Sovereign Grace

0:39But Judah said to him, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? They replied, The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?

1:12What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, Bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. 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. If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.

1:45Then their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, then do this. Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm, and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may He send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

2:22So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. This is God's word. You may be seated. Suffering, something that we all shy away from. We all seek to go around when it presents itself in our lives. Hardship, difficulty, trial, pain, loss, heartache, grief. Adversity, the words are many that describe this phenomenon that we all go through. And yet we love the stories.

3:12We love the stories, the books and the movies that end happily ever after. We love to see beauty come from the ashes, if you will. How amazing is it to read about the story about the difficulty and then all of a sudden on the other side, everything is good and happily ever after. And yet, we don't want that for ourselves, do we? We want the happy ending, but we don't want to go through the suffering that's required.

3:49And let's be real. No one invites it. No one invites the suffering, the hardship, the difficulty. But if we are in Christ, we know that there's more that's going on in the difficulty than what we can see and oftentimes what we can understand. There's much more going on. For those who have been redeemed, those who are in Christ, we have a different view of the world. We believe that God created and ordered the universe. He's over all things. He's in control of all things. Things, even when we may feel out of control. That he came to this earth on a rescue mission. He sent his one and only son to rescue, to seek and save the lost.

4:44And in his infinite wisdom, he gave us his own spirit to lead, guide, and direct us. Friends, God is near. And this changes everything. This has the potential, friends, to change everything, especially in the midst of difficulty. It means that God is not separate from the things that we're facing, the things that you are going through right now, but he is right in the middle of it. Square in the middle of all that you're going through. God is there.

5:22And this means that everything that we face, there is great purpose. God is not wasting any of the moments He gives us, but every single moment has purpose. And in God's infinite wisdom, he chooses to use difficulty in our lives to help us know him better, to help us see and understand ourselves better. And then he uses those difficulties that we face in our lives so that we can help and love and care and serve others.

6:00There is no God like our God. I mean, you couldn't make this up. But God in His infinite wisdom has set up things this way, and we see this at play in our own lives. And I love how Paul Tripp captures this idea in his book, What Did You Expect. Look on the screen: God decided to leave you in this fallen world to live, love, and work because He intended to use the difficulty you face to do something in you that couldn't be done any other way.

6:37Similarly, J.C. Ryle says this: Affliction is one of God's medicines. By it, He often teaches lessons which we would have learned in no other way. By it, He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is greater. That's hard to say. Prosperity and worldly comfort are what all naturally desire, but losses and crosses are far better for us if they lead us to Christ.

7:20Thousands at the last day will testify with David, it was good for me that I have been afflicted. Psalm 119:71. Friends, what I hope that we'll learn and see this morning is that in difficulty, we see God's grace most clearly. You'll remember last week, if you were with us in Genesis 42, Joseph's brothers go to Egypt to get food, provisions. There's a great famine in the land, and they're desperate times. They really have no other options. And so they go down to get food, and Joseph tells them to leave their brother Simeon.

8:05He says, go back, and when you come back next time, bring Benjamin. Your youngest brother, bring Benjamin with you. And as chapter 43 opens, we see Jacob their father sending them back to Egypt to get more food. And friends, it's important to see that in desperate times, in this desperate time for Joseph's brothers, their desperate need for God is revealed. The famine forces them to use every means necessary to provide for their family, to survive the famine.

8:49And so you see a number of things happening. Joseph's brothers get involved. Everyone's chipping in to make sure that they have food. Everyone's making trips, negotiating deals. They're employing every means necessary to make sure that they survive. You also see financially, they dip into their savings and they take double on the trip in order to appease Joseph, right, honor Pharaoh, and to communicate the severity. This is serious, and so we're going to take double. We don't want you to think in any way we're taking this provision from you lightly, but rather this is serious and we need help. And then finally, they employ every single resource that they have.

9:38They put together what's equivalent to ancient Near East Trail Mix. And this is not the name-brand stuff. I mean, the off-brand stuff. This is name-brand, right? They're taking the best of the best to present it as a gift to say, we need your help. And I want us to notice, at least from the text, they have great need, and they're employing every human resource, which is a good thing, right? Our faith doesn't require us to sit back and expect God to act apart from our own actions. But I want you to notice that there is not much mention to them crying out to God in their great need. But ultimately, their greatest need was for God to intervene and for God to help them and then for them to act. As well. And so I want us to notice these desperate times reveal their desperate need, and I think this can inform us when we find ourselves in desperate need. Are we seeking to pull ourselves up, right, to try harder, to do better, to work longer, or are we entrusting ourselves to God?

10:56God was preparing them to see, in the midst of difficulty, to see Him more clearly, to know Him more intimately, like they hadn't before. And in the midst of difficulty, God is preparing us as well. Oftentimes, we don't like the process. We just want to get to the end, the happily ever after. But friends, don't miss that in the midst of difficulty, God is doing something right in the middle of it, and He's trying to prepare us for something greater. And when everything that is near and dear to us is threatened, we find ourselves at a crossroads, we find ourselves at a crisis of belief.

11:46Will we turn to God? Or will we simply do it ourselves? And I think all of us have seen that at some level in our own life. Lives. And so the question for us to consider is: do you believe that God is using every situation and circumstance in your life, especially the difficult ones, to show you more of Himself and to change you? And I want, wait, don't answer. Don't answer the question. Because I think every single one of us would be quick to say, yep, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because we know the Bible teaches that.

12:31But I know my own struggle with belief. And I know sometimes it's not that easy. And so I think the better question for us to consider is: what does your reaction to difficulty say that you believe about what God is doing in the midst of difficulty? I want to remind us of what Paul says. Look at the screen, Romans 8:28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

13:06All things. That means nothing can happen in your life that's outside of God's control and God's plan to help you know Him and to grow you in the image of Christ. All things. And it's important that we see here. In this initial section of Genesis 43, it's important that we see in our own lives as well that God is working to prepare us to know Him, to understand ourselves, and so that He can use us in the lives of others to love and care for them in the midst of difficulty. Now, here's the hard part: that usually begins with God helping us to see who we really are.

14:02With God helping us to see that we are finite, we are limited, and it's often a very painful and revealing process. And that's what we see in the next section. Look at verse 16 with me. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said, It is because of the money which was replaced in our sacks the first time that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.

14:51So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house and said, Oh, my Lord, we came down the first time to buy food. And when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.

15:21So the brothers approach Joseph's house and they have this conversation, this interaction with the steward of Joseph's house. And immediately you can sense the fear that they have. Namely, because the money that they brought initially to pay for the food had been replaced and put back in their bags, right? As they were leaving, they noticed, oh my goodness, right, the money is there, and so they're going to think we stole it and all of that stuff. But I want you to remember in chapter 42, 25, it says, This was done for them.

16:03This was done for them. And in part, God was using Joseph to test his brothers. The test was, had they changed? Were the brothers still the cold and callous brothers who had lied, cheated, and sold him into slavery? Or had God changed them? That was the test. This was done for them. And in this moment, this is pivotal. In this moment, they realize that they almost have no control over their own lives or over anything else that's happening around them.

16:50They have no control. In their desperation and need, they see their control is an illusion. And friends, it is the gracious act of a loving God to reveal our idols to us. And often we see that in the midst of difficulty. And that's why I think the best question to ask is: what is your response? Because I think if you think about that, you will see, as I have seen in my own life, that my initial reaction is oftentimes an idol in my life. So for me, it's control. That's why this comes out in this text to me: it's control. And we all respond in a number of different ways when we lose control of a situation. For me, I become frustrated, potentially angry, and I try to regain control.

17:53And it may look different for you, but it is the gracious act of a loving God to. Reveal our idols to us in times like these. In God's kindness, in His patience with us, He shows us these things, helping us to understand who we really are and what's really in our hearts, in order that we may turn to Him and trust in Him. And I love the glimpse that we get in the brothers, Joseph's brothers, the change that we see in them, right?

18:32They bow, they humble themselves before the servant, the steward of Joseph's house. They bow before Him, and it's like they're saying, We deserve death, but we're begging, we're pleading for your mercy. Please, we don't know how this happened. And I think we get a glimpse that God is changing them. And friends, for us in these moments, we have a choice to make. In the midst of difficulty, in the midst of trying times, will we humble ourselves?

19:11Or will we simply trust in ourselves? Will we find another way? Will we figure it out? Or will we turn to God, cry out to Him, and plead that He would save us? It's important to note that our response is largely shaped by what we believe about God. Do we believe that God is good? Truly, do you believe that God is good? The answer to that question doesn't make the difficulty any easier, but it does shape the way that you respond in the midst of trial.

19:52If you believe that God is good, even in the hardest times, you will have peace, you will have hope, knowing that this world is not all there is. And I want us to be careful because we can believe in our heads that God is good, but in our hearts and functionally, in our lives, we could be saying something much different. The way we respond, the way we act, it could say something much different about what we truly believe. And so, understand it's important for us to see that what we believe largely influences how we react. And so, my hope and prayer is that God would help us to see that it's not so much about the situation. Listen, I'm not trying to discount whatever you find yourself in, the difficulty you find yourself in.

20:48But it's not so much about the situation that you're in, but it's about what God wants to do in and through you in the midst of that situation. Situation. How God wants to use you in the midst of that difficult time. And so we learn much about ourselves in the midst of difficulty. And we also see, as we'll see in this next section, we see that God pours His grace out on us in the midst of difficulty. Look at verse 23 with me.

21:28He replied, Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your Father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money. Then he brought Simeon out to them. And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon. For they heard that they should eat bread there. When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. And he inquired about their welfare and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?

22:12They said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still alive. And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. And he lifted up his eyes and he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? To me, God be gracious to you, my son. Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and he wept there. Then he washed his face and he came out, and controlling himself, he said, Serve the food. They served him by himself, and then them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat 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 at one another in amazement. Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs.

23:27And they drank and were merry with him. Have you ever received something you didn't deserve? I mean, think about it. What do you have? What have you received that isn't a gracious gift from a loving God? Now listen, I know. We all work hard and we all say, no, I've earned it. I put my time in. I work hard. But who gave you the ability to do the work? Who gave you the opportunity to work? Everything that we have, everything that we are, is a gracious gift from a loving God.

24:15And so we truly are those who are in Christ. We're better than we deserve. Yet, often, at least in my own life, I live as if I have nothing to be grateful for. There's a ridiculous saying. You'll get the picture in your mind. You can just imagine the face. But oftentimes, we live as if we've been weaned on a pickle, right? And it's just like that face is, sometimes I have to tell my face, what do you have to be so whatever about? You have life and you have all of these good gifts that God has given you. And you walk around looking all, you know?

25:06But everything that we've been given is a gracious gift from God. And especially, friends, in these moments, we have to, in the midst of difficulty, we have to remind ourselves of these things because it gives us perspective outside of what we're going through. And we have to remind ourselves, and I want to encourage you to start small. I want you. To think about the people in your life who God has blessed you with, the deep friendships, the time of enjoyment you've spent with them. I want you to think about God's timing.

25:47There's been a number of situations over the last many weeks, months, that I can recall thinking back and saying, The timing of all of this is just amazing and a gift from God. That this would have happened and this happened so that when this happened, this other thing could happen. I mean, the timing is just amazing. And so think small. Think about God's provision, the countless ways, small ways that God has provided for you. And we also must look around us.

26:32When we find ourselves in suffering and trial, we get zoned in. We get tunnel vision. And all we can see and think about is what's happening. We can't get outside of that. And so we have to be careful. We have to look outside and we have to see, God, what are you doing? And that's exactly what we see here for Joseph's brothers. Look at the countless ways that God is trying to show him, trying to extend grace to them. It's remarkable. Verse 23, the steward of the house greets them and he says, Peace to you. I have your money. No worries. Imagine how that felt. You saw how they walked into the room, right, shaking in their boots, and then he says, No, peace to you.

27:17Verse 24, they were cared for. They received water. Their feet were washed. That doesn't, I mean, some of you, that makes sense, right? Some of you have feet that don't smell good. But if you were walking around in sandals in the desert, had no transportation other than your feet, your feet would be way worse. So this was a grace, a gift from God. Their animals were fed. That was their transportation, how they moved goods. Look in verse 29. Joseph blesses Benjamin. God, be gracious to you, my son. Verse 31, a feast is prepared and served. Right? Joseph says, serve the food.

28:10Right? Serve the food. He didn't have to do that. Remember, we're in the midst of famine. And so, friends, it's important that we have our eyes open. We ask God to give us eyes to see what He's doing around us because His grace is so evident. And oftentimes, we Miss it, but even more so. In Christ, even in the midst of difficulty, our greatest fears and failures are met with grace. And this was our opening reading in Romans 5.

28:46Look at the screen with me again. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, and this should be our prayer, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that God is doing something much bigger than we can see. Our suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

29:34And this truth has the potential to change everything about the way that we go through difficulty and trial. God is not punishing you. God is not taking it out on you. But He's trying to help you see Him more clearly. And He wants to use you in ways that you couldn't be used. Any other way apart from going through the difficulty that you're going through? And so I think the logical next question is: what's the purpose? Why? I mean, why would God do things this way? If it was me, I'd probably do it a little bit different. Why? God, why would you do this? Why would you use difficulty to grow us?

30:27Well, I think in part we can say that only God knows. And I hope that that brings you peace. I hope that that brings you comfort. And I know that sounds strange, but listen, you don't have to know everything. You don't have to know it all because He does. And so I hope in part that'll bring you peace, that you don't have to know everything. You can't, but God knows. And I want to remind you of what Paul Tripp said: that God intends to use the difficulty you face to do something in you that couldn't be done any other way.

31:05And that's not all. Look with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul helps us. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which We ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same suffering that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort too.

32:03So there is great purpose in the midst of difficulty because God wants to use us as ambassadors, as ministers of reconciliation, as instruments in his hands to love and serve others. I love how John Bloom says this in his book, Not by Side. I would recommend it to you. He says that trusting in Jesus and His Word over our perceptions is difficult to learn. That's why the Lord takes us through so many different faith-testing, faith-building experiences. And when He does, it is never just for our own benefit. He's displaying His power so others will be strengthened too. And like the rest of the disciples, when Jesus and Peter were back in the boat, we end up saying to the Lord, Truly, you are the Son of God. Matthew 14:33.

33:00Listen, suffering and difficulty is something we have in common with every single person on the planet, Christian or non-Christian. And so, what if God was doing what He's doing in your life, even though I know it's difficult, I know it's hard, but what if He's doing that? Because there's a greater purpose that you would be able to reach and comfort and love and care for someone else who's going through something similar. That's why this is potentially life-changing.

33:36And just because we are in Christ, we're not saying this is easy. Please don't hear me saying that. We should weep and we should mourn and we should cry and we should be upset. But at the same time, we should have hope and we should have peace because we know that there's more going on. And this is exactly what we see as we turn our attention to Joseph. Think about Joseph's life and the progression we've seen since Genesis 37, right?

34:11Joseph's brothers betrayed him, they did an awful thing, and they sold him into slavery. And Joseph had a choice to make. He could have been bitter and angry at God in the world, or. He could entrust himself to God, and I'm sure he did that very, very imperfectly, just as we do. But he could have entrusted himself to God, trusting that somehow, some way, God was going to use that in his life. By God's grace, Joseph chose the latter, and in doing so, God used him in an incredible way in his family's life. We see in Joseph that he is a type of Christ. Think about it. He suffered unjustly, and God used him to save his family, and as a result, many others.

35:09And I want us to see here, though, we talked about this last week. Part of that process was Joseph being able, being ready to forgive his brothers. And friends, for many of you, the difficulty you're facing is the result of sins that have been committed against you. And if we're not ready to forgive, if we're not forgiving as God has forgiven us, God can't use us in the same way that He used Joseph. And I want you to look how powerful this is. Look at the brothers' response. Verse 33, the second part.

35:58This is how they respond to Joseph's. Kindness and compassion. We see change in Joseph from 40, chapter 42 now to 43. And the men looked at one another in amazement. They were amazed. How is this possible? We don't deserve this. But God in His grace, through Joseph, was giving them what they didn't deserve. He was extending grace to them. And then remember how Jacob showed Joseph favor many chapters ago, right? He gives them this robe of many colors to his favorite son. And Joseph's brothers respond with envy and anger. And so they plot to get rid of him. We can't have this. And they sell him into slavery. But now, look, Joseph pours out his love to his dear brother, right? They're both sons of Rachel. He pours out his love and he gives Benjamin five times what anyone else had. You see that?

37:12You see the similarities? And what is their response? They celebrate. They are merry and they drink and they celebrate what God had done. And God used Joseph. Joseph, in a tremendous way. And friends, our response to difficulty is critical. Because though we can't see it, God intends to use us in others' lives so that they would know, see, experience the love, encouragement, and hope that we find in the gospel. That's how pivotal this is. And that is God's amazing grace and the power of the gospel.

38:05So, friends, don't discount your suffering. God wants you to come to know Him in your suffering more intimately, and He wants to use you in ways that you can't even imagine if you will turn to Him and trust in Him. Because in difficulty, we see God's grace most clearly. Let's pray together. God, it's been heavy as I've looked and prayed and prepared because several. Situations recently have really challenged me. I've had to really think about how my belief doesn't always functionally look like belief.

39:20I've seen how I'm prone to trust in myself and not turn to you in desperate times. And so, God, I'm thankful for this reminder. I love that in one chapter we can see that Joseph's brothers are in the midst of difficulty and your grace is evident. And then we can see in Joseph's life that because of the difficulty he faced, you're using him to comfort his brothers, to save his family. How beautiful, God! That you would be so kind to us.

40:09How beautiful is the gospel, the good news, that you have not left us, but you are near. And as we find ourselves in the midst of difficult, trying times, though we Don't see and don't fully understand. God, I pray that this word from you this morning would encourage us to entrust ourselves to you. God, I pray that we would find ourselves in the Psalms crying out to you because we are in great need. Whether it's situations we face or whether we're contemplating the state of our souls, our only hope is in you.

41:15God, I pray that there would be a sense of urgency this morning to respond while you're speaking, to respond while this is fresh on our minds. We know that the moment we walk out, we will be overwhelmed and inundated by the cares and worries of this world. And so, for any who are wrestling, I pray that they wouldn't wait, but they would entrust themselves to you for any who find themselves hopeless. They would just say that to you. God, I'm hopeless and I don't know what to do.

42:08And they would make that known to their brothers and sisters who were willing and waiting to walk with them through the difficulty. God, we pray all of this in your beautiful Son's name who helps us in our time of need. In Jesus' name, amen.