Now, let's turn to Genesis, the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 45. Genesis chapter 45. I'll read the entire chapter. Let us hear God's Word. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, Make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed by his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please. And they came near. And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt, and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. 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. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks, your herds and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty. And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept upon his neck, and he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that, his brothers talked with him. When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, Joseph's brothers have come. It pleased Pharaoh and his servants. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, do this. Load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, do this, take wagons from the land of Egypt and your little ones and for your wives and bring your father and come. Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. The sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh and gave them provisions for the journey. To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. To his father he sent as follows, ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. Then he said to his brothers, then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed he said to them, do not quarrel on the way. So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob, and they told him, Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. This ends the reading of God's holy word. Well, this scene should give hope to any family that is a little dysfunctional. It should give hope to any married couple that argues. And it should give hope to any individual that finds it difficult to forgive or be reconciled with someone or struggles with bitterness. What do we see in this scene? We see a divided family reconciled. We see those who deserve justice receiving grace. We see mercy triumphing over judgment. And we see God working in the hearts of His people causing them to persevere in the faith and grow in sanctification. I think usually as Reformed people who love the doctrine of God's sovereignty, rightly so, when we go to this passage, we usually think about how God orchestrated everything in His providence through the horrible acts of Joseph's ten older brothers selling him into slavery all of the trials that he went through in Potiphar's house and then in prison and then ending up incredibly in Pharaoh's house and becoming the second highest in command in the entire world really, the most powerful country on earth at that time. We tend to think of the marvelous way in which God's providence works. Because if that had not all happened, of course, then Jacob's family would not have survived. And if Jacob's family had not survived, then there would be no Christ. And if there was no Christ, we would have no salvation. And those are good things for us to think about. But there's more going on here in this text. This is also the story of how God restored and renewed a deeply broken relationship in a family. And that should fill our hearts with hope this morning. Because the fact is, as we look at the holy family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, they tend to look a lot like us. They're ordinary sinners with ordinary problems, and they often failed and sometimes felt the unpleasant consequences of their sin. And yet, like us, they were redeemed and justified by faith alone because of the Messiah alone. And like us, their faith did not always appear bright and resplendent. And yet, because of God's grace, it was an enduring faith, a continuing faith. And God's grace was at work. And so this morning for our reflection on the Lord's Day and this morning, we want to think about how the same God who restored and renewed Jacob's broken family can also restore and renew us and bring peace to our broken relationships and reconciliation between us and others. And so I want you to consider with me this morning, first of all, what the brothers deserved. Secondly, what the brothers received. And finally, how the brothers responded. First of all, what the brothers deserved. Well, you know the story. The brothers have been going back and forth between Canaan and Egypt. And they've been having these encounters with Joseph, but they don't know it's Joseph. They only see this powerful Egyptian ruler who's speaking to them, Not in their native tongue, but in the Egyptian language. And there's all of these problems, of course. He's going to keep Benjamin there, and they're worried. And Judah, one of the brothers, offers himself to be a substitute for Benjamin's life. And so finally, Joseph, who it seems for several chapters in the story, wasn't so ready to forgive these guys. I mean, after all, they wanted to kill him. They beat him up, throw him down a pit, sell him into slavery, and you know the story. It was awful. Years have gone by. He's got a whole new life, a whole new family, a completely different identity practically. And now he sees his brothers, and he's not just ready to forgive them. He tests them several times. But finally, he reveals his true identity here in this passage. And by God's grace, he's moved to treat his brothers with mercy. And he says to them, in his mother tongue, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? But notice the reaction of the brothers in verse 3. You know, seeing family that you haven't seen for so long is a wonderful thing. You know, I say the hardest thing about being a missionary on the foreign field is that we don't get to see the rest of our family very often. Tomorrow I get to see both of my daughters, my son and my granddaughter, whom I haven't seen for a year. I can't wait. It's a wonderful thing to see family that you haven't seen in a while. These guys haven't seen their brother in years. And when he reveals who he is, they're not saying, oh, Joseph, and lots of hugs right away. They're terrified. They're dismayed. Why? Because they know what they deserve. they deserve justice. They deserve judgment. They deserve to be punished for their crimes. Like our first parents, Adam and Eve, who hid from the Lord after sinning, Joseph's brothers felt the weight of their guilt and the fear of punishment. They realized that Joseph had the right to judge them for their crimes, and he had the power to punish them severely. They deserved to justice, and they knew it. Now, justice, as we know, is not a bad thing. Justice is an important thing. We can't live in a world without justice. Imagine a world where there was no justice. Imagine if crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking were never punished. Imagine if in any school, a student never received the grade that he earned. Imagine if you had never been paid for the work that you had done. Justice is fundamental for human life, fundamental for society. We expect to get what we deserve. That's just hardwired into our nature. We want to receive what we deserve for our effort. It's a fundamental principle of the law that we understand that's been written on our hearts since creation. And it also means that when somebody does harm to us, as the brothers did to Joseph, when someone hurts you, when someone crosses you, when somebody does wrong to you, well, you naturally want justice. you naturally want to say that's wrong. It's normal to us as human beings. That's why you don't have to teach a child, whether it's in America or in Italy or in any country, you don't have to teach them how to say things like, that's mine. Give it back. I was there. Stop it. That's not fair. I never taught my kids how to say those things, and yet somehow they knew how to say those things. It's hardwired in the heart. And so the child knows these things. We all know these things. Created in the image of God, we have an innate sense of justice. The difference between what is right and what is wrong. And as human beings, we understand it because it's intuitive. We're not surprised by justice. We expect justice and we want justice except when we are the objects of that justice. Suddenly, we don't want justice. You know the feeling. Well, maybe you don't. I did. When you look in the rearview mirror and you see red and blue. That happened to me maybe two times in the course of 30 years here in San Diego. Oh, no. pull over. Me, over the speed limit, police officer comes to the door. If you've never had this experience, it's wonderful, let me tell you. Truth is, in Santee, it happened to me one Sunday morning on the way to church. I forgot. My sermon didn't print out. I had to go back home and get my laptop, and I was going a little fast to make the call to worship, and the police officer pulls me over, and right there by where everybody's getting off the 52 freeway, the congregation sees the, you know, Pastor Brown there stopped by the police. It's great for one's humility. And you know the feeling. Well, I exceeded the speed limit. This means, you know, probably an increase on my insurance. It's going to be an enormous ticket here in California. All of that's the shame and the, you know, the jokes that you have to put up with from your kids and that kind of thing. And you deserve justice. And I explained to the police officer that morning, well, you know, I'm actually the pastor of the church right down here, and I know I was speeding. I normally don't drive that fast, and I'm late for church. And okay, yeah, okay. He goes back and checks, and he comes back, and he holds my license, and he says, this is a true story. What's the last word in the Bible? And I said, he goes, come on now, you're supposed to be a pastor. What's the last word in the Bible. And I said, amen. And he handed me my license. He said, slow it down, Pastor Brown. So what did I receive there? I didn't receive justice. I received mercy. Mercy is not getting what you rightly deserve. That's the definition of mercy. Now, grace goes one step further. Grace is getting something good that you didn't deserve. So if the police officer at that point said, you know, not only do you deserve all this, I'm going to let you off, but here, here's $500, take your family out, and I'll pay your insurance for the next year on your car. That would be weird, right? But that's how grace is. grace is a little weird and this brings us to the second point what the brothers received because you see when it comes to what we deserve we love justice except when it's on us then we want mercy oh please please please mercy and it's normal then suddenly we sometimes bring excuses self-justification as i did that day i'm the pastor of the church. I normally don't drive that fast. We try to justify ourselves because we fail to see our guilt or we just want to get out of the situation. And this is what happened with the brothers, although they know they're so dead to rights and they're wrong that they're just stunned. In the ancient world, they could be executed, tortured, without a doubt. They were terrified. and yet what did they receive look at verse 4 joseph says to his brothers come near me please come near me please they're wonderful words of tenderness because he he had the right to bring down the hammer of justice but instead he showed mercy and we would have understood well if joseph had been angry with his brothers if he had said do you have any idea of the things i have gone through in my life do you know what you did to me do you know the suffering that i haven't seen my father i haven't seen my younger brother i've never met do you understand what i went through the accusations You guys are liars. You're violent. You'll pay dearly for what you've done. Sound familiar? That's the kind of anger we hear every day in our society. And it's the kind of anger that dwells in our own hearts. Angry about things not being just. And Joseph, at this moment, by the grace of God, did not judge his brothers on the contrary he showed mercy and grace mercy they didn't get the judgment they deserved and grace gives them the best part of the land Goshen you you will have want of nothing they didn't deserve that it seems too good to be true it's shocking a little strange, and yet that's how grace works. Grace means receiving a good gift that I don't deserve. And this is what the brothers received from Joseph. He could see that his brothers were broken reeds or bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. And Joseph eases their fear and sadness and announces good news. God sent me here before you to preserve a remnant of you. So that he would be preserved on earth. And of course there's more to the story as we know. That it would be the Christ who comes through these twelve tribes. Because they were preserved in that famine. That's why we love that story. It highlights the sovereignty of God and highlights His providence. It sounded too good to be true but that's how grace works. And that's why the Apostle Paul says that the preaching of the cross is madness. It's foolishness. to so many. It seems absurd that God Himself would come into the world and suffer for the crimes of other people. We understand if God gives us what we deserve. And of course, man's problem so often is that we think we deserve much better. And the truth is God treats us far better than we deserve. It seems illogical for God to forgive our sins, to reconcile us to Himself, and to give us eternal life. But that's how grace works. Grace is counterintuitive. It means receiving a good gift that I didn't merit. I'm in a demerited position when God gives me this. And often in our relationships with other people, loved ones. We do have the opportunity to show mercy and grace instead of judgment. So often there are choices. And the question for us this morning is, what would I have done if I had been in Joseph's place? What would you have done. I think apart from the grace of God, I would have given those guys a lot more trouble than Joseph did. I'd be angry. Would you have punished them or would you have pursued peace and reconciliation. And then the next question is, what does God want us to do? What does He call us to do? Of course, there's a place for discipline in the church when a member is unrepentant, but that's a completely different matter because in that case, we're not the judges, God's Word is. As for our broken relationships, however, and we experience them in this life, don't we? There's always a choice. Pursue peace and reconciliation or not. And God wants us to seek peace and pursue it. And by the grace of God, this is what Joseph did, even if it wasn't easy at first. And that brings us to the third thing, the last thing, the way the brothers responded, the broken relationship of this family began to be restored. We read in verse 15 that he kissed all his brothers weeping. And I know young men, you might think, I don't want to kiss my brother. Well, in that part of the world, they still kiss. Men kiss on the cheek. In fact, just now, after all this time in COVID, we're finally getting back to the way things were in Italy. In Italy, when you go to church, you give a kiss on the cheek to everyone. That's how you shake hands. So, greet each other with a holy kiss is not metaphorical. They still do that in the Mediterranean and those parts of the world. And here, that meant reconciliation. Reconciliation. After this, his brothers began to talk with him. They had a lot of catching up to do. Not because of judgment, but because of grace, shalom in this family was possible again. And since forgiveness had been granted, there was no place for retaliation or bitterness. That would be out of place. Notice the imperative of Joseph to his brothers in verse 24. Then he sent his brothers away and as they departed he said to them do not quarrel on the way. Don't quarrel on the way. Because he knows what they're going to do. See I told you it was your idea. No, he said and that's what we do. But there was no place for that because forgiveness had been granted. The brothers were not to blame each other for what had happened. If Joseph had forgiven them then how much more should they forgive each other? And the same goes for us, loved ones. The story is here for us. Since God has forgiven us, how can we not forgive one another? It's on the basis of the gospel that we can forgive. Because like Joseph's brothers, we too need forgiveness. We too need grace and mercy. And this is what we've received in Christ. While we were enemies, God reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son. All the more now that we are reconciled, we will be saved through His life, Paul says in Romans 5. Christ underwent the judgment of God in our place so that we could be reconciled with the Father and with one another. Like Joseph, Jesus was also abandoned by His own. Like Joseph, Jesus was also abused. Like Joseph, Jesus also suffered. And yet how much more He took the blame of others, the guilt of us, His people, and was punished in our place for our sins. And our reconciliation now with God that we've received through Christ, our elder brother, means that we also have reconciliation with others, that that is possible. It's not only vertical, but also horizontal. Because without Christ, there's no peace with God, and there's no peace between man and man. Without Christ, well, we could not even know our brother or approach him. We get in the way. We block the path. But now, because of Christ, Christians can live in peace among themselves. And as we are traveling to Canaan, to the new heavens and new earth, in this pilgrimage, in this life, Well, in one sense, our older brother, Jesus, says, do not quarrel on the way. Like Joseph, he says, come to me, please. Come to me, all you who are heavy laden or tired, who are weighed down with guilt. I will give you rest. I'll give you the best in the land, the new heavens and the new earth. Now love one another as you travel on the path to heaven. And he tells us, as we heard earlier in Ephesians chapter 4, it's so fitting with our text. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. As the Word ministers to us this morning, loved ones, it's good for us to ask if there is someone in our lives at this moment with whom we need to be reconciled. Someone with whom we are in conflict, a brother or sister whom we need to forgive, seek peace, pursue peace and reconciliation. It is possible because of our elder brother, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins and loves us even now and even to the end. Look to Him. Christ made peace with God for us, and He is our peace with others. Amen. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank You for the gospel and for the peace and reconciliation and forgiveness that we have received so fully because of You, because of Your Son, because of what You have done for us through Him, Jesus, our Savior, our prophet, priest, and king, and our elder brother. O Lord, we pray that You would soften our hearts and work in us in such a way that we who have been forgiven would be quick to forgive, and we who have received grace would be quick to show mercy. Help us, O Lord, we pray, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.