Today in the Word, we're going to be in Genesis
chapter 45, looking at three aspects of reunion
and reconciliation. I don't know if you've ever
been in the position where you're, you know,
went to the airport to pick up a loved one who's
been gone on a trip for some amount of time and,
you know, you're in that moment where, you know,
all the people are coming off the plane or into
the baggage claim area and you're looking and
you're all excited and, you know, nope, that's
not them and nope, nope, not yet. And, you know,
just the anticipation of seeing them and then
finally it's like, there they are, right? And
then as the movies have taught us, time slows
down as we run across the airport to one another,
right? And we embrace and, oh, I'm so glad to
see you and kisses and hugs and tears. And I
read a quote the other day and someone said,
reunion has a sound. And I think that's the sound
of reunion is the gladness together. But, you
know, it's coming together. being reunited with
those that we love, especially when there's times
of estrangement, is beautiful. It's a beautiful
thing. And Genesis 45 is one of those moments,
but it's quite a bit heavier than that because
it's not just a reunion, it's a reconciliation.
And the reason I say that's heavier is because
reconciliation often carries a heavier weight,
in some cases a more dangerous weight, because
when the reconciliation happens, it's often that
moment of reunion with someone who has hurt you.
or broke you, or wronged you in some significant
way. And, you know, for 22 years in the Genesis
here, Joseph's story has been moving towards
this very moment of reconciliation. It's one
of those moments in Scripture where things seem
to slow down, and we kind of zoom into this emotional
moment, and kind of looking into people's minds
and what they're feeling. And, you know, when
this moment begins, as we're going to see today,
it doesn't begin with accusation. As Joseph is
finally going to be in the place of revealing
himself to his brothers. You know, I am Joseph.
And there's no accusation. There's no blame.
There's no explanation or justification or flexing
of power. Instead, there's just weeping. Uncontrollable
weeping. And really, it's because... reconciliation,
and when we find ourselves in a place of experiencing
reconciliation with those that we have been separated
from by sin, it's not just a theological idea.
Reconciliation is a moment of great emotional
cost, and it hits hard. And that's why we can
find ourselves in tears and weeping and crying
and feeling all the emotions. You know, I don't
think any of us would disagree that relationship
is hard, right? Relationship is hard, period,
especially when we endeavor to follow God's example
in relationship. Because God calls us to things
that are above ourselves. God calls us to means
and ways that are outside of our normal sense
of what should and shouldn't be done. And in
many cases, God calls us to forgive and to extend
grace and mercy whether we feel like it or not,
whether our emotions are in alignment. And we
can't ever forget that forgiveness isn't a feeling.
Forgiveness is a choice. Now, the feeling may
come. But forgiveness is a choice before it is
an emotion, and that is really the story of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, what God did for us,
that long before there was any sense of us saying,
we're sorry, and da -da -da -da -da, long before
any of that, God said, I'm going to choose to
forgive my people. and then put a plan into place
that that would come to fruition. And so this
story that we're going to be looking at today
in Genesis 45 really is a picture of reconciliation
and how that works, how God wants to reconcile
with us, and how God wants us to reconcile with
each other. But before we get into all that,
we want to spend some time in worship and praising
God. And so I hope that today would be an opportunity
this morning, whether you're here or at home,
to set aside everything. to set aside worries,
to set aside traumas and hurts, and to really
take a moment right now to remember that God
did the work to reconcile with you and with us.
And we want to celebrate that in praising his
holy name. Amen? Let's pray. God, we love you.
And Lord, we thank you, God, for who you are
and what you've done. God, we know it's because
of the reconciliation that you wrought with us,
Lord, that we have the opportunity to come together
as your body. We have the opportunity to come
to your word, to fellowship together, to hear
from you and to let your spirit minister to us,
Lord. God, it is in those things that we find
peace and we find comfort. Lord, it's from you
that we ultimately find hope and truth and even
joy, Lord. Because God, your word is truth. You
are truth. Jesus, you said that you were the
way, the truth, and the life. And so God, I pray,
Lord, that you would minister to us this morning,
speak to us this morning. God, especially those
of us that might have broken relationships in
some degree. Lord, that whether we're on the
side of the equation where we're the one who's
done wrong, or we're on the other side where
we're the one who has been wronged, Lord. that
we would learn what your desire is, that unity
and peace and wholeness would come into our lives
and our relationships. But Lord, even above that,
God, as we see this story this morning, that
you would speak to those in this room or watching
online, Lord, that don't yet know you, that have
not yet been reconciled to you, God, that you
would see the great heart, the love, and the
desire you have to restore, to heal, to forgive,
and then to bless beyond understanding, Lord,
those that would just come to trust you, to understand
that they are guilty before you, and yet, God,
you're not waiting to destroy us, but you're
just waiting to forgive us. And so, Lord, bless
us today. Speak to us today. We love you so much.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right,
we are in Genesis 45, and as we go through this
section, you know, the passages that we're looking
at, verses 1 through 15, are going to answer
some deep questions that maybe have been developing
as we've been moving through Genesis. Questions
like, how is God going to preserve his people?
But the bigger question I think is answered in
this passage today for us is, can God truly heal
what has been broken? And the answer, of course,
is yes. And we're going to see a beautiful picture
of this because... Joseph, the man we've been
studying, he's now 37 years old. He was 17 years
old when his brothers sold him into slavery.
And so it's been 22 years of him going through
all the things that he's gone through as he was
sold into Potiphar's house and then falsely accused
and ended up in prison and then interpreted the
dreams for the cupbearer and said, please remember
me. And then he was forgotten for two more years
and all the stuff that has taken place that has
ultimately led to Joseph now being number two
in the entire kingdom. having dreams from the
Lord about the famine and what is going to take
place, interpreting those dreams for Pharaoh.
He has put into place a food storage program
that is really keeping everybody alive. is what
has brought his family to him as the famine that
was across all the land had affected his brothers
and everybody in the land of Canaan. And they
had shown up where Joseph was like, oh my gosh,
these are my brothers. You know, it's been a
long time since I saw these guys. And this whole
process of God working through Joseph to bring
their sin to light so they would finally face
their sin and deal with it has led to this moment.
This moment where he has kind of been testing
his brothers to see if their hearts have changed,
to see if they're different people, to see if
they recognize the wrong that they have done.
And in the previous chapter, that chapter ended
with Joseph watching his brother Judah. say we
are sinners, we're wrong, we deserve punishment,
right? And yet he said, look, don't punish my
brothers. Let my little brother Benjamin go home.
I will stand in his place. I will give up my
freedom and my life and my future. Because we
have done wrong and I deserve that is what he
was getting at. And that final act of sacrificial
love really just kind of breaks Joseph's heart.
Brings him to the place where it's like it is
time to reveal who he is because reconciliation
can now happen. And so in verse 1 of chapter
45, we read that Joseph could no longer keep
his composure in front of all his attendants.
And so he called out, send everyone away from
me. This moment where Joseph is finally going,
reconciliation can happen. It's right here. It's
about to take place. It breaks his heart. He
had been separated from his family for such a
long time, and he's now overwhelmed with the
emotion that they're different. They're not the
bloodthirsty, selfish brothers they once were.
They're different people. And the division that
had been between them, he's finally like, I can't
stand it anymore. I'm just overcome with this
emotion. And I believe it was because Joseph
wanted to forgive his brothers. He wanted to
reconcile with them. He wanted a reunion, a reconnection.
He wanted fellowship again, and again, the time
was come where it was time to do that, and so
the emotion just overflows out of him, and it
says, no one was with him when he revealed his
identity to his brothers, but he wept so loudly
that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh's
household heard it. If you remember in a prior
meeting between him and his brothers, when he
recognized that these were indeed his brothers,
he left and went into another room privately
to cry because he was just overwhelmed. That's
my family. I haven't seen them in so long. But
this time, when he's overwhelmed with emotion,
he sends everybody out of the room. All his attendants,
all the people, and it's just him and his brothers.
Now, I don't believe he did this for privacy
sake alone. I believe it's because forgiveness,
true forgiveness, refuses to make a show out
of it, right? True forgiveness is about you and
the person you're forgiving. It's not about everybody
else saying, look how forgiving I am, look at
what's going on here. It's a private thing, and
this forgiveness that Joseph is about to extend
out to his brothers, it's very, very personal.
As part of this forgiveness and this reconciliation,
we're going to see that Joseph names their sin,
and he's refusing to name their sin publicly,
right? That should remind us of what Jesus said
in the Gospels. He says, when your brother has
sinned against you, go to him privately and say,
you did this to me. This was wrong. But I want
to forgive you, right? I want reconciliation
here. It's only after somebody refuses to acknowledge
what they've done in that case where then the
scripture says you bring some witnesses and then
you go to the church. But so often, so many of
us, when it comes to reconciliation with friends
or brothers or family or whatever, we want to
flip it. We want to start the opposite way, right?
We want to tell everybody else about what they've
done to us first. before we even go to them privately
and say, hey, this hurt me. This was wrong. I
forgive you, but I want reconciliation here.
Instead of that private moment, we want everybody
else in the world to know. Privately approaching
your brother or sister who has sinned against
you is not posting on social media about it.
It's not gossiping about it with everybody else
except the person. Forgiveness is intended to
start with this personal, private moment, and
that's the biblical pattern. The Bible tells
us that love covers a multitude of sins. You
guys know that? You guys know what that word
multitude means? All of it. You guys remember
the story when the angels showed up to the shepherds
during Christmas? And it says a multitude of
angels were in the sky praising the Lord. That
word multitude there, it's the same word. It
means all of them. Can you imagine what those
shepherds experienced that morning? That all
of the angels filled the sky, horizon to horizon,
praising the Lord at the birth of Jesus? Well,
when the Bible says love covers a multitude of
sins, it's saying all of them. It covers them.
Love is like, okay, these things are done. You're
willing to forgive. So his tears here, when he's
weeping so loud that the Pharaoh's palace next
door could hear him weeping. This isn't necessarily
tears of sadness. This is tears of joy. This
is tears of we're at the moment where reconciliation
can happen. There was such a desire to be reconnected.
There was such a desire on Joseph's part to forgive
the sin, to extend grace and mercy that as the
moment is now here, he's overwhelmed with joy.
It reminds me of the scripture that says when
one person gets saved, The entirety of heaven
erupts in celebration. Isn't that beautiful?
You know, and so he's here. He's not being weak.
You know, this isn't him like, I mean, it's just
an honesty from him that this moment has arrived
and he is just overwhelmed with it. And so in
verse three, you know, the words fall like thunder.
Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Now,
Earlier it just told us he sent out all the people,
all his attendants. That included the interpreters
because we had read earlier that he had been
speaking to his brothers through an interpreter,
which means he was speaking to them in Egyptian.
But he sent everybody out. It's only him and
his brothers. So what does that tell us about
him saying, I am Joseph? He says it in Hebrew.
He says it in the native language. He says it
in the language that is just so familiar to them,
and then for them, suddenly, oh my goodness,
our sin is standing right in front of us, speaking
to us. Joseph says, is my father still living?
But they cannot answer him because they were
terrified in his presence. That word terrified,
it means paralyzed with fear. Have you ever been
paralyzed with fear? I have been. As a kid, I
was terrified of spiders. If I saw a spider,
I couldn't move. It was going to eat me, right?
Now I'm better. I freeze momentarily, and then
I can deal with the spider. But paralyzed with
fear. Their sin has a voice. Their judgment seems
inevitable. Can you imagine, right? This is the
number two. This is the second most powerful
man in Egypt. This is the guy who said, do not
come back without Benjamin. And then they got
caught with the cup. And now they're like, oh,
what are we doing? We're sinners. And this is
the guy who can execute us. This is the guy who
with a word can have our lives ended. Then he
says, I'm Joseph. What do you mean, Joseph? All
of the memory of their sin that God had been
stirring up in them through these last few chapters,
it shocked them into silence. It paralyzed them
with fear. Fear was, we realize that we now deserve
to be judged for what we have done, and oh my
gosh, judgment has never been more real than
it is right now. This guy can just, with a hand,
kill us, and so they're undone with shock in
the reality. When we stand before the authority
that has the authority to judge us righteously
for our sin, the right response is to be paralyzed
with fear, to be shocked into silence. Spiritually,
when we stand before the Lord and we recognize
he is God, he is the creator of the universe,
he is the one that has established all morality
right and wrong, and we come to the place of
realizing we've broken his law. And he's God.
There's no place for justification. There's no
place for excuses. There's no place for, yeah,
but, well, it's just, right? That's how it should
be when we stand before God. Now, Joseph then
says to his brothers, and this is something that
wounded people don't usually say, please come
near me. And they came near. Usually when we're
finally at the point of confronting those who
have wronged us, we want to jump right to stay
away from me. I hate you. I don't trust you.
You're mean. You've hurt me. You've done wrong.
We want to accuse. We want to blame. Because
we feel this need to have some type of vindication
that you have to acknowledge the hurt that's
in my life before we can even move to forgiveness
or grace or mercy. And it's just a picture that
God created us with a sense of justice. We get
it. We understand that we've been wronged. That
needs to be made right. It's just a part of our
nature. The problem is we only apply that truth
when it's other people who have wronged us, not
when we have wronged someone else necessarily.
And so he says, come near to me. The phrase come
near to me means is indicating come close. Look
me in the eye. Stand before me in honesty. That's
the idea of this phrase. You see, forgiveness
is not a denial that wrong has happened. Forgiveness
is a refusal to be ruled by the wrong that has
happened. Reconciliation begins, true reconciliation
begins when repentance is then met by grace.
They didn't deserve to come close to Joseph.
They deserved to be cast out and killed, but
he says, come near. Come close to me. They've
confessed their sin, and then he says, I'm the
one you sold into slavery. Oh my gosh. Come close.
Look me in the eye. Stand face to face with me.
See, sometimes we think that forgiving somebody
means we have to pretend the wrong didn't happen.
We have to minimize the wrong. Well, if I forgive
them, then that means what they did to me isn't
as bad as it is or it hurts as much as it does,
and that's not what forgiveness is at all. Forgiveness
doesn't mean pretend wrong didn't happen. It
just says I'm going to make a choice in spite
of the wrong. Now, God's sovereignty, it doesn't
excuse human sin, right? The fact that God saves
us doesn't mean our sin didn't matter. It doesn't
mean our sin didn't have a cost. It doesn't mean
our sin didn't hurt. God's sovereignty just simply
means that he chose to redeem the consequences
of our sins despite our sin. That he said, yes,
it hurt. It had a great cost. His son had to
die on the cross for sin. But then God said on
the other side of that, there was a choice I
made to extend forgiveness and grace and mercy
and reconcile. And this is what we see Joseph
doing here. As he says, come near. Grace doesn't
just say, okay, I absolve you of what you've
done. Grace says, come close. I want you to know
we're okay. I want you to know we're good. You
see, when we truly forgive somebody, the idea
is that we release them of responsibility for
the hurt they've caused us. Forgiveness is I
no longer hold this against you. Some of us would
be like, oh, I forgive you, but I still hope
you get hit by a truck or something, right? And
we're like, no. Forgiveness is I forgive you,
but I still hope something bad happens to you.
And it's no. Forgiveness is I no longer hold
the wrong you did to me against you. So therefore,
I no longer expect recompense. I no longer need
vengeance. This is what forgiveness is. When
he says, come near. That's the posture he's extending
to his brothers. Come near. I want you to know
we're okay. But look what the first thing he
says to them after this. He says, I am Joseph,
your brother, he said. The one you sold into
Egypt. Possibly taking their stunned silence
as confusion. Right? It's not like he was the
only Joseph in the whole world. Says, come near
to me. Hey, I'm the one you sold into Egypt.
Again, forgiveness doesn't require denial of
what happened. And so he names the sin, but then
he goes on to say, and now don't be grieved or
angry with yourselves for selling me here. because
God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. For
the famine has been in the land these two years,
and there will be five more years without plowing
or harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to establish
you as a remnant within the land and to keep
you alive by a great deliverance. Therefore,
it was not you who sent me here, but God. He
has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his
entire household, and ruler over the land of
Egypt. That phrase, God has sent me ahead of
you, that's the theological center of this entire
chapter. This understanding is the very thing
that allows Joseph to forgive the way God wants
us to forgive one another. You see, Joseph is
holding two truths here. He's not minimizing
sin. You sold me into Egypt. You did that. It
was wrong. It wasn't right. However, God is the
one. who allowed all that and worked through
all that to send me ahead of you so that I could
be here now today to save your life. Now, he
repeats this phrase four times in verse 5, 7,
8, and 9. Again, he's not minimizing the evil
and the wickedness of what they've done, but
he's saying, look, you did something bad, but
I want you to understand that in the grace of
God, God's providence, God's sovereignty used
it and worked it out for good. He's expressing
faith. He's expressing faith even in the suffering
and the wrong and the sin. And that attitude
is what allows us to forgive somebody. To say
they did this great wrong to me and I don't understand
and it happened and it hurt and it did but I
believe my God is sovereign. I believe my God
knew. I believe and if it happened he allowed
it and so I have to believe that there was a
purpose. That there is a reason. And when the
Bible says that God works all things out for
good, that means even this thing. And that attitude,
the choice to believe that is what allows Joseph
to come to the place of saying, I'm not gonna
hold you responsible anymore. I'm not gonna hold
it against you. That I'm gonna forgive you and
let it go. And forgiveness really is only possible
when we bring God into the story. True forgiveness
is really only possible. You know, God being
above and aware and allowing all things. Him
knowing everything that'll happen because he's
outside of time and then working through it doesn't
mean he's excusing sin. Joseph here doesn't want
revenge for what they've done because Joseph
has already been set free. He's been set free
of the bitterness. He's been set free of holding
it against them. He's been set free of all of
that. And we've read early in the story where
he just, okay, he moved on with his life and
said, God, whatever happened, happened, and I'm
just going to trust you with that. And really,
those who see God clearly in every circumstance,
no matter if it's good or bad, they're set free
from the need for revenge. Somebody does something
terrible to you and our natural reaction is revenge,
right? I want to get you back. You deserve to
pay for it. But when we as God's people go, that
was wrong. But God allowed it to happen in my
life, so God, what are you doing? It frees us
from that need to get them back. Because we're
able to say it wasn't, it's not all about what
they did, it's about what God is doing. and allowing
through it. Now, I believe genuine forgiveness
has a telltale sign. I believe genuine forgiveness
is seen in someone who genuinely wants to set
the offender at ease. You've wronged me, but
my greatest priority is that you know we're okay.
That you're not expecting me to drop the hammer
and to curse you and to do these bad things.
That you realize, yeah, you did some things,
but my greatest desire is not that you know you
wronged me, that you feel as bad as I do, that
you hurt like I hurt, but that you recognize
we're good. Be at ease. Be at rest. That's genuine
forgiveness. And so Joseph's saying to them,
come near me and look me in the eye. I'm not
angry. Really what that is is agape love, love
without condition. Love that says I'm choosing
to love you, I'm choosing to forgive you, and
it's not because of what you did or didn't do.
That's the love that God has for us, right? You're
a sinner. I died for you. We didn't deserve that.
But he did that so that when we come to the place
of finally admitting our sin and recognizing
that, then he could take that next step and go,
okay, now let me offer full reconciliation. It's
beautiful. Joseph shows us very clearly the difference
between justice, mercy, and grace, right? You've
heard me say this before, that mercy is not getting
what you deserve, right? As guilty sinners, we
deserve judgment and punishment, and we did not
get judgment and punishment. Grace is getting
what you don't deserve. We definitely don't deserve
salvation and then blessing and this life with
the Lord in heaven. We don't deserve that, but
that's what we get. Justice, however, is getting
what you deserve. Justice, bad guy does a bad
thing, he breaks the law, he gets punished, right?
That's justice, and Joseph could have chosen
justice here and would have been absolutely right
in doing it. He could have stopped at mercy when
he said, okay, come in, let's have a dinner and
everything, and they're like, why are we being
treated so nice here? We don't deserve this.
And then he could have said, okay, get out of
here, go home. But then, instead of stopping
there, he's going to move on to choose grace.
He's going to demonstrate the fact that come
near, we're okay. I want you to know you're at
ease. And he's going to demonstrate that by now
giving them what they don't deserve. Look at
verse 9. Return quickly to my father and say
to him, this is what your son Joseph says. God
has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me
without delay. You can settle in the land of
Goshen and be near me. You, your children, your
grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all
that you have. There I will sustain you, for
there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise,
you, your household, and everything you have
will become destitute. Look, your eyes and the
eyes of my brother Benjamin can see that I'm
the one speaking to you. Let my father, or tell
my father about all my glory in Egypt and about
all you have seen, and bring my father here quickly.
Justice. You guys sinned against me. You deserve
to be held accountable. Mercy. Let's come have
a party and a big dinner. And they're going,
we don't, what? Then in the morning, everything's
good. Wow, everything was great. We go home,
and then they're found with the cup. They come
back. Judah finally goes, this is God's doing.
This isn't about the cup. This is about the fact
that we're guilty. We're sinners. We've been
hiding it for 22 years. We know. And just stop.
Let's stop hiding it. We deserve punishment.
And then Judah does the sacrificial thing and
says, and I know we all deserve punishment, but
let me stand in their place. Take me instead
of Benjamin and let Benjamin and the rest of
my brothers go home. And then what happens as
a part of that? Forgiveness. Come near, we're
good. And now grace, let me demonstrate to you
that we're good. I'm going to bless you and bless
you and do more and take care of you. Don't just
go home with more grain. Go get the family, come
back, and we're going to put you in Goshen, the
most fertile part of the land of Egypt. So fertile,
it's perfect for shepherds, and Egypt hated shepherds,
but the number two in the land said they could
live there, so we have to deal with it, right?
Come, let me take care of you. Let me provide
for you. Let me bless you. We deserve to be held
accountable for our sin, and yet we weren't,
and then on top of that, we get all this blessing.
Do you see the pattern of Jesus Christ? Forgiveness
isn't just sentimental, it's practical. Forgiveness
says, we're good, we're okay, I want you to know
that. And now let's move forward. It's not just
reunion. Yay, glad to see you. Okay, have a nice
life. It's reconciliation. It's that moment to
say, no, now I want to demonstrate to you that
we're okay. I want to demonstrate to you that
I've forgiven you. I want you to know beyond
a shadow of a doubt. And so here's blessing.
He says, I will sustain you there. Just come.
Live under my care. Receive what I have for you.
See, grace doesn't end with forgiveness. It starts
at forgiveness. Joseph doesn't just reconcile
the past. He reorders the future. Future A. Okay,
great. You guys aren't going to be killed for
the sin you did. Go back home. They die anyways.
Famine. Future B. Joseph says, not only do I
want to forgive you, but I want to extend this
grace to you. Come. And then they're protected.
They thrive. They grow. And they become the nation
that God is intending them to become. This is
the biblical pattern. God doesn't just balance
the books. Okay, sin's wiped out. Right? We talk
about this in communion when we recognize the
body that Jesus gave. That was mercy. That was
saying, that's what we deserved. He took it in
our place. We remember that. Oh my gosh, thank
you so much, Lord. But then he goes beyond to
the grace and he says, not only am I not holding
you accountable, but now I'm going to wash you
clean and bless you for the rest of your life.
You're going to walk with me. My spirit's going
to indwell you. And then one day, guess what?
The big prize. You're in heaven with me forever
in joy and peace eternally. God wipes out our
sin debt and then says, let me take care of you.
Walk with me. Trust me. It doesn't mean we don't
go through difficult things. It doesn't mean
our life is perfect after salvation, but it does
mean that we walk with hope. It does mean that
in the midst of tragedy, we can have peace and
we can have joy. And you go, joy? Yeah, I'm not
talking about happiness. In the midst of tragedy,
there can be a joy. And knowing that this isn't
everything. This isn't the end. That there's
a life after this. That there is a truth in God's
word. There is something coming after. Verse
14, it says, Then Joseph threw his arms around
his brother Benjamin and wept. And Benjamin wept
on his shoulder. Joseph kissed each of his brothers
as he wept, and afterwards his brother talked
with him. Men, it's okay to cry. It's okay to
hug. Fist bump. Fist bumps are great. But there's
time where an embrace is necessary, and that's
okay. We see this weeping. We see all this. After
the theology is spoken, God's the one who allowed
this and provision is secure. Here's the grace
and fear of judgment is addressed. Come near.
Look me in the eye. We're good. Then there's
this physical reconciliation, right? The weeping,
the kissing, the prolonged contact, all of that.
You see, time is spent for reunion after reconciliation
has taken place. It's the same for us. We are
reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
And then one day, we're going to have that reunion
where we stand before him face to face, where
we embrace with tears and joy. Now, we're here
living this life in the in -between of that.
Earlier in Genesis 37, it told us that the brothers
couldn't even bring themselves to speak peaceably.
with Joseph because they were so mad at him,
but now it's words and communication and conversation.
Why? Because forgiveness reopens communication.
Some of us have been living in this life where
it's like, I'll forgive them when they say sorry.
How about you forgive them first? And then maybe
that'll open up communication where they will
have the place to, I'm so sorry. I'll say sorry
when they say, Someone has to start. Somebody
has to take the first step. If you're the Christian,
it should be you. If you're both Christians,
it still should be you. In reconciliation, there's
three parts of it that I see here in this story
because some of us are simply waiting for the
relationship to heal and God's saying, yeah,
and I want you to take the step and you're resisting
the step. God, please heal this relationship.
And he's going, sure, get up and move. No, they
need to first. And so reconciliation, it requires
repentance. If you're in the place of the brothers,
right, you're the one who has wronged somebody,
you step first and confess your guilt. You go
and say, I'm sorry, I've wronged you, I've done
wrong. And stop thinking, I'll repent what I've
done when they repent first. No, you be the first.
Otherwise, reconciliation can't happen. Maybe
you can't forgive them in your own heart until
you're the one that's wronged, right? Well, when
they say sorry. No, you take that step to forgive
first. Responsibility is the second R of reconciliation
here, right? Take responsibility for your part.
You're not responsible for their part. But sometimes,
for some reason, we say, I don't need to take
responsibility for my part because they're not
taking responsibility for their part. That's
dumb. You take responsibility for your part.
I did or said this. I'm the one who wronged.
I need to take responsibility for that. Or I'm
the one who's not forgiving. I need to take responsibility
for that. And then the results of it, the results
are God's. I want healing. I want this. I want
that. Great. Then do what God is telling you
to do. Take the step of faith to say, okay, God,
I'm going to step out in forgiveness first, or
I'm going to step out and confess. I'm worried
they won't forgive me. It doesn't matter. God
wants you to do your part. And for those of you
that may be the one who has wronged somebody
and you're carrying guilt in your heart, remember,
Joseph said to his brothers, don't be angry with
yourselves. For some of us, we walk in this relationship
where we believe God has forgiven us, but I can't
forgive myself. And so you're walking in this
unforgiveness. Joseph said, don't be angry with
yourselves. God meant this for good. Receive
forgiveness. Believe you're forgiven. Walk in
forgiveness. Some of us are struggling with doing
that. Oh, God has forgiven me, but I can't forgive
myself, and you're beating yourself up all the
time. You have been forgiven by the God of the
universe. If you're a Christian, you've put your
faith in him. You have been forgiven. God says,
look me in the eye. Stand before me. We are good.
Will you start living like it? Guilt can imprison
us for decades. Paul was a murderer. Did you
know that? Paul the apostle, the one who is considered
the apostle of grace, he was a murderer. And
yet the Bible remembers him as the apostle of
grace. Why? Because Paul understood something
that's very true. The cross didn't partially
forgive you of your sin. It fully forgave you
of your sin. And it fully forgave you of the
sin you haven't committed yet. That's the part
we struggle with. Now, when you do the next sin,
you go, God, forgive me. He's going, done, because
I did. And then we move on. If God has released
you from your sin, why are you still holding
on to the chains? Why are you doing that? That
isn't humility. That's unbelief. It's time to
wake up. I think that's what God is saying. It's
time to wake up. For those of you that may be
on the Joseph side and you're nursing bitterness,
you know, someone has wronged me and you're like,
I can't forgive them and I can't do it. I don't
feel like forgiving them. I don't feel like it's
right. Forgiveness is not a feeling. It's a choice.
It's a choice you make. Joseph forgave his brothers,
I believe, before they even changed. And he was
just working through what God was doing that
they would come to the place of saying, I've
wronged you. Right? Some people go, oh, well,
if God died for my sins, I don't need to repent.
No, you need to repent. God died for your sins,
and he says, I'm waiting. I'm waiting for full
reconciliation. And He does these things in our
life to bring us to the point where we finally
say, I have sinned, God. You are right. I am
wrong. I deserve punishment. Please forgive me.
And He goes, good, because I did it a long time
ago and I've just been waiting to give you the
fruits of that work. Forgive. The feelings will
follow. Forgive them. Forgiveness is unconditional.
Reconciliation, yeah, that's a relational thing
that takes place, but you're responsible for
the first one. God will take care of the other
one. You forgive. God will take care of the reconciliation
and the restoration. And so, you know, what we
see here in these verses, Joseph's brothers,
they expected death, but they received mercy
and they received grace. Then got full restoration
and reconciliation and that is the gospel message.
Scripture tells us that one day God's people,
Israel, will stand before him and it says they'll
look on the one that they pierced and they will
mourn. And they will expect judgment. It even
tells us that they'll look upon the scars and
the wounds on his hands and Jesus will say, yeah,
I received these in the house of my friends.
But then, Judgment doesn't come. He forgives
them. He saves them because they've recognized.
And if you've never experienced the shocking
revelation of God's forgiveness, well, today
could be that day for you. To be stunned into
silence. He wants to forgive me. He wants to
extend. He doesn't just want to forgive me, but
then he wants to bless me with grace and he wants
to walk with me for the rest of my life. Yeah.
So if you're like Joseph holding bitterness,
yeah, forgive. Go have that conversation with
somebody. Name the sin. You wronged me. It hurt.
But I want to forgive you. I do forgive you.
God allowed it and I just trust him and his sovereignty.
That's why we say in counseling a lot that there's
healing and forgiveness, right? Forgive and you'll
be healed. You'll be set free. You truly will.
When you stop caring that they need to pay and
you recognize you're right, they need to pay
and Jesus paid for it. You know, I always tell
people when they're wrestling with forgiveness,
I can't forgive, I can't forgive because they
did this to me. I'm like, wow. They go, what
do I do? And I say, I don't know. What did God
do the last time you did that to him? What do
you mean? Well, you're mad because they lied
to you and they broke their promise, right? Yeah.
When's the last time you lied to God? What did
God do? Did he demand you be held accountable
and hold you against it? No, he forgave you.
He died for it. He paid the price. So now let's
answer your question. What do I do? I forgive.
I don't hold it against them. If you're holding
guilt and standing in the place of those guilty
brothers, confess. Repent. Then receive the forgiveness
that is offered to you. Step forward into reconciliation.
Bring Jesus into the story. Because that's where
everything changes. Because when Jesus enters
the story, we realize and understand that everything
that was meant for evil, he worked it out for
good. He meant it for good. That there's an outcome
that is good. And so, come to him. Even if you're
a believer, come to him with your unforgiveness
or your need to confess and say, God, I'm carrying
this weight, what do I do? If you don't know
Jesus Christ this morning, man, you need to come
to him. Because he wants to forgive you. He wants
to set you free from the guilt. He wants to fill
you with his Holy Spirit, walk with you and grace
you and bless you in ways you can't even imagine.
He wants to do something amazing in your life
and he's just waiting for you to finally come
to that place of saying, God, I need your forgiveness.
You guys ready for that this morning? Yeah, let's
pray. Father, we love you. We thank you. God,
so many of us have broken relationships. And
we go back and forth on how to deal with these
things, Lord. God, those of us that know you,
that are your kids, Lord, we've been forgiven.
We've been saved, Lord. We have experienced how
relationship and reconciliation is supposed to
happen. And so, God, move in our hearts that
we would follow that example. Lord, that like
Joseph in this story, whose desire was to restore
that relationship, that desire was to be reconciled,
the desire was to have restored fellowship with
his brothers, Lord, that we would be those people.
Instead of letting the hurt and the wound and
all of that continue the division, Lord, that
we would instead remember what you did for us.
God, that you would change our heart. That you
would help us, Lord. So desire reconciliation
that we would pursue it. That we would forgive
even before those who have wronged us repent.
That we would let them know that, God. That we
would come to them and give them mercy and all
these things, Lord, so that, God, when that opportunity
for reconciliation happens, we are ready with
tears to embrace them. God, for those in this
room that are believers, Lord, and we've wronged
somebody. And like the brothers in this story,
Lord, we've just kind of for years hidden it,
buried it, tried to ignore it. But God, You've
been stirring it back up in our lives so that
we would come back to You, to face You, to understand
what You did for us, Lord. That you love us.
That because of your sacrifice, we are okay.
That we're okay with you, God. And Lord, you
just want us to say, I recognize it was wrong
and I'm sorry. To receive the forgiveness and
live in the forgiveness. To receive the grace
of the blessing of moving forward. God, if we've
wronged our brothers or sisters, Lord, that we
would be able to step forward and stop hiding
and just say, I know I've sinned against you.
I've wronged you. I'm so sorry. Please forgive
me. And that, Lord, as your body would follow
your example on both sides of that equation,
Lord, this would be a place of love and unity,
a place of reunion and reconciliation, a holy
place. Lord, for those that are here that have
never made that decision to repent of their sin,
Lord, maybe you've spoken to them this morning
and they realize their need, God, that they are
the guilty brothers standing before Almighty
God. guilty of breaking Your law, of sinning
against You, of living a life that they know
is not pleasing to You, not the way You would
call Your people to live. Maybe they've been
afraid to come to You. But Lord, I pray right
now they would understand and know and believe
the truth that You have just simply been waiting
for them to ask You. That You are eager. To reconcile.
To extend forgiveness. That they would say, Lord
God, forgive me of my sins. I believe your word.
Come into my life. Forgive me. That they would
know, Lord, that there are tears in your eyes
and celebration in heaven at this moment. Not
judgment. But joy. Lord, we thank you for your
word and we thank you, Lord, for who you are.
God, bless those that have received you this
morning for the first time. Bless those that
are your children who are now today, right now,
going to take the steps to do what they need
to do to pursue peace and unity and reconciliation
in their lives. We love you and we thank you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, God
bless you guys. I pray the Lord bless you richly
and whatever it is he's putting on your heart
to do, whoever it is that you're supposed to
go talk to, trust the Lord. Let that be blessed.
Receive what he has for you. Let's worship God.
Amen? Amen. God bless you.