THE STIRRING OF THE GUILTY CONSCIENCE
Gen. 42:21
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. There are always two ways to look at something.
2. A young boy, Jayden, came into the house covered with mud after finishing a rough day of play. "Mom," he shouted at the top of his voice, "if I fell out of a tree, would you rather I broke a leg or tore my pants?"
3. "That’s a silly question," his mom answered from the next room. "I'd rather you tore your pants!"
4. "Well, I've got good news for you then," Jayden said triumphantly. "That's exactly what happened!" Likewise, God has good news for you today!
B. IDEA
1. Today we’re looking at how easy it is to look the other way when we sin and to justify what we do. We’re looking at the story of Joseph’s brothers and how God brought them to repentance.
2. A little background. Joseph’s brothers hated him, said they would kill him, and sold him as a slave into Egypt. Gen. 37:19, “Here comes the dreamer!...Come, let’s kill him & throw him into one of these cisterns...” “[They] sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver...” (37:28).
3. Eventually God raised Joseph up to be second-in-command over all Egypt because he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams of a coming worldwide famine. God used this famine and the hunger it caused to stir the consciences of Joseph’s brothers that they’d - for years - attempted to stifle.
4. Probably God had dealt with each brother numerous times, convicting them. The old memories had pushed up to the surface of their consciences only to be squelched and pushed down again.
5. So today we’re looking at “The Stirring of a Guilty Conscience.”
I. THE TROUBLE WITH UNRESOLVED SIN
A. INSENSITIVITY TO SIN
1. It’s possible to be insensitive to sin. A 4 year-old girl in London held up her broken wrist and said, “Look mommy! My hand is bent the wrong way!” She felt no pain. Doctors discovered she also had a fractured thigh, but felt no pain. Now she’s 14 and though careful, still finds blisters and burns.
2. Why? She has a medical condition where she can’t feel pain! There’s another more deadly insensitivity – insensitivity to sin! The Bible says, “Having their consciences seared as with a hot iron” 1 Tim. 4:2. [Walter Knight’s Treasury of Illus., p. 363]
3. Joseph’s brothers let jealousy of him become hate. We’ve got to get hate out – to put it under the Blood – or it may drive us to darker sins. Jesus equated anger with murder (Mt. 5:21-22).
B. ILLUS.: LETTING HATE LINGER
1. Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of the United States. He was orphaned at age 14 because of the horrors of the Revolutionary War. He was popular, but was uneducated and had a violent temper.
2. One thing Jackson was really good at, however, was hating. He hated the British for killing his family. He hated the Indians for the massacres he’d seen. He hated his political & personal enemies. He was divorced, and his enemies tried to use his former wife in attacking him. He fought several duels over her.
3. Yet Jackson became a popular hero at the battle of New Orleans only losing 8 men while the enemy lost 700 dead & had 1400 wounded.
4. Wonderfully, later in life he encountered Jesus Christ, was baptized, and joined the church. The remainder of his life he spent studying the Bible & letting Christ change him. But he said that his toughest battle was forgiving his enemies. [GLEN PEASE]
C. UNCONFESSED SINS ARE NOT “GONE”
1. If we have unresolved sin, it’s never far below the surface. It seems like someone is always bringing up the problem we have. Friends bring up cheating or lying or dishonoring parents or being untruthful with an employer, or looking at the wrong stuff on the internet. And all of a sudden our conscience is pricked and our hidden, forgotten sins bubble up to the surface. What happened in private suddenly feels very public.
2. God brought about that 7-year famine with one purpose in mind: to bring all the world to Joseph. Joseph is a type of Christ. Since the original sin in the Garden of Eden, God is drawing all mankind to His one solution for sin: Jesus Christ! He alone has the answer! Jesus is the Bread of Life! If you want Bread, you have to come to Jesus!
II. THE TESTING OF THE BROTHERS
A. THE BROTHER’S SHOCKING RECEPTION. When Joseph saw his brothers, he decided to test them to see if their character had changed.
1. His brothers didn’t recognize Joseph because he dressed like an Egyptian and spoke to them through an interpreter. He was the dread Lord Zaphenath-Paneah (41:45), with absolute power over all Egypt. All bowed before him. He had on Pharaoh’s gold chain and ring of authority. He was married into one the wealthiest families in Egypt. He held the power of life and death.
2. He accused them: “You are spies!” He had them arrested and put in prison 3 days. These brothers had been living in deception and denial. They thought that Joseph was dead. But God used these circumstances to dredge up their past and make them face their unresolved sins.
3. Are you noticing a famine in your own life? Is God putting you on the hot-seat – forcing to face something you need to deal with?
B. BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT
1. ILLUS. Police had no trouble at all tracking down the burglar who ransacked a house in Pelham, New Hampshire. The burglar came by car and, in backing out of the driveway, rammed into a snowbank. The license plate left a perfect imprint in the snow. [Paul Tan, Encyclo. Of 7,700 Illus., #5731]
2. Joseph’s brothers said to him (Vs. 11), “We are honest men.” Not true! They WEREN’T honest men - they were liars. They’d sold their brother, deceived their father (with goat’s blood on Joseph’s coat), and they were living a lie.
3. We have the tendency to think we can get away with ‘it,’ to live on a level of personal denial or personal deception. It’s easy to even become comfortable with a checkered past because our conscience has become calloused. So God brings some trouble to throw our lives off track to get our attention.
C. HOW AWAKENING CAN COME
1. Once Joseph started upsetting their world, the brother’s minds immediately went to the one thing that stood between them and God. God wouldn’t allow their self-proclaimed innocence to stand unchallenged.
2. We may proclaim how good we are, but God will have none of it. As a result of the Holy Spirit’s conviction, Joseph’s brothers changed their tune. They ended up saying, “We are VERY GUILTY concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he [pleaded with] us, and we would not hear” Gen. 42:21, ASV.
D. JOSEPH’S FINAL ROUND OF TESTING
1. Joseph still questioned: “Have my brothers changed?” “Are they still wicked?” “Would they sacrifice themselves to do right?” To answer these, Joseph kept his brother Simeon in Egypt (Gen. 42:24) until the 9 brothers brought his full brother Benjamin.
2. Then Joseph had Benjamin seized for a fake crime and declared he would make him his slave (44:12-17). His brothers said that they would not leave Benjamin. They’d rather they were all slaves. Judah begged to be a slave in place of Benjamin (44:33) [significant because it was Judah who suggested they sell Joseph, Gen. 37:26-27]. They declared, “God has uncovered your servant’s guilt (44:16).” What an admission!
3. Joseph felt the time was ripe to reveal himself to his brothers. Are you ready for a revelation of the mercy of Jesus?
III. JOSEPH: A TYPE OF CHRIST
A. WAYS JOSEPH IS LIKE JESUS
1. Unique Son, destined to rule
2. Hated by his brethren, betrayed & sold
3. Thought dead, yet He lived
4. Exalted to the Throne
5. His enemies will bow at His feet
6. He became the instrument of salvation and deliverance for all his people
B. FORGIVENESS IS COSTLY
1. God is holy, morally perfect. He will destroy all wickedness. If we have sin, that would include us! But thankfully, GOD is forgiving. ALLAH isn’t forgiving of serious wrongdoing (Quran 4:17-18; 29-31; 93; 116-117; etc.). HINDUISM says if you do wrong, you must reap its consequences (Karma); BUDDHISM says the same. BUT JEHOVAH, the TRUE GOD, IS FORGIVING!
2. What is the basis of Jehovah’s forgiveness? Sin can’t be overlooked; it must be paid for by a death/ a sacrifice. Justice must be satisfied. That’s what Jesus did! He took our place on the Cross and was crucified for our sins (John 3:16).
3. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.... and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” 1 John 1:9,7.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: EFFECTS OF BITTERNESS
1. A rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is—a biting of oneself. We think that we’re harming others in holding onto spite and hate, but the greatest harm is to ourselves. [E. Stanley Jones, Reader’s Digest, December 1981]
2. “Carry Out the Garbage.” A wise old sage advised a young couple who’d just gotten married, “If you don’t carry out the garbage, one day your house will become a dump.” [Charlie Shedd, Homemade, Vol. 10, No. 11.] How true! Get rid of your garbage!
3. Forgiveness doesn’t mean “it didn’t really matter;” obviously, it did! Forgiveness means making a conscious choice – a decision of the will – to set the offense aside so that it doesn’t become a barrier between you and God. That’s what Joseph did, AND GOD DID!
B. ILLUSTRATION: Luther’s Dream
1. In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther's sins, and held it before him. He began to read his sins aloud.
2. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, "Is that all?" "No," came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But eventually, the devil had no more.
3. "You've forgotten something," Luther exclaimed triumphantly. "Quickly write on each of them, 'The blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sins.'" [K. Koch, Occult Bondage & Deliverance, p. 10]
C. THE CALL
1. Let’s go to God and ask Him for forgiveness for our sins.
2. If GOD can forgive you, then you have permission to FORGIVE YOURSELF! If God throws your sins into the sea of forgetfulness and remembers them no more, can’t you also forget them? Let them go! Release them. Be at peace, once you’ve repented and confessed!
3. Prayer.
[This is a rewrite of Jeff Redlin’s message of the same name.]
