Genesis 42 | Sermon Manuscript
Genesis 42 | Testing Times
2. The Test and the Idol (7–20, 36–37)
3. Is God Punishing Me? (21-22)
So we have been going through the book of genesis last year, we took a break for our Christmas series through the book of Hebrews, and now we are jumping back in to Genesis 42.
And over the next 7 weeks, we looking at How God will keep his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God will take care of his people, and each week will apply the truths we find practically to our lives and learn how each story points to Jesus.
So a little recap to remind us of the main characters in this section of genesis.
First Joseph, who is Joseph. Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel. And Jacob loved Joseph more than his other eleven sons, which is wrong and we saw its negative consequences.
In combination of Joseph being Jacob’s favorite, having the special coat of many colors as a gift from his dad,
then sharing his dream with his brothers about how he will have authority over his them,
his brothers were anger and jealous and wanted to kill Joseph, but they relented and merely sold him into slavery, because as one of his brothers said, we cannot kill him, he is our brother, so lets sell him and make some money off of him.
They lied to their father Jacob about this, and told him, that Joseph was killed by a wild animal and brought back the bloody coat as evidence.
Though Joseph was in slavery, falsely accused, then put in prison, through all this, God was with him every step of the way,
and whatever Joseph did, God blessed it, and Joseph stayed faithful to God and continued to give God all the praise and glory.
Because if God blessing Joseph with wisdom of administration and the ability to interpret dreams,
Joseph ends up being appointed to second in command of Egypt, he was like the vice president of Egypt.
He was put in charge collecting the grain and saving the food to prepare for the famine that was about to happen.
And during this time of famine, people couldn’t grow enough grain to eat, so people traveled to Egypt, traveled to see Joseph and get some grain so they could survive.
1. Divine Appointments (1-6)
Genesis 42:1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other? Genesis 42:2 Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.” Genesis 42:3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. Genesis 42:4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”
So Benjamin is also Rachel’s son, and so Joseph loves and favors him more than the other brothers, which again is wrong. Parents are not to love or show favoritism to their kids.
The people in the bible are not perfect by any means, even God’s chosen people, whom has promised to bless and protect, and bring about the messiah through their generations, they sinned and fell short.
Even people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who showed great faith in God, made their mistakes, they needed God’s grace and forgiveness as well.
They needed Jesus death on the cross just as much as we do. They were just looking forward to the day when God would save them, and we are looking back on the event of when Jesus came to earth.
But despite the sins of Jacob, and despite the sins of his sons, selling their brother Joseph into slavery, God will have grace on them, and provide them enough food to survive.
And oddly enough they will be saved through the one they threw in the pit.
Just as many centuries later, humanity will be saved through the one they nailed on the cross and put in a tomb.
Genesis 42:5 The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Genesis 42:6 Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
In our discipleship group this week, me and a couple guys meet up for prayer, bible memorization, and go over our bible reading and journal.
One of the guys mentioned the craziness of Joseph just so happening to be there when his brothers came to get grain.
Because there is no way that Joseph screened each and every person from all over Egypt and the surrounding countries. He was second in command.
There were likely many locations to get grain from, and God in his sovereignty and control. Made it happen that Joseph would just so happen be checking in on this particular site, on this particular day, so that he could be reunited with his brothers.
There are many scenarios like this in the bible, where God is working in the backgroud to accomplish his purposes.
And The same God of the OT, is the same sovereign God who is in control today.
Sometimes it doesn’t seem like, sometimes its hard to see where God is moving, and sometimes life is just difficult and we don’t want it to be that way.
But during those times of suffering, even during those times of blessing, during your ordinary days of going to grocery store, going to the doctor, going to church
— what if you remembered the story of Joseph, remembered how God will keep his promises, and work things out for your good.
It is no accident that you are here today, it is no accident that you are watching this sermon right now, it is a divine appointment.
Your whole life is filled with divine appointments, they may not have been on your calendar, but God has you where he does for a reason.
Will you trust him every step of the way, will you be looking for these divine appointments, where God puts someone in your path. He put them there for a reason, will you respond in faith, strike up a spiritual conversation, invite them out for lunch or coffee, invite them to church.
Or maybe you are like Joseph and you relationships with people that need to be restored,
maybe someone has sinned against you and you have been avoiding them so you can hold your anger and resentment.
Maybe you sinned against them, and have been avoiding them.
May God give you a divine appointment this week to reconcile, to forgive, to beginning build a bridge.
It may take time as it will for Joseph to be reconciled with his brothers. Because first there is a test, and this test will reveal an idol.
2. The Test and the Idol (7–20, 36-37)
Joseph’s prophetic dream came true, though it took many years, though it seemed like it could never happen, God used his suffering and imprisonment to raise him to second in command of all of Egypt. And his brothers are bowing down before him
But since it has been so long, and Joseph has integrated into Egyptian society so much, he wore the Egyptian clothes, and jewelry, he had an Egyptian wife. So his brothers would not even recognize him.
And Joseph will not tell them who his just yet.
Genesis 42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied. Genesis 42:8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Genesis 42:9 Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”
So there is some debate about Joseph’s motives here.
Given all that his brothers did to him, it is understandable that he would speak harshly to them and seek to get them in trouble.
However, it is more likely that Joseph is acting, he putting on this little charade as a strategy to test their character. have they changed? Will they lie again?
Not only will he test their character but he will also seek to get his whole family to Egypt, including his younger brother Benjamin.
Because if he was angry at them and just wanted to throw them in prison or even have them executed, he could have, he was second in command, and if he was truly angry at them,
v.9 would have said “and Joseph remembered when his brothers through him in the pit and sold him to slavery”,
but no, what does v.9 say - Joseph remembered his dreams about them
He remembered that his whole family would bow before him, so he comes up with this strategy and accusation to get his whole family to come to Egypt.
The brothers refute the claim that they are spies and say this in v.13
Genesis 42:13 But they replied, “We, your servants, were twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living.”
Oh the irony, the one they think is no longer living is standing in front of them.
And mentioning their father and other brother, this gives Joseph the opportunity to get them to Egypt as well.
Genesis 42:14 Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ‘You are spies!’ Genesis 42:15 This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Genesis 42:16 Send one from among you to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” Genesis 42:17 So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.
So see if Joseph were just purely angry at them why seek out his younger brother Benjamin.
Also he shows grace and compassion on his family by sending them food.
Genesis 42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live. Genesis 42:19 If you are honest, let one of you be confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain to relieve the hunger of your households. Genesis 42:20 Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.
So it’s taking a long time for one of the brothers to go and come back with Benjamin, and Joseph knows that his family needs food, so he sends them out. But holds one brother Simeon in prison as we will see.
And this is the test of their character
1. Will they come back to free their brother Simeon, or will they live him there to die in prison. Will they lie to their father again, like they did about Joseph, and say Simeon died on the journey?
The easier thing to do is just let their brother rot in prison so they don’t risk getting punished by Pharoh’s second in command.
We see later on in chapter 42, that they are actually honest, they tell their father Jacob, everything that happened.
But it is their father that takes the easy way out, it is their Jacob that plays favorites again, and decides to let his son Simeon just stay in prison in Egypt.
As we read in Genesis 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!” Genesis 42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” Genesis 42:38 But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.
Jacob has made an idol out of his son Benjamin and thus he is willing to let he’s other son Simeon rot in prison instead of risking any danger to his favorite son Benjamin.
One application here:
1. The sin of idolatry can blind you to reality. Jacob is idolizing his son Benjamin, saying he will no longer be able to live, but he will die in sorrow.
But in reality, he has the opportunity to free his other son, if he just sends Benjamin back as evidence that they were telling the truth.
He is not thinking clearly, he is so absorbed around Benjamin he is letting Simeon die in prison.
Are there things that you idolize, that you if taken away from you that you feel as though would die in sorrow and there is nothing more to live for.
Are you letting something else die, because of you trying to protect your idol.
That thing that you have made into an idol is probably a good thing, a child, a pet, a routine, a ministry, some form of comfort, entertainment. Fill in the blank that thing that has captured your heart other than God.
And while you are holding tightly to that thing, you have relationships that are dying, you have ministries that are dying, your spiritual growth is dying, people are dying without ever hearing the gospel because we are too caught up holding on to our idol.
This past week we had an extended prayer time during our Wednesday night service, if you weren’t able to be there, it was an awesome time of seeking the Lord, its available on our youtube channel, I challenge you to go back and pray through those prayer prompts.
One of the prayers was to pray for missionaries. And during that prayer time, I prayed God would you help us send missionaries from our church,
that some of us would go, and that we would even be willing to encourage and send our own kids and grandkids to the mission field one day.
That is one of the hardest prayers to pray! But we cannot hold onto things as idols, we must give them up for the glory of God.
People need to hear the gospel. and how will they here if we don’t send missionaries. People need to grow in their faith, we need to reach our community.
And so let go of the idol, and hold on to the kingdom of God and his mission. It is truly better.
Now lets go back to verse 21, back to Egypt, back to the point in time when all the brothers were told they have to bring their youngest brother back or be killed.
And in this scenario They start feeling Guilty. they start to think about how they did wrong to their brother Joseph.
3. Is God Punishing Me? (21-22)
Genesis 42:21 Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”
This is a major application point for us today. Jospeph’s brothers had sinned, they had lied, they had covered it up. They never repented of their sin, or came clean and confessed it to their father.
And this sin was weighing on the minds. They interpret their imprisonment and threat of death as a result of their sin.
And some ways it was. Sin has natural consequences. Theft can mean paying fines or going to prison.
Lying and gossip can mean loss of relationships or trust.
Gluttony can lead to health issues.
While our primary motivation for obeying God and doing what is right should be rooted in our love for God and our desire to give him glory and honor in our obedience.
There is a healthy realization that sin has negative consequences.
Unrepentant sin, unresolved sin can leave you with a heavy burden, guilt waying on your should.
Have you every forgot your wallet or purse at home, and don’t realize till you are already driving on the road. What was a pleasant drive just seconds before has now turned into the drive of dread.
Because now you don’t have your license, and what if a police pulls you over, and ill get ticket, and have to pay a fine.
I was burdened because I didn’t want to get caught breaking the law.
The same is true with sins in our life, we become burdened, anxious, can’t sleep, can’t be blessing to others, because we are continually worried, what if someone finds out about our sin.
If this is you, if you are living with anxiety about someone finding out about your hidden sin
Let me share 3 life changing truths with you today.
1. If you have true sorrow over your sin, confess your sin to god, and trust in Jesus as your God Savior and King, and your sin is washed away.
And if someone or if the devil, or even your own self tries to condemn for your sin, “say this, I have repented and believed in Jesus who takes away my sin and loves me.”
2. If something bad happens to you, and you are a Christian, you have repented of your sin and believe in Jesus, then that bad thing is not a punishment from God. Memorize this verse: Rom 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus
So don’t see bad things in your life as a punishment from God, but see them as one of two things 1. God could allow bad things in your life as, wake up call to repent of your sin. God loves you too much for you too keep walking away from him in disobedience, sometimes we need to hit rock bottom to wake up from our slumber of sin.
2. God could allow bad things in s your life as An opportunity to grow in your faith and trust in him. Just as Jesu learned obedience through the expereicen of suffering, as we saw last week in Hebrews 5, so could we learn a new type of obedience and new type of faith through our sufferings.
3. and this is toughest truth of all, but as is often the case the toughest truths are often the most important. So listen closely,
if you have not turned away from your sin and turned to faith in Jesus as your God, Savior and King,
your disobedience, your sins against God will have to be accounted for. God is a righteous judge and will punish sin. While some punishments can happen in this life, the ultimate punishment that you should be concerned about is the eternal punishment after this life. Repent and believe in Jesus, who took the punishment for you on the cross.
For in Genesis 42, one of the brothers’ Reuben, knew they would have to give an account for their sin.
Genesis 42:22 But Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we must account for his blood!”
One day we will all have to give an account for what we have done. And 1 of two things will happen when we stand before the God of the universe. 1. You will take the punishment for your sins, or Jesus’s blood will have already taken the punishment for you.
Which one is it for you?
