The Story of Joseph - When Grace Breaks Through - Genesis 45

Well, good morning. Listen, if you're just now joining us, this whole entire summer, we've had an amazing summer working through the book of Genesis, at least a section of Genesis and the life of Joseph. And you might not have really picked up on this, but we've had a title for the series, and it's called Seeing the Bigger Picture. Now, here's why that's important today. Because today in the story of Joseph, we're coming to the climactic moment of the whole entire story. And it's that moment where Joseph really sees the bigger picture, where not just Joseph sees the bigger picture, but the people around him see the bigger picture of what's going on. And so, if you've been here the last two weeks, it's kind of like a teaser. A teaser, a teaser. I promise you today we will hit the climactic point. And just to kind of recap everybody what's going on, Joseph when we started this series eight year eight eight years ago, eight eight weeks ago, um he was a 17-year-old boy and he had just a horrible family life. There was disunityity, there was jealousy, there was bitterness, there was really hatred and his brothers actually sold him into slavery because they disliked him so much. In that moment of his life at 17 years of age when he was sold into slavery, it kind of began a downhill turn of several events. He was accused of something he didn't do. He was thrown in jail. While he was in jail, he did his best to kind of live an upright life. And even when he was living his upright life, the people around him didn't remember him. It was just a really bad season. But a couple of weeks ago, we took a turn in the story. And during this downturn, here's what happened to Joseph. that all of a sudden God's promises that had been given to him years and years earlier in his life began to come true. And Joseph actually went from being in prison to being raised to the second highest in command of all of Egypt. Um the only person ahead of him was Pharaoh himself. And so really his life that God's promises and God's order and God's God's plans for him really just began to come true. Um, but here's what's happened the last couple of weeks. That while he's been in second command, he has come in face-to-face contact with the brothers who sold him into slavery years and years ago. And it's been interesting just watching the interaction between them. At times, you thought Joseph was toying with his brothers and teasing them about to kind of push them off the edge of a cliff at the very last moment. But here's what Joseph was doing. He was really trying to find out where their hearts were. Were the these the same brothers that 20 plus years earlier had sold him into slavery? Or just as God had been changing and molding and making Joseph, could it be that God had been molding and making and changing the lives of his brothers? And so, we've gone through two weeks as we've read the last two um chapter 44 and chapter 45 of Genesis. Just this really tension taking place between Joseph and his brothers. If you're here last week, we concluded that one of the brothers, Judah, actually came to him and gave him this impassion speech just going, "Please, please, please, you have to believe us that you can't take our younger brother Benjamin. You can't punish for him for something he didn't do." And really, what happened? Joseph showed forth the ch or Judah the brother showed forth the change that had taken place in his life. And so, here's today. Today we're going to discover as we read just here in a second, Joseph is going to reveal his identity to his brothers. Um, Joseph has recognized his brothers. He knew exactly who they were through all this tension and back and forth going on, but the brothers never knew who he were, who he was. So, if you have your Bibles, we're going to turn to chapter 45 today. Um, and we'll start in verse one. If you don't have your Bibles, we'll have the the scripture up on the screen or she came in the handout has some of it. But here's what it says in chapter one. It says this, remember the brothers had been in this room together with Joseph. Joseph had recognized them. They didn't recognize Joseph. There was this tension going on. There was this conversation that Joseph would have with him because he was using an interpreter. And it's just you can almost just feel in the room this tension going up. And then Joseph, the Bible says in verse one of chapter 45, Joseph could stand it no longer. 22 years ago, his brothers had sold him into slavery. He's been this face-to-face encounter with his brothers. They have no idea who he is. And it says, "And Joseph could stand it no longer." And the Bible says this, there were many people in the room because Joseph was such an important person. There would have been all kind of officials and aids and assistants. The room would have been full of those ready to serve him just because he snapped his finger. And there were many people in the room. And he said to all of his attendants, "Out all of you." So, he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. Wouldn't you have liked to have been in that room? Wouldn't you have liked to been in that room when these 11 brothers are standing before the most important person other than Pharaoh of all of Egypt? And they're standing before him again. They have no idea who he is. They have no idea he's the brother they sold into slavery 20 plus years earlier. They have no idea that he's been thinking about them for year after year after year. And all of a sudden, this man dismisses everybody out of the room. And he looks at his brothers and says, "I am Joseph." You wondered, they say, "Oh my goodness, we've missed you so long." And reach out and shake his hand. I don't think so. Did they take a step back maybe and like, "Okay, you say that, but we're not quite sure because you don't look like the same person that we left years and years ago. You just wonder what kind of emotion was going on between the brothers and Joseph and Jo Joseph and his brother at this time. And then it says this. Then he meaning Joseph he broke down and he wept. 22 plus years of [snorts] stuff. 22 plus years of anger. 22 plus years of bitterness. 22 plus years of lonesomeness. 22 plus years of all kinds of thoughts that was going through his mind. And the Bible says, "And he finally just let it all out." Again, the brothers are standing there. They have no idea what direction this conversation is going to do. He finally revealed himself. Does this mean he revealed himself and their life is cut short? Or does this mean he revealed himself? They're going to have a wonderful Christmas come the next December. They they're just they're in limbo. And it says he wept so loudly that the Egyptians could hear him and word of it carried quickly to all of Pharaoh's palace. So his emotional outlet, his emotional outburst was so external, so loud, so over the top that even all the people that left the room are hearing it through the walls. And all of a sudden, the rumors start flying. And he goes all the way from his home to the pharaoh's palace of Joseph is really upset about something. And then in verse three, he goes, "I am Joseph." He said this, "Brothers, is my father still alive?" Now, what's interesting, if you've been following the last couple of weeks as we've hit this part, he's asked the question several times. Is his father alive? And they have told him yes every single time. But there's something inside of Joseph that he want to know all the truth and every bit of it. And he goes, "Is my father still alive?" But his brothers were speechless. I think I can understand that one. I think if I'm the brother standing in there, what would they say? What could they say? What should they say in this moment? And they were so stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. And so now they're not wondering, is it really true what he's saying? They're going, "No, this is really him." Remember, the last time they remember seeing Joseph the brother, not Joseph, Pharaoh's assistant, second command, but Joseph the brother, was when his hands were tied up and he was probably walking behind a cart with the slave traders, taking him off to another land, but now they're seeing their brother face to face. And in verse four, Joseph says these words, "Please come closer," he said to them. And so they came closer and he said again, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery into Egypt, but don't be upset and don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives." And then he took a little bit of time and explained this famine that's going on. The very reason you came here to get food, it's been going on. We still have two more years of it. But all this happened, all these mean things that you did to me, God was in control of all of it. And God did it because he needed to send me here ahead of you. Because if I'm not here, you're not getting any grain. And if I'm not here and you're not getting any grain, then your family will soon decease and desist and be no more. So he said, don't be upset about yourself. God has done all of this. And then he says in verse eight, "So it was God who sent me here, not you. It was God who sent me here, not you." Let that one sink in again. Have you ever been in a situation that somebody did something to you and it caused a chain of reaction in your life and rather than looking back at the past events or the b past person and going don't be upset it was God who's it orchestrated all this you spend all of your time just shaking your fist at that person. You can sense at this point in the story this potential bitterness that been kept inside of him. this this possible hatred all the negative emotions and somehow Joseph had dealt with those emotions before this very moment ever took place. So he said it was God who sent me here not you and he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh the manager of the entire palace and all the governor of Egypt. And then he goes on to say this. So here's what I need you to do. Go back home to dad. go back home to dad and tell him I'm alive. My dad who thinks that some bear or lion killed me years earlier because that was a story that when they put sold Joseph to slavery 20 plus years earlier, they took his colorful robe, they tore it up, they put some blood on it and said, "Dad, look, undoubtedly some bear lion must have killed him." So he said, "Go back to my dad and tell him I am alive and tell him I'm not just alive. Tell him my position. Tell him my place. Tell him what God is doing in my life. and tell him what God is going to do in your life. Because once you tell him all these things, Joseph said, "I want you to pack the bags and you guys come here because if you stay in Canaan, you won't survive the famine. But you bring my dad, you bring your wives, you bring your children, you bring your grandchildren, you guys come back here and I am going to take care of you for the next years." And then verse 14, weeping with joy, he embraced Benjamin. Remember Benjamin's his youngest brother. He's his blood brother, full blood brother. He embraced Benjamin and Benjamin did the same. Now just to kind of give you an idea, Joseph, most historians and theologians believe while we can't document it per se in scripture, they can kind of add some events and circumstances and season together. Most historian and theologians thinks Joseph is about 39 years old right now. And they also believe that Benjamin was probably about 10 years younger than him. And so it's been about 22 years since all the selling and the delivery of or taking away from the family took place. And so he's not seen Benjamin for 22 probably years. Benjamin would have been about seven years old. And he would Joseph would have been about 17 years old. And so he reaches out to this little brother who's now a a big grown brother. And it says he raised Benjamin. And Benjamin did the same. And then Joseph kissed each of his brothers and he wept over them. And after that they began talking freely with him. Can you imagine this reunion? Can you imagine the swing of the emotions? Can you imagine the insecurity that the brothers felt? And all of a sudden, Joseph goes to each of each one of them and kisses them. In that culture back in those days, when you reached out and you kissed somebody in this type of situation, it meant we were good. It meant whatever was between us is now no more. It meant we are not separate but we are one. And so he went down the line to every single brother and basically nonverbally said it's all all okay. We're good. And that reunion took place. And so what I want to do now is as we think about this passage I just read to you, there's three observations that I think we can make. Now remember, one of the things that we said as we've studied Joseph throughout this whole entire summer is that there are some practical applications how Joseph lived out his life that we can observe and put into our own lives. And so I'm going to point out these observations of Joseph and how he reacted in this situation. But as I do that, I want you to kind of place yourself in the place of Joseph and how would you react in these situations? So here's the first one. Joseph initiates reconciliation. If you're taking notes, you can write that down. Joseph initiates reconciliation. Again, go back to the situation. They are standing there. There is not only a physical distance between Joseph and his brothers greater than the physical distance. There had to be an emotional distance. Like Joseph was ready to grab him, but the brothers are still sitting here going, "I don't know what to do with this." And he said those words, "Come near."

This past week I was in Texas. I did a kids camp that I do every year and it was an amazing camp and over 450 third through sixth graders were at this camp and 50 of them came to accept Jesus. It was an amazing week. Then the icing on top of the week is I got to go back since I was in Texas and go visit my grandkids. So I got two grandkids, a daughter, two do two two girls. One's five years old and the other one is two years old. One acts like an angel and the other doesn't. [laughter] And the two-year-old who doesn't always act like an angel. Here's my favorite thing about her. Guess who she loves the most? Diego. That's what she call Well, she doesn't call me. It's just [ __ ] But she loves me the most. And so one morning she woke up and she was you know when you have kids and they're acting so bad they're not your kids, they're your spouse's kids. Okay. So, she was the other spouse's kids that day and she was fussy and she was just upset and I said, "You want Diego?"

She turned and she put her hands out and she went to Diego. I can't tell that story about her coming to me without feeling the emotion inside of me. Can you imagine that day that Joseph is with his brothers and he says those words, "Come near to me." He initiated. He didn't wait to pursue them further to see if their lives are really good. I mean, he had done some things to kind of check them out. He didn't push it further on that one. He He didn't wait for his brothers like, "Okay, I've done my part. Are you guys going to come to me?" It would have been right for him to sit back going, "Now your turn." But this was not some game of monopoly, some game of clue or trouble that you everybody take turns. He's going, I'm in charge here and I'm leading this thing. He initiated the reconciliation. I don't know how many times in my life there's been somebody I'd be okay to be with them, but they got to come to me first. They got to make the first move. They need to send the first text. They need to make the first phone call. Joseph had every right to stand in that position and say now your turn. But he initiated the reconciliation. And I asked myself as I was reading this part, so was this the moment that Joseph Joseph forgave his brothers? I I think the answer is no. Do you know when I think the the forgiveness took place? Many years before that. Because you can't have reconciliation without forgiveness. And I believe the way he lived his life, the way he still tried to walk with God even when life was on the downturn, he was probably struggling inside of his soul to forgive his brothers. It might have been one of those situations that every morning he woke up, he had to forgive him again because if it didn't, those negative, bitter emotions would come back and flood his soul. But the forgiveness didn't take place right moment at that moment of encounter. The forgiveness had already taken place, but it was the reconciliation that he initiated.

Forgiveness didn't erase the memory, but it broke the power of the bitterness over him. Let me say that again. The forgiveness that he had in his heart towards his brothers a long time before this moment ever occurred, it didn't erase the moment, the memory. He still had 20 years of of of hardness. He had 20 years of away from his family. He had many years that he was stuck in a prison. It didn't erase that memory. But the moment he took a step towards reconciliation, it began to dissolve the bitterness that he had inside of him. And those words come closer. So he initiated the the the reconciliation. Here's a second observation I make. Joseph restores their relationship. He didn't just initiate reconciliation. He did everything else he could also to pull them back to be one family unit again. You see, he could have said, "Come near, but not too close." He could have said and would have been justified to say, "Let's make up, but I don't want to move forward." He could have even said this, you may have my forgiveness, but I don't want your forgi your your friendship.

You see, there's that moment in us when we have reconciliation. There's forgiveness, then reconciliation, but then to decide, do you want more than just the reconciliation? Do you want the relationship?

And what Joseph said is, I want it all. I'm not going to think on harbor on the last 22 years. I'm going to think about the next 22 years and what we could have. You see, he invited them more to just than just be physically near him. He invited them to be near him emotionally. He invited them to be with him closer personally. He invited them to be with him closer not just personally and emotionally but socially, even practically. He said, "Come near to me."

Joseph's goal was not merely, "Okay, come near. Let's try to get along." His goal was intimacy. His goal was oneness. His goal was not to survive with his brothers. His goal was to thrive with his brothers. [clears throat] Here's what I would think. That moment remember his brothers actually came back for grain. His greatest gift that he gave his brothers when they returned this second time was not grain. It was himself. Think about that. Let that one sink in for a second. Which would have been easier to do? write a check and help somebody or give them my life back to them. And so his greatest gift was way more than grain. It was himself. That's my second observation. Second observation is that Joseph restores their relationship. Here's the third one. If you're writing this down, you can put this down. Joseph also renews their purpose in life. I mean, can you imagine 22 plus years and and we kind of caught into it and understood a little bit in some of the conversations that had taken place in the last couple of chapters, but how much shame the brothers went through. I may not like you, but if I dislike you so much, I ruin your life by selling you to slavery. There had to be a self-conscious of that. There had to be a personal just just shame they felt. And so for 22 plus years and so Joseph could have reconciled. He could have moved a relationship but kind of going not my problem. You deal with that shame the rest of your life. You just got to hang on to it. That's your battle scars because what you did to me. But Joseph moved forward and tried to remove their shame by giving them future purpose. You asked the question, well, what what purpose did he give them? Let's go back to the story. After he reconciled, after he moved to relationship, what did Joseph say? Now go back and get my father and tell him everything and bring my father here. If I am second in command and I have anything in my authority that I want, I'm not sending my sorry, no good for brothers, no good for nothing brothers that I'm trying to forgive and move to relationship. I'm not trusting them with this assignment. I'm going myself. He could have called the top chariots of all of Egypt. He could have taken a small army with him. He could have afforded anything, anyway, anybody that he wanted to bring his father back. He chose to not even go himself. Now, you know, everything in him, because he'd asked about his father so many times, everything in him was wanting to see his father. So, why didn't he go? And here's why I believe he didn't go. Because he looked at his brothers and said, "I have a golden opportunity right now to restore your purpose in life. I'm going to show you that I trust you. I'm going to give you the greatest responsibility that I could muster, the most important thing in my life, and I'm going to let you do it. Can you imagine how the brothers felt at that moment? Like, whoa. I mean, we came here [clears throat] to get grain. We're going back to get our father. The first time they carried a message to their father 22 years earlier, they carried that bloody colorful robe and said, "Father, your your son's dead. This time they get to go back and say, "Father, your son's alive." Great purpose he instilled in them. I've got to believe this, that any shame they might have been carrying for all these years at that point just kind of dissolved.

He didn't just make up with us. He sent us out. He sent us to our father as a direct representation of himself. That's got to build someone's self-esteem up, doesn't it? And so those are three observations

that I we can draw from the story. But remember the title of the series is what? A bigger picture. So let's talk about the bigger picture for a second. Here's the beauty of Joseph's story. It's not just to give us a model so we can mimic, copy, model our lives after to be better. That's a good thing. There's lots of life characteristics in here and we would be wise to use some of those. But the story of Joseph is about a bigger picture. In the story of Joseph, especially at this moment, we are seeing a beautiful picture of Jesus. We're getting a foreshadow of the Savior who will come one day. And so, I want you to do me, if you've been taking notes, here's what I want you to do this time. I don't have you more blanks. I'm going to have you do some exing out and circling and putting in there. So, here's the deal. On the first point, we said that Joseph initiates the reconciliation. Here's how I want you to change it. Jesus initiates my reconciliation. Jesus initiates my reconciliation. That's the bigger picture right there. When we were far off from God, Jesus stepped in and said, "Come near." In fact, let me read for you. Ephesians chapter 2 verse four and 5 here. Here's what Paul wrote in the New Testament. He said, "But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace that you [clears throat] have been saved." Even when we were dead in transgression transgressions that God initiated through Jesus the reconciliation of us to him. Like how much further away from God can you be when he's alive and you're dead? Right? Here's what that verse has to remind us. That when you came to saving grace in Jesus, it had nothing to do with you. Because if you're dead, what can you do? If you're not breathing, what can you do? It is God in his rich mercies looked at us while we were dead. Dead because of our sin. dead because of our own choices. Dead because that's how we were all born spiritually. Dead because we were born as sinners and God said, "I will initiate it and I will go get them." He was rich in his mercies. We were dead in our transgressions. Why? Because of his great love for us. See, Joseph, that's what motivated him. His great love for his family. That's why he initiated the reconciliation. God through Jesus initiated our reconciliation. [snorts] Not because he saw something in us good, not because it was his duty. Not because of any other reason than he loved us. Here's the second one. Go back to your other observation. I want you to change it. The bigger picture. It's not about Joseph. It's about us. You could write it this way. Jesus restores my relationship. See, he didn't just take the first step and move towards us. He restored it fully in us. Ephesians chapter 2:13, Paul wrote this. But now in Christ, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. See, I I I wonder if we could go back a week or two weeks or three weeks after Joseph encountered his brothers after he said come near. He gave them purpose. And I wonder if we could sit down with them. So guys, how do you feel about it now? I wonder if they would say, "Oh, this is awesome. We can just march into his room. We got firstname bases with him. Man, we're just like old times." I don't think that. Now, this is just me speculating, right? While he gave them purpose, I still bet, wonder, curious if over the next weeks and months, it still took a little bit of time for the brothers to gain the confidence in their relationship with Joseph. Like, you ever had an argument with a spouse or a friend and you make up and you reconcile, but it was such a deep argument, you're like, "It's going to take a little while to feel like we used to years ago." I I [clears throat] wonder in the life of Joseph and his brothers, they got there. He empowered him. He gave them purpose. He did all he was supposed to. But as they're losing their shame, it probably took him a little while to gain their confidence. Here's why I bring that up. Joseph didn't want it that way. From the moment he says, "Guys, it's me." He was saying, "Let's just jump in all this together full-blown. We're one big relationship, one big family here." He restored it. Now watch when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he initiated the reconciliation with the holy God in heaven that we have with him. His purpose in doing that was to bring us near as Paul said to bring us near and restore the relationship completely fully. No looking back. It is everything it's supposed to be at this moment. Here's why I bring that up to you. Because in our relationship with God, sometimes I think we revert back to our relationships with other people. Oh, God, I blew it. What I did last night was so bad. I blew it so big, God. Oh, that's terrible. Oh. Oh, God. I just this continual habitual sin that I step away from you and and I just keep going, God. man, I I it's it's just I it's just there. Or God, I feel like I've turned my back. I've never lost my relationship with you, but God, I feel like for two or three years now, I've just turned my back on you. And you're there, but you're only there in case of emergency. But we hit that point and we turn back and the reconciliation takes place. So God is moving us, pulling us, drawing us near in the relationship. But here's what happens to many people, and this is a lie straight from Satan. Don't go too fast. Don't go too hard. Because we lack the confidence to draw near to God. Somehow we're like, "Well, if I do, man, I'm still thinking about all the things I did, and he's probably still thinking about those things, and I would love just to go just fully be with God, but it's probably gonna take me some time to work up to it." That is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Because if God reconciled us while we were dead and he's the one that gave us life, he's not saying now take your time and let's work up to it. He's like, "Come on, you got it all right now." Scripture says this, "If we draw near to God, he will draw near to us fully, completely in the relationship." Here's the last one I leave with you. It's the third point, the third observation. But let's make it about Jesus because it's a bigger picture. Let's make it about ourselves because that's the bigger picture. Us and Jesus bigger than Joseph and his brothers. It's Jesus and us. Jesus renews our purpose.

Ephesians chapter 2 says this verse 10. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which don't miss this part which God prepared in advance for us to do. So this is what it tells me. When I'm spiritually dead and I'm not breathing, before I ever reconciled with God and God came to me and reconciled me through Jesus to himself, before I ever pulled into the relationship with him, God is looking down going that sorry no good for nothing, spiritually dead, non-loving, non-living, non doing anything for me, Keith. God said, I got purpose for him and he gave me purpose. He picked out things, good works for me to do, ordained good works for me to do before I even then took a step to him once he came to step into me. I'm going, that don't make sense. Again, the brothers moved to Joseph and he kind of checked their heart out, but once he saw it was alive and living and had been changed, he's like, "I'm going to give you purpose." Do you realize this that God has a purpose for every single one of our lives?

And it's not because he sees something in good in us. It's because he lives in us. Think about that for a second. God has a purpose in every one of your lives.

Some of you are going through health problems right now. God has a purpose in your health problems. Some of you going through deep grief right now. God has a purpose in you even in your deep grief. Some of you are struggling because someone you love is struggling. God has a purpose for you in that for you. Some of you fill in the blank. In the middle of what you have going on, God's going, "I don't care how good you are. I got you and I have a purpose for you. So the bigger po bigger story, God initiates the reconciliation. God pulls us to the relationship and through the relationship, God has a purpose for us. The band's going to come back up here and we're going to wrap up with the song.

But here's my question. very very specific

for some of us that you know you've been reconciled with Jesus that you have the relationship with Jesus to hear the purpose it renews you're moving forward but maybe someone's here today

and it finally opened up in your eyes but more than that your heart that without God. The Bible says you're spiritually dead,

but that God took the first step to you. That God initiated to you, not because what you have to give him, just been because he's a good God. He's a God full of grace. And that today, he wants a relationship with you.

You're well Keith, if I'm spiritually dead, what do I do? Here's the deal. If if if like if your heart is like boom boom right now going, "Okay, is he talking to me? Is God talking to me? Is Keith talking to me? Is the Holy Spirit talking to me?" Here's what that means. God's pulling you. God's initiating and he's beginning to breathe that life into you through the relationship. So, what your part is simply to say, "God, I believe. I believe. I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe that Jesus died that my sins would be forgiven. And so, would you forgive me? And I believe. And the Bible says that's God going, "Let's come near. Let's go." And if you've never done that before, it's not specific words that you pray. It's not a specific place where you do it. right where you are, you can just simply say, "God, I believe." And the Bible says, "New life comes to you and the relationship begins." And it's a day that purpose [music] starts. And so, as we sing the song, if that's you, I'm going to invite just pray that today. I would love if you prayed that prayer. You received the handout when you came in. There's a connection card on there. Do me a favor. Take that first step and tell somebody. You can just put on that card today. I prayed for the first time I believe. Put your name on there. Put in a number I can reach you. I'll reach out to you this week. Now, if you've already done that during the song, your prayers, God, what's my purpose? God made you, created you before time began, [music] and said, "I got this for you." Don't be caught sitting in a lazy chair when God comes. What's your purpose? So, Father, we come before you now. Thank you for the bigger picture. Thank you for this life of Joseph, but more than that, God, thank you for the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. And so, Jesus, would you call? Would you breathe life into the spiritually dead? Will you give us purpose that we can live our lives fully for you? And we pray this in [music] your name. Amen.