it took him to eat all the grain, but Simeon's been waiting in a prison down there for everybody to get back and see him. And they were just enjoying themselves, and they ate all the food until it was gone. They're not going back to Egypt for Simeon. They're going to get more food. Why don't you go back, he says, and get more food? Now, this is an amazing passage to me, because the Holy Spirit records this argument. It's a family argument. You read through this. It's amazing. Now, Jacob, who put his foot down. No, you're not going back. Now, the food's gone, so he's changing his tune. Why don't you guys go back down there? Now, Judah, this is just like a father and son. Judah spake to him and said, The man did solemnly protest to us, saying, You shall not see my face, except your brother is with you. If you will send our brother with us, then we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we are not going. For the man said to us, You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. Jacob says, Why did you even tell the man that you had a brother? They said, The man asked us. How are we supposed to know? You know, you read through this passage. It is a family argument. It's incredible. Go buy food. Dad, the man said, We ain't seeing his face again unless we bring Benjamin. Now, if you send Benjamin with, then we'll go down. If you don't send him with, we ain't going down there. Because the guy said, We can't see him without him. Why did you even tell him you had a younger brother? Didn't you learn nothing from me? I'm one of the best liars that ever lived. Why did you even? You know, it's a family trait. Why did you spill the beans? They said in verse 7, Well, the man asked us straightforwardly our state. He said, He asked us about our family. Is your father yet alive? Do you have any brothers? And we told him according to the tenor of the conversation. How are we supposed to know? The guy was going to say, Bring your brother down. And Judah said to Jacob, Israel's father, Look, send Benjamin with me. We will arise and we'll go that we may live and not die. Both we and you and our little ones. Dad, we're all going to die anyway. What's the sense of keeping Benjamin here? He's going to die. We're all going to die anyhow. This at least maybe there's a chance this way. I will be surety for him. Now, Judah's a nicer guy than Reuben. Reuben said, Kill my two sons. Judah says me, you know, I'll be surety for him of my hand shall thou require him. And if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned to say we could have been down and back by now. Dad, if you'd let us go. Their father Israel said unto them. Now he puts the old Esau plan into action again. If it must be so now, then do this. Take the best of the fruits of the land. They have dried fruits. It's a drought. That's all they have in your vessels and carry down the man a present little bomb, a little honey, spices, myrrh, nuts and almonds and take double the money in your hand and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks and carried again in your hand preadventure. It was an oversight. Maybe it was a mistake on their end. Take also your brother and arise and go unto the man and God Almighty give you mercy before the man that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin. And if I be bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved. Case, a Ross, a Rob, the man of faith here. They kill him. They kill him, you know. And the men took that present. They took double the money in their hand and Benjamin. They rose up and they went down to Egypt and they stood before Joseph. Now Jacob, by the way, is left alone to wrestle again. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring these men home and slay and make ready for these men shall dine with me at noon. Now, Joseph's heart must be pounding. You haven't seen Benjamin since he was maybe seven years old, 20 some years later, says to a servant, take the guys in my house, kill a fatted calf, make some ribs and barbecue. They're going to eat with me. Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house. These guys now, if they were taken to prison, I would understand they're taken to a palace. They're afraid. These guys are afraid of everything. They said it's because of the money that was returned in our sacks. The first time we were brought in that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves and our donkeys. Then they came to the steward of Joseph's house and they communed with him. Now this was the guy that had been the interpreter. He speaks Hebrew and they come and they begin to talk with him. And they said, sir, no, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. Now they're pleading their innocence with this guy. And it came to pass when we came to the end that we opened our sacks and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of a sack, our money in full weight. And we have brought it again in our hand and other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food. And we don't know who put the money in our sack. So he's, you know, they say to the guy, look, you know, we're not sure what's going on here, but we just want you to know, you know, the first time we came, we came to buy food. We didn't want to steal. And on the way back, we found everybody found the money that they had paid for the grain in their sacks. We don't know how it got there. And now we're back again. We bought the old money with, and we brought new money. We're not here to grub food. We don't know how any of this happened. Now, he said, this is Joseph's servant speaking to them in Hebrew. He says to them, you see the word peace there in the text in the Hebrew, he says to them, shalom. They're all freaked out. And an Egyptian's witnessing to them now. Shalom be to you. Fear not your God and the God of your father have given you treasure in your sacks. I'm the one that had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them. So, so this guy says to them, shalom, he gives them a Hebrew greeting peace. And he says, your God and the God of your father's has given you your treasure in your sacks. I'm the one who had your money. I put it in there. God's given it to you. They bring Simeon out to see his brother. Simeon said, where in the world have you guys been? What'd you do? Wait till your food ran out to come down here again. Yeah, but we were fasting and praying Simeon asking God that he would let you go. And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, washed their feet. And he gave their donkeys spavender. And they made ready the present for Joseph because he was coming at noon for they heard that they should eat bread there, eat food there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand into the house. They bowed themselves to him to the earth. So you imagine now, uh, these 11 guys are all in their faces before Joseph. And he asked them of their welfare and said, is your father? Well, the old man of whom you spoke, you spoke, is he at alive? They lift up their heads off the ground and they answer, thy servant. Our father is good in good health. He is yet alive. And then they'd put their heads back down on the ground again. He's trying to talk to them. They have to keep looking up and answer and putting their heads down. And Joseph is worrying. Maybe he's thinking, I hope I didn't kill dad, making them bring Benjamin down. You don't break his heart. Is this old man you were telling me about still alive? Is he still healthy? And they lifted up his eyes and he saw his brother, Benjamin, same mom, the one brother from Rachel, same mother, his mother's son. And he said, is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he said to Benjamin, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste. He begins to break down for his bowels did yearn upon his brother. And he sought where to weep and he entered into his chamber and he wept there. Isn't it interesting how God takes note of this? Psalm 56 says, Thou tellest all my wonderings that you have kept all my tears in thy bottle. Are they not written in thy book? How God's word is wonderful over and over tells us of Joseph's broken heart. And he wept there. Now, what must he have been thinking? I mean, Joseph now sees Benjamin. He must be in his room weeping. Oh, God, how I've longed for this for years. Lord, how do I handle this? What is my next step? God, are they as jealous over Benjamin as they were over me? Verse 31 says he washed his face, no doubt his mascara was running, freshened himself up. The Egyptians sometimes wore that stuff on their eyes, you know. And he went out and he reframed himself and controlled himself and said, set on bread, put out the meal. And they set on for him by himself. Joseph sat at his own table and for them by themselves, the 12 brothers, the 11 brothers sit at their own table. And for the Egyptians that were part of his court, they sat at a separate table, which did eat with him by themselves because the Egyptians might not eat bread with. Now, the King James says Hebrews, the word is Haburi, which means nomads or shepherds. That's where the word Hebrew comes from, from Haburi, which was the Egyptian name for shepherd or for nomad or for wanderer. Because that every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians, they raise their crops there in Egypt, they raise their flocks there. This was a city with architecture and engineering and technology that we still really don't understand today. There is in the Cairo Museum, a a cobalt piece of of meteorite that we can hardly cut today, finely carved. I believe it's a cat or very intricate. They have no idea, no idea how they carved it. There is a top to a sarcophagus that had broken off and they put it in there. You can still see the cut. And the only thing we can reproduce it with today is a laser. I have no idea how the Egyptians did it in the hieroglyphics. They find they had a single pill for an amoeba that people still get from the Nile today that is deadly that we can't treat. They had a single pill that got rid of it. The Great Pyramid in Giza. Again, they look at that. There is a share. The one shaft goes one hundred seventy five foot underground, two hundred fifty foot up. And in the entire length from one end to the other, it's a quarter inch off. We would be hard pressed to duplicate it with a laser today. So this is a society and a civilization and a culture that is very, very advanced. And they disdain shepherds and nomads and people that wandered like the Bedouins, even in the hieroglyphics. When they drew a picture of a shepherd, often he was crippled. He was dirty. They disdain them so they wouldn't eat at the table with them. So they set three tables, one for Joseph to eat by himself, one for his those nobles that worked in his own court, his palace, and the other one then for the eleven brothers. Now it says this. And they sat before him, the first born according to his birthright. They set the first plate for Reuben and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled one to another. What it says is they set them down at the table according to the order that they were born in, from Reuben down to Benjamin, from the oldest to the youngest. And it says they sit at the table and they look at one another in amazement. Henry Morris, the scientist from the Creation Investigation Institute, has written a commentary on Genesis, says the odds of placing those eleven brothers according to their age perfectly is 40 million to one. It's exactly 39,917,000 to one that you would get it right the first time. And they sit down at the table and they look at each other in amazement. How in the world did he know this? And then he took and he sent messes. That's their meals. Messes. If you have small children at home, you know that. He took and sent the messes under them from before him. But Benjamin's plate, his setting, was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and they were merry with him. Now, amongst, what he's doing is he's setting aside Benjamin as a noble. Among the Spartans, they would take a prince and give him a double portion. The Cretans would give fourfold to a prince as he sat at the table. And the Egyptians would give a fivefold place setting to royalty, to a prince. So I think Joseph is doing this to see their reaction to Benjamin. Are they envious? He gives them each, you know, their setting and a fine meal, I'm sure. But he sets before Benjamin fivefold. And it says the brothers then go on and they eat and they drink. And evidently there's no animosity. It says they're merry with Joseph eating and drinking. And he commanded the steward of his house saying, fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest of Benjamin and his grain money. And he did according to the word of Joseph that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away and their donkeys. And when they were gone out of the city and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, now get up and follow after the men. And when you overtake them, say to them, wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this it which my Lord drinketh? Haven't you taken the cup that he drinks out of? And whereby indeed he divineth, ye have done evil in so doing. So, you know, the Egyptians often would take a chalice, a silver cup. They would put water in it. Rarely put blood in it. Most of the time water. Sometimes they would stir silver or gold that was powdered into it or drop oil in it. And it was, they treated it the way a fortune teller treats a crystal ball. That by looking into it, they could divine and tell the future. Now Joseph obviously believes in the one true living God. He's not doing that, but he wants his brothers to still be convinced that he's an Egyptian. So the servants now overtake them and say, okay, what are you guys up to now? You know, we send you away. We're good to you. I give you a good meal. And one of you guys has stolen my master's cup, the one he divines with. And what is this you've done? You're rewarding evil for good. Verse six says, so he overtook them and he spake unto them these same words and they said unto him, wherefore sayeth my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servant should do according to this thing. Behold the money which we found in our sacks mouths we brought again. In other words, if we were thieves, why would we have brought the money we found the first time back to Egypt? We brought it again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal out of my Lord's house, silver or gold with whom so ever of thy servants that be found, let him die. And we also will be my Lord's slaves. So search our stuff. If you find it with one of us, kill the one who's got it. And the rest of us will be your slaves. He said, now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my servant and you shall be blameless. Then they speedily took down every man's sack to the ground and opened every man's sack. And he searched and began at the eldest at Reuben and left off at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And they then rent their clothes and loaded every man his donkey and returned then to the city. Now the guys could have split. They could have gone back to Jacob without Benjamin. And we're beginning to see that their character has changed. Now, instead of letting a son of Rachel go to Egypt without them being so as Joseph was sold into slavery, they all turn around and go with him, putting their own lives on the line. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there. And they fell before him to the ground. Joseph said unto them, what deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can certainly divine? And Judah said, what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak or how shall we clear ourselves? Notice God has found out the iniquity of thy servants. They are so guilty about selling Joseph in the Egypt. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found. Joseph said, God forbid that I should do so. But the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. And as for you, get up and go in peace to your father. Bless you guys. Kind of a person do you think I am? And Judah came near unto him and said, Oh, my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee speak a word in my Lord's ears. Now he gets close to Joseph and he kind of speaks to him privately. Let not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servants saying, have you a father or a brother? And we said unto my Lord, we have a father, an old man and a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead. Now he's whispering this in Joseph's ear. I mean, this is amazing, an amazing story. And he alone is left of his mother, of Rachel, and his father loves him. And thou sayest unto thy servants, bring him down unto me that I may set my eyes upon him. And we said unto my Lord, the lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidest unto thy servants, your youngest brother come down with you, you shall not see my face again. And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord. And our father said, go again and buy a little food. And we said, we can't go down if our youngest brother is not with us. Then will we go down for we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant, my father, said unto us, you know that my wife bear me two sons. And the one went out from me, and I said, surely he is torn in pieces. Now, by the way, this is the first time Joseph is hearing the alibi that his brothers gave to Jacob twenty some years before this. Now Joseph hears what their excuse was for the first time. He said, my father Jacob said, surely my son Joseph was torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. Joseph's heart is breaking as he's listening to this. And if you take this also from me, speaking of Benjamin, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. I will die. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up with the lad's life. You know, my father is a son of his old age, and my father's very life, the reason he stays alive, is bound up with the life of Benjamin. It shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad. I put my own life on the line unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a slave to my lord. And let the lad be up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come upon my father. And now Joseph is convinced at this point in time. What Benjamin, you know, Joseph had been thinking, how could brothers sell a brother into slavery? You know, what kind of heart, you know, and how often he probably thought about that when he was in the dungeon. Now he's finally hearing Judah, and Judah is the one who said, sell him into slavery. Judah is the one who didn't care back in chapter 37. Judah is the one now who says, no, take me, let me be the one in the pit. Let me be the one sold into slavery, so that my brother can live and my father doesn't receive any more heartache. And this is what exactly, you know, this, it's the heart of God being reflected, because that would be the heart of God reflected in in his son as he came, that that he would come and become a slave that you and I might be set free from Egypt and from Satan, from death and from sin. And Joseph, as he hears this, this is what he's been longing to hear. And he's ready now to reveal himself. Then Joseph could not reframe himself before all of them that stood by his servants and his royal entourage. And he cries now, no doubt in Egypt, in Egyptian, he cried, cause every man to go out from me. And you can see all the nobles running out now. And they're thinking, I don't know what he's saying, but he's mad. And there stood no man with him, just Joseph face to face with his 11 brothers, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud. He breaks down in front of them, weeping again, the spirit takes note. And the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard, so he is so loud in his weeping now that his own servants in his own palace are listening. They didn't have storm windows like we do today. And it says all the way in Pharaoh's palace, they could hear Joseph weeping. And Joseph said to his brethren in Hebrew now, finally, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. Terrified is the word in Hebrew. Speechless, awestruck as they stood there looking at him. And Joseph said to his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near to him and they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now Benjamin is hearing for the first time what really happened to his brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life. And again, I look at this and I think, isn't it remarkable? Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves. I think, you know, so much of the time if somebody just back bites us or talks about us or somebody comes to us and said, well, this person told me that you said this when you heard that I said this, and pretty soon we're already ready to kill somebody. Let alone actually taking us, throwing us in a pit, selling us into slavery, lying to our family that we're dead and gone, twenty years of our life ripped away from us. And what comes out of Joseph's mouth is, be not angry or grieved with yourselves. And again, we don't find, we don't find in his hundred and ten years of life recorded a bitter or a vengeful or an angry word recorded. And it is so incredible. And I think so often we are angry or grieved with ourselves. We do something and we fail. And if we're young Christians, you know, we put our Bible on the table, we let it fall open, and it always falls open to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit or Hebrews six or Hebrews ten, and we're going, you know, I'm lost. I'm beyond, you know, and we read in the scripture that God has forgiven us. We find it so hard to forgive ourselves. We can read the words that are written. And some other Christian will come around us and they're condemned. We minister to them. Well, don't worry. It's His grace. He loves you and they go away blessed. And we're still not believing what we just told them. And if that's you this evening. Now, let me tell you something. If you are presently in sin, transgression, rebellion, if you are presently living in sin knowingly, you are in rebellion. And I pray that God chastens you. We're not cutting you any slack because God doesn't. You know, you're God's kid. You don't get away with it. Unbelievers get away with all kinds of stuff. God's kids, if you haven't noticed, don't get away with anything. But we're talking about here, someone who's done something in the past, someone who's regretting it. Someone, one of God's dear children that is that is after years, sometimes still not forgiving themselves, still grieved with themselves, still angry with themselves, still carrying guilt that they shouldn't be carrying. Because the Bible clearly says that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And yet you and I both know Christians that are kind of, you know, Eeyore Christians. You guys watch Winnie the Pooh, don't you? Eeyore Christians. Well, I know that's what the Bible says, but I don't see how God could love me. And I keep doing the same thing over and over, you know, and just I do that once in a while, but just for an hour, then I come back again. Now, it's important. Look, the reason that this story is recorded with so much detail, 25% of the book of Genesis about the life of Joseph, more than far more than any other character in the book, far more than Abraham or Noah. And that is because Joseph most closely parallels God's dear son who would be sent into the world, who would be rejected by his brethren, came unto his own, his own received him not, to the Jews, sold into slavery as it were, handed over to Pilate and to the chief priests, thrown into the dungeon, crucified as it were, then brought out of the dungeon to a place of glory, resurrected, the power of the Father, given a Gentile bride, and one day still to be revealed to his brethren, as it says in Matthew 23, henceforth, you shall see me no more until you say, blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord. Zechariah 12, 10, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn as one mourns for an only son. And the heart of God toward us this evening is be not grieved nor angry with yourselves. You may have done something in one way, but God's providence and sovereignty overrides, and how we can turn those things around. And my encouragement to you is if you are carrying guilt for something that's in your past, before you leave this evening, take it off your back, drop it on the floor, it'll roll down the front here, the floor is slanted, and it will disappear forever. Take it off. Give it up. Don't sit around for the rest of your life and say, I don't deserve to be saved. Let's settle that. You don't. I don't. Don't for the rest of your life say, I'm not worthy. You're not. I'm not. Revelation chapter 5 says, the angel searched in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth, and John wept because no man was found worthy. Now, when I first realized that, that was a tremendous relief because I thought for sure I had to be. I was the one guy they were all looking for. None of us are worthy. No flesh will glory in his presence. All that has been accomplished has been accomplished at heaven's expense. God only desires that you walk in faith, that you confess when you make a mistake, that you leave then the weight of your guilt with him. Now therefore, be not grieved or angry with yourselves that you sold me here for God did send me before you to preserve life. What a remarkable perspective. For these two years have the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a prosperity. The idea is as a nation, a people in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me here, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all of the land of Egypt. How incredible that he is able to lift his eyes above his present circumstances and to bring it into perspective of eternity and spirituality. I think as we, you know, do we treat people who have offended us in a tremendous way this way, or are we just holding on? You know, I know for me, there's some people in the past that have hurt me and I, and I, okay, I've forgiven them and I believe I put aside and all of a sudden if I hear their voice or I see their face, all of these old feelings can come flooding back again. And I look at Joseph without a New Testament, without an Old Testament, without church on Sunday, without the fellowship of the saints, without all the advantages we enjoy. There's nowhere in the Bible record that God ever appeared to Joseph. He appeared to Jacob. He doesn't appear again. So he appears to Moses, the burning bush. Joseph had no appearance of God in his life. He had the instruction of his father, Israel, but how remarkable he is able through the dreams I believe that God had given him to look around and say, Lord, you're on the throne. Nobody could mistreat me. And my life is not my own. As Paul says, our life is not our own. It's bought with a price. And he said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, I live for the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's not my life anyway. How can anybody injure me? I don't have a life anymore. And Joseph is looking at life that way at this point in time. Wasn't you? What you did wasn't right. Joseph's not saying, oh, it's fine and dandy. Anytime you have a bad day, sell one of your brothers into slavery. He's not saying it was good or it was fine or it wasn't wrong. He's just saying God was overriding in all of these things. And now because of the way it's all turned out, don't be angry or grieved with yourselves. It wasn't you that sent me here. It was God that sent me here to preserve life, to be a father to Pharaoh and all of his house. Haste ye, go up to my father. Hurry up, go get dad and say unto him, thus saith thy son, Joseph. And imagine, you know, the last time Jacob saw them, they said, the man, the man down in Egypt said, bring Benjamin. We're going back to see the man. You know, now they're going to come back up to Canaan and look into Jacob's face and say, thus saith thy son, Joseph. That's incredible. Say to him, thus saith thy son, Joseph. God hath made me Lord of all of Egypt. Come down unto me, tarry not. Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, about 900 square miles, Goshen. Thou shalt be near me. Do we want the people who have stabbed us in the back to be near us? Not me. Somebody stabs me in the back. I say, okay, Lord, I'll forgive him. I can't forget. So make them at least 3,000 miles away from me. And Joseph says, be near unto me, thou and thy children, thy children's children, thy flocks, thy herds, and all that thou hast. And there I will nourish thee. You know, this is remarkable. It isn't just that he's forgiven them. He wants them close. And the people that have mistreated him in the greatest way, he wants to nourish them and to bless them. There I will nourish thee. And yet there are others who have not. There are five years of famine. Lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. Speak in Hebrew, no interpreter. And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen. And you shall hasten and bring down my father here. And then, and how long I would love to have seen this, he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all of his brethren and wept upon them. And after that, his brethren talked with him. Maybe the first time in their lives. When he was seventeen and they were back in Canaan in chapter thirty-seven, it says they detested him. His ten older brothers hated his guts. He realized they may never have looked into his eyes and talked to him before this. And there was lots to catch up on. They probably said, where did you get that name, Zaphnath Penea? My wife's name is Azenath, but my kids are Manasseh and Ephraim. Oh, forgetting and fruitful. And just he must have asked them, what is going on? How amazing. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house. By the way, it was heard all the way here in Calvary Chapel tonight. This is such an amazing story. It said it was heard in Pharaoh's house saying, Joseph's brethren are coming. It pleased Pharaoh well and his servants. Joseph was loved. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, say unto thy brethren, this do ye. Load up your beasts and go and get you into the land of Canaan and take your father and your households and come unto me and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land and thou art commanded this do ye. Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives and for your father and come on down. Also, regard not your stuff. It's hard to do, isn't it? Regard not your stuff. Because we insure our stuff these days. Regard not your stuff for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and he gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment. But to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after this manner, ten asses loaded with good things of Egypt, ten she-asses loaded with grain and bread and meat for his father by the way. I just can't imagine. Dad, Joseph's alive. These ten donkeys are for you. These ten donkeys are for you. You know, here they come out of Egypt with wagons and chariots and loaded. All the people of the mainland must have looked and thought, what? And around them is drought and disaster and famine and suffering and here they come. How incredible. And they went up out of Egypt and came up out of the land of Egypt to Canaan and to Jacob their father and they told him saying Joseph is yet alive and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted just like mine is reading this. It stopped. He did a Fred Sanford. You know. Here's the man of faith and he believed them not. Because they were all chips off the old block. You can't believe their first story most of the time. And they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said, it is enough. Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die. What an incredible, incredible story. Let's stand. You know, I know it was hard for those brothers to receive the forgiveness that Joseph freely gave to them. In fact, as we read through now, 17 years after this, when Jacob dies and he's taken back up to Egypt and buried in the cave of Mephila, then the brothers say, now that dad is dead, Joseph is going to get us. Still guilty and still not believing that forgiveness can be offered so freely when it's divine. When it's heaven's forgiveness. And if you don't know Jesus Christ this evening as your personal Lord and Savior, you know, you need to discover that heaven's forgiveness is given freely. In fact, the Bible says where sin doth abound, grace doth much more abound. If you're a murderer or a thief or a druggie or abortion, whatever you've done, it doesn't matter. The one that we're speaking of will wash you and cleanse you of all of your sin forever and make you his son or his daughter. No strings attached. I know it sounds too good to be true. It is too good to be true, but it is true.