Did you know that there is a “most hated” word in the English language? Google it. I did. I typed in, “The most hated word in the world and do you know what came up?” The word “moist.” As a matter of fact, marketers steer away from the word because it is so hated.
No one evidently wants to hear about “moist” cakes, or “moist” anything. Linguists say it’s because of the diphthong “oi” and when these two vowels flow together with uninterrupted flow it has a less than savory sound which probably makes the second most hated word “ointment.”
I sort of laugh at that because I can think of a lot of words I dislike more than the word moist. Like “mucus”, “puss,” “curdled” and “snot.” Right? If you want to know more disgusting and unappealing words, just ask an adolescent boy; they know them all. ?
Yet, there is also a few most disliked names in the English language: Evidently, Gertrude tops the girl list and for guys; it’s Floyd. Sorry Gertrude and Floyd; I promise, we love you. Don’t change your name. We love you the way you are. ?
Transition:
Yet, for Satan, I am his least favorite name is Jesus and his least favorite word is the word repentance. Yet, as believers, the name Jesus should be our favorite name and the word “repentance” should be one of our favorite words.
Yet, in Christianity, the word “repent” is often just the opposite. Maybe it’s because of people who hold signs that say “repent” in offensive ways or something else, but Jesus loved the word and said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mark 1:15
This morning, through the life of Joseph we see a call to repentance. At first glance it appears that this chapter is all about retaliation but in reality, it’s about repentance.
After all, it seems that in chapter 44, Joseph is messing with his brothers; he’s got the upper hand so he’s giving them back a little of the grief they put him through over the last 20 years (2 decades) of his life. Why would it not appear to be retaliation. Yet, let’s dig deeper is see what God is doing.
God is leading them to repentance and He does the same with us.
Transition: So let’s do a “word” study today through the life of Joseph. Let’s learn to love the word “repentance” as God seeks to teach Joe’s brothers about it through the actions of Joseph.
Transitional Sentence: What is real repentance?
I. It’s Recognition and Taking Responsibility For Our Sin
(The overview of Chapter 44)
Explanation:
Joseph’s brothers had spent 20 years hiding their sin. Let’s review what they had done:
a) Out of jealous they had sold their brother into slavery.
b) Out of fear they lied to their father and made him believe Joseph was dead.
c) Out of self-preservation they went on with their life; living out that lie.
Yet, God doesn’t ignore sin, people do. We do it all the time.
We attempt to ignore and rationalize sin in different ways. We might say:
a) It was no big deal.
b) It happened so long ago.
c) It was just a stage I was going through.
d) Everybody is doing it.
e) Who says this is sin anyway.
The one thing we know about Joseph’s brothers is that they covered their sin. They not only refused to address it but they covered it over with a lie that they repeated for over 20 years.
The Bible tells us though: “ He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Proverbs 28:23
In chapter 44, God was at work, dealing with the sin they refused to address in their life. Up to this point they perpetuated a habitual 20 year lie that they told to their father when shortly after they sold Joseph into slavery.
Yet, God would not allow them to continue in their sin. It was time to face up and to confess up to what they had done. It was time to address the on-going sin in their life.
You might wonder why God insists on addressing this. Why won’t he let it go? Why does he insist on our sins being addressed? Write this: Because sin separates and contaminates.
1. Practically, it was separating the brothers from Joseph and contaminating their relationship.
2. Spiritually, it was separating them from God and contaminates our relationship with Him.
Repentance is a necessary ingredient for healthy relationships.
If you read through the Bible the word “repent” is brought up over and over again. It is the key word in Jesus preaching. It is the key word in the preaching of the prophets. It is repeated over and over.
Why is this so needed. It is necessary because sin separates and contaminates.
In the Bible you will discover over and over again that God says that sin brings forth death.
Romans 3:23- The wages of sin is death.
James 1:15- “When sin is completed it brings forth death.
Sin is associated with death. When you sin; you die. Wait a minute. We don’t drop dead every time we sin or there wouldn’t be anyone around would there?
In the Bible, the word is much broader than ours. You see, for us, death is a one time and final event at the end of our lives. Yet, the Bible tells us that we were “dead in our sins.” Literally, there is such thing as “dead men walking.”
Do you know why? God’s definition of death is separation and contamination. The Bible calls the place called “hell” the second death. It is a place where people who were separated from God on earth and contaminated by sin on earth to experience eternal separation from God and contamination as the Bible defines it as a place where the word “dies not.”
You see, even when Jesus died on the cross, while He physically died, the most serious part of this “death” was that he was separated from His Father as He cried out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”
Repentance is necessary because it is the bridge to forgiveness and restoration. Without it, your fellowship will not occur and distance and space will continue.
For fellowship between Joseph and the brothers to take place repentance was necessary and for fellowship with God to take place, legitimate repentance was necessary because the only way to deal with the separation and contamination for repentance to take place.
Someone likened forgiveness to the “removal of spiritual garbage” from our life. Sin is spiritual and relational garbage; unless you deal with it, it just keeps piling up. It keeps on stinking. You can roll your dumpster into the front yard or push it off into to corner of your back yard but its presence won’t go away until you deal with it.
Illustration: I don’t like my trash company
Can I make a confession. I don’t like my trash company. Do you know why? They limit the amount of garbage they will take away each week. I have two dumpsters but they will only take one.
When I first got the trash company, they took everything. They were a new company looking for clients and I was glad to give them my business. Yet, after their base expanded; they quit picking up all the trash.
I got so tired of them that I switched to another company and I was so happy. (West Cobb Sanitation) Shout out to them. They were awesome. Yet, after a year, the quit my route and sold my account to guess who? My previous company.
I called and legitimately talked to the owner of the West Cobb Sanitation and begged him to pick up my trash. I actually offered to pay more; but guess what, he declined and now I’m stuck with my stinky trash service that takes limited trash.
On the 4th of July I piled my trash so high in the dumpster that it looked like the Tower of Babel. I spent a lot of time making sure not one piece fell off. My trash was stacked up like Jenga blocks. Do you know why? I didn’t want to contend with that trash, waiting another week. I am a professional at stacking and cramming trash into one container.
Application:
I am so glad when it comes to my sin, it doesn’t have to pile up. Jesus didn’t take a cafeteria style approach to the sin and failures of my life. He takes it all.
The Bible says that Jesus died: “Once for all...” He provided for the spiritual trash hauling. Repentance is like rolling out your dumpster to the curb of the cross and confessing; this is trash and I’m ready for it to be taken away.
Until you do: You’ll endlessly dealing the stench and stink of the spiritual garbage in your life that separates and contaminates your relationships.
Yet, while these brothers may have been taking a lot of spiritual trash to the curb; there was a still some trash sitting around the house. It was separating and contaminating, and it was time for the trash to go away. That’s what chapter 44 is all about.
How about your life? Is there any 20-year spiritual trash still sitting around in your life? Is so, todays the day to deal with it and to develop a lifestyle of repentance.
Transitional Sentence: What is real repentance?
II. It’s Genuine Remorse and Regret Over Our Sin
vs. 16- “So Judah said, What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants.”
Explanation:
To initiate the movement of these brothers to repentance; God called Joseph to do something to initiate remorse. It seemed like a prank, but in reality it was a portrayal of the sin they had done.
In verses 1-16 we find that Joseph for a second time had his house steward fill the brothers sacks with grain and place the man’s money in the mouth of the sack. (vs. 1)
Then, he instructed him to place his personal cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the Benjamin’s sack.
You might say: How does the cup portray their sin?
1. The cup in Hebrew life was a symbol of the value of someone’s life- Through history, cups
symbolized a life. For example: Even in the Victorian era this symbolism continued. When a
child was born, often a silver cup was purchased and the name and the date of birth was
engraved on the cup. Joseph chose the cup because for his brothers, it was a symbol of his
life.
In Hebrew life, a cup was taken when a young man wanted to marry a girl. To get engaged
He would offer his cup filled with wine and if she drank from it, she was saying, I will
merge my life with yours.
Likewise, cups were symbols of God’s will for their lives. Remember even Jesus said: “If it
be your will, let this cup pass from me.”
The Egyptians used the cups for divination in belief that somehow that was the way they
discerned their gods will for their lives.
The cup represented Joseph’s life.
2. The silver cup symbolized what they valued over Joseph’s life
As you will remember the brothers sold Joseph to slavery for 20 pieces of silver. At the
time this was the price of a handicapped slave. Basically, they undervalued Joseph.
Money meant more to them than their brother. It is always a sin to value money over
men.
Therefore, this event symbolized the brothers sin, and now, they had to appraise the value of Joseph’s younger brother.
When they discovered in verse 12 that the silver cup was in Benjamins sack notice how they responded:
Their response was three-fold:
a) They tore their clothes. (vs. 13)
b) They fell on the ground. (vs. 14)
c) They confessed that they were sinners. (vs. 16)
You will notice what they say. They say: “God has found out the iniquity of your servants.”
They did not say, your house steward; they note something different; they note that God had done something. He had uncovered and was holding them responsible for the sin that had been hanging around the family for a long time. Their sin against Joseph had been found out.
The 20-year sin had caught up to them and they had genuine remorse over their sin.
Illustration: A message from the dead
As reported in the Singapore Straits Times, Sept. 22, 1984, Ken McAvoy, a cancer patient with only months to live, found a way to “profit” from death—he began selling a service to deliver messages to dead once he passed on.
For a set fee (variously reported from $20- -$43) he would pledge to look up your deceased loved ones and tell them what was on your mind.
Amazingly, his business took off like wildfire. After people passed he would hunt down the recipient of the message and strangely enough, do you know what the #1 messages were? Messages of sorrow and remorse.
Application:
In these brothers case, God would not let them take their remorse to the grave; he wanted them to experience genuine repentance and through what seemed to be a prank; God brought them face to face with a picture of what they had done; in front of the guy they had done it to; and now they were genuinely remorseful.
Because they were genuinely remorseful; they genuinely repented as they were remorseful and said: “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants...”
Transitional Sentence: What is real repentance?
III. It’s Running to The Forgiver Of Our Sin And Finding Restitution
vs. 33- “Now therefore please let your servant remain instead of the lad, a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.”
Explanation:
Repentance always takes us somewhere: It takes us to Jesus.
As we see the brothers stand in judgment and proclaim their guilt before Joseph; Judah stands up and does something that reminds us of Jesus.
Listen to what he says: “Now therefore please let your servant remain instead of the lad, a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.” Vs. 33
Without knowing it, Judah reflects what God did for us to be forgiven; He stood up and took the place of someone else.
In verse 17 Joseph stood and condemned Benjamin saying: “ The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
Yet, in verses 18-33 we see Judah’s response. He made an appeal to Joseph and Egypt’s throne and then offered himself up in verse 33 as a substitution for his brother saying: “Now therefore please let your servant remain instead of the lad, a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.”
Again, let me remind you, Jesus would come from the line of the tribe of who? Judah!
In foreshadowing fashion, Judah stands offers himself up in the place of his brother and requests that he become the substitution so that he might be bound and his brothers go free.
In doing so, we see where real repentance leads us; it leads us to Jesus. Listen: It leads us to Calvary’s tree. It leads us to our substitution. It leads us to the one who took our place and set us free.
Listen: Real repentance leads us to the righteous substitute for ours sin; it always leads us to Jesus. The substitute that takes our place.
Conclusion: He took my place
During the war between Britain and France, men were drafted into the French army by being drafted through a lottery system.
When someone's name was drawn, he had to go off to battle. There was one exception to this, except one.
You see, one man was called up and stood before the draft board and said: “The name I bear is not my real name.” At first, they thought the man was being untruthful but after checking fingerprints they discovered that the man was telling the truth.
With further investigation they discovered that two years before, this same man had been drafted but a close friend took on his name and went to war in his place and had died in battle. Literally, the man died in his friends place.
This rather unusual case was brought to Napoleon Bonaparte, declared that since another man died in his place; He was set free and the country had no legal claim on that man.
Listen: Judah did something that day to reflect what Jesus would do for you and me. You see; as Isaiah 53 says:
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.”
Real repentance is never complete until it brings us to Jesus; our substitute and salvation. The one who took our place and set us free.
Real repentance is never complete until we take our sin to Calvary where we find forgiveness and restitution.
