I hope you'll open your Bible with me tonight to Genesis 43. I want to speak to you tonight about how God's goodness, particularly His grace, leads us to a place of repentance. This thing of grace is a crucial concept for us to understand because it's at the heart of salvation. The Scripture says in Ephesians 2, we are saved by grace through faith. Grace is not only at the heart of salvation, but it's essential for holy living. Paul said that sin is not to have dominion over us because we are no longer under the law, but we are under grace. So it's at the heart of salvation, it's at the heart of holy living, and it's also the motivation for serving God. Paul says to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, by God's grace, I labored more than anyone else, and he says, yet not I, but the grace of God within me. Grace is tremendously misunderstood, but it's crucial for us to think clearly about it, because properly understood, we know that grace doesn't lead to any kind of you know, tolerance of sin. Grace leads us to the fear of God, to turning away from sin. This is illustrated so clearly in Genesis 43 and 44. This is the story of Joseph's second meeting with his brothers. And I want to begin reading in Genesis chapter 43 beginning in verse number 15. So here's where they are. They have made the second journey back down to Egypt. There's a famine that has spread into Canaan. And so now they're there. Verse 15 of Genesis 43. The men took that present and they took double money in their hand. Those men are Joseph's brothers. And Benjamin and rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. They don't know that he's Joseph, remember? When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring these men home, that is to Joseph's home, and slay and make ready for these men shall dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men, Joseph's brothers, were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall on us and take us for bondmen and our donkeys. And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of his house, and said, Sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food. It came to pass, when we came to the end, that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We've brought it again in our hand. And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. And he, Joseph's steward, said, Peace be to you, fear not. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. And then it says, He brought Simeon out unto them. And the man brought them in unto Joseph's house, and gave them water. And they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys food. And they made ready the present against Joseph, and came at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare and said, Is your father well? The old man of whom you spoke, is he yet alive? And they answered, Your servant our father is in good health. He's yet alive, and they bowed down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom you spoke unto me? And they said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and set on bread. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled one at another. and he took and sent messes unto them from before him. But Benjamin's was five times so much as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with him. Joseph's brothers have finally convinced Jacob that he must part with Benjamin if they want to buy more grain from this harsh man in Egypt. We now know that it's their long-lost brother. He's holding their brother Simeon in prison. So the brothers took the present that Jacob had prepared, all the almonds and the dates and all of those things. And their original money, which had been mysteriously returned to them, plus enough to buy more grain and Benjamin, and they go and return to Egypt. And I believe that they're quaking in their sandals when they get back. They stand before Joseph, not knowing that it's him. He doesn't speak to them this time. He says something to his steward. And the next thing they knew, they're being taken to Joseph's personal house. Now the brothers were afraid that he was going to enslave them on account of the money that somehow had been put back in their bags on their first visit. So they used this opportunity to start talking to this steward and they tell their story. Hey man, listen, you need to know this is on the up here. We're innocent. We brought the money. We were ready to pay. We don't know how in the world it got back in our bags, but we have brought it and the money that we need for this trip. We want to make sure that everything is out in the open. And it's like the steward stops in mid-explanation and he says, listen, fellas, relax. I had your money. Everything's good. You need to understand something. Your God and the God of your fathers has given you treasure in your bags. And then he turns around and he does something completely unexpected. He brings out their brother Simeon. And the next thing the brothers know, they're being treated to this lavish feast. And when they're seated according to their precise birth order, they begin to get a very eerie feeling. I don't blame them, do you? What does this man know? And it seems strange that Benjamin, of all people, the youngest, is given five times more food than anybody else. The next morning, they're sent on their way in chapter 44. Everything's fine. And as they leave the city and they head out for Canaan, they're probably high-fiving each other. Hey, that went better than we thought. Simeon is freed. Benjamin isn't taken hostage. We enjoyed a great meal. We've got bags full of grain. We can hardly wait to get home and tell Jacob the good news. They were relieved to be dealing with this powerful, mysterious Egyptian that they still did not know was their lost brother, Joseph. Best they could hope was that the famine would be over before they had to come back again. In the middle of all of this happy chatter, it grinds to a halt as they are suddenly overtaken by Joseph Stewart, And he pulls them over and he accuses them of stealing Joseph's silver drinking cup. They begin to protest their innocence. After all, hey, we were honest enough to bring back the money from the first trip as well as our younger brother. How could you possibly accuse us of such a thing? He begins to search. He starts with the eldest. And he searches every man's bag, and finally when he comes to Benjamin, there's the cup in Benjamin's bag where the steward had planted it at Joseph's command. The shocked brothers return to Joseph. Judas speaks up for them in verse 16 of chapter 44, and he says, what can we say? How do we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. And he goes on to plead that he may become a slave in Benjamin's place. which leads Joseph to finally reveal his identity to his older brothers. In all of this, Joseph is doing something. He's testing his brothers. He wants to see them come to repentance for their sin of selling him into slavery 22 years earlier. He's finding out their attitude toward their father, their attitude toward Benjamin, and their attitude toward God. And once he sees that they are truly repentant, he reveals his identity. I believe that his actions with his brothers parallel the way that God deals with us, his people, in leading us to repentance. His grace and his goodness bring us to repentance by revealing his great love and our great sin. Joseph's love for his brothers motivates all that he does, even the things that seem to be harsh. So I want us to see tonight that grace leads to repentance by revealing that great love. This isn't the first time that the brothers have encountered Joseph's love for them. When they return home from that first trip and every one of them finds their money returned in the bag, that was because of Joseph's love. I don't think he intended for them to panic. A similar thing happens on this second journey. The brothers arrive. Joseph tells his steward to take them to his house for a great meal. His intention is to lavish a good meal on them, find out news from home, discern where their hearts are. What's the brothers' response? They panic. They're afraid. He's going to take us as slaves. You know, Shakespeare in his play Henry VI has a line and he says, Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. And that's exactly what's happening here. The brothers' longstanding guilt is still haunting them. Joseph had put them in the dungeon on the first trip. It had been over 20 years since their crime. There had been no mention of it. And now they say, truly we're guilty because of our brother. Their guilt makes them suspicious of Joseph's love. You know, guilt causes people to fear God's love. John Newton wrote that amazing line in Amazing Grace, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear." When we know we're guilty, God's undeserved favor makes us feel a little bit uneasy. What's the catch? It sounds too good to be true. So what do we do? Well, our human response is to try to pay our own way. It makes us feel better about the arrangement. So when the brothers get to Joseph's house, they spend their time waiting for him to come by arranging the gift that they've brought to placate him. After all, their attempt to return their money hadn't made the impression they had hoped for. So everything was riding on this gift. I bet the conversation went something like this. Reuben, do you think we should give him the almonds first? No, I don't think we should. I think we ought to save those for last. Let's give him the pistachios first. And back and forth they went. They were counting on this gift as their hope for acceptance with Joseph. That's typical of sinful man's attempt to approach God in his own efforts, isn't it? A man is nervous about his sin when he approaches a holy God, so he says, maybe if I attend church on Easter, maybe if I give some money at church, maybe I'll throw in some other good deeds just for good measure. So we bring our pistachios and our almonds, trying to placate our guilty consciences and hopefully win acceptance by a holy God. You know, God's response is the same as Joseph's, completely ignores that. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Do you notice in this that Joseph doesn't even comment on this elaborate gift? Now there's good reason, of course, for us to be afraid of approaching God, because born in sin, we are guilty. And He is holy. He does have the right and the power to do with us whatever He wants, just as Joseph could have with his brothers. But if that were all we knew of God, we would never dare approach Him. Thankfully, we are reminded when we sing songs like, Holy, Holy, Holy, Merciful, and It's God's kindness and grace that beckons us to draw near. And then, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." Joseph's kind treatment of his brothers allowed them to enjoy this meal. But they still haven't dealt with the deep-down guilt, so their fears are not totally relieved at this point. You sense that they're really not in relief until they're headed back to Canaan. Think about the many signs of Joseph's love for his brothers. First of all, there was the steward's great reply when the brothers expressed their concern about the money in their bags. Now, you know, coming from an Egyptian official, it must have stunned these men. When he tells them, relax, be at ease, he uses a Hebrew word that they would have readily recognized. He uses the word shalom. Boy, I bet their ears pricked up. Peace to you. Don't be afraid. And then he says, Your God and the God of your fathers has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. Here's what he's saying. Look, I received your money, but somehow your God saw to it that it was returned to you. Take it as a gift from Him. What a word coming from an Egyptian. It tells me that Joseph had been talking to the steward about the one true God. Returning their money was a sign of Joseph's love. Next, Simeon was returned. They didn't know but what, he was long gone, working, slaving away on some chain gang somewhere on the pyramids. My guess is that he had put a little weight on during his stay in prison and his healthy return to his brothers was just another sign of Joseph's love. Then it says the steward brings out water, and he begins to wash them, and he provides fodder for their donkeys. They weren't being treated roughly like prisoners. They were being given the respect of honored guests. Joseph arrives home. He asks them about their welfare, and especially about their father. And then he sees Benjamin. He had seen him from afar earlier that day, but now he sees him close up. Keep in mind that Benjamin was an infant the last time Joseph saw him. It had been 16 years. and he recognizes him and maybe he sees a likeness to his mother who died giving birth to this child. His emotions flood over him and he manages to screech out, may God be gracious to you before he's overcome and he has to leave the room to weep. Gains control and gets his composure back and then he treats them to this lavish feast. The Bible says that Joseph being the master, he sits at a table by himself. The Egyptian servants are sitting at another table, not wanting to defile themselves by eating with Hebrews. I'm sure that those guys were looking at Joseph, looking at these Hebrews and saying, you know, why in the world would you invite these hicks from the sticks to eat in your royal home? What are you doing? Who are these people? Even more puzzling, why did he keep giving them portions from his own table, a sign of very special honor? Benjamin got five times as much again due to Joseph's special love for his own full brother. The final expression of Joseph's love is seen when he tells his steward to fill every man's bag with as much food as they can carry. And by the way, return their money. He didn't want him to have to pay for the food. He wanted to supply it freely because he loved him. Now everything that I've just mentioned to you in this story is a marvelous illustration of the kind of grace that we would call common grace. God's undeserved kindness shown to every single person. Just like Joseph's brothers who'd sin terribly against him, every person born into this world has sinned terribly against God. If he gave us what we deserved, we'd all be doomed. But there's common grace. Jesus said in Luke 6, He is kind to ungrateful and evil men. He grants us many blessings in life when we deserve only His judgment so that we'll turn from our sin. Romans chapter 2 verse 4 asks it this way, Do you think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads us to repentance? You know, if we turn away from that kindness and we don't put our faith in Christ, we're shrugging off the kindness of God. So God's grace is beginning to relieve their fears, almost. At this point in the story, the brothers haven't yet acknowledged their sin. The kind treatment that they've received from Joseph has almost taken away the fear caused by their guilt. When they sit down to this meal, The utter astonishment is that they are seated in their exact birth order. Not one person is out of place. That's contrary to custom. And then also contrary to custom, the one who had the birthright is not given the extra portions, the youngest is given the extra portions. This makes them nervous. This man has some uncanny ability to know things that they had not revealed. As we begin to experience God's love, our fears due to guilt are almost relieved until we sense that this one with whom we have to do is able to discern even the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. And we know that we are completely laid bare before Him. It's very disturbing. And we begin to see that He deals with us not as the world does. In the world, privileges go to the strong. No, in God's kingdom, the weak are objects of His grace. In the world, you're allowed to keep drawing near based on your strength and you cover up your past sins. But God's grace peels back layer after layer until we stand completely bare and defenseless before Him. Joseph would not let his brothers skate away without getting to the bottom of this. He wanted repentance. So he plants his special cup in Benjamin's bag and he sends them away only to bring them back ready to admit their guilt and sin. That's the other part of God's grace leads us to repentance by revealing our great sin. Joseph's final test of placing this drinking cup in Benjamin's bag revealed whether or not his brothers were truly repentant over what they had done to him years before. I'll tell you why. Because as soon as it's discovered, they have an opportunity. They have an opportunity to treat Benjamin exactly as they treated Joseph 22 years earlier. They can give up Benjamin and they can go free. That's the choice they're faced with. They could have left Benjamin in slavery in Egypt, told Jacob what happened to his favorite son, and moved on with their own lives. But they didn't. There was a change of heart. They wouldn't abandon Benjamin, even if it meant their own slavery, and they wouldn't even think of going back to old Jacob without him. When the steward overtakes the brothers and accuses them of stealing Joseph's cup, of course they protest their innocence. Of course, in a way, they kind of were innocent of that charge. But it's kind of like nailing a mafia guy on a sting operation where he's innocent of that particular crime, but he's done the same thing and worse many other times. The steward, knowing exactly where the cup is, begins with the oldest, and he begins to work his way down, and each sack comes up empty, and I can see those brothers self-confidently nodding their heads, that's right, we told you we didn't take the cup, see there, keep on opening the bags, and then they get down to Benjamin's, and they open up his bag, and he pulls out the cup, and now those brothers are in big trouble. God used this to strip these brothers of their self-confidence and cast them on the mercy of Joseph. God has to bring us all to the place where we give up trusting our own integrity, our gifts that we bring to gain acceptance, so that we fall before Him and seek His undeserved favor. I want to challenge you to think about this in your quiet time this week. I want to ask you, is there a stolen cup in your bag? You might be a respectable, reputable, moral person, and you might at this moment be completely unconscious of that cup in your bag. As you compare yourself with others, you may pride yourself on a blameless life, supposing that Christ Himself has no controversy with you. But I want to ask you to think about it this week. Is there a stolen cup in your bag? If there is, and we only knew, we would see that we are robbing Him of only His own. I think for many of us we use for ourselves time, money, talents, which He bought with His own precious blood. So God's intent, of course, is to expose that iniquity, even though the brothers knew that they were innocent of taking the cup, they also knew that they were guilty of a whole lot more. I love it in verse 16 where Judah speaks for all of them, chapter 44, verse 16. What are we going to say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? Now notice what he says. God's found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also, with whom the cup is found." Notice what's missing from those words. No defense. True repentance doesn't make up for a defense for some small area where we think we're innocent. It admits the larger sphere of where we're truly guilty. Joseph twists the knife a little bit in verse 17. He, Joseph, said, God forbid that I should do so, but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my slave. As for you, get up in peace to your father. Joseph says, no, no, no. No, no, no. We won't put all of you in prison. There's only one of you who's going to stay and be my slave. It's the man in whose bag I found the cup. You let him stay. He can be my slave. I have no use for the rest of you. Go on back home to your father. And he gives them an opportunity to abandon Benjamin. How could they go in peace to their father if they left Benjamin as a slave? When they said no and they stuck with Benjamin, Joseph knew that they had fully repented of their sins. and that leads Him to reveal Himself to them. God's grace should lead us to expose our sin, not to cover it, because God's grace doesn't paper over our guilt. His grace means that Jesus, in dying on the cross, bore our guilt so that we could go free, and that'll lead us to continued repentance. I'd like to close with an illustration of this. During the Korean War, there was a South Korean Christian, and he was arrested by the communists, and he was ordered shot at dawn. When the young communist leader learned that this man was in charge of an orphanage, he said, I hear that you are in charge of an orphanage. And the man said, I am. And he said, well, then that changes things. I'm going to spare your life. But instead, I'm going to assassinate your son. And he did. He took the man's son at dawn. The son was 19. And they shot him dead and they made this man watch as they shot his 19-year-old son at dawn. Well, later, that same young communist leader was captured by the UN forces later in the war. He was tried and he was condemned to death for war crimes. Before the sentence could be executed and this man killed, the Christian whose son he had killed appeared at that court at sentencing and pled for the life of this killer. He argued that this communist was young at the time, that he really didn't know everything that he was doing and all the implications. The court said, what do you suggest that we do? This South Korean man who had watched this communist shoot his son at dawn said, give him to me and I will train him and I'll be responsible for him. take him into my own home and whatever he does wrong, I'll be on the hook for." They granted the request. This father took the murderer of his son into his own home and he began to care for him and he began to work with him. And that man who showed such unusual cruelty was converted to Christ and became a Christian pastor. for the rest of his life. That's grace leading a person to repentance. You may look at that and you may say, well, that's extraordinary. Let me tell you what's more extraordinary. What's even more extraordinary is that you and I are that communist guy. What, you didn't see that one coming? Let me explain before you begin to object. We are responsible for the death of Jesus. we put Him on the cross. To the extent that if I was the only person who needed to be redeemed, He would have gone. That makes me responsible. And though I am responsible for the death of His perfect Son, God has taken me into His home. Not only has He taken me into His home and cared for me, He has lavished grace on me. And He has begun to accept me, and He has robed me in the righteousness of Jesus to the extent that now He calls me His son, just like Jesus." You say, well, how could He do that? Grace. Grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater, far greater. that not only all of our sin, but all of our ability to ever describe or appreciate, we just stand and wonder. Grace leads us to repentance. Would you bow your heads and your hearts with me tonight? Father, thank you so much for your goodness and your kindness, unending and unfailing mercies that are new every morning. Father, we could look at the fact that there is coming a time of judgment and accounting for sin, and certainly we know that that's true. And yet, Father, the times in my own personal life where I have made the most strides forward toward righteousness and holiness have not come at that realization. Rather, they've come at the realization of how extraordinary your love and your grace are. Put against the backdrop of our sin, standing out in such bright relief that we just stand and wonder. Father, thank you so much for extraordinary grace. Thank you for not dealing with us as we deserve. Thank you for showing us in beautiful picture type with what happens with Joseph and his brothers, what that grace looks like. Certainly, Father, it would be a tragedy if any of us had heard this message and had never experienced that transforming grace in our own lives. I feel that probably most of us, if not all of us, have tonight. But certainly there is room for us to continue to show that kind of grace for those around us in this world who simply don't deserve it. Father, I pray that we would demonstrate that we've been made partakers of that grace as we model it and show it to a world that simply doesn't understand it. Father, you can do this in our hearts, but unless you do it, it'll never be done. So we're trusting and relying firmly, completely, only upon you and on your Holy Spirit's empowering and enabling and encouraging through the word that we've heard tonight. We'll thank you and praise you in Jesus' precious name. Amen.