Good morning, Rhema Community Church family. Again, we find ourselves having to meet in different ways, different places. We are unable to gather here in our worship center. Hopefully some of you are at home with friends or family. Some of you are meeting in small groups, hopefully keeping it under 10. And these are different days. These are difficult days. But we see how God has refined us.

And we're seeing how the church is continuing to rise up and be in the church. And so, as we study the Scriptures today, I'm excited that you're able to join. And let's open with a word of prayer.

Father, we just come before you in the name of Jesus, asking you to take your word and bring about illumination to our hearts, Lord God. May it shape us. May it mold us. May it change us, Lord God.

God, the precepts that we're studying today, I pray that they would be the very things that prick our hearts and move us, as only you can do, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Last week, we finished chapter 44. And Joseph has been testing his brothers. And in testing his brothers, he's seeing if they have changed these 21 years that he's been separated from them.

He's seeing if they still have a, if they have, will they have a love for Benjamin? Will they treat Benjamin the same way that they treated him?

Because Benjamin is now the favored son. And he tells his brothers, he plays a trick, and Benjamin has the cup in it.

And he says, Benjamin has stole the cup, and he's going to stay there as a slave in Egypt, but the rest of you can go back home.

And Judah stands up and says, no, please, don't let this happen. Let me step in for Benjamin and let all the other brothers go free.

And we saw how Judah stepping in is, was willing to be the sacrifice, was willing to pay the price so that everyone else could go free.

And we talked last week about how that was a, a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who would be the ultimate substitute for us, who steps in and pays the price for us so that everyone else could go free.

We talked last week about relationships and just how important relationships are and how vital relationships are, but yet how fragile relationships are too.

And how one word or one, one, uh, send button or one, uh, action can sever a relationship for generations and generations.

And so relationships are to be cherished.

And so Joseph's brothers don't realize that this, this man who's the ruler of Egypt is, is actually their brother, Joseph.

They only know him as the man or Zephanephaniah, but he's going to reveal himself today.

But Joseph still loves his brothers.

We saw a great example of, of forgiveness beginning to take place last week.

This week, uh, Joseph is going to reveal himself to his brothers.

And today's, today's message is entitled, as we get to chapter 45, is God sent me.

God sent me.

If you're at home and, uh, wherever you are, I encourage you to take some notes.

We've got some important things to talk about.

Last week, we talked about how in relationships, um, I've been able to minister to a lot of people and they come to me and say, look, I've, I've, I had this relationship.

And I know you say that I need to, uh, to, um, to, to bring about reconciliation and all this.

But you just don't understand how dire the situation is, Brother Curtis.

You don't understand how, how desperate the situation is.

And, uh, the term that I, I said that I hear a lot of is, this thing is a can of worms.

This thing is a can of worms.

And I gave the illustration that if it is a can of worms, then all you can do is just to begin to take one worm at a time out.

Otherwise, it's overwhelming.

And so, one worm at a time out, and then what you find is, over time, you have an empty can.

And the can is about to be empty today, as we get into chapter 45.

We begin with verse 1 that says,

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him.

I want to pause for a second.

This is one of the greatest moments in this section of Genesis.

And perhaps one of the greatest moments in all of history, at least in the Old Testament,

ranks up there in significant moments, okay?

These brothers, they wanted food, okay?

These brothers wanted to go home.

But these brothers needed forgiveness.

They needed forgiveness.

What they wanted and what they needed were two different things.

And they didn't know what they need, but they knew what they wanted.

And so, Joseph is about to give them what they need,

and they're going to discover that that's what they wanted all along.

It's very interesting, you know?

And as I read this, before we get into this,

I wonder if you've ever thought about the fact of how Joseph could have handled his brothers in different ways.

I wonder if you've ever thought about the fact of how Joseph could have handled his brothers in different ways.

Chew on that for a while. He could have done that. I never want to see your face again. The third option he had would maybe have been the easiest, and that is to execute him. To execute him. A capital punishment. It would not be uncommon for somebody in his position to do that. But Joseph chooses the fourth option. And the option is this. I will forgive them. I will forgive them. I will love them. And I will lavish my provision.

Upon them as long as they live. You know, somebody once said, love your enemies. It will drive them nuts. But that authentic, that lavish, agape love is a force that nobody, nobody can withstand for a long period of time. Many of us can attest to that. It's that agape love that maybe we experienced through somebody else that drew us to the Lord or we saw in the life of someone around us.

God's love, God's love, that agape love. Love your enemies. That's as Jesus comes along in the New Testament, it says. And Joseph is lavishing his love upon his brothers.

And you'll see this. I'm getting ahead of myself. But I love this story. I wish we were all in the worship center together to experience this passage of Scripture.

Because this is one of those passages of Scripture that I firmly believe if we were to read it together, we would break up in a total applause because of what God is doing in and through this situation.

It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Verse 1 again.

Then Joseph could not control himself before all who stood before him. He cried, make everyone go out from me so no one can stay, so no one can stay with him.

When Joseph made himself known to his brothers and he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

Now, what do you think his brothers thought when he said this?

You know, think about this, you know, why else would he do this? Why else would he make everybody go?

Why would he have the stewards and servants and everybody leave? He's about to kill us.

He's about to take us out, you know. All the Egyptians have left.

Because if you remember a few weeks back, I gave you an outline of chapter 43 and 44, and I said it could be divided up this way.

That in chapter 43, first we saw what we called the predicament in Canaan.

The predicament was that there was a famine. There was a great famine in the land.

That was verses 1 through 15 in 43.

And that's followed by this great party that takes place in Egypt.

And the great party in Egypt was verses 16 through 34.

And last week we saw the repentance of the brothers' hearts.

There's a change in the brothers.

And I want to add a point to that now as we get to 45.

And that's the pardon in the family.

And this is where forgiveness is extended.

Forgiveness is enjoyed when reconciliation takes place in this family.

He reveals himself to his brothers and he weeps aloud.

And the Egyptians of the house and all of Pharaoh's house, they hear him weeping.

Verse 3.

And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.

Is my father still alive?

But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

Now let me ask you something.

Why did Joseph ask everyone to leave?

I mean, was it about maybe he was about to get emotional and he didn't want to show any emotion?

He didn't want everyone to see that emotion?

That could possibly be it.

But let me give you another idea.

Let me give you something else to think about.

Maybe, maybe it's all part of what genuine forgiveness is.

Listen to me on this.

Maybe genuine forgiveness doesn't want to parade other people's sins.

You know, if you genuinely forgive somebody, you don't have to tell everyone else what they have done to you, what they have done against you.

If you're out there telling other people how this person has wronged you, you truly haven't forgiven them.

But true forgiveness, genuine forgiveness doesn't want to parade around other people's sins.

First of all.

So he says to his brothers, I am Joseph. And notice, when he says this, notice, he's not using an interpreter. Remember, he's been using an interpreter for all these conversations, but he sends everybody out. So we have to assume he is now speaking Hebrew. Now these guys are realizing he knows Hebrew this whole time. And he speaks in Hebrew to his brothers, I am Joseph.

I am Joseph. You have to see and imagine the utter shock on these guys' faces. It has to be turning white. And he speaks Hebrew. And they haven't heard that name for years, especially out of the lips of this person's lips. And so again, verse 3 says, and Joseph says to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

And I just want to say that, to say that they were dismayed, my goodness, that has to be putting it mildly, okay?

If you were to translate it, you could translate the word also into distressed or dumbfounded, okay?

And basically, he says this to them, and they're like, I got nothing. I got nothing.

Verse 4.

So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please.

And they came near.

And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold to Egypt.

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here.

For God sent me before you to preserve life.

Now I want you to notice the word that he says here.

He says to his brothers, come near.

Come near.

And the word there is nagash.

And nagash means to come close in proximity and with intimacy.

This is important.

And what he's saying to them is, I want you to come close.

I want you to look me in the eye.

I want you to study my face.

Look close.

See my body language.

See that I'm not angry.

See that I'm not bitter.

I'm not holding anything against you.

Look at my face.

And in ancient cultures, and even today in some Muslim cultures, to look someone in the eye would be a sign of disrespect.

When you walked in with somebody that had superiority over you, you always kept your eyes at a low gaze, a low presence.

But he says to them, I may be the ruler of Egypt, but look me in the eye.

I am your brother.

I may be the ruler, but I'm your brother.

I'm not angry with you.

I love you.

I love you.

This is so significant.

And to me, this is another sign of genuine forgiveness as well, too.

Listen, genuine forgiveness wants to set people free who have wronged you, wants to put them at ease.

Those who have wronged you, you want them to be at ease, okay?

If you truly have not forgiven someone, here's a telltale sign on that.

If you haven't truly forgiven someone, you will want them to squirm a little bit.

And they'll squirm a little bit, and you'll actually be a little happy about that as well, too.

You'll kind of like it.

If you've genuinely forgiven them, and it is total forgiveness, you want to set them at ease.

I mean, his brother shafted him, and he's trying to set them at ease.

Come near.

Come near.

See my face.

I am Joseph.

Verse 6.

For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

Now listen, now we are getting into the heart of Joseph's theology.

Joseph has always had a vertical perspective.

Always a vertical perspective.

This is how he saw all of life.

He would bring a vertical perspective into all things.

And he was saying to them, this wasn't your ploy that got me here.

Okay?

This was God's plan that got me here.

I'm okay with that. Because God is sovereign. Even the bad stuff. We talked weeks ago about how Joseph's life verse could be Romans 8, 28, that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and who are called accordingly to his purposes. So he says, all these things that happen to me, I take into a vertical perspective. God sent me here. God sent me. Okay? Well, wait a minute. You were sold off as a slave. And that was a vicious act.

God sent me. Wait a minute. Potiphar falsely accused you and his wife had you, her accusations had you thrown in jail. No, no, no. God sent me. Well, wait a minute. You know, you were a very, because you were a very talented young man and you had a lot of gifts, you rose up. You rose up in the ranks and you're now, you're the right hand man of Pharaoh. No, it had nothing to do with that. God sent me.

Listen, I don't know what's going on in your life.

I don't know what kind of pain you have personally and what you have gone through. And I don't know what bitter words someone may have said to you.

And there's a relationship that's been severed. And I don't know. Somebody may have done something to you to where you are suffering consequences from that right now.

But listen to me. Happy is the man. Happy is the woman. Blessed is the man that can see God's plan in everything.

Blessed is the man or woman that can see God's plan in all things.

And when you have that mindset, you know what it turns life into?

It turns it into an adventure. An absolute adventure.

Because something that you're suffering through and going through right now, your mind goes, man, what's God up to?

What's God got up his sleeve? What's he doing? What's he planning?

God planned it. This is beautiful. This is beautiful. Verse 8.

So it was, not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his house and ruler over the land of Egypt.

Now, what does that mean when he says, God made me a father to Pharaoh?

It just means he's an advisor. He's a counselor. I'm in the place of giving him advice.

Okay? And that's all that simply means.

Verse 9.

Now, the land of Goshen that it mentions here, let me just tell you just a little bit about that.

You know that the Nile River starts in Central Africa, makes its way up, at least on a map, toward Egypt.

And it fans out into a delta called the Lush Nile Delta.

We've made many mentions of this as we've studied through Genesis.

But the northeastern section of the Nile Delta was called Goshen.

And it was the best place for shepherds.

And Joseph's family, Jacob and his family, these guys were shepherds.

Okay?

It was lush.

And so he gives them the best of the land.

Joseph is giving them the land of Goshen, which is the best of the land.

Now, keep that in mind, because some 430 years later, by the time we get to the Exodus,

it says that there arose a pharaoh that did not know Joseph.

And the children of Israel will be greatly multiplied and still living in the land of Goshen,

because that's where God planted them.

That's where they grow.

It's where Joseph abundantly provided for them in the land of Goshen.

And so by now you're getting the gist of this.

Listen, Joseph just did not deal with them like he could have dealt with them,

or perhaps maybe even should have dealt with them.

But he dealt with them the way that God deals with you and me.

Listen, there are three things that go hand in hand by comparison.

Justice, mercy, and grace.

Okay?

We've been over this before, but it...

You deserve that. That's justice. Mercy is totally different. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. You deserve punishment. You get pulled over. You get pulled over. You deserve a ticket. And the officer pulls you over and says, Hey, look. Hey, keep your foot out of it. Keep your foot out of it. I'm going to give you a break. Slow it down. Slow it down. That's mercy. That's mercy. Grace is something totally different. Grace is getting what you don't deserve.

Grace is you're driving down the road. You get pulled over for doing a hundred miles an hour. The policeman pulls you over. You deserve a ticket. The ticket is $500, and you deserve points on the license. But here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pay the ticket for you, and I'm going to have them put the points on my license. That's grace. That's grace. Grace is different. Getting what you don't deserve.

Joseph could have given them mercy. You know, hey, you guys go back home. Or he could have said, hey, I'm putting you in jail, or I'm taking your life, and that would have been justice. But he dealt with them in mercy and grace. I see God's hand in this. I'm not going to punish you. That's mercy. But listen, not only that, but I'm going to lavish and add to your life so that you will be taking care of the rest of your life.

You're going to live in the land of Goshen. You're going to flourish in Goshen. I'm going to give you the best land in all of Egypt.

You've got to see that in the story. That's grace. Again, Joseph is foreshadowing Jesus Christ who lavishes on us. He doesn't just give us something. He lavishes something.

Joseph is extending mercy and grace. God extends mercy to you and to me by not giving us hell. We deserve hell. Absolutely.

But he gives us grace, and not only not giving us that, but he allows us to be called his child. He provides for it. He takes care of us, giving us what we don't deserve.

And Joseph tells his dad, hurry up. Come back. You're going to dwell in the land of Goshen, and I'm going to give you everything. I'm going to take care of you.

Verse 11. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty.

I'm sure at this point, don't miss this. At this point, Joseph has probably pulled the fake beard and wiped all the makeup off with all of his tears.

And they can probably see a little bit clearer that this is Joseph. Verse 12.

And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.

Then he fell upon Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck, and he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them.

After this, his brothers talked with him.

This is very emotional.

And it's an interesting phrase and notion that says that after that, his brothers talked with him.

You know, in other words, they had nothing to say before.

They were just like, they were flabbergasted.

Had to be flabbergasted.

And now they're thinking, okay.

And now they talked to him, and boy, I bet they did.

They had 21 years of catch-up to do.

I bet they talked.

And it's beautiful.

What a beautiful comparison when you think back to chapter, if my mind serves me correctly,

chapter 37 in Genesis, when Jacob tells Joseph, hey, go check on your brothers.

Go up there.

They're tending the sheep.

Check on them.

See what's going on and all this.

And he's on his way up there, and his brothers see him coming.

And the scripture says that his brothers hated him so much that they couldn't even speak to him.

But now those walls have been broken, and they talked.

So let's go.

Thank you.

Canaan. And take your father and your households and come to me. And I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land. And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, do this. Take the wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives and bring your father and come. Excuse me, if memory serves me correctly. About a six day walk there and get loaded up. Everybody six day walk back, you know.

All that. But now he says, take the carts. You know, good idea. You don't have to walk. You're going to ride in style. You're going to ride in style. Think about what it's like. So you've got the brothers. They're going back with this long caravan of these colorful Egyptian carts and chariots. You know, I wonder what all the other Canaanites, you know, these brothers that are already gone once, come back. Now they go again. Now they come back and look at the caravan.

And they're bringing with them. It's like, holy cow, what's going on? You know, quite a quite a first class showing in there. But look at this. Verse 19.

And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, do this. Take the wagons from the land of Egypt and your little ones and your wives and bring your father and come. Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.

Verse 19. The sons of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh and gave them provisions for the journey.

To each and all of them, he gave a change of clothes.

But to Benjamin, he gave 300 shekels of silver and five changes of clothes.

So they all get, they all get, you know, new clothes as well, too.

Joseph is loading them up. He gives them all brand new Armani robes.

He gives them Johnson Murphy shoes.

He throws in Five Guys burgers and he's sending them all on the road and they get provisions and they're all on the way.

And then verse 23, it says to his father, he sent as follows.

Ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread and provision for his father on the journey.

Then he sent his brothers away and as they departed, he said to them, do not quarrel on the way.

Now, why would he say that?

Do not quarrel on the way.

It could simply mean, you know, hey, don't be troubled about, you know, any of the robbers or marauders who might come along, you know, and see these chariots and food.

Somebody might rob you.

I'm going to send some protection along the way.

Because the famine is still going on, okay?

There's a famine that's in place and there would be marauders on the road and everything.

Or it could be knowing his brother's personalities that they can be a little cantankerous and rough.

And, yeah, repentance is one thing.

They've repented.

Repentance is one thing.

But, you know what?

A long journey, okay, traveling together gets to the best of people.

All right?

You think about your family vacations.

Think about all of your family loaded in a car going somewhere.

You're piled in and it starts off okay.

But you get a couple weeks into this and, man, everyone is pulling at everyone else's attention span or last nerve, I should say.

I remember for us, we would take trips.

And it was back in the day where we would go camping.

And my mom and dad would ride.

And it was a single cab truck.

And the camper was on the back.

In fact, they would ride in the cab of the truck.

And we would ride in the camper in the back.

Totally illegal now.

Totally illegal now.

But that was the cool thing to do.

We would ride in that camper.

I still remember one time, tensions really got high because my dad had stopped for gas.

And I thought it would be funny.

We were sitting in that upper window of the camper.

He was getting gas.

And I made a little sign that said, help us, please.

I thought that would be really funny until the man came over.

And I saw him speaking to my dad at the gas pump.

And that didn't end too well for me whatsoever.

Or there was a time that our family loaded in our, it was a gold color, 60-something Oldsmobile.

Really cool car.

We were going to Pismo Beach in California.

We didn't get to, we got maybe an hour from home.

And the transmission went out.

And so we had to get the car towed back home.

But we rode in the car.

And so he says, don't stir it up. If you were to translate the Hebrew literally, it means, don't get stirred up. That's what it means right there. Don't quarrel along the way. Don't quarrel along the way. Verse 25. So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father, Jacob. And they told him, Joseph is still alive. And he's ruler over all the world.

The land of Egypt. And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. He doesn't know how to feel. He doesn't, he doesn't know how, he doesn't know how to take this. You know, he doesn't know what to, is this a joke? Is this a cruel joke? Okay. He doesn't know what's happening. Think about all the memories now that are flooding back into his mind.

And his heart stands still. They don't believe him. He doesn't believe them, I mean, as it's being told to him. Verse 27.

When he told them all the words, but when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father, Jacob, revived. And Israel said,

He sees all this stuff around. He sees all that's been sent. But he says, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.

Listen, I want to close, I want to close today with this thought of forgiveness. And I want to encourage you in a couple things.

Listen, forgiveness, we see how this has happened here. Joseph forgave his brothers. And now, Jacob is going to have to forgive his sons, as well, too, for the deception that they have been carrying on all this time.

Forgiveness is always a choice. Forgiveness is always a choice. If you base it on your feelings, you may never get there with it.

You just won't. You know, well, I'll forgive her if she does this first, or, you know, this, that, and the other. It may never happen.

It may never happen. Well, I'll say I'm sorry if he just says this, this, this.

You know, we, as we said last week, no. First, just, just repent.

You repent. You take responsibility for what you should take responsibility for.

And I promise you, it will yield results.

Yeah, but I don't feel like, yeah, well, of course you don't feel like it. It's counterintuitive.

It's counterintuitive. It is a choice. It is a choice.

The greatest example, I want to give this to you this morning, the greatest example of forgiveness,

forgiveness, I believe, was written by Corrie Ten Boom.

And she used to talk about it when she used to give her talks before she went to heaven to be with Jesus.

But she also wrote about it in World War II.

And we all know the story that Corrie Ten Boom and her family were taken into a Nazi concentration camp.

They were Christians. They weren't Jews.

But they were, they housed Jews in the house that they lived in, which is a jewelry shop in Harlem in the Netherlands.

And their father was a watchmaker, and they would hide the Jews in their wall.

And they were uncovered, and they were taken to a concentration camp, and for years they were mistreated.

And there was one guard in particular that was extremely cruel and extremely nasty to them.

And she grew to hate this guard in her heart.

And years later, after her release, years after she was telling the story, she was speaking one night,

and a man walks up to her and extends his hand and says,

Would you forgive me?

And she looked in the eyes of this man, and she saw that it was the guard.

She knew it was the guard, and she didn't know what to do.

And this is what she writes.

She said,

The hand was extended, and all the memories flooded back, the hatred, the maltreatment.

I stood there with coldness clutching at my heart, but I know that the will can function.

and sprang into our clutched hands. Then this warm reconciliation seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother. I cried with my whole heart. And for a long moment, we grasped each other's hands. The former guard and the former prisoner. I have never known the love of God so intensely as I did that moment. To forgive is to forgive.

To set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner was you, she writes. They were freed that day. The brothers were freed that day. And that day, as Joseph said, I forgive you. They were set free, but I believe that Joseph was set free as well, too. I believe Joseph was taken to a whole new level. Free indeed.

And what a day for these brothers. They stood there in shock. As he says, I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph. Shock. Thinking, oh my gosh, we're dead. We're dead. And then another shock wave as he says, I hold nothing against you.

I don't hate you. I don't hate you. I love you. You are forgiven. God sent me. God sent me. What a shock. What a shock. We have to see that when we read this scripture.

I remember the day that I truly discovered and came to the realization that I was a sinner, and I was alienated from God, and I was shocked at the fact that God wanted to forgive me, and that God loved me, and was willing to love me, and make me his son, and he would love me just the way I am, and I realized that I would be an idiot not to take him up on that.

I just want to encourage you this morning, and that if you have never discovered the shock of how much Jesus really does love you, and the shock of how much, and the desire of the Father's heart that he really wants to forgive you.

He really wants to forgive you, and accept you as you are, but not leave you that way, to conform you into the image of his beautiful son, Romans 8.29, to make you like Jesus, that you would come to know that today.

You would come to know that today, and the love of God would shock you to the core of your heart, and you would surrender to him, because I fear if you reject it, it will get easier and easier to reject it over time, because your heart will become so calloused.

And if you reject it, and if you reject it, one day you'll be shocked by hearing another set of words, as Jesus will say, depart from me, for I never knew you.

I never knew you.

I would much rather have the pleasant shock of his incredible love, and his incredible forgiveness, than the dread of hearing those words.

Won't you pray with me this morning?

Father, we just come before you in the strong name of Jesus, and I pray that you would bring a revelation into our lives that would be shocking.

The incredible love that you have for us.

If there is someone listening today that has never truly surrendered their life to you, Lord God, Lord, let today be the day of salvation.

Let today be the day of renewal.

Let today be the day of surrender.

I thank you, Lord, for the story of Joseph and his brothers, and how you are working out all things together for good,

for those who love you and are called accordingly to your purposes.

Father, we trust in you, and we ask you to move mightily in our families and in our lives,

in our community, in our nation, around this world.

Continue to have your hand upon your church.

Thank you.

Amen.