The Brothers Finally Break

Book of Genesis chapter 44. I guess as we we read this book, we realize more and more that that God Definitely wants to have a relationship with his people. I don't believe what's in Genesis chapter 44 that these these brothers actually become Born again in the New Testament sense of the word that these brothers really come to realize in the depths of their hearts The the magnitude of their sin and throw themselves upon God and beg him for mercy But this is the day the brothers confess. This is the day that they're all unified One will speak That's Judah.

He'll take the lead and he becomes the object lesson for us He becomes the the the the model for us when it comes to repentance and he will lead the charge He's the fourth son of Jacob. It's not Reuben. It's not Simeon. It's not Levi It's Judah Judah takes the lead and and I will let you know that may be here today And you don't think that you're a leader because you're not the top dog You're not the firstborn learn from Judah today because Judah takes the lead He takes the initiative when it comes to confessing their sin to God and demand It's a great story because the brothers today finally break you see God wants to get you that point, doesn't he?

Well, you're broken over your sin. You're broken over the the life you've lived And you fall on your face before God and say Oh be merciful unto me a sinner. That's what God's looking for Repentance Is salvation in quietness and in strength you'll find the peace and the rest of God The question is are you willing today? The brothers are willing the question to you is are you? Willing just a chapter 44 34 verses. Let's read them Then he commanded his house stewards saying Fill them in sacks with food as much as they can carry and put each man's money in the mouth of a sack Put my cup the silver cup in the mouth of the sack of the youngest and his money for the grain And he did as Joseph had told him as soon as it was light The men were sent away and they with their donkeys They had just gone out of the city and were not far off when Joseph said to his house steward up Follow them in and when you overtake them say to them, why have you repaid evil for good?

Is not this the one from which my lord drinks in which he indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this So he overtook them and spoke these words to them and they said to him Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing behold the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks We have brought back to you from the land of Canaan How then could we steal silver or gold from your Lord's house? With whomever of your servants it is found. Let him die and we also will be my lord slaves So he said now let it also be according to your words he with whom it is found shall be My slave and the rest of you Shall be innocent Then they hurried each man lowered his sack to the ground and each man opened his sack and he searched Beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack Then they tore their clothes when each man loaded and each man loaded his donkey.

They returned to the city When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house He was still there and they fell to the ground before him and Joseph said to them What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination? So Judah said what can we say to my lord? What can we speak and how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants behold We are my lord slaves both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found but he said Far be it for me to do this the man in whose possession the cup has been found He shall be my slave, but as for you go up in peace to your father Then Judah approached him and said oh my lord May your servant please speak a word in my lord's ears and do not be angry with your servant for you are equal to Pharaoh My lord asked his servant saying have you a father or a brother and we said to my lord We have an old father and a little child of his old age Now his brother is dead So he alone is left to his of his mother and his father loves him Then you said to your servants bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him But we said to my lord the lad cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father his father would die You said to your servants, however, unless your youngest brother comes down and you you shall not or with you You should not see my face again Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father We told him the words of my lord and our father said go back buy us a little food But we said we cannot go down if your youngest brother is with us Then we will go down for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us and your servant My father said to us, you know that my wife bore me two sons and the one went out from me and I said surely He is torn in pieces and I have not seen him since and if you take this one also from me and harm Befalls him you will bring my gray hair down to she old sorrow Now therefore when I come to your servant my father and the lad is not with us Since his life is bound up in the lad's life It will come about when he sees that the lad is not with us that he will die Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to she old and sorrow For your servant became a surety for the lad To my father saying if I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever Now therefore, please let your servant remain Instead of the lad a slave to my lord and let the lad go up with his brothers For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me Lest I see the evil that would overtake my father.

This is a great great chapter. They're all great This is great because it's the one we're on today But man, it's it's so good to see Five things there's four in your notes. I'm gonna give you five this morning. One of course is the conspiracy The second is the confrontation.

The third is the confession The fourth is the compassion and the fifth is a comparison That's what we're going this morning First of all, I want you to see the conspiracy so important these boys get up the next day Having been fed by their old their younger brother Joseph not knowing that it's him Remember Joseph speaks in a different dialect a different language.

He uses an interpreter and They're ready to go Not knowing that Joseph conspires against them not in hate But in love for over 20 years ago the brothers conspired against Joseph Because they despised him but Joseph on the other hand will do it because of his love for them and two things I want you to see number one is the silver in the sacks and number two is Their brother Benjamin one deals with the money and the other deals with the family And Joseph had a had a tremendous plan and in this conspiracy You will note that the very first thing deals with the silver in the sacks Again, their money is placed back into each of the sacks This is so interesting Why because remember what the steward told them last week or in this case yesterday chapter 43 be at peace for Your God the God of your father has put the treasure in your sacks You see God had been working in their lives It was on their first journey to Egypt that they realized when there was money in their sacks They said to themselves look what God has done to us.

They were beginning to realize that God was involved in their lives It's the first time they mentioned the word God or the name God And you will note again that Joseph as he conspires in love against his brothers He brings them to a certain point by putting the money back into their sacks Once again, it's the display of goodness on the part of Joseph Do you know that it's God's goodness that brings us to a point of repentance?

I think we forget that sometimes It's not the the wrath of God that brings us to a point of repentance It's the goodness and kindness of God that brings us to that point How do we know that the Bible says so over in Romans chapter 2 it says this in verse number 4 or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and Patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance It's the goodness of God It's the kindness of God that brings us to a point of repentance when we realize that what we truly deserve is is is Death when we realize what we deserve is is is hell and God and his goodness Demonstrates his love toward us while we were separated from him Redeems us to himself.

We we fall on our face before him It's the goodness of God and Joseph that great type of Christ is again showing them the goodness of God remember these guys Are ecstatic they're going home. It's all over We got enough grain enough food to last us to the end of the famine It's gonna make we're gonna make it our children will be fed our wives be fed our livestock will be fed Everything will go. Well Benjamin's coming back with us. Simeon's been released from prison. This is a good day Praise God for God is good.

They don't know how good God is. They don't not yet, but they will so There is silver in the sacks Number two the brother Benjamin dealing with the family member.

It's interesting to note that that Benjamin now will become a threat to the brothers as Joseph was that perceived threat to all the brothers Benjamin now will become the threat to their lives Joseph knows that Benjamin's the younger one Benjamin is the apple of his father's eye In fact, we we read in in this account in verse number 30 that Jacob's life is bound up in this child He is totally wrapped up in Benjamin Joseph understood that and so now Benjamin will become that Individual where the brothers have to make a decision about and so as they head out toward the sands of the Sinai All of a sudden the steward shows up they get outside the city gates and Joseph says Okay, this is what you do This is what you say now go and he catches up to them because he needs to confront them Joseph says take my silver cup put it in Benjamin sack the youngest son put it in his sack And he tells him that when you go and you see them That is not this the one from which my Lord drinks in which he indeed uses for divination now Joseph is not into the occult Joseph is not some magician the magicians would use these cups of divination to Cause people to be in awe of what they did this just furthers Joseph's hidden identity he doesn't want these men to have any idea who he is and he wants them to be in awe of what they have just Done and what it could cost them because The cup is gone.

And so you come to point number two the the confrontation and the steward shows up Unbeknownst to them in verse number six.

He overtook them and spoke the words to them saying Why have you repaid evil for good? Those are very crucial words Because it would be reminiscent of the 20 plus years earlier when they would take a brother who was for all practical purposes Good and treat him with evil, right? They have no idea what's happening Not the foggiest idea and so you come to the confrontation and the very first thing you need to realize is that they denied any Iniquity any iniquity verse number seven and they said to him Why does my lord speak such words as these far be it from your service to do such a thing not us We wouldn't do those kind of things and you know what they were innocent of what they would be accused of right?

But they weren't innocent for they were guilty of all kinds of sin, especially the one with Joseph, right? they had not yet confessed that sin and we realized that that Joseph was bringing them to a point of of Repentance as they would realize the severity of their sin And so they would deny at the outset any iniquity point number two They defended their integrity look what it's look what they say behold the money which you found in the mouth of our sacks We have brought back to you from the land of Canaan.

How then could we steal silver or gold from your Lord's house? Hey, we already brought the stuff back to you Remember if you find this cup in any of the sacks that person should die And if he dies because of what he did we will serve your master. We will be your slaves Forever kind of a rash vow, right? But they were they were completely sure they had not done anything they were above board and they defended their integrity all the way to the to the very end and The steward would say in verse number 10.

So he said now let it also be according to your words He with whom it is found shall be my slave and the rest of you shall be Innocent now he changes things that me, you know what then have to die And you guys don't have to be my slaves just the one who has the cup That's the only one the rest of you will be declared innocent. You see they're gonna come to a crossroads, right? Will they betray Benjamin or? Will they back? Benjamin are the boys the same way they were 20 years ago, or had they changed That's what Joseph wants to know.

Oh, he gave Benjamin the night before five extra helpings to see if there was any jealousy if there was any animosity on the part of the other brothers and There wasn't but you see that wasn't the full test So it says in verse number 11 then they hurried each man lowered a sack to the ground and each man opened a sack and so Once again, they go from the oldest to the youngest Steward begins to open each sack to to To take it all the way down to Benjamin and it says and the cup was found in Benjamin's Sack, can you imagine what must have been going through their minds the silver cup in?

Benjamin's sack now they have to make a decision and the Bible says what then they tore their clothes they tore their clothes they Demonstrated their humility.

They demonstrated their humility. That was a Middle-eastern way of of demonstrating your your remorse your contrition Your brokenness over what has happened and these men were truly broken. They they tore their clothes They have yet to do this. They have yet to come to a place of contrition and now they realized there was an Decision that needs to be made and they would fall down before Joseph when they get back to the palace Because these men were gonna demonstrate their humility before God and before me.

Isn't that what God want? Sure It is it's the broken and contrite heart that God will not despise it says in Psalm 51 The text says this look what says and when each man loaded his donkey they returned Where to the city They didn't have to because the only one with the cup was guilty. Everybody else was innocent, right? All he wanted was Benjamin because that was the guilty party, but they don't do that They all go back with Benjamin. They all go back to the palace to meet Joseph Didn't have to but they did Benjamin becomes the priority and so they go back to the palace instead This becomes very important to the story to realize that these men will forsake their families To do the right thing.

That's a great lesson If you look if you missed anything out of Genesis 44 get that one They're willing to let their families die if need be to pay the price For Benjamin to do the right thing this time you see before they did the wrong thing with Joseph But now they're gonna do the right thing with Benjamin and all of them are in unison It's not just one of them, but all of them together There's no argument amongst themselves about who's gonna do what when where how they're all gonna do the same thing They all tear their clothes together.

They're all breaking. So you come to the third point and that's the confession When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he he was still there and they fell to the ground Before him now he had the third occasion right the third occasion that these boys are down before him and Joseph said to them What is this deed that you have done?

Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination? He is continuing to mask his identity to give them no idea who he is. He doesn't practice divination He's a man of God. He loves the Lord God and Joseph continues to to cover his identity And it says in verse number 16 here it is So Judah said notice it says in verse number 14 when Judah and his brothers.

It's not Reuben and his brothers It's not Simeon and Levi and their brothers. It's Judah and his brothers. You see Judah. He's taking the lead here He's doing the right thing. Listen when nobody else in the family's doing the right thing You do the right thing, right? And that's what Judah's doing. He's taking the lead The true leader is known and rises to the occasion when adversity is that it's great It's greatest height. Here's Judah He's taking the lead and it's Judah and his brothers and he gets to the palace of who's a spokesman It's Judah not Reuben Simeon or Levi It's Judah and he is the one who took the lead 20 years ago and said we're not gonna kill him We're gonna sell him.

That's what we're gonna do Oh, that's a good idea, Judah, but Judah's learned Jews come a long way and now he's gonna do the right thing He's still gonna take the lead, but he's gonna lead the right way and not the wrong way See, it's never too late to lead the right way So Judah's gonna do it and so you come to his confession and I want you to notice three things about his confession Number one he acknowledged his iniquity.

He acknowledged his iniquities God has found out the iniquity of your servants God has found us out now Judah knew That nobody took the cup Judah knew that nobody put silver back in their sacks They all knew but what they realized is that God was showing to them what they had done 20 years ago now, they know can't justify ourselves God has found us out number two He accepted he was guilty.

He accepted the fact that he was guilty. God's found us out. We are guilty We are wrong We have sinned a lot of people don't want to admit their guilt they don't want to admit that they're at fault But Judah's not gonna back away from that He's gonna be completely honest and completely vulnerable and say we're at fault and here Judah leading the way for his brother by acknowledging the iniquity by admitting they are guilty and thirdly by Anticipating the pill by anticipating the penalty He says this behold We are my Lord's slaves both we and the one whose possession the cup has been found.

Wait a minute Wait a minute Judah your family. Yeah, how can you be your Lord's slaves? You have a wife you have children you have grandchildren and so do all the other brothers way back in Canaan What are you doing? You know, it's not the other brothers are saying. Hey, you know what? I'm not gonna do this You can be a slave. I'm innocent and listen to what Joseph says 17 But he said far be it from me to do this the man whose possession the cup has been found He shall be my slave. But as for you go up in peace to your father You guys leave go on get out of here.

Go back to your families. Take care of your families See Joseph is getting them to a point where they realize that what they did was so wrong That they will forsake everything to do the right thing for God See that their families become secondary to doing the right thing because of their sin. Oh, that's where God wants all of us For most of us are our families are the most important thing to us and they take precedence over God and we become practical Practically idolaters because our family is so important more so than our God and God doesn't want you there There is to be no other gods before our Lord God There's someone steals your affection or becomes a sole object of your desire We're all your decisions are made around your family and not around your God Then you have become an idolater that your family takes precedence over God And God doesn't want that because if God is your priority listen if God's your priority Your family will be well taken care of and whose family comes to Egypt by the way all of them, right?

God takes care of all he brings them all to the land of plenty why because these boys are gonna honor God That's why if you honor me I want to you God says put God first honor God above your wife honor God above your children and God'll take care of all Those things it's when you don't do that You find yourself at all kinds of difficult predicaments These guys are stumbling themselves out to God and God will honor them and their families because that's how God works God just wants to be number one and so you come to the the fourth aspect and that's the compassion Joseph says you guys go and Judah again demonstrates the contrite heart.

He demonstrates a heart that has been changed 13 times in this narrative, which is probably the single greatest Narrative in the scriptures. He mentions his father. Why? Because he knows how much Benjamin means to his dad and he is not going to hurt his dad again You see a repentant spirit says I'm never gonna do what I did before again ever again And that's where he is. It's the number one.

He risks his life. He risks his life You come before him and says, you know, please sir. Let me speak.

Let me speak. He says listen Let me tell you what what has taken place and so he begins to recount right all the events That have led to that point.

This is we did what you told us to do, although we didn't want to do it We did it and we know how much Benjamin means to our father Oh, and I can't bring sorrow upon my father ever again. I cannot do this and Therefore he says what he says, let me let me request an alternate plan Let me take this is where it gets so good.

Let me take Benjamin's place. Can I do that? I beg I gave my word that Benjamin would be spared I gave my word that I would sacrifice my life for Benjamin's life. He's got to go back to my father I'll stay in instead. Oh what compassion on Judah's part would see me to point number five Which is not your notes the comparison and the comparison is this between Judah and his greatest descendants Jesus the Messiah, this is where it gets so rich with meaning Because you see as Judah would step in the gap and he would offer himself up For his brother Benjamin.

Is that not what Jesus Christ did for us? By offering himself up on the cross by being our substitute What a beautiful mirror of what Jesus Christ did for us and you know what Judah made this guarantee before the event ever happened, didn't he in the previous chapter says dad Let Benjamin go with me I'll take care of Benjamin and I will give you my word that I if need comes be I will give my life for Benjamin So before it ever happened, he made the guarantee Isn't that what Jesus did For he was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world before the world was ever created He made the guarantee.

I will sacrifice. I will be the substitute in order to redeem mankind from his sin That's the way we should be right. Oh, that's the way the brothers would soon be as they realize Having been broken over the sin confessing their sin Realizing what they have done that God now God will bless them as they've never been blessed before Let's pray