All right, we're here in Genesis chapter 37 we're continuing our series on the alphabetic characteristics
And we're looking at the topic of forgiveness and you know obviously when you think of something
That's a good quality you could obviously use the Lord Jesus Christ for everything
What we're trying to do is use men because obviously they have the same problems that we have and yet
They're able to overcome these things. We're going to look at forgiveness in the life of Joseph
I think that Joseph is the best character to look at when we think of forgiveness and
You know in Genesis chapter 37
You know we read this in the scripture reading and I'm sure probably most everybody is familiar with the story
About how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers
They became envious because he had the coat of many colors
And he was more loved by his father
And then they basically wanted to put him to death and they end up just selling him into slavery
And so there's 12 brothers Joseph is obviously one of those then you've also got Benjamin
Who is the one full brother of
Joseph same father same mother then you've got these other ten that sell them into slavery now
We don't necessarily know the exact thoughts of every single one of those ten
I'm sure there are some that were more at fault than others
But I could still say they're all at least partially at fault because they allowed it to take place
Right and here's what I want you to realize about forgiveness
If you need to forgive someone in your life, and you don't want to forgive them
There's obviously something they did to make you mad see it starts with
Provoking point one is provoking the brothers of Joseph provoked him to being angry
They provoked him to having bitterness. He does not want to forgive and it started because of the brothers
It wasn't Joseph's fault. I mean Joseph didn't do anything wrong. He's easy young man
It probably wasn't the wisest thing to tell your dreams to your brothers
I would say but as a 17 year old man, he's he's a young teen. You know he's a young man
He's trying to do what's right. He's a godly person. It's not his fault his brothers provoked him. Okay. Go to Genesis 42
Genesis chapter 42
So look if I tell you that you should forgive someone and you say yeah, but you don't realize what they did to me
Well, I'm sure they provoked you
The whole point of you forgiving is somebody did you wrong, but you're supposed to overlook it and forgive them of course
They did something to you
If you're upset at somebody here today, you're upset for a reason they did something wrong to you
They provoked you that doesn't change the fact that the Bible teaches you should forgive that person
so point number one is provoking and
Point two is payback
Now when you read the book of Genesis
And I encourage everybody to read the Bible with an open mind and an open heart and look closely. I
Definitely believe that God was testing the brothers of Joseph
But there is no way you could say that Joseph handled things perfectly
There's no way you could say that when he saw his brothers
It's so great to see you I've missed you for so long that is not his reaction
What you see from Joseph is it's time for me to give payback to my brothers
They were more powerful than me. They did me wrong now that I'm powerful and they're begging for mercy
He pays them back the same thing we do in our lives when we get the opportunity
I'm not saying I would handle it better than Joseph. I'm just saying he obviously gives payback to his brothers
Verse number five and
the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came for the famine was in the land of Canaan and
Joseph was the governor over the land and he it was that sold to all the people the land and
Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth
Verse number seven and Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them
But made himself strange onto them and spake roughly onto them and he said unto them
Whence come ye or where did you come from and they said from the land of Canaan to buy food?
So immediately Joseph recognizes his ten brothers and that makes sense because there's ten of them
It also makes sense because they're older
So for example, you know if you're in your 20s, you probably look pretty similar 20 years later
Especially if there's ten brothers Joseph was a bit younger
And of course, maybe he had a beard that would have been covering up his face a little bit
We don't necessarily know what I'm saying is you could understand his brothers are not expecting him
They don't recognize him right and he's pretending that he doesn't speak the language and he's speaking roughly on to them
He speaks by an interpreter. So they don't recognize Joseph even though he recognizes them and
Joseph knew his brethren but they knew not him and
Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them and said unto them
Ye are spies to see the nakedness of the land here come so immediately when Joseph sees them
He understands his dreams now
This was the dream the Sun the moon the stars
Bowing down to me and basically I was in a position of weakness and they did me wrong now
I'm the head honcho. I'm the top dog and basically I've got the opportunity to either be nice to them or be mean to them
He understands the dreams immediately, but that doesn't mean that it's easy to deal with that situation
He is in a position where immediately he realizes. Okay, they're begging for mercy and what would be the right thing to do
to be merciful immediately
That would be the right thing. They're begging for their own survival. They don't have food
This is his flesh and blood being sent by his father
But is that the reaction of Joseph no, it's not the reaction of Joseph go to verse number 14
Instead what does he do? He throws them in prison?
Doesn't really sound very forgiving
verse 14 and
Joseph said unto them that is it that I spake unto you saying you're spies. Hereby. Ye shall be proved meaning you'll be tested
By the life affair. You shall not go forth hence except your youngest brother come hither
Who's the youngest brother
Benjamin as I said Benjamin is the only 100%
Pure brother the same mother right? Obviously Jacob had you know, basically four wives and you know
I would say that the the wives the bondmaid wives
Their children were far more likely to have been involved in this because they really seem to when you're reading Genesis seemed to hate him
Pretty early now it makes sense when you think about the backgrounds
But he says I want to see my younger brother Benjamin why Benjamin didn't do anything to him and it's his actual full brother
That's the person that he wants to see and basically throws them into prison
He says you're gonna be tested and basically until I see see your younger brother Benjamin
Then you're still gonna be in prison. You're still gonna be in trouble
This says send one of you and let him fetch your brother and you should be kept in prison that your words may be proved
Whether there be any truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh surely your spies and he put them all together into Ward
Three days. So imagine this situation
Imagine that and let's just think of modern-day applications. Let's think of the Philippines and China
Okay, and let's say we are absolutely desperate for food
We have a massive famine
You go on a long journey to go to China and then you're begging for food and what they do
They throw you in prison for three days
Look, I'd be afraid they're gonna kill me or let's say you went to North Korea, right?
You're you're desperate for food in North Korea is the only look you're gonna be scared. They're gonna kill you
But you're gonna be afraid you're gonna be in prison your entire life
This is what his brothers are going through
Why are they going through this because Joseph wants them to feel the same pain
That he felt Joseph eventually got thrown into prison. I mean when Joseph was sold into slavery, he doesn't know what's gonna take place
The Bible doesn't really tell us his emotions. But of course, he's afraid he's scared
He doesn't know what's gonna take place then he ends up being thrown into prison and he handles it in an amazing way
No doubt about it, but you cannot tell me that he's just thinking. Hey, what everything's gonna be okay
I'm perfectly fine. Of course. He's scared. Of course. He's worried and now he is making his brothers feel the same pain that he felt
I'd be scared to death being in Egypt and being thrown in jail
I'd be like and you don't understand what the people are saying
Right in their language. You're like, what are they saying? What are they gonna do? Are they gonna kill us?
They don't know right and if they are thrown in jail
Until one brother leaves to retrieve Benjamin they're gonna be there for a long long time
That would be a very very scary thing in situation to be in
So what are you seeing as I mentioned many weeks ago about bitterness?
Here's the thing Joseph handled things great and he had he had you know out of sight out of mind
He had forgotten about this and then when he saw his brothers it all came back all the pain
Everything that he felt and now he is in a position of bareness where he needs to be able to forgive and
It is possible for any one of us to be in a situation where we've forgotten about something from years in the past
And then all of a sudden you see that situation again
It comes up and now you're at a point you must be willing to forgive and it's a tough situation to be in
It's tough thing to do
It says in verse 18 and Joseph said unto them the third day this do and live for I fear God
This is the one statement Joseph makes that is actually showing that he is a godly person
Because of the fact in ancient Egypt if you study they didn't believe in a god-fearing God
So for someone to say I fear God
That's a bold statement to make in ancient Egypt from everything that I've read that was not the sort of God
They believed in a lot of religions today
They don't believe in a god-fearing God and that was the same way in ancient Egypt. So when he's saying I fear God
That's not really what ancient Egyptian religion actually believed. So it's a pretty bold statement to say I fear God
They says if you be true, man
Let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison go ye carry corn for the famine of your houses
But bring your youngest brother unto me
So sure your words be verified and he shall not die and they did so go down to verse 24
And
He turned himself about from them and wept and returned to them again and commune with them and took from them Simeon and bound
Them before their eyes. So when you see that he's weeping
Obviously you can tell he's got mixed emotions. He knows that he should forgive
He knows that that's probably what God would want him to do
but of course he's got that anger that's coming out that bitterness like you sold me into slavery and
Look I don't think Joseph handles it perfectly, but I think he handles it better than I would
He probably handles it better than any one of us would either
Because if that had happened to me, it's like they sold me into slavery
over half my life
I've been here in Egypt because they sold me into slavery. It's a hard thing to forgive
What makes us a powerful story is the fact that Joseph does not want to forgive and yet he reaches a point of forgiveness
Because here's the thing if Joseph just immediately forgave them it it would almost seem like he's superhuman
Here's the thing he was a human and a sinner just like you and me and
He went through the same emotions that you and me would go through where basically I don't want to forgive. I'm mad about it
I'm angry about it. It's very tough to actually forgive
Go to Genesis 43 verse 29
Genesis 43 verse 29
So first thing he does is he throws them into prison and then
Simeon's in prison for a long period of time as they're going back
So I I just don't see how you could read Genesis and think that Joseph handles things perfectly because he doesn't
Right. He's obviously very bitter and mad about the situation
But you do see his love for Benjamin coming up in Genesis 43 verse 29 and
He lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin his mother's son and said is this your younger brother of whom he spake
unto me and he said God be gracious on to thee my son and
Joseph made haste for his bowels did yearn upon his brother and he sought where to weep and he entered into his chamber and wept
there
So Joseph sees his brother and of course, he wants to just give him a hug say man
I miss you for so long, but if he does that I mean the gig is up
Everyone's gonna know wait what's going on? It's like you're our brother Joseph. So he's got to hide his emotions
Right and and I'm not for sure he makes a statement. Is this your younger brother? The thing is Benjamin's younger than him
We don't know how big of a gap so it's possible. He was so young that when he saw him 20 years later
He might not have recognized him. Maybe he kind of did but he wasn't quite sure
So maybe he didn't recognize him maybe he kind of did I'm not a hundred percent for sure on that
But of course, he wants to hug his brother. He's really, you know happy and then he
Cries, you know tears of joy, but he's got to hide it and then he comes back
Then it says this in verse 31 and he washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said set on bread bread and
They said on for him by himself and for them by themselves and for the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves
Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination out of the Egyptians
and they sat before him the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his
Youth and the men marveled one at another and he took and sent messes onto them from before him
But Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs and they drank and were married with him now
I wonder what they thought in this situation because like why is he being so nice
To our younger brother he wants to see him
He gets more than the rest of us like five times as much but for us, you know, he's not that nice
I wonder if they were thinking about that
I'm not really sure
But he's being very kind to Benjamin and he's not being so kind to them and they're not really sure what's up with that
Go to Genesis 44 Genesis 44
Genesis chapter 44 and
Next what we're gonna see is that Joseph is gonna plant evidence on someone like a crooked, you know cop or something like that
He's going to lie and he's gonna claim to practice sorcery in the next five verses. I I'm sorry
I don't see that as handling things in a godly or correct way
Genesis 44 verse 1 and he commanded the steward of his house saying fill them in sacks with food as much as they can carry
And put every man's money in his sacks mouth and put my cup the silver cup in the sacks mouth of the youngest in his
Corn money and he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. Yeah, and as I made the joke
It's true in big cities at least in the US where crooked policemen will plant drugs on people so they can arrest them
I mean, it's a common thing that policemen do and probably happens in big cities here
That's sort of you know, crooked cops will do sort of things like that. That's basically what Joseph is doing
He says plant evidence. So they're gonna think it's Benjamin's
He said why would he do that?
Well, let's keep reading and I'll explain to you why he's doing this verse 3 as soon as the morning was like the men were
Sent away they in their asses and when they were gone out of the city and not yet far off
Joseph said unto a steward up follow after the men and when thou dost overtake them say unto them
Wherefore have you awarded evil for good is not this it in which my Lord drinketh and whereby indeed
he
Divineth you have done evil and so doing he's telling them to say that he divines out of that cup
What does that mean?
sorcery
That's that's what he's he's saying
Now obviously we know Joseph was able to interpret dreams
But what he's implying to them is that he has you know
Cuz Egypt was a culture of very magical powers if you move off
We basically were doing sorcery and witchcraft and things like that. And that is what he's saying
Hey, that's his cup where basically he can tell the future or you know talk to the dead or whatever
He's trying to imply but he's basically saying that he practices sorcery
Look that gets the death penalty in the Bible
That's not something you lie about lying. Number one would be wrong and to what he's lying about is pretty bad
So obviously what Joseph is doing is wrong. But the question is why would he do this?
Well, look if you read Genesis with an open mind, I think it's pretty clear what he's doing
He wants to see his younger brother Benjamin. He plants evidence on Benjamin
so basically he can send the rest of the other brothers away and never see them ever again and
He'll be with Benjamin
That's clearly what you read in the book of Genesis now
I don't think he started through very clearly cuz are you gonna eventually tell Benjamin? Hey, we're brothers
I'm not sure but that's what he's doing because the evidence is planted and he's just like just all leave and he's got to stay
And of course, he's gonna be nice to Benjamin. But you know, he hasn't thought it through but he's basically sort of kidnapping Benjamin
That's what he's doing. It's what he's trying to do and
Obviously when you're reading Genesis and what I encourage you to do when you read the Bible especially with stories
Stop and think about them and try to put your plate yourself into those situations
And of course if you or Joseph you do something very similar
right and
Try to think about everybody's emotions and how they're interacting in situations, but that's what Joseph is doing
He's trying to plant evidence on Benjamin send the other brothers away
He doesn't want to see them and another thing
I think you see because we don't have time to go through all of these chapters in Genesis is
That Joseph has a bit of a problem with his father Jacob also
You said why would he have a problem with his father? Well, his father's the one that sent him
He could easily blame his father because his father did show him preferential treatment
He gave him the coat of many colors and Jacob's the one that sent him when his brothers didn't sell him into slavery
That's something you can be bitter about that's something you can be mad about and
He seems to have something against Jacob a little bit and against all of his brothers
But of course he wants to see his brother Benjamin
That's what he's doing. So point number one. We see the provoking of the brothers to Joseph
Point over to we see the payback of Joseph to his brothers as they do not know. It's Joseph
Point number three we see the pardoning or the forgiveness that's offered by Joseph to his brothers
Genesis 44 verse 27 and I serve in my father said unto us
You know that my wife buried two sons and this is where Judah is pleading to Joseph
You know for basically their safety all of them and he's going to be willing to step in and take the position
that Benjamin has
And it says, you know that my wife bear me two sons and the one went out for me
And I said surely is torn in pieces and I saw him not since
What Judah is doing is?
explaining to Joseph
What his father said when he thought Joseph died and he lost him
This is where Joseph is willing to forgive his father when he actually sees what Jacob felt
He sees the emotion and hears the emotion that Jacob had this is the first time he's hearing it
He doesn't know his father's reaction and he's hearing it from Judah now
There's a couple of beautiful pictures that are going to be here and in both of these pictures
Judah represents the Lord Jesus Christ
because think of Jesus Jesus is the lion of the tribe of
Judah and
Judah is willing to step in
To take the place of Benjamin. That's a beautiful picture of our salvation
He steps in and pays for what we deserve, right?
but there's another beautiful picture attached to forgiveness that I want to show you here and
It says in verse 29 and if you take this also from me and mischief befall him
He shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. What Judah is saying is if Benjamin goes and
Benjamin dies because remember Judah convinced Jacob to let Benjamin go
with them and
Then Judah said it's gonna be okay. You can trust my word
Reuben said kill my sons
Judah said I'll take the place right Reuben was not a good guy in the Bible. Okay, but Judah said I'll take the place
For Benjamin and he convinced Jacob to let Benjamin go and what Jacob told Judah is if I lose
Benjamin if mischief or death befall him along the way I
will die in sorrow and sadness and
Joseph is hearing this from the mouth of Judah his half-brother about his full brother of Benjamin and his father
Jacob
And this says in verse 32 for thy servant became surety for the lad on my father saying if I bring him not out of
Thee then I shall bear the blame to my father forever now
Therefore I pray thee let thy servant abide instead of the of the lad a bondman to my lord and let the lad go up
With his brethren for how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me less peradventure?
I see the evil that shall come on my father. So Judah says
Send all the other brothers back
You can keep me in prison do whatever you want to me
Now this is what Reuben should be doing because Reuben is the older brother
But it's what Judah does
It's what Reuben should do Reuben as I said said slay my two sons who would say just kill my sons
Look kill me. Don't kill Zeph and Ezra
What kind of a father would make a stupid statement like that unless he's just so prideful and cares only about himself
Right, but Judah says I will take responsibility
Send them away. I told my dad I if anything happens
I'll take responsibility and here's the thing the proof is in the pudding because the situation comes and Judah
Doesn't back down. He says, okay take me
Right, but what's the beautiful picture?
Judah represents the Lord Jesus Christ
who do you think his father represents God the Father and
What Judah is saying and and Joseph represents the brother or sister in Christ?
that has been done wrong by another brother or sister in Christ and
What Judah is saying is for my father's sake
Let me step in
Let Benjamin be spared and what I'm saying is, you know from God the Father's sake
Forgive your brothers and sisters in Christ that have done you wrong
That's the picture
Even if they don't deserve it, but they did this to me. Yeah, that's the whole thing about forgiveness. They did something to you. I
Doubt they sold you into slavery. I
Doubt they were trying to kill you
Whatever they did is probably not that bad
But here's the thing, even though you don't want to forgive for the father's sake for God's sake
Can you just forgive your brother or your sister in Christ that have done you wrong?
Now, of course in life who is the number one brother or sister in Christ that is going to do you wrong the most?
your spouse
Right. I mean if you're married in this room the one that does you wrong the most in life
It's probably your husband or your wife
Look, I'm honest to admit. I've done many things wrong to my life before
I've lost my temper. I've yelled at my wife before I've been in a bad mood
I've treated her wrong before and look, you know, don't get this arrogant attitude like man
I can't believe look you've done the same thing in your marriage sometimes too and you know that
Right, I mean in marriage some because you're around each other all the time
And of course, it's not like you're always walking in the new man
24-7 and so the person that you're married to you know what you've done wrong to them many times
but see here's the thing if the husband doesn't forgive the wife and
The wife does not forgive the husband you did this to me. So I'm gonna do this
Well, you did this and I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do this
Isn't that the way that probably most marriages work?
This is the truth
But it ought not said to be with God's people though
We expect that from the world
You know divorce is illegal here in the Philippines, but in the u.s. Over half of marriages end in divorce
over half of marriages
Here's the thing. It's not like the other half or just happily ever after
Till death do us part. We are happy until the end
Here's the thing in marriage. You must be willing to forgive
Your realize remember what I preached about when we preached through the Song of Solomon
Above the fact that your spouse it says my sister my spouse
meeting my sister in Christ
Above the fact the person you're married to is your romantic partner. They are your brother or sister in Christ for all eternity and
above being your spouse they are your brother or your sister in Christ and
The Bible tells us over and over again to forgive your brothers in Christ
forgive your sisters in Christ
It's really the basic things you teach your four-year-old, please. I'm sorry
Thank you, and look if you're doing a good job parenting those are the things are teaching your kid at a very young age I
Do this with my kids you know my kids, and you know my kids are great. I love my kids
I think they're great kids, but they're still kids and of course sometimes they do wrong and sometimes they want something
It's like oh, you know they want water
But they don't say please and so I have the water
They're trying to take it, and then I just hold it, and they're like you know, please there you go
You say why because that's a very important word
That's a word that adults should use please I
Mean, it's just a common courtesy that you use. Thank you. I'm sorry
Right these are just basic things, but aren't these things that we all struggle with
It's hard you see little kids, and they don't want to forgive one another you know they get mad at one another
but you know we act like that as adults too right somebody does you wrong you don't want to say I'm sorry and
Sometimes this is what takes place. This is what takes place in marriage
It also takes place when you're growing up with a brother or a sister
You know a sibling well basically you are completely willing to say
I'm sorry as long as they say I'm sorry first is that not true
You know that's true. It's the same way in marriage. We're so basically I want to be ever
I'm willing to say I'm sorry, but they got to say it first
Because they're 55% wrong. I'm 45% wrong
right
That's that's reality. I mean, it's it's like I'm kind of joking
But you know this is reality when it comes to forgiveness, but see for God's sake can you just?
forgive
Say, I'm sorry
Do these things or would you rather just keep bitterness and anger with you your entire life? I?
Get it. It's hard to humble yourself and say I'm sorry and look. I'm not saying this is easy for me
I
Struggle with it. I try to practice it the best I can and I believe as a parent
You should also be willing to say I'm sorry to your kids if you do them wrong
And there are times I say sorry to zef and I say sorry to Krista bell when I do them wrong
I lose my temper and I yell at them and when I've calmed down 30 minutes later
I realized I need to say I'm sorry because I was rude to them, right
But here's the thing if you want to have a happy life
You need to be willing to say I'm sorry and ask for forgiveness when you do wrong and say please and thank you these very
Basic things and here's the thing Joseph's got this choice because he had forgotten about this for two decades
But he's gonna be miserable his entire life and never forget about this and always be dwelling upon this unless
He's able to forgive them
And you know what's amazing about this story
Joseph didn't do anything wrong
What his brothers did was horrible
They don't realize it's Joseph, but they are basically saying I'm sorry. We were wrong. God's cursing us as a result
Here's the thing if Joseph does not forgive them
Guess who is not right with God?
Joseph guess who is right with God the brothers that sold him into slavery
It's a fascinating story when you think about it because they're the ones that did wrong
But when they actually get right with God they're actually forgiven by God that's what the Bible teaches
now
Go to Genesis 45
Let's see the forgiveness of Joseph, then we'll look at some other passages
I mean, this is an amazing story you hear about it a lot, you know growing up the story of Joseph
But it's a wonderful story because I think all of us have been in this position
where
We need to forgive someone, but we don't want to
Now usually when somebody says they're sorry you forgive them
but there are times you're so mad that when they say they're sorry you still don't forgive them and
And sometimes you might even be mad like how dare they say I'm sorry. I'm not ready for this
It's like you know I need more than that right you should have given me a couple more days or whatever
I mean, this is the way we are as humans
Genesis 45 verse 1
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him
So he's trying to conceal or refrain his emotions
And he cried cause every man to go out for me and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his
brethren and he wept aloud
and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard and
the way I imagine this is you know he's crying aloud and the brothers are probably looking at each other like
What is going on? This guy's like second in all of Egypt
He's a powerful man. It would be like if a president or a world ruler is just crying in front of you
It's like why is Vladimir Putin just crying in front of me these tears like what's going on, right?
It would be a bit out of character verse 3 and Joseph said unto his brethren. I am Joseph
doth my father yet live and
his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence and
Joseph said unto his brethren come near to me
I pray you and they came near and he said I am Joseph your brother whom he sold into Egypt
Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life now
now remember
When he says that you know, he was sold into Egypt
It's like the brothers make statements that he would be aware of that
But the thing is he's pretending not to know the language and all of a sudden now he's speaking the language
They didn't realize that he heard everything
So it'd be like if you're speaking in a foreign language and you don't think people understand what you're saying
And then all of a sudden they're actually getting every single thing that you're saying
So Joseph understood
everything that they said
Right now if he hasn't spoken the language in a long time, maybe you'd have trouble speaking, but he said probably understand it
You know very very well. So he understood what they were saying and then all of a sudden it says here in verse number
Verse
5 now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life
For these two years have the famine been the land and yet there are five years in which there shall be neither
Neither be earring nor harvest and God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by
Great deliverance. So now is not you that send me hither
But God and he that hath made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land
Of Egypt they get a Matthew chapter 6 Matthew 6 Matthew 6 Matthew
chapter 6
Now I definitely believe that Joseph fully forgives his brothers
But it does not happen immediately and it's powerful for us because the fact right now
Maybe there's somebody that you don't forgive
Maybe there's somebody that you're mad at and how could I ever get over this?
But if Joseph could get over it
So can you?
Right, I mean if there's someone that you're mad at you're upset about something
But Joseph was able to get over it for something far more severe than what you went through
You know what? You can also get over your situation. Also, let me give you some reasons why?
It's so important
Matthew 6 verse 12 and
Forgive us our debts as
We forgive our debtors
One of the big things that we pray to God about is for forgiveness
We ask God to forgive us when we do wrong
You know because we sin on a daily basis and it's a it's a normal prayer for me
I go to bed at night and I ask God to forgive me for the things that I did wrong
Help me to be more zealous tomorrow and focus more on God and meditate more on his word and I wake up the next morning
Help me have a good day and obey your will and do right
But yet we have the bondage of corruption the sinful flesh that we still fight
And so sometimes we win that battle. Sometimes we don't and here's the thing. We want God to forgive us
But here's the thing if you don't forgive your brother or your sister in Christ, guess what you're not getting forgiveness for God in your life
I
Remember the parable about about you know, I'm gonna miss quote
but the man who owed a very great debt and he's begging for mercy and
Then he's forgiven the debt
Somebody owes him a great debt and he's begging for mercy. Does he show any mercy?
No, and what's the example there if we are unmerciful to those that have done us wrong don't expect mercy from God when we do wrong
So when you pray a normal prayer ought to be hey forgive us our debts I always pray that I'm sure you do too
But it also should be attached to as we forgive our debtors help me to forgive so-and-so
Right and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for that is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
Amen, but if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you
But if you forgive not men their trespasses
Neither will your father forgive your trespasses now, we're not talking about salvation
Obviously you're spiritually saved your soul and your spirit have been eternally cleansed forever
But even though my son will always be my son
If he doesn't get right with me when he does something wrong, then yeah
I'm still gonna be upset at him and
The thing is we need to get right with God on a daily basis
And here's the thing the Bible saying if you don't forgive your brothers and your sisters in Christ and people that have done you wrong
God's not gonna forgive you for what you're begging for mercy about
Absolutely beg for mercy when you've done wrong God's mercies are new every morning
But you better make sure you're forgiving people that have done you wrong
done your Bible to Matthew 18 I
Want God's blessing in my life, I don't want God to curse my life and
The Bible saying that hey God will curse your life
He's not gonna bless you if you're holding on to this hatred and not being forgiving to people that have done you wrong
Now I understand that sometimes people do you wrong and they don't ask for forgiveness
But that's not the situation with Joseph's brothers
and there are times the Bible speaks about when maybe you need to talk to someone about a situation in a
Godly way in a kind way if somebody has done you wrong
They've stolen something or whatever and you have to deal with the real situation
I get that but when they say they're sorry, you're obligated to forgive the Bible says
You say well, how many times do I need to forgive? Well, that's a good question Peter asked that question
Matthew 18 verse 21
Then Peter came to him and said Lord how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times
Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven
So for all the people like me that love math, we're talking about four hundred and ninety times
Pastor are you saying that on the four hundred and ninety first time that I can just never forgive them ever again
I I think that'd be foolish. Okay
Obviously Jesus picks a very large number that is is unlikely to be reached but the one exception might be in marriage
You might actually reach that number where you get in fight. Someone does you wrong and it's like a couple times a week
Times 50 weeks a hundred times. I mean, it's like yeah after five years or whatever. There you go
But I think it's obvious. He's basically saying hey if somebody does you wrong and they say you're sorry you forgive them
Regardless of how many times it is you just forgive
right
Go to someone a three some one or three
Right in the middle of your Bible is the book of Psalms Psalm chapter 103
103
Psalm 103 verse 12 is very interesting verse Psalm 103 verse 12
And the Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 12 as far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our
Transgressions from us this is speaking about God's forgiveness that he's given to us and it's very poetic
But there's a reason why it says the east is from the west
What is the Bible trying to say because it doesn't say as far as the north is from the south or the south from the?
North it says as the east is
From the west and so if you think about you know, the earth the earth is shaped
Spherically, right? It's almost a perfect sphere
It is he that sit upon the circle of the earth and a sphere by definition is actually a three-dimensional
Circle, okay
Well when you're thinking about going north you go north north
And then you hit the very top the North Pole at that point. What direction are you going?
south
North south
Everybody's with me
How about if you're here and you start going east?
East east east east east east. Do you see the difference?
East never meets West
What's the Bible saying poetically your sins are gone?
Completely
You're never gonna come in contact. I mean they're going to forgiven and so here's the thing when God forgives you
He also forgets cuz here's the thing if you went to the judgment seat of Christ and you come back in contact with your sins
Well, then they're not really forgotten
It's not really fitting with someone the three is talking about when God forgives you he also forgets
It's done
But when you get into an argument with someone and you say you always do this
Bringing up the past right?
This is what you did last week
Not really forgetting and the problem is when you say why I forgive you, but I'll never forget
Then you don't forget
All that means is you put it in your subconscious
And then it's going to come up again and that bitterness comes out and it's gonna be worse and worse
It does not benefit you at all
See God when he forgives us he forgets about it's done and what the Bible saying is hey, you know what?
We ought to be like that and just forgive completely forgive people. So if they do you wrong again, you don't think about the past
It's out of sight out of mind
It's just this new situation where you're not upset about 50 things because here's the problem if somebody does you wrong once and
You forgive but not forget
When they do you wrong a second time, you're not upset about one thing
You're upset about two things
Because you never forgot about the last I talked about it a lot during the philosophical idea of bitterness
We're basically it becomes fresh in your mind that root of bitterness comes back out
And so if time goes by and this has happened 20 times over 10 years
You're upset as if they did 20 things simultaneously
Well, that's gonna make you pretty upset
But if it's just one thing
Then it's a lot easier to actually forgive
Go to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians 4 Ephesians chapter 4
Ephesians chapter 4
And
In Ephesians 4 verse 32
the Bible reads
Ephesians 4 verse 32 and
Be kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another
Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you
Do we deserve to go to heaven
No, why do we get to go to heaven?
Because we're forgiven
right
It would be like somebody that
Commits murder and then they say innocent somebody else is gonna pay for it for you
Now of course in a courtroom you couldn't do that, but that is what Christ does for us
He literally stepped in died his soul went to hell for three days and three nights to pay for our sins
And then he rose again
He took the place for us
We don't deserve to go to heaven we don't deserve to be forgiven
But God forgives us even though we don't deserve it. Well. I mean they don't deserve to be forgiven
What's your point even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you?
You're forgiven even though you didn't deserve it
So why don't you forgive your brother or sister in Christ even though they don't deserve it?
And here's the thing when you're unwilling to forgive you're actually harming yourself
And go to Genesis 50 and
This is an amazing story, but there's also a sad part to the ending of the story
Because here's the thing Joseph throws his brothers in jail
He
Keeps him in for a long time. They might think they're gonna be killed. They don't know what's gonna take place and
Time period goes by and there he plants evidence on Benjamin
And I'm sure his brothers are realizing wait you were lying about all this
And and you know I'm sure they had a conversation about it
But he did a lot of wrong things in them, and then he does this 180
It's like out of nowhere. It's just like I forgive you
That's gonna be hard to really believe isn't it?
His brothers didn't really believe it
They kind of did
But unfortunately because of the things Joseph did
When he actually does ask for forgiveness
They're not actually sure they're forgiven because notice what it says in Genesis 50 verse 15
And this is the product of being unforgiving
Genesis 50 verse 15 and when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead
They said Joseph will prevent your hate us and will certainly require us all the evil which we did on to him
See what his brothers are thinking is Joseph just wants to see Benjamin and Jacob
But he still hates us
That's what they thought now. No doubt Joseph 100% forgave his brothers
It shows us a couple things one it shows us that a guilty conscience is very very very hard to get rid of
Isn't it true sometimes you do wrong and you ask God for forgiveness and even though he does forgive you immediately
You still walk away with the guilty conscience as if you're not forgiven
And what they did was very bad. So the conscience is gonna really feel really bad about it
But it also shows that if you're not that forgiving people are gonna kind of wonder am I really forgiven?
And they say now that Jacob's dead Joseph's gonna kill us because he hates us on the inside
he says he forgives, but I think he really hates verse 16 and
They sent a messenger unto Joseph saying thy father did command before he died died saying so shall he say unto Joseph forgive
I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did unto the evil and now we pray thee forgive the trespass
of the servants of the God of thy father and
Joseph wept when they spake on to him
now look
Obviously we can tell Jacob eventually found out what happened
Right because they make this statement
But here's the thing who believes that Jacob
commanded
For Joseph to forgive III think they're lying about this. I
Think they're afraid and they're just making something up, and if you don't think that that's fine. I think it's pretty clear
They're just lying just saying whatever that he's gonna hate us. Let's just say that Jacob said this right and
What do you see you see Joseph weeping?
Why?
He said that his brothers don't realize
You were forgiven a long time ago. I
Forgave you I'm not holding in look. I don't believe Joseph was holding any bitterness at all inside
I think he completely forgave and forgot about it, and it was done
But it saddens him that even after all of this time
They don't even know if they're forgiven because he wants to be close to them again
he wants to have that relationship restored because he's forgiven them and
Then he weeps and this says in verse 18 and his brethren also went and fell down before his face
And they said behold we be thy servants and Joseph said to them fear not for my in the place of God
But as for you you thought evil against me
But God meant it onto good to bring to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive
Now therefore fear you not and I'll nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly onto them
and here's what I'm saying in this last point that if if you are an
Unforgiving person and you go long periods of time, and you're not willing to forgive and then you finally say okay
I forgive you now the results gonna be that person does not really think they're forgiven by you
Because honestly there's a good chance there
I mean with Joseph he does forgive, but there's a good chance that if you do what Joseph did you're not actually forgiving, right?
That's the way his brothers feel after all that time
But but the and that's the sad thing I mean that's the truth of the story in Genesis 50, that's the sad thing
That's the product of it
But it is a very powerful story because one thing it shows us is this that you as a normal sinner
just like me just like everybody in this room just
like Joseph a
sinner saved by grace
Here's the thing
He did not want to forgive
He was mad
He had bitterness he had anger
He wanted them to feel the same pain that he felt, but he was able to come to a place in life where he
100% completely forgave
And here's the thing
You also can come to that place. I
Don't know the things you're going through now
I don't know what bitterness or resentment that you have inside your heart about things
I don't know what anyone's done to make you mad and you're holding on to this you're holding hate and anger and bitterness
But if Joseph who's a sinner just like you and me was able to 100% forgive
So are you?
and so am I and
Here's the thing if you hold on to this unforgiving bitter resentful heart
You're harming yourself
It's gonna destroy your life imagine what would have been the end of Joseph's life if he never forgave
Every single week he would have been mad and angry and everybody around there would be like he used to be in such a good
Mood and now you're always angry. What's going on?
Because he had an unforgiving heart. That's what would have actually taken place
But Joseph reached a place of complete forgiveness and you know what if you don't want to forgive someone
Keep in mind that God's not going to forgive you
God is going to show himself merciful to those that are merciful the Bible says
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Let's close the word of prayer your heavenly father
Thank you for allowing us to be here today
And I ask you to help all of us including myself and and my family help us to be forgiving people
Help us to be able to reach a point of forgiving and and do the basics of saying
I'm sorry and things such as that especially in fights help us not to just
Dwell on these things and hang on to a bitter heart God
Ask you to help everybody in this room that might be holding feelings of bitterness or an unforgiving heart
God especially those that are married that they'll be willing to forgive each other and
Realize that we all make mistakes and even though we don't deserve the forgiveness
You know what God has forgiven us when we don't deserve it and we ought to forgive others
Even if they don't deserve as well God we pray these things in Jesus name Amen