Then Joseph said to his brothers, come close to me. When they had done so, he said, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Now, that's not common knowledge. Their dad doesn't know that. Potiphar doesn't know that. Who would know? I'm Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt twenty years ago. And now, do not be distressed. And now we get another indication. He hasn't been doing this to get even with them. He hasn't been trying to show them how much he suffered. He's been testing them, one, protecting Benjamin, and two, Are you willing now, because you've seen the grief that your sin has caused, are you willing to repent? Are you willing to change? I mean, right there you can see so much in our own lives. We all make mistakes, we all sin, we all do things. But if we could go back and do it different, after having seen the result of our sin, the result of our bad decision, would you do it again? Would you do it different or would you do it the same way? These men have shown, it wasn't even a question, they acted it out. If they would have done it the same way, they would have been halfway back to Canaan by now. We're out of there. For the very fact they're standing here willing to sacrifice their life for Benjamin, we would never sell Joseph in a bondage again. We would never do that. We did it. We're responsible. But if we had to do it again, we would change so many things. He says, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here. Because, now on a bigger scale, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. And again, we're operating on those two levels. We're making choices, we're interacting with all these things, but whatever took place, this was what God had planned, or at least how it ended up working out, God worked it together. For two years now, he says there's been a famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. There are five years left of this, guys. Now he's talking, he's being honest, there's five years left of this. But God, again, but God sent me ahead of you. Now, when we can begin to look at our lives again, we've got to live as people, we've got to live with our responsibilities, we have to interact with each other. My life affects you, your life affects me. But ultimately, when it all comes down, nothing happens without God's approval. Do you understand what I just said? Nothing can happen except God says, okay. It may be someone's evil intention. It may be something that Satan's working. But they can plan it. They can conceive it. They can begin it. But it's only going to happen if God says, Go ahead. That's not saying God causes everything. God didn't cause it. He just says, He could have stopped Joseph getting up here. Help me! Help me! And a caravan came by and got him up. The brothers had an evil intention. They worked their plan. But God says, Oh, good. I can use this. Or I will allow this. which is very important. Watch this. But God sent me ahead of you. When you can begin to look at your life and all the situations, if it be your decision, if it be evil things that have happened to you from other people or rural situations, when you can take all those things and realize it happened, that's what happened, it wasn't God's idea necessarily, it wasn't God's plan necessarily, but God didn't allow it, that means that wherever you're at today is where God wants you. God has you right where he wants you. Moses is right here. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. He says, here we are. He says, God sent me ahead. But we sold you to slavery. Right. But God could have stopped that if he wanted to. And the reason I was allowed to be sold into slavery was God was standing ahead of me. When we can look at our lives and I can look at my life and realize this is what happened because God sent me here. Ultimately, it's God who got me here. Because if God didn't want me here, he could certainly have stopped something. He could certainly have changed something. So then, it is not you who sent me here, but God. How can I be mad at you? You made a bad decision, but God says, good enough, God sent me here. Again, he says it now the third time he ascends. So then it was not you who sent me here, but God. This is why Joseph was able to go from the age of 17 until now, what is he? 37, 38, 39. From 17 to 39 years old, he is on the throne because he's able to roll this stuff off and say, God is in control of my life. God is leading me. I've got to figure out what to do with this. I've got to figure out how to be obedient in this situation. And I keep pointing my finger back. It's their fault. They haven't done that. If they hadn't done that, true. But if God wanted to stop it, He could have stopped it. And He didn't. So deal with it. And Joseph has dealt with it for 22 years. And now here's his chance to unleash his bitterness. to say, it's your fault I was in prison, it's your fault I was a slave, it's your fault I haven't seen my father for 22 years. But instead he says, it was not you who sent me to Egypt, it was God. God put me here. He can either be bitter and crumble like Reuben was in the story, completely out of touch, or be able to do this theologically correct and say, I'm in a position that God has placed me.