Amen. Thank you, Taylor. Thank you. And just a quick note, the United Worship was saved by grace this coming Friday, right? Friday? Saturday. Saturday. Many of our worship team will be participating in that as well, too. So if you have a chance, come on out. Information is on the website and all that good stuff.

And at this time, we want to go ahead and dismiss our children, K-5 through 5th grade. You guys will follow Mr. Taylor. Amen. And those of us in here, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Genesis.

Genesis 43. We are almost done with Genesis. Genesis 43. Good Lord willing, we'll be finishing Genesis in a few weeks. I mean, we'll have a break for Easter. Today is a time of transition. A time of transition. I thought long and hard about whether or not to say anything about everything that's going across the news and all the shutdowns.

And if I say anything, it's going to be, I didn't take it serious. If I say something, I didn't take it serious enough. If I say something else, I should have gone deeper. So it's a no-win situation.

There are some people that have lost their ever-loving mind, though. Somebody was selling on the Golden Isles yard sale. They were selling toilet paper and Lysol because they had taken it all from Sam's and they were selling it out there at the yard sale.

I mean, what in the wildest sports is? Time of transition. Time of transition. We get into Genesis chapter 43. 43. And I started thinking I'm going to date myself here.

Many of you guys remember the band, the Beatles. The Beatles back in the day. I'm very sorry, but in my opinion, a very overrated band.

I know a lot of you will disagree with me on that. But the Beatles were very popular and they had a song out that was, All You Need Is Love.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Okay? Maybe we started out singing that song. Many of you would sing that louder than some of the songs we should have been singing this morning.

Okay? But All You Need Is Love. Okay?

And the lyrics of the song were interesting, but I strongly disagree with them because some of the lyrics says,

Nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

Nothing you can do, but you learn to play the game. It's easy. It's easy. Right?

All you need is love. Okay? That's the solution. All you need is love.

And so it's, I'm just going to start off by saying, it is easy to love those who are lovely. Okay?

Those who are, those who are nice and sweet and responsive and those, it's easy to love those people who think that you're the greatest thing since sliced bread.

All right? That's the easy part. But to love those who are angry, those who are bitter, to love those who are cantankerous brothers.

And you might think that there would just be a natural love in there because they're brothers.

But there's been a lot of water under the bridge these 21 years. Okay?

Since they sold him off into slavery and everything.

But Joseph remembers it like it was yesterday.

And so they're coming to buy grain.

And they come to Egypt. And he's second in command.

He's the number two guy right behind Pharaoh.

And they come looking for grain. And he recognizes them.

He recognizes his brothers.

See, his brothers don't recognize him.

But he recognized them.

And we talked last week.

He recognizes them.

And he has to go off.

And he has to excuse himself.

And he weeps.

He's still tenderhearted for his brothers.

Still tenderhearted for his family.

He's still willing to forgive them.

He is willing to love the unlovely.

Joseph is there.

Listen.

Listen.

Payback is natural.

Pardon is supernatural.

Payback is natural.

Payback is natural.

Pardon is supernatural.

And he is willing to pardon them and extend this pardon to him in chapter 45 once we get there.

But chapters 43, 44, and 45 are really all one unit.

It's one meeting.

And there were three meetings that Joseph has with his brothers.

Today begins that second meeting.

And in these meetings, Joseph sort of has this posture.

He's kind of gruff and kind of rough with these guys.

And it seems like he's kind of mean to them.

But it's really a ploy.

It's really a test that Joseph is doing.

Last week we saw that we covered the test of sincerity.

And these guys passed this.

And then he's praying.

And these guys passes this.

I wonder if they're jealous of Benjamin. Now that Benjamin is the favored son. Because Benjamin is the young one. He's the only one left from Rachel, from his wife. And so they have disclosed that their father is at home with another son, with Benjamin. And he's there. And so he's back in Canaan. And also Joseph says, hey, listen, you will never see my face again. He tells his brothers, you will not get an audience with me again if you don't come back and bring Benji with you.

If you don't bring your little brother with you. But see, we need to also understand in this there's something spiritual happening. There's something very divine happening in this. God wants to do a work in these men. These brothers. Some of these brothers are advanced age by now as we get to the story in here. And what is the work? Well, we know the history. We know the story. They are going to be the founders of a nation.

Right? You've got Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and you have the 12 tribes. The 12 sons of Jacob who are going to be the pillar of a nation. And they are going to bring forth the Messiah. But God has to do some work in them before he will do some work through them. All right? That is a pattern that God continually does. That is a pattern that God always does. He has to do some work in them before he does some work through them.

God is always interested in chipping away at our lives and in doing deep work in us so that he can do some mighty work and powerful work through us.

As we look back in our lives, we can see how that's happened in our lives. So they're still growing spiritually and they need to be awakened spiritually.

And these tests need to happen in their lives. And by the way, Joseph has already passed several tests of his own. Has he not?

He's up to this point. But they have to pass this test of relationship.

Okay? So God's preparing them for that.

Joseph had to pass the test that he was going through. First, he passed the test of adversity.

He had all this. He was thrown into prison. All these things that happened to him.

He passes the test of adversity with flying colors. But then the second test that Joseph has, I believe, was even more harder than the first one.

And that's the test of prosperity. I mean, he's raised to power almost overnight or literally overnight.

Great wealth overnight. A lot of people don't handle that very well.

Okay? And Joseph handles it well.

It seems like whatever situation Joseph is thrown into, man, he passes it with flying colors.

He just comes through with flying colors. He's successful at it.

And we said that Romans 8.28 could be Joseph's life verse.

That all things work together for those who love the Lord and called accordingly to his purposes.

We see that being worked out in Joseph's life.

We see that coming into fruition.

I mentioned that there were three meetings all together.

The first meeting we saw last week.

And the second meeting is taking place in chapters 43, 44, and 45.

Joseph doesn't reveal himself completely until towards the end of the second meeting.

But this is the second time they get together.

And the second time they get together, they will recognize him.

And he reveals himself to them.

Now, I bring that up because, again, if you remember many, many, many, many weeks ago,

we talked about how Joseph was a type or a shadow of Jesus Christ.

This is another example of Joseph being a type or a shadow of Jesus.

Because just as Joseph's brothers did not recognize him until the second time,

so it is with Jesus and his Jewish brethren.

They did not recognize him until the second time.

Okay, well, they will not recognize him until the second time.

The scripture tells us that he came unto his own, and his own, what, received him not.

All right?

And so, again, Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and said,

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I long to gather you as a mother hen gathers her chicks.

But you were not willing.

So the first time, they did not recognize Jesus.

But the second time, they will recognize that he is their, he was their Messiah, and he is their Messiah.

So there is a shadowing in there.

It's just interesting, especially when you study, fascinating when you study the life of Joseph.

But in this chapter this morning,

repent okay because they've been found out they've been found out and they're going to come clean

they're going to know the lord's behind all this and it leads to this beautiful reunion all right

all this to set up where we're going this morning beginning in verse one now the famine was severe

in the land and when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from egypt their father said to

them go again and buy us a little food now it's interesting to me evidently they they waited a

long time before they before they moved okay they just they got the grain and they're eating and

they're eating they're not we we said last week it was probably a sick it took six weeks for them to

go there and back all right so they're there eating grain they're not doing anything meanwhile simeon's

down in egypt rotten in jail right you had to leave simeon behind but they're they're back home

they're eating and um they're not budging um why do they wait why don't bring him and nobody wants

to broach the subject with dad nobody wants to bring that back up with dad okay because we saw last week

he put his foot down when reuben was crazy and he and he says reuben says well uh give benjamin to me

and i'll go down and if i don't bring him back then you can kill my two sons now how ludicrous is that

and dad even dad dismissed it he wouldn't even have that conversation with him okay

but but now they've they've they've they've been eating the grain eating the grain time's going

gone by time's going by and now what are they doing they're getting hungry the grains going and getting

hungry hungry hungry you know makes me think you know a lot of people you you you will you will

you will draw a line and say i won't do this for 11 or i won't do that to make 11 but you do a lot

of things when you get hungry enough won't you when your tummy starts talking well that's not so

bad i'll do that so all of a sudden all of a sudden yeah yeah i'm hungry let's go back down to

egypt let's go back down to egypt okay verse 3 but judah but judah said said to him the man

solemnly uh warned us saying you should not see my face unless your brother is with you if you will send

your brother uh with us um if you will send our brother with us we will go down and buy food but

if you will not send him we will not go down for the man said to us you will shall not see my face

unless your brother is with us israel said why did you treat me so badly and tell the man that you had

another brother this guy's like eeyore you know he's singing the same tune as last time i remember last

last last time he's like you know all this is against me the lord's against me the god god god

is against me is god against him in this absolutely not you know all things were for him he was about

to get blessed beyond his wildest dreams he's about to have more food than he could ever ask for in his

life he's about to have a place where his children and his children's children's children's can grow and

flourish and all this stuff i mean the bible tells us that if the if god is for us who can be against

us right but he's he's he's he's eeyore in this he's so blind all these things are for you and you

can't even realize it and he's also suggesting why did you tell this guy the truth why didn't you lie

to him and say you didn't have another brother why didn't you tell him a lie okay so he's got two

flaws as i see it right here number one he's blind to his own favoritism all right he's blind to it

most parents that do favor one child or over another child they're usually blind to it okay so he's blind

to his favorite he i mean he gave joseph the royal treatment and all this stuff but he's also made so

much out of the mourning of joseph that move on and there's a way that when you get you can get stuck

in it to where you become paralyzed and you make everyone else around you miserable

you know i tell you what we read this and you at least got to give the boys some credit

you know at least they did go down to egypt to get some grain they did go down to egypt then and risk

their lives they did go down there and and and and and but this guy's he's still playing the same note

verse 7 they replied the man questioned us carefully about ourselves

Do you have another brother? What we told him was an answer to these questions

Could we in any way know that he would say bring your brother down and judah said to israel his father send a boy with me

And we will arise and go that we may live and not die

Both we we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety for from my hand

You shall require him

If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you then let me bear the blame forever

If we had not delayed we would have now returned twice

Dad we've been sitting here for a long time if you would have told us to go we could have been down and back twice

Okay, but no we're sitting here eating the grain eating the grain. Okay, but um judah says I will be I will be a pledge

And that that that term pledge right there

It means a that's a legal contractual term. All right that he's he's using and it means I will be the guarantee or okay

I will guarantee this and it's typically somebody who would guarantee a loan or guarantee somebody's debt

And and he simply means you know, i'm going to care for him

I'm going to be i'm going to care for him and i'll become the substitute if something happens

Now keep that in mind judah is judah is willing to become a substitute

For his brothers and isn't it kind of interesting that from the line of judah will come the substitute

For all of our all of our sins, you know how all this all this transpires

But you know, we'll tie some things up in a little bit

But just pause for a moment and think back to our last study in genesis when the oldest brother ruben

Um made a pledge to his father this crazy pledge, you know says hey i'll take benjamin

If I don't make it back you can kill my two boys and his dad just blows it off completely disregards it

Why because his dad is basically saying robin ruben you were the oldest and you are the oldest and you couldn't take care of my

My my my son joseph. I can't trust you with anything

I'm, i'm not going to trust you

I'm, not going to uh trust you with that and and just a little teaser once we get to genesis 49

Jacob is on his deathbed

And and he says he says of his son ruben. Okay the oldest he says ruben you are my firstborn you are unstable as water

You will not excel

Unstable as water you are untrustworthy you say one thing and do another ruben. Okay, I don't trust you

That was his prediction. That's pretty heavy words for your dad to say

Judah on the other hand. I mean he was a scoundrel too. Let's not let's not paint this this crazy picture about him

but but I submit to you that judah

Has changed or at least he's in the process of changing the I mean since the 21 years have gone by since since joseph

Has been sold off and there's been a lot of years since that incident that took place in chapter 34 when when he gets his daughter-in-law tamar

You know, uh pregnant. I mean this guy was a mess

But I would suggest that he's changing in the area of relationships and he's grown relationally

And I think some of this is going to bear itself out today for us to see

Then their father verse 11 israel that weren't being affected by the famine and there's a proverb that talks about

to to to take a gift to uh

To take a gift and it opens up the door to a ruler and what he's saying is hey

Take a gift to this guy when you when you go back when you get his presence bring him a gift

And you know and that's going to be uh

It kind of disarms him it disarms him a little bit

Um, it's probably where we get the idea when somebody invites you over for dinner

You like bring some can I bring something?

You know, we're gonna disarm about some flowers, you know

Bring flowers whenever you're invited over for dinner because if you bring food to suggest that the person you're going to can't really cook

Okay, i'm just kidding. I'm just kidding

verse 12

um

Take double the money with you carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sex

Perhaps it was an oversight take also your brother and arise go again to the man

May god almighty grant you mercy before the man and may he send your brother your your other brother and benjamin

Uh send back i'm sorry your other brother and benjamin and ask for me if i am bereaved of my children

I am bereaved

Now actually he's thinking logically. Okay. He realizes that if we just sit here, we're gonna die

Okay, if we go to egypt, we might die, but this is a necessary risk that we have to take we've got to we've got to try

Okay

But something I don't want to push this too much. I want to make a little note in the scriptures

But I don't want to push the text too much, but I just want to know what a control freak Jacob is

Okay, these are grown men and he's telling them. I want you to do it this way

I want you to take them this way and you say this to this guy you say I mean jacob would drive me nuts

All right, he would drive me nuts. He has to say I has to have a say-so and everything

He is a he is a control freak

The second thing I want you to notice in this he doesn't say take my son

Okay, he says take your brother

Take your brother now. Why why would he say that because he is impressing upon them the relationship that they have and thus

You have the responsibility to care for your brother

It's your brother. It's your blood. You take care of him

And the third thing in this text is that

He calls god god almighty and the term he uses there and you look at the here is el shaddai

El shaddai, okay

They may el shaddai be with you and we've discovered that in genesis. This is an important distinction

The first time this appears is in genesis chapter 17

This el shaddai when god introduces himself to abram

Okay

As god almighty he tells abram. I can do anything for you abram. I can protect you. I will be a cover for you

You trust me. I am el shaddai

I am god almighty the second time it appears is in chapter 38 when isaac speaks to jacob and now it it appears here

verse 15

So then then the men took this present and they took double the money with them and

Benjamin they arose and went down to egypt and stood before joseph

now

Just think about this. Joseph was probably wondering it had been quite some time. You have to understand that

Are they coming back for simeon?

Are they going to abandon simeon like they did me?

You know, it's got it. I wonder if benjamin's even still alive. Maybe that's why they're not coming back

A lot of time has gone gone by but that's the predicament in canaan. But now we get to the party in egypt

Verse 16

When joseph saw benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house

Bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready for the men to dine with me at noon

The man did as joseph told him and brought the men into joseph's house and the men were afraid

Let's just stop right there

This guy says let's let's have lunch. It's great to see you guys again. Let's have lunch and they freak out

They're they're afraid. It's like they've been called to the principal's office, right?

It's like that that feeling when you get called called in, you know to to the principal's office

um

You know, i'm living in i'm living in toddler land right now with caroline and we're watching all these little kids movies

Anybody seen despicable me three? Okay. Yeah

Nobody else has really seen that except for you three. Okay. Yeah, that's a great movie

She can't say the minions. She says the mittens. I want to I wants the mittens daddy

But it's that what's that belshazzar whatever his name is the evil guy. He always goes i've been a bad boy

Right. Yeah, and so that's what they're thinking. I've been a bad boy. You know

That's what that's their go-to thing. You know, he's he's invited him into into lunch

and they're thinking this verse 18

and the men were afraid because

They were brought to joseph's house and they said it's because of the money which was replaced in the sax the first time

uh, we we um

That we are brought in so that he may assault us and fall upon us and make us servants and seize our donkeys

This is not a natural response

It's good to see you guys. Let's have lunch. We're dead

We're dead, you know, you know

listen

Guilt has a way of ruining every joyful experience

Joseph is opening up these wounds god is having him do this. Okay, and joseph is forcing their hand to deal with it

Guilt ruins things it turns joy into misery and these are a miserable bunch of guys

Oh, no, what does he want? Why does he why does he want this? What now?

That's not the typical reaction. We saw this last week when they saw the money was in the sack. Oh, no god god hates us

God's dealing with us severely, but guilt has ruined it. The best thing for your

You

guilt alleviated and you get your guilt alleviated through the cross of jesus christ that's the only

way now i will tell you this guilt is good guilt is good there are some leaders so-called leaders

today and and uh philosophy people experts that say that guilt is bad and i i i strongly uh beg

to defer uh differ with these guys guilt is very good if it drives you to the place where you get

it alleviated okay to where you can deal with it where it's taken care of and then you move on

um but if you live under the weight of it it's not good it's not healthy if it drives you to the place

where you get rid of it it's good so guilt should drive you to the cross to where you receive

forgiveness and then you're able to move on you repent and you can say i am a child of god therefore

i don't live under that guilt any longer that should drive you

verse 19 so they went up to the steward of joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house

understand what the situation is they're looking for a mediator immediately we're in trouble that's

fine this guy here is going to be our mediator and they're going to they're going to go up and pour

their hearts out to this guy speak to the master of the house somebody's got to stand in the gap

for us and a lot of times that's what you would do back in this day you would talk to the steward of

the house who would hopefully be a mediator for you on behalf of the of the head of the house

verse 22 is that where we left off no 20 and said oh my lord we came down the first time to buy food

and when we came uh to the lodging place we opened up our sacks and and there was each man's money in

the mouth of the sack our money in full weight so we have brought it again with us and we have brought

other money down with us to buy food we do not know who put the money in our sacks you can see

these guys they're sweating they're they're guilt-ridden brow i don't know what happened

this money's been back in here it's not our fault but the money and look we brought it back and we

brought more with us please speak to the master of the house verse 23 and he replied peace to you

do not be afraid your god and the god of your father has put the treasure in your sacks i received your

money then he brought simeon out to them now just a thought this is just a hunch i have and i can't i i

can't prove it but with this verse it lends a little bit of weight to my theory here could it be that

joseph while he was in egypt and we know that while joseph was in egypt he believed in the one true god

the one true living god that's uh through his record all throughout that could it be that he evangelized

throughout egypt i mean you know he gave glory not to the polytheistic gods or the many gods in egypt

but to the one true living god and this steward of his house seems to be affected by this

i mean he says he says right there he says your god and the god of your father has put the treasure

in your sacks this is god's work i received your money i received your money just a thought

and then verse 23 i mean in verse 23 he says he brought simeon out to them man these guys must have

been a sight for sore eyes for simeon you know what took you guys so long i know because evidently

he's been in jail a long time okay you know and they're out there hey man we're gonna have lunch

good to see you simeon i'm not so happy with you guys you know that would be my first why did you leave

in my mind is did did imprisonment change simeon because we know that imprisonment changed joseph

i mean it made him better it didn't make him bitter but we know that by simeon's uh simeon's life

it doesn't turn out well that great for simeon because even on jacob's deathbed again

it was

simeon and levi were the two guys that that killed hamor and shechem and shechemites and and all the all those people and that incident seemed to follow them but my point is this in in this whole thing with this section here is that it is really a shame it's a shame if painful and hurtful times don't serve to change you to bring about change in your life it's a shame because then all you

you have to look back on is horrible stuff that's that stunk that hurt i didn't like that this was really bad no that's not the right answer that's a shame if you don't learn something from it and grow through it if you don't let it change you then i'm telling you it's a wasted opportunity it is a wasted opportunity you see god would not allow that to come into your life unless he wants

to teach you to teach you a lesson and change you what did you learn from what happened to you what did you learn because most of the time what comes about our ways and what gets put on our plate is usually our own doing usually our own choices of the words and the things that we we've set ourselves up for this a lot of times not every time a lot but god uses these things to prune us and to shape us and to mold us but a lot of a lot of times we get into victim mentality

and we don't learn from what god is trying to to show us and teach us through these experiences

you know and you know that that that's matter of fact let's just let's just look at that that's that's the whole emphasis when james writes about trials

i think we were talking about that this morning in our book study but you know a verse that a lot of us quote so often when

when he says if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask god who gives generously and without without reproach

but you know what that what that's in reference to that's in reference to hardships

that's in reference to trials that's in reference to suffering

the passage um

james 1 1 james a servant of god of the lord jesus christ to the 12 tribes to the dispersion

greetings counted all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness

and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect

and complete lacking nothing if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask god who gives generously to all

and without reproach and it will be given to him

okay so the here's the context the context is asking god for wisdom in the midst of trials

in the midst of suffering lord what do you want me to learn here in this situation

what do you want me to take from what's going on in my life

god forbid that you would have an opportunity

and waste the opportunity to learn what god is wanting you to teach you

because i'm telling you god loves you so much he will allow you to go through it again

until what he wants you to learn is learned in your heart

and then when you got that down you got 50 000 other things to learn

but that's the beauty of the journey

because if we talked about it for the last three weeks that yes

romans 8 28 says for the for um

we know that uh good oh my goodness

god works all things for good for those who love the lord and call according to his purpose

but a 29 says but we are predestined to be conformed into the image of christ

and that means trials that means shaping that means molding

that means suffering at times that's part of the deal

verse 24

genesis 43 and when the man had brought the men into joseph's house and given them water

they had washed their feet when he had given them a donkey's fodder they prepared

the present for joseph's coming at noon for they heard that they should eat bread there

when joseph came home they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them

and bowed to him to the ground

this is the second time that they bowed to him we saw the first time last week

there were two rooms

the ground has brought the west toلى

but we've got to make sure weiliśmy

And here it's coming into fruition. This is the second time that this is that this has taken place

Verse 27 and he inquired about their welfare and said is your father well

The old man of whom you spoke is he still alive and they said your servant our father is well

He is still alive and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves

And he lifted up his eye and 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 spoke of

God be gracious to you my son

I mean the last time he saw benjamin he was a toddler

He's he's probably about 23 years of age at this point when when he sees him and benjamin was his only full-blooded brother

the these other guys are his brother, but they're half-blooded

brothers and so

you know, it's it's interesting that joseph remembered well his past, you know, and he he were and

Because there's the ancient saying as I was reading that the egyptians used to say

And they said that anyone who comes to egypt and drinks of the nile river forgets his native land

Meaning that it's so beautiful down here and we've irrigated the place so so so graciously and so beautifully

If anyone ever comes to egypt, they'll never want to go back home again

Okay, but not so with joseph. I mean he is one

He's wanting to go back home to canaan when he get when he passes away. He'll say take my bones from here

But he remembers okay. He remembers his brothers. He remembers his home. He remembers his god

He's excited about this union, but as much as he remembered about his past. There's something that he chose

He chose to forget

Okay

He chose to forget the pain of the past

Um all that emotional

Pain he didn't harbor a grudge. He didn't nurse a grudge. Okay

He chose to forget all of that that had gone on for the past 21 years

Remember his firstborn child. He named him amnesia

manasa

You know god god god made me forget all of my pain all of the agony all of the hardships

so he remembered and he longed for those relationships

But there was some emotional things he had to choose to forget that's a word for some of you here this morning

You had to choose to forget

Verse 30. Let's let's begin to wrap this up

Then joseph hurried out for his compassion grew warm for his brothers

And he sought a place to weep and he entered his chambers

And wept there

He washed his face and came out controlling himself and said

Serve the food

This has got to be a shock to the to the brothers because he's he's rough to them when he first sees them

And now he's he's uh, he seemed angry toward them now. He's saying hey dig in

Let's let's let's let's grab a meal and again. He's weeping it shows his heart

And we said last week that what you weep about reveals your character as well, too

We kind of had kind of had a joke I was talking to kevin last week

He said that they were making jokes at home group that steve hemingway steve steve didn't weep about anything

But steve does he's he's he has a tender heart don't let him fool you

Steve says no if somebody ran into your car steve. I think oh that's that's not what they're talking about

If anyone's seen steve's car, you know, you know, it's that's worth weeping about right

All right, there we go. Uh verse 32

They served him by himself

And and them by themselves and the uh, and the egyptians who ate with him by themselves

Because the egyptians could not eat with the hebrews for that was an abomination to the egyptians

Okay, that's just a little historical note

They kind of just throw in there because it was it was a abomination for the egyptians to to eat with with anyone

The ancient egyptians believed that anyone who was not egyptian was a barbarian

That's that's what they believed and they could not eat a meal with them

What so ever?

I mean the greeks ended up believing that as well, too

That that anyone that wasn't a greek was it was a barbarian

Same thing a lot of different people groups

Uh had that mindset. I just I just want to say that because I want you to understand

Listen to me prejudice

is

Portions were taken to them from joseph's table, but benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs and they drank and they were merry With him and you got to love that. Okay, what is he doing here? Okay? Um, what joseph's doing is testing them

He is testing them. It's a test of their jealousy

They passed the sincerity test now. It's a test of jealousy. They were remember they were jealous of him 21 years prior

He had the cool coat. He had a he had a dad's favor and all that

What will they do now if he shows favoritism?

Towards the youngest that's sitting right there the favorites the favorite son this was a test

Okay, and you'll notice the first thing that they do is joseph arranged them in perfect

Chronological order according to their birth order and they amazed them now it'd be easy benjamin

That's an easy one to sit right there, but these guys are old man

They probably all look about that. They have beards out to here. Okay, they look about it

But they hit they're amazed. How did he know to put them in in this order? Okay, and so but he knows exactly and benjamin

He gives five times as much food. Okay, this is not out of the ordinary

This would not be out of the ordinary guests of honor were typically given a larger portion of food

All right, and the the ancient spartans would give a double portion to the uh

To the uh guest of honor and I was reading recently that the cretins

Gave four times as much to as anyone else to someone who is a guest of honor

And it made me laugh because I remember when paul writes to titus. He says you know that the cretins are evil beasts

Uh, they're lazy gluttons wherefore rebuke them rebuke them sharply

All they like to do is eat all day long

So I think about that it just makes me laugh but joseph the ruler of egypt

Uh, he outdid he outdid them all and he gives benjamin five times the amount again

This was a test and how do they test it says that they drank

And they were merry with them

So yeah

They're happy because joseph is taking a liking to benjamin. They're probably like going on their table sweet

He likes benji. This is good stuff. Okay, and and and it's a good sign

We're going to get through this thing unscathed and so now they're happy. It's a party

They're having a meal their spirits are high, but it's soon going to come to an end. Okay, because there's another test

They passed this test

But the third test is going to be the test of charity

How much do they really love this brother? How much do they really love their father? Okay, but this was a time of transition

for the brothers because in this story they move from fear to peace

Okay from fear to peace because the punishment that they thought that they were going to have for getting that extra money in their sacks

That's out the window

We're not going to be punished for that

They thought they've moved on and they're moving from bondage to freedom because simian is no longer bound

He's free again. He's been released. Okay, and they're moving from anxiety to joy because now benjamin's not in danger

He likes him

He likes benjamin

So joseph and his brothers they ate and drank as if there were no famine in the land

And they rejoiced at the generosity of the of the ruler that was at the head of the table here

However, listen, this was a fleeting joy

A fleeting joy because the brothers had not yet dealt with their sins

They had not dealt it. It is one thing listen

It is one thing to be relieved and quite something else to be forgiven and reconciled

It is one thing to be relieved and quite something else to be forgiven and reconciled

They needed to ask joseph for his forgiveness for the way that they abused him

They owed their father an apology

They owed their father an apology for the way that they deceived him and grieved his heart all these many years

To ex and listen to experience false joy and to experience false peace is a dangerous thing

You know to

I'm telling you you are courting disaster

Because you think all of a sudden God's forgotten

I didn't I didn't deal with it, but God is he's just forgotten about it. No, there will be a day of reckoning

There will always be a day of reckoning. I mean, jesus says as it was in the days of noah as it was in the days of lot

So will it be when jesus returns luke chapter 17 people will be self-confident

They will be self-confident and they will carry on their daily activities and and cultivate their sins and but judgment will fall

Judgment will fall. There will be no escape. Listen to me anything short of humble

Reconciliation and humble confession will not I'm sorry humble repentance and humble

um

Confession will not bring about reconciliation with god or with one another

We have to have that with one another as well, too

Anything short of humble repentance and confession will not bring about reconciliation with god

Or with one another there's a way that seems right to man, but it leads to death

A lot of us put stuff on the back shelf because we think god has given us a pass on something that we haven't dealt with

There will come a day when you will have to give it give an account you will have to answer

God is calling us

Who can ascend the hill of the lord but those with clean hands and a pure heart?

Reconcile yourself to the lord

That's why he says when you come to the altar you realize that you you have something that gets your brother you go make it right

make it right

There's something in that

make it right

And it's just like the wealthy uh, the wealthy farmer in the parable that jesus tells

You know people people have a have a false confidence

There's a false confidence

And they think everything is secure for years to come

Only to discover that they have left god out of their lives

You know I thought about 50 different ways of tying up an end of this thing this morning come on up worship team

And I love your car by the way I was just kidding I didn't hit it

See now I have to go before the lord and confess my jealousy

I've always found that in every little

Dart of sarcasm there's a bit of truth in there that somebody has in there

Because i'm guilty of that so many times I

Looked in the scriptures and I thought that sarcasm was a spiritual gift, but

It is not I think it should be I think it should be

I mean paul was sarcastic wasn't he

Why do I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I should

He's sarcastic

What's ailing you

What's ailing your heart today

What is it that's heavy in your heart today that you continue to think that you're just going to sweep things under the rug

I can't answer that for you

I know some of you pretty well

And I know some of you well enough to say

God loves you enough to where he's trying to get your attention to do some business with you

I can't do it for you

Those days are gone

We don't we don't buy forgiveness anymore. The indulgences are gone. That's off the table

Praise god

You

Maybe we should call that back. That would really help out the finances in our church, you know

Indulgences

Should we rate them?

Absolutely, right?

What do you think Bobby? Should we rate them?

Bobby's like, I'm not saying nothing

He's a smart man

In seriousness

Let's stand here

Is God calling you today to get your attention? Is God trying to bring about something in your life that you need to you need to reconcile with him with someone else? I don't know

But let today be a day of new beginnings

Let today be a day of refreshment

Let today be a day of reconciliation

Of renewal

Confess your sins before the Lord and repent

Let him wash you clean

That washing clean

Takes place

Sometimes

Sometimes daily

Sometimes hourly

Sometimes every 10 minutes

There's nothing wrong with that. That's that's the beautiful part

I love it when I feel the hand of the Lord washing me

Because I know I need it

I am filthy rags

I stand before you as filthy rags

And I know that I know that I know

I have no right

No right

To speak anything to you

That is not addressed to me

And every Sunday when I stand here and I try to give you these things from the word

All I'm doing is showing you the heart surgery that God's done on me

All week long

So I'm not accusing anyone of anything

I'm just trying to bring an awakening

Bring an awakening

Bring an awakening Lord

An awakening

An awakening Lord

In our lives

An awakening Lord

To our need for you

An awakening to your great hand in our lives

An awakening to your incredible love for us

How you've elected us

You've chosen us

To be children of God

And the responsibility that comes with that

That should bring about a shaking

I was reading in Acts

The band was earlier

How the people in Acts of church

They prayed

And the ground starts shaking

How about them apples?

Let's do that

The ground starts shaking

Maybe we should have everybody jump up and down for a while

I don't want to watch

Just kidding

Amen

I love you

I love you

May the spirit of the Lord rest upon you

And bring about revelation to what he would speak into your heart and soul today

May the spirit of the Lord rest upon you in such a way that you would understand

His magnanimous love that he has for you

His beautiful, holy, passionate love

And may it lead you to a place of restoration

To reconciliation

Jesus says

Behold

I am making all things new

All things new

All things new

In