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We Be True Men: When God Brings a 22-Year-Old Sin Into the Light (Genesis 37-45) · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  Jim: Podcast Title:“We Be True Men: When God Brings a 22-Year-Old Sin Into the Light.” Have you ever noticed how easy it is for us to say something about ourselves that may be technically sincere—and yet God knows there is something much deeper underneath that has never really been faced?
• 0:16
  Jim: That is exactly what happens in one of the most remarkable restoration stories in Scripture.
• 0:21
  Jim: Joseph’s brothers stand before him after more than twenty years of silence concerning what they had done to him.
• 0:27
  Jim: They do not recognize Joseph.
• 0:29
  Jim: But Joseph recognizes them.
• 0:31
  Jim: And then they make this extraordinary statement in Genesis 42:11:“We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.”“We be true men.” But were they?
• 0:41
  Jim: That becomes the great moral question running through these chapters.
• 0:45
  Jim: Because approximately twenty-two years earlier, these same men had sold their brother into slavery, deceived their father, allowed him to believe Joseph was dead, and then apparently went on with their lives.
• 0:57
  Jim: And now God brings them face-to-face with Joseph again.
• 1:00
  Jim: They do not know it is Joseph.
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  Jim: But God knows.
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  Jim: And Joseph knows.
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  Jim: Go back 22 years earlier when Joseph was seventeen years old.
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  Jim: His brothers hated him.
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  Jim: Their hatred grew until they saw him coming toward them one day and began plotting against him.
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  Jim: And now we read in Genesis 37:20:“Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit.” Eventually, they did not kill Joseph.
• 1:22
  Jim: Instead, Judah proposed another course.
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  Jim: In the 26th verse we continuee:“What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
• 1:30
  Jim: Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites.” And that is what they did.
• 1:34
  Jim: Joseph was sold.
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  Jim: Then they took his coat, dipped it in blood, and allowed Jacob to reach the conclusion they wanted him to reach—that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
• 1:44
  Jim: They lived with that deception for years.
• 1:46
  Jim: Joseph was seventeen when he was sold.
• 1:48
  Jim: He was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh.
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  Jim: Then came seven years of plenty.
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  Jim: And by the time Joseph finally revealed himself, the famine had been going for two years.
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  Jim: Joseph was about thirty-nine.
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  Jim: That means approximately twenty-two years had passed since Joseph had been sold.
• 2:03
  Jim: Twenty-two years.
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  Jim: But time had not erased what happened.
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  Jim: And time had not turned an unjudged wrong into a judged wrong.
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  Jim: Now the brothers arrive in Egypt looking for food.
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  Jim: Joseph recognizes them immediately.
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  Jim: They bow before him—the very thing Joseph had dreamed about as a young man.
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  Jim: But Joseph does not immediately reveal himself.
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  Jim: Instead, he says that they are spies.
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  Jim: And their answer is fascinating in Genesis 42:11:“We are true men.” They are essentially saying,“We are honest men.
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  Jim: We are trustworthy men.
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  Jim: We are men of integrity.” Yet they are saying this directly to the very brother whom they betrayed.
• 2:36
  Jim: Joseph does something very important.
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  Jim: He does not argue with their claim.
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  Jim: He tests it as we see in verse 15:“Hereby ye shall be proved.” That statement is powerful.
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  Jim: You say you are true men?
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  Jim: Then you will be proved.
• 2:49
  Jim: Joseph begins bringing circumstances into their lives that will reveal what is actually inside them.
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  Jim: And this is often how God works with conscience.
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  Jim: We may say what we believe ourselves to be.
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  Jim: But sometimes God permits circumstances that reveal what we actually are.
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  Jim: Joseph places them in confinement for three days.
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  Jim: Then the brothers begin talking among themselves.
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  Jim: Joseph is standing nearby.
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  Jim: They believe he cannot understand them because he has been speaking through an interpreter.
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  Jim: Then suddenly the past comes pouring out.
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  Jim: We read in the 42nd chapter and in verse 21:“We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear.” Notice the tremendous change.
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  Jim: First:“We are true men.” Now:“We are verily guilty.” For more than twenty years, the language had apparently not been spoken.
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  Jim: But now they remember something very specific.
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  Jim: They remember Joseph’s face.
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  Jim: They remember his anguish.
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  Jim: They remember him begging them.
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  Jim: And they remember that they refused to listen.
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  Jim: The conscience remembers details that time cannot erase.
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  Jim: Reuben adds another statement.
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  Jim: And in verse 22:“Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear?” And then he says:“Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.” They are beginning to see that what is happening to them may be connected with what they did to Joseph.
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  Jim: And then something beautiful happens.
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  Jim: Joseph hears everything and in verse 24 it says:“And he turned himself about from them, and wept.” Joseph weeps.
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  Jim: Why?
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  Jim: Because Joseph was not trying to destroy them.
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  Jim: He was trying to reach them.
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  Jim: He was hearing the first evidence that conscience was awakening.
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  Jim: The men who had once ignored his cries were finally remembering his cries.
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  Jim: And Joseph turns away and weeps.
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  Jim: But the work is not finished yet.
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  Jim: Later Benjamin comes to Egypt.
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  Jim: Joseph sees his younger brother, and once again his emotions overwhelm him.
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  Jim: In verse 30 we read:“And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.” Again, Joseph hides his tears.
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  Jim: There is love there.
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  Jim: There is longing there.
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  Jim: But restoration is not complete.
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  Jim: Then comes the great test involving Benjamin.
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  Jim: Joseph arranges circumstances so Benjamin appears guilty of stealing Joseph’s silver cup.
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  Jim: The brothers could easily have abandoned Benjamin exactly as they had abandoned Joseph years earlier.
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  Jim: Would they do it again?
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  Jim: That is the test.
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  Jim: And now Judah speaks in chapter 44, verse 16“God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” That is an extraordinary statement.
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  Jim: The immediate accusation concerned a cup.
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  Jim: But Judah seems to recognize something much larger.
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  Jim: God has found us out.
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  Jim: The buried past has come into the light.
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  Jim: And then Judah demonstrates that something has truly changed.
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  Jim: Years earlier Judah had said, in effect: Sell Joseph.
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  Jim: Now Judah says concerning Benjamin: Take me.
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  Jim: Genesis 44:33:“Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.” This is more than words.
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  Jim: This is evidence of repentance.
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  Jim: The man who once allowed one brother to become a slave now offers himself to become a slave so another brother can go free.
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  Jim: That is when Joseph can contain himself no longer.
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  Jim: As we come to Genesis 45:1, we read:“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him.” Joseph sends everyone else out.
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  Jim: And then:“And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.” Earlier Joseph had turned away to weep.
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  Jim: Later he had gone into a private chamber to weep.
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  Jim: But now he weeps openly.
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  Jim: Why?
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  Jim: Because the work has reached its goal.
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  Jim: The purpose was not punishment.
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  Jim: The purpose was restoration.
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  Jim: And Joseph finally says the words his brothers could never have expected in verse 3:“I am Joseph.” Imagine that moment.
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  Jim: Twenty-two years collapse into one sentence.
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  Jim: “I am Joseph.” The brother they had betrayed is alive.
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  Jim: The brother they had sold now holds their lives in his hands.
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  Jim: And yet Joseph draws them near and in verse 4:“Come near to me, I pray you.” That is restoration.
• 6:37
  Jim: There is a remarkable progression here.
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  Jim: First:“We are true men.” Then:“We are verily guilty.” Then:“God hath found out the iniquity.” Then Judah says:“Take me instead.” And only then does Joseph openly reveal himself.
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  Jim: The lesson is searching.
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  Jim: Truthfulness is not established merely because we say,“I am a true man.” Time does not establish it.
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  Jim: Reputation does not establish it.
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  Jim: Repeated assertion does not establish it.
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  Jim: The real question is what happens when God brings us back to the place where our heart is tested again.
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  Jim: Will we act differently?
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  Jim: That is what happened with Judah.
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  Jim: Twenty-two years earlier:“Sell him.” Twenty-two years later:“Take me.” That is change.
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  Jim: That is fruit.
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  Jim: That is repentance demonstrated in conduct.
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  Jim: And notice the heart waiting on the other side of repentance.
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  Jim: Joseph was weeping.
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  Jim: He had been weeping before they even knew who he was.
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  Jim: The tears show us something important.
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  Jim: The one bringing their conscience into the light was not seeking their destruction.
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  Jim: He longed for restoration.
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  Jim: And perhaps that is the great message of this story.
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  Jim: Sometimes God allows many years to pass before an old matter comes back into view.
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  Jim: That delay does not mean God forgot it.
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  Jim: It may mean God has been preparing the circumstances, preparing other people, and preparing our conscience until the matter can finally be faced in truth.
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  Jim: And when it is faced in truth, restoration can begin.
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  Jim: We see David in Psalm 51:6:“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” That is where God was taking Joseph’s brothers.
• 8:02
  Jim: Not merely to the statement:“We be true men.” But to truth in the inward parts.
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  Jim: Then next we have:“We are guilty.” Lastly we hear:“God hath found out the iniquity.” And ultimately to a changed heart demonstrated by changed behavior.
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  Jim: And when that happened, Joseph wept openly, drew them near, kissed his brothers, and fellowship was restored.
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  Jim: The question for us is not merely:“Do I believe myself to be a true man?” The deeper question is:“If God brought the matter into His light, would I be willing to let Him prove it?” We wrap up this podcast with this verse in the 139th psalm pleading with the Lord God"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."