Lessons in the Midst of Adversity Genesis 43: 11-34

Lessons in the Midst of Adversity: Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

Last week, we saw quite a change take place from an unlikely person. What we saw is Joseph's brothers tried to persuade Jacob to take Benjamin with them back to Egypt. They knew if they went back to Egypt without Benjamin, they would be in big trouble.

But they knew they needed to go since their first supply of food from Egypt was running out. Jacob to take his beloved son, the youngest son, Benjamin, with them. Remember, Jacob was so reluctant to take Benjamin away because of what he thought happened to Joseph many years before.

Over 20 years before, Jacob sent his beloved son Joseph away to check on his brothers in the field. And we know what happened. The brothers sold him into slavery. But Jacob did not know this. Remember, Jacob thought that he was killed by a wild animal because that's what the brothers sold him.

So when he brought the coat back with him, this shredded coat, Jacob believed that he really was killed by this animal. So Jacob does not want to lose the other son he loves so dearly by sending him away with his brothers as well.

And in order for Jacob to be persuaded, one of the brothers needed to go out on a limb. Speaking of going out on a limb, I'm going to get a new mic. It wouldn't be a Sunday service without a technical difficulty.

I think you heard me up to that point for the most part, right? So in order for Jacob to be persuaded, one of the brothers needed to go out on a limb. One of the brothers needed to do something selfless.

We saw last Sunday that an unlikely brother steps up in a big way. That brother was Judah. Last Sunday, I showed you what an evil person Judah was. It was Judah's idea to sell his younger brother, Joseph, into slavery.

Judah was also involved with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Remember, he thought she was a prostitute and caused her to conceive two twin boys, Perez and Zerah. This was a very ungodly man. But now he changes drastically for the better.

What I argued last Sunday is Judah's actions as evidence that Joseph's pricking of his conscience and the other brother's conscience was working. When Joseph accused the brothers of being spies, they were reminded of their past egregious sin toward Joseph.

What happens when repentance takes place is the hearts of people are changed and it's a noticeable change that takes place in one's life. What we saw last Sunday is the same brother who is willing to sell Jacob's beloved son into slavery is the same one who is willing to take the blame if anything should happen to the other beloved son, Benjamin.

These two sons that came from Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel. So this is a 180-degree change in the life of Judah. The Lord brought this about in his life. And the application we saw was clear for us. By God's grace, change can happen.

New Creation in Christ and Ongoing Change in the Christian Life

When an unbeliever believes in Christ, that person is made new. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 517, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come. A big change happens at conversion.

And that's an understatement. An enormous change happens where you become a completely new person. But change also continues throughout the Christian life. We looked at the parable of the sower that Jesus describes in Mark 4.

In Mark 4, 8, Jesus describes the fourth seed. The fourth seed is the seed that each of us should want to be. This seed is found in good soil and it produces a crop. As God works in our life, as we go through the life of faith, we should see change for the better as the Holy Spirit makes us more like Christ, as we live out the word of God.

Last week's sermon was the first point of this longer sermon in Genesis 43. This morning, we are going to look at points 2 and 3. The big idea of this sermon is the challenges of Joseph's family provide us key insights about the life of faith.

And the first faith lesson that we saw in verses 1 through 10 is you can change for the better. Now we will turn our attention to the second faith lesson, that is, you will be brought to the point of helplessness, as I mentioned in the call to worship.

We will see this second point in verses 11 through 14. So I encourage you to turn with me to Genesis 43 in a Bible. If you're using a red Bible, in the pews, it's on page 44. I always encourage you to turn there because I want you to see for yourself what I see.

I never want you to use my word for it. I want you to see for yourself. So this two Sunday sermon that takes two Sundays to get through is once again titled, Lessons in the Midst of Adversity. So once again, the second faith lesson is you will be brought to the point of helplessness.

This strong plea from Judah that we saw in the first 10 verses last Sunday persuades Jacob to listen and send them back to Egypt. So let's see Jacob's response and the instructions he gives in verses 11 through 15.

Then their father Israel said to them, if it must be so, go back to Egypt, 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 and 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. So the context here, they're in the land of Canaan and they really have only one choice, but Jacob is wrestling with this. The one choice is they have to go back to Egypt and they have to take Benjamin with them because otherwise they're going to starve.

So Jacob tells his sons to take some of the choicest fruits of the land and to bring a present to the governor, Joseph, along with some goodies. Look at this list we just saw here. Honey, myrrh, pistachio, nuts, almonds.

This sounds like a fishing trip, right, or a hunting trip. Some of the stacks you might take on that. Jacob obviously wants to please this powerful man in Egypt, whom he has no idea is his beloved son, whom he thought has been dead for 20 years.

He desires that they will please him so that they would return home safely with the food in hand so that they could survive. He tells them in verse 12 to take double the money with them. He wants them to take the money that was secretly put back in their sack.

And then they're going to take twice the money with so that they can have food and return the money that they thought that Joseph may have thought was stolen. And what we see here is Jacob demonstrating faith.

Up to this point, he wasn't trusting. You might say he shouldn't trust his sons because they have not proven themselves, which is true. We should be slow to trust people who are untrustworthy. However, given the position the whole family is in, he doesn't have another option.

He needs to trust that God is going to take care of the whole family during the famine. And at this point, Jacob has to be thinking about the promises that God made to his forefathers and to him throughout Genesis.

We've seen God speak to speak to these people, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, these great promises that he is going to bless them. And these are the Abrahamic promises that come from the Abrahamic covenant.

In chapter 28, verses 13 through 15, the Lord said this to Jacob. I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie. I will give to you and to your offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth. And you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised. So it's worth remembering the promises of the Lord right here at this moment.

And by the way, when you read Genesis, we always have to be remembering these promises because sometimes the promises look dicey. Because things get bad and you wonder, is the Lord really going to deliver on his promise?

And of course, the answer is yes, he's going to and he's going to do it here as well. Their family is on the brink of extinction because they have no food. The food is running out and their only option probably, unless they go some other place, but the only option, real option before them is to send his family into harm's way by sending them back into harm's way to Egypt.

Jacob doesn't even know if they're going to come back if he sends them because this powerful man in Egypt has talked to them so roughly. And he's telling, he's accusing them of being spies. And remember, Reuben is stuck back in Egypt while all of this is going on.

So this is a huge test for the family, a huge test for Jacob in particular. And what Jacob says in verse 14 is so important. He says, may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin.

So what he does here is an act of faith by sending his beloved son Benjamin away. But he realizes if they stay in Canaan, they may all die. So in the first half of verse 14, he's trusting that God is going to take care of them by sending them to the land of Canaan.

Sorry, to the land of Egypt. And he's trusting the Lord is going to bring him back safely to the land of Canaan. And then in the second half of verse 14, he says this. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

Another way to say this is if they die being sent out, then they die. He's trusting that this is in God's hands and he's submitting to his will. He is giving this over to the Lord, saying this is what we have to do.

He's showing his true faith in a very frightening situation. Some of you were at my ordination service a couple of weeks back. And the regional director of our denomination, the CBA, is Pat Finney. And some of you know, and I hope everyone knows, that his wife has a serious cancer.

They just diagnosed her as incurable not too long ago. So please be praying for Karen and for Pat that the Lord can, of course, still bring healing, even though the doctors don't think that the cancer can ever be eradicated.

But what was neat on the ordination service is that we all prayed for Pat. And we prayed, trusting that the Lord could do this. We believe he can do it. And Pat and many others are crying out to the Lord to heal his wife Karen from this cancer.

And while we pray and they pray for healing, it's neat to see that Pat and Karen, because I've talked to Pat many times through this as he's been going through this journey with his wife. One thing I see clearly is that they are submitting themselves to the Lord's will.

He may heal and he may not. But the Lord's plan in the big picture is always the best for his people. So we always have to trust him. And it's been neat to see Pat and Karen do that as they go through this major trial in their life.

And what frightening situation in your life are you trusting the Lord with right now? Everybody's coming in here with different trials. What are you trusting the Lord with right now? Psalm 46 .1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Life is full of situations where the path the Lord sends us down is difficult. He does this by design since he does not want us to rely on ourselves, but on him. The Apostle Paul and the believers who were with him in Asia had an experience like this.

This is what I read earlier in the service, and it's worth repeating. In verses 8 through 10 of 2nd Corinthians 1, he says, We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength, and we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. This is what God does, and he does it to all of his people throughout history. And so you can have confidence he's going to do it for you, too, if you belong to him.

He brings us to the ends of ourselves. He shows us how inadequate we are in order to show us how adequate he is. There's a famous Christian book that was written in the 20th century by a theologian, J .I. Packer.

He wrote a book called Knowing God, and this is one of those books. It's good for every Christian to read because it's so good in so many ways. And in this book, he has a chapter on the adequacy of God and our inadequacy.

And I want to read an extended quotation from that. And to give you a little background of the quotation, the quote surrounding this is that God wants us to lean on him in order to deepen our fellowship with him.

So the reason he sends us through difficult circumstances is so that we would know him more, so that we would go deeper with him, so we would have this intimacy with him that we didn't have before. So here's the quote from Packer.

How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy and to drive us to cling to him more closely.

This is the ultimate reason from our standpoint why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort or another. It is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak, is that God spends so much of his time bringing home to us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or to follow the right road.

When we walk along a clear road, feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help us, as likely as not, we shall impatiently shake him off. But when we are caught in a rough country in the dark, with a storm getting up and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we shall thankfully lean on him.

And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn, thankfully, to lean on him. Therefore, he takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to trust in himself.".

End quote. And that's so true. We are all self-confident people by nature. We're all very prideful people by nature. We're all people who say, I can handle this. I don't need anybody's help. And what God does is he brings us to our knees and he says, you are weak.

You need me. And we need to listen to him when he does that. This is what the Lord did with Jacob. Any self-sufficiency Jacob thought he had is thrown out the window. Jacob couldn't look to another field in Canaan to find food.

There was no long-term strategy to survive as a family. But Jacob knew that God is trustworthy. He has seen it in his life over and over again, and he knows about it from his ancestors, Abraham and Isaac.

The Lord is faithful. He knows that his family is not going to be extinct from this famine. The Lord promised them that they would have offspring, as many as the stars in the heavens, and they would inherit the land of Canaan.

So he knows, the Lord, this isn't the end of the road for them. The safe and foolish thing to do would have been to hold his sons back in Canaan. But in faith, he submits himself to God's will, sending his family in harm's way to go to Egypt.

But he knows this is the Lord's path for him. And in the Lord's providence, one of his designs in this famine is for the head of his chosen people, Jacob, the head here, is his plan for him to trust the Lord in this dangerous situation.

We, too, must trust the Lord as He brings us to the place where we will feel inadequate and helpless. This will happen in your life. And if it hasn't happened yet, it will. So be ready. The Lord needs to break us down, our stubborn self-confidence and self-sufficiency.

I remember being in this place about eight or nine years ago. Reading this quote from Packer was like an aha moment for me. I was thinking, I'm sure I had been taught this, but it doesn't hit home for you.

And all these passages in Scripture about this don't hit home to you until you actually go through it. And you're thinking, wow, look how accurate the Bible is, and look at how much I need to rely on God through this.

He does this with all of His people. And the important thing is that when you see your inadequacy, that you will lean on Him during that time and not run to something else. And what's interesting is that Hebrews 12, verses 5 through 11 talk about the discipline of the Lord.

And what it says in that passage is that if you're not disciplined, then you're not a legitimate son, a legitimate child. And so, as I said, this is something we should expect as we go through the life of faith.

And God loves it when we realize our weakness and lean on Him. And that is what Jacob is faced with here, and he trusts the Lord. And that is what God calls each of us to do also. The return of the challenges of Jacob's family provides us key insights about the life of faith.

And the second faith lesson that we have seen in this big sermon is you will be brought to the point of helplessness. The third faith lesson that we must see here in this text is your story includes facing your sin.

Facing Sin, Divine Providence, and Joseph’s Reunion with Benjamin

Your story includes facing your sin, verses 15 through 34. We'll see this. So let's look at this journey to Egypt, verse 15. So 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. Let's stop right there. So Joseph's brothers leave Canaan and take their gifts, their money, and most importantly, Benjamin, with them. Joseph is about to see his dear brother Benjamin, this younger brother whom he loved very much.

And let's see this in verse 16. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, so the journey already happened, 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.

So Joseph was hopeful that his brothers would bring Benjamin with them. He pretty much gave them no choice. And once he sees they indeed brought him, he desires to prepare a great meal for them. He commands his stewards to do this very thing.

Now, without Benjamin, they would have gotten White Castle. With Benjamin, they get a nice gourmet dinner. Any White Castle fans out there? I'm sure there are. My father-in-law and my brother-in-law love White Castle, and I just don't understand it.

But that's another story. Once the animal is killed and they are ready to eat, they are brought to Joseph's house. And they are concerned that this may be a scheme by Joseph. So let's look at verses 17 and 18.

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.

So Joseph's brothers are worried that by inviting them into the house, what he is going to do is enslave them by not letting them go and then take their donkeys also. This concern leads them to go to Joseph's steward to see what is behind this invitation into his house.

So let's look at this in verses 19 through 22. So 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. Joseph's brothers are clearly concerned that something bad is going to happen to them because the first time they came, the money they used to buy grain was mysteriously put back in their sacks when they weren't looking.

Of course, we know that Joseph did that. Joseph earlier accused them of being spies and now he's going to accuse them of being thieves. And what they make clear to the steward is they brought the money back with them and brought other money to buy grain.

They had this all planned out in order that they would leave this situation unscathed, safe and secure. But they are about to be delighted at the response of the steward to them, at least partly, verse 23.

He replied, What the steward explains to them is this money was a gift from God. And so therefore they can have peace in their minds and not be afraid. What this means is they did not need to return it but they could have used the money in some other way.

Last week we asked the question, why did Joseph return the money to his brothers? There are two reasons put out there. One is that he used it to test them, much like he desired to test them by calling them spies.

The other is Joseph was trying to help them by giving them money, as I just said. What I said last week is that Joseph intended both to take place. This isn't either or, this is both and. He desired to prick their conscience and also to help them out.

But either way, what the steward tells them is God ordained this to happen. He knew that they didn't steal the money, but God planned that they would have it. We see divine providence at work here. And the whole story of Joseph is just one episode after another where God is weaving the details together.

And as we read this, we need to see that because the author Moses wants us to see this, to see the divine hand at work here. And what the steward says here is a reminder of the major theme of this whole narrative.

That is, God has been weaving every detail together. We have this privilege of looking on as readers. Joseph's brothers are in the dark about God's hand in all this. Later they will know, but right here they have no idea.

The Lord has been using this whole circumstance to convict these brothers of their past sin and giving them the money to help them survive. So he kills two birds with one stone. So he's not only helping them materially by giving them money for much-needed food, but he's also helping them spiritually by bringing this sin to light.

As we saw the last two Sundays, remember I showed you that when God brings a sin to our attention, this is his kindness because it's an opportunity for us to deal with it. And he's been doing that with Joseph's brothers as they felt overwhelmed with a guilty conscience of what they did to Joseph so many years before.

Now that they are momentarily relieved, the brothers prepare to meet the powerful Joseph in verses 24 and 25. And when the man brought the men into Joseph's house and had 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.

Joseph's brothers are treated well as they are washed up to meet him and their donkeys are fed. They want to make a good impression on Joseph so they have a present prepared for him. Now in verses 26 -34, they finally meet Joseph.

Let's read these verses together in verses 26 -34. This is a longer reading, but stay with me here. 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? They 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 saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke 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 wept there. Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself, he said, Serve the food. They served him by himself and 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. And they drank and were merry with him.

So as Joseph approaches them in the house, they bow down before him. This once again fulfills the prophecy of 37 verses 7 through 9 that his brothers would bow down before him. And we see that taking place here.

And as his brothers are bowed down before him, Joseph is curious about his father whom he loves very much. He's wondering if he's still alive. They told him that he's still alive and you will notice in verse 28 how reverent they are to Joseph.

The text says that they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. And then in verse 29, Joseph's attention switches to his beloved brother Benjamin. If you remember earlier in 42 .7, we read that Joseph spoke roughly to them.

Now he speaks kindly to his brother Benjamin. His brothers must have been wondering, why is he so good to him, but he's so mean to us? And he says to him, God be gracious to you, my son. And once again, we need to put ourselves in Joseph's shoes.

He hasn't seen Benjamin. Remember, they have the same mom, Rachel. He hasn't seen this beloved brother Benjamin in 20 or so years. Benjamin did nothing wrong. And they have this bond of coming from Rachel.

And after seeing his brother for the first time in a very long time, verse 30 tells us that his emotions got the best of him. And he had to leave. So he leaves and he weeps. This is the second most powerful man in Egypt.

And his brothers are bowing down before him and he cannot contain his emotions. And he washes his face so that they won't know that he was weeping in the chamber. And he commands that food be set before them.

Now as they eat, it's convenient for Joseph that he must eat at a different table because he was an Egyptian. By law, Egyptians could not eat with foreigners. And the end of verse 32 notes that this would have been an abomination.

And so he wouldn't be able to reveal who he is at this point and they wouldn't be able to see the emotion that comes out of him. So it's convenient that he doesn't have to eat with them. Now in verse 33, we read that the brothers looked at one another in amazement.

Now the word amazement, this could kind of tell us the wrong thing here. The Hebrew word here, it's important for us to understand. What this word means is to be astonished or alarmed or surprised. It's used this way in Isaiah 13, 8, describing the Babylonian fear as God brought judgment upon them.

They were alarmed and shocked and surprised at what was coming upon them. So it appears that even though the brothers had been told the money was given to them by God, they still felt that God's judgment awaited them.

So I think a better word there would be maybe alarmed, not amazed. The money was returned to them for God's purposes, but their conscience continued to haunt them. Their conscience continued to tell them that his purposes included their egregious sin against Joseph being brought to light.

So this is all being brought to the forefront here. They're being forced once again to face their past sin, to face their guilt. And the text then closes by highlighting the youngest son, Benjamin. He received the most food at the table.

In fact, his portion was five times as many as the other brothers. Now, if you've ever seen favoritism, this is favoritism on steroids taking place here. Sometimes it's siblings, right? One person gets like a little bit more.

Oh, you like him better. There's no question here who Joseph is favoring. There's no debate on that. Now this final point here is focused on the Lord writing the story for Joseph's brothers. We saw in verse 23 that God, through Joseph, put the money in their sacks.

And we also saw in verse 33 that Joseph's brothers looked at one another in fear as they ate in Joseph's house. These are the two key verses that bring out the main point that we need to see in this. Anytime you read a narrative, there's a couple of verses that arch over all the others.

And we need to see what that is. So God's providence is forcing them to face their sin. So we see that in verse 23 and we see that in verse 33. So you can underline that in your Bible if you would like.

And I've shared this with you before. But we are reminded once again that God is writing each of our stories. God is the author of our lives. And we are the characters who act out the story He is writing, right?

We love stories. We love to read stories. We love to watch stories. And you know what the incredible thing is? We're in a story. And we're in the greatest story ever told. The one where God comes in flesh and rescues sinners who will believe in Him.

And He is raised victoriously from the dead. And He's coming again. That's the story we are in. And every one of us plays a role in that story. That's incredible to think about. And as His people, He works everything for our good.

Romans 8 .28, right? All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. So if you are a believer in Christ, God works everything for your good. Even bringing sin to our attention.

As He did with Joseph's brothers in this narrative. That's the Lord's kindness, bringing sin to our attention. When we think about God weaving the details of our lives together, sometimes we can forget He brings painful things across our path, including showing us our sin.

And He does it for our good. Romans 8 .28, right? Think of the human heart. Think of your heart. There's all this sin packed in there. And it needs to be dug out. Dug out. And the Lord does that. The Holy Spirit convicts us of that.