The Brothers' Need

These diseases are so prevalent and sneaky, that it’s not uncommon for those in the medical industry to not be allowed to wear jewelry to keep from these diseases sneaking under a watchband.

Gowns and masks must be worn.

And hands are frequently washed.

If only mankind had this same kind of drive to combat an even greater disease.

The greater disease is hereditary.

It’s

This greater disease is certainly a fatal disease.

It’s been found that all humans are carriers of this disease.

The greater disease is sin.

Evasiveness.

says that all have sinned.

It began in the first man, Adam.

And it’s been passed on to every person since.

And just like how the small itchy bumps of chicken pox can get passed from child to child, says of sin, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”

Just like the medical world that is aggressive against infectious disease, we need to be aggressive in our fight against sin.

There are 4 approaches to God and Sin that we will look at this morning.

You see them in your bulletin in the sermon outline page.

Being swallowed by the guilt of sin.

Balancing sin’s scales with good deeds.

Beyond sin and finding hope.

And Befriended by God and finding forgiveness.

To help us understand this, we have been making our way through the final chapters of Genesis.

We will cover a lot of ground today.

We’ll be in .

I’m not going to read it, you can go home and read it later if you want.

I’d recommend it.

But let me give you a quick overview of these chapters.

A 7 year famine has struck the world at this time.

Thankfully, Egypt is well prepared for this period, under Joseph’s leadership.

They had saved during 7 years of prosperity, so that they would be in a good position during a 7 year famine.

This famine has affected other nations, including Canaan, which is far too the north, which is where Jacob and his 11 sons and their families live.

Jacob sends 10 of his boys to Egypt to buy food from the Egyptians.

Once there, Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him.

He looks Egyptian.

And he walks like an Egyptian.

He’s a little rough on them, and calls them spies.

He interrogates them, and they reveal that they have another brother at home, who their father loves, Benjamin.

He then arrests Simeon, and says they will never see him again, unless they bring the youngest brother back.

They return home to their father.

A year later, they are without food, and they are sent to Egypt, this time with Benjamin.

This time after much going back and forth, Joseph reveals himself to them.

He reveals that God has sent him ahead to prepare them for this famine and save them.

And in the end, Joseph is reunited with his entire family.

I realize that’s a super fast look at 4 chapters.

I told you, you can read it, and it reads great, just like a story.

But I want to get into it, and find our approach to God and sin in it.

4 Approaches to God and Sin

The first approach is Being swallowed by the guilt of sin.

One of my favorite Shakespeare plays is Macbeth.

In the play, Lady Macbeth, the wife of Macbeth, together with her husband, plots the death of the king.

Her plan is to kill the king so she and her husband can become king and queen.

She carefully, drugs the king’s attendants.

And gives her husband a knife to kill the king with.

After he’s killed, the blade of the knife, fresh with the kings blood on it, is wiped onto the kings attendants, who have been sleeping because they are drugged.

They are then framed for his murder, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become king and queen.

Only after all of this, Lady Macbeth can’t shake the crime from her conscience.

She keeps thinking of the blood on her hands.

She washes and washes her hands, but keeps thinking she sees the king’s blood on them, when in reality it’s the sin that’s on her hands.

Overcome with guilt that can’t be removed, she says, "Oh life! Disease hath spread to my whole self. My arms, my legs, my hands. They wreak of blood! Oh life! Be gone you spots! Oh spots be gone! The spots remain, the blood remains on me. My skin hath worn away. For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

My arms, my legs, my hands. They wreak of blood! Oh life! Be gone you spots! Oh spots be gone! The spots remain, the blood remains on me. My skin hath worn away. For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

Oh life! Be gone you spots! Oh spots be gone! The spots remain, the blood remains on me. My skin hath worn away. For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

The spots are what she thinks is the king’s blood.

The spots remain, the blood remains on me. My skin hath worn away. For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

My skin hath worn away. For I cannot stop itching at these damned spots.”

And she can’t stop washing her hands to get them off.

Her sin consumes her.

stop itching at these damned spots.”

Her sin consumes her.

Eventually, like all great Shakespeare tragedies, she ends up committing suicide, because of her guilty conscience.

She was swallowed by the guilt of sin.

And in the same way, Joseph’s brothers were being swallowed by the guilt of sin, at least 10 of them were.

Years earlier, when Joseph was home, they were going to kill him.

But instead of killing him, they conspired to sell him to slave traders.

To further their conspiracy, they took Joseph’s multicolored robe, dipped it in goat’s blood, and told Jacob that his favorite son, Joseph, was killed by an animal.

They wished they could have just forgotten about it and moved on.

But that sin ate at their consciences, like the king’s blood on Lady Macbeth’s hands.

And at every hurdle in this story, they thought that these bad things were happening to them because of their sin against Joseph.

On their first journey to Egypt, they were thrown into jail for 3 days after being accused of being spies.

1 says, “Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

My arms, my legs, my hands. They wreak of blood!

Oh life! Be gone you spots! Oh spots be gone!

And then they start blaming one another.

The spots remain, the blood remains on me.

My skin hath worn away. For I cannot

“Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

Essentially, these things are happening because of what they did to Joseph.

He begged for his life.

They didn’t listen.

They basically cast him to the wolves and as far as they are concerned, Joseph is dead.

stop itching at these damnèd spots.

This is a reckoning.

God’s giving them justice.

The soul who is being swallowed by guilt, always sees his sin in front of him.

He’s paranoid.

He’s looking over his shoulder.

Lives in fear of life and its consequences.

Essentially,

He’s like the escaped convict, hoping that the FBI never catches up to him.

The soul who is being swallowed by guilt is unable to enjoy the kindness of God either.

Throughout these chapters, Joseph went out of his way to do good to his brothers.

They came with money to buy grain.

But when they came home they looked into their sacks and found that all of their money had been returned to them.

But they couldn’t enjoy the free gift from Egypt.

They were terrified.

When they returned, they were to have a special dinner with Joseph, and they thought this was a bad thing.

They thought they were going to be accused of stealing.

The person who is swallowed by guilt is so paranoid, that he fails to enjoy even the good things.

He is always fearful that God is going to use these good things as some cruel form of torture.

Now in a sense this is logical, this makes sense.

says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

The wrath of God is revealed … it’s known.

The wrath of God is known to those who suppress the truth, who sin.

And Joseph’s brothers had certainly sinned.

They were fearful that God had caught up to them.

Sin is rebellion against God.

And if you live as a rebel against God … then you’ll always be afraid of getting caught.

I’m reading a Tom Clancy book right now for fun.

It’s full of adventure, action and spies.

There’s this scene where some Irish terrorists are about to make an attack.

And they don’t want the police to stop them before the attack.

So they make sure to drive the speed limit, and not draw any unnecessary attention to themselves, because they are violent lawbreakers.

They’re paranoid.

They are afraid of getting caught.

They were always looking over their shoulder.

In the same way, the sinner is paranoid of ever getting caught, of standing before God.

Always aware of his sin, and it pressing down on him.

Like Lady Macbeth, the person burdened with guilt is scrubbing her hands, trying to remove the threat of judgment.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The role of the preacher is to proclaim good news.

To bring you comfort.

To free you from being swallowed by guilt.

The gospel is the only cure for the person being swallowed by guilt.

, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Like Lady Macbeth, your hands are red with sin.

And the only way to remove that blood red stain is for Christ to die for you, and remove that stain.

And if that stain is removed … then the fear of judgment that plagues the person swallowed by guilt is also removed.

says, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Guilt is a calling for justice and it frightens us.

God has justified the sinner.

Meaning justice is done.

There’s no more reason to fear.

Part of the feeling of guilt is natural, but when it happens, you go to Christ.

And you remember what happened on that cross.

And know that the sin is gone.

The other approach to sin is by Balancing sin’s scales with good deeds.

You’ve got this guilty conscience.

You know you’ve done something wrong.

And you counter it by doing something good, hoping that it erases the first sin.

Jacob has 12 sons.

1 of those sons is sold into slavery.

1 is the baby of the family.

The other 10 … they’re not the nicest guys in the world.

They trick an entire town into getting circumcised, just so they can attack them while they are recovering from their wounds.

One of them has an affair with his step mom.

They sell their brother into slavery.

These guys aren’t the nicest guys in the world.

But at some point they begin to feel guilty for their sins.

And they try and become the best sons ever to erase their previous sins.

After their first visit to Egypt, Simeon is arrested and put into jail.

Joseph says the only way they can ever buy more grain is if they return with Benjamin.

Jacob is beside himself.

He says there’s no way you are taking Benjamin to Egypt, if something happens to him I’ll die.

And in this instance it’s Reuben who stands out.

He tries to balance the scales of sin with good deeds.

He has two sons, and he uses them as collateral, as a guarantee that Benjamin will return.

, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

Reuben’s the one who had an affair with his step mom, Jacob’s wife.

Now he’s doing whatever it takes to be loved by his father.

Later on, when they eventually return to Egypt for a second time, Judah makes a similar pledge.

Only this time making his life the guarantee.

, “I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.”

The brothers made these pledges, trying to get back into good graces with their father.

But one thing that Jacob kept saying is that Joseph is never coming back.

He thought Joseph was dead.

And all these kind deeds from the brothers were not going to bring back Joseph.

A wrong approach in approaching God and sin is the thought that God thinks your good deeds will somehow remove the sin from His eyes.

Could you imagine a wealthy criminal standing in a courtroom for the violent crime of murder.

Could you imagine him saying, “Your honor, I’ve made some mistakes in the past, but I believe we can make things right if you let me give you this check for $1,000.”

He’d get thrown out.

That’s a bribe.

That’s insulting.

That’s insulting to justice.

Unfortunately, that’s how many of us approach God in regards to our sin.

We admit that we have sinned.

We admit that we’ve done wrong things.

And we somehow think that God is pleased with us if only we promise to never do it again.

That doesn’t remove the sin.

God is far more concerned with justice and truth.

says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. ...”

You ever go to Costco with the intent of only spending $40?

How often do you leave Costco having spent $40?

Most of the time you leave with a bill of $400.

You make it through those terrible lines.

You get to the front.

Hand them your Costco card.

They tell you the total, $400.

But I only meant to spend $40!

You don’t have $$00, but what if you decided to pay with all your dirty laundry?

$300?

$400? Ok, that should be about 18 pairs of dirty underwear?

Yet that’s what it’s like when we think that somehow our good deeds will undo what we’ve done.

Our sin pollutes whatever we have to offer God.

Jacob’s son Judah was offering his body to save an innocent man.

And yet, Judah was a guilty man.

That’s dirty underwear instead of cash.

A guilty man standing in for an innocent man.

That’s not a fair trade.

Strangely, a distant descendant of Judah would do just that.

Jesus Christ, of the tribe of Judah, would come.

Only this time it would be an innocent man standing in for the guilty.

Repentance is important.

Doing what is right is important.

I believe Ruben’s favorite verse is , “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

That is good.

Yet, none of that matters if we don’t have Christ.

The only way to deal with our sin is if someone else makes the payment for us.

And that someone else was Jesus Christ.

As we wrestle with sin.

Sometimes the thought may even come to us, that we need to balance the scales to move us back into being good people.

You need to do something extraordinary, to erase your sins and be called good.

Understand, the only way is through Christ and His life being the payment.

That’s what our faith is.

Our faith is nott in your ability to be good.

But in Christ’s ability to be the good you require.

So far, these have seen negative ways to approach God and sin.

Now we have some positive ones.

Going Beyond sin and finding hope.

So far, we have seen things from Joseph’s brother’s point of view.

We’ve seen their flawed approach to sin.

They’ve been swallowed by guilt.

They’ve tried to balance sin’s scales with good deeds.

Now they find themselves in front of Joseph.

Joseph is in charge of Egypt.

He makes the rules.

The governmental line goes:

Pharaoh at the top.

And Joseph next.

Then everyone else beneath them.

Joseph has experienced terrible wickedness in his life.

And now he finds his brothers in front of him.

It’s his chance to get revenge on them for their sin.

But that’s not what we see.

He has moved beyond their sin, and has found hope.

Because through all of this, God has put Him in a position of authority.

God allowed Him to interpret the dreams.

It was Joseph who recommended the plan.

And because of the place Joseph is at, he was able to prepare Egypt for the famine.

And with Egypt being prepared, he’s in a place to save his family from starving to death.

He’s having his big family meal.

He reveals himself to his brothers.

“Hey guys, I’m Joseph. The one you sold and left for dead.”

But then what he says is amazing.

He holds no grudge.

In , 3 times he says something amazing.

, “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Who sent him to Egypt?

God did.

, “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.”

Who sent him to Egypt?

God did.

, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

Who sent him to Egypt?

God did.

I hate sin.

I hate it when I’m sinned against.

I hate it when I see others hurt by sin.

I hate it when I read of some new form of cruelty in the world.

I hate it when I hear of something that shouldn’t even be imagined.

And yet, the greatness of God is that He can use the evil of men for His own purposes.

God’s plan was for Joseph to get to Egypt.

And Joseph sees that.

And so he boldly credits God.

3 times in 4 verses, “It was not you who sent me here … but God ...”

That’s bold.

How can he be so bold?

Because he is looking for the glory of God.

I look across this room and I see people who have been hurt by terrible sins.

Abandonment.

Some of you have had spouses hurt you.

Some of you have suffered divorces because a spouse was unfaithful.

And that unfaithfulness ripped you up.

Shame on whoever that was.

And yet, you’ve been blessed to be remarried.

And that new marriage, couldn’t have happened without that sin.

I think of Joseph, “It was not you who sent me here, but God.”

Can you say that over a past spouse and his or her sins?

Can you move beyond sin, and find hope?

Can you even thank God for His plan and allowing that sin to happen … to bring you where you are?

Some of you don’t know who your parents are.

You had parents who didn’t fulfill their job.

And yet, here you are.

Parents to your own children.

Had your parents either not have sinned outside of marriage you would not be here.

And neither would your children.

And you are resentful towards your parents.

Can you move beyond sin, and find hope?

Can you even thank God for His plan and allowing your parents’ sin to happen … to bring you where you are?

Some people go through life so angry.

They are angry at circumstances.

They are angry at people.

They are angry at God.

When instead, there must be a change in your heart and see that yes there is sin, but God is sovereign over it.

Not that God sins.

But that God can use sin even to His glory.

And in that we move beyond sin, and find hope.

And lastly, we are Befriended by God and find forgiveness.

Joseph could have taken revenge on his brothers.

He had every right too.

But because of his understanding of God’s sovereignty and God’s greater plan he didn’t.

In , after he reveals himself to his brothers, it says he fell on his brothers neck.

He gave a big, deep hug.

He wept.

It was the ugly cry.

And then it says he kissed all his brothers.

He didn’t keep them at a distance.

He embraced them.

There was no hostility.

There was no division.

There was an embrace.

Holding no grudge.

Joseph didn’t say, “Remember that time you sold me into slavery, now it’s my turn.”

He embraced them.

In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down from being the president of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union was our great enemy during the Cold War.

Both nations were fearful of a nuclear apocalypse.

His stepping down, brought with it the final collapse of the Soviet Union.

Our great enemy, the USSR, was defeated.

Gorbachev had spent much time with George Bush.

And George Bush made a statement.

Bush didn’t hold Gorbachev’s head on a pole and say:

“This is what America does to her enemies.”

He didn’t mock his enemy.

Instead he said these words:

“I’d like to express, on behalf of the American people, my gratitude to Mikhail Gorbachev for years of sustained commitment to world peace, and for his intellect, vision and courage. … This is a day of great hope for all Americans. Our enemies have become our partners, committed to building democratic civil societies. They ask for our support, and we will give it to them. We will do it because as Americans we can do no less.”

The Gospel is even greater.

Bush applauded enemies becoming partners.

The Gospel applauds enemies being befriended by God and finding forgiveness in Him.

God doesn’t hold a grudge for those He’s forgiven.

Because the debt has been paid.

says forgiveness has been achieved “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

God can justly, logically, and reasonably forgive sin to the extent that He does because Jesus has paid completely for it.

God won’t ever tell the believer, “Remember that time you sinned, I’m still mad at you ...” because Jesus suffered for that sin.

When you are grieved by your sin.

When guilt threatens to swallow you.

When you feel that urge to try and conquer your sin debt by your performance.

Remember the payment that was given for your sin.

You’ve been befriended by God in Christ.

Live in that.

Rest in that.

This is your faith.

This is the faith.

Related Media

Related Sermons