The Change

Get us to open to Genesis 44 this morning. We're going to read the first 16 verses of Genesis 44, and we're continuing our look at the story of Joseph. We are nearing the end, the great conclusion to this wonderful, wonderful story. But we're still really very much in the thick of things in Genesis 44, but there's wonderful things that we'll see happening here. In the last few previous weeks, we've had a look at how Joseph created in the lives of his brothers a series of tests to show them, to reveal their hearts that were so rotten, so full of evil, full of malice, and Joseph rubbed their faces in that last week so for them to see the extent of their guilt before Joseph, before their father, before God ultimately.

They returned from a visit to Egypt, and they have been given the command by Joseph to bring their youngest son, Benjamin, to him to prove that they are not spies. In order to make them do this, he keeps one of the brothers, Simeon, with him. And he says, bring that brother of yours to prove that you are authentic, meanwhile knowing that they are his brothers, knowing that they are telling the truth. Bring this favourite brother of yours, Benjamin, and show him to me so that I may know that you are speaking the truth, that you are not spies. They return home.

They tell their father Jacob this, and Jacob, his heart is torn. Will he sacrifice? Will he give up his favourite son again? Will he lose his favourite son again for something so risky as to get a second son back? And this is where we find ourselves just before at the second journey to Egypt.

They have run out of food again. This is, I guess, several months later, they've run out of food again, and they have to make the trip back to Egypt to go and get some food. And they meet Joseph, and Joseph plans a final test, a final trap in the story to really figure out whether these brothers have changed. And you may remember this story from Sunday school, the silver cup in the sack of Benjamin. And that's what we're going to read now.

Genesis 44 verse one. The sons have come back to Joseph. Joseph has given them more food to take back to their old father Jacob. Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house. Fill the man's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack.

Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack along with the silver for his grain. And he did as Joseph said. As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, go after those men at once. And when you catch up with them, say to them, why have you repaid good with evil?

Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done. When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them, but they said to him, why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that. We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we originally found inside the mouths of our sacks.

So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves. Very well then, he said, let it be as you say, whoever is found to have it will become my slave. The rest of you will be free from blame. Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.

Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.

Joseph said to them, what is this that you have done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination? What can we say to my lord? Judah replied. What can we say? How can we prove our innocence?

God has uncovered your servant's guilt. We are now my lord's slaves. We ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup. So far, our reading, we find a wonderful crossroads happening in the chapters of 43 and 44, and we don't, again, have the opportunity to read entire chapters in their entirety, but I'll summarise some of the great things that have happened and have and will happen in this chapter. We find three changes, three changes that have happened.

Remember three or four weeks ago, we saw an arrogant brat by the name of Joseph. We saw a cold-hearted father who had favourites, and we saw malicious, hate-filled hearts of ten brothers. By the end of chapter 44, we see a change in the heart of all three of those groups. A change of heart in Jacob, the old dad, a change of heart in Joseph, and a change in heart of the ten brothers. Let's have a look.

First thing we see is a change in the heart that happens in Jacob. Up until this point, Jacob was a bitter man. Up until chapter 43 where he decides to send Benjamin off. He is a man who had lost his favourite son. We see the narrow favouritism.

We see the coldness of his heart at the beginning of the story in chapter 37, where he says when the Bible says that when Jacob heard the news that Joseph had been killed by a ravenous wild animal, the lie that the brothers told. Genesis 37 verse 35 says, he wept for his son, Joseph. And it says he was so torn and he was so devastated by this news. Verse 35 says that all his sons and his daughters came to comfort him. They come surrounding him with their love, but the Bible says he refused to be comforted.

So devastated by the loss of this one son. He loved Joseph so much that he would not allow any of his secondary children the chance to ease his pain because they were not good enough. No one compared to Joseph. And now in Genesis 43, he lets the new favourite son Benjamin go, the son of his favourite wife, Rachel. And we see that up until this point, Judah and Reuben, they make an oath to protect Benjamin.

They say, father, give us Benjamin. Reuben says, if he dies, if anything happens to him, you may kill my kids. Judah says, if anything happens to this son of yours, my life is taken captive. My life will be ransomed. You can do with me whatever you please.

But Jacob, over twenty two years of this growth, of this change, of this process of sanctification that God has been working in his life, comes to this point in chapter 43 verse 11 where he says, okay. I'll send Benjamin. Says in verse 11, chapter 43, if it must be, then do this. Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift. Verse 13.

Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your brother, your other brother Simeon, and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, then I am bereaved. At one time, the inconsolable Jacob, who refused to be comforted, is now willing to put it all on the line. Why?

What has happened in these twenty two years? Well, the first thing we see in that verse 14 is that he comes to trust God and to throw himself on the life of his favoured son on the mercy of God. Jacob lets himself be comforted, in other words. When he was not able to be comforted, he is strengthened by trust in the mercy of God. The Hebrew name used here of God Almighty is El Shaddai. And Jacob uses this name for a reason.

El Shaddai, God Almighty, highlights the power, highlights the authority of God over all situations. And having refused himself to be comforted even by God, Jacob now puts his trust in the God he has come to know as almighty. And so friends, what does it mean to trust in God Almighty? Well, one of the things is that He cannot be stopped from accomplishing His purposes. God Almighty will not be stopped from doing the purposes He has set about.

Daniel 4 verse 35 says this: the Most High does according to His will in heaven and on earth, and none can stay His hand. None can hold back His hand from doing what He is set about to do. If God purposes with all His heart to do a thing, it simply will not be stopped by any power in the known entire universe. The second thing about God being El Shaddai, God Almighty, is that God does whatever He pleases. The omnipotence of God implies that nothing frustrates His plan.

Psalm 115 verse three says, our God is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. Isaiah 46 verses 9 to 10 says this of God: I am God. There is none like me. My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all of my purposes. God Almighty is not like us, He says.

He can do whatever He pleases. The only thing that determines what God will and won't accomplish is His will. He does what He chooses. Why do we trust in God as El Shaddai? The third point is His power is superior to all other powers.

Psalm 19 talks about the heavens and the earth, and we've already started singing those songs. The heavens and the earth declare the praises of God. Day after day, they pour forth speech. There is no power in this seemingly limitless universe that compares to the power of God who holds this ever expanding universe, the Bible says, in the palm of His hand. The God who created the sun, who brings it up in the morning and lets it set in the evening, this sun that is 1,300,000 times the weight of the earth, that is over a million kilometres wide.

This sun, which on its very outer coldest edges burns at over a million degrees Celsius. This God who created this sun is a God that Jacob entrusts his son to. Inconsolable Jacob has changed to let himself be comforted by the mercy of this powerful God. May God Almighty have mercy. Take my son.

Let him go. He understood the truth that if God Almighty has mercy, no man, not even Pharaoh, can take his life. Perhaps it's a good reminder for us today to entrust our family, to entrust our most favourite, most precious possessions to the mercy of God Almighty even if you have been hurt in the past. To let go of those past hurts, to let go of the disappointments, to trust in the hand of the Almighty God who holds onto you. To trust the one who cannot be stopped from accomplishing His good purposes.

So we see a change in Jacob, and he lets his son go. The second thing we see is a change in Joseph. The brothers come back the second time to Egypt, needing food again, but this time, they bring their youngest, cutest little brother with them, but with trepidation. What will the prime minister of Egypt do to them? They had returned home the first time, found the silver in their bags, and it looks like they're thieves.

It looks like they've stolen from Egypt. What will they do to us? But see the man of Joseph and see the grace of God as it's been working in his life. Joseph, this once self-important boy of age 17, thought of his brothers and his father as his servants. You will bow to me, he says to them as he sits in the field while they bring in the harvest.

You will bow to me in honour and respect, who tattletailed on his naughty brothers in the field one day to his dad. This little brat who had been humbled by twenty two years in Egypt, by the refining grace of God, and look at what happens when he sees them again. His first question in Genesis 43 verse 26, when they come. His first question says, when Joseph came home, verse 26, the brothers presented the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground.

They bring him all these lavish things, and there's a whole list, beautiful fruits and foods and the most riches of perfumes. They lay it before him, and they bow in honour and respect before him. But Joseph, what does he do? He doesn't care. His very first question to them is, how are you guys?

How is your aged father, verse 27, that you told me about? Twenty two years ago, he had a dream about his brothers worshipping him, and he thought, that is pretty great. I will have the status, and he longed for that. And here, these brothers do exactly that. They bring the gifts of a king.

They bow in reverence before him, and he doesn't glory in that. He asks his brothers, how are you and how is your father? We see a reminder of how wealth and status is always trumped by the importance of family for our hearts and minds, but we also see how easily family can be neglected for the appeal of wealth, the appeal of power when that is laid before us. And the sad irony that keeps being made is you don't always realise it until it's too late, how worldly things can take centre stage. By God's grace, Joseph got a second chance to love his family again, to be with them again, as we'll see next week when James shares that with us.

And by this time, he doesn't give a hoot about these gifts. He doesn't give a hoot about the honour and the respect that he's given. He wants to know how his family is. Friends, family is important, and it is a reminder for us to keep that priority straight. And then we see the glorious change in these brothers.

Joseph gives one final test as we've read from our text this morning of the process of repentance that he was hoping would succeed. This process of repentance and faith that he was praying for would happen in his brother's lives. These hardened sons of Jacob. He places again all their silver back into their bags, but he also places his personal silver cup into the bag of the favourite, the precious son of Benjamin. And he lays a trap, the third and final one.

The brothers' worlds cave in when they are caught red handed. Why? How? In the ancient Near East, when they hear about this story, would have gasped. This silver cup, why is it so important?

Well, stealing back your silver is one thing. The silver that you would have used to pay. Stealing that back. But stealing an item from the generous host who looked after you, who so lavished love upon these brothers, who fed them, gave them a banquet that surpasses any banquet that you've had, who feeds their donkeys, the Bible says, who gave them water to wash their feet. Genesis 43 says, this generous host, you rob, and you steal his most intimate, close possession, this silver cup that he personally drinks out of.

There's scholarly debate about this, the use of this cup, whether it was used for divination, because divination is brought up a few times here that this cup in some way had powers to predict the future for use in fortune telling in the pagan world. Regardless of exactly what the cup was used for or meant, it is something very valuable. And the stealing of that cup is something very brazen. And so the brothers are in very big trouble. But look what happens.

Once upon a time, these brothers sold their favourite son to some slave traders after they had just barely decided not to kill him. Here is the new favourite boy about to be taken captive into the land of Egypt and probably executed for such a highly offensive act. But one of the brothers, Judah, stands up. And we read the start of that in verse 16, but he gives one of the most moving and powerful speeches in the book of Genesis. He recounts the pain of his father.

He recounts the story and the work of God that has led them up to this point. And then he finishes in verses 13 and beyond. Let's read that together in chapter 44 verse 30. He recounts the story and he says, so now, if the boy Benjamin is not with us when I go back, to your servant, my father, and if my father whose life is closely bound up in the life of this boy sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.

You see, your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, if I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life. Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. What an amazing, powerful moment this is. Judah says my life for his.

Judah. Judah, the immoral man who slept with his daughter-in-law and got her pregnant. Judah, the man who singlehandedly came up with a plan to sell Joseph to the slave traders. He puts up his hand and he says, please take me. These hardened sons of Jacob had their evil deeds rubbed in their faces by these tests of Joseph, and they could not run away anymore.

We see how progressively they become God conscious. They move away from the rationalisations, from the lies that they've been telling all these years. Our brother is dead. He is no more. They even tell Joseph.

In the passage we read last week, we see Reuben saying, we have sinned against the boy, and we are now being brought to account for those sins. They cry out, what is this that God has done to us? They see the hand of God breaking them down. But friends, God had to. He simply had to in order to save them.

There was no other option. The Puritan preacher Thomas Watson once said, till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. The forgiveness of God was not needed for those boys.

Till that moment, they knew the horror of their sin. God had to break them down to repentance. But today, we see what that repentance looks like. These boys weren't just sorry for their sin, like we said last week. Not just sorry, they didn't simply feel guilty about what they had done.

They vowed to never go back to those things again. Instead of getting rid of the favourite son once again, and they have the opportunity to do so, take him. Maybe one of us ten can become the favourite now. Judah, on behalf of his brothers, because Reuben had said something very similar to his dad. Judah will now sacrifice his life for the favourite.

Send him back. The kindness of God, friends, we saw last week, the kindness of God is seen in the repentance of sin. It is God's sheer grace that leads us to conviction. It is grace, like the hymn says, that teaches our hearts to fear, and it is grace that relieves this fear. So in the example, in the story of the brothers, hear this, that whatever you have turned from in your walk with God, the things that God has rubbed in your face and told you to never go to again, friend.

Don't go to again. Because God has a plan far better than yours as He had with these brothers. And so let Him reign. Let Him rule. Let Him have control over your life.

God had a plan in mind for Judah, amazing as that is. Even though Judah was doing everything in his power to derail that plan, God was working in his life to bring him back. Judah, this immoral, twisted man, we see later. Let's flip to that in Genesis 49. Genesis 49 verses 9 and 10.

Judah has given a blessing and a prophecy of eternal proportions. Jacob on his deathbed, the very last things that he said, gives each of his sons a blessing, and this is what he says to Judah. Verse 9, you are, Judah, a lion's cub. You return from the prey, my son. Like a lion, he crouches and lies down, like a lioness who dares to rouse him.

The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until He comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is His. Jacob says that Judah is going to be the tribe of kings in Israel. But he says, from you and your tribe will come a king who will truly be worthy of this ruling sceptre that has been placed at your feet. A king will come from this tribe of Judah that will rule not just the nation of Israel. He will rule the nations.

Not just Israel, but the world. Judah shall have a Messiah. And thousands of years later, Jesus, an ancestor to the king David of the tribe of Judah. Jesus comes, and of Him is said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. And we see the grace of God that brought Judah to repentance is the same grace that gave us Jesus.

The grace, the power to redeem that life, to give a promise so undeserved, says from you will come the hope of Israel. And then we see our loving and powerful Saviour who went to the cross for us, saw our predicament that our sin had brought us, who saw the terrible offence that we had brought on to our generous host, our great God who has given us every good thing in our life. The offence we had caught red handed in His sight, the sight of an Almighty, all-knowing God. Our sin splashed across our life, laid bare for Him to see with no place to run, no place to hide anymore. And we see our Jesus, that Lion of Judah saying, take my life and spare them.

Punish me, and He was. Yet the Bible says His wounds have brought us healing. His death has brought us life. His power shown by the resurrection has become our power, and that power lies in our forgiveness, friends. The changed lives of these brothers comes down to one word, and that is sanctification.

Sanctification is a big sounding word, and it simply means to become holy. And that is what God's grace does. It makes us holy. And once we know we have received so much, once we know the bitterness of our sin and the sweetness of Christ, our lives are forever changed, and we cannot and we will not remain the same. Earlier this week, if you follow me on Facebook, you would have seen me posting something from the Heidelberg Catechism.

That is, for us, it's found in our little green book here. It is a succinct statement of our faith, of what the Bible teaches us. In a series of questions and answers, it deals with this topic of sanctification, which it labels as a life of gratitude. Now ask this question, what does a grateful heart washed in the blood of Jesus look like? And it asks this question, a series of them.

Question and answer 88. What is involved in genuine repentance? Two things. Firstly, the dying away of the old self and the coming to life of a new self. It follows this up by asking the next logical question, what is the dying away of that old self?

It is to be genuinely sorry for sin. It is to hate it more and more, and it is to run away from it. And then lastly, what is the coming to life of the new self? It is the wholehearted joy. The wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to.

Almighty God heard an old man's prayer. May God Almighty have mercy, and God had mercy. And that is what God had on you and me, friend. Let that mercy change you. Let it shape you.

Let it break you down. Let it guide your life. Let it give you joy and delight to do what He wants of us so that you will have wholehearted joy in God, that you will find delight to do every kind of good as He wants us to do. Let's pray. Almighty God, El Shaddai, You have mercy on those whom You choose to have mercy.

You have mercy not on anything we have said or done, but because of Your great name, because of Your great grace, because of Your heart of love. Thank You, Lord, for the lives that You have given us. Thank You for sparing these lives that are so not worthy of the things that You have given us. Thank You for sparing us that most horrific consequence for our sin, an eternity in hell away from You. Oh, if we may just simply understand the enormity of our offence against You, our Christ will be the sweetest thing and the thing we will never dare to give up.

And if He is the sweetest thing, then it will be nothing to live our lives in complete surrender to Your will. It will be, in fact, a delight for us. And so, Lord, we bring our need of forgiveness before You again. We bring before You our lives that are messy and broken, but we also bring to You, Lord, lives that have been changed and are being ever conformed into the image of Your Son by this work of the Spirit called sanctification. And we thank You, Lord, that You are not only the author of our faith, but that You are the perfecter of that.

Lord, be glorified in our lives. Bring about changes similar to the lives of Jacob, Joseph, and his brothers. May we find great joy in this process, Lord. May we see Your mighty hand at work in the lives of our friends, of our family, and in the lives of us. We take up the newness of life, Lord.

We receive from You this morning again, and we thank You, Lord, with renewed and encouraged hearts, with audacious confidence that we may approach this God who loves us to the extreme as shown in the life and death of our Saviour Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Amen.