Book of Genesis - Ch. 42, Vs. 1-38 (04/22/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Genesis 42. Everybody listen.

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When is belief not belief, Burge? That's what

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I said. Alright.

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When is belief belief? Belief is not belief when it is not acted upon, which is what you all said.

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Once acted on, it becomes knowledge gained by experience.

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The acting upon is the exercise of faith. 42 .1.

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Now, when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons,

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Why do you look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt.

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Get you down thither, and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die. It was imperative that they go get the grain.

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They had nothing but sweets to eat. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt.

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Clarence, how long did that take? Okay. We have jumped one month.

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But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren. For he said,

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Lest, peradventure, mischief befall him. Now, why didn't he send his youngest son?

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Why was that important? Alright, Joseph is gone.

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He supposes dead. Don't you find it strange that these boys never mentioned to their father what they really did to Joseph?

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I find that strange. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came.

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For the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now, why did

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God have the famine extended to Canaan? Jesse? Do what?

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That's right. Because Joseph's in Egypt. Do you see the hand of God in all of this?

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Do you see it in any of this? Do you see the hand of God in this?

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And Joseph was the governor over the land.

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And he, it was, that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

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Unknown to them, they're fulfilling a prophecy. Joseph's dream became a reality.

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Recognized, recognition of Joseph was unlikely because over 15 years had lapsed and the teenager sold into slavery had become a mature adult.

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He was the head of the country. They certainly didn't expect that. Even if he was alive, they wouldn't expect him to be the governor of the country.

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Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them and spake roughly unto them.

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And he said unto them, whence come you? And they said from the land of Canaan to buy food.

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Joseph knew his brothers, but they knew not him. Just as the

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Lord always knows all of his own. Joseph has also known his brother.

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Just like us, they did not know Joseph at the beginning. They do come to him until he reveals himself to them.

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And Joseph remembered the dreams with the dream which he dreamed of them.

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And he said unto them, you're spies. To see the nakedness of the land, you're come.

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When you die, are you through with this earthly life? Your life on earth, are you through with it?

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You're through with it? What does the rest of you say?

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I don't know, brother. I just want everything we can live, whatever we can live, to see who he's not.

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But are we through with it? We're through with it. Russell, is that right? Is David here?

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Okay, Greg, is that right? Are we through with our life when we die?

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Well, are we through with this earthly life? Yes. You know that for which you're giving account.

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Do you see that? You cannot be judged unless you know for what you're being judged.

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So we're not through with it. Sometime after,

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I don't know when. That's right.

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That's right. There comes a time when the memory is wiped away.

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I don't know when it'll be, but I know it's not immediately because we are judged for that which we do.

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No, this first dream, you remember if you go back and read the dream, how they all made obedience unto him.

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They all fell down to him. That's right. If you go back and reread the two dreams, in both of them, they bowed down to him.

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One of them included his father and mother. The other did not. And they said unto him,

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Nay, my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. And we are all one man's sons.

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We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. Now what is all being, being all of one man have to do with being spies,

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Debbie? They seem to think it did.

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You were never a spy, were you? All right.

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Bill? That's right.

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That's right. And he said unto them,

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Nay, but to see the negatives of the land are you come. And they said,

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Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan.

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And behold, the youngest is this day with our father and one is not, meaning

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Joseph. And Joseph said unto them, that it is, that it is, that is it that I speak unto you saying you're spies.

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Hereby you shall be proved by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go forth.

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Hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Now this is an oath.

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Our translators didn't word it like that, but it is by Pharaoh, by the life of Pharaoh.

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Send one of you and let him fetch your brothers, your brother. And you shall be kept in prison that your words may be proved whether there are any truth in you or else the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.

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He's hung up on this spy thing. He knows they're not, so he accuses them of it.

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And Joseph said unto them the third day. No, he put them all together into ward three days.

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Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live for I fear

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God. Now they should have had a clue there. If you be true man, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison.

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Go ye, carry corn for the famine to your houses, but bring your youngest brother unto me.

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So shall your words be verified and you shall not die. And they did so.

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Now they finally leave one and they're all going.

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And he said, and they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that he saw the anguish of his soul, that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we should, we would not hear.

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Therefore is this distress come upon us. Now it's been 15 to 20 years.

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Why do you suppose that they go back immediately to what they did to Joseph?

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There's been no mention of it. Yes. There's never a day go by, but what they thought of it.

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And they're thinking of it now in that this is happening to us because of that.

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Well, we hear God's conscience calling to us.

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If not here, we will in the next life. And Reuben answered them saying, spake

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I not unto you saying, do not sin against the child and you would not hear.

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Therefore behold also his blood is required of us. Reuben's joining in because he had tried to persuade them to not put him in danger.

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And they knew not that Joseph understood them for he spake unto them by an interpreter.

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Joseph has been carrying on all of his, he's been carrying on all of his conversation with them through an interpreter.

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And he turned himself about from them and wept and returned to them again and communed with them and took from them

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Simeon, bound him before their eyes. Simeon.

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Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn and to restore every man's money into his sack and to give them provision for the way.

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And thus did he unto them and they laded their asses with the corn and departed thence.

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And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, perhaps by a well, he has spied his money for behold, it was in the sack's mouth.

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Here's one that is going to open the sack and feed his animal and lo and behold, there's his money.

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What do you think now, Richard? Well, what do they think? He knew he didn't steal it.

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He thought somebody else did. And he said unto his brother, my money is restored and lo it is even in my sack and their heart failed.

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Now they know God's after them. And they were afraid saying one to another, what is this that God has done unto us?

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And they came unto Jacob, their father into the land of Canaan and told him all to befell them, saying, the man who is the

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Lord of the land spoke roughly to us and took us for spies of the country.

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And we said unto him, we're true men, we're no spies. We be twelve brethren, sons of our father, one is not.

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And the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. Now they're, they're speaking about Benjamin, not anything particular, nothing to disturb them.

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Just one, the youngest one's at home. And the man, the

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Lord of the country said unto us, hereby shall I know that you are true men. Leave one of your brethren here with me.

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Take food for the famine of your household and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me.

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Then shall I know that you're no spies, but that you are true men.

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So will I deliver your brother and you shall traffic in the land.

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And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack.

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And when both they and their father saw the bundle of money, they were afraid. They for one reason, he for another.

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Jacob, their father said unto him, me have you bereaved of my children?

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Joseph is not and Simeon is not. And you will take Benjamin away.

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All of these things are against me. Jacob couldn't handle it, could he?

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He couldn't handle losing another son. He did trust the brothers who had already divested him of two sons.

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But what he may have thought were their conspiracy all against me, the whole situation overwhelmed

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Jacob who complained against his sons and would not release Benjamin.

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And Reuben spake unto his father saying, stay my two sons.

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If I bring him not to thee, deliver him into thy hand and I will bring him to thee again.

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And he said, my son shall not go down with you. For this brother is dead and he is left alone in mischief.

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Befall him by the way in which we go, you go. Then shall you bring down the gray hairs of sorrow to the grave.

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Yes. He's showing, well, he doesn't want any of them to be lost.

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But Benjamin and Joseph were two special sons and he doesn't intend to give them up.

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Just a few notes. The doctrine of restitution,

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I'm where I can't talk. The doctrine of restitution, though not talked about today, needs to be taught.

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When a man has done wrong to his neighbor, though on his repentance and faith in our

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Lord Jesus, God forgives him. Yet he requires him to make restitution to the person injured.

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Just to be forgiven of God is not enough. You're not forgiven of God until you make it right.

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If it lie in his power to do so, if he does not, God will take care to exact it in the course of his providence.

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He has more than one way to collect. No man should expect mercy at the hand of God, who having wronged his neighbor, refuses when he has it in his power to make restitution.

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Were he to weep tears of blood, both the justice and mercy of God will shut out his prayer.

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You cannot pray and expect God to hear when you're not right with him.

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That's the lesson we all need to learn. The ways of providence are often to us dark and perplexed so that we are ready to imagine that good can never result from what appears to us to be directly contrary to his interests.

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We are often tempted to think that those very providential dealings of God, which have for their object our present and eternal welfare, are proofs of his displeasure.

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If we see him doing good, we can believe that he's doing good. If we believe not, he abides faithful.

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But our unbelief must make our own way extremely perplexing and difficult.

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It's just in how we look at it. Well, we can think of so many instances.

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The man was selling shoes. He went to a hill country where nobody wore shoes, and he wired home and said,

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I might as well come back, but there's nobody here who wears them. And they sent another man, and he said, golden opportunities.

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Nobody here is wearing shoes. I can sell every one of them. No difference except in what the man thought.

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Okay, anything from anybody? You all ready to go home?

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I heard a yep. Okay, let's stand and be dismissed.