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Genesis chapter 45. When it comes
to interpreting God's Word, the best tip I can give to each of
you, to all of you, is really three words to understand the
meaning of God's Word. Three words. Context, context,
context. Nowhere have I found that more
important than when it comes to the understanding of Genesis
45. Very familiar passage. The passage
where Joseph reveals himself finally to his brothers. And we've read this. It's a very,
very common, very memorable passage in all of the New Testament,
but I think we've missed the point or it's often misunderstood
because we're not looking at it in its context. Now, if you've
been here, you know the context. The context is Joseph has risen
by God's grace and power to second in command in Egypt. His brothers
come because they're desperate for food. They come to Egypt.
And Joseph recognizes the brothers, but they don't recognize him.
And instead of enacting revenge on his brothers, Joseph actually
begins to work in them and to work on their hearts towards
repentance. In fact, he begins a series of
what seem to be harsh tasks that are designed by Joseph and by
God Himself to begin to test and to peel
back their consciences, to awaken their consciences towards their
sin, the sin of the past, their sin of favoritism and all of
that. And that happens. It's a pretty interesting story.
They go back to their dad and there's a lot of blame shifting
and whining going on and a lot of stuff. They're starting to
awaken, but they haven't awakened. They go back again a second time
and instead of being punished, they get grace, all kinds of
lavish grace because it's a picture of God's grace leading us to
repentance. And all of that, after they dine
with Joseph and everything's going great, Genesis 44 happened
in which the final test was given by Joseph. Do you remember? He
hid that silver cup in Benjamin's sack. And things were going so
well, they did not see that coming a second time. And they found
it in Benjamin's sack. They come back in Genesis 44.
And they are absolutely They are absolutely guilty. They
didn't commit the sin. But Judah, representing all the
brothers, comes under deep repentance about what had happened. They
know that they're guilty. Their mouths are closed. They're
done blaming everyone else. They know they deserve punishment.
They know they need mercy alone. They cannot justify themselves. I want you to see it. I want
you to go to chapter 44 and verse 15. Chapter 44 and verse 15. What is this deed that you have
done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice
divination?" So Judas said, what can we say to my Lord? What can
we speak? How can we justify ourselves?
God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we
are my Lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose possession
the cup has been found. know that they deserve punishment.
They confess their sin as sin. They stop blame-shifting. This
is true repentance. And Judah takes the lead for
all of the brothers in true repentance for their sin. And Joseph puts
that new repentance to the test by saying, oh no, no, no. Not
all of you are going to stay as slaves. Only the youngest
one is going to stay back. And you can go scot-free back
home. Recreating the exact situation
that they had in the past and failed miserably in. And this
time they succeed. And Judah has just an amazing
speech that shows the fruit of that repentance. A speech that
has so many echoes of the Gospel, but we'll read those last three
verses just to get the context right into chapter 45. Verse
30 of chapter 44. So, Judah is speaking to Joseph,
pleading with him. Now, therefore, when I come to
your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, since
his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad
is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring
the gray hair of your servant, our father, down to Sheol in
sorrow. For your servant became surety
for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to
you, then let me bear the blame before my Father forever. Now
therefore, please, let your servant remain instead of the lad as
a slave to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
For how shall I go up to my Father if the lad is not with me? For
fear that I see the evil that would overtake my Father." And then we move right into Genesis
45. The consciences of the brothers
have been awakened over the last few chapters. That culminated
with the final exam in chapter 44 where true repentance from
sin occurred. So with that context in mind,
let's predict the theme of chapter 45 as we read the first three
verses of 45. I want to ask yourself in light
of the brothers' repentance, What is Joseph doing in verses
1-3? You know that story we read so
often? What is actually happening in
verses 1-3? One word. Okay, here we go. Let's
answer that after we read it. Then Joseph could not control
himself before all those who stood by him And he cried, have
everyone go out for me. So there was no man with him
when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept
so loudly that the Egyptians who had gone out heard it, and
the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Then 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." What is happening at the very beginning of this
chapter? What is happening really in verses 1-3? What is Joseph
doing to his brothers in light of the context of repentance
in Genesis chapter 44? Okay, this is for you. Forgiveness. Paul prayed about
forgiveness. That's correct. This chapter
is all about forgiveness. I don't think we've really read
it perhaps in that light before. Maybe we have. But it's really
easy not to see that this chapter is about forgiveness. He is coming
to the point where He's going to forgive them. They have repented,
and He forgives them. Forgiveness is an act of grace
whereby we pardon someone of a sin so that we can be brought
back into relationship with them. Forgiveness is an act of grace
whereby we pardon someone of a sin so that we can be brought
back into relationship with them. And Joseph here, his forgiveness
is lavish. I mean, he is so filled with
joy and so filled with emotion. He thinks of his father. He can't
wait to see his father. He can't wait to see the family
again. These men have changed. And the past is ugly. The consequences
have been ugly, but they have admitted and confessed their
sin. They've turned from it. And so, 20 years of heavy, heavy
baggage in the past. And Joseph, instead of bitterness
and resentfulness, is so filled with joy that the text says that
the walls can't contain it. He's wailing in joy. The text
is a wailing sort of weeping in joy. Lavish forgiveness that
he pours onto his brothers. Now, did the brothers know how
to receive forgiveness? Yes or no? The text says they
were scared to death. Well, it doesn't say that, but
that's what that word means. Dismayed. Bad. Dismayed. But it's a bad
translation. This is the idea of clueless,
helpless, and shaking like leaves. This word for dismayed is the
idea used other times in the Old Testament, the idea of the
kind of terror one feels on the front line in a war. Think of D-Day. Think of coming
to that gate. Think of that kind of terror.
And I'm telling you, you think that's scary? Relationships.
Breached relationships. The possibilities of forgiveness.
Forgiveness trying to occur and receiving forgiveness can be
as scary as D-Day. They don't know how to receive
forgiveness. They are dismayed. That makes sense. They've really
sinned big time. So forgiveness is hard to grant,
but perhaps even harder to receive sometimes. It can be really scary. I don't think we really understand
forgiveness as we ought. That's why I sent an email out.
I'm glad a lot of people are here, because I think this is
so important for us to receive the truth from Genesis 45. What does this forgiveness look
like in the life of Joseph? We're going to look at four aspects,
I guess, of this wonderful gift of forgiveness that is granted
as we look at Joseph's life and the boys and the rest of the
brothers. First, the source of forgiveness
or the prerequisites for forgiveness. Sounds funny, but hear me out. The source of forgiveness or
the prerequisites for forgiveness. Now, context. What happened in
the lives of Joseph's brothers first? Before forgiveness was
granted at the beginning of this chapter. What is chapter 44 all
about? One word. Repentance. So repentance
occurs. It's a little different because
they're repenting. They don't know exactly who they're repenting
to, but Joseph hears it all and he takes it in and he's thrilled. He's thrilled. True repentance allows forgiveness
to occur. I have sinned against you. Will
you please forgive me? Can we move forward together?
Yes, I forgive you. Incidentally, you say to someone,
I'm sorry about that, or I apologize for that. No, you do that when
you spill a glass of milk all over their stuff. Sorry is the word for a mistake.
Apologize is the word for a mistake. Sin gets its own word. It's called
forgive me. Very important. Very important. Joseph's brothers truly repented
at the end of chapter 44, and Joseph is so filled with joy
in his heart that he is ready and willing to forgive lavishly. So one of the prerequisites for
forgiveness between two people is what? Repentance. We'll get to that more later,
but just hold that thought. Now, the second prerequisite
in this text is a little bit more difficult to discern and
understand, but I'm going to make you find it. And I'm going
to give you a hint that when I read verses 4-9, I'll read
it, you follow along. That's why we're in here, we
might write some stuff too. I want you to look for the repeated
emphasis that is, I shouldn't say it, but it's so obvious in
the text. But I want to say that and hopefully
we can find it. Okay, here we go. Verse 4, Then
Joseph said to his brothers, Please come closer to me. And
they came closer. And he said, I am your brother
Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry
with yourselves because you sold me here. Okay, I'm going to ask
the teens this question. Get ready. Do not be grieved or angry with
yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before
you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the
land these two years, and there are still five years in which
there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before
you to preserve you a remnant in the earth and to keep you
alive by a great deliverance. Now therefore, it was not you
who sent me here but God. And He has made me, and He has
made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his household and
ruler of all of Egypt. Hurry up and go to my father
and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord
of all Egypt. Come down to me and do not delay."
Isn't that amazing? It's not hard to see that what
is the emphasis there? Teens, what is the repeated emphasis? God sent Him. God made me." Okay,
adults now, what is the theological label for that? Providence or
sovereignty. Providence is good. Really good.
Okay, so we're seeing it. Now watch this. The repeated
emphasis is the sovereignty of God. Five times it's mentioned. God is sovereign. over every
situation and circumstance, even the sinful situations and circumstances
of our lives. God allows human beings to sin
and rebel against His holy precepts in His Word in order to establish
His good and holy and glorious plan and decrees sometimes. God allows human beings to sin
and rebel against His precepts in order to establish His good
and holy and glorious plan and decrees sometimes. Sometimes
that's the way He works. And yet, was this a great thing
that these boys had done? Was it sin? God sent Joseph. God made him. Put that into your
theological pipe. It's true. It's true. Now watch this. Are the boys
responsible? What does Joseph say? Well, look
at verse 5. Now, do you not be greedy or
angry because you sold me here? Verse 4, I'm your brother Joseph
whom you sold into Egypt. Now watch verse 5. Do not be
grieved or angered with yourselves because you sold me here, for
God sent me before you. Man's responsibility and divine
sovereignty put in the same verse. Front to back. Front to back
right here. If you've been with us at all
in the context, you know that they are really responsible,
not just theologically responsible. I mean, the whole point has been
to awaken their conscience of dreading Egypt, feeling their
father, feeling grieved over their sin, then a heavy hand
of God for their sin, the guilt of the judgment of God for their
sin, having their mouths closed because of the horror of the
sin, knowing that they should stay as slaves because of the
sin. Twenty years ago, they were guilty, they were responsible,
they knew it. It's not a fake responsibility.
It's real. It's real. We felt it. We ground
it out for five weeks. The responsibility. And yet,
God is sovereign. Those truths are together. They
don't cancel each other out. They're both true. But there was good that God meant
for this, right? Man is responsible, but God is
sovereign. God has sent Joseph for a good
purpose. Verse 7, God sent me before you
to preserve for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you
alive by a great deliverance. To preserve the line of the lion
of the tribe of Judah, the seed of the woman, who would conquer
sin and death and bring us to God. That's a good purpose. This is divine providence. God
works His will in and through the actions of all people, whether
good or bad, at all times. Now, you say, well, I've heard this
all before, but you're missing your own point. And I have, but
I wanted to review that. I said that there are prerequisites
for forgiveness here. And watch this. Repentance is
a prerequisite. Watch this. What else is a prerequisite
for receiving forgiveness and granting forgiveness here? What
have I been talking about? God's sovereignty. Uh-oh. This stuff is practical. It doesn't
just win debates with different people in ivory towers. God's
sovereignty is very practical here. Now, this one's going to
take a while, but we're going to work on this. It's so encouraging
to me that God's sovereignty is not some isolated theological
doctrine, but has real-life implications. What allowed Joseph to graciously
forgive his brothers, even though they were hateful to him, and
even though the consequences in Joseph's life were horrendous? What does Joseph talk about the
whole time? God's sovereignty. His goodness. His wisdom. His
plan. His understanding of that. His
faith in that. He realized that. And all the
horror of that broken relationship and everything that he did, he
was able to forgive. He was able to trust God because
God was sovereign. God's sovereignty leads to forgiveness.
God's sovereignty is practical. Now, it's not only just the granting,
we'll get to that a little bit more, but it's receiving. These poor guys were shaken in
their boots in terror. What does the forgiver do? He talks to them about what? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. What does he say? Verse 5, don't be grieved or
angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent
me before you to preserve life. Joseph is comforting his brothers
with the knowledge of the sovereignty of God. That's a first. He didn't do any comforting for
the first umpteen chapters. Some would say he was vengeful. Harsh. But now He is forgiven. There's
repentance. He's forgiven. And He soothes
them with God's sovereignty. He brings comfort. It's time
to stop being afraid. It's time to move forward with
me as a family. We've got great things to do
for God. God's got it all worked out. It was horrible. It was
horrible. But isn't God great? He brings
comfort. They receive forgiveness because
of sovereignty. He's able to grant forgiveness
because of God's sovereignty. Yes, there was another prerequisite.
They needed to repent. But the second prerequisite was
an understanding of God's sovereignty. Believers, Kent Hughes says,
who see and embrace who God is and what He is doing in life,
forgive. They forgive. Yes, we have hurts
from the past. Some of them a long time ago.
We have bitterness. We have a lot of regret. And I admit, they tend to come
back in a flood sometimes. Do you understand that God is
and was in control of every event of your entire life? And if you
look back even on those sins and failures and reflect often,
you can see how God has used those for your good. Sometimes
for your own salvation even. And if you cannot see that, just
trust Him and believe it. And it will put all of your relationships,
even the bad relationships and the circumstances of your life
into perspective because God is using all these things for
your good. That is the only path to forgiveness. That is the sure path to real,
genuine, Forgiveness. That is the path of true freedom
from being tyrannized by our past, by our current circumstances,
by our hard relationships and growing in bitterness, is to
see God's hand behind it all, even in the struggles, and to
believe that God has a good purpose. Faith to believe that leads to
forgiveness. Theology is very practical. The
more we understand the truth of God, the better we are able
to cope with the experiences of life. He was able to say to his brothers,
don't be disturbed, don't be angry with yourself, don't keep
kicking yourself, let's get past this together. How's that for
grace? How's that for true forgiveness? Do you forgive like that? Let's forgive each other because
God meant it for good. God has a plan. I believe Joseph's theology was
a prerequisite for his forgiveness. Otherwise, there would have been
bitterness, blame, and revenge. Joseph perceived the hand of
God. Forgiveness flows from the doctrine of God's sovereignty.
Those are the prerequisites for forgiveness in this passage.
Repentance and a knowledge and faith in God's Sovereignty. His goodness, his wisdom, and
his power. Secondly, I want us to look then,
not at the source or the prerequisites, but the fruit of forgiveness,
or the results of forgiveness. Now, when you think of the fruit
of forgiveness, there should be one word that comes to mind.
It's like I need someone to write up here, but I'll say repentance
and then sovereignty. Just shorthand. Those lead to forgiveness. Now, I'm looking
for this blank in the next section. Fruit of forgiveness. Now, there's
one word I'm looking for. I'm going to read verses 14 and
15. You can follow along. And then I want you to give me
that word, and then we're going to work it out a little bit. I want you
to see what forgiveness looks like. It's shocking. It's shocking. Well, verse 14, now remember,
they were dismayed. D-day kind of terror. Now look
at verse 14 and 15. Then he fell on his brother,
Benjamin's neck, and wept. And Benjamin wept on his neck.
He kissed all of his brothers and wept on them. And afterward,
his brothers talked with him. Weeping and talking. What is
this? What's one word forgiveness leads to? Restoration or reconciliation. or a restoration of relationships.
So they're having a hard time receiving it, but by here, there's
been reconciliation, there's restoration. Good. Now, why are
we going to make a big deal out of this? Because the text does.
But I believe often we say, because it's the evangelical thing to
do, I forgive you, but we don't mean it from the heart. There's
technical forgiveness. Technical, I suppose. But we
still hate each other. Truth be told. Come on. You see that person, you avoid
them like the plague at church. Is that real forgiveness? Can't stand each other. Don't
hang out together. The relationship is not stored.
Is this real forgiveness? Not according to this text. This
is shocking stuff. Now, I want you to get out a
piece of paper and a pen, and I want you to write down, I want
you to see this for yourself. I'm going to do something strange.
I'm going to read a big section from verse 4 through verse 24,
and here's what I want you to do. I want you to brainstorm
on a piece of paper. I want you to write down the
results of forgiveness. He's forgiven them. What are
the fruits of it? What does reconciliation in a
relationship really look like? And I want you to write down
first, or have two categories on the piece of paper, what reconciliation
looks like for the forgiven, the one forgiven, what reconciliation
looks like for the one who is forgiven. I forgive you, Jim,
for example. That would be Jim saying, what
might that look like? And then how about for Joe? So
that's the brothers, right? The ones forgiven. In this story,
that's Joseph's brothers. I'll also write a second area
or column. What reconciliation looks like
for the forgiver. And that is Joseph in this account. What are the fruits of forgiveness
for that? What does reconciliation look like? I'm going to read
very quickly. Make notes. And then I'm going to ask you,
and hopefully you'll say something. If not, I've done the work and
I'll just tell you what I saw. Verse 4, Then Joseph said to
his brothers, Please come closer to me. And they came closer.
And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you
sold me here. For God sent me before you to
preserve life. For the famine has been in this
land for these two years, and there are still five years in
which there will neither be plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before
you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you
alive by a great deliverance. Now therefore, it was not you
who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to
Pharaoh, and lord of all his household, and ruler over all
the land of Egypt. Hurry up and go to my father
and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord
of all Egypt, Come down to Me, do not delay. You shall live
in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near
Me, you and your children and your children's children and
your flocks and your herds and all that you have. There I will
also provide for you. For there are still five years
of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you
have would be impoverished. Behold, your eyes see, and the
eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is
speaking to you. Now you must tell my father of
all my splendor in Egypt and all that you have seen, and you
must hurry and bring my father down here." and he fell on his
brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept on his neck,
and he kissed all of his brothers and wept on them. And afterwards
his brothers talked with him. Now when the news was heard in
Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, it pleased
Pharaoh and his servants. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
Say to your brothers, Do this. load your beasts and go to the
land of 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 will eat of the fat of the land. Now you are ordered,
do this, take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little
ones and for your wives and bring your father and come. Do not
concern yourselves with your goods for the best of all the
land of Egypt is yours. 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 of them he gave
changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces
of silver and five changes of garments. To his father he sent
as follows, ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt,
and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance
wore his father on the journey." Look at verse 24, "...so he sent
his brothers away, and as they departed he said to them, Do
not quarrel on the journey." We'll stop there. Do not quarrel
on the journey. Now, what does reconciliation
look like for the forgiven? From the brother's perspective,
what are the fruits of forgiveness? What does reconciliation look
like? How is it experienced? Thankfulness. Good. What else?
Being provided for. Brought nearer. Right. Peace. Very good. What? Grace. Peace and grace. Liz? Freedom. Freedom. Yeah, freedom. They're
reminded of God's sovereignty. They're responsible, but Joseph
makes a point to remind them and so they remember. Yeah, they're
reminded of God's sovereignty. They're comforted. They're comforted
with God's sovereignty. There's comfort. Someone said
something else over there. Deliverance. They have an advocate with the
king. Ooh, that's good. Richness and
abundance. Yeah, there's freedom to weep
on each other's neck. There's a restoration. There's
fellowship. There's communion. They talk to each other. They
talk to each other. They draw near in fellowship
without fear. I mean, this guy's powerful. What if it's a ruse? What if he's faking it for some
great disaster? Grief and self-abasing anger
from the garbage of the past can be let go and is encouraged
to be let go by the forgiver. I love this. That was a great
gospel hint. And also this new clothing. That word for clothing there
is festive or celebratory clothing. Do you remember the coat of many
colors? Well, this is Joseph deliberately just kind of completing
the cycle and giving them that blessing and providing them with
a new beautiful sign, a cloak, a sign of reconciliation, brand
new clothing. What a picture. Okay, for the
sake of time, reconciliation looks like for Joseph. What does
it look like from Joseph's standpoint? What is it like when you offer
true forgiveness? What is it like for you? What
does reconciliation look like for you? That one's harder, but
what do you got? Yeah, he's released. Yeah, joy
and weeping. It's just a burden released.
Very good. Generosity. A burden released.
Generosity. What else? Reunion. Yeah, he draws near. He brings
them in. Yeah, he's ready for reunion.
What else? Joy. Openness. He's given love and affection
and provision. Pouring out love, affection,
and provision. What else? There's no hidden
payback. He even predicts the anger. He
predicts the struggle. He predicts the agitation. He
predicts the fear. He predicts the hurt. And He
counters it with comfort, and grace, and tears, and love. This
is powerful stuff. This is how He handles it. Forgiveness
is not one thing though. One thing He doesn't do is deny
the wrongdoing occurred. Forgiveness is not a denial.
Ah, I didn't have it. Whatever. This is how we like
to phrase it. Hey, will you please forgive me? Ah, whatever. It's
just no big deal. That's not forgiveness. That's
sweeping it under the rug. We think that's nice because
that's kind of the German thing to do even. The Scandinavian
thing to do. We have got to address this directly
for what it is. And that's sweeping it under
the rug. God doesn't sweep sin under the rug. He sent His only
Son and crucified Him. That's not sweeping it under
the rug. So there's no sweeping it under the rug. There is a
recognition of the sin. But there's still, hey, you know
what? It's time. You have repented.
You've been through it. Let's move forward. It's great.
What else? Anything else? I like it. It's hard to make too much of
that because of the second command kind of thing and this and that,
but he speaks comfort to them. But he also says, do not literally
be agitated or quarreled. What's going to happen? What
is daddy going to think? I mean, good, for 20 plus years. They've got to go and confess
their sin. Guess what? That thing we said
about Joseph? Ah, not so much. We sold him into Egypt. Slaver. That was an animal. Sorry about
that. Oh, don't quarrel on the way.
You're the one that wanted it. You greedy, 30 pieces of silver.
You're the one that kicked him in the stomach right before he
threw him into the pit. You're the one that didn't put water
in there so they'd starve out. You can see them blame shifting
and going right back to the past and getting each other's throats.
He says, don't do it. He predicts it. He says, don't
do it. You're done with that. Wow! No. No, He doesn't sweep it under
the rug. It's time to move forward. We've
got big plans. God's doing something big in
our lives. He's even used the garbage and
He's got something big. Let's go forward. That's what
He says. Good. No dwelling on it. There's
a promise made in forgiveness to move forward and not to bring
it up again. Do you remember that time to
bring it up to yourself and rehearse it over and over again. There's
a promise made in forgiveness. And Joseph does not break that
promise. Not in this chapter at least. I haven't studied the
next one. Maybe we'll see how he sends. We'll find out. But
here it's a model of biblical forgiveness. So we've got this. Now, what
I want you to see is that this reconciliation does not have
an asterisk by it. Repentance and sovereignty leads
to forgiveness, it leads to reconciliation. Forgiveness leads to reconciliation
and a better relationship. Things change. And not a relationship
with asterisks by it. With an asterisk by it. Reconciled relationships is characterized
by presence, love and communion. If someone has sinned against
you and asked for forgiveness, does your reconciled relationship
even better than it was before? Is it characterized by love and
communion, presence and provision? Reconciled relationships are
characterized by looking at the future with hope and not the
past with guilt and anger and regret. It doesn't mean you forget
it. It doesn't mean you don't draw
lessons from it from time to time. But you heard what I said,
guilt, anger, regret, that's different. In your reconciled
relationship, do you look to the future together with hope
and not to the past with guilt, anger, and regret? Reconciled
relationships are characterized by comfort and communion around
the character of God and the truth of the gospel. They're built around God Himself
and who He is and what He has done. Now, that leads to the
third facet of forgiveness, the barriers to forgiveness, Now,
we know the barriers already. If there's not true repentance,
there can't be horizontal forgiveness. We'll get to that. God's sovereignty
leads. Those are some barriers. Not
trusting in that and trying to figure it all out yourself. Not
having true repentance. But there's other barriers here.
We've seen them. grieving and guilt over sin,
constantly being angry with yourself, kicking yourself for being so
stupid and sinful in the past, being constantly dismayed that
the person who is offering you forgiveness perhaps isn't genuine,
will go back on the Word, so you're constantly living in the
past filled with fear and guilt and regret, not able to draw
near to them, filled with dismay, anger, and grief over the past.
Those are definitely barriers in this text to forgiveness. Verse 24 literally is, don't
quarrel, but that's really being agitated the word is. Don't be
agitated. And so a barrier to forgiveness
is that constant agitation and anxiety that is due to revisiting
the past over and over again and blame shifting in the present.
And Joseph says to his brothers, do not be agitated on the journey.
And what does all this come down to? If you put one word, to it,
where you don't truly repent and you don't trust in God's
sovereignty and you're filled with guilt and filled with anger
about the past and dismay and agitation and blame-shifting.
Give me one word. And you say you forgive. You
say you're walking in forgiveness. What is the one word that characterizes
that? Sin or the sin of unbelief. You don't believe. And that's what's so amazing
about this passage. That means this doesn't work
with unbelievers. That's about what I'm going to
ask. I don't believe an unbeliever
can really repent. We're talking about believers
here in this passage. They can give some horizontal
common grace kind of forgiveness, but not in the picture of the
gospel, not with the faith of the gospel. In fact, there's a sense in which
they can't do anything good, but yet there's a lot of good
that's done. So I'm not going to go there right now, but I
want you to look at verse 24 here. Now watch what happens
next in the battle for faith in the life of Jacob. Look at
verse 24. So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he
said to them, Do not quarrel on the journey, And he went up
from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. They told him, saying, Joseph
is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of
Egypt. But he was stunned, he did, for he did not believe them. Literally, his heart stopped.
His heart was numbed. It's hard to translate it. Stunned
heart, for he did not believe them. And when they told him
all the words of Joseph, and that he had spoken to them, and
we saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit
of their father revived, then Israel said, is enough. My son
Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before
I die. I don't know about you, brothers
and sisters, but we can absolutely be stunned by the circumstances
of our lives, the hard relationships in our lives, so our hearts become
numb due to the past bitterness, to the regret. And before we're
going to be able to move on and reconcile relationships that's
based on real forgiveness and repentance, there needs to be
There needs to be faith. Our spirits need to be revived,
as Bob said, by the sovereign power of God. And we need to
believe. So the ultimate, you guys, look
at faith. Faith is the ultimate prerequisite
for true forgiveness. It really is. And that leads
us then in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that leads
us then to just the last point, the dynamics of forgiveness. Now, I want to make something
clear as we move into faith about horizontal forgiveness between,
let's say, Paul and I, or two people. Repentance has to occur
before forgiveness can happen in that horizontal transaction. So, if Paul sins against me,
I may go to him and tell him that, or he may come to me. I
don't think they both are seen in the New Testament and the
Old Testament, both events. But if there's true repentance,
then there can be forgiveness. You don't wait for 30 years to
see if there's fruit either. But if there's true repentance,
there's repentance for that, there's forgiveness that occurs.
It's a horizontal transaction, it's a promise that is made.
If someone doesn't ask you for forgiveness, repent from their
sin, you can't forgive them. Now, you're going, yeah, you
can. Let me tell you what you did.
And I commend you for it. It's only the gospel that allowed
you to do this. You allowed bitterness not to take root and you had
an attitude of forgiveness. You allowed the overflow of the
vertical forgiveness of the gospel to spill out so that you've got
that lack of bitterness and you can move forward because of the
cross. Do you see the difference? Okay,
that's an important distinction. But one thing's for certain,
as I look at these chapters in Genesis, that relationships are
very important, not just in the New Testament when it comes to
the church. Relationships are all over the place in the book
of Genesis. Scarred relationships, hurtful
relationships, there's all kinds of opportunities for repentance
and trusting in God. Relationships are definitely
worth pursuing. All of our sanctification, brothers
and sisters, hear me on this, the fruits of the spirit only
make sense in the context of relationships. And in the context of hard relationships,
I would say that most of your sanctification is going to occur
in the context of messy relationships. Oh, people like to run from them.
They run from churches, they run from families, they run from
friends, they run from people when things get hard in relationships.
But that's precisely when God's power can be on the move. And that's precisely where the
truth of the Gospel can shine. Relationships, as Trip has said,
are a mess worth making. Relationships are a mess worth
making. Now, all this talk of horizontal
forgiveness, we need to remember that the real prerequisite for
any horizontal forgiveness is faith in vertical forgiveness
through the cross of Calvary. Now, this is what's amazing about
this passage. We'll end with this. We've talked
about the dynamics of horizontal forgiveness briefly. Let's talk
about the dynamics of vertical forgiveness. It's right here
in this passage. Joseph has been a type of Christ.
He doesn't stop being a type of Christ in Genesis 44 and 45. He still is. Think about this. We are the brothers as sinners. And Christ is so patient. Christ
draws us to Himself. He puts tests in our lives and
circumstances to bring us to the end of our rope. To the point
where we say, I am the man. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Alright, I'm a slave. I have no more excuses. I'm done
shifting blame. I am guilty before God. He has
found out my sin. And that seems so horrible. What a horrible four chapters.
That's the most blessed time of your life. It doesn't feel
like it. But to bring to that spot, because that's when our
Lord Jesus Christ, the greater Joseph, has an emotional breakdown
like Joseph of old. He is so thrilled. He's so filled
with joy to see you repent and come back to Him. He's to be
overheard in His joy and His comfort. And we don't believe
forgiveness half the time. We walk in light of the past.
We walk in light of of fear of hell itself, even as a believer.
Fear of each other, fear of everything. But God says, I don't want you
to remember it. Your sins are removed from you
as far as the east is from the west. I gave you new festal garments. You're clothed with My perfect
righteousness. You're clothed. You have an audience
with the King with provisions like you would not believe. And
draw near to Me. Have communion with Me. Weep
on My shoulder. I'll weep on your shoulder. We'll
talk together. Don't you quarrel. Don't you
be agitated. Isn't that the call of the New
Testament? Don't be afraid. This is a picture of the Gospel
of the greater Joseph. And how has He done this? Well,
the greater Joseph, what? He was a surety for us. He became
a slave instead of us. And He took upon all of our sin
and all of our garbage and all of our guilt. He took it upon
Himself, all of it, and He gave us His righteousness. So we can
be forgiven. We don't have to be afraid. We
don't have to be agitated. We can stop pointing fingers.
We can stop going back to the past. We can live in light of
the fullness of forgiveness. We can stop being stunned. We
can stop being numb hearted. We can start believing that it's
real.
The Wonder of Forgiveness
Series Exposition of Genesis
| Sermon ID | 8615017313 |
| Duration | 50:07 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Genesis 45 |
| Language | English |
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