Severe Mercies

Before we begin, I'd ask you to pray for this afternoon, as you remember. Some of you know Rick Giannetti died suddenly, I believe it was Thursday, and they've asked me to do the funeral. And as we often do, we like to minister to folks who don't have church families and provide a dinner for them. And so that's what's happening this afternoon at 4. So you pray, and maybe you can jump in with a little extra energy after we're done eating this afternoon to get things cleared away so we can get another meal on by about 5, all right?

But you pray about that. The Lord's given us great opportunities of ministry. I'll let you in on a secret, okay? Don't tell anybody this. But when Kyle or Ed Stavchak get a family who don't have a church, they call us. and they call us because they know that we'll minister the word of god and we'll minister to the families and so it's going to take a lot of extra work today so you pray about that and if you can help help all right it would be very very nice this is an opportunity for us to show people not just when i preach the gospel at the funeral but they see the love of christ very tangibly.

So you pray about that. Okay? Now I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Genesis 42. We'll pick up the story where Jake left off in verse 26. Familiar story? Genesis 42, beginning in verse 26.

Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack, to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. He saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, My money has been put back. Here it is in the mouth of my sack. At that their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, What is this that God has done to us?

When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, We're honest men. We've never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

Then the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.

As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you.

Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you. But he said, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he's the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. Let's pray. God of heaven we ask now that you would make your word clear to us we pray Lord that through this we would see Jesus and we would see your purposes and we will be determined to live in light of your word help us by the grace of your spirit now to listen and to understand so that we may glorify you We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Reunions of families or friends or classmates can be great affairs of incredible joy and celebration. However, that's not always the case, because some reunions bring you face to face with estranged family members or that high school friend who really hurt you badly or the guys in your unit who used to make fun of you. Reunions can be edgy and awkward and hurtful.

That's why reunions and holidays often produce emotions of anxiety and depression and despair. that's because reunions do not always mean reconciliation. However, in the chapter before us, we find a reunion. But you don't find any great celebrations. That's because reunion doesn't always mean reconciliation. And yet, from chapter 42 through chapter 46, verse 27, the span of those several chapters, you observe Jacob's fractured, broken, estranged family coming together at peace with one another and at peace with God.

Now, such a reconciliation is important. Why? Because without it, God will not fulfill His covenant promise of blessing the nations through His seed. What good does it do to rescue a family from starvation who's still at odds with one another? The narrative over the next few chapters doesn merely recount the rescue of a family from destruction It recounts the rescue of a family from hatred You see, both rescues are necessary for God to fulfill the promise of a seed that will bless the nations.

Both of them are necessary. Not just the rescue from starvation so that there is a clan through which that seed to bless the nations will come. But He has to rescue them from their hatred. or he cannot fulfill his purposes. How can this family and its descendants bless the nation, first of all, if it starves to death? But most importantly, how could it possibly bless the nations if it remains shattered by strife or ripped apart by hatred?

And so it is that God subjects these people to what we might call his severe mercies. What do I mean when I use that word? Because you'll hear it quite a bit today. It is to say, they're going to experience severe events in order to bring about God's merciful ends. Now in this familiar story of Joseph meeting his brothers and the test that they experienced, you see God reconciling these family members and making a people out of them.

That's what's beginning to happen now in this story. Again, be reminded, we are following the story of God's faithfulness. Beginning in chapter 12, he covenanted with Abraham to bring about greatness for his family and a seed that will bless all the nations. And as we come to this text, we find again how God is going to fulfill those purposes. and he's going to fulfill those purposes by reconciling this family because I'll say it again, it does no good to rescue them from starvation.

That will continue the seed, but unless he deals with their hatred, they'll shatter. What can happen then? Let's see what happens. First of all, you need to recognize the circumstances that require severe mercies. Recognize the circumstances that require severe mercies. Our narrator now takes you from Egypt, where you spent the last 20 years, and returns you to Canaan.

The predicted famine has not only afflicted Egypt, but it's a widespread famine, and it has spread up to Canaan, which if you look at a map will be, if you turn to the back of your Bibles, you probably can see this, go from Egypt up to the north and to Canaan. The famine has struck all across the known world. Jacob's family is on the verge of starvation, and yet they seem indecisive.

They don't know what to do with it. Why do you stand there and look at one another? Aren't you going to do something? There's grain for sale, and they're anything but decisive in this crisis. Jacob learns about the availability of food, and his boys have no idea what to do. The angry old man barks at his sons, Go get some food, you lazy knuckleheads!

What is wrong with you? Do something! And sadly, as we read this text, the first five verses, it's obvious that Jacob is still plagued by playing favorites. He keeps Joseph's only full brother, the other son of his favorite wife Rachel, Benjamin, from going. Now, with two decades to think about what happened to Joseph, Jacob may have grown a bit more suspicious of his boy's story about what really happened at Dothan and as I read this it seems to be that that he just doesn't trust them yet he just doesn't quite trust them there's something going on you know something bad is going to happen to my boy if he goes with you right so he's not entirely he doesn't entirely trust them but it's interesting to see that he communicates one thing to them.

Benjamin is important. You are expendable. Now it's sad to see that, isn't it? But again, before we start ripping Jacob to pieces, are there any sins that you struggle with? And that you've had to constantly fight against? Don't be careful about being hard on Jacob.

Jacob is just a mirror for us. he still struggles with favoritism but then I struggle with things too nevertheless here is the family the situation in this family is about as bad as it can be they're on the edge of extinction you see the simmering stew of anger distrust has a seed in dad's mind the stench of favoritism still hangs in the family atmosphere and brokenness just doesn't seem to be a strong enough word to describe the mess this family is in. But again, this is the arena where God's mercies play out. Never forget, no matter how bad it is, no matter how big the mess, that's the arena where God plays out his mercy. can you remember that when you're tempted to lose hope you remember this is why Jesus came Jesus did not come to make good lives better he came to rescue us from the messes that we make and that's what's happening here by the way have you seen this family in a mess before good night you're safe this whole book is about a dysfunctional family which is to say this whole book is about a family like mine and yours right and so what happens here is God going to keep his promise but here is this this dysfunctional this broken this horrible mess of a family How is He going to keep His covenant promises Well, His healing mercies will come as we shall see, but they will be shaped by what looks harsh and severe.

But those harsh and severe mercies will bring about something that's great. His mercy will accomplish what it will, what it must, in order to fulfill His promise. Something has to happen to this family. That brings us to the last part of the chapter then from here on. Recognize the severe mercies that accomplish God's purposes. So let's follow through on the story now.

I won't read the entire text. You've heard it. But you follow along as we look at this together. Now, along with a whole bunch of other different ethnic groups that populate Canaan, these ten boys go down to Egypt. Notice, there's a lot of people who live in Canaan. They're just one little group.

They're the beginnings of what's called the Hebrew nation, the very beginnings of it. But they're not the only group that live in Canaan. There's all kinds of different ethnic groups. All of them are going down to Egypt in order to get food. They're part of it. And as they come into Egypt, they get an audience with Joseph.

They're introduced to the powerful man who controls the grain stores. They must get their food from him. And so the killers of the dream unwittingly begin to fulfill the dream. Isn't this amazing? This is good movie stuff here, you know? Isn't it?

I mean, look. They said, you remember, they wanted to kill Joseph because of his dreams. You remember that? It wasn't they were just mad at him. They said, let's kill that dreamer. And now the guys who want to kill the dreamer are ending up fulfilling the dream as they bow down before him.

Now Joseph recognizes them. In fact, and I want you to see this in verse 9. In fact, when he sees them, he remembers his dreams. Look at verse 7 through 9. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. Where do you come from, he said?

They said, from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed of them, and he said to them, you are spies, you have come to see the nakedness of the land. Now maybe he hadn't given much thought to those dreams. But this text is clear here. That when his brothers bowed before him, he remembered his dreams.

He remembered what was supposed to happen. And the text indicates clearly in verse 9 that his recollection of those dreams now triggers the actions that follow. It is those dreams that are causing him to do what he does now. That is, as he launches his strategy, it's because of those dreams. Now, they don't recognize him because he doesn't look anything like they remember.

He doesn't look like a Semitic person. His beard is shaven. He's not dressed like them. He's dressed like an Egyptian. He's completely clean shaven. And certainly, he's about 37 years old now.

They wouldn't recognize him. And he recognizes them. And he accuses them of spying, of trying to spy out the nakedness of the land. Now the New International Version translates that as unprotected. In other words, your spies who are here to take advantage of our stores, your spies from a rival nation or a rival people that are trying to find if we're protected or not so that you can send word back so that the armies can come or whoever and take our food.

That's what he's accusing them of. And they said, we're not spies. We've come to buy food. And this really funny statement. We are honest men. I don't know, when I read that, it's like, what?

I even, in the sheets that I used to study this passage, I wrote in the margin, what? Okay? But you see, though, they do actually start telling the truth here, do they not? They said, we're not spies. We're the sons of one man. Now, they tell him this because no father's going to risk all his sons in an espionage mission.

He's not going to do that. If he sends all of them, he's got to have some guarantees. Joseph says, no, no, you're spies. And he continues with this accusation. He continues to integrate them. He continues to rattle them until they spill their guts.

Until they just throw it all out there. Okay, all right. You know, we had a brother, he's gone. We had another brother, he's at home. Aha, cracking the story at least a little bit. You still could be spies because your dad has someone to guarantee the family's still going to go on.

And they said, no, we're not. And he says, yes, you are spies. And the only way you can prove your innocence is to bring the one remaining brother with you. Now he remembers his dream. There's 11 bowing down to him. You've got to bring Benjamin.

You've got to bring him. I'll know you're honest if you bring him back. So he throws him in jail to let him think about it. Now, you've got to remember here. And verse 23 tells us this. Remember verse 23? look down a little bit, in verse 23 we find that there's an interpreter between them he understands every word they're saying he understands every single word they say but there an interpreter there it helps the whole if you will the whole disguise He acts like he doesn understand what they saying So as far as they're concerned, he's not understanding anything.

That's why they can engage in the conversations they're engaging in, in front of him, because they don't think he understands. I know when I was in Romania, you'd sit there, and then they'd start arguing about something. I'd be sitting at the table, a couple of them would start arguing about something. And it's like, I don't have a clue what they're talking about.

And they think that's what's going on with Joseph. They think he's an Egyptian. He doesn't understand them. And so they talk about these things. It would be that as it may, he throws him in jail. Three days later, he hauls him out.

There's a second audience with Joseph. After being hauled out before this powerful, powerful man, he says something that's incredibly thought-provoking to them. All right? I want you to look at verse 18. On the third day, Joseph said to them, Do this and you will live, for I fear God. Now they weren't expecting that at all.

This is a thought-provoking statement. The one who holds their lives in his hands is one who fears God. And because of that, note, and because of that, do this and you will live, for I fear God. Because he fears God, he says, I am concerned about your lives, the lives of your families. That's the only reason why you're standing here now, because I fear God.

And I fear God to the point where I'm concerned about you and your families. So he makes a proposal. instead of all of you remaining here I'll keep one as a hostage and you bring back your youngest brother to show me that you're not spies and then verse 20 it says and they did so what that means is another way of translating that is they proceeded to do so that is realizing that the offer is fair they begin to select a brother okay And that leads to the conversation, verses 21 and 22. And this is what they did.

That is, they started okay. He says, one of us can go back. All of us can go back except for one. Who's staying behind? All right? And then the brothers say something, and don't miss this.

This is absolutely extraordinary on their part. A glimmer of hope now here at this point. when they say, this is happening to us because 20 years ago we ignored Joseph's tears and the pleas he made for his life and we ignored them and that's why this is happening to us now. You're not going to expect that from them, but suddenly something goes off. however Reuben says essentially hey it's not my fault remember I was the guy who said let's not do this to the boy now I'm not sure but he might be making a play here as don't leave me here as the hostage it's not my fault don't leave me behind okay so he's making this plea at this Joseph weeps.

Now remember, he understands everything they're saying. They don't think he knows what they're saying. He does. He leaves the room and he weeps. He understands what they're saying, of course, because he knows their language. It's his.

But note this. He does not gloat, nor does he seek revenge, suddenly revealing himself as the injured one and saying, Aha! Okay, boys, you bet you're feeling distress. And I'm going to make you feel so much distress that you're going to hope that you die. I am Joseph. You're dead.

Don't tell me you wouldn't be tempted to do that, would you? But he doesn't. He weeps. I'll tell you, there's a major insight into this man at the point where he could say, yeah, you got distress. and I'm going to make your distress ten times, a hundred times worse because I am Joseph and you are going to pay for what you did to me. He doesn't. He weeps.

He weeps at what he sees in his brother. Here is a glimmer of hope that they're catching on. Here's a glimmer of hope that they'll repent. And besides that, this is the first time, think of this, this is the first time he found out that Reuben tried to rescue him. No doubt all these years he thought Reuben was the oldest. he's the one responsible for this.

Now he hears for the first time that his older brother tried to rescue him. Well, Joseph comes back. He intervenes. He selects Simeon, binding him before them so they get the point. He sends them off with food for the family, provisions for the journey, and he sneaks their money back into their grain sacks. Of course, one of the brothers, as you know the story very well, finds the money in his grain sack. and they are frightened, they are afraid, and it gets worse when they get home, and they find that all of them have their money.

So now they all look like thieves, even if they bring back Benjamin. Who's going to clear them of charges of being thieves? They are really in a pickle now. but once more note something verse 28 that you did not expect they recognize Again, the hand of God. God is at work. They recognize their evil and God's justice. Well, they come home and they face Jacob.

They relate their adventures to their father, although they kind of gloss over the difficult parts. It says, they told him all, but they told him all with a different slant to it. they say nothing about their three day detention they omit the shackling and imprisonment of Simeon in fact they make it sound like he's been left behind it's kind of an honored guess it's not like he's in prison it's like well in order for us to we've got to bring back Benjamin but he's staying there for now okay dad they're taking good care of him don't worry about it but we've got to bring Benjamin they don't say a word about finding the money on the way home One of them found his money on the way home. They don't say anything about that to Jacob.

And notice this in verse 34. They even change Jacob's threat of life and death to this guy's going to give us economic opportunity in the land. Now here it's not glossing over. Here it's just downright lying. Okay? See that in verse 34?

You didn't see this anywhere. Then shall I know that you're not spies, but honest men. and I will deliver your brother to you and you shall trade in the land. No, he didn't say that. They're really sugarcoating this right at this point for dad so they can say, hey, he said we'd come back and trade in the land so let's take Benjamin and let's go. Well, well, the problem then is Benjamin.

We've still got to take Benjamin. now everything falls apart though when they empty their sacks and find the money they empty their sacks and dad is standing there and all their money falls out now it falls apart they lose all credibility because now they look guilty to him remember they haven't told him about the incident in the oasis on the way back where the one brother found his money now all of the money is there Now they're all implicated as thieves. They look guilty as sin to him. They haven't helped their credibility one bit.

And here they are again, flush with cash and short one brother, just like before. Wow. Reuben realizing, or I should say, Jacob then descends into self-pity. He writes off Simeon. He has no intention of sending anyone back to Egypt. He essentially writes off Simeon.

Lost him. You're not going back with Benjamin. Reuben, realizing the importance of Benjamin to the scheme, offers his two sons as hostages to be killed. Now, when you look at that, I mean, the first thing I thought is, why are you offering up your two boys? This is cowardly. This is absolutely cowardly.

Offer yourself. And what good does it do for Jacob to lose two grandsons? How's that going to help? If you're going to be a guarantee, put yourself up. Don't put your sons on the altar. Come on, Reuben.

And then finally, you know, through it all, Jacob descends into self-pity. You see Jacob essentially again tearing his family apart, protecting Benjamin above all others, still grieving about Joseph, right? And treating Simeon with indifference. Treating Simeon with indifference. Now, here's the question. Why is all this recorded?

To show us like we get kind of like this great movie script here. Why did God give us this? To show us the severe mercies he uses to accomplish his purpose of reconciliation First of all look at God severe mercies to Joseph to Joseph himself Joseph has gone through incredible suffering has he not And when it came to the point though he did not say to his brothers I told you so, God said I'm the greatest, so here I am.

He didn't do that. Instead, because of 13 years of suffering, he recalls the dream and he launches a plan of rescue. It's not bragging for him. It's the opportunity to rescue his brothers. In other words, the ones who mistreated him now are the ones that he reaches out to rescue. He reaches out to rescue them now.

Even though they don't deserve it. By our way of reckoning. Because of God's work in his life, Joseph provides for his brothers and their families. He could have sent them home with empty bags. Is that not true? And besides that, you know what else?

He knows something they don't know. Now think about this. You've got to get right into that scene. He knows there's five more years of famine left. They have no idea. As far as they know, the famine could be over next year.

He knows there's five more years left. He knows that. So he rigs it so that they do come back. He's now a humble man who serves those who mistreat him. He's gone from the braggart young man now to a man who serves those who mistreat him and seeks their welfare. you see God's severe mercies through Joseph, through Joseph, in his treatment of his brothers.

It looks a lot like vengeance, doesn't it? It looks a lot like vengeance when he interrogates them like criminals, plays the bad cop, and tosses them into prison. He recognized them. Note, he recognized them, but he treated them, the text says, as strangers. Just like they had refused to recognize him as a brother and treated him as a stranger and an enemy.

Now that seems like revenge, but look at the result. Verse 21. We are being distressed because of the distress that we put on Joseph. They now see themselves as fellow sufferers with Joseph. They understand the horrors they had inflicted on their brother. They had not understood that before.

Now they do. They recognize that they had sinned. They recognize that they had sinned in doing that. Retribution. Awakening in them feelings which were untouched before by the tears of their brother and the tears of their father. But now, because this was happening, it awakens in their minds The idea that we have sinned against our brother.

And this is what we get. We are reaping what we sow. And they confess their sins and renounce their hateful ways. Do you see that? What the tears could not do, retribution does. Is that not how God works with you sometimes?

Doesn't He have to bring some hard things into your life to awaken in you the sense, I have sinned. And that's what he does with the boys here. And they recognize the justice of God in verse 21. So you see, his severe treatment of them results in the beginning of their repentance and their reconciliation. Notice this as well. That God's severe mercies in Joseph testing his brothers through Simeon.

Now here's what you do when you start reading ahead now for the next few weeks. Here what you need to do as you see Joseph plan unfold in the next few chapters you going to see him testing his brothers He going to run these tests on his brothers And this is the first test he puts his brothers through. What is it? How are they going to respond to a brother in distress?

You see that? he binds Simeon in front of them and now he's going to find out how are you going to respond to a brother in distress have you changed what are you going to do now notice he increases the tension of that test by putting the silver back in their bags because here's why he brings them face to face with their past At one time, they valued silver more than their brother. Are they going to value silver more than their brother again? And to top it all off, they look like thieves.

Will they risk their own imprisonment, even death, out of loyalty to a brother? will they jeopardize money and their own freedom for the release of a brother that's the test one immediate result verse 28 is the opening of their eyes to the hand of God God is God is just he's in this we've done wrong and because god is just we're paying now we're going to have to wait to see the final outcome of this severe mercy this test of simeon we'll see how it turns out okay but you get a glimmer of hope that these brothers may have begun to change a glimmer of hope that this fractured family will be reconciled. But God's severe mercies do not always lead to immediate results. You know how you know that?

Because you look at Jacob. He's still feeling sorry for himself. He's still playing favorites. And Reuben, Reuben is a cowardly, unthoughtful man. so those severe mercies don't always produce immediate results God must yet work if we would see reconciled relationships now here's the point of all this do you realize that God has not changed the God that we read about here has not changed he is still the same God he still pursues his purpose of blessing the nations through his seed.

We now are part of that seed as descendants of Jesus, if you will. We've been connected by faith to Abraham. We are now part of that seed. And we have the purpose of presenting the seed of Jesus to the nations. But, as always, A united people are going to do that. A fractured people will fail in that mission every time.

A fractured people will not accomplish the purposes of God. He must have united people to accomplish his purpose. Remember what Jesus himself said? A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. just as I have loved you you also are to love one another. John 13 now. Verse 35.

What does He say then? He says this, By this all people will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another Folks let me tell you something We will fail in the mission We might as well hang it up if we do not love one another And if we do not work at keeping our relationships reconciled, if we do not work at staying as one, hang it up! You know what?

Sometimes we say, they will know you're My disciples. If you are not homosexuals, and if you stand against it, and if you do this and don't do that, listen, it's important to be holy. Don't get me wrong. We're to pursue holiness. But the world doesn't care about that stuff. But if they see that we love one another, they can tell we're disciples of Jesus. in my understanding that's the only thing in all of the Bible where Jesus gives the world the right to judge us do you love one another and if we don't love one another if we do not keep the family close right we will fail in our mission of blessing the nations is it possible that God, in order to achieve His merciful ends, is putting you through some severe mercies?

Is that possible? Are you going through difficulty right now? Is it hardship? Is it the severe mercy of God to help you reconcile to other people? Do you face any relationships on edge, broken, with anger and distrust plaguing them? Do you?

Well, then you ought to praise God that He won't let you alone, but bring severe mercy into your life in order that you will reconcile those relationships. And you can put those relationships together for the glory of God only because of Jesus. Jesus, the beloved Son of His Father, became our brother in order to suffer humiliation, injustice, and death at our hands by our sin.

Is that not right? And Jesus then rose from the dead and was exalted to a place of honor. And from there, He gives us new life and the Spirit and the power to love. It is Jesus who has suffered at our hands who now ministers for our good. And it is this Jesus that says, love one another. It is this Jesus from the throne of heaven who gives us the power now to live that way.

The only thing we need to do is step out, take small steps of obedience, and we'll see what God does. Thank God for His severe mercies. Father, thank You for Your Word. It's easy to read about severe mercies. It's awful hard to live through them. But Father, we are convinced that You have nothing but good for us in those severe mercies.

Would you help us now, Father? Help us to recognize our own sinfulness that we might be reconciled to one another. Help us to love one another. Help us, Father, to fulfill the mission you've given us. To present the seed to the nations that would bless them. As we are one.

God help us, we pray, for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, amen.