(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

You know, it's funny, in my brain, like I sing words, you know, in my head, I think I know what the words are. You know, when you guys are singing the real words, you cross me. Those aren't the words, or themselves, that I don't know the words to. I got to know them. When I hear it in the piano, I hear it in the piano, too. Yeah, I got it. I got it. I'm sorry. I didn't do it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm right there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We'll get our Thursday evening service by singing a song, number 18. Take the name of Jesus with you. Get that song, number 18. Song for ages and hours. Take the name of Jesus with you. Child of the song of man. Take the name of Jesus with you. We will join you in giving you. Take the name of the precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Lord of man. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Lord of man. Take the name of Jesus and rise up, children, rise up. Temptations of the every dream. All the world, lift it up. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Lord of man. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Lord of man. The precious name of Jesus. Now available to us all. He is willing not to speak. And through songs of death and love. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the joy of death. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the joy of death. Over the name of Jesus' life. Over the name of Jesus' life. Love is never-ending. When you drink it sweetly. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Savior. Precious name of the Savior. Over the name of the Savior. Thank you, dear goodness, and thank you to all you do for us, Lord God, for this church, and for the best of your nature and service, and for all your good prayer. Please turn your handles to Psalm 97. Psalm 97. I need you now. Psalm 97. The most marvelous. I need you now. The most gracious. The most generous one. Every year. So I need you. I need you. I need you. Every hour. I need you. I need you now. I need you. I need you. I need you now. Say, Lord, I need you. Two dishes worth of wine. I need you now. I need you. Lord, I need you. Every hour. I need you. The best, the best. I need you. I need you now. I need you now. I need you. Every Vernon o'clock. I need you. I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour. I need you now. The best, the best. I need you now. I need you. Every hour. The best, the most merciful. You make me happy, my blessings. You are here, you are here, and you are here. You are the blessings I come to you. We're happy to hear it this time. We'll go to our conference. All right, we'll go straight past Baptist Church. You can see all of you out this evening. We'll go ahead and quickly just count up our soloing. There's not much from the way of announcements to speak. If anybody has anything to report, going back to Monday for Tuesday, or Wednesday, or today. All right, so with that, we're going to sing one more song before we get to preaching tonight. Could you please turn your hymnals to song number 138? Singing the song number 138. With a heat and a rest, we begin the song number 138. We'll begin on the first verse. My soul is at exile, as I have a lot to see. So I'm burning with sin and distress until I've heard a sweet voice. They say, make me a choice. I end with a heat and a rest. So just be true there. Lift up your voice with passion on the first beat. My soul is at exile, as I have a lot to see. So I'm burning with sin and distress until I've heard a sweet voice. They say, make me a choice. I end with a heat and a rest. I anchor my soul in the heat and a rest. I'll settle as we don't know. At this pace, we will not last. In Jesus, I'm saying to thee. Yield ye thyself to him, say of the rain. Sing with me, taking hold of love for you. With you, step up and I anchor my soul in the rest of my heart. I anchor my soul in the heat and a rest. I'll settle as we don't know. At this pace, we will not last. In Jesus, I'm saying to thee. I'll settle as my soul sits on a lonely knee. With his wings, I'll reach the clouds. Jesus will sing the song and the crowd. With a name and a presence, I anchor my soul in the heat and a rest. I'll settle as we don't know. At this pace, we will not last. In Jesus, I'm saying nevermore. God to the Savior, we pray. Should we wait to see what is happening now? I'll anchor your soul in the heat and a rest. Sing, I need love that is not so strong. I anchor my soul in the heat and a rest. I'll settle as we don't know. At this pace, we will not last. In Jesus, I'm saying nevermore. I'm saying that this time the offering plate will go around. As the offering plate goes around, open up your bodies to Genesis 45. And follow along with Brother Gabriel as he starts in Genesis, chapter number 45. Genesis, chapter 45. Verse 1, the Bible reads, Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all then that stood by him. And he cried, How's every man to go out from him? And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known into his brother. And he wept aloud in the Egyptians, and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brother, I am Joseph, but my father yet live? And his brother could not answer him, for there was trouble at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brother, Come near to me, I pray to you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold as Egypt. Now therefore, be not with me, nor anger with yourself, for you sold me hither. For God has sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years have abandoned it in the land, and yet there are five years in the which there shall neither be eerie nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you, fostering your land, and to save your life that I greatly live in this. So now it is not you that sent me hither, but God. And yet made me a father to her, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt, hasty, and go up to my father, and say unto thee, And sayeth thy son Joseph, God hath made me the lord of all Egypt, and come down unto me, and tarry not, and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, and thou, and my children, and my children's children, and my flocks, and my herds, and all that thou hast. And there will I nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, as they meet my mouth, that speaketh unto me. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste, and bring down my father Hilah. He fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them, and after that his brother talked with them. And the fang that was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brother and I come, and it pleased Pharaoh well in his service. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brother, Miss Judy, may he be peace, and go, get ye unto the land of Canaan, and take to your father that your household, and come unto him, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now there are commandments, Miss Judy, take ye waggon out of the land of Egypt, for your little ones, and for your wives, and for your fathers, and come. Also, those are not your stuff, but the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them waggon, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of rainbow, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of rainbow. And to his father he sent after this man ten asses laden with good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses, laden with corn and bread, to meet for his father by the way. So he sent his bread in the way, and they departed, and sent him to them, thinking he had fallen not out by the way. And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governed over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, and he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph that he had sent unto them. And when he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to carry them, the spirit of Jacob their father was alive. In Israel today it is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Fathers, thank you for this opportunity to hear your word, Lord God, just as you have preached. Just pray that you will pass away with your spirit, Lord. Give a luncheon to preach unto the Holy. Just help us, your children, to receive it, and apply it to our lives. In your son's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So in Genesis chapter 45, of course we've got the story where Joseph is finally revealing himself. Well, of course it's not the conclusion of Joseph's story, but it's kind of a conclusion of the events of the last several chapters where there's been this back and forth between him and his brethren, him not making himself known unto his brethren. And there's different theories about why he might have done that, why he might have stalled and kind of had this back and forth with his brethren, and not just come right out and reveal himself as he is in this chapter. And if you remember, going back through those last few chapters in chapters 42 and onward, where you have that going back and forth, Joseph has had more than ample opportunity to let his brethren know that he is Joseph and reveal himself. So you have to ask yourself, why is it that he waits until chapter 45 to do this? And of course, if you've been with us over the last several weeks as we've been going through this, you know that my theory or my opinion is that he's trying to isolate Benjamin. My mic's not on. Okay, let me try this again. Is my mic on now? No? Yes? Okay. So he's been trying to reveal himself, or rather trying to isolate Benjamin, excuse me, in order to, I believe, have him to himself. And I don't want to re-preach all that and point out all those details, but I think there's plenty of evidence for that where he's insisting that they don't come back without Benjamin. He's showing all this favor onto Benjamin. And then of course, when he is trying to send them away, he puts the cup in Benjamin's sack and says he's going to be my servant. And then they come back, and this is where we find them in the story, right after they've been taken back into Joseph's house, and Joseph is kind of confronting them. And then if you remember last week, we had there where Benjamin, the latter half of chapter 44, begins to make this plea with Joseph and explaining kind of the situation here. And another theory that's out there is that people say, well, Joseph was just testing his brethren. And that certainly could be the case. I think that's a very valid theory that he was just kind of seeing how they were going to treat Benjamin, seeing how they were going to treat one another if they'd kind of gotten over their old ways of selling out their younger brother, if maybe that was the theory or maybe that was what he was doing. Hey, let's get Benjamin down here and see if you'll sell him into slavery like you did me. That's certainly a possibility to see if they haven't changed. But I believe that earlier on in the story, you see where Reuben speaks before them in chapter 42, verse 22. And Reuben answered, saying, spake not I unto you, saying, do you know sin against the child that he would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required. So Reuben, at least, has passed the test already in chapter 42. You could certainly say, well, what about the rest of the brethren? And we also understand from the story that Reuben was someone that was not conspiring against Joseph. He was actually trying to deliver him back unto his father. So maybe it's when he sees Judah in chapter 44 have this change of heart that he finally breaks and says, OK, you guys have passed the test. There's been a real change of heart here. I'm ready to receive you and to forgive you and to move on. That's certainly a possibility. Judah, we know from elsewhere in Genesis, is not a man of the greatest character. He certainly could have been someone that was kind of leading the charge when it came to selling Joseph into slavery. Joseph might have known that Judah had a major part to play in that. That's certainly a possibility. I still think, and I still think it's a valid theory, that Joseph is really, in this chapter, reacting to Judah's plea, of course, having an emotional reaction, but it's because he can no longer contain what's in his heart. He's letting this out. He's letting his emotions show. The question is, why? Is it because he's testing them, or is it because he's letting go of resentment? Now, we often like to point to Joseph as one of those few characters in the Bible that doesn't have any glaring sins. And truly, he is that. I said earlier on, as we got into the life of Joseph, that he's, of course, a great example of faithfulness, a great example of obedience, a great example of someone who has integrity and consistency. But he's still a sinner. You know, he's still somebody that has flesh and blood. He's still somebody that has emotions, somebody that has, you know, his own will and feelings about things. I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that what we're seeing here is Joseph finally letting go towards maybe some resentment he might have felt towards his older brethren. And that might kind of explain why he's trying to isolate Benjamin. He's saying, well, let me just get Benjamin here. You know, you guys, I won't let you starve to death, but, you know, I don't really want, I'm only going to reveal myself to Benjamin, right? I think that that, you say, well, I don't know about that. I don't know if that's really something that a man like Joseph would do, that Joseph would, you know, harbor resentment. He understood the vision, of course, that he was given early on in his life. Before any of this began to come to pass, we know that he received those two visions where others, you know, the sun, moon, and stars would bow down, and their sheaves were going to bow down, that he one day was going to rule over them. So he had been given the vision of God, as we read in that chapter, but, you know, and you would say, well, in that, since he has that vision, he understands that God has caused all these things to come to pass, that God has a purpose. You know, how can he be resentful about that? How can he be upset about that? How can he harbor any animosity towards his own brethren who sold him into, who initially intended to kill him, but instead sold him into slavery? How can he possibly harbor any resentment when he's got this vision? Yeah, you know, how hard would it be for him to resent them? I think that's very well within the realm of possibility. And I certainly wouldn't blame him because he's flesh and blood. He's like me and you. He's a picture of Christ, but he's not Christ. So, obviously, I think it's possible that Joseph here harbored resentment. That's what he's kind of been hanging on. That's the inner turmoil that we're seeing in the story, that maybe the Bible just doesn't make explicitly clear for us, which is, again, what makes the Bible such a great book, is that it causes you to have to dwell on these things, think about these things, and as we get older and more mature and more seasoned and more experienced in life and human relationships, we start to understand these things maybe at a deeper level. So I think that that's what's going on here. And so I don't know, I don't know if he could, why would he harbor resentment when he knows what God's will is? Oh, no Christians ever do that, right? There's never a child of God that does that. It's like it reminds me of what Paul said to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 6, he said, you know, our mouths are open unto you. Our hearts are enlarged unto you. You're not straightened in us. You're straightened in your own bowels. Paul's saying, we're just preaching you the word of God. We're just telling you what the Bible says. Out of love, we speak the truth. And, yes, the Bible tells us to mortify the members of the flesh and all those things, and you're feeling straightened in the Christian life. Well, that's because you're walking in the flesh. He's saying, it's not us. It's you that's straightened. You're straightened in your own bowels. And if Paul's giving, you know, that, you know, warning to or making that observation about the Corinthians, who are Christians, I mean, obviously, that's something that could happen to Joseph. I mean, obviously, we all have either experienced ourselves or have seen in others where people, you know, know what the Bible says and they don't have a good attitude about it. They know that the Bible says X, Y, and Z. And instead of just going along with the program, they actually kind of maybe even resent God a little bit or are straightened in their own bowels or get upset or get angry. Now, I'm not saying that necessarily Joseph's, you know, to the point of sin here. I think he's definitely doing his duty. He's not being vengeful. He's not saying, yeah, go back and starve to death. You know, you guys that sold me, and he could have done that. He showed mercy on them, right? He showed them mercy, fed them, you know, blessed them, even sent them back with the money in their sacks, you know, gave them more and all of that. But maybe he was just kind of doing that out of duty, right? Because he's not a bad person. That's not to say that in his heart there isn't this turmoil going on, this struggle that's going on in having to, you know, resolve some issues with his family, okay? It's kind of a really interesting story when you start to think about it. Again, in verse 1, it says there, Joseph could not refrain himself before all of them that stood by him. So, you know, remember previously he would excuse himself, you know, go have a good cry, and he'd come back, right? Well, at this point, it's just the emotion is too much. And what is it that brought this on? Well, because it says in verse 1, then Joseph, meaning after the events of chapter 44, where, you know, Judah is, you know, making his plea and bringing up his father and talking about his supposed death and about Benjamin and reminding him of all these things. So obviously, you know, it's just the emotion comes upon him. He hasn't time to excuse himself. And I think what's finally happened is he's breaking, and he's finally letting go of this resentment, if you're going to go along with what I'm proposing here. And he cried, he said, cause every man to go out for me, and there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known under his brethren. So he excuses all the Egyptians in the room, and it's just him and his brethren, and he begins to reveal himself. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. So, you know, that's not a minor detail. You know, it doesn't get a lot of verbiage there. But, I mean, that shows you the level of emotion that's pouring out of Joseph in the story, where, you know, other people in the other room, the other house, are hearing it. Quite a reaction. And Joseph said to 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 it's interesting that his first question is, you know, is my father yet alive? Is dad dead? And again, I think that kind of tells us, shows us, rather, that that's what's bringing Joseph to this place, is he wants to kind of let bygones be bygones. He wants to resolve this, because he's, you know, been thinking about his father, and he wants these relationships restored. It says in verse 4, and Joseph said to his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. So he, they, they, it says there at the end of verse 3, they were troubled at his presence, right? When he's saying, hey, I'm Joseph, doth my father yet live? This bothers them why? Because they have a guilty conscience. Because now they're starting to worry, if they're thinking, well, if this is Joseph, and he's the second most powerful man in the world, second only to Pharaoh, if our life is in his hand, if we're, if he could just say a word and have us killed, or send us away empty, or whatever, throw us into prison, you know, what's going to happen next, right? So that's, that's why they're, that's why they're just like, Joseph! Oh man, it's so good to see you. It's been so, how long has it been? Last time I saw you was in that pit. You know, last time, you know, I'm thinking about the last time we met, you know, I sold you in the hand of the Ishmaelites. How's it been? You know, you're doing, you look great. You're doing good, right? No, they're like, uh-oh, right? They're busted. They're, they're fearing. And I think really, and I'm only going to focus here on these first five verses tonight. Of course, we, you know, the story goes on and tells us about how, you know, eventually they go back and they get dad, and there's that aspect too. But I just want to focus on these first five verses because I really think, you know, the theme here, and maybe the theme with this portion of Joseph's life, is about forgiveness. About forgiving people who have wronged you. And, you know, that's not a topic that, that doesn't come up that often. You know, or let me rephrase that. It's a topic that comes up often. But, you know, forgiveness is a major theme in the Bible. You're not going to read the Bible. You're not going to preach the Bible without thinking about and talking about forgiveness quite a bit. And I think the reason why that is, is because forgiveness is such a needed thing in life. Forgiveness is something that, it's not like you just have it or you don't. It's something that comes and goes. It's something you have to put into practice. It's something you have to learn to do. And there's times in our lives when we're more forgiving than others. There's times in our lives when we're maybe more resentful than others. When we're more likely to forgive and then not. Okay. And I think it's important, the reason why the Bible brings it up so much, is because of the fact that we're going to have to forgive people repeatedly in life. The same people sometimes for the same thing sometimes. We're going to have to constantly be exercising forgiveness throughout our Christian lives. Because, you know, we're sinners and we're surrounded by sinful people. And that's why I want to just focus on forgiveness a little bit tonight. And I just say that in case you say, well, here he goes again about forgiveness. Well, it's a major theme in the Bible. And it says there in verse four, and Joseph said his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. Right. So I can smack you. No, he obviously he sees the reaction. Right. They're they're troubled. He's saying, look, and he's trying to let that he's trying to comfort them now and let them know, hey, everything's okay. I'm not mad. I'm over it. I've had time to think about what I'm going to do. And, you know, you guys have been here a few times. I've had time to think about this over these last however long it's been. Several years of famine or passing by. And, you know, I'm over it. I've let go of this resentment that he might have had. Come near. And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. Well, excuse me, I just read that. Come near, I pray you. And they came here. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. In case you forgot. Joseph who? The guy you sold in Egypt. Right. But notice what he says in verse five. He says, now, therefore, be not grieved. Right. And this is the thing about, you know, forgiveness is that if we're really going to it makes it easier to forgive people when you when you can tell they're actually sorry. Right. And I think that's what you kind of see in the story. He's, hey, I'm Joseph. Is Dad alive? They're troubled. Come near. I'm Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Right. And now be not grieved. He's telling them don't be grieved because he can tell that they're grieved. And boy, isn't it easy to forgive people when they're actually sorry. It makes it so much easier. But here's the thing about forgiveness is we don't have to wait for people to be sorry in order to forgive them. And in fact, you know, if you think about it, if you if you subscribe to my opinion on the story and that fact that Joseph has been struggling with this resentment, he's kind of he's been able to forgive them because he he has heard the words of Ruben and he has heard the plea of Judah. And he has seen them kind of come and go and seeing that, you know, he wants to forgive. There is a repentance. They are grieved. Right. But here's the thing. You know, sometimes people, they're not going to be sorry. They're they're not even going to acknowledge they've done anything wrong. Well, then I won't forgive them. You know, no, we should forgive anyway. We should forgive. And look, and I know I preach this and I talk about this. And and I make it sound and I understand it's it's easy to just say these words and it's another thing to walk out those doors and go live this truth. But this is this is what the Bible says. I mean, Christ forgave us. Right. You know, God, you know, he loved us. You know, Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. Right. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know, he became sin for us. No one said that we might be made the righteousness of God. He didn't sit around and wait for us to repent of our sin or to feel sorry. Or to beat ourselves up or whatever. And to express, you know, our deep remorse for having offended a holy God before he decided to, you know, come and save us. You know, that's not a part of salvation. It's whosoever believeth. You know, salvation, I believe, can be as unemotional. And it's just even cold, maybe, on the part of the sinner as a bank transaction. If someone just seriously believes, yeah, I believe that I'm a sinner and that there could be no emotion involved. There could be no sorrow involved. I believe that. Because it's belief. Now, I think if a person genuinely gets saved, they're probably going to experience some sorrow. They're going to they're going to understand. I'm not going to say they're going to repent of their sin. They're going to turn their whole life around. But they're they're probably it's probably going to be there just naturally. I'm just saying I don't think it has to be right. And I'm saying all that to say this, that Christ forgave us. Before we you know, we're sorry for everything we've ever done. Right. You know, people aren't always going to give you a reason to forgive them. But boy, it's nice when they do. Right. It sure helps when you can look at them and say, hey, you're grieved. It says come closer. Right. And be not grieved. You know, if they hadn't been grieved, maybe he could have just said, I forgive you. Take your corn and go home. Right. But when he looks at him and says they're troubled, they're grieved at knowing that this is Joseph, this bothers them. And you can say, yeah, maybe it's out of fear, but it could also just be, you know, out of conviction. They're not just afraid of what he's going to do to them. Maybe they've been, you know, they're really he could tell that they've been thinking about what it is that they've done to him. And again, as I just said, because of the words of Ruben, because of the words of of Judah, Joseph probably understood that these guys feel bad for what they did. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near and pray to you. And they came near and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, and you sold him to Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved. And really, when it comes to forgiveness, I want to talk about two types of forgiveness tonight. One is God's forgiveness. Right. God is ready to forgive. God wants to forgive. God is a very forgiving God. And, you know, most people understand that. And a lot of people get that. And a lot of Christians, they understand this and they get saved and they understand that God loves them and that God has forgiven them. But I think a lot of times people, even Christians, have a hard time forgiving themselves. You know, sometimes we might be really good at understanding that God has forgiven us. We might be really good at understanding we ought to forgive others. Maybe we are really good at forgiving other people. Maybe we, you know, we're very lenient with people. We let things go. But, you know, there's another person that sometimes people have a really hard time forgiving and that's themselves. I mean, Joseph in the story, he's seeing they're grieved. He says, come near. He's, you know, and he's saying, don't be grieved. He says in verse five, now, therefore, be not grieved. And now notice what he says next. Nor angry with yourselves. Angry with yourselves. Right. I mean, don't be upset with yourself that you sold me hither. Don't be angry with yourself over your sin. Right. Over what you've done in the past. You know, all those decades ago. Right. Don't be angry with yourself over something that you can't change. That's in the past. You're grieved. That's good. But it's right now. We've made it right. You're grieved. I brought you. I'm revealing myself to you. You're drawing near. Don't be grieved and don't be angry with yourself. Right. That you sold me hither. Now, did they, you know, they certainly could. You could say, well, you know, let them wallow in their misery a little bit about having sold you into slavery, Joseph. I mean, good night. It's not like they stole your toy. You know, they didn't kick your ball over the fence and say, nah, nah. They sold you into slavery. Right. But he's telling them here, he's saying, look, don't be angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. And he says, for God did send me before you to preserve life. Yes, Joseph understands that God's, you know, at work here, this is all the plan of God. He's still human. He still might have his own inner turmoils. He's saying, don't be angry with yourselves. You know, God had a plan here. Now, if you would, I'll just look at a few more passages tonight. It won't be a long sermon. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 7. You know, there's a time and place to be sorry for sin. There's a time and place to repent, to even maybe be angry, to maybe, yeah, beat yourself up a little bit over something we did. Right. But that should not, you know, we should not draw that out any more than it needs to be. You know, and here's the thing, God isn't doing that. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 28, he that covereth his sin shall not prosper. Yeah, let's not cover sin and say, well, you know, I'll get around to asking God for me of that later. Don't cover sin. You know, admit sin. Expose sin. Confess sin. Right. Because it goes on and says, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy. Right. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, as it says in 1 John. You know, if we confess and forsake it, what do we have? We have mercy from God. Meaning God's going to hold off in punishing us and saying, well, I'm not going to do that. You know, he's going to forgive us. Right. So, I'm not saying, like, don't ever feel bad for sin. Of course we're going to feel bad. And I think what Joseph is saying is, don't be angry with yourselves. Right. Yes, because God has, there's a plan here, but also because you've been grieved. I've heard the words of Reuben. I've heard the plea of Judah. I know you're sorry. I know that this is bothering you. But what he's not doing is hanging over his head. And that's not what God does to us, does he? He forgives us when we confess it and forsake it. You know, when God forgives, he casts the sin behind his back. God doesn't bring it up years later and go, remember when you did this and I had to forgive you? Because that wouldn't be forgiveness. Right. And people have argued with me and I understand, humanly speaking, why people would struggle with this. And I'm not saying that I'm perfect in this. I'm human too. But to forgive is to forget. That's how God forgives. He's saying, look, you've cast my sins behind your back. God doesn't bring up old sins. God, and God is truly, it's not, and again, it's not that God is just choosing not to remind us of sins. It's that he's forgotten them. And when we start bringing up sins that we've confessed and forsaken, we start trying to, you know, bring up sins from our past. You know, we're angry with ourselves. We're grieved with ourselves more than we ought to be. You're trying to remind God of something that he doesn't even remember. He's saying, what are you talking about? You know, we go and get forgiveness. We confess the sin. We forsake the sin. And then all this time later, we're bringing it up to God again. And it's like, God doesn't even know what you're talking about. Because he's cast behind his back. He's forgotten. You're there in 2 Corinthians. Look at chapter 7 verse 9. It says, Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but you sorrowed to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner. And he's referring to the epistle of the 1 Corinthians. In that epistle where he just rebukes them harshly for the sin that's running rampant in the church. And he tells them to get it right, which is what they do. And now he's writing the second letter. And he's saying, I don't rejoice that you were made sorry. I'm not happy about the fact that that first letter I wrote you upset you. I don't rejoice in that. There's so much to say about that right there as a preacher. I think sometimes people think it's fun to rebuke sin. It's fun to get up and to preach the Bible. Like we get some kind of sick pleasure out of making people uncomfortable or mad at you or angry. No. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. The joy that you say, why would you do that? Why would a preacher want to get up and preach those things? Would that upset people? Well, not for the people that get all hair-lipped and quit the church, but for the people that sorrow to repentance. Because when you do preach the whole counsel of the word of God, people do get right. Not all of them and not all the time. And more often than not, depending on what we're talking about here, people quit churches. You start preaching against fornication and living together outside of marriage. You're going to lose people more than you're going to keep them over that. Nine times out of ten, the people that are guilty of that sin in particular are going to leave the church. They're not going to get married and do what's right. They're not going to make any decisions. The only decision they make is, well, we're just not going to go to church there where the Bible is actually being preached. We're actually brought under conviction. But here, you say, why preach that? Don't you want to build a bigger church? No, because we don't want the leaven of sin in the church. Is it a leaven a whole lump? But what we do rejoice over is when we preach things and people get those things right. But notice what he says here, for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us and nothing. You were made sorry. Right. And there's a godly sorrow. You were made sorry after a godly manner. Let's be sorry. As we ought to in a godly way. Why? Verse 10, for godly sorrow worketh repentance, salvation not to be repented of. Not the repentance of being saved and going to heaven, but of not coming under the judgment of God. But the sorrow of the world worketh death, meaning it doesn't result in anything. The world sorrows. They go drown it in a bottle. The world gets a guilty conscience. They get upset about things that they've done. They feel bad about their actions. They try to medicate it. They try to drown it in booze. You know what I mean? Or they go into some other sin, whatever. And that just works more shame, more death. But look at verse 11. This is the result of godly sorrow. For behold the selfsame thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you. When we sorrow as we ought to, it makes us careful. Say, well, let me tighten things up here. Let me not do that again. Let me straighten up and fly right, basically. Let me get on the straight and narrow here. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. And I love that. It's a clearing. It's a getting right. Godly sorrow should free us, not drag us down. Yea, what indignation. That's sometimes the missing element in people's lives. Why they can't get over sin is you're not mad about it. You want to get right? You want to get sin out of your life? Get mad at your sin. You know, so many times the reason why people don't get over certain sins is because it's their pet sin. I like this sin. I'm not going to get mad at this sin. It's like the cat. I know the cat does this and that, but I really like this cat. It purrs and everything else. Well, you know, that cat's tearing up the furniture. That cat's getting on the counter. That cat's doing things that cat ought not to do. Get mad at the cat, right? Get mad at your sin. Yea, what fear. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, whatever. These are all things. What revenge, right? You want to get over some habitual sin? Replace it with something. Take revenge on your sin. Throw yourself into something else. You've got some habitual sin that's running your life. Get it out. Get mad at it. Don't do it anymore. And replace it with something. Take revenge on your sin. And all these things you have approved of yourself. What I'm saying tonight is that this is how you sorrow after a godly manner, right? There's a time to be angry. There's a time to be sorrowful. There's a time for vehement desire, indignation, all this stuff, but then it goes. We don't want to stay angry with ourselves. Yea, let's feel bad. Let's get things right. And then let's move on with our lives. And not keep, you know, we're real good about maybe letting things go with other people, but do we do that with ourselves? Do we forgive ourselves? I love that that's what Joseph says in the story. Be not angry with yourselves. He says, don't be grieved nor angry with yourselves. Why? Oh, because you didn't do anything wrong? No, what you did was wrong. You know, but God had a plan. God has a purpose here. Let's do that. Let's move on with our lives. If you would, go to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. You know, people forget, and I think sometimes what we forget is if we're going to keep bringing up old sins that God has cast behind our back or beating ourselves up or feeling guilty over things that God has forgiven us for already, it's almost like we're kind of, I don't want to say that this is necessarily the case, but one way you can look at it, it's like you're saying the blood doesn't have any power. Like God's forgiveness is inadequate or something like that. But, you know, God has forgiven us what? All trespasses. Or sometimes people won't even seek forgiveness from God. They won't even look for God. They say, well, God can't forgive me for this. I've gone too far. You know, or I've done it, I've done this so many times. You know, so many times I've done this and asked God for forgiveness and gone back and look, we shouldn't do that. But that doesn't limit God's forgiveness. It's still there. God still wants to forgive. Look at Psalm 103, verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. It's not like God's saying, well, you know, I forgave you for that sin a few dozen times before, and now I'm scraping the bottle for the bottom of the barrel for mercy. I'm running dry. I'm running low on mercy. Sorry. No, God is plenteous in mercy. So even if it's a sin that we've, you know, struggled with for years, decades, whatever it is, you know, God is still plenteous in mercy. God is, His grace is sufficient. And look at verse 9. He will not always chide that would keep us anger forever. Look, when we do things, yeah, it upsets God. It makes him angry. But does it make him angry forever? No. God will let things go. All I'm saying is, like, let's do the same thing. When we know we have forgiveness from God, let's forgive ourselves and move on with our lives. Look at verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. That's mercy, folks. When we don't get what we have coming, when God holds back, when God does not reward us for our iniquities, when He does not deal with us after our sins, that's the definition of mercy right there. So if God, who is just a punish, chooses not to and shows mercy to us, then we have a green light to give mercy unto ourselves. That it's okay for us to do the same. Like, well, I know God forgave me, but it's just real important that I feel bad about this for the rest of my life or whatever. That's not true. Look at verse 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. And the Bible is just trying here. The psalmist is just trying to get us to understand the depth and the mercy of God. He's not saying, well, there is a limit. How much is it? Well, there's a lot of it, but there is a limit. When he says the heaven is as high above the earth, so great is the mercy, he's saying it's immeasurable. It can't be counted back. It cannot be exhausted. You cannot exhaust the mercy of God. That's who He is by nature. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. So maybe that first line got written. As far as the heavens are from the earth, as far as the heavens is high above the earth. Well, people could read that and go, well, there is a limit to that. Where does the stratosphere begin? When does space begin? So you're talking to me, that's how much great. So then he follows it up with verse 12. As far as the east is from the west, how far is that? Well, that's a paradox. It's this far. He just keeps going. So far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Look, if we're somebody who has truly sorrowed after a godly sort, meaning, as it said there, what fear, it works in us. That was one of the results of that godly repentance that Paul was talking about, the carefulness, the clearing, the indignation, the fear. Look, if God sees us truly sorry and truly repentant, He's going to pity us. He's going to show us mercy. That's the promise of God. And this is what sometimes I think people misunderstand about God is they think He's like that because He's obligated to be that way. Because He wrote it down. He's got it in His word. So God is bound to be like that. He has to do it. And that's true in a sense, but I think what people forget is God's that way because that's who He is. That's who God is. God's not just like, well, you know, the Bible does say I have to forgive. He's not like us. That's us that says that. Well, I know Jesus said seventy times seven, so I guess I'll forgive you again. That's not how. God is pitiful by nature. Like a father pitieth his children. I'm probably guilty of being too pitiful to my children. Right. I mean, I'm a very lenient dad, believe it or not. You know, but that's true. Flash me that look, girl. She didn't flash a look. I'm just she she kind of perked up a little bit of that one. I'm just teasing. Right. But that's you know, that why does he use that illustration? Because that's how we are naturally. We want to take pity on our children. We want to forgive. You don't just take come home, take the belt off and like, who's getting it? You know, go to work and just start counting down the hours and go home and and correct everyone when I come home. Line them up, honey. You know, I joke about the Chinese proverb, you know, beat your son every day if you don't know why he does. Right. That's funny. And there's a grain of truth to that. But that's not something I actually practice. OK, why? Because I pity my children. It's natural for me to do that as a father. It's natural for God to do that because that's what he is. He's our father. God doesn't want to take pity on you and forgive you because he has to. He does that because he loves you and that because that's who he is. And all I'm trying to get across tonight is like, if God's that way with us, why can't we be that way with ourselves? And I don't mean one another. I mean with ourselves. You know, being that way with one another, that's, of course, something I preach on. It's something we need to do. But, you know, sometimes I think people struggle with taking pity on themselves and not being overbearing with themselves or beating themselves up over things that God's forgiven. That God has separated as far as the East is from the West. That God has cast behind his back. That God doesn't even know what you're talking about anymore. I love verse 14. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. I mean, think about how cruel God would be if he just took everything out on us. We're pathetic, right? We're nothing to God. We're nothing to God. But, I mean, in terms of comparison, God is so much an egomaniac up there. Like, don't you know? I mean, God looks at us and says, these poor, pitiful creatures giving you a pass for sin. Like, of course, godly after sorrow, a godly manner, right? Let that godly sorrow work godly repentance not to be repented of in your life. But also remember that, you know, you're flesh and blood. You're dust. You know, you're gonna make mistakes. You're gonna mess up. And so is everybody else around you. People are gonna let you down and disappoint you. You're gonna let down and disappoint other people. Don't be too hard on yourself. You're dust. You're just a sinner. Look at verse 17. I'll move along. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. To such as keep his covenant to them that remember his commandments to do them. So again, yeah, God is very merciful and pitiful and, you know, very compassionate. But, you know, we also have to remember to keep his commandments and do these things. I'm just saying, when we fail to do that, confess it, forsake it, move on. If you want to go over to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter number 12. So I'm getting all that out of Genesis 45, right? Because again, Genesis 45, like all these other chapters we've read so far, are just narratives. It's just a story. And it's just trying to show human nature. And there's probably a lot of different ways we could preach this. There's other things we could... We can get done with the story, go right back over it and find new things that are in there and make different applications. The application I'm making tonight is that, you know, Joseph, whether you want to agree with me or not, you know, is forgiving his brethren in the story. He's getting over it, right? And when he's forgiving them, he's also reminding them to forgive themselves, right? That's what I believe is happening. He's finally saying, you know what, let me just put all this resentment aside. Well, I don't know. He knew that God was going to do something. This was all part of God's plan. Yeah, but that's the case for all of us, right? We all know what God said for us, you know, what God's commandments are and what God's will is. That doesn't mean we always like to go along with it, okay? Obviously, he went along with it, right? But I think he's forgiving his brethren. He's finally just letting go of any resentment that might have been there. But then he's also saying, reminding them that are being forgiven to not be grieved and to not be angry with themselves. That's the application I'm trying to make tonight. That's the one truth I'm trying to drive home. Yes, God, there's a time to be grieved, there's a time to be angry with yourselves, there's a time to be repented of. But once that's done, once the sin has been confessed and forsaken, stop beating yourself up over it. And understand that God is wanting to forgive, that God is merciful, that his compassion's failing up, that they're new every morning, and that God is quick to forgive. He's plenteous in mercy. And not because he has to be, because that's who he is. That's what he wants to do. It's his nature. And so if God can forgive us, let's forgive ourselves. And let's move on from failures, disappointments, sins that we've committed. You can't do anything about it. It's done. But don't beat yourself. And that's the other thing. People go, I can't do anything about it. And that becomes a trap in itself. Because they realize, I can't do anything about it. That's right, you can't do anything about it. And so the only thing you can do is to forgive yourself like God has already forgiven you, and move on with your life. Did I have you go to Hebrews 12? Look at verse 12. And Hebrews 12 is a chapter about the chastening of God. If we start in verse 1, where he talks about enduring chastening, because God chastens every son whom he receives. Neither is there any son whom you chasten if not, and that it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness and those that are exercised thereby. And he's kind of concluding here at the end in verse 12 of chapter 12, where he says, Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. And I've always wondered, what does he mean by that? Who is the person with the hands that hang down and the feeble knees? It's probably the person who's been chastened. The person who's kind of been beat down a little bit by sin. The person who God has had to judge. The feeble knees. I don't know how much detail I want to go into. I don't want to embarrass people, but sometimes when the spanking gets doled out, there's some feeble knees involved. Little knees quake. There's a trembling. There's a fear in the person that's being chastened. There's hands that hang down. There's this downtrodden spirit. Outside the picture, he's trying to find the feeble, the weak knees, the hands that are hanging low. The person that is sorry for the chastening they've had to endure. And what Paul is saying here, lift those hands up which hang down. Lift up the hands that hang low. Lift up the feeble knees. If we've been chastened, great. Then we know we are not bastards but sons, as he says early in the chapter. Neither is any son whom he chasteth not. And if you be without chastening, then you're bastards and not sons. That's the one good thing about chastening other than the peaceable fruit of righteousness. You can at least say, well, at least I know I'm dads, right? That must be my dad over there. You know, at least I got a dad to chasten me. But he says, you know, lift up those hands which hang down on those feeble knees. Don't wallow in the fact that you committed sin. Don't be angry with yourselves. Like Joseph said, don't be grieved. Yes, be sorry. Let it have its perfect work in you. Let it work, you know, the godly sorrow not to be apprentitive. And then, like I've been saying, move on. Which is what he's saying. Lift these things up in what? Verse 13. And make straight paths for your feet. You know, get back on the straight. Move on. Right? Don't just stay here and beat yourself up. Those things which are lame, right? If we don't lift those things up and get back on that straight path and walk down that path. You know, the people that dwell on their sin, they tend to repeat it, right? Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. You know, if we just keep dwelling on our sins and the sins we've committed, we'll probably just end up doing it again. You know, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather let it be healed. Start walking down that path and those things, that guilt, all that stuff, that stuff goes away in time. The shame, the guilt, the remorse, the sorrow. If we would acknowledge those things and confess those things and forsake those things, I'm not saying it's going to be overnight, but you know, you start living for God. You get in the path, the straight path, and start walking down it. That stuff, you're going to forget about it. Think about all the things that you've forgotten. Probably important things. There's probably things you should have remembered that you've forgotten, but you know, sometimes people remember things that they have no business remembering. Sometimes people who have done things, they'll remember that stuff years later. Something that happened between them and another person, they'll be thinking about that and it's like that person has forgotten. That group of people, they've forgotten about you. You need to let it be healed and stop dwelling on it and just get on the straight path and walk. I love what Joseph said to his brethren. I love this story. I mean, such a very emotional story, very powerful story. A great example of forgiveness. And not just of Joseph forgiving them, but being reminded that we who have been forgiven need to forgive ourselves. As he said, be not angry with yourselves. That's a great message. I think it's one we should all take to heart. Let's go to closing word of prayer. Lord, again, thank you for the forgiveness that we have in Christ. Lord, thank you for your abundant mercy. Thank you for your grace. Lord, I pray you help us to extend that same grace and mercy to other people. And Lord, help us to extend it to ourselves. Lord, help us to acknowledge the forgiveness of God in our lives and to acknowledge that maybe there's things that we remember, things that we dwell on, things that we still to this day feel bad over that you've forgiven and forgotten long ago. And Lord, I pray you help us to, Lord, understand that that is your nature, Lord, a father who pities his children, Lord. And Lord, if there is sin that we need to feel sorry for, Lord, help us to do that. And Lord, help us to move on once we've done that so that we can continue to see great things done for you, to your honor and your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed tonight. Could you please grab a hymnal and turn that hymnal to a song number 169? Song number 169. Come thou fount, give me the song number 169. Sing out to the Lord our first name. Come thou fount. Every blessing to my heart to see my praise. Dreams of mercy never cease. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me sound of love. Praise the Lord, God is alive. God of high, make me out of my hurt. Jesus of day. Praise the Lord, see me from day to day. Take me I'm close to you. Wherever you is the seventh day. My heart will treat you to me. Come to wonder, Lord, I Come to lead the battle Here's my heart, take it Praise the Lord, God of high, make me out of my hurt. Dreams of mercy never cease. Come to wonder, Lord, I Come to lead the battle Here's my heart, take it Praise the Lord, God of high, make me out of my hurt. piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly