True Identity Genesis 45:1-8

There's so much junk on television these days that Brianna and I have had a hard time finding a good show. To watch it's like finding a needle in a haystack. But recently we found one on Hallmark. We like Hallmark for the most part because it's pretty clean, and you don't have to wonder if there's gonna be something Inappropriate that we have to look out for and in this show that we've been watching there was a thief and his daughter.

Who visited a small town the setting where the show takes place? He came to the town as a Bible salesman. Claiming to be one who was going to use the funds for a good cause when in reality he was going to use it for himself.

This Bible salesman arrived at a time when the town expected their new pastor to arrive and when they saw this man selling Bibles they thought this must be the pastor and Instead of the man the Bible salesman telling the people he wasn't the pastor he pretended to be the pastor since he saw.

Another opportunity to make more money. It should have been suspicious to the church members that one of the first things he did as their new pastor Was raise money for the church. His plan was to raise the money and then when they weren't looking and take the money and Get out of town, so he was a con man.

And as you might imagine it was a very funny episode. He did not he did not play the role of a pastor very well. His knowledge of the Bible was very thin and his rough edges came out. At times including including his drinking habits.

But long story short His real identity came to light and the at the end of the episode The real new pastor showed up and everyone realized they had been played. Now why do I bring up this story. I Bring this up because it's similar to what we've seen in Genesis recently.

Up to this point Joseph's identity has been hidden from his brothers. They have believed he is a native Egyptian. Who has been extra hard on him. The second most powerful man in Egypt has been extra hard.

Today in chapter 45 of Genesis his brothers are going to see this powerful man is not who they thought he was. Rather he is the brother. They sold him to slavery all those years before. Now it will all make sense why he was so hard on him.

He was treating them differently than he was treating others. So in this sermon we are going to finally see Joseph reveal his identity to his brothers. So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Genesis 45.

Last Sunday, we looked at we looked at a whole chapter chapter 44 today. We're just gonna take a little slice of the pie. We're gonna look at verses 1 through 8 of chapter 45. There's a lot of meat in these 8 verses.

So we're gonna look at that if you're using a red Bible in the pews is on page 46. The sermon is titled true identity. And our big idea our proposition is this as Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers.

God's character and will are shown. We're gonna see two biblical truths in this text. The first truth is The Lord expects you to forgive as you have been forgiven. He expects you to forgive as you have been forgiven.

We'll see this in the verses 1 through 5 a. But before we jump into the text, let me give you a little recap of last week's sermon. We continue to look at the narrative where Joseph's brothers continued to feel the weight of their past sin against him as he accused them again.

Over the last several chapters. We've seen Joseph accused them of being spies thieves and thieves. Again as the silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack. We've seen that the brothers talk openly amongst themselves saying God has brought this upon us because of what we did to Joseph all those years before.

They have been feeling the guilt more and more and we've seen one brother Judah turn from his sin and move toward righteousness. Joseph has been using these tactics on his brothers to prick their consciences and What he has done has been highly successful as we have seen.

What we saw last Sunday is the Lord tests his people in different ways. Last Sunday, we saw two ways. The first way is he uses people to show us our sin. The Lord used Joseph to bring to the surface the sin of his brothers.

They may have felt mild guilt over the years. But once Joseph started to prick their conscience in this way, they started to feel guilt more and more. The Lord used Joseph to bring this about. The Lord does the same with us.

We all need to put to death sin in our lives. And one of the ways the Lord has us deal with our sin is he has others pointed out. God does call believers to lovingly correct other believers calling them to turn from sin.

He also calls believers to receive correction. We should see correction as an opportunity to turn from sin and have deeper intimacy with God. The second test we saw in the text last week is the Lord expects us to keep our word as We go through the life of faith.

The Lord expects us to show that our allegiance to him is sincere. When we first come to faith in Christ, we are telling the Lord that our full devotion is to him. We keep our word by forsaking our own way and submitting ourselves fully to his way.

The Lord also expects us to keep our word to others if we say we're gonna do something we should consider it done. The Lord always keeps his promises. We've seen that in Genesis and the Lord calls his people to model him in that by always being people.

Who do what we say we are going to do up to this point. Joseph's brothers don't know that this man the one who's been accusing them this whole time is.

Their brother.

Joseph so today we are going to see this Where they learn this and this is going to be a surprise of a lifetime for them. So let's take a look at today's text and let's begin by reading verses 1 through 3.

So look with me, please. Chapter 45 verses 1 through 3. 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.

Now it's interesting that after this whole time of interaction with his brothers, this is the time Joseph reveals himself. You may ask what led him to finally tell them. I am Joseph the brother you sold into slavery.

The clear answer is what we saw last Sunday the speech of Judah that we saw in the second half of chapter 44. In that speech Joseph discovered the tactics he used to get his brothers to feel guilt and move toward repentance had worked.

He no longer needed to make them feel more guilty. He was so moved by Judah's speech last week that he said, okay now is the time the the brothers who cared nothing for the younger brother Joseph now Suddenly cared deeply for their youngest brother Benjamin.

You know that parallel situation that Joseph set up they failed the test on him all those years before and now they passed the test. By caring for the beloved son of Jacob Benjamin. And so now it was time to reveal his identity in the three verses.

We just read. Joseph was so moved by what he had seen in his brothers that he his emotions got the best of him. We know how this is if there's times in your life where your emotions overtake you and you just have to.

You have to go in the other room or give yourself a moment. Joseph told everyone to leave the room except for his brothers in verse two notes that he wept so So loud the whole house of Egypt heard him.

Then in verse three Joseph tells his brothers point-blank that he is Joseph. And this is the first question. He asked them is My father's still alive. This shows the deep care he had for his father. It had been over 20 years since he had seen him.

Could you imagine that? And now he wants to be reunited with him. And as you might expect after hearing all of this the brothers are frozen with fear. Verse 3 says that his brothers could not answer him.

The reason is they were dismayed at his presence. Now the Hebrew word for dismayed means disturbed terrified anxious. In other words, they were afraid probably thinking what's he going to do to us? We did something so horrible to him.

Is he gonna repay us in a similar fashion? We can believe that memories of this egregious sin that they did all those years before were running through their heads as. They're having this conversation and they find out this is Joseph.

And once Joseph's brothers have this reaction Joseph continues to speak to them in verses four and five. They can't even utter a word and here's what Joseph says. 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.

We can imagine that Joseph told them to come near to him. And what when he told them this that they would have come toward him sheepishly. In verse 4 he repeats what he said in verse 3. He tells them I am your brother Joseph.

But this time he says their sin. He points out their sin. He says whom you sold into.

Egypt.

Now instead of telling his brothers that I'm going to repay you for what you did to me. And I'm never going to forgive you. We hear that in our world a lot. Don't we someone wrongs you for something far less than this.

I'm done with you. Or you might even seek revenge on that person. That's not what Joseph does. He shows his godly character in the way. He treats them. He tells his brothers not to be distressed or angry and then he gives them the reason he says God.

Sent me.

Before you to preserve life so Joseph understands God's role in his life. You can see the importance of having a relationship with the Lord when it comes to forgiveness. Now that second part When he says here God sent me before you to preserve life I'm gonna zero in on that in the next point.

But what I think the author Moses wants us to hone in on is the way Joseph treats his brothers. He desired his original readers in Israel to see this and the other Author of Holy Scripture the Holy Spirit wants us to see this as well.

What we are supposed to see here is that he treats them graciously. When the temptation that the strong temptation would be to treat them harshly. So let me ask you a few questions. What do you do when someone sins against you?

What do you do? When someone does something very bad to you like what Joseph's brothers did to Joseph. Now on the flip side What would you like for someone to do to you when you sin against them? The answer to this is God wants us to be gracious whether we are forgiving someone or whether We were receiving it.

We would want someone to be gracious to us, right if we sin against someone. God's plan for us as he wants us to forgive. Ephesians 4 31 and 32 says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and Slander be put away from you along with all malice be kind to one another.

Tender-hearted forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you our sinful tendency Will be to do what verse 31 says to be bitter wrathful angry and slander with one another. But that's not what God calls his people to do.

He calls us to be kind to one another to be tender-hearted to forgive one another. And this is what God has done for us in Christ as Ephesians 4 32 says we need to forgive each other as God in Christ has forgiven us.

Do you think that Joseph's brothers deserve forgiveness? No, they did not they deserve justice. But Joseph forgave them just as God Had forgiven them as they repented and you can see how serious it is not to forgive.

God has forgiven us for the grievous sins. We have sinned against him. How much more should we forgive the lesser sins done against us? I've shared the story before but it's worth repeating because it's the best example I can think of in the present in the present experience.

The Myron family the reason they're going to the mission field is because of a tragedy that happened to the Pell's family in 2016 this was this was a young family. Husband wife three little children. They were preparing to go to the mission field in Japan.

They were just about ready to go and they were driving home from Colorado. With with reach global there was a conference with reach global going on and they were coming home. And you're in a construction zone their car was stopped and this semi Distracted semi-driver rammed right into them the whole family perished in the car crash.

And so as you might imagine here The people who love the Pell's family, how are they going to respond to this? It says a lot about you how are you going to respond to what this man did and It's remarkable in Several months back The parents of Jameson and Catherine the parents the parents of The son and daughter who perished in this accident and they lost all of their their three grandchildren in this Rick Pell's the father of Jameson said to the man who killed his son daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

He said this I Know how much God has forgiven me. How can I not forgive you? I am NOT in the position of authority to extend you mercy. Tony the man who did this however, I can request mercy for you and He did request mercy.

So the parents of the family who perished in this accident Not only forgave the man but wanted his sentence to be reduced and think about that. Remarkable and what what is it about these this family that made them do this?

The answer is they know God they know how much they've been forgiven in Christ. So, of course, they're able to forgive even when it's that big they are able to forgive. So even big sins between humans is small compared to what we've done before a holy God.

No matter how bad one sins against another it will never measure our sin against a holy God. We must understand that. People pursuing the Lord with their life forgive. It is holy for us to forgive because we realize how much we have been forgiven in Christ and if we don't forgive we don't see ourselves as great offenders against a holy God and that's a serious problem.

Your willingness to forgive or not to forgive says a lot about your relationship with God whether you even have a relationship with the Lord. When I hear people say I can't forgive someone I immediately think this person very well may not be a Christian.

Because you don't understand what God has done for you at the cross if that's the case. The Lord does not have to forgive us yet. He does by his grace and we model his forgiveness for the very reason that we have been forgiven.

And we would do what would do well to model Joseph here Joseph. Joseph lived at a point in history before the cross of Christ about about roughly 2 ,000 years before. But he knew he was a sinner. He knew that sin came into the world through Adam and he knew that he was justified the same way his great-grandfather Abraham was justified as we saw in Genesis 15 6.

Remember Abraham believed the promises of God and it said the Lord counted it to him as righteousness. Joseph was clearly a believer who knew this. Joseph knew he was a sinner who needed the grace of God and His brothers did something so horrible against them and look at how willing he was.

Not to hold it against them, but to forgive. Joseph knew that he was forgiven much so he was able to forgive and as Joseph said to his brothers in the first half of verse 5 Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.

He does not explicitly say the words. I forgive you. But the words aren't what counts it's it's your behavior towards someone it's the heart. That counts and anyone reading this knows that Joseph has forgiven.

And we know in in Genesis chapter 50 verse 21 as we'll see down the road. We read that he comforted them and spoke kindly to them and that that's that's the episode where all the brothers Collectively repent before him.

So we see the beginning of that right here. And next time you are tempted to think I can't forgive someone think about Joseph his brothers wanted to kill him. They sold him into slavery and when they repented as we saw Judah do at the end of chapter 44 Joseph was ready to forgive.

He knew he was a sinner that needed forgiveness he knew the forgiveness God had shown him and the righteous standing he now had and. So when his brothers repented Joseph thought of course, I'm going to forgive you.

By the way forgiveness. This is a side note forgiveness is not a process. Forgiveness is a one instant thing if someone comes to us and says will you forgive me for a wrong? I've done against you instantly.

We should forgive now trust is a process. Important distinction that needs to be made there doesn't mean you're gonna trust the person that's built over time, but forgiveness should come Immediately so as Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers God's character and will are shown and we saw here God's character.

The first biblical truth is he expects you to forgive as you have been forgiven it or as he has forgiven you. The second biblical truth that we see in this text and we'll see in the second half of verse 5.

Through verse 8 is he uses human sin for his ultimate good purposes. Okay, so we're gonna see a weighty Biblical truth here in these two-and-a-half or sorry three-and-a-half verses and The truth is that we're going to see here.

Is that Joseph's understanding of God's hand in this whole narrative? It is something we're gonna see. We've already seen God's providence on display in the Joseph narrative. And now we are going to see it here as Joseph tells his brothers how God Weaved their sinful actions for the greater good.

Now we just saw in the first half of verse 5 that Joseph told them not to be angry. They sold him into slavery and then he tells them the details that God has weaved together. Joseph says this in the second half of verse 5 through 8 through verse 8, but please look with me at this.

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. Okay, let's stop right there. Think about what Joseph just said.

God Willed this whole experience to happen in order for him to be used for the greater good of preserving life. We know that Joseph was to it was able to preserve life because God had given him knowledge that there were going to be seven years of plenty.

Followed by seven years of famine with this information God gave Joseph the wisdom to tell Pharaoh that a leader needs to stockpile food During the seven years of plenty so that Egypt would be ready for the seven years of famine.

Joseph would be that leader appointed by Pharaoh. But Joseph would not have even been in this position unless his brothers sold him into slavery. Where he was brought to Egypt. So you can see God's will in this.

God used the sin of Joseph's brothers for the greater good of appointing Joseph in Egypt to be the leader of the global crisis of famine. Where Joseph would be used to save lives? Now we know the Lord has used Joseph not only to feed his family During the famine his family being the chosen line the Lord promised to preserve.

But also the Lord desired for Joseph to feed Egypt and the nations. But Joseph focuses in on Israel here. You notice that in this text in verse 7. Here's what Joseph says. God Sent me before you to preserve preserve for you Israel a Remnant on earth and to keep alive for you Israel many survivors.

So he's not talking specifically about the world here, but the offspring of Abraham. The author Moses records this intentionally we whenever we read the Bible we need to put ourselves in the shoes of The author as he's writing to his audience.

Of course all the scriptures written to us, too. But he's writing to an audience here and Moses is writing to the Israelites in about the 15th century here after they had gone through the Red Sea crossing the Exodus and they're in between the period where Joshua is eventually going to take over and then they're going to go into the land of Canaan.

But he's writing this letter to them around that time and so as he's writing this to them He wants them to see God's protection over their ancestors. God used Joseph to keep the chosen line going. They almost perished, but God wouldn't let it happen.

So Joseph is telling his brothers here God used your sin of selling me into slavery to preserve our chosen line from Abraham.

Okay, so.

These verses raise all sorts of questions. And if you're a careful reader, you're gonna ask these questions here. Questions that you might be thinking right now. The first question I asked as I was reading this is Has Joseph changed his mind concerning the sin of his brothers.

In verse 5 Joseph said do not be angry that you sold me here. Acknowledging their sin then in verse 8. He says it was not you who sent me here, but God. So as Joseph saying since God guided all these details you're not to blame For the sins that you committed against me, so don't sweat it.

You don't need to repent and to that we must say a big no. We've already seen Joseph call out their sin. Remember he pricked their conscience for several chapters. Joseph knows very well. They sinned and in fact in Genesis 50 20 he calls what they did evil.

So Joseph is not saying you don't need to feel sorrow over what you've done. They should feel sorrow and they have shown that we've at least seen Judah up to this point. Change and repent. So Joseph is not saying that here.

But he is talking about the Lord's will in this. So and that leads us to the bigger question the bigger question that is raised here is What is God's role in the sinful actions of the brothers. You notice in verse 5 Joseph said God sent me before you to preserve life and in verse 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth.

And even more strikingly in verse 8 Joseph said it was not you who sent me here, but God. You might be thinking I thought it was the brothers who sent him here how sinful they were in doing it as well so the question that is raised is Did God and make them sin to fulfill his purposes you see you see why you might ask that question here.

This brings the big question about how we understand God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Which is a big question by the way that people have been asking for thousands of years. How do we understand God's control over everything and human choices the will that humans have?

We've seen two things in this whole narrative between Joseph and his brothers. God weaves the details of the story together while Joseph's brothers freely chose to do everything they did. The evil things they did.

No one put a gun to their head. They wanted to sell Joseph to the Midianite traders as they passed by who took him down to Egypt. Everywhere we read in the Bible we see this come out and we see it right here.

And that is this truth. God is sovereign and yet man makes choices willingly that have real consequences. So in other words Joseph's brothers truly sent God wrote the story, but Joseph's brothers truly sinned and and and if they did not repent they would pay for those sins.

So one truth that we need to affirm is that God wills human affairs. And this is the uncomfortable part even sinful human affairs without himself sinning. Okay, that last part is very important. So God cannot sin.

He's holy. In fact James one says that he can never tempt anyone with sin. He is holy which means he's entirely set apart from anything unclean in. One way to think of this might be this. I was reading a book a while back that I think gave a good illustration of this.

It's like the Lord of the Rings and maybe if you've read the Lord of the Rings. This will be helpful if you haven't just bear with me here. So J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings. He's the author of the book and he writes evil characters into his story.

Sauron.

Saruman all the orcs all the bad guys in the story. But J. R. R. Tolkien did not sin. Writing the evil characters in this story and in the same way God is the author of the story of life. He writes this in the story, but he himself is not a sinner in it.

So I know this is a weighty truth, but we have to wrestle with this the Bible talks about it. What we must understand is that everything that God wills he means it for the greatest good to come about.

So everything that he writes in the story of life, he does everything for our good the good of his people and for his greatest glory his maximum glory. And when we think about God's sovereignty over the affairs of sinful actions.

The the first place our mind should go as we think about the goodness of God is the cross of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that he willed it to happen from eternity past. Acts chapter 4 verses 27 through 28 says this.

For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you appointed so the you here is God whom God appointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your God's hand and God's plan had predestined to take place.

So human sin put Jesus on the cross and yet mysteriously God Willed it to come to pass, but he willed it for the good of the world. The sinners did what they wanted to do. That the Jews really wanted to kill Jesus you read the gospel narratives they wanted him dead they put Jesus on that cross and the Roman soldiers were Trying to do their job and Mock him along with the Jews and yet God's hand was over at all the Bible teaches this.

We don't understand it fully. But the Bible unapologetically tells us that this is the case. God is completely sovereign yet mankind makes his or her own choices and bears the consequences for those choices.

But the cross of Christ is the greatest example of how God wills Human sinful actions for the greatest ultimate good. We know what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished it accomplished it accomplished the salvation of Anyone who would ever believe in him and that offer is there and it comes through sinners.

Putting Jesus on a cross and we see it in our narrative here in these three and a half verses.

Joseph.

His brothers willingly sell their brother into slavery yet Joseph who has sound theology Joseph believes this we know that because what he says it was not you who sent me here, but God. So Joseph is not only a believer he's a believer who knows his theology.

And this would have been news to the brothers. They learned right here that God was sovereign over their sinful actions. They learned that God used their foolish choices to bring the greatest good. Think of how many lives were saved because of all the food that was stored through Joseph's wise planning.

This is what God does in his infinite wisdom and Like I mentioned this is hard for us to understand. But it's a truth we must embrace because the Bible teaches it so clearly anywhere you go in Scripture.

It teaches this you go to. Ephesians 1 11 all things happen according to the counsel of God's will. Proverbs 16 33 it says the the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from The Lord so there are no random events.

God is over at all. Now you might be wondering how in the world do we apply this biblical truth to our life? I already mentioned the biggest one. The Lord willed the greatest evil the crucifixion of Christ.

Which by the way was the greatest sin ever committed the crucifixion of the perfect Son of God. God willed the greatest evil for the greatest good so that you and I can be saved and We should praise him for his wisdom in this and how it works for our greatest good.

Everything that God does he does for his glory and the good of his people. And we should not be defensive about this, but we should praise God for it. But I'm going to say something here that might make you think in ways you haven't before.

All of us have sinful struggles. What we have seen over the past several weeks is the Lord shows us our sins and calls us to turn from them. So we should never think I'm going to sin more so the Lord can bring greater good from them.

That's licensed to sin. The Bible never teaches us to do that. In fact, the Bible tells us to store up treasures in heaven. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 store up yours for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Which means that you're going to have greater rewards in heaven over your obedience. Then maybe someone who is less obedient. So there's a different level of rewards. So the Bible encourages us in that direction.

Now that being said The Lord does use your struggle against sin for your good in his glory. And when I say the word struggle what I am saying is you want to turn the problem with a lot of a lot of even Christians is You're content in your sin.

You know, I face this in my own life. Sometimes I'm okay sinning just a little bit. But the scripture teaches us to kill our sin. And if you're really in a struggle against sin, that means you want to turn from it.

That's a good question to ask Yourself and to ask a fellow believers. How much do you really want to turn from your sin because it's gonna come at a cost. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna be a fight. Because sins, you know, you know that old saying old habits die hard old sins die hard.

They do but with the Spirit's help we can do it. Now have you ever wondered why the Lord does not take you straight to heaven once you believe in Christ? Because once you enter heaven you enter a state of perfection where you will never sin again.

But the Lord leaves us here to wrestle with our sins to fight to make war. The Lord has a design in your fight against sin in this world. And once you come to faith in Christ, he knows that you are going to fight against sin and you are going to struggle.

But God is glorified and you receive the greatest good from the fact that God strengthens and sustains you through it and So you triumph in your fight against sin? The three great enemies of the Christian are the devil the world and your own sinful flesh, which is your own sinful nature but in Christ you are victorious over all three of your great enemies and So you benefit greatly from it and that you triumph in the end every Christian will triumph because we're all brought to glory and in The end God is glorified because he was the one who sustained us through the fight.

He was the one who strengthened us. He was the one who makes us victorious as we are sanctified in him.

In.

This way God wills your story as a follower of Christ as a triumph and not a tragedy and God is glorified. And you and you receive the ultimate good out of it. So understand your struggle against sin happens under the will of God and God lovingly cares for you to bring you safely into his presence.

What a wonderful verse. 2nd Peter 1 10 and 11 is. Peter said this brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election for if you practice these These qualities the qualities of turning from sin you will never fall.

For in this way, they will be richly provided for you and entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So.

These are weighty truths to wrestle with but we need to understand God's will over our lives and the responsibility that he gives us to be faithful To his plan for us. So as Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers God's character and We've seen the will in the second point here his will is shown and And that will is that he uses human sin for his ultimate good purposes.

His good purposes for the whole story that he's writing from creation to the the new heavens in the new earth and the story of each individual life of those who follow Jesus Christ. So to summarize our sermon this morning as Joseph reveals his identity to his brother as God's character and will are shown and we've seen two biblical truths in this text.

He expects you to forgive. Just like Joseph did he expects you to forgive as you have been forgiven and he uses human sin for his ultimate good purposes. And as I read the Bible, I'm always amazed at the gems that are in every section of Scripture.

You can you can break up Scripture into into three parts if we're getting very broad here and that is narrative.