The Depth of God's Love
Genesis 44-45 brings the Joseph narrative to its dramatic climax as years of guilt, suffering, testing, and providence finally converge. Joseph's brothers face a final test when Benjamin appears to be guilty, and Judah is forced to choose between self-preservation and sacrificial love. What follows is one of Scripture's most moving pictures of reconciliation, forgiveness, and undeserved grace. Yet beneath the surface of the story lies an even greater reality. The sermon explores how Judah's willingness to stand in his brother's place points beyond itself to Christ, and how Joseph's forgiveness reflects God's sovereign purpose in suffering. Most significantly, the passage reveals the immeasurable love of God the Father, who willingly gave His only Son for undeserving sinners. As believers grasp the depth of God's love, they are transformed to forgive, reconcile, sacrifice, and trust God's purposes even through hardship. The love of God is not merely a theological truth to believe, but a reality that changes how we live and relate to others.
Genesis 44 and then a little bit later we'll read 45. So once again we're still going through the Joseph section of it and he puts a test to his brothers this time, so in 44. Then he commanded the steward of his house, fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack and put my silver cup in the mouth of the sack of the youngest with his money for the grain. And he did as Joseph told him. As soon as morning was light, the men were sent away with the donkeys. They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, up, follow after the men. And when you overtake them, say to them, why have you repaid evil for good? Is it not from this that my lord drinks? and by this that he practices divination. You have done evil in doing this.' When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. They said to him, Why does my Lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such things. Behold, money that we found in the mouths of the sacks and brought back to you from the land of Canaan, how then could you steal silver and gold from your Lord's house? Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my Lord's servants.' He said, let it be as you say. He who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.' Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. And he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell before him on the ground. Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination? And Judah said, What shall we say to you, my lord? What shall we speak? Oh, how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of our servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also, in whose hand the cup has been found. But he said, far be it. from me that I should do so. Only the man whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.' Then Judah went up to him and said, Oh my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's ear and let your anger burn against your servant for you are like Pharaoh himself. My Lord asked his servant saying, Have you a father? Have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, we have a father, an old man, and a younger brother. the child of his old age, his brother is dead and he alone is left on his mother's children, of his mother's children. And his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me that I may see my eyes on him. We said to my Lord, the boy cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father, his father would die. Then he said to your servants, Then you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again. When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord. And when our father said, go again, buy us a little food, we said, we cannot go down if our youngest brother. goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' Then your servant, my father, said to us, you know that my wife bore me two sons. One left me and I said, surely he has been torn to pieces and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me and harm happens to him, you will bring down my grey hairs in evil to Shoal. Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety. of safety for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life. Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as the servant to my Lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father. So yeah, chapter 45. then Joseph could not control himself. So is just after he confronted his brothers. So Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard him and the household of Pharaoh heard him. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please. And they came near, and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be dismayed, do not be distressed or angry. with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." What an attitude. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt, hurry and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt, come down to me, do not tarry, you shall dwell in the land of Goshen. And you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks, your herds and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty. And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honour in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here. Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him. When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, Joseph's brothers have come. It pleased Pharaoh and his servants. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, say to your brothers, do this, load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan and take your father and your households and come to me and I will give you the best of the land in Egypt and you shall eat the fat of the land. And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, do this, take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. The sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. To each of all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. To his father he sent as follows, ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread and provisions for his father on the journey. Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed he said to them, Do not quarrel on the way. So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob, and they told him, Joseph is still alive. And he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. Dear God, just thank you for this time, we thank you for this man, we thank you Lord for the heart that you've given him and Lord we just pray that there will be nothing of Matt come through today, it will just be all you Lord, just lead by your spirit and just give him your words. But Father I pray that you will open the hearts of everyone that sits here and everyone in these walls and Lord just teach each one of us something from the beautiful message that there is in this story now, we pray, Amen. Thank you If there was a good God, this thing would have come out by now. You're asking the same question. Does God love me? Right? You're sitting there and it's your grandchild's fifth birthday. You've said, I'm going to do the cake. I'm the cake connoisseur in the... It comes out of the oven and it's just a horrible atrocity. Goodness. No one would eat that. Salt in a set of sugar. Right? That never happens. If there was a good God, He would love me and He wouldn't let this happen. Right? Always thinking about the love of God. And now we're going to see that that's also the question in our passage today. Because what we're actually going to see is how God really loves us and better yet how the depth of love, just how deep it goes, can allow us to do things we never thought were possible. Like, I don't know, forgive your brothers who sold you off into slavery for 20 years. So. Let us begin at the start of the story, but first of course, let's begin in prayer. Dear Lord, we didn't come here today to stay the same. We came here today to be changed, to encounter You, Father. We can't leave Your presence and remain the same people. So Lord, You have promised that two or three are there. There You are. You are amongst us, Lord. You are with us right now and Your Spirit is powerful. So grow us in our knowledge, change us in our ways and make us new creations we pray right now Father, as we hear your word in Jesus name we pray, amen. All right, again, I do apologize for the very long passage readings that we're having at the moment. The reality is that it's just a whole story and to kind of... missed chapters would just kind of miss out on the story. This is all one big long story following all the way through the end from basically chapter 37 all the way to Genesis 50. But you guys are doing very well being patient, I say. And so now we're at this point, we're finally at the climax of the story. Finally, we know Joseph's about to reveal himself. It's finally like, okay, you guys all know the story, but you're sitting there just thinking in these guys shoes, they're sitting there and this is the 20 years in the making. This is going to be the fulfillment of the dream. This is everything that it was made to be. Oh, this is the climax of Genesis. It is going to be great. But one thing remains, he has not yet revealed himself. He has tested his brothers once and they've brought their brother down. They haven't lied. Again, they haven't covered up in a seat. But now he wants to see, will they love their brother more than themselves? That is what he really wants to know, right? He's putting them to the test again. Will they sell out their brother like they did me? Or will they rather lay down their life for him? Right? This is the question. We talked about it a little bit last week. Have they gone from being lovers of themselves to lovers of others? As in counting the needs of others more significant than themselves. So right, they're journeying home. And... Joseph's idea is I'm gonna put this silver cup in Benjamin's back. Because just imagine, this is almost like a very harsh plan because he puts it in the one brother's bag that didn't do anything wrong. So it's like God's now punishing the one brother who hasn't done anything wrong just to spite the other brothers. But no, this is all the tests from Joseph, sorry, is this one working? No, it's not, okay, sorry, sorry, I'll stick in front of this. Cool, all good. Sorry, I do want to walk around a bit. Got some energy to burn off? No, battery's dead. Oh good, cool. All right. So we see, he puts this cup into Benjamin's sack. Now this cup, it wasn't just a random cup, he calls it my cup, right? Now often in that day, Egyptians, they were known for, do you guys remember in the Exodus, right? When Moses does his first couple of miracles, there are these magicians that come along and they throw their stars down, they turn into snakes. But then obviously Moses' snake eats up their snakes. But there was a reality in Egypt, they were very well known for their magic. How they did it? I don't know. But one of the things that they particularly known for doing was that they would pour liquid into a big bowl. It was like a punch bowl. This is the kind of bowl that was talking about here. And depending on how the water would ripple and things, they would be able to tell the future. They could prophesy. So this is a very, like this is the cup of the ruler, right? Joseph is the most powerful man, Bar- Pharaoh, in the world at this time. And this is his cup. So this is probably going to end up with them, well, just like Nate said, they should be dead. And so this is not a good thing for them. And better yet, it's kind of building this picture, putting these brothers in a position where they cannot hide. Because, right, Joseph in the previous chapter, when they had their feast together, if you take note, he actually ordered them from oldest to youngest, but they don't know it's Joseph. So they're saying that he didn't ask, he didn't know. How did he see this from oldest to youngest? This guy must have some kind of divine connection or something. He didn't, he just knew, but... He's building this persona that he does have this divine connection to God, that this ability to see into the future, to know things that people shouldn't know, particularly getting these brothers into a point where they're like, we can't hide from this guy. There is nothing we can do to get out of this predicament. And so finally, he wants to see, they going to abandon Benjamin like they did me, or will they stand and sacrifice? And well, we see. The servant comes along, questions them and say, we would never do anything like that, you just gave us a bunch of free food. He searches through the bags, almost building the irony as it goes from the oldest to the youngest, and a Benjamin sack it has found. But then we see, it says there, the brothers in, they tore their clothes. Right? They're, you know, they're mourning. They're just in despair because they're like, no, this can't happen to us. We finally thought we were home and free. We finally thought things were going well. And again, God does this to us. But thank the Lord, they don't say, sorry, Benjamin, catch you later and head back home. They all pack up their things and go back in to the city. So again, things are looking better. We sit and saying, maybe, maybe there's 10 of us, you know? We can at least form some kind of human shield between Benjamin and Joseph, right? The governor. We can stop him. We might be able to intercede for our brother. We will be the shield between them, between him and this governor, Joseph. And then as they come before Joseph, who becomes the main intercessor, right? The man leading the negotiations. Well, the worse than that obviously offered up his life as a pledge for safety, Judah. So he comes before him and Joseph's smart, he's just building the guilt. The brothers say, take all of us and he says, no, no, I just want the one that's overwhelmed with guilt, feeling the need, then, Judah jumps in and substitutes himself. And then he begins to beg at the feet of Joseph. And then we get all these chapters basically retelling us the story of the last three or four chapters, right? We came here and then we went back there and then our father said this and yada, yada, yada, and all these different things. It's like, well, what's the retelling of the story for? he's trying to paint the picture to this fairytale. It's two years since I've been there. Our father loves this son Benjamin. He might have 10 other sons but this is his son. He cannot lose this one because otherwise he will simply be lost to the grave. He will die of a broken heart. And so you see it at the very end of the chapter. That is Judah's great fear. He says in verse 34, how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father. To know the evil that shall send him to his grave, I cannot do it. Take me instead. Now, Jacob's obviously put a very reasonable point to Judah, right? When he sent him initially off with Benjamin. He said, you must bring him back because just think about it. This is his favorite son. Not saying favorite is a good thing, but it's just the reality of it. It's as though he had no other sons but this one. And he's sitting there and saying, I cannot lose this one. And just think, can any parent bear the loss of a child? No, some people in this room inevitably have in the past. It is a debilitating reality. You can't stand it, right? There is the hope of God. Yes, they go to heaven. But it doesn't stop the grief here. And so of course, any parent that might face that reality is going to do everything they can to keep their child from such a reality, if they can. But Jacob's forced. Either watch your whole family starve, or send Benjamin down to Egypt. So he's in this incredibly hard place. Two sons that he had from Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph gone. Benjamin the very last one. I want you guys just to think, know, it's like, look, this is a stereotype and I know it is. But you think about parents who, you know, they're just like, we're only going to have one kid. Right. And they just, what often happens, you know, we call it helicopter parenting. Right. That's not a given, but just take the stereotype. Right. Why, why is it like that? We've got to be overprotective. We can't let the child go too far. We've to watch out for harm. We've got to watch out for dangers. Why is it? Because this is our only one. We can't lose this one. We lose this one. We don't have anything left. Right. There's no backup. There's no other plan. So I've got to protect this. I'll lay down my life rather than watching that child die. Anything harm come against it. This is Jacob's situation. Now want you to think in the Bible, was there ever another father who only had one son but yet gave him up for the sake of people who probably didn't deserve it? Oh, I know a good connection, isn't it? John 316. We all know it. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but should gain eternal life. Now when we read this passage, and seriously, even before I was a Christian, I knew this passage, right? I knew virtually nothing about Christianity, but my grandparents were good enough to teach it to me, even though I didn't even really know what it meant. But I also feel that though all of us know we focus upon the same thing every time, right? It becomes the same thing we slap on the mug. Wow, it's not a bad thing to focus on, but Jesus saved me. Jesus came down, think, he bore the cross for me. The wrath is gone, my sin is forgiven. Amazing. So the grace is incomprehensible for someone like me to receive that grace, to be saved, to gain heaven, to be a child of God, it is impossible. But we actually miss the point of the passage when we think that. Because the focus here isn't actually on Jesus. Jesus is the one that's going through. But what does it start with? For God so loved the world. That's good, Jesus went to the cross. Jesus did all those things. But that shows Jesus loved you. But how does it show that God the Father loved you? Sometimes people even split it up. say, oh, God the Father is the angry one and Jesus is just kind of saying, you know, he's getting rid of all the anger. Well he is, but that's not because God the Father hates you. It's because he loves you just as much as Jesus. Jesus is just the one to take the penalty. What is God the Son, Jesus, to God the Father? His only Son. You see, sometimes we boil it down to a machine. Just think the Trinity is just kind of this thing it's too hard to imagine or think about. But just think about this. How much did God love His Son? How much? Just take any parent and child relationship, right? Any parent loves their child. Hopefully the child loves them back. It's good when that happens. But you just take that love, times it by a million and you're just scratching the surface on how much he loves Jesus. Read about the things that happens after that he is raised from the dead. He is bringing everything under his feet. He makes the entire universe his kingdom. He gives him the name of every other name. You don't do that for someone you don't love. He literally says, my glory is your glory. Wow, what a love that he has for his son, this son he spent all eternity with. He is never known and this is his only son, his only begotten son from all eternity. And then he gives him He says, don't stay up in heaven with me, go down and be with them. Better yet, don't just hang out with them, actually incite them so that they might crucify you on a cross. And then when you're on that cross that they put you on, you're going to take the wrath that was meant for You just read from Romans 8.38 verse 39. where it says, I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now we look at that and again we say, wow, God loves me that much. But we forget the last couple words. And they separate us from the love of God. in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is actually a definition of how much God loves Jesus. That He shall never let anything come between Him and His Son. And so now this love becomes yours because why? Because you are in Jesus. This is, this just came on me when I was sitting there yesterday that I sat and thought, we're always thinking, does God love me? Right? But often we forget and we don't think, wait, I'm one with Jesus. Everything He receives, I receive. Right? He receives the glory from God. I receive it as well. He receives an eternal kingdom. So do I. And what does He always say to His son? This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So does he say to us? You are my beloved child and whom I am well pleased. Do you think he could ever say to Jesus, I don't love you? No, that is beyond imagination. But yet for some reason we think he can say it to us. But for him to say it to us would be for him to say it to Jesus. It cannot happen. And so you see the immensity of this love. And then you consider the fact that on that cross in the space of three hours, when again, this is a father to a son. He loves him at every moment in this journey. And yet he takes every sin from Adam to the very last person who will ever live, concentrates them a million eternities in hell and points them on one man for three hours. Don't even know how it's possible, but that is what happens. And God is in agony. God doesn't like having to do this to his son, but he looks on it in joy because he knows what shall come of it. that all of us shall receive salvation and be one with Him. And so just see how deep the love of God is. This is what I want you to see. Jacob was barely able to give up his son only in the face of being absolutely forced to because of starvation. God had no reason to send his son. he does. He had everything. But yet he says, I'm still going to send my son to die for those who are nothing, because I choose to love them. And so, we're going to go into some points after this, but this is really, man, if you just, if we got one thing as a church, this is what I'd want us to get. This is my prayer for you guys, that I pray every day. Ephesians 3, 17 to 19. I pray, and Paul prays for the Ephesians that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. How often do we pray a prayer like that? Often we pray for ourselves, there's nothing wrong with that. Often we pray for others, know, someone's sick over here, someone they're having some family struggles over here, know, we pray for that church, don't have a pastor. Great things to pray for. Do we pray that each other might more deeply comprehend the love of God? Not very often. But it is my, and I hope would become our, deepest prayer for one another. Because you see, we always run into this reality. We always run into this trap and temptation of the devil where we want to graduate from the gospel. Sometimes we ask this question, right, Matt, we get it. Okay, there's the gospel. We understand, yeah, we get it. Jesus died for me. I've been forgiven of my sins. Can we move on to something, I don't know, maybe more practical? Maybe a bit more to the point. I need the six steps to a better marriage. I need the 13 ways to not be addicted to my phone. I need these things. What does the Bible teach on that? But you see, we're sitting there thinking, once we graduate in Lixley, we've got the GOS, we've got it sorted, we don't need to go on anything more, we don't need more theology. We do. Because you see, it is like planting, you remember the parable of the man who built his house on the sand? I'm not saying it's not helpful to talk about how to get rid of the phone addiction. I'm not saying it's not helpful to talk about how to have a better marriage. But have you actually comprehended that knowing the love of God might actually be the key to it? Maybe knowing that God loves you so deeply might give you the strength to reconcile the marriage. to show grace to your partner, to know that God loves you and that despite the trouble you're in, he has a good purpose. That better yet, knowing the love of God might actually stop you from loving your phone so much. Right? All these things, we try to build our house on the sand because we just want the steps, we want the ways to improve our life. But is the theology that is the rock upon which the house needs to be built. The more deeply we plant our roots in the rock, the better the house is, the better the practical and the functional. And so that is what we must be doing. Comprehend the love of God. That is your job. And then you will find the application flows freely. And so what is the first outflow as we read in the story? Inevitably, the main character here, not just Joseph, not just Benjamin, but Judah. A man who has completely changed. A sinner. man who traded in his own brother. now interceding for his brother, saying, I'm gonna lay down my life for you. And why does he do it? Because he's motivated by love for his father. He loves his father. He couldn't stand to see anything happen to him. And he says, I can't stand to think of the evil that shall come upon him. Can you think of anyone else who that was like? John 14, 31. We read. But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Or John 4.34, Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. I need to eat, I need to drink, I need a place to sleep. Yet Jesus says, my food is to do the will of my Father. The most essential thing, my very breath, is to do the will of my Father. And so you see the motivation of love, the CC's, the love of the Father. And he says, I want to love him in return. So Jacob is motivated by the love for his Father as well. And what does that lead to? What did it lead Jacob to? What did it lead Jesus to? Sacrifice. That is the definition of love, right? What is the epitome of love in our world, right? Is it not marriage? Right? That's where true love is, right? That's what every romcom is building to. The couples meet but eventually one day they get engaged and they'll be married. And they'll live happily ever after, if you've ever seen Shrek, you know that. It's what it's building to. The marriage. But what does marriage come about? Become about now. Well, I get married so that, well, they fulfill something in me. Look what they bring into the marriage. Look what they do to build me up. Marriage nowadays is completely about being selfish, right? It is all about me. How does it serve me? We've taken the very thing that was meant to actually be the selfless covenant and made it selfish. A covenant that says, come join with me and I will lay down my life for you. We've taken what it's meant to look like, Christ and his church, and made it look a lot more like Satan and his followers. That's what the world has done. But we are meant to be unlike the world. Like it says in John 13, 35, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. This is a love unlike the world, not the selfish kind, not like the kind they want in their marriages. This is the kind like Jesus showed. The love that doesn't count the cost and that keeps no record of wrongs. That beautiful definition that's given for us in 1 Corinthians 13, that's read out at every marriage, not even at unbelieving ones, even though they really don't get the point. It keeps no record of wrongs. It lays down its life. And I want you to see your ability to be able to love. The reason Jesus could lay down his life is because he knew the love of his father. He knew what his father would do for him. His ability to see how deep the love went was how he was able to sacrifice so much. And so you see it is in seeing the love of the Father that enables us to sacrifice for one another. to be able to love without limits. And we need to be able to do this. Because you know one of the hardest things about the church, right? You know, they say one of the best things about friends, you can choose them. You don't have to stick around friends you don't want. But with family, you're stuck with what you got. And well, yeah, you come into the church and it's filled with people that you don't get to pick. This is the family you get, right? Whether you like them, whether you don't, God picked them for you. And God is not going to let you choose and define who you show love to or how that love should be. It is a selfless of a sacrificial love for people you may not like. So we must be ready to show that kind of love, to comprehend the love of God and be ready to show it to others. His love has been poured into our hearts that we might be able to share it with others. So therefore we must be ready to show it. We must look at our debt, right? Do you remember the story, the parable of the servant with the debt? He had a billion dollar debt, it was like seven billion dollars or something like that. And he gets off scot-free, the whole master wipes it out. And then someone owes him two dollars. And he says, you can't pay me up? Well, into prison you go. Ungrateful. He doesn't see all that he has been spared. That's exactly what we're like. We always seem to forget what Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6-12. Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. That's the measure, right? As we forgive those in this family, so we shall be forgiven. But have you seen what they've done, God? God just says, have you seen what you've done to me? I can forgive you. It may not be in you to forgive in your own strength, but my love has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit. And therefore it becomes possible as it says in Luke 747, with the negative here, He who is forgiven little loves little. Then as we know the continuation that's often added, then he who has been forgiven much loves much. And that's not, it's not talking about here when he is forgiven little loves little, that he has little sins, that he doesn't see his sins. This was the story of the parable, sorry, of the Pharisee in his house. But the woman was cleaning Jesus' feet with her hair. She was a prostitute, a sinner. The Pharisee couldn't comprehend. How can you, how can you let a woman like that do that? He says, she is much greater than you, for she loves much because she's been forgiven much, but you love little because you do not see your sin. And so it is the same with us. Comprehend how deep the love of God is and you can't unless you see how bad you are. Unless you see what God had to sacrifice. Give up what he had to watch his son suffer. What he had to make him go through for you. But when we see it, we might be able to understand. Do you guys get what I'm putting down? Yeah? Picking up what I'm putting down? Other way of putting it. Are you smelling what I'm stepping in? Yeah? Yeah? Understand. And so we go on to the second thing. We continue on in the story now, right? Joseph, sorry, Judah now, laying down his life for his brother, out of motivation, love for the father. I love you, Father. I couldn't let this evil come upon you. And then this is too much for Joseph. We're wrapping up now, this will our final... He says, wow. He sends everyone out. He says, I can't hold it in any longer. says, my brothers, it's me. I'm the one that's been testing you. It's been me all along. And he is just so happy to finally be, as this shall be our second point, reconciled. To be finally brought back to his brothers, he breaks down. But what is the natural reaction of his brothers? They are terrified. Right? But how does he soothe their conscience? How does he give them some hope? He says in verse four and five, he says, come near to me, please. So he says, begging, just please, I want to close the distance. Don't be far away anymore. I've been holding it off. He says, am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now they're thinking, yeah, that doesn't help us. We're not gonna come close for that. They're thinking there's only wrath. But then he says, but do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. How? 20 years of pain. This guy's suffering. He's been separated from his family. Look at the eagerness with which he wants to be joined to them. Surely you'd think he'd be little bit peeved that Judith is selling him off. But no, he just says all of it is gone. 20 years, gone in a blink. How can he do that? How is that possible? I'm sitting here thinking about the comment that someone made about me last week and I can't get over it. How can he get over 20 years? Because he doesn't see in them the face of sinners, the face of perpetrators of injustice against him, he sees God's plan. He sees him finally brought back. Did you actually think about that whole time when he's had this dream that his brothers would bow down before him all this time he spent in Egypt? We often tend to think, oh, he's probably sitting there waiting, oh yeah, they're gonna bow down to me. What if he was just sitting there saying, I'm gonna see them again. I'm gonna be with them again. God will bring a fulfillment to the dream. But in that reconciliation, he absorbs 20 years of debt, 20 years of pain and suffering. He says, I will not take it out on you, taking it on myself. You see, this kind of reconciliation, the kind that we want in the church, it is impossible without sacrifice. But yet God helps us, helps to make it possible by giving us this, as Joseph said. You, we'll read in Genesis 50 20, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God sent me here, said you might have sold me, but it wasn't really your plan. It was God's plan all along. And so we must deal with a subject here that we're actually going to deal with in far more detail in a couple weeks when we get to Genesis 50. But the reality that God controls evil, the Bible is filled with He controls evil yet remains righteous. We remain culpable for our guilt and yet somehow he can be the one that ordains it. I don't know how, but it is there. Read Peter's sermon in Acts 2. Read Isaiah 10 and the prophecy about Assyria. Read through the book of Habakkuk. All of it is about God is in control of evil. And so God ordained before the birth of any of these brothers that they would sell out their youngest, that many might be saved. So how does this help us? It was helpful for Joseph because he was seeing the fulfillment of the promise before his very eyes. So he could see in his brothers, he was seeing, you guys might have perpetrated injustice against me, but I'm seeing the blessing come forth before my very eyes. I am the most powerful man in the world. Thank you for selling me out. We don't always have sight, but we have the promise. We have faith, Romans 8.28. That old cornerstone. We know that those who love God, all things work together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. All things work for good. So what is the point here? What is the thing that helps us to reconcile? To take on the debt? When we look at people, right? We're so ready to show love to our brothers and sisters, to our friends. to the people that we get along with. But it only takes a few wrong words, a few slights, a few, you know, disagreements. Enemy. And the love drives up quicker than a puddle on bitumen, right? Gone like that. But then God, and they get put into that category of enemy. They're not one for me. I'm against them because they're against me. And that is how we want to categorize the world. These people have come in there accursed me. They're doing me wrong. I'm suffering injustice because of them. And yet what has Joseph seen? In the face of his brothers, he has seen his blessing. And so we know that those people shall come into our lives. People shit that shall slander us, insult us, hurt us. They may steal from us. They might lie to us. Suffer all kinds of things. yet they are instruments of God's blessing in your life. Super hard to believe because you've all got someone popping in your head right now. That one person that you think, how? How? I don't understand, I don't see it. That's why it's called faith. The promise is there, something good shall come of it. The story of Joseph is there to show us. 20 years, you don't see it, but it will come to pass. It may take your entire life. You may die before you see the fulfillment, but it will happen. For we can have this assurance as it serves Proverbs 921, because we think about these people, they come into our lives, they have intentions to harm us, but yet what does it say? Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. And what is his purpose for his saints? Everything in their lives, one day they will look back on and say, thank you God that you sent that into my life. Thank you for that man that led me to losing my farm. Thank you for that man that put me in that place of utter depression. Thank you for that person that insulted me and would not give me an ounce of grace. Because through them you brought blessing into my life. This blessing will never be material. It will always be that you will receive more of God. You will comprehend more of His love. So understand the belief in the sovereignty of God unlocks this forgiveness. We must constantly remind ourselves as you're in the midst of it, suffering insults from these people, suffering the harm they brought into your life, you have to say, God, I don't get it. I don't understand it. I'm hurting right now, but you have promised this person is a blessing. Doesn't get rid of the evil and the wrongdoing they're doing. What they are doing is evil. They will be punished. Right? We know what it says, right? Do not avenge yourselves, but remember, Gee, God says, vengeance is mine and I will repay. They will be repaid for their evil. But you are to see them as a blessing that God will use. And so it enables us to show them grace. And so my friends, bringing all of it to a close. Really, the whole point of this is just to say, meditate on the love of God. Meditate on it so you get to a point where you say, He cannot love me this much. It cannot be possible that someone would do this for me. You... Just like Jacob says, can't believe it. As it says, his heart became numb for he did not believe them when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. But then when he saw the wagons, when he saw all the riches of Egypt coming to his door, said, it must be true. You guys have received the riches of salvation. You have been saved and spared from your sins. Would you just trust God in this, this one person? This one thing in your life is here for your good, not for your detriment. Believe that. So let us conclude in prayer now. Father, what a love that would bring you down to earth. father that you would enter into among your people. People that didn't want any part of you, that rejected you. Father, that you would send your son into the midst of this. That your son would suffer such harm. That he would have to sacrifice so much. Though he be king of the universe, he become a criminal on a cross. Because we were meant to be the criminal on that cross. But Father, you have spared us. You have shown us such love, Father. Help us to see your love. And Father, would you pour that love into our hearts? May you grant us the strength to comprehend with all the saints, the height, the breadth, the depth and the love of it, to understand it, to be filled with the fullness of God, which is, is love. And then Lord, in that overflow, might it flow out into others that we might hold no sin against another, that we might forgive all, show grace to all people, even the greatest of all sinners against us. for you have done it to us and in your love we can do it to them. So Father, please help us to do this today, to be reconciled and unified as a church. We pray in Jesus' amen.