Let us turn to Genesis 45. Genesis 45, and we'll go to verse 1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him. While Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept out loud. And the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father still live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and they said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me thither, for God did send me before you to preserve life. And these two years hath the famine been in the land, And yet there are five years in which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a prosperity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me thither, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh and the Lord over all his house, a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. So as you remember, a few weeks ago, we looked at the speech of Judah, who had pleaded for mercy for Benjamin, who was set up with the silver cup and for his aging father, and how that would be devastating for them. And it would bring basically Jacob to the grave with sorrow and with sadness. And that touching speech from him was a further proof that Joseph had been curious about. How are these guys now in their wheelings and dealings with one another? How would they treat their father? How would they treat Benjamin, the younger son? And it was a great reversal, as we saw once again, a great reversal in this whole narrative of what they once had done to Joseph all those years ago. He had enough evidence of their love for their father and for Benjamin. Judah's speech had moved him profoundly, and he didn't want to keep these fellows in distress any longer. Now, with eager expectation, they, the brothers, of course, waited for an answer after the end of the speech from the one whom they knew as Zephnah Paniah. And Zabnarkh Paneer means the one who reveals secrets. That strange ruler of Egypt, who had been so generous on the one hand, on the other hand, he had been very harsh with them. And yet he showed an unusual interest in them at times. It seemed like he knew them and had given them lots of headaches and grief over these past few months. And worst of all, they had been reminded of the sin that they had committed so long ago. Now at this point Joseph could not refrain himself any longer, as he had done for quite some time now, and the floodgates of emotion and tears burst loose. The revealer of secrets was about to reveal the greatest and most shocking secrets to all his unsuspecting brethren. With a voice of emotion and crying, he ordered the staff to leave from his side. He wanted this moment of tenderness to be private and out of the sight of everybody else and his servants. Perhaps also it was a kindness that he did that to his brothers as he did not want the former sins to be exposed, as love covers a multitude of sins. Yet his crying was so loud that it was heard maybe at the adjacent room, next room, while the staff was perhaps listening in, the wailing was heard, and it was unusual for Joseph, who was a wise and normally composed ruler. So that made it quickly through the palace grounds. Undoubtedly, they had heard the speech from Judah as well, and they thought maybe the master was moved by this. At last, through his tears and crackling voice, he said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, and they were troubled at his presence. Joseph tells these men his name, a name they would have rather have forgotten, a name that had brought them especially of late a newfound sense of guilt. and fear of what they once had done. A name that would have reminded them of the depths of their depravity and of their sinfulness. That one would sell their own flesh and blood to pagan slave traders. A name that would remind them of the grief they had caused their aging father. And no doubt, every sin they had committed against him would have freshly come to mind. And you can imagine the total shock of these guys. They were just without any words. Is this the man they have dealt with so long? Is this truly their lost brother? Perhaps now they finally started to see it. It was the one whom they have considered dead for a long time, whose looks have been changed through time and through custom, and perhaps through a special blinding of the Lord, right? Because sometimes when we... haven't seen somebody for 20 years, we still recognize him. So you wonder if there was a special blinding of the Lord that they did not recognize him. Last time they had seen him, it was at the end of a caravan of slave traders. He had been roughed up by them. He would have been looking fearful. And now he's standing in front of them with royal splendor, asking them about their father's welfare. Of course, he knew that her father was still alive because they had just heard that speech from Judah. But perhaps of the emotion of the moment, he wanted to hear again that good news that his father was still alive. And again, I think we see here a picture of the Lord Jesus, the once despised Savior who is standing at God's right hand, as Pharaoh's right hand, as it were, in all his glory and power. And when it comes to repeating good news, we do that as well, don't we? Don't we repeat the good news of the gospel every Sunday, every Lord's Day? some shape or form from one angle. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we should always glory in the gospel. He said, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In Galatians he said, but God forbid that I see glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And his brethren, it says, could not answer him. They were troubled at his presence. And that's probably an understatement. I bet they could not answer. If they thought they were in trouble a few moments ago, you know, with the whole situation with Benjamin and the suspicion of theft and so on, how much more? Now they're dealing with this powerful ruler who was able to crush them like unwanted pests in a house. and who was none other than Joseph, whom they had sold. I bet you could see their knees buckle, right? I've often pictured the scene in front of me, all these guys, you know, and here is Joseph, you know, revealing himself to them. You could see the fear on their faces. Once again, things had reversed for them, seemingly, in a very bad way. He had them in their power and could do with them as he pleased. They knew their sin had been found out and had returned to them in a very bad way. You can imagine the confusion, the fear they had at the moment. Fear that would give a fresh recollection of the pit, of the sale to the Ismaelites, their presentation of their coat to their father. Yeah, what happened? You know, here's his bloody coat. It was once again fresh before their mind's eye. Thankfully, Joseph had nothing in mind that would give him reason to fear. He had plans to prosper them and to do them good. A heap of blessings would be upon them, not for destruction or revenge, but plans for peace, and not only for them, but for the whole nation, as we will see later. And Joseph said unto his brother, come near unto me, I pray you. And they came near and said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Immediately, Joseph tells them to come near to them. He wanted to speak kindly to them and to this sorry lot of nervous guy. You know, sometimes when we have been at odds with people, maybe we have made things right, but we're still kind of go like, well, things are okay, but we'll keep our distance. We won't get too close for a while. Because we don't maybe trust him quite yet. This was not the case with Joseph. He calls him to be close to him. Close enough, he puts his arm around the mark to kiss them, a signal for goodwill. Yes, he said, I am Joseph, whom ye sold into Egypt. I'm your brother still. The relation was still the same as before. And his love for them had not been canceled because of what had happened in the past. Joseph understood. And practice, even though he had been greatly wronged, still they are entitled to his kindness, his charity. And does he not embody what the Lord Jesus taught, that we should love our enemies, that we do good to them, that despitefully use us? Romans 12, verse 20. Therefore, if the enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in doing so thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Peter writes, finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love us, brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing, knowing that ye are here unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. Joseph is not an angry man, he repeats that he repeats the events, what they did wrong, in minute details. He doesn't spend any time on that, or barely, or just go into the depths of how wrong they had been to him, to heap more guilt on them, as he knew that they already had been made aware of their sin. Sometimes we can forgive people with our mouth, but inwardly, we do not. Or we might be prone to repeat the offense and reopen old wounds. Perhaps there are people in your life that have been wronged and that we need to be reconciled to. We need to no longer treat them as enemies, but friends. If we have trouble doing that, remember the sin that the Lord has forgiven us. Were you not an enemy that betrayed the Lord? And has He not drawn us to Himself through many winding paths as we see here with these brothers? Now, therefore, be not grieved, in verse 5, nor angry with yourself that you sold me thither. For God did send me before you to preserve life. Now, in this verse, he's not making light of sin. And if a sinner is ever to come to Christ, of course, there needs to be an understanding of sin and a biblical repentance and a grief and a sorrow over our sinfulness and our proneness to it. And no person comes to faith without it. It's the Holy Spirit that does that work in the believer. And it's a vital work. He does in every sinner. And we may come under a period of severe awareness of our sin and guilt before our Holy God and judgment to come. C.S. Persia writes, Dear friends, has the Holy Spirit made you feel that you are guilty? If so, I'm glad of it. For when we once For when we once feel guilty concerning the death of Jesus, our brother, is it not long before he'll reveal himself to us in mercy, blotting out our sins forever. But Joseph had seen and heard the sorrow for sin in the different tests that these guys had gone through. And now we had a good understanding of their sin, as we have seen in the earlier chapters. Yes, their sin had found them out, and they knew it, and they had confessed it to each other. Remember when they said, oh, this is because what we have done all that while ago, and they'd spoken to each other about it. Now was the time of healing and forgiveness and to make them see the wonderful works of God, especially in the providence of God and how He works out everything to His glory and for the believers good. He did not want the brothers to think that this sin was too great to be forgiven, either by God or by Joseph. And there was much reason for hope as he was about to explain to them. Now was not the time to make them understand what they had done to him and make it all about Joseph. We need to understand once a person is aware of his faults, that we, and he has dealt with it accurately, that we move on. In 2 Corinthians 2, 7, when the Apostle Paul speaks about this, he said, so that contrary wise you are to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. And this we see Joseph do. Once again, he had a tremendous God-centered view of all things that happened to him. Just to go back a little bit, remember when he had the dreams in Egypt, in prison, and when he interpreted dreams for Pharaoh, we always immediately give God the glory and the honor. In other words, everything that happened to him, he saw in the light of God's overarching purposes. and working things for his own good. And for these brothers, as they had mourned for sin, it's a picture of people coming to Christ. And I think of the piece you did this morning, Nick, how the doctor of election is sort of brought forth for these brothers, right? Normally they would have never come. to this type of situation where they would repent and be subdued, as it were. And Jesus said, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And what a great example that Joseph was in this regards. Genesis 45, five says, now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourself, that you shall be fitter. for God sent me before you to preserve life. And he appeals to the great doctrine of providence, or of the sovereignty of God, that in many ways, mysterious doctrine of God, that he uses the sinful actions of man to his purposes. And of course, God can do that. If God was somehow bound or hindered by man's wickedness, or even hindered a little bit, he would not be God. Men, by his war against God, be it ever so fierce, And while he could, as we see that today, would eliminate God from every swear that he can do, will not and never make the slightest dent in the kingdom of God and his purposes. And that's, I think, a comfort because as we look today, we see things moving a certain way and we may be troubled at times or have a sleepless night or two. But He uses that even for His glorious purposes. And if you can turn with me for a moment to Psalm 2, that famous Psalm. I'll start in verse 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in the risen. So how vain and utterly fruitless are their attempts against him and against the Lord Jesus. God is sitting there as He always is on the throne in tumultuous times or in peaceful times. He's serene and He's undisturbed and His plan unfolds. Let us remember that often in regards to events in our own life, whoever they are caused by, Our own sin, someone else's, or diseases, or natural disasters. They're all coming in the end from the eternal counsels of God. The brother sold them because of the envy and hatred. And that, in that way, there would be no chance that his dream would be fulfilled, right? He's not going to rule over us. Let's ship him off. But the Lord had them in derision. And yet now he's exalted and promoted. And because of that, God will preserve these guys themselves and the nation. In the end, they were instruments used by and overruled by God for his purposes. Yet what they did, of course, was wicked and evil. We don't justify sin ever. But by grace, it sets in motion the events that would lead to their own great deliverance. And that is amazing. How marvelous are God's plans and how His purposes, His ways pass finding out. Romans 11, verse 33, Oh, the depths of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgment and His ways pass finding out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? How is the kindness of God revealed to these sinners? Long before, while they yet lived in rebellion and strife, God was working things out in their favor. And that counts for us too. When we were yet enemies, thoughtless about God and Christ, Christ died for us and drew us to himself. And how God continues not to reward us for our many failings and sins, and how often He counteracts them for our good, and that He preserves us from what we really should deserve, the marvelous grace of God. Joseph had learned that whatever had happened to him was not an accident or chance or fate or some other pagan philosophy like that, how they viewed life. But he saw the hand of God in all events in life. And so that he was never overly dejected or hopeless. And you find that in Joseph, right? In particular, you look sometimes at the prophets. or David, they were sometimes given to utter dejection for a season. That was not the case with Joseph, not that it's written down anyway. When he was in prison, he trusted God. And when he was exalted, he was also not taken away with prosperity and taking a loss of view of God in that way. In verse 6 and 8, Joseph tells the brothers that there's still many years of famine ahead and repeats, lest they still doubt, you can imagine that they need a few assurances from him, that it was God that had sent them here. And he's refusing to cast blame on them. Him coming to Egypt was much more God's work than these fellows' work. He lets them know it's not only that He will preserve them, but also the offspring. God's purposes are large and deep and wide. It's not just about this individual brother and how He deals with His covenant people. And would He otherwise leave them all to die if we think of the promises that was given to Jacob and Isaac? Of course not. And he calls it a great deliverance. And it was. And we see many other examples in Scripture of great deliverances, right? We think of the Red Sea parting, and of Lot, and of Jonah, and the whale, and the wars that Israel had, and so on. They were miraculous deliverances. But are we not daily delivered by God in many smaller things, maybe less miraculous in our own life? And do we see that? Maybe it's a near mist driving home or those small incidentals where God protects us, saves us, keeps us, and directs us. Don't just look at the great deliverances, but also acknowledge God in all the providences that He takes us through on a daily basis and that come our way. God permits much evil in the world. Perhaps we can be at times kind of hopeless and confused by all of what we see happening around us. But let us remember from this account how many people were blessed by Joseph. But not only his family, but in effect, he became the savior of the known world. How at the very last moment, the plan and the purposes of God were made known to these brothers. God often brings us to the edge and then a sudden deliverance beyond our wildest expectations. You think of these brothers, right? They were probably very, very scared after Judah's speech. And maybe they thought, we're not going to change this guy's mind. And all of a sudden, everything changed, a lot of good news. And it says, and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. He reminds the brothers that God has elevated him, that he is like a father, a teacher to Pharaoh, convincing them he does not hold them responsible of the source of his earlier misery. but considers his past misery as a stepping stone to happiness and above all, blessing and blessing for others. Indeed, all things had worked out for his good. And of course, we see again here in Joseph many pictures of the Lord Jesus. Like the brothers did to Joseph, it was our sin that nailed him to the tree. We valued sin more than we valued Christ. We sold them, as it were, for pieces of silver. We had a hand in the murder of our Redeemer, just like the Jews. It shows the depths of our wickedness, that if we were given the opportunity, we would do what we would do to God and to his anointed, that we would murder him, or cry away with Him, crucify Him. Or as the brothers basically said as the Jews did later, our blood will be on our heads. The brothers, if you think of that verse in Zechariah, it says, they looked upon Him whom they have pierced. It was just like the brothers had done that as well. All of a sudden they were standing in front of Him. And I like this piece by Spurgeon. It's a bit of a chunk, but bear with me. He said, but dear friends, I'm met by a question. Someone asked, why does Jesus thus deal with some coming sinners? Why does he not always meet them at once as he does with some? While they're yet a great way off, they fall upon their necks and kiss him. Perhaps we can answer this question by another. Why did Joseph thus hide himself and not manifest himself to his own flesh? The answer is, Joseph knew, here, knew there was a prophecy to be fulfilled. The sun, the moon, the stars must make obeisance to him, and their sheaves must bow before his sheave. So there is a prophecy concerning us that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and of things in earth and things under the earth. And were it not that Christ does deal with us roughly at times, perhaps we would never bow ourselves with that deep humiliation and prostration of spirit, which is necessary for our good as well for his glory. I am sure that any of us have passed through this state of mind. Feel it a privilege to bow before him. All hail, Jesus. We bring forth the royal diamond and crown thee Lord of all. We wish not to dispute thy sovereignty, not to interfere with thy absolute dominion. Give him all the glory, give him all the honor. Our spirit bowed down with even deeper reverence than the cherubim who bow before him with veiled faces crying, holy, holy, holy, Lord of Shabbat. Besides, my dear friends, Joseph's brethren would not have been convinced of their sin at all if it hadn't been for this. It was needful that they should know the greatness of the wrong that they may value the free pardon. The delay of manifest mercy had done much good to many of us to compel them to search the fountains of the great deep of their natural depravity and lead them to admire the freeness and the richness of divine grace. Could John Bunyan ever have written Pilgrim Progress if he had not felt abounding in sin and rejoiced in grace abounding? And have you come to know the Redeemer this way? Can you point to a time or season in your life when you became very aware of your sin that separated you from God? And may I point you once again, if you have not looked, to him who was prayers for our transgression and wounded for our transgression to look to him now, to look to him today? Or will you meet him when he comes to take vengeance upon all that do not obey God and that do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? 2 Thessalonians 1.8. You can be like these brothers. You cannot bring anything like they did. Their pleadings were just for sheer mercy. You acknowledge before God your sins, and those are the only things you can bring to Him. Christ says to come near unto Him, like to these brothers, because there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. All that come to Him, the Lord Jesus will in no wise cast out. And He came into the world to save and receive sinners. And don't these brothers, don't they represent the great multitude that will adore God in heaven? Sinners of all stripes and degrees. He came to call sinners to repentance and died for the ungodly. and will cast none out that come to God by Him and will be graciously received. And He saves them to the uttermost." Let us pray. Heavenly Father, to be saved to the uttermost, Lord, what a glorious good news that is. Father, help us even as believers not to trust in any of our works, our abilities, our knowledge, Lord. But Lord, that knowledge that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom we are chief, Lord. Lord, help us to rest in that once again. Give us a fresh sight of Him, Lord. Will You reveal Yourself afresh to all of us here? Father, I pray for those that still don't know him. Lord, would you, be we young or old, Lord, would you open our eyes? Would you cause us to search for him, Lord? Perhaps, Father, you have to bring us through times of difficulty to do so. However it will be, Lord, would You draw us to Yourself. We pray again for our neighbors, our friends, our family members, Lord, that You would do this to them as well. In Jesus' great name we pray, Amen.