If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Genesis chapter 42, 43, excuse me.
And I entitled the message, "Come and Dine." And we know the story, all that's going on in
Joseph's life. But I just wanted to take a second here and just let you know that
I'm not watching the Olympics. And actually, there's a few wrestlers, I really want to see
how they do, but I'll read about it later, I guess. But yeah, it's just absolutely blasphemous.
And praise God for this kid that plays for the Chiefs. He's a place kicker for the Chiefs,
Harrison Buecher. And obviously, he's been in the news a lot simply because he gave a
commencement speech at one of the universities, a Catholic university, just encouraging women that
they could stay home and be moms if they would like, and that God designed them that way. And
he just got lambasted. So he responded to the Last Supper with all the drag queens. I don't know if
you haven't seen it, you don't need to see it, but it's very disgusting. And so he quotes,
Buecher did on national television, quotes Galatians 6, where he says, "Do not be deceived,
God is not mocked." Right? And the rest of that goes on a couple more verses, says, "For whatever
a man sows, that will he also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of his flesh reap corruption,
but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary
while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith." And so
we can bless one another, we can speak out against the perversion, but he also calls us to turn the
other cheek, to love our enemies, to pray for them. These people have been deceived, they don't know
what they're doing, and they need Jesus. So, amen? So, I'm not telling you not to watch the Olympics,
I'm just saying, I just like, really? You just ruin it for everybody, you know? And not only that,
but they got a bunch of people from Yemen to do the security. Now, I don't know if that's, you know,
that's kind of like calling the wolves to watch the sheep, you know? So, anyway, crazy, crazy stuff
going on in our world, and it gets more bizarre by the day. So, if you have your Bible, we're in
Genesis 43, and let's pray. Father, thank you for this Word that is, it's so full, it's rich, it's
got, Lord, just great lessons, but also just great stories of just the human experience, and
how to navigate some of it, and how not to. And Lord, we love you, and we thank you that you
can teach us things from the lives of these people who have gone before us, Lord, who no doubt
at times struggled. Just as your Word tells us that in the world, we will have tribulation,
but to be of good courage, you've overcome the world. And so, Lord, so help us to endure,
help us to pace ourselves, Lord, in these times in which we live. And as we look at your Word,
Lord, that it would be something that is very applicable to each one of our lives, in Jesus'
name, amen. Okay, so here we have Joseph. He had told his brothers to go back, and that he was
gonna hang on to Simeon until they brought Benjamin back. And we get to see this from like a 20,000
foot view, right? 'Cause we see all the players, we know what's going on. But none of these people
know what's going on. Well, Joseph does, right? And he's still incognito. They don't know who he is.
And so, in verse one and two there, it says, "Now the famine was severe in the land,
and it came to pass when they had eaten up the grain, which they had brought from Egypt,
that their father said to them, 'Go back and buy a little food.'" Right? So they procrastinated.
They're not going back. Benjamin ain't going back. We've seen the heart of Jacob, right? I'm not
letting this kid go. I've already lost one. I'm not gonna lose another one. And so, he's not gonna
let that boy go back. So I think everybody's just afraid to talk about it. So they're eating up the
food. They're burning time. They're burning daylight because the food is gonna run out.
Because it says the famine became very, very severe. And they're just scraping by, no doubt,
possibly losing livestock here and there, and possibly even some people. The food is gonna
absolutely be gone if they don't do something. And so, he tells them, "Well, go back to Egypt."
Right? He procrastinated. Have you ever done that? Any procrastinators? I'm a terrible
procrastinator, right? I procrastinate all the time. And then sometimes I try to hurry up and
get it done. And you're always getting a pickle. So if you can head it off with the past, that's
just a good idea. And yet, he's waiting till they're kind of in a pickle here. Maybe he was
hoping the famine would subside. Maybe he figured they had enough food to sustain them for a while
until things would come. But maybe that's not really wise thinking there. And so,
he tells them to go back. And Judah pipes up, right, in verse three. And,
well, first of all, you gotta think that the reason that Jacob is procrastinating is because
of fear. Otherwise, wouldn't you say, "Okay, go back, get more, take management back,
prove to the guy that you're honest men, tongue in cheek, and we'll be good." But he doesn't do that.
And so, the Bible talks a lot about fearing. And these are times, these are fearful times for a
lot of people. I talk to a lot of people, they're just scared. They're scared of what's coming.
They're scared financially. They're scared politically. They're scared militarily. People
are scared around the world, not knowing what's gonna happen. When Trump and Netanyahu met this
week and that it's, you know, we're on the verge of World War III. And so, it could happen. So,
what are we full of? Are we full of fear or are we full of faith? 'Cause it's obvious throughout
Scripture, you cannot have both. It's like they can't coexist, fear and faith. One cancels out
the other, right? So, either fear crushes faith or faith crushes fear, right? I've always liked
this Bible verse and I always thought it said faith, but it says strength. It says in Proverbs
chapter 24, 10, it says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." Right?
If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. And our strength is not just
intestinal fortitude that you and I have. Our strength is our faith in somebody much bigger
than ourselves, right? That God has got this no matter how bad it looks. And so, it's looking bad,
but it doesn't appear that Jacob is walking by faith. Deuteronomy encourages faith when it says,
"Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God,
He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." Psalm 34, verses 4 and 5
says, "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from my fears. They looked to Him
and were radiant and their faces were not ashamed." Psalm 23, "Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff,
they come from me." And so, here's Jacob. He really is in the valley of the shadow of death,
right? Because death is looming, not just over his son, Benjamin, but over all the people.
Well, it's really not until they run out of food when push comes to shove. And that's when
Judah speaks up in verse 3 where he says, "But Judah spoke to him saying, 'The man solemnly
warned us saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you send
your brother with us, we will go down and buy food. But if we... But..." I just lost my place.
And that, "But if you will go down and buy... But if you will not send him..." There we go.
"We will not go down for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with
you.'" Right? He's going, "We can't go. Why would we go? If Benjamin isn't with us, we would go down
and just have to come back empty-handed? That's stupid. That's not even logical." And so, Judah
seems to be making some sense here and saying, "Dad," right? "Ben has to go with us or we don't
go. We can't go. He's got to see his face." It would be a waste of trip if we went without him
and just go by. We're not... The guy was too serious. He... Joseph was awfully convincing
with his authority and the way he talked to them, right? And we can't go see this guy's face simply
because, listen, he's the one that's going to save us, right? He's the one that's going to save us.
And I just think of people going before Jesus or standing before God without having come under that
crimson flow that so many hymns have been written about, right? That you're under the
cleansing power of the blood and you're in good graces with the one who's in authority,
that you've been forgiven, and that when Jesus sees you, he'll see somebody that he's familiar
with and that he knows. But can you imagine being one of those who stand before him and he looks at
you and he shakes his head? "I'm sorry. Though you called me Lord, I never knew you. Depart from me,
you workers of iniquity." I don't know about you, but that just sends chills up and down my spine.
That is a very fearful thing. It seems that Judah had learned some lessons in life,
right? From maybe selling his brother in the disaster with Tamar. He's reasonable, but Jacob
doesn't seem to have any logic whatsoever. Because why? Because he's so gripped with fear.
What scares you? Do you ever ask yourself that question? I had a high school kid. We were working
on my building, my big barn I built here three or four years ago. And I'm walking up the truss,
and it's 30 feet to the ground. And I'm walking, I'm not holding on to anything. I'm walking up
the trusses. And this kid's just shaking his head. He goes, "What are you afraid of?" And I thought,
"That is just an awesome question. What are you afraid of?" Right? You afraid of heights? You
afraid of the devil? You fear God? What are you afraid of in your life? You afraid of losing
someone? That's a fear you have to get over. You realize you have to hold everybody fairly loosely
because people leave all the time, that we're not ready for them to leave.
And I'm sure little Brian that was up here earlier, he wasn't ready for that.
And yet it happens all the time. And so, preparing ourself as much as possible,
at least being reasonable and realizing, yes, this happens. Yes, we are not alone in this.
So many people think that when it happens to them, they're the only ones. No, it's been happening
since the beginning of time, since man took his first breath. It's been happening.
And those are hard things. And so, Israel kind of comes to his senses in verse six, where he says,
"And Israel said, 'Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you still had
another brother?' But they said, 'The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family,
saying, "Is your father still alive? Have you any other brothers or another brother?" And we told
him according to these words, "Could we possibly have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother
down'?"" So Jacob, he's chastising him, which in a way is kind of prophetic because he says,
"Why did you deal so wrongfully is what my new King James, the literal word is wickedly. Why did
you deal so wickedly with me?" And in fact, they did, right? Not in this case, but in the case of
Joseph, they did. They did deal. And so he asked them why everyone seems to be reaping the wages
of their sin right now, because they are in the valley of the shadow of death. What's the wages
of sin? Death. The wages of sin is death. And it's like death is just looming over everyone.
My wife and I were talking about this just not too long ago, the amount of people that we have
seen just recently die. And it's sad, and your heart breaks for the families, and you mourn with
them. But I love the second part of that verse, right? "Yes, the wages of sin is death." What?
"But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." I was telling the boys up at
the camp last week, I love to put that verse, Romans 6, 23 on birthday cards. And they're like,
"What?" Yeah, birthday cards. Because it's the whole story in one little verse. "The wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." It's right there's the
gospel. It's really good. Great birthday card verse. My family just shakes their head at me
like, "You're crazy. Why would you do that to people?" Because it's true, right? Or
James tells us what sin does. The wages in Romans there is death, but then it says,
"And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth
death." It's so true. And these guys, it's growing. It's growing, and it's affected the whole family.
And so, the brothers think that they're kind of off the hook maybe. I don't know,
but it seems to be coming back to bite them. There is no possibly way, they say, that we
could have known that he would do this. That he would turn the tables on us
and ask us that question to come down with our brother or he wouldn't see our face. And
verse eight, it says, "Then Judas said to Israel, his father, 'Send the lad with me,
and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die. Both we and you and our little ones,
I myself will be surety for him. From my hand you shall require him, if I do not bring him back to
you and set him before you. Then let me bear the blame forever. For if we had not lingered,
surely by now we would have returned this second time." So, Judah is actually speaking rationally.
It seems like he's calm, right? And he's definitely a voice of reason. If we don't go,
everybody dies. You're just worried about Benjamin. Maybe worried about Simeon too.
If we don't do this, everybody dies. So, I think reality is starting to sink in to Jacob's heart.
We are taking a chance, but it is a good chance on going down there. And I myself will be the guarantee
for the lad to bring him to the father. He's not radical like poor Reuben that says, "Well,
if we don't come back, I'll kill both my boys." He just says, "No, I'll be the guarantee. I'll
be the sacrifice. I'm not gonna..." And it reminds me, this is such a beautiful picture of Judah
as Christ here, 'cause Jesus is our guarantee to the father, right? John chapter 14, verse 6,
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father
except through me.'" And so, Judah is that guarantee as he promises to go down and to actually
give opportunity of life to everybody, just like Jesus did when he came for us, that mediator,
that he came, right? Not just for us, but he died for the sins of the whole world. When you start
thinking about that, you're just like, "Wow, that's big. That's much more than I even think
in my own life. I know he died for my sins, and that's very personal. I'm very grateful."
But just think about the sin of the whole world, the stuff that we've seen at the Olympics this
week. He died for all that. People can be redeemed from that and rescued from that.
Now, if you and I were God, we probably wouldn't go there. We'd just fry 'em.
You know, I have been guilty of this mentality, you know? "Kill 'em all! Let God sort 'em out."
And I realize that's not very pastoral, for sure. Not very loving either, because then I always have
to throw myself into the mix, because, right? Because, you know, I am one. So, verse 11 goes
on and it says, "And their father Israel said to them, 'If it must be so, then do this. Take some
of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man.'" We gotta
butter the guy up. "'A little balm and a little honey,'" because they only had a little, "'spices
and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand. Take back in your hand the
money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother.'"
Notice he doesn't say, "Take my son." "'Take your brother also and arise and go back to the man.
And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your brother and Benjamin.'"
If I am bereaved, I am bereaved, right? If I'm gonna have to mourn, if I'm gonna have to go
through this, then I guess I'm just gonna have to go through it. There's a difference between
surrendering to God's loving providence and bowing to blind fate. And I think that's kind of the
mindset that Jacob is here. "Oh, woe is me," right? We can't do anything about it. Instead of
bolstering his own emotions and heart in faith, Jacob's statements show where he stood.
"If it must be so, if I'm bereaved, then I'm bereaved." This kind of response certainly
doesn't sound like the Jacob of Bethel, you remember? When he claimed the promises of God
and realized that, "Oh, even though my head is on a stone, God is with me." And the angels, you know,
going up and down on that ladder, it almost appears like he forgot that. Nor is Jacob who led
his family back to Bethel. You remember them when they went back after the whole debacle at Shechem,
right? His feelings of grief and despair had almost extinguished his faith.
Always the controller, right? Jacob was always trying to control every situation. He's totally
out of control in this situation. Instead of trusting in the Lord in faith, he is becoming a
tailless Eeyore. "Oh, woe is me. Where's my tail?"
So, he's really struggling. And I don't know, I think there's a lot of people really struggling
today. And really, it's on us to seek the Lord. I talked with a young man the other day and he
kept telling me, "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do." I'm just going,
I'm thinking in my heart, "It's so simple what to do. Seek the Lord, right? Seek out truth.
The truth is going to set you free. And the truth is Jesus. That's what you do. You seek the Lord.
It's not rocket science. "Yeah, but I've made such a mess and there's so many consequences."
Well, yeah, that's part of it, you know? You don't come through things unscathed, but you change
directions. That's what repentance means, right? And so, it's encouraging to see. I see a lot of
young people thinking, "I gotta change my ways." Yeah, you do. You gotta change your ways. So,
change course and draw close to the Lord. And it's like Jacob finally comes to his senses right there
at the end in verse 14 when he says, "May God Almighty give you mercy before the man that he
may release your brother and Benjamin." Right? He's going, "Oh, I'm finally coming to that place
where I'm going to cry out to God." So many people think you got it. "Oh, I got this." No, you don't.
You need help. You need help in decision makings, you know, about things to buy and where to go.
We need to be seeking the Lord. We left on a trip the other day and I'm going, "We didn't seek the
Lord. Is it going to end in disaster?" I took off on my bike the other day. I didn't seek the Lord.
I hit a railroad track and got a flat tire. I'm sitting there in the middle of the highway with
a flat tire on this bike. Had to call my wife to come get me. But then I'm thinking, "God, you're
so good. Because I didn't seek you, I was probably heading for a railroad crossing where I wouldn't
have stopped and a train would have hit me. But you said, 'No, I'm going to give him a flat tire
because he's such a bonehead. Maybe he'll seek me next time.'"
But he says, "God Almighty," it's the word El Shaddai, the all-sufficient one.
And so he's like, "Now you're getting back on the wrong right track where you've been,
'Woe is me.'" Now get your mind off of yourself. Set your mind on things above, as it tells us
in the New Testament. And he's praying that God would show mercy.
And having Simeon released and Benjamin not hurt.
So, "But if I am bereaved, I'm bereaved." I heard a story of a man who lost three sons.
They were all preteen. And I think their ages were eight to 14. Oh, so that wouldn't be preteen. Eight
to 12, I think is what their ages were. Lost three of his boys. And I think he had four. So he only
had one left alive. Somebody asked him, "How do you get through that, losing children?"
Right? I mean, over the years, I've watched people as they lose children and
their life can drastically change. They seem to get bitter or better.
And you see probably more bitterness than you do betterness. And they asked this guy
how he got through it. And he said, "What I had to convince myself of in losing my three sons,
what I had to convince myself of is my three greatest losses in my life were my three sons.
What I had to realize is that my three greatest losses were my three sons' greatest gains."
Right? I had to realize that my three greatest losses were my three sons' greatest gains.
There is a guy who has it going on. Right? He's walking by faith. Obviously, so overwhelming,
a situation like that. And yet, and I can't remember how it happened, if it was some kind
of a wreck, a boat wreck or a car wreck or something. But it was just, it was a gripping
story of how somebody would process that and get through it. And that's, you know, Philippians,
it tells us to live as Christ and to die as gain. And he recognized that for his three sons.
And so, Jacob is like resigning to that. If I be bereaved, I am bereaved. And,
but he does mention God. So he's slowly seeming to come back. So the men took that present and
Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand and rose and went down to Egypt. They listened to
their dad and they stood before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the
steward in his house, "Take these men to my home and slaughter an animal and make ready for these
men will dine with me at noon." Then the man did as Joseph ordered. And the man brought the men
in to Joseph's house. Now, the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house.
And they said, "It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time,
that we are brought in so that he may make a case against us and seize us and take us as slaves with
our donkeys." And when they drew near to the steward of Joseph's house, they talked with him
at the door of the house and said, "Oh, sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food,
but it happened when we came to the encampment that we opened our sacks and there each man's
money was in the mouth of his sack and our money in full weight. And so we have brought it back
in our hand and we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put
our money in our sacks." But he said, "Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. You're God. And the
God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money." And then he brought
Simeon out to them." So these guys are scared to death. Joseph goes, "Hey, come to my place."
Well, you know, it's the contrast between the two views of what's happening here, right?
Joseph goes, "I'm going to reveal myself to these guys. I'm going to bless them. I'm going to,
you know, I'm excited. They're going to know who I am." And these guys are like, "We're dead.
We are dead." Right? That's why he's bringing us to his house. He's just going to kill us. We're
probably going to have to be his personal slaves and wait on him hand and foot. Man, we're done.
We're toast. Isn't that funny how different people look at different things? And what's
the reality? The reality is Joseph, because he's basically a picture of the truth. He knows what's
going on. These poor guys are lost as a goose, right? They don't have a clue what's happening.
You and I, we really don't know how, have a clue what's happening. We know the world seems crazy
right now. But doesn't it comfort your heart to know who's in control? Right? It's not a,
it shouldn't be overwhelming. I mean, obviously we see some things get upset for a minute, but
hey, God's got this. Nobody's getting away with anything, right? People get so mad. "Oh,
they just get away with murder." No, they don't. Not really. Only for a time. There's a day of
reckoning for everyone, right? Jesus is going to judge the quick and the dead,
those who are alive and those who are dead. He's going to judge everyone.
We need to have his perspective. If these guys would have had Joseph's perspective,
they'd been cool. They wouldn't have had ulcers. They wouldn't have been wringing their hands.
I love it. They're so scared. Maybe Joseph's excited about talking about old times, right?
And so they're thinking, "Because we're subject to this guy, we really got to try to get somebody
on our side." Right? So they start talking to the steward and telling the whole thing. They turn to
the steward. Bible commentators say that when people are in this situation, what do they seek?
A mediator. Right? They seek a mediator. And that's a good thing. The Bible says that Jesus
is our mediator, the mediator between God and man. And so these guys are seeking a mediator
because they know that they need somebody between them and this ferocious judge that's going to take
them and make them slaves. And so they start talking to this guy. Warren Wiersbe says, "In
a situation like that, you look for the nearest mediator." And they wisely turned to Joseph's
steward. If they could convince him of their innocence, then he would present their case to
Joseph who might excuse them. They were in for another surprise because the steward knew more
about the money than they did. And he assured them that they had nothing to fear. And they're
thinking, "Oh no, can this really be?" He told them, "I had your money." And then he tries to
encourage them in their faith. "Your God and the God of your father, right? He's watched out over
you, right? He's given you treasure in your sack." This is where my dad gets, I never knew why he
always said this. He always says, "Get your sack open." Right? "Get your sack open." Why? "So God
can put treasure in it." Right? And he's saying that God did this. So I'm wondering if maybe some
of Joseph's faith has rubbed off on his trustee steward. And so they're trying to get in a place
where they can have somebody defend them thinking, "No, it's about the money. He's going to lambaste
us for stealing all the money." And this guy goes, "No, I had your money. In fact, I'm the one that
put it back in your sack. And actually God, your God was involved in the whole thing and the God
of your father, El Shaddai, the same one that Jacob was talking about. And as it is with them,
so it is with us." You realize God's got your life, right? But have you made a mess that caused you to
be paranoid? These guys are paranoid. I mean, paranoid. And I've seen people like that. I've
seen people that they know where they should be with the Lord and they're not there. And they get
paranoid. I remember being paranoid. I was backslidden. I remember seeing, I would see Christians
in the grocery store and I'd go the other way. You ever done that? Okay, be honest. Raise your hands
if you've ever done that. It's just like, I don't want to talk to that person right now.
It's not because I don't love them. Well, okay, maybe it is, but
we're terrible.
But they knew they needed somebody to go between. They knew they needed help.
You know, that's half the battle when you know you need help. That is half the battle.
I remember talking to a gal, I talked to her this morning. Things are going great, but
I remember her calling me and I'm thinking, it is so cool that young people turn to the Lord when
they need help. And it's so heartbreaking when they turn the other way when they need help.
Right? And some, even our own kids, you know, to have them turn to the Lord or talk to somebody
who you know that knows the Lord. I remember one of our children was in a pickle and in a different
place geographically than here, but was very familiar with some of the people they grew up with.
And when things got bad and they'd been making some mistakes, they went to those people of faith
and asked them to help them and pray with them and to kind of lead them back to where they needed
to be. Because there is no more miserable place than knowing where you need to be with God and
not being there. It is absolute misery. And it could be something as simple as a ministry.
I was walking with the Lord. The Lord had called me to do this ministry. I ignored Him for a year.
You know what He did? He threw me on my head. God threw me on my head.
Well, it was really a bull, but God used that bull to throw me on my head.
And I thought I was paralyzed. Fire shot down my spine and down both arms, and I could not move my
arms for a little bit. And I'm thinking, and the Lord had been talking to me seriously about this
thing for about nine months. And I knew I needed to do it. I knew it was God's call on my life.
And I was walking with the Lord. I was going to church. I was plugged in.
But I was going to do my own thing. And God goes, "No, you're not. You're not going to do your own
thing. You're going to do what I'm calling you to do." And so He threw me on my head. And sure enough,
I did what God called me to do. I'm hard-headed, so that's why He's got to throw me on my head.
I hope you're not hard-headed.
But treasures in their sacks. There's so much kindness here for these guys,
that God has chosen to give treasures to us who are undeserving. And this is just a beautiful
picture here. 2 Corinthians chapter four talks about it, about treasures, when it says,
in verse six of 2 Corinthians four, it says, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of
the darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, what the excellence of the
power may be of God and not us." That God is the one who blesses with these blessings. Every good
and perfect gift comes down from Him. And that God had actually moved on Joseph's heart and this
steward to give their money back to him, and that they could buy that much more food to sustain
them. And so He's going, "You guys are looking at the wrong thing. You're looking at the wrong
person. Look to your God." He's like giving them a hint. Maybe you need that hint. You need to be
looking to the Lord for the things going on in your life instead of trying to fix it or find
somebody who you think can fix it. We walk by faith and not by sight, the scripture tells us.
Verse 24, He goes on there, "So the man brought the men into Joseph's house and he gave them water
and he washed their feet and he gave their donkeys feed. And then they made the present ready for
Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. And when Joseph
came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house and bowed down
before him to the earth and bowed down. Then he asked them about their well-being and said,
'Is your father well?' The old man of whom you spoke, 'Is he alive?' And they answered, 'Your
servant, our father, is in good health. He is still alive.' And they bowed down their heads
and prostrated themselves." So the bowing continues, right? Clear back in the earlier
chapter when he was a teenager, telling him, "You guys are going to bow before me." And they just
keep doing it, right? They just keep bowing before Jesus, which I think is a great picture, or Joseph,
excuse me, because we need to keep bowing before Jesus until He comes and until we're with Him.
And the kindness that is shown these guys, right? They end up giving their present, right, that
their dad had sent to Joseph and bowed down. But things are so, like this, are so hard to receive
when you're suspicious. So suspicious. They can't even receive this kindness. They're just going,
"Let's give him the present and see if that'll appease him." Let alone what the kindness that
has been shown to them already. But you just can't, when you're suspicious, it's like you can't receive
good things. I've heard of people that have come to Idaho from back east. Said, "You Idahoans,
you know, some of you people are kind of nice around here." No, if you say, "Hi," or wave,
or shake somebody's hand back east, they're like, "What do you want?" You know, they're just like
some of the big cities that they're from. And I'm just like, "Oh, wow.
I know a little town where I grew up, just west of where I grew up,
if you don't wave at somebody, they pull you over and ask if something's wrong."
Right? Everybody in town, you wave, you wave, you know? And
they just can't receive this kindness that's being shown them. Psalm 117, verse 2 says, "For
his merciful kindness is great to us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord."
Romans 2, 4. "Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" You would think that this, "Golly,
they washed our feet. They fed our donkeys. They're going to feed us. Are they just fatnessing up,
fatnessing us up for the slaughter?" Not so. And God doesn't work that way. God blesses you
because he's good. That's what Joseph is doing here. He's blessing his brothers
simply because there is a goodness in him. And it should lead to repentance.
When you look back at your life, do you see how good God's been to you?
I get chastised sometimes for doing that goodness of God song,
because one of the writers is a Bethel guy. I'm going, and there's all kinds of arguments about,
"Okay, what songs do you listen to? Or what songs do you sing at your church? Oh,
you can't sing those songs at your church." And I'm going, "Okay, why?" And so people will say,
"Well, because the people who wrote it or this or that." Well, you could have made that argument
over a hundred years ago about Amazing Grace, because the guy was a slave trader that was so
brutal that wrote it, right? He scattered bodies all over the ocean. Yeah, but he repented. Yeah,
he repented, but he set the tune to a barroom tune. So now we can't do Amazing Grace?
No, I think doctrine, you test all things, you hold onto what's good, is what the Bible says.
But that goodness of God song, I realized Bethel wrote it, but
it just takes me back to how good God's been to me. You know how good God's been to you?
You realize how good God's been to you.
And if today was the last day, He's been gooder to me than I deserve.
I don't know, is gooder a word?
- It is a good story.
- Yeah, it is now. That's awesome.
So this is quite a story. I mean, the soaps during the weekdays have nothing on this story
with Joseph and his family. Verse 29 says, "Then he lifted his eyes and he saw his brother Benjamin."
His mother's son. And he said, "Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?" And he
said, "God be gracious to you, my son." Now his heart yearned for his brother. So Joseph made haste
and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. And then he
washed his face and came out and he restrained himself and said, "Serve the bread." Here's his
brother. He's just like, "Ah, you've seen those reunion things. I watch him, I cry like a baby."
You know, have you seen those reunion things and the look on people's faces when they see their
loved one? You know, especially the military stuff when kids see them. It's just like, oh, I think
that's what it's gonna be like when we see Jesus. It's just gonna be like this overwhelming
emotional rush of like, I've waited so long for this. That I get to see you and I get to embrace
you. And sometimes it's like that with our prodigals, right? And it doesn't have to be
a prodigal child. It can be a prodigal parent or uncle or aunt or whatever.
But he was overcome with emotion. And he says, "Be gracious, God, be gracious to you."
And then he says, "All right, let's eat." Let's eat, right? 'Cause he grew up with the Hebrew
roots of thinking that when you ate the food that you consumed, it's like we're one,
where there's this communion. It's real. It's intimate. But in the Egyptian culture, it had
changed. And so basically what he's saying is, you know, come and dine. And he's desiring to be at
this table with his brothers. It's kind of Jesus's desire for us to come and dine with him. And
that's why I entitled this that. You know, that old song I remember hearing the kids sing it years
ago, you know, that Jesus has his table spread where the saints of God are fed. He invites his
chosen people come and dine. With his manna he doth feed and supplies our every need. Oh, too
sweet to sup with Jesus all the time. Come and dine. The master calleth, come and dine. You may
feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude and turned the water and the wine,
right, to the hungry he calls now, come and dine. And I just thought that was a beautiful picture of
what Joseph is doing here in the kindness that he's showing, the food that he's providing,
and the fellowship that he desires with his brothers, just as God desires a fellowship with us.
That he desires that, those prayers, right? He desires us to talk to him and commune and
bring our, casting our cares upon him for he cares for us.
And so this emotion, it just, it had overwhelmed him. And so he gathers himself and
in verse 32 through 34 it says, "So they set him
a place by himself." Now this is Joseph has a place by himself. "And them by themselves,
the Egyptians, and who ate with him by themselves. Because the Egyptians could not eat food with the
Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him,
the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.
And the men looked in astonishment at one another. Then he took servings to them from before him,
but Benjamin's serving was five times as much as any of theirs. And so they drank and were
merry with him." Right? So everybody's getting to chow down and dig in, but there's a separation
in the Egyptian world that he didn't eat with these brothers because of his position. And
actually he had his own place. But Egypt was one of the most racially separated societies on earth.
They believe that Egyptians came from the gods and all other people came from lesser origins.
There was little social mixing with foreigners in the Egypt of Joseph's day. And so
everybody had to be separate. The Egyptians had to be separate. Joseph had to be separate
either because they knew he wasn't Egyptian. And then the brothers were actually an abomination.
We'll see later that the Hebrews were an abomination. Why? Because they were cowboys.
So here you are in a cowboy church, an abomination.
Actually, I had a Christian friend tell me in 2008, he got in the car after the election
and said, "Well, boys, looks like we got an abomination." Get it? Abomination. Never mind.
Never mind. That's all old hat. A lot juicier stories nowadays.
But verse 33, I love it because it's, they were astonished, right? And it says,
"And they sat beforehand, the firstborn according to his birth to the youngest." So here they are
in birth order, right? You got Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher,
Isaacar, Zebulun, and Benjamin. 11 men sitting in birth order.
Now, they were astonished. There's a reason that they were astonished, right? That they're sitting
like that is because the statistical odds of that happening, 11 brothers sitting in precise birth
order, check this out, is 1 in 40 million. 1 in 40 million. So I'm wondering, I'm wondering if
they're still suspicious or if they're thinking, "God is in this place." Right?
And then, right? He doesn't leave it there. He serves them. You know, can you imagine Joseph
going around giving Judah, right? Reuben, Simeon, giving everybody food. And then he goes back and
he comes out with a plate with five times the food for his little brother. I'm wondering if he knows
that, or he believes because his younger brother is still subject to his older brothers,
I think maybe this was another test to see how they reacted, right? When the younger brother
got this five times more food than everybody else because they had resented it so much, right? When
Joseph was favored by his dad, he's wondering, "Man, are they gonna be, are they gonna be upset?"
Joseph wanted to see if there was a change of heart in his brothers and if they were the same
men who threw him into the pit. Because obviously he didn't want his little brother to be subject
to that. But the bottom line here, I think the takeaway today is, is God desires this intimacy,
this supping together. And that's what it says in Revelation chapter three, verse 20,
where Jesus, you know, he's talking to a lukewarm church. I believe it's the church today.
I believe that the church is very lukewarm. But in verse 20, he's saying, "Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. And if anyone, if anyone will open the door to me and let me come in, I will come
into them." Isn't it interesting that when we get saved, the invitation that we get, "Jesus, come
into my heart." Why our heart? Because Jeremiah tells us our heart is desperately wicked. He said,
"I will come into you and I will, I will, I will sup with you." He wants us close.
I'm amazed at how my wife wants our kids close.
She, she just wants her kids just right there.
That's kind of the heart of the Lord. He wants us right there.
I hope you're there. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you have, you have a table prepared for us,
that one day we're going to be there, Lord. And it's, it's, it's, it's already, there's just a
timing that only you know. And I pray that we would be okay with that timing. And Jesus, we ask that
you, by your Holy Spirit, would just minister to our hearts. That we would have ears to hear
what you would say to us, Lord, in these last days. Oh Lord, it is time for us to lift our head up,
Lord, for that time of, of being with you is coming close. Lord, and we know that we're going
to have tribulation in this world. So I pray that you would give us a, a zeal and a strength
that is, it is not our own. Lord, that when we go through things in this life, that we wouldn't
be suspicious, that we would be surrendered. And God, that you would have your way. And there may
be some here today that just need to come to that place of absolute surrender. Throwing your hands
in the air and realizing that you're in a situation that you don't have control of, but God does.
And so I just pray that you would surrender that today, if that's you.
And just cry out, call on the name of the Lord. As the apostles encouraged that Philippian jailer,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Lord, help us to put our faith and trust
in you. Like we never have, Lord, in these days that are ahead of us. And Lord, to encourage the
generation coming after us, Lord, that they need this. I would like to say they need it worse than
I do, but we know that they need it. They need the moving of your Holy Spirit and the power that
comes from walking with you. So Lord, get ahold of this generation, we pray, and use them mightily.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak your truth, Lord, and help us to not back up,
but to press forward. Lord, that we would condemn that which is wicked, Lord, but we wouldn't do
it. We wouldn't condemn people. We would condemn actions, realizing that the condemnation of people
lies strictly and wholly in your hands. So Lord, we love you. We praise you. Would you go before
us this week, Lord? Help us to be a witness for our King, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand.
If you need prayer, prayer team will be over here to the right. My right, your left. And
Let's do an oldie but a goodie.