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.