In this sermon, Joseph tests his brothers who have come to Egypt to buy food during a famine. He accuses them of being spies and locks them up for three days. Joseph treats them roughly and asks penetrating questions to gather information about his family without revealing his true identity. The brothers, unaware that Joseph is their long-lost brother, plead their innocence and explain their purpose for coming to Egypt. Joseph continues to test them throughout the story.

Now, verse 7, And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, and the minute he did, believe me, he treated them rough. Why? Testing them. And you'll find out he's going to test them all the way through. But he made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. Notice his penetrating questions. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies, to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, May my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, believe me, Joseph is pouring it on. He says to them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man, in the land of Canaan. Behold, the youngest is this they with our father, and one is not. But he happened to be the one is, not is not. He's right there before them. May I say this is quite a dramatic moment, is it not? And Joseph's not letting up on them. He's getting all the information he can from them. Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you of, saying, Ye are spies. And now he's going to give them a test. And he's going to find out as much as he can about his family without letting these brethren know who he is. Now he says for the third time in verse 14, Ye are spies. Verse 15, Hereby ye shall be proved by the life of Pharaoh, ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. You see, they mention the fact that they are twelve brethren. Only ten are there. So they explain. They said one of them, our youngest brother, well, he's not here with us. He's with his father. And our other brother, well, he's not. That is, he's dead. That's what they think about Joseph. They think, really, he's dead. And Joseph now is attempting to make contact with this youngest brother, because these brethren are really half-brothers of his. And the boy Benjamin, he's now a young man. He's his full brother, and he wants to see him. And the way he does it, he said, Ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh, surely ye are spies. And he put them all together into ward three days. He locked them up in the town Bastille. And these brethren, I tell you, it looks bad for them now. And they wonder, verse 18, And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do and live, for I fear God. Now, if there was anything that would have given any inkling of an idea of who he was, this was it. He says, I fear God. Now, there were people in that day, and I couldn't prove this. My life depended on it. But there were many people in that day that apparently knew God, that they knew the way to God by sacrifice. That probably might not have excited the interest of these brethren or cast maybe a little suspicion about this man, but he at least gives a testimony for God. And I'd have you note that Joseph never misses an opportunity to give a testimony for God, and believe me, he's given a testimony here because he's going to give God the glory as the one who is directing his life. I would have thought this might have caused the brothers to suspect who he might be. It might also have encouraged them in believing that they'd be treated justly at his hand. And apparently this made no impression on them. It doesn't look as if it did.