As the Lord my graciously helped
me, I would like to continue our subject of Joseph and his
love to the brethren and his dealings with them. But I do
want to take my text this evening from the New Testament, Hebrews
chapter 12 and verse 6. Hebrews 12 and verse 6. That's the epistle to the Hebrews
chapter 12 and verse 6, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Hebrews 12 and
verse 6. As we look at the dealings of
Joseph with his brethren, it must have appeared to them at
times that And as they relate to their father, they see Joseph
as somebody that spoke roughly to them, hard things to them.
Indeed, they couldn't understand why he was dealing with them
as he was. And in our pathways at times,
perhaps in the beginning of the Lord dealing with us, we can't
perhaps understand why the Lord would take the line he does.
why the Lord wouldn't just shed his love aboard in our hearts
straight away. I realise the Lord is sovereign
in the order in which he works in the hearts of people. But
we do know that the word of God says, for whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And this
is not easy to endure. This is difficult. And as we
look at the way Joseph was treating His brethren at this time, they
would have far rather he didn't do it. They would have far rather
that he just sold them the grain as a business transaction. They
kept themselves to themselves. They went back to the land of
Canaan and had nothing more to do with him. But you see, this
was not the purpose that Joseph had for the brethren. He wanted
union with those brethren. He wanted love. He wanted fellowship. And so is the case of the heavenly
Joseph, who says, I seek my brethren. He seeks those brethren to have
fellowship with them. They are content, you see, to
live without Joseph in the land of Canaan. But Joseph had other
thoughts. And you see, it's the thoughts
of God's love and mercy to his people that cause him, you see,
to work out that great plan of salvation, to save his people
from their sins. It's on God's side, you see.
It was not that man contrived some way of getting back to God.
No, it's God's plan of salvation. And he planned that salvation
and that salvation was going to be effective. it was going
to draw sinners unto himself. And so as we see in this account
of Joseph, we see that he was dealing with his brothers in
love and mercy. They could only see that he was
dealing roughly with them. And may that be a comfort for
you perhaps tonight. You might feel that God is not
answering your prayers in the way you want. He may seem to
be replying with love not the world nor the things that are
in it. He doesn't want you to have fellowship with the world.
He doesn't want you to be a worldling. He wants you to be one of his
people. He wants you to come apart and to be one of his people
who serve him and who know him, who have fellowship with him,
who have true understanding of the love of Christ. Well, when
we got to this this morning, we were speaking of of where
the brethren had, Joseph had questioned the brethren as to,
as to that they were spies. And they tried to show their
credibility by saying they were one of 12 brethren. Of course,
that immediately put them on the back foot because where was,
where was Joseph? They just said he was not. Well,
of course, he was the very one that they were standing talking
to. So he knew very well that they weren't telling the truth
on that one. And you see, he was probing to make them, bring
them guilty. And we read in Romans that the
whole thing is to bring the whole world guilty before God. And
this is vitally important with every child of God, that we come
to realise that we are verily guilty. This is what they said
in Genesis 42 verse 21, and they said one to another, we are verily
guilty concerning our brother. They'd done this sin some 22
years before, but now they felt the guilt of it. They felt that
they were guilty, and now that they realized it. But you see,
We read later on then in verse 23, and they knew not that Joseph
understood them. They said they were guilty. They
spoke one to another in the Hebrew language, I guess. And they thought,
well, this ruler of the land of Egypt, he won't understand
what we're saying. He did. He understood it all. He could speak Hebrew as well
as they could. But you see, we are told, and they knew not that
Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them, by an interpreter. You see he veiled his identity.
Think of the Lord Jesus when he came on those two on the road
to Emmaus. He joined them as a stranger
and he veiled his identity so that they walked the whole way
to Emmaus not knowing who he was and yet he preached Christ. He preached Christ to them and
they loved him not because he was Christ He was Christ, but
they loved him because he was preaching of Christ. And then,
of course, they had the wonderful privilege to realize that he
was Christ as well. But you see, their heart burnt
within them when he spoke with them by the way. And here, Joseph,
you see, hides his identity. And perhaps we don't always know.
When we come to the Lord in prayer and we don't get that response
that we think, Does Joseph, this governor of
the land of Egypt, does he love us or does he hate us? He seems
to be against us. Oh, that he could only treat
us as the other people. But you see, God was going to
deal with them. He wanted to bring these brethren
together again in union. But there was sin to be dealt
with. And you see, if we're going to come in union with God, our
sin has got to be dealt with. Not brushed under the carpet
and say, well, we won't talk about that. No. Joseph was going
to deal with sin. Going to expose that sin, not
to the ridicule of the world, but to their personal conviction. Personal conviction of sin. Repentance
that's not to be repented of. and they knew not that Joseph
understood them. You see, the first time they're going to realize
that Joseph can understand their language is when he reveals himself
to them. All the Egyptians go out, then
he speaks in a language they can understand directly. Think
of that lovely hymn, Just As I Am, Without One Plea. It has
that lovely verse. Thy love unknown has broken every
barrier down. What a barrier. Languages, isn't
it? Language is a barrier, isn't it? If you can't speak the same
language with somebody, it puts a barrier between two people.
Well, this language barrier apparently seemed to be there to start with
because he spoke through an interpreter. When he revealed himself in his
love, he broke that barrier down. He spoke in a language they could
understand. Thy love unknown has broken every
barrier down. Now to be Thine and Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come. And in verse 24 of Genesis 42,
And he turned himself from them and wept. And here you see, you
can see that he wasn't doing this in hatred to his brethren
at all. It wasn't that he was enjoying being cruel to them
in any way and seeking to be unkind or get revenge on them.
Remember he'd already called his son Manasseh. God has made
me to forget my father's house and all my toil. He'd forgotten
that in the sense of a resentment and a hatred. He loved them and
he turned himself about from them and wept. Genesis 42 verse
24. and returned to them again. He
was weeping in love, you see. He loved these brethren. But
did they realize it? Did they realize that he loved
them? I don't think they did. You go and look at what account
they gave to their father. He didn't love them. No, no,
no. The man who's in the Lord of the land spake roughly to
us. Oh, God's against us. And you see, when we come to
realize we're sinners, we realize that God is against us. God is
against sinners. He's angry with the wicked every
day. Yes, he's against sin. But he has a love for his people.
You might say, how can he be against sinners and love them?
He's against, in his heart he has a, there is a hatred to sin,
but also a love to his people. And you see when that hatred
of sin is dealt with in the Lord Jesus Christ, And then there
can be that showing of that love, revealing himself to them. And
he turned himself about and wept and and returned to them and
communed with them and took from them Simeon and bound him before
their eyes. I don't know exactly why it was
that he took Simeon and bound him, but Simeon would have been,
of course, the eldest brother that oversaw him being sold.
into Egypt because Reuben doesn't seem to that he went up it seemed
that he went away at that time and Simeon would have been then
the eldest who oversaw this transaction going on and in verse 25 then
Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn and to restore
every man's money in his sack So you see, they were to come
to buy this corn. They wanted a business transaction.
They wanted to pay for it. They didn't want to be in his
debt in any way. They wanted to pay their way. And yet, you see, they never
did. They never paid for this corn.
And how this is a picture of how the Lord's people, they cannot
buy grace. It's free grace. Free grace for
such as sinners be. And why, my soul, why not for
thee? Then Joseph commanded to fill
their sacks with corn and restore every man's money in his sack,
and to give them provision for the way, and thus did he. So
they go on their way. And then what happens? In verse
28, and he said unto his brethren, when one of the brothers opened
his sacks, my money is restored, and lo, it's even in my sack.
And their heart failed them. Now these were the Jews. The
Jews are known to be sharp, shrewd businessmen. They liked their
money. Why weren't they pleased that their money was back in
their sacks? It sounds a good transaction. You get the corn
and you get the money too. They weren't at all happy because
they realized there was something wrong. They'd have loved to pay
for that corn. They'd have loved to be on an
equal standpoint that they could buy it with their own money.
But you see the great point with Joseph was they were going to
come to be to be in need of mercy. And that's a great point in the
pathway of a Christian, is to come to realise we don't come
to God as being a pleasing object in his sight and that he should
be really impressed that we've joined the organisation. No, we come in guilty before
God, that we are at his mercy. were at his mercy. And Joseph,
you see, he puts this money back. And it's
very interesting, you see, what they say. These brothers that
had seemed to live without a fear of God in their hearts, I believe,
when you hear of what they did in their early days, these brothers
of Joseph, they had no fear of God before their eyes, I believe.
This is suddenly coming close to them. What is this? This is
Genesis 42 verse 28. What is this that God has done
unto us? God, you see, has come a reality
in these sons' lives. They could deceive their father
for 22 years. They could do their own thing.
They could go their own way. They were masters of their own
destiny and their own thoughts. And there may be some here that
will say, well, I'll go my own way. I won't listen to what the
church says, what my mum and dad say. I'm going my own way. What is this that God has done
unto us? You see, God became a reality
in the lives of these brethren. These brethren, which were going
to make up the 12 tribes of Israel. These were ungodly men early
on in their life. You read what Judah got up to
earlier. It makes unsavory reading in
Genesis 38. They were ungodly people. And
Joseph brought their evil report. It was a true report. They were
evil. But God was going to deal with
them. And God became a reality. And yes, they could deceive their
father, but they couldn't deceive God. And they realized it. The
reality started coming home. Well, they come back to their
father Jacob, and then they give a report. The man who is the
lord of the land spake roughly to us, took us for spies of the
country. And we said unto him, we are
true men. Do you see they're still peddling
this lie? We're true men. We're genuine.
We're genuine. But you see, the whole world
needs to become guilty before God. They needed to say, we're
sinners and we need mercy. This is the great thing. They
hadn't come there yet. Joseph needed to wear them down somewhat
more. And you see in verse 35 of Genesis
42, And it came to pass, as they emptied their sack, and behold,
every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And both they and
their father saw the bundles of money. They were afraid. They
were afraid. How did they? What's going on
here? What's? This is not normal. There's something
going on. It's a wonderful thing. If God
touches things in our pathway and you say something, God is
working. God is putting his finger on
him. I cannot go on. I cannot just ignore this. God
becomes a reality. Has he become a reality to you?
Not just a God that your mother and father know, or your grandfather
knows, or somebody else knows, but that you come to deal with
this God, that God is dealing in your life and bringing things
providentially into your pathway that speak of a God, that speak
that God is there. Well, in verse 36, and Jacob,
their father said unto them, me ye have bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, and Simeon is
not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against
me. And dear Jacob, it's only he
could see, could just see all the difficulties and the sadnesses,
and you can understand that dear man seeing it that way. And yet,
how different it really was. How different it really was.
Hymn 320, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, is a wonderful Commentary
on this in verse 6. It says blind Unbelief is sure
to err and scan his work in vain God is his own interpreter and
he will make it plain and he did But it needed to be worked
out And you see he was going to be a you see Joe Jacob had
these sons that were ungodly The family was split But if you
come to the end of Jacob's life, when he had all his children
around him, he was exceedingly blessed, really. And his children
had come to know the Lord, I believe. They'd been changed by the power
of God. All these things are against
me. And Reuben suggests that he would slay my two sons if
I don't bring him back, but that would just end up with more grandchildren
lost. It wasn't really a solution.
And you see, Joseph kept them coming back. You see, Joseph
could have sent them away with enough corn to keep them going
for the rest of the seven years. Could have done, couldn't he?
But he didn't. And that's the nature of God's
grace. He doesn't say, well, here we are. That's all you ever
need. You won't need to come back to me. No, he wants fellowship
with his people. He wants them to come back. He
wants dealings with them. And Joseph wanted dealings with
his brothers. He wanted to see his father.
He wanted to embrace his father. He was still in the land of his
affliction. He couldn't have that fellowship that he wants.
And the heart of God is towards the sons of men. He wants fellowship with his
person. He's looking, when we read, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross. What joy set before him? The
joy of the marriage supper of the Lamb, when all his church,
redeemed by blood, shall leave the hateful ways of sin, turn
to the fold and enter in, and be present to that marriage supper
of the Lamb. That's the end. That's the aim.
Well, Jacob made it clear that no way was he going to let Benjamin
go. you see we put our dig our hills in sometimes but the famine
kept going oh if it would just been a little famine that wasn't
too severe that's jacob could have stayed there you see and
the brother brethren could have stayed away from joseph But famine,
famine, famine. They couldn't. They had to. It
was life and death. They had to go back to Egypt. Back to this man who spoke roughly
to them. Back to this one that seemed
to point an accusing finger at them. They had to humble themselves
before the mighty God. And this is a great thing in
the Christian life. Coming to know the Lord is to
humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. And that's
what they had to do. They'd have loved to go a different
way. They would have loved to stay back in Canaan and never
go back to Joseph. He's far too hard. He's far too
severe. And the famine, chapter 43 starts
with this, and the famine was sore in the land. And it's the
soreness of the famine that made them have to go back. And as
you see, the Lord dries up these earthly pleasures so that we
cannot find the pleasure that we did before in the things of
this earth. They do not satisfy. They do
not fill us with that joy that they perhaps earlier did. that
we need to go and find true satisfaction in that Joseph. Go to Joseph,
as we had in our text this morning. Go unto Joseph, for whom the
Lord loveth, not whom the Lord hates, whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
The love of God. It's a love that deals with sin. and puts it away in the work
of his beloved son. And the famine was sore, and
then we have this wonderful account of Judah. It came to pass when
they had eaten up the corn, this is Genesis 43 verse 2, that it
brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, go again and
buy us a little food. Jacob just wants them to go.
He wants to try and pretend that this hasn't happened and just
go and buy the food. But Judah says clearly, we cannot
go without Benjamin. And this is where Judah stands
as a surety. And I haven't got time to go
into this account of Judah, but Judah here is a beautiful type
of Christ himself, who becomes surety for his brother Benjamin. In love to his father, in love
to Benjamin, Judah becomes surety for Benjamin. Benjamin, but he
didn't expect to need to actually do anything to help, really.
He didn't think Benjamin would really get into trouble, but
he would be surety just to satisfy his father. But when Benjamin
did get into trouble, when everything went wrong, Judah stood his ground. He stood as a surety. And you
see, there was this lovely word here, and you see the Lord Jesus
is a surety. of his people, and we read it
together in Genesis 43 verse 9, I will be surety for him,
of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto
thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for
ever. And there's some words of that
which are echoing the words of the Saviour for his church. You
see, if he does not bring his church to glory, then he will
bear the blame for ever. Well, he will bring his church
to glory. But the point is that he's become shorty for that people
and nobody, nothing shall pluck that church out of his hands
or out of his father's hands. A beautiful type of the Lord
Jesus and the safety, the eternal safety and security of those
that are in Christ. I will be shorty for him. A beautiful
picture of Judah, who Judah became one of the chief tribes and And
here we have a change in Judah. Judah was the very one who had
proposed that Joseph should be sold. And Judah becomes the very
one that becomes surety of his brother. Well, Joseph, you see,
was testing his brothers to see, you see, when we've come to the
things of God, it's not enough to be sorry for what we've done.
That is important. But we also need to, when we're
put in the same situation again, not just go and do the same thing
again. And you see, Joseph was testing his brothers. Would they
do to Benjamin what they had just done 22 years before to
Joseph? Would they? Well, you see, this
was the test that Joseph was giving them. Well, if we come
then to Genesis chapter 43. And so here we have Judah is the shorty, then his
father Jacob allows his brethren to go back to Egypt and they
find themselves this time brought into Joseph's house. So this
is, pick up the reading in Genesis 43 verse 18, and the men were
afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house. And they
said, because of the money that was returned in our sacks at
the first time we were brought in, that he may seek occasion
against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses.
They could only see a negative connotation. They could only
see trouble in the, you see, they were, They were told that
they would commune with, come to Joseph's house. I guess it's
rather like us coming and being dined in 10 Downing Street. This was the governor of the
land of Egypt. And now we're told that we're
going to have a meal at number 10 Downing Street. This was a
great privilege, a great honour. But they could only see that
this was going to be further trouble. And you see, when our
sin plays on us and we see of our sin, we We can't see that
there could be mercy. We can only see the judgment
and this idea of the guilt wearing away. Because they were guilty,
you see. And they came near to the steward
of Joseph's house. This is Genesis 43 verse 19.
And they communed with him at the door of the house and said,
Oh, sir, we came indeed down at the first to buy food. They
try to justify themselves. And it came to pass when we came
in the inn, we opened our sacks and behold, every man's mouth
was every man's money was in the mouth of his sack. Our money
in full weight. Have we bought it? We have brought
it again in our hand and our money have we brought down in
our hands to buy food. So they bought the money back
and new money to buy the new corn. We cannot tell who put
our money in our sacks. What a rebuke these brethren
get. They go to Egypt. a land that is known for its
godlessness? And what does his steward come
back and say to them? You see, this is a revelation
that God is working. Genesis 43 verse 23, and he said,
peace be to you, fear not your God, and the God of your fathers
have given you treasure in your sacks. They said they couldn't
understand how it happened. This steward said, God's done
it. God's done it. You see, God becomes
a reality to these men. And may it be in your lives that
God will become a reality. You young people, thou God seest
me. You might think, well, I'm well
away from the radar. They won't know what I'm up to.
But you see, God knows. And God is able to bring that
knowledge to us, that he knows, he cares. And we cannot play
fast and loose with him. Well, they came, and then Joseph,
you see, comes and sees them for this meal. And Joseph sees
Benjamin for the first time. This is in verse 29 of Genesis
43. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this
your youngest brother of whom you speak unto me? And he said,
God be gracious unto thee, my son. The name of God again. God
becomes a reality. And in our experiences, when
we come to know these things, God becomes a reality. It's not
just something unimportant. God becomes a reality to these
men who had ignored God. You see, it's the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. But they didn't appreciate
this God of Jacob up until now. And then we read, and Joseph
made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brothers, and
he sought where to weep. You see, the love of Joseph to
his brothers. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. You see, they must
say, look, does Joseph hate us or love us? Does this governor
of the land of Egypt, does he hate us or does he love us? And
perhaps when the Lord is dealing with a soul, is God for us or
against us? He doesn't allow us to go on
and sin like the world do. He brings us back. He brings
us into conviction. Is it because he's against us?
No, the Bible says, for whom the Lord loveth. It's a sign
of sonship. It's a sign of sonship. Remember
that little account that was, one of the ministers, I think
it was William Gadsby, I think it was, was in a street one day
and there was a big squabble going on in the road outside
his house, in the house that he was staying in. And there
was these boys scrapping in the road and opposite a door opened
and a man came out and grabbed one of these boys and took him
inside. And he thought, I wonder why that boy just got took inside.
All the rest were misbehaving as well. But you see, that boy
was the son of that man. And you see, that boy couldn't
carry on with the ungodliness like the others could, because
he was a son. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Well, then they
have this meal. Joseph comes and they have this
meal. Another strange thing happens
in verse 33. And they sat before him, the
firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to
his youth. Well, you might say if you've got a young family,
it's not too difficult to work out who's the oldest and who's
the youngest. But these men were in their 40s and 50s. And it's
very much harder to tell who's, what the age of, you know, people
age and look differently with time. And it's much harder to
gauge people's age when they're 40 and 50 exactly, which one's
older than the other. But they were all set in age
order. There was a message here that
they were known, that something was going on, that there was
a knowledge going on that was totally, they couldn't explain.
Of course, it was because Joseph was their brother. He knew them
intimately, but they had no idea. No idea. It was veiled from them. And you see, we read this, and
they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright,
and the men marveled one at another. and he took and sent messes,
that's dishes, unto them from before him. But Benjamin's mess
was five times so much as theirs, and they drank and were merry
with him." It's interesting here that Joseph, you say, this family
suffered from favoritism. Such a problem with Joseph having
this coat of many colors. And it's caused so much distress
in the family, surely. And now Joseph does something
of showing favor to Benjamin above the others. You might say,
well, surely, what's going on here? But you see, I think we have to understand that we
serve a God that is sovereign. That means he does as he sees
fit. If I can explain it like this,
if I gave you a thousand pounds and told you, okay, can you please
spend this money on charity, different charities of your choice,
I'm sure you wouldn't all give the money to exactly the same
charities. You'd give it to the ones that
you felt were closest to your heart. And there's a sense of
freedom there, isn't there? The charity can't come along
and say, well, you were given a thousand pounds, why didn't
you give it to me? It's not the place of the charity to say that.
You have that money and you give it to who you feel. And God,
you see, has a freedom. And here we see something of
that, I believe, with Benjamin. He gives his five times as much.
And what is going to be the reaction of the brethren? You see, we live in a world that
says so much of equality. But there is a sense that we
have to realize that God is sovereign. I think there's an interesting
view on this, or a light can be shed on this, from Matthew's
Gospel. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 20,
we have this account given of the labourers that went into
the man's vineyard. And there was, at the beginning
of the day, he went to the market and found some labourers and
he said, look, will you work for a penny a day? And they said,
yes, we'll work for a penny a day. So they went into his vineyard.
And then later on in the day, others, he went to the market
store and found others not working. So he said, go and work in my
vineyard and I'll give you what's right. And then many times in
the day until he got nearly to the last hour of the day and
he found some more in the marketplace and he said, go and work in my
vineyard and I'll pay you what's right at the end of the day.
And when he got to the end of the day, the ones that had just
worked one hour, they got a penny. And the ones that had worked
all day thought, well, if they're getting a penny and we've worked
five times, 10 times as much as they have, we should get more.
But you see, God, the Lord rebuked them for this attitude. This is Matthew 20, verse 10.
But when the first came, they supposed that they should have
received more. And they likewise, every man a penny. And when they'd
received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying,
these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them
equal unto us, which have borne the heat and burden of the day.
But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me
for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy
way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thy eye evil,
because I am good? See, there's a question here.
And I think this is important to understand this. In the Christian
pathway, God is sovereign. And God will bless one person
with one thing and others with something quite different. And
God is sovereign in that. And what's very beautiful about
these brethren, and as I see something of that work of the
Lord in them, in humbling them, we never read of any problem
of these brothers because of this Benjamin receiving so much
more than the rest. Before, it was a terrible thing
to them, and they were all up in arms about it, all full of
jealousy, but they'd been broken, you see. They'd been thankful
that they'd received anything. You see, if we're debtors, we're
unworthy of everything. We're unworthy of everything.
They were all unworthy of any food from the governor of the
land of Egypt. And therefore there was a humbling
themselves before the mighty hand of God. And they were not
going to take it out on Benjamin. Well, then you see, we have this
account given. So they'd had this nice meal
with Joseph. They, we read, they drank and
were married with him. There was a preciousness. But
now Joseph's got further testing to do. Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receives. They were
going to be chastened more. Not in anger, but in love. So they're sent away, you see,
but this time they've all got money back in their sacks, but
the silver cup of Joseph is in Benjamin's sack. And they go
away and think everything's fine. And then Joseph, you see, sends
and gets them overtaken and says, in verse, this is Genesis 44,
verse six, and he overtook them and spake unto them these same
words. And they said unto him, wherefore saith my words, the
Lord these words, God forbid that thy servants should do according
to this thing. They'd been accused of stealing
the silver cup and they're saying, we haven't done anything, anything
of the sort. We wouldn't do that. You wouldn't
do that. You see, in the Lord's, we read
in Galatians 6 and verse 7. Let me just look that up, Galatians
6. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. You see, these brothers hadn't
stolen the cup. In that sense, they were totally
innocent. But what Joseph was doing was sending them down memory
lane, making them remember, actually, you see, they said they wouldn't
steal, they'd actually stolen their brother, they'd sold him.
They'd stolen everything from him, his identity and everything.
These were stealing men, but they weren't guilty of this particular
crime. But you see, we need then to realise that God is able to
bring these sins in sharp focus. And Joseph said that just the
person who had the silver cup was to come back, and all the
rest could go back to their father. and this you see is where Judah
steps in and is that beautiful surety for Benjamin. Benjamin
doesn't give a reply, Judah does all the speaking. A picture of
how the Lord cares for his people and protects them. But you see
they come and we have this lovely account beginning in verse 14
of Genesis 44. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before
him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What
deed is this that ye have done? What ye not, that such a man
as I can certainly divine? And Judah said, What shall we
say unto my Lord, and what shall we speak, or how shall we clear
ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. You see, God Not Joseph has,
not the governor of the land of Egypt, God. God has become
a reality to these brethren. The whole world has become guilty
before God. These men were guilty. And you
see by nature, and all of us, all Christians that come to a
knowledge of the truth, they come as guilty. They're sinners
and they need salvation. and they need to confess that
they cannot come and say, well, we're quite good people. We've
kept the law like Saul of Tarsus. He was as touching the law blameless
according to his reckoning, but he was totally ignorant of his
need of salvation. Totally ignorant that he was
one that needed somebody to stand in his place, not one that needed
to present himself as perfect in and of himself. And these
brethren, you see, They needed to come in guilty before God. This is what Joseph was going
to do to them. And he was going to do it in love. He was going
to do it for their good. He was going to do it that they
may know him. And you see Judah then gives
this very passionate plea of saying, how could he go back
and go back to his father without Benjamin? It would be the death
of his father. They didn't care about that 22
years ago. They didn't care about their
father. They weren't concerned about doing that to Joseph and
they weren't concerned about doing it to Jacob. What change
these brethren had undergone. What the Lord had done for these.
And you see, their dealing with Benjamin was so different. than
their dealing had been with Joseph 22 years before. Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth. He chastened these brethren.
And Judah got to a point where he was content to agree that
he would be a bond slave in Egypt for the rest of his life so that
Benjamin could go back to be with his father. That is the
integrity that God had given Judah that he had turned from,
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And Judah had. Judah had turned, you see, from
that wicked way. If we just look at verse 32 in
chapter 44. For thy servant became shorty
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame of my father for ever. Now, therefore,
I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman
to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. Beautiful type of Christ in himself,
Judah was there. He was going to bear the blame
forever, and Benjamin was going to go back home, all All expenses
paid, all problems were going to be on Judah. But you see,
this showed that he had a love for his father, a love for Benjamin,
that these brethren had really changed, that they'd come to
hate the things that they once did, that they'd come to repent
of their sin. And you see, when there is repentance,
if we confess our sins, interesting, it's on the text outside on the
Bible, for which I'm not responsible, if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And you see, as Joseph tests
these brothers, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And then Judah says, for how
shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with him? Lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. And
then we come into chapter 45, a beautiful revelation. Joseph
reveals himself to these brothers as who he really is. The last
time they ever thought to see him was those 22 years ago when
they'd sold him as a slave. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself from all that stood by him. And he cried, come, cause
every man to go out from me. You see, this was not a public
event to the Egyptians. This was not for all of their
ears to hear. This was not for their papers
to report, so that they could say, look, this is what Joseph's
brethren did to him. And there stood no man with him. God deals with individuals, not
to expose their sin to the world, but to deal with their sins personally. And Joseph got right to the point
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept
aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Didn't speak to an interpreter
now. That's gone. I am Joseph. Doth my father yet
live? Oh, it was always, how is your
father? But now it's my father. You see, they're brethren. How doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled or terrified at his presence. Terrified. Terrified. This one whom they'd sold in
hatred has now risen to the greatest one in the whole of the kingdom,
of Egypt. The most powerful man below Pharaoh
is their brother. And you see, was that a comfort
or was that a fear? Is the fact that God is all-powerful
a comfort or a fear? Well, outside of Christ, it's
a terrible fear. But you see, in Christ, if he
is our God, then all that power and that authority is to be used
for the good of his people. And you see, Joseph made it abundantly
clear that he was going to use his power and authority to be
a blessing to these brethren and not to crush them. He could have done. He could
have crushed these. He could have ultimately immediately got
his own back on these brethren. He could have shown them how
foolish they were to sell him. No, that was inconsistent with
his love. He loved his brethren. He wanted
union with them. He wanted communion with them.
He had that forgiveness. Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And his brethren could not answer,
for they were troubled his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray thee. See, they were scared of him,
understandably. But come near. That's what draws God's people
close to God. The blood of Christ. Because
naturally, you see, their reaction is like, Peter, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man. But the blood of Christ draws
us nigh. They shall call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. That's what he came to do. And
Joseph was sent by God for this very purpose of saving his brethren
and preserving life in this time of famine. And that's why the
Lord Jesus came on that day of Pentecost when the brethren came
to Peter and said, men and brethren, what shall we do? We've crucified
the Lord of life and glory. What shall we do? repent and
be baptized was the response. There was a way of mercy. They
could only see that this meant disaster, judgment. But no. And he said, I am Joseph,
your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Not the one that's not,
that you call it, and then he's dead. You sold him into Egypt. You're responsible. And you see,
it's a wonderful thing, you see, in the experience of the Lord's
people, where there's a responsibility between their sin and the sufferings
of Christ. They're not unrelated. Christ
on the cross was bearing the sin of his church. Your sins
and my sins, if we're true children of God, we're involved. And the sufferings of Joseph
were linked to the behavior of the brothers. I am Joseph, your brother, whom
he sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved,
nor angry with yourselves. He never said that to them when
they first came. When they said they were true
men and they wanted to buy the corn, he didn't say, well, don't
be upset or angry with yourselves now. No, because they hadn't
got upset with themselves. They hadn't realized their sin.
They hadn't realized the awfulness of it. But as that work of the
Spirit had whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son. As they received that, then they realized, they realized,
then he spoke peace, you see. He spoke peace, and the Lord
Jesus speaks peace. When those on the, after the
resurrection, they came into the upper room, and he spoke
peace to them. Peace be unto you. This is a,
this can be written over everything that's happened at Calvary, and
the resurrection. Peace be unto you. It's the gospel. That's the meaning of it. You
may be puzzled at what it means and why he died and why this
happened and why that happened. Jesus says the meaning of this
is peace be unto you. That's the meaning. That's the
message. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he received. And it's a privilege to be a
son and a daughter of this Lord most