The Power of God’s Grace (Genesis)

0:48And he did as Joseph told him. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their 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.

1:15When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. They said to him, What does my Lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of the world. Our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or 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.

1:52Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack, and he searched, beginning with the eldest 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, and they returned to the city. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell before him to 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?

2:25And Judah said, What shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your 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 in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.

2:53Then Judah went up to him and said, O my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears. And let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My Lord asked his servants, saying, 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 of his mother's children, and his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, Bring him down to me that I may set 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 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.

4:08One left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since. If you take this one from me also and harm happens to him, you will bring down my grey hairs and evil to Sheol. 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 gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

4:41For your servant became a pledge 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 a 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.

5:08This is God's word. You may be seated. Most all of us would like to be considered by others to be a gracious person. We want people to think when they think of us that we are eager to extend grace, that we're eager to forgive, that we're eager to overlook wrongs against us. But I think if we asked the people who are closest to us in our lives, maybe friends or family members, roommates, co-workers, I think many of them might say that we aren't as gracious as we would like to be or that we'd like to think of ourselves. All of us struggle to extend grace, and that's a difficult thing to realize when you consider how much. Time we spend each week in worship, reading the scriptures, praying, thinking about and talking about and even singing about the grace of God.

6:12It's probably the number one topic that we think and talk and sing about in the church, and yet, for so many of us, it's a struggle to extend grace to other people. Well, if you've been with us through our study of Genesis, you may remember back a few chapters ago, chapter 42, Joseph's brothers, who had sold him into slavery when he was 17, came to Egypt to buy grain from him. Now, remember, Joseph never expected to see his family members again. And so, when they arrived, he asked about his father Jacob and his youngest brother Benjamin, and they confirmed that both of those men are still alive. And so, as a test, Joseph imprisoned Simeon and told the other brothers, if you want to see my face again, if you want more grain, when you come back, you need to bring your youngest brother Benjamin with you the next time. And so, they went home. They explained what had happened to Jacob, and he was understandably hesitant to let them return with Benjamin. Benjamin was the only other one of Rachel's sons that was still alive. But several years passed, and the famine grew worse, and so finally Jacob had no choice but to send all of his sons along with Benjamin back to Egypt in an attempt to buy grain. And so Joseph saw them and he dined with them, but he still wasn't sure that they had changed. He still wasn't sure. Certain that his brothers were any different than they were 20 years earlier when they had sold him into slavery. And so, Joseph today is going to give them one final test to determine whether they are merely remorseful or if they are repentant. But the real question in the text today is not whether Joseph's brothers have changed. The real question today is whether Joseph himself, who wants reconciliation with his brothers but is struggling to extend it to them, the real question is, will he be able to do that? And so, friends, as people who think and talk and sing often about grace but struggle to extend it to others ourselves, I think the passage will speak to us this morning. And what we're going to learn as we go through these two chapters together today is that experiencing God's grace enables us to extend grace to fellow sinners. So let's look now at the text here in chapter 44.

8:29You see here at the outset of the chapter, the brothers are preparing to return to Canaan. They came back with Benjamin and they got the grain that they wanted. Joseph instructs them to put his servants to put all the money back in their sacks. They're not having to pay for it again. But he gives an additional instruction. He tells them to put his silver cup in Benjamin's sack. Now, this cup wasn't just a cup of great value, although it certainly was that. This cup was known as the divining cup. It was used to practice what is called. Hydromancy. So, what would happen is they would take water and pour it into the cup, and then a seer or a diviner would look at how the water rippled in the cup and the bubbles that came up, and he would use that to interpret or to tell the future. So, this cup was not just valuable in that it was a silver cup, it was valuable in that this is kind of what magicians and seers used as part of their practice of divination. Now, it's unlikely that Joseph actually used the cup for that purpose. Joseph didn't need a divining cup, he had direct access to God, who revealed the future to him in dreams, and revealed the future to him through the dreams of others. And so, it's unlikely that Joseph used the cup for that purpose. But, nevertheless, the cup was a symbol, it was a symbol of Joseph's power and authority that he had in Egypt, and to steal it would be a serious crime, worthy of imprisonment or even death. Now, please note that Moses, our narrator, makes no moral evaluation of Joseph's actions here. He's not saying that Joseph's plan was righteous to hide this cup in Benjamin's sack. He's just reporting this is what he actually did. So, I don't want you to think that the takeaway today is: if you're wondering whether someone in your life is trustworthy, hide something of value in their backpack and see how they respond when you accuse them. That's not what we're going to learn today. That's not the point here. But so, the servant accuses. Them of stealing this cup, and the brothers insist that they're innocent. They even go so far as to say that if any one of them has the cup, they'll all become his servants, and the one who has the cup will die. Well, sure enough, the cup is found in Benjamin's sack, and the brothers tear their clothes, and they begin the long trek back to the city. And when they arrive back there, Joseph pretends to be furious. But remember, this test is designed to show whether the brothers were truly repentant or if they just felt bad about their sin. Because if you recall back in chapter 42, they expressed remorse. They were sorry for what they did to Joseph. And friends, it's very important to understand that there is a distinction between remorse and repentance in the Bible. We learn in 2 Corinthians 7, for example, that the difference between remorse and repentance is that when you're remorseful, you feel bad. You feel bad about what you've done, or you feel bad about the consequences that you experience because of your sin. But to be truly repentant is different. It's to understand that you have sinned against God and perhaps other people, and to make a change in your life as a result of that repentance. That's the difference between just feeling remorse and being repentant. And so Joseph is trying to determine which are they? Are they remorseful or are they repentant? And so Joseph says, I'm going to let all of you go except for Benjamin, since he's the one who appeared to be guilty. Now, friends, what happens next is one of the most beautiful. Beautiful gospel illustrations in the entire book of Genesis. What you have next is Judah stepping forward to have a word with Joseph, and he's putting his own life in danger by doing this. You weren't permitted to speak to a person of Joseph's authority and power unless you were invited to do so. And so he's putting his own life in danger. And remember, last week he personally guaranteed Benjamin's safety. He told Jacob, if you send Benjamin with us, I promise you, I will bring him back safely.

12:35And so we see here in the middle of verse 18, this begins one of the longest recorded speeches in Genesis. That tells us something about its importance. And so Judah begins there in the middle of verse 18, recapping the entire situation. He reveals how much Jacob loved and missed Joseph, and how much he loved his brother Benjamin. And he says that Jacob would die of sorrow if Benjamin didn't return because he had already lost Joseph, the son that he loved so much.

13:07And here you come to the pinnacle of this speech that Judah gives. And it's so interesting because at this point he doesn't say, so please, Mr. Cup Diviner, would you please let us return with our brother Benjamin? Just let him come home with us. He didn't really mean it, it was just a mistake. He doesn't say anything like that because Judah understood that Joseph couldn't simply let him go. Joseph could not simply overlook such a great offense. To do so would be unjust. Instead, Judah, who is the great ancestor of our Savior Jesus Christ, said to Joseph, I will volunteer to take his place.

13:59Someone has to pay for what's happened. I understand that. And so I volunteer to take his place. If you let him go, I will spend the rest of my life as your servant. Do you think Judah was a changed man? I mean, you remember back earlier this semester when we covered Genesis 38, this is the same man who sold Joseph without mercy into slavery, just as a teenage boy. This is the same man who withheld justice from his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and who wanted her burned alive for committing adultery, which is the same sin that he was guilty of. This is that very same man.

14:46And so, friends, we see in this passage two great truths, two great reminders. First, it reminds us that no one is outside the reach of God's grace. It reminds us that no one is outside the reach of God's grace. I think every one of us have people in our lives-family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors-we have people in our lives that we look at and we think that person is never going to change. That person is never going to come to faith in Christ. That person is never going to turn from their sin. We all have those people in our lives that we are tempted to think that about.

15:30But remember, when we experience the grace of God, that's what enables us to extend grace to fellow sinners. And friends, Judah had experienced the grace of God. He was a selfish and manipulative man. And yet, when his sin was exposed by Tamar, his whole life was changed. He was immediately humbled, and his actions showed that change. The grace of God had transformed him. And so we see in this passage first a reminder that no one is outside the reach of God's grace.

16:10But then, secondly, this passage reminds us of the future work of Jesus Christ. It reminds us of the future work of Jesus Christ. Look on the screen at Galatians chapter 3. Paul says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a A curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

16:49You see, Joseph couldn't simply overlook what appeared to be Benjamin's sin of stealing this cup. He couldn't just overlook it. That would not be just. That was a serious crime. It couldn't go unpunished. And friends, in the same way, God cannot simply overlook our sins. He can't act as if they were no big deal. He can't pretend as though every sin committed against him is not the greatest offense in the universe. No, our sins must be paid for, or God is not a just judge. And every single person in the world wants God to be a just judge, even those who claim not to believe in him. They want him to be a just judge. They will say to us, even if he does exist, then he must be just, or he's not truly a God. And they're right. If we expect justice from human judges, if we expect them not to let criminals go who have broken the law and have hurt people, then of course the God of the universe has to be perfectly just. He can't simply overlook sins. Sin.

18:02But thankfully, Jesus is the better Judah. Jesus is the one who said on our behalf, I will take their sin. They are under a curse because of their sin, but I will take that curse. That's what Paul tells us in Galatians: He became a curse for us. He died on the cross in our place and for our sins, and then rose from the grave. And now, every single person who repents and believes in Jesus is forgiven. Friends, the message of the gospel is not try harder to be a better person. We've all tried hard to be good people, and we've all failed.

18:46That's the indispensable first part of the good news: is that we've already all tried to be good people, and we've already all failed. We don't need a second chance, or a third chance, or a hundredth chance. We need a Savior. And Jesus is that Savior, the one who took the curse that we deserved and died in our place, and rose from the grave victorious over sin and death. And it's in this passage here where Judah volunteers to take Benjamin's place that we see that gospel displayed hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus would ever come. What a display of love and grace.

19:28And so let's now consider chapter 40. And look at Joseph's response to Judah's words. Chapter 45, verse 1. Then 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 it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 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.

20:16After Joseph sees such a great display of love and grace from Judah, he is overcome with emotion. This is what he's trying to determine the whole time. Are his brothers any different? Will they just heartlessly leave Simeon in captivity forever, or will they return for him? Will they allow Benjamin to stay in captivity now in Simeon's place forever? Do they care? Are they changed? Has the grace of God had any impact on their lives? Now, whether or not Joseph went about it in the right way, he has his answer. His brothers are not the same. Judah, in particular, is not the same as he was before. He has been transformed. Transformed by the grace of God, and now it's time for Joseph to reveal his true identity to his brothers.

21:07But as you can understand, his brothers cannot believe this. Even if they could have figured out that, yes, their brother probably was still somewhere in Egypt to this day, if he was still alive, they would have never assumed that he was the second most powerful person in the most powerful nation in the world. When he reveals himself, they're completely taken aback, and they can say nothing to him. Look at verse 4. 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 distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 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 honor 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 them. 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 of 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.

24:00Joseph reveals his identity again, attempting to convince them that it is in fact him. And he comforts them by asking them not to be distressed or angry because they sold him into slavery. But why not? Why shouldn't they be angry at themselves? Why shouldn't they be distressed? It's because Joseph made the difficult choice to forgive them, to absorb the cost of their sin against him, and to choose not to hold it against them any longer. And Joseph could do this because he saw the sovereign hand of God at work the whole time. God had sent Joseph to Egypt to preserve life generally and specifically to preserve the lives of his chosen people, Abraham's descendants. Look at verse 8. He says, So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

24:58What a perspective. I mean, how do you get to that point? How do you get to the point where something this tragic happens to you? You're sold into slavery at 17 years old. 20 plus years later, Joseph is now in his late 30s. His brothers have come back to him, who sold him into slavery. Remember, he languished in prison for years. He served as a slave for years. How do you get to the point where you have this kind of Perspective. It was not you who sent me here, but God.

25:36I think many of us are familiar with Romans 8:28. Look on the screen. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Many of us are familiar with that verse. It's quoted often, especially at certain times in our lives. But we're unfamiliar with the context surrounding that verse. And you see, the context surrounding Romans 8:28 is being patient and suffering, waiting and hoping for God to save us.

26:18And so, in this passage, Paul is reminding the Roman believers that when they suffer, they should remember that God predestined them to be conformed to the image of his Son. That's what Paul is going to go on to say in this passage. When you go through suffering, when you experience difficult trials in your life, when people plot against you, when you suffer for years in prison, when your health is failing, when your financial situation is bad, whatever the situation is, he says, whatever is going on, remember, God predestined you. He chose you before the foundation of the world. And he predestined you specifically to be conformed to the image of his son.

27:08When we remember that as we go through trials, we can see God at work in our lives. Because in every trial, God is making us more and more like Jesus. Every trial is giving us the opportunity to grow in and display the fruit of the Spirit more clearly. And oftentimes, as was in the case of Joseph here, God has a greater purpose in mind. Because yes, God was conforming Joseph to the image of Jesus, his Son, throughout this whole process. But much more was going on. God was using Joseph. He was putting him in position to save lives. Not just lives generally, but God's chosen people specifically. So every time, friends, you go through suffering and understand that the scripture is crystal clear. Every Christian will experience suffering and trial. Every time you go through suffering, remind yourself from the word that God is conforming you to the image of his son.

28:17Every time you go through suffering and trials, remind yourself that God has greater purposes than you're even aware of. Could Joseph have ever imagined in those years of slavery, in those years in prison, that one day he would be you? In this way, he could have never imagined how God was going to use him and what God had in mind. But that's what God did, and that's what God is doing in our lives as well. So we see here, Joseph not only forgives his brothers for their sin against him, but he goes way beyond that. What does he do? He promises to provide for them if they'll move to Egypt. And when Pharaoh hears that his brothers have come, he takes it all a step further. He promises them the very best of the land of Egypt.

29:06He says, you can have the best land for your family. Can you imagine? He says, take wagons home. Now, that may not sound very glamorous to you. You know, you don't want to ride in the little red rider from Canaan to Egypt. That doesn't sound awesome, but this is the best that they had in the ancient Near East. I'm going to send wagons home for your wives and your children and for your aging father. I want to bring them back in the best possible way. The question is, why? Why would Joseph do this? Why would he shower grace on his brothers in this way?

29:45Why, of all people, would Pharaoh treat Joseph's family like royalty? He didn't owe them anything. Friends, the answer is because God's grace enables us to extend grace to fellow sinners. See, when we think of Joseph, it's true that he did not deserve the treatment that he received at the hands of his brothers. That was sinful. But Joseph was no perfect angel as a kid. Joseph was an arrogant teenager who delighted in the fact that he was his father's favorite son, and he liked to let everybody know about that.

30:25Joseph was not sinless, even if he didn't deserve the treatment that he received. But after years of suffering, God exalted him to this high place in the nation of Egypt. He lacked nothing, and now he had been reconciled to his family as well. Joseph had received abundant grace from God and therefore was eager to extend that grace to his brothers. And Pharaoh, he was not a worshiper of God when he met Joseph. And I'm not sure even if Pharaoh is a worshiper of God at this point, but what I do know is that when God revealed to him what he was about to do, Pharaoh believed God's word. And Pharaoh didn't just say that he believed God's word, he acted on what God had revealed. He put Joseph in charge, and they stored up that food in the years of plenty so that it would be ready when the famine hit. Whether or not Pharaoh could articulate it in this way, he had received the abundant grace of God as well, and he was eager to extend that grace. To others, especially to those of Joseph's family. Experiencing God's grace enables us to extend grace to fellow sinners. Now let's see how this passage concludes. Look at verse 21 with me.

31:50The 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 and 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 provision 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.

33:02So we see here Joseph dealing very graciously with all of his brothers, especially with Benjamin. He gives them all a change of clothes, but he gives Benjamin five changes of clothes and 300 shekels of silver, showing great love and affection for his younger brother. And as they leave, Joseph says, Do not quarrel on the way. That seems like a strange thing to have to tell grown men, doesn't it? But I suppose it depends on the grown men that you know.

33:33But understand, these grown men weren't just going home to Jacob to tell him good news. They weren't just going home to tell him Simeon is still alive and Benjamin is okay and even Joseph is still alive. They weren't just going home with good news. They were going to have to go home and tell their father, hey, Dad, 20 years ago, we actually sold Joseph into slavery. We were the ones who stripped him of his coat and tore it up and dipped it in blood so that you would think he was dead.

34:15We've deceived you for the past two decades. So they weren't just going home with good news, and it's not far-fetched to think that they would have been wrestling with one another on the way, maybe literally, about who. Was going to have to break this news to Jacob and whose fault it really was, and who didn't really like the plan in the first place. I mean, you could see all of that happening, and so Joseph says to them, Do not quarrel on the way. The past is the past, it's water under the bridge at this point. As Joseph is later going to say in chapter 50, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. And that's a good reminder for all of us that even when people mean evil against us and actually carry out evil against us in our lives, God can still use it for good. He can still use it for good purposes. And so they bring their father the news that Joseph is still alive, and he can't believe it. The Bible says his heart became numb. I mean, he's been gone for more than 20 years. How could he be alive? You have to feel for Jacob. He's been through so much. Lost Rachel, the wife that he loved, lost Joseph, lost Simeon, thought he was going to lose Benjamin too. It was almost more than a father could bear. But his spirit revives when he realizes that Joseph, in fact, is still alive and that he would have the chance to see him, to hug him before he died.

35:51And so, friends, when you consider this passage and you see Judah and you see Joseph and you even see Pharaoh all received. Of God's grace. They all received it differently, but every single one of them was changed by it. They were never the same afterward. And in the church, as I've mentioned, we talk and we think and we sing often about the grace of God, and yet almost all of us struggle to extend grace to other people who need it just as much as we do. We even struggle to extend grace to people who simply fail us, not even necessarily sin against us.

36:32And for me, extending grace to others has never come naturally, even after I came to faith in Christ my freshman year of college. And that may be true for you as well. Some of you know I live with the same four guys all throughout college. After our sophomore year, we lived in Aston Hall on the south side for two years. And right before our junior year, we moved to a house off of Anderson in Hollock. It's actually 1417 Holick, if you know that area, it's the one that looks like the old Waterburger. We lived there for a couple of years. Well, my dorm roommate and I, we were the clean ones. Try to imagine this for a second. Just think if this could maybe be possible. We were the clean ones, and we kind of took care of everything. We mowed the grass, we cleaned the bathrooms, we did the dishes. And at one point, the dish situation had gotten so out of control, I just felt like I had done it a million times in the last few months. And so I did something that, of course, I would do. I got out of the way. A pad of sticky notes, and I went around the house labeling all of the dishes. One, a cup, two a cup, three a cup, four.

37:44I left pithy little sayings all around the house. What an interesting place to leave an old bowl of ice cream. My bad. I forgot we moved the silverware to the upstairs landing area. And after I finished this little exercise, I felt so justified, so smug, like the cutting sarcasm of the roommate shall lead his roommates to repentance. And I'm not sure if I sat down to read my Bible immediately after this, but I did a short time later, as any good Pharisee would.

38:30And as I was doing that, it occurred to me that my little self-righteous display was symptomatic of a deeper problem. That I had received so much grace from the Lord and yet could not extend grace to other people who had failed. Not even sinned against me, but failed. I had received grace and yet I could not extend it. And so I want you to think about yourself for a minute because you might be one who also struggles to extend grace to faith. Fellow sinners, even though you regularly think and talk and sing about the grace of God. And so maybe you're just like me. Maybe you are a modern-day Pharisee who struggles to extend grace to messy roommates, to co-workers who don't turn in their TPS reports on time.

39:20Maybe for you, it's struggling to extend grace to your spouse. And you have these little monologues that go on inside your head. Well, they just don't appreciate how hard it is to do my job. They don't know what it's like to be me. They don't know what it's like to go and work all day and have the boss have these expectations. They don't know what it's like to stay home with one or two or three little kids or six or eight little kids.

39:50They just don't appreciate me. They don't know how hard it is. Or maybe you have a hard time extending grace even to your children. And that's a hard one for me. Because, you know, they see us on Sunday and during family worship every night. They hear us talking about the grace of God, but they make a mistake or they sin in some way, and what do they get? They get the heavy hand of discipline. And so I think when we consider all of these things, we're reminded about Luke chapter. 7 that we read at the beginning of the service today about the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet with the costly ointment.

40:39And see, the Pharisee who invited Jesus was offended that she was there. And he said in his mind, in his heart, if this man really were a prophet, he would know what kind of a woman she is who's touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus, of course, responds by telling the parable. And I want to remind you about the end of this parable, because Jesus asks this question: Now, which of the two, that is the two debtors that were forgiven, will love him more?

41:14And Simon correctly answers, the one who had the larger debt canceled. Look again at what Jesus says. Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

42:07So I want you to let those words sink in for a minute. He who is forgiven little loves little. And look out at the events that have unfolded in your life, even over the last week, and ask yourself the question: Do my words and actions show that I believe that I have been forgiven much? Or do my words and actions seem to say to others, I don't believe that I had very much to forgive? Jesus says, He who is forgiven little loves little. But the reality is, friends, we have been forgiven much. We have been forgiven a countless number of sinful thoughts and attitudes and motivations. We have been forgiven much, and so we should love much.

43:02We should be able to extend grace to others because we have received such abundant grace. And so, my hope this morning is that as we have reflected on Judah and Joseph and even Pharaoh and how the grace of God transformed them because they had experienced it so clearly, that we would look at our own lives and ask the question: if we have experienced the grace of God, what should my life look like? Should I be dealing with others who sin against me or even fail me?

43:35And if you're here this morning and you have never come to repentance and faith in Jesus, that means you haven't experienced the grace of God yourself. And so, my hope and prayer is that if you see in your life that pattern where you can't extend grace to other people, that may be because you've never experienced the grace of God yourself, he extends it freely to you. Jesus promises in the Gospel of John that anyone who comes to him, he will never turn away. And so, if you come to him this morning in repentant faith and you ask for forgiveness, you'll be forgiven. Your life will be changed, not instantaneously, maybe, but your life will be changed. And most importantly of all, you'll be justified. Before the eyes of God, you will be declared righteous, not because you prayed a prayer, not because you came to church today, but because Jesus took the curse that you deserved and died in your place and for your sins, and then rose victorious over sin and death. Friends, experiencing God's grace enables us to extend grace to fellow sinners. Let's pray.

45:17Father, we are convicted afresh by your word of the many ways that we have not been eager and ready to extend grace to other people. We think about that situation with our spouse, where maybe they sinned against us, or maybe they just let us down in some way, and we held that against them. We think about maybe our kids and how they failed in some way, or they disobeyed, or they did something. And instead of being quick with the gospel and with the grace of God, we spoke harshly. We disciplined heavily.

46:18We gave them law and not grace. We think about roommates and friends and co-workers who Rather than extending grace to them, when they have failed and sinned against us, we have sat in judgment over them. And so, God, we begin this time of response by declaring our need for forgiveness. It's not just that we needed to be forgiven for things that we did a long time ago, it's that we need forgiveness today and tomorrow and every day of our lives.

47:03God, you have not forgiven us little, you have forgiven us much, and we forget that. Sadly, in many cases, the longer that we walk with you, the less aware we are of our need for your grace. And I don't know exactly why that is. I think for some of us, it's because you've delivered us from so much. We were so evil and so wicked and involved in so much sin that we can start to believe I'm a pretty good person now.

47:38But the battlefield just shifts, it just moves. And now it's in the heart and the mind. Maybe more so than it is our actions. And so, God, we pray that you would remind us afresh of our sin, not so that we will just wallow in guilt, but Rather, so that we will be reminded of your grace and how much we need it, and how eager you have been to pour it out on us. And I pray that because of that, we would be eager to extend grace to other people who sin against us or even who fail us. I pray that we would not just be a people who have the right theology of grace, but that our lives would be lived rightly because of your grace.

48:32And Father, I certainly pray for those who have come this morning who were not yet followers of Jesus when they came in the doors. I pray that today you've spoken to them through your word, that they would see their need for your grace and how eager you are to extend that grace to them. I pray that they would receive it by faith. Thank you, God, for your word, for our time to worship you through hearing your word preached. We look forward to responding to you at this time. In Jesus' name, amen.