One of my favorite historical stories in medicine is the story of the British neurologist Oliver Sacks. Anybody heard of him? Oliver Sacks? In the 1960s, Dr. Oliver Sacks worked with a group of catatonic patients. completely frozen for some of them for up to three decades. Three decades of being completely frozen. Have you heard of this sort of thing? This famous neurologist found these patients languishing really in a Bronx hospital and he began to work closely with this group of people and he guessed that perhaps they had a very severe case of Parkinson's disease and that had brought them to this frozen state And so he experimented with high doses of L-Dopa, which was a common drug for Parkinson's disease of that day, and there were some great awakenings that occurred. A man named Leonard Lowe was awakened after decades, decades in Catatonia. He was awakened to life 30 years later. He was awakened to new love. The story doesn't end well for Leonard, but it's an incredible story of awakening. Now, if you've been following what we're talking about with Joseph, Joseph's brothers were in the same state. spiritual catatonia, catatonic state, frozen. They needed an awakening. And God had made a covenant with these kids, with the 12 tribes of Israel. He had cut a covenant with them, with Abraham. And God had a plan to use Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 boys. But God's people who are called to be part of His plan are called to be faithful people. They're called to be faithful. And I don't know if you've been with us any time, you couldn't call these boys, except for one, Joseph, faithful boys. In fact, it's pretty awful stuff. Simeon and Levi slaughtered unsuspecting people of Shechem, Reuben, the oldest son, and his father's concubine. Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. It's an ugly, sordid, messy group of people. Spiritually, much in need of an awakening. You know, they did need, in Genesis 42, they needed food. They had a severe famine, but they needed something much more than food in Genesis 42. They needed to be awakened they needed to be changed by the power of God. If they were ever to fulfill their destiny as the people of God and to become a blessing to all the nations and to be the actual ancestors of the Messiah, they needed a significant spiritual awakening. So Genesis 42 is the story of their awakening. It's the story of the awakening of their conscience so that they might plug in to the plan of God and be a blessing to all of the nations. Now, we talk about the conscience a lot. We use that word. Let me just give you a Bible dictionary definition of the conscience that might help you. The conscience is a person's inner awareness. It's their inner awareness of conforming to the will of God, or departing from the will of God, and that sense of approval when you conform to it, and that sense of inner disapproval when you don't conform to it. Every man, woman, and child who ever lived and who ever will live has a conscience. The fall has not eradicated the conscience in the heart of all men, women, and children. As a believer, our conscience is still there. It's the same conscience. It's been elevated by the new man. It's been elevated by the Holy Spirit of God. It can become very sensitive. It can become very Gospel-centered, our consciences. That's what we have with the Spirit of God. But unbelievers have this conscience as well. And some have seared it almost beyond recognition. Almost. Perhaps, as we look at this passage, we need to be dealing with our conscience tonight. We need to have our conscience awakened to some current sins in our life or some past sins in our life if we're ever going to get busy about being the people of the new covenant called to build His church and to be a part of this plan for this age. There needs to be a great awakening in this church, in our own lives, in our own families, in our own hearts. A great awakening. So let's look at this passage. We're going to look at Genesis 42, hopefully. I'm going to have to go quickly here. Under three stages of awakening. The first stage is verses 1-5. And as I read it, I want you to ask yourself, in this first stage of awakening, what are some of the stirrings from God of the conscience that you see, as I read, that might stir the boy's conscience? So let's see if you can pick some of these out. Verse 1, Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why are you staring at one another? He said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die. Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, I am afraid that harm may befall him. So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also. So there's the beginnings, there's the stirring of the consciences of these guys, of these boys. Anything that popped out at you that perhaps might stir their conscience? Yeah, how's that for a little bit in your face? Now that's not an accident. I'm sure Jacob had plenty of years to think through what might have happened to his boy. I'm sure he had no evidence, but I don't think he definitely did not trust these boys to take Benjamin and get him there. There's a hint that they're not trustworthy from their dad. And that screams to their past, and it pricks their conscience of the past, for sure. Good. Anything else? Yeah, the mention of Egypt. Why do you think they were staring at each other? What do we do? I don't think it's because they didn't learn to work, and this is not a lesson about why they need to be taught to work by their dad, but I think they hear the word Egypt, and Reuben looks at Simeon, and Simeon looks at Judah, and Judah looks at Zebulun, catatonic moment of inactivity because they hear the word Egypt and everything flashes before their eyes. The last place on earth they want to go is Egypt. But it's the only place on earth they can go. And so Egypt, the very mention of the word stirs their conscience. The father's lack of trust towards them. The favorite son still being in danger stirs their conscience. And all of these things are not an accident. All of these things are stirred up because God is in control of famines. And because God has put the hurt on with the pinch of want. And that's what gets people talking about Egypt. That's what gets them stirring up the past. God brings circumstances that forced them to wake up. to wake up their conscience. So these are the early stirrings of the conscience of these covenant sons. God was doing a work in these sinful boys, and He was trying to bring them to repentance and faith and real transformation, but they needed to be first awakened to their sin. They needed to be awake. the prodigal son, whose circumstances went bad, and he came to his senses, the text says, and he said, I don't care if I'm called a slave. I deserve it. I deserve punishment. But I'll survive. And he went home, not to harsh treatment, but to divine grace, to an embrace. So I'd ask you tonight, before we get started, hopefully even this thought of stirring your conscience towards sin has reminded you of something already. Something that you are continuing to persist in, in sin. And you're thinking about that, and you're allowing the Holy Spirit to prick your conscience. And to receive yet another great awakening, because the Christian life is all about daily awakenings that lead to repentance and faith. in Christ. The second stage of awakening. We've got the stirrings from God was the first stage. Now, the second stage of awakening is testings from God's people. Testings from God's people. Joseph goes to work. There's at least four tests. I found five and then I thought, ah, it's stretching it. Maybe you'll find more. There's many tests here that come from the hand of God's people other people. Look at verse 6, and I want you to see if you can find them as I read. Verse 6, Now Joseph was the ruler over the land, and he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. Okay, verse 6 should ring a bell. His brothers come and bow down to him, ring a bell. Chapter 37, the first dream. The first dream doesn't specify numbers of brothers that bow down. This is the fulfillment of the first dream. Joseph knows there's a second dream to be fulfilled, which would need what? eleven brothers, and mom and dad, to have eleven stars, sun, and moon to bow down to Him. He's got this all in His mind, and it must have been a tremendous encouragement to Him, in a sense, to say God's Word after all of these years and all of these trials is coming true before my eyes. Well, verse 7, when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, Where have you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him." Thanks, Moses. You made your point. We're meant to see that he recognized them. They didn't recognize him. Joseph didn't only recognize them, he remembered the dreams which he had about them. And you'd think, recognition and remembrance, would the prodigal embrace come? Would he just break down and just say, it's been so long, brothers? It's a little bit of a shock how the text reads here. Joseph remembered the dreams that she had about them and said to them, you are spies. That's what he says to them. You are spies. You have come to look at the undefended parts of the land. What is Joseph doing here? Well, I've kind of given it away with my propositional statement. But Joseph is not seeking revenge on his brothers. It's not payback time. Joseph is a model as a type of Christ all throughout this passage, and he is here as well in his behavior. Joseph's not playing a game of payback here. He's testing his brothers. He's testing his brothers to see if he can trust them, to see if there's been any change in their lives over the past almost 20 years. And God is using him to bring about a change in their heart, to bring about repentance in their brothers' lives. Look at verse 10. We are all sons of one man. I love verse 11. We are honest men. No, really. Your servants are not spies. Yet He said to them, No, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land. But they said, Your servants are twelve brothers in all. The sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive. And Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you are spies. Verse 15, by this you will be tested. And he's going to begin to test them. He says that they're honest men. And Joseph wants to know if these are the same brothers who had lunch while he bled in the bottom of the pit or not. Was Benjamin still alive? Hmm, not so sure. Let's find out. Bring him over. He wants to test them, he's pushing them, and he does it in subtle ways. Verse 15 continues, By this you will be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you that he may get your brother while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies." So there's going to be confinement. there's going to be one brother kept in confinement with the rest of the family away. In a sense, he's patterning a little bit of some of his own sufferings and trials for his brother. Verse 17, so he put them all together in one prison for three days. He puts them all in prison to do what? To think about it. To think about their claim to honesty. To think about the favored brother. To think about whether they're going to show family loyalty to this brother or not. He is pushing them. He is testing them. God is using Joseph to confront and challenge his brothers. And it's working. It's working really well. Well, something interesting happens after that time of solitude and reflection that God often uses in our own lives to speak to our conscience. If we would take the time to slow down and reflect a little bit on our lives, God uses that. But after three days, Joseph lets them out and says something that was really strange, really inverted, really opposite of what he just said. Let's see if you can catch it. Let's see if you can catch it in verse 18. 18 is different than 15 and 16. Let's see if you can catch why it's different. Now, Joseph said to them on the third day, Do this and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison. But as for the rest of you, go. Carry grain for the famine of your households. And bring your youngest brother to Me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die." And they did so. So what is different between verses 15 and 16 and what Joseph says three days later in verse 18? Well, for the sake of time, His first idea, send one of you, confine the rest of them. Send one back to get Benjamin, put the rest of them in jail. Three days later, he says, I've thought this over, for I fear God. I've thought this over, for I fear God. I'm going to show you mercy. We're going to confine one. so that you can get the rest of your family back to bring the food to your family, get the food for the household and bring the younger one to me. So after three days, Joseph has a change of heart and decides to only confine one brother in prison while the rest go back to bring food. How ironic is this scene? An Egyptian, second only to Pharaoh, a polytheist, says, that he fears Elohim. He fears God. There's no mention here of God except from the Egyptian. The Ten Brothers never once at this point mention the name of God, but an Egyptian does. An Egyptian fears God. And Joseph, because he fears God, changes the arrangement on his head to a merciful, gracious arrangement. compared to what it was before. He does it because it's right. He does it because it's going to get the food back for his family. He does it because he fears God. As one has said, Joseph is modeling to them the kind of response God wants from them. They too can change their ways and act in accordance with godly fear." He's teaching them, He's modeling for them a conscience, what a conscience looks like before God. He reverses decision because of the fear of the Lord. He reverses His decisions because it's right and He fears God. And He's stirring their conscience by modeling mercy that flows from godly fear. And if there's anybody on the face of the planet that needed to know about mercy that came from godly fear, it's these brothers. It's precisely what they didn't have. They didn't fear God. They snacked while their brother bled. They sold him for silver and cast him off as dead. They didn't fear the Lord in the past. They would not show compassion and mercy. What would they do now? They would be subjected by Joseph to a similar temptation. One brother was to remain in Egypt. Will they abandon another brother in Egypt as they had once abandoned Joseph? Have they changed? He's putting them to the test. He's pressing their conscience with solitude. He's challenging it. He's challenging their claim to honesty. Honest, really honest. You're spies? You're spies? You're spies. Go think about it. Confrontation. Time to reflect. A God-fearing example. Pouring out mercy. Flaming. And flaming the conscience. So what happened to the boy's conscience? Are we on to something here? You've read the story, right? Well, watch it flame to light in verse 21. Watch this awakening. Aldopa is working. Then they said to one another, truly, we are guilty." Now, I want you to look for key words as I read this, and then tell me what they are when I get done. Truly, we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us. They still have visions, nightmares of their little brother. The pain on his face and the pleading in his voice has haunted them for years and it's come up to the forefront in their conscience, being awakened by God's stirrings and then by Jacob's efforts, Joseph's efforts. Yet we would not listen, therefore this distress has come upon us. Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not tell you? Do not sin against the boy, and you would not listen. Now comes the reckoning for his blood." Sounds like a Clint Eastwood movie. The reckoning for his blood? Distress? You caused him distress, distress is coming to us. Blood reckoning, blood will be reckoned. What is this called? What do they deserve? Their conscience is awakened to the fact that what? What's happening here? What's the key word? What's the key word in verse 21? Guilty. Guilty conscience. They're guilt. And retributive justice is their theme. Eye for an eye, reaping and sowing. What we gave is what we get. Justice. And they're right on. They are spot on about retributive Justice. The tenderness does come out here. They remember how distressed he was. They don't call him this dreamer in some sarcastic way like they did in the first chapter. They call him the boy, our brother. There's a softening of these boys. Their conscience was beginning to awaken, they were experiencing the grace of a guilty conscience. The grace of a guilty conscience. And when a conscience is aware of the guilt due to sin, it realizes that it is absolutely right for us to get what we deserve. It's absolutely right. Reckoning for his blood, they deserved to die and they knew it. Well, verse 23 shows that Joseph's true motive was not, from the very beginning, here's some more exegetical proof for you, that he wasn't payback. He wasn't just trying to smear it in their face. That's not his intent. Because verse 23 says, they did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. He faked it that he didn't know the language by using an interpreter. He turned away from them and wept. He wept. He was so moved by their tender terms towards Him. He was so moved that they remembered the look on His face and His pleadings with them. And He was so moved that there was a moving of their conscience, that they were feeling bad about what they did and they felt the guilt for it. He was moved by it. He can't contain himself, and the tears flowed. Well, he quickly recovered and turned to them, and you'd think that, you know, it'd be big huggy time now, kind of like when he remembered, right? Shock, remembered, and then you're spies. And now, you know, teary eye, kind of a deal, and look what the next thing that happens. He turned away from them and wept. What's the next line? But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound them before their eyes. See what's happening? He continues to press their conscience. Before their eyes, he afflicts a brother, he makes them watch, he makes them see the binding. Then Joseph gave orders. Look at what he does in verse 25. Let's see if you can pick it out. Something sneaky that he does. Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey, and thus it was done for them. When you read that, come on, what do you think of? Okay? They're all in parallel. fill their bags with grain, restore every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey, and thus it was done for them. What do you think of? If your conscience isn't guilty, what do you think of? Grace. I mean, if my father-in-law does that, when he packs my car for me, and he gives me some cash, and he gives me a Twinkie, provisions, and fills my car up with gas, I don't go, What have I done? But they do. So they loaded their donkeys, and rightly so, because they're guilty. So they loaded their donkeys and their grain and departed from there. As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money, and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. Usually we like to find money. Then he said to his brothers, My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack, and their hearts sank. And they turned, trembling to one another, saying, What is this that God has done for us? So Joseph further tests his brothers by placing money in their sacks. They perhaps could have taken this as a gracious gift, but as proof that they had a guilty conscience, they take it as being framed as thieves. A little different. And that's what people with guilty consciences do. And Joseph is pouring fuel on the flame of their kindled conscience. He purposely desires to quicken within them serious fear. Sorrow has come. Guilt has come. Now it's fear. Fear. Would they be just as happy to abandon Simeon, the one bound, for money, just as they had done to Joseph? Would they do the same thing all over again? Notice the response as we've already read. What is this that God has done for us? Now, this is the first time in the story that the brothers mention God. They mention the Lord. Their conscience is alive. Guilt is raging. They're quickly to agree, all of them in unison, God is all over this and all over us. What is God doing? What is this that God has done to us? The retribution, the distress that they have dealt out, they are getting back. It's being worked out and they were afraid. And I want you to note that it was the fear of God. What is God doing to us? A holy God, a just God. The brothers couldn't run. right there with them while they gave fodder to the donkey on the way back. God knew. God was ever-present with them, but He was ever-present for justice. To mete out justice for their sin. They had sinned. It was against God. They deserved punishment. Brothers and sisters, this is more grace to the brothers of Joseph. It's painful. Sounds painful, doesn't it? Sounds really painful. But like John Newton wrote, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear." I don't know if they thought about turning around at that point and maybe bringing the money back. They didn't. They decided to trek on to home. They arrive home without a brother and with extra money. How ironic is this? Let it sink in. Ross says, the commentator, the brothers who knew they were guilty could perceive that it was God's retributive hand. Retribution, right? That's the word for retributive. This was the second time they had come home with money, having abandoned a brother to prison in Egypt. The first stage of awakening was subtle stirrings from God that we like to ignore, if we can. The second stage of awakening is testing from God's people through confrontation and challenge, solitude, thinking about a godly example, pouring out mercy. presenting moral dilemmas. All of those things are part of those tasks. The third stage of awakening is when they're awake, but they're not alive. The worst. The worst time is when you're awake to your sin, but you're not alive to God. When there's guilt, and there's sorrow, and there's fear of God. And you know justice is coming. But you've got nothing else. They're awake, but they're trembling. Verse 29, it's a pretty ugly grand finale here. It was grace that taught my heart to fear, but grace had not yet led them home. Verse 29, When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. But we said to him, We are honest men, we are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan. Verse 33. The man, the lord of the land, said to us, By this I will know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. But bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. And I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land. Verse 35. Story time is over. Unpacking has begun. Usually it's work first, play later in my house, but it's opposite here. They told stories first and now they're going to work. And now it came about as they were emptying their sacks that behold, I love when Moses wants us to see something, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. You see, only one person had discovered the money before, and they were petrified. They were petrified and filled with the fear of God, all of them. But now, aha, they all unpack, and they discover that all of them have their money back. And so every emotion of sorrow and fear and guilt is multiplied by, well, 9 at least, I have to do the math, you know, 11, by 10. And it says they were dismayed. That translation can't be good. You think? They were dismayed. The Hebrew is a lot stronger there, but dismayed. So the boys are as guilty as can be. They have the fear of God put within them with just one sack full of money. And now in God's providence, when they get home, they tell their stories, and all the boys' sacks have money in them, and everything they're feeling is compounded. And you'd think Jacob would come alongside his sons and console them and just give them a big hug and pray with them and maybe share a verse You know, somewhere, I don't know if they had him, but share something. Give him something. No, he does what I do sometimes. Verse 36, their father Jacob said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin, all these things are against me. Thanks, Pa. Little Reuben is absolutely freaking out at this point because he had the concubine thing, and he's a miserable leader, and he couldn't get them thrown in the pit before. He's an absolute wreck. He's a firstborn, taking responsibility for it all. There's a bit of honor here, I admit. But he does offer the unthinkable. Verse 7, Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you. I believe that there's some honor here. Reuben does want to make it right. His conscience is awakened like the rest of the boys. He's certainly not going to abandon Simeon, which was great, isn't it? Because Joseph was testing them to see if they would do that very thing. But notice how many boys were lost here. I mean, Joseph's already lost, but we've got Simeon and we've got Benjamin. Those are my two sons. Distress? Distress. We cause distress, we get distress. Two boys, two boys. Retribution. Eye for an eye. Sow what you reap. God's justice. They know that. They get that. Do you see it? They get it. Jacob, of course, here's his response to that sort of somewhat onerous thing to say. Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow. End of chapter. Sorry about Simeon, but Benjamin's not gone. That old sin of favoritism hasn't been ratted out of his heart? No. Sin's nasty. Favoritism still besets Jacob. The boys still have better thoughts about themselves than reality. They think they're honest men. Yet God is doing a work. in these boys to awaken their consciences. They have real guilt over sin. They know they're in danger of God's just judgment. They have a sense of God's presence with them. The fact that they cannot hide. The fact that their sin has found them out. That they will reap what they were sold. They are filled up with a true and real knowledge of the bad news about sin. They get it. They get it and that is grace. That is grace for you every moment of your day when you fall into sin and the Holy Spirit convicts you of it and brings you to this place of guilt over your sin. That's a gracious awakening for them. Brothers and sisters, the conscience in itself has not changed since this day. God still desires to change us and to transform us into the image of His Son, and He's going to do so only through repentance and faith. That's the only way to change. Repentance and faith. Put off, put on. Repentance and faith. But the problem is repentance means sin has been identified, you've been convicted of it, you feel miserable and guilty about it, and then you're going to confess it as sin before God, and then you turn from it. And if you're not willing to do any of that, then it's never repentance, and it's never faith, and there's never really growth, and it's just a lot of work for your pastors. And I'll tell you what, we must shake loose our spiritual catatonic state. We're frozen. We need to be awakened as believers. Some of you need to be awakened for the very first time. You need to have this weight of sin and God's justice just come over you like a flood, and you need to be awakened, and you need to pray for it, and you need to beg God for it, and it'll be a move of His grace, and it'll be the most miserable, most depressing, and the darkest time of your life until the light of the gospel shines. You must be awakened. And the funny thing is for believers, I mean, we are just like this. It's like we're being saved every day. Every single day we have these battles and we're struggling and it feels like the same thing. It's a taste of it, isn't it? It's just that we should have figured out what to do with it now very quickly. But the Spirit-induced guilt and fear of God and sorrow and remembrance paves the way for true repentance and change. That's exactly what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 7, 10, and 11. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong." That's repentance. That's repentance. For the Christian, he's talking to Christians. Now, if you're dead in trespasses and sin, and the weight of that is revealed to you, watch out! As New Covenant children, we will not be effective to share in God's program at the expanse of this church. of this church, if we're harboring unconfessed sin with our consciences in catatonic slumber, unwilling to be stirred by anyone without threat of whatever, not being here, or you name it, without threat. Are we willing to have our consciences stirred If we learn anything from this passage, it's that God makes the first move to remind us of the past. To stir up memories and regrets. Even bring pressing circumstances in our life. God's all over that. God's all over the middle. God's all over the end. But in the middle, God likes to use His instruments. He uses His instrument named Joseph. And Joseph is the instrument of God's conviction. The instrument of testing of the lives of His brothers. and brothers and sisters who are willing to confront us, who are willing to challenge us about whether or not we have even changed, whether we've even been born again in the first place, who are willing to call a spade a spade, and willing to come and tell us the desperate truth that we need, for being stubborn and unwilling to change. These are precious people in our lives. This is a precious gift in our lives. This is a church that's functioning and working when we are like this towards each other and we're willing to tell each other the truth. We desperately need brothers and sisters who are willing not to just say, pat on the back, pat on the back. No chance. They're saved. behind closed doors? That's not what we need. We need people who are willing to live it out, live out the fear of God before us as an example. People who are willing to lovingly confront us. People who are willing to give us something to think about for three days. People who are willing to switch it up on us a little bit. People are willing to shower us with love and mercy when we don't deserve it, because that will smite a conscience. The kindness of God, perhaps, will lead you to repentance. One commentator says, if my brothers and sisters in Christ continue to tell me something about myself that I do not see as true and accurate, I don't see it, but they see it. I must come to the place where I trust the body looking at me objectively more than I trust myself looking at me subjectively. This is especially true when we're dealing with people who know and love us, those who live and serve in close proximity. And we ought to praise God from the bottom of our hearts. For faithful church members, for faithful pastors, for faithful deacons, for faithful spouses, for faithful, this is not my least favorite, but for faithful children, who are willing to come to us and to call us out and to put God's pressure on us as His instrument for the conviction of sin. What a blessing it is. What a pain it is. But what a blessing it is. So let me be one of those ones this evening. What sin has God convicted of you this evening as you think of past events in your life? As you think of words that have been spoken to you by people in your life that you trust? If you think of God's providential actions towards you and the things that are continued to stir up in your heart and mind, what is He reminding you about? Is your conscience being stirred or are you putting it aside and refusing to be awakened? What will you do about it? Well, the brothers understood justice. Despair for despair. Death for death. Two sons for two sons. God is inflexible. There's nothing that we can do to dig ourselves out. And I feel actually really bad for the brothers at the end of this chapter. I mean, the support that they get from their father. I mean, just the way things are going. I mean, they feel miserable. They understand justice, but what don't they understand? They don't understand mercy. They don't understand forgiveness. Brothers and sisters, when our conscience is awakened and we feel the guilt of sin, as believers, and the fear of God comes over us, we can confess our sins, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Faithful and just. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9 It is just for God to forgive us. He is inflexible in this regard. He is faithful and just to forgive you. He has to forgive you. He must forgive you. You plead His justice when you confess your sins. You plead the justice of God when you confess your sins. Why? Because the greater Joseph, humbled Himself even to the point of death, even to the prison of the grave, and upon the cross, He took upon Himself the guilt of your sin, the penalty of your sin. He took upon Himself the distress that we have caused others. He took upon Himself the just retributive wrath of God that should have come to us what I reaped, He sowed." And as the greater Joseph, Jesus was exalted, not to the second of Egypt, but to the right hand of the Father, having conquered our sin and death. And He's alive now, exalted, and in a position to lead His brothers to a life of spiritual safety, to genuine repentance and real change. And for that, He's given us the Holy Spirit of God to convict us of sin. He's given us His Word. He's given us the church and family as instruments of our awakening. Now, Christian life is the continual gracious awakenings of a softened conscience, true repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ. And make no mistake about it here tonight. Your Father will not behave towards you under the new covenant of grace like Jacob did towards his poor stricken sons in their consciences. God the Father is not like Jacob. Jacob appears to have given up on his kids. Beginning of the chapter, end of the chapter, inclusio. It's emphasized to show us this. He appears to have given up on his kids, but our Father will never give up on His children. That's the nature of grace. That's the nature of forgiveness. and the good work that He started in you will carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." I don't know if this is a hymn, Pastor Paul, that we can sing sometime. It's a song by William Cooper. He penned a poem. It's a poem he wrote, but it's as if God was writing to us. And he just says this, Can a mother's tender care cease toward the child she bears? Can a mother's tender care cease towards the child she bare? Yes. Yea. Yea. She may forgetful be, yet will I remember thee. Mine is an unchanging love, higher than the heights above, deeper than the depths beneath, free and faithful, strong as death. Amen.