In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith takes us through the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. He emphasizes the importance of confessing our sins and not allowing unconfessed sin to hang on us like a plague. Pastor Chuck also highlights the suffering and testing that Joseph went through, showing us that even in our trials, God has a plan and purpose. He encourages us to trust in God's control and to live with a sense of urgency in these desperate days.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove We'll descend upon your life And make you whole I do hope you'll make plans to join us. So let's turn to Genesis, chapter 44, verse 17, as Pastor Chuck Smith provides us with the details. Unconfessed sin hangs on you like a plague. You may bury it in the inner recesses of the subconscious, but it's there. And sooner or later it comes out to plague you. Surely our iniquity has caught up with us. We are guilty. But Joseph said, Far be it from me that I should do so. But the man in whose hand the cup was found, He will be my slave. And as for you, go in peace to your father. Get out of here. That's all we want is the guilty culprit. Then Judah came near to him and said, Oh, my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's hearing. And do not let your anger burn against your servant. For you are even like Pharaoh. Now you asked us, Saying, have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, we have a father, an old man, And a child of his old age who is young. His brother is dead. And he alone is left of his mother's children. And his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him. And we said to my Lord, the lad cannot leave his father. For if it should leave his father, his father would die. But you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, You shall see my face no more. And so it was when we went up to your servant, my father, That we told him the words of my Lord. And our father said, go back and buy us a little food. But we said, we cannot go down if our youngest brother isn't with us. Then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face Unless our youngest brother is with us. Then your servant, my father, said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons. That's Rachel, and of course she died in childbirth with Benjamin. And one of them went out from me. And I said, surely he is torn to pieces, and I have not seen him since. But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, You shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, Since his life is bound up in the lad's life, It will happen when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And so your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became a surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever. Now therefore, please, let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my Lord, And let the lad go up with his brothers. Really, Judah is passing the final test here. Not only is he not willing to forsake Benjamin to his fate, He is now offering to be a substitute for Benjamin. Let me take his place, let me take his guilt, and let him return to his father. Really passing the supreme test at this point. And in this, Judah becomes a very beautiful type of Christ. Taking the place of the guilty, taking the penalty of the guilty, Christ our substitute. And thus, it was from Judah, and from the tribe of Judah, that the Messiah was to come. And here he is, volunteering to be the substitute for his brother. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father. And so this beautiful intercession of Judah for his brother Benjamin in the volunteering of taking his guilt and taking his place as a slave. Too much for Joseph. He just couldn't restrain himself anymore. And so he ordered all of his Egyptian servants out of the room so that no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph, does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed, the word is also translated terrified, in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me. And they came near, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Here is another place of the many where Joseph becomes a beautiful type of Christ. For Jesus came to his own, and his own received him not. He was despised and rejected by his brothers. The nation of Israel rejected Jesus when he came as the Messiah. He was not recognized by them the first time. Even as Joseph's brothers did not recognize him the first time they saw him. But the second time he saw his brothers is when he revealed himself to them. Even as Jesus will reveal himself to Israel when he comes again as their Messiah. Not recognize the first time, but reveals himself to them the second time. And there is that great prophecy of Zachariah that shall be fulfilled as they shall look upon him whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn over him as a mother mourns for her only son. They really didn't know at this point what was going to happen. And if this is Joseph, oh man, he's probably going to really take vengeance on all of us now. I am Joseph. He said, come near to me, please. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved nor angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. And so Joseph sees behind the obvious material things and he sees into the realm of the spirit. He sees now the eternal plan of God. He realizes that his coming to Egypt was providentially ordained by God. It was a part of God's plan for the preservation of the family. God knowing that this horrible famine was going to come. Twenty years before the famine prepared for the family of Jacob to be preserved by sending Joseph ahead to Egypt. Now Joseph had to go through a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of hardship in order for the purposes of God to be fulfilled. And how often the purposes of God are fulfilled through temporary pain, suffering. I am certain that Joseph did not understand the plan of God when he was being carried away to Egypt pleading with his brothers and they're turning a deaf ear to him. I'm certain that Joseph wasn't aware of the plan of God when he was sitting in that Egyptian jail after the false accusations of Potiphar's wife. But now God is completing the cycle. Now he is over the land. Now he sees the whole purpose of God was the preservation of Israel. Psalm 105 has an interesting commentary on this particular portion of the history of Israel. And let's look at Psalm 105 and see how in looking back it is viewed. Beginning with verse 16. Moreover he called for a famine in the land. He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them. Talking about God. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in iron. So Joseph's experience in the prison wasn't all pleasant clubhouse. It wasn't like a lot of our prisons today. Not so with Joseph. He was in fetters. His feet were hurt with the fetters and he was laid in irons. Now imagine being there in jail for at least three years. Not knowing the plan or the purpose of God. Not really yet understanding. What a test of faith. What a test of faith in the love of God or the providential care of God for his children. Here is a man who has done nothing wrong. Yet despised and hated by his brothers. Here is a man who has done nothing wrong and yet accused of rape. Falsely accused of rape and thrown in the jail. Put in irons and in fetters and there he pains and hurts. While he waits. Oh, I'm afraid that I would not have passed the test as well as Joseph. I'm afraid that in prison I would have been praying prayers that expressed really my doubt of God's goodness and love and concern for me. He was in the irons until the time that his word came to pass. That is the interpretation of the dream. The word of the Lord tested him. What a test. He went through. The king sent and released him. The ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions. To bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And he increased his people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies. And goes on to recount the history of Israel. But an interesting little notation there concerning Joseph. Giving us a little further insight into the suffering of Joseph in the prison. And the testing that Joseph went through. Now if I have a trial that lasts a week. I find myself really beginning to chafe. And to cry out unto God. Oh Lord what's going on? Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from the cry of my roaring? God I've been crying for a week and you haven't answered. You haven't done anything. Still things are in a disarray and they're in a mess Lord. Why? Here he was for three years in the fetters. In the chains. Tested by God. I see where I have a long way to go. In my trust in God. In my confidence that God is in control. That God rules. So. Joseph. Realizes. That these years of suffering that he went through were all a part of the plan of God. The plan of God to preserve his family. During this period of drought and famine that was going to come. In the land. So it was not you that sent me here. It was God. I realized that God's hand is behind it. You know I am interested in how many times in the scripture. Things that were intended for evil against the children of God. God had a plan and a purpose in them. And he turned them around for good. So many times we see this happening. And here is a classic example. His brothers intended it for evil. But God meant it for good. God's plan was being unfolded. Even in the evil designs that they had against him. There is a beautiful scripture that says. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. For this is the heritage of the children of the Lord. Satan may shoot his arrows at you. But God will turn them around for your benefit. For your good. We have to trust in God. Believe that God is in control. God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me and do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen. And you shall be near me. You and your children. Your children's children. Your flocks and your herds. And all that you have. The land of Goshen was one of the most fertile areas of Egypt. It was in the Nile Delta. And it encompassed an area of about 900 square miles. Which is roughly twice the size of the city of Los Angeles. And so you'll come down. You'll live here near me. Tell my dad. What God has done for me. Made me the Lord over the land. There I will provide for you. Lest you and your household and all that you have come to poverty. For there are still five years of this famine remaining. And behold your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin. See that it is my mouth that speaks to you. Hey. It's me. I'm Joseph your son. So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt. And all that you have seen. And you shall hasten and bring my father down here. And then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck. And he wept. And Benjamin wept on his neck. And moreover he kissed all of his brothers. And wept over them. And after that his brothers talked with him. Now they were rather speechless up to this point. They didn't know what was going on. I mean they're just so totally shocked. This is our little brother Joseph you know. Can't believe it. Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house saying Joseph's brothers have come. So it pleased Pharaoh and all of his servants well. Joseph was so loved in Egypt they realized that this fellow had actually been the salvation of the nation. Had he not interpreted the dream and had he not set up the storehouses of grain they would really be hurting now. There would be starvation by now. But they're so appreciative to Joseph and when they hear his brothers have come everybody is happy and rejoicing. And Pharaoh said to Joseph say to your brothers do this. Load your beast and depart and go to the land of Canaan. And bring your father and your households and come to me and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land. Now you are commanded do this. Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives bring your father and come. So the royal carpet is rolled out for Jacob and the family to come on down into Egypt. The commandment of the Pharaoh come on down. Pretty good. Then the sons of Israel did so and Joseph gave them carts according to the command of Pharaoh and he gave them provisions for the journey. He gave to all of them and to each man changes of garments. But to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. And he sent to his father these things ten donkeys loaded with good things of Egypt. Ten female donkeys loaded with grain bread and food for his father for the journey. So he sent his brothers away and they departed and he said to them see that you do not become troubled along the way. Then they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. And they told him saying Joseph is still alive and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart stopped because he did not believe them. He just couldn't believe it. I mean it was just too much of a shock. It just Joseph the one who I love the one I've mourned for a life governor over Egypt couldn't believe them. But when they told him all of the words which Joseph had sent to them and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him the spirit of Jacob their father revived. I mean he can't believe it. Then Israel said it's enough. Joseph my son is still alive and I will go and see him before I die. And so this is one of the most beautiful dramatic stories in all of literature. And it's one that just is so fraught with emotion and beauty. Only God could plan such a beautiful story. We'll return with more of our verse by verse study through the book of Genesis as Jacob safely takes his family to Egypt. We do hope you'll make plans to join us. Right now I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one you can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives and they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details. Simply call 1-800-272-WORD and phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time. Once again our toll free number is 1-800-272-9673. And for your added convenience you can order online anytime when you go to the word for today dot org. And while you're there be sure to browse through the additional resources that include Bible studies commentaries CDs DVDs and so much more. Once again that's the word for today online at the word for today dot org. 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