Work too well when you're not playing in the same key. Alright. Thank you, Ivan. Take your Bibles if you would. Turn to Genesis 42.

Genesis 42 this morning. Last week, we took a break from our series on Joseph to specifically emphasize the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ and the good news of the gospel. Jesus Christ came. He died on the cross for our sins according to scriptures. He was buried.

He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And all who believe and put their faith and trust in the risen Lord will be forgiven of our sins and receive the gift of everlasting life. That is the good news. That is indeed the gospel. We are sinners who need a savior.

Well, we have a savior. Jesus Christ the righteous who came and he took our punishment for us so that we might be forgiven if we will put our faith in him. And it was such a joy yesterday to focus on that and in the evening service as well. But this morning, we're gonna get back to the life of Joseph, a life that parallels in some respects the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I do not think it is coincidence that there are several things about Joseph that do seem to parallel the story of our savior in the New Testament.

He was rejected by his family, by his own as was our savior. He came unto his own and his own what? Received him not. He he suffered. Joseph suffered false accusations.

He suffered as a slave. He suffered as a prisoner due to just simply doing that which was right. Our savior certainly suffered not for his own sins, but for whose sins? But for our sins. You know?

And it was all part of God's perfect plan. It was part of God's perfect plan for Joseph's family that they would need him in Egypt with power, having collected food during seven years of good, that they might have food to eat during the seven years of famine along with many others as well. God had a plan for Joseph. He indicated that in his dreams when he was a youth, when he had dreams about the sheaves bowing down to him. His brothers brothers didn't like that too much.

You know, I can kinda understand they didn't like that too much, but that doesn't justify their hatred. It doesn't justify their malice. It doesn't justify them considering leaving him for dead and then selling him as a slave to Egypt. And yet, we'll see at the end of the message this morning, and yet Joseph forgave them. And yet Joseph had a completely different mindset.

Not one of a vengeance, but one of mercy and of grace. And indeed our savior came on a mission of mercy and grace to redeem those who had rebelled against him, to die for their sins and offer them salvation in him. So let's look if we would in chapter 42 to begin this morning, and we're gonna read beginning in verse one. Now Joseph is on the throne in Egypt. He is only second to Pharaoh.

He has been through the slavery. He has been through the prison. And now by God's grace and according to God's plan, which I'm I'm it doesn't seem God told him entirely ahead of time. He just had to what? Trust in the Lord.

And we need to do the same. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. He will direct you.

Our our prerogative, our privilege, our joy is to trust in the Lord who knows and sees everything when we can't. And to trust him whether on the mountain or in the what? Or in the valley. Now, right now, Joseph is back up on the mountain. But his brothers, they are what?

They are in the valley. Okay? They are in the valley. So look if you would in chapter 42 verse one. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do ye look up one upon another?

And he said, behold, I have heard there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and buy for us from thence that we may live and not die. And Joseph's 10 brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob, sent not with his brethren, for he said, lest peradventure mischief shall befall him. And the sons of Israel, same as Jacob, came to buy corn among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him whether their with their faces to the earth. This kind of is the fulfillment of that that dream he had earlier that his brothers didn't like except they didn't know that that it was him. So and there they were bowing down to him just like God had said. We'll come back to that in a minute.

Verse seven. Joseph saw his brethren, he knew them, but he made himself strange unto them and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, whence come ye? And they said from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them and said unto them, ye are spies to see the nakedness of the land here come. And they said unto him, name my Lord, but buy food but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men, thy servants and no spies. And he said unto them, nay, but see the nakedness to see the nakedness of the land are ye come.

Let's stop there for a moment. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you once again for your word this morning. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for the reminder as we go through your word today of that grace and mercy of that you are a trustworthy and faithful God and that you sent your son down to this Earth to provide a way that we might be saved and we might be redeemed as you sent Joseph to Egypt, Lord, that his brothers and family might be saved from the famine.

Lord, your plan of redemption is all through your word, and we thank you for it. And the reminder in this story today of all that you have done for us and all that you will do in Jesus' name. Amen. So first of all, we see the need. We see the need of Joseph's brothers and his family.

The famine of which Joseph foretold in interpreting Pharaoh's dreams hit not only Egypt hard, but also the surrounding area of the world. Canaan, in the basic area today of which Israel is, It's just a little bit north of Egypt along the coastline there, and they were suffering from a seven year drought or famine seemingly just as bad as Egypt was. And so now they, after a year or two, they had run out of what? They had run out of food. No water?

Maybe you can drill down and get water out of the earth enough to sustain enough to to drink, but you're not going to irrigate your crops after it hasn't rained for a couple years. We're in a little bit of a drought here. It's not that bad, but, you know, it doesn't take too long, and they start putting water restrictions out. You know, don't want you washing your car, don't want you doing this, don't want you doing that. Because water is very, very, very, very precious.

And particularly for an agricultural society that determines on being able to grow food in the season from the area in order to sustain themselves. Today, we can get food, you know, from the other side of the world. They couldn't do that then. If they couldn't grow it within a few miles of where they live, well, they were in trouble. Okay?

And this is this is the condition that Jacob and his family find themselves in along with many, many others. Well, this caused Jacob to send his sons, 10 of them, including Benjamin, Joseph's full younger brother, to Egypt to buy food, having heard that they had plenty to sell. So why did God tell why did God let all this come about with Joseph? Where we're told in God's word, it says this, and we know that all things, what, work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, was Joseph being sold as a slave good?

Was that good? Would you call that good? Well, was Jesus was Joseph being falsely accused and thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit for years? Was that good? No.

We wouldn't call that good. If that happened to you, you wouldn't say, oh, wonderful, man. I got thrown in jail for something I didn't do. This is good. No.

You wouldn't call that good. You would call that bad. We would likely complain a little bit. We would likely say this isn't fair because it isn't fair and it wasn't good. But that verse does not say all things are good.

We live in a sin cursed world. A lot of things are not good. But for the child of God who is on the throne and has a plan for your life and mine, all things can work together for what? For our good. Those who are the called according to God's purpose.

You know, you you take that stuff and you throw it in the thing and you mix it up to bake a cake. And I don't know if you've tried to eat baking soda, but it's not the most pleasant thing in the world. It isn't particularly what? Good. But you know, you mix all that up together and you make a cake and boy, it tastes what?

It tastes wonderful. And so is our life. There are many things that God allows in our life that may not be good. There are some things that we choose in our life that are definitely not good. But for the child of God, if we will trust in him, he will work all things together for our what?

Our good. Just we need to trust in him. And that's what God was doing in Joseph's life. No. Being in jail wasn't good.

Being a slave wasn't good. But, you know, God hadn't forgotten Joseph and he hasn't forgotten you. And those things that even we view as bad, God is working them together for our benefit for our benefit. It says in James one two, it says, to count all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your I think I'm jumping ahead in my in my slides here. There he goes.

My brethren, count all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh what? Worketh patience. In other words, God is trying to grow and mature you and sometimes he allows some bad things to happen for your what? For your good. And certainly, all of this that we've read about in the life of Joseph, it wasn't good, but boy, it did turn out for the good of Joseph and his family because Joseph just kept trusting in who?

He just kept trusting in the Lord. He didn't give up. He didn't give in. He didn't become despondent and depressed. He just simply kept trusting in the Lord.

And God's timing is always perfect. So why did God let this come abound with Joseph to preserve his family who will become the nation of Israel? Because Joseph was in Egypt with all the food, there was food for his family when they came. Why did God allow this? For the glory of God and the reward of Joseph.

Why did God allow this? Because I think we can learn something from it. So it not only benefits Joseph, but it benefits his family. It benefited Egypt. And guess who else it benefits?

It benefits us today. You know, and some things that happen to us may not seem to have a great benefit for us, but you know something? God is using you to have an impact on others. Just trust him. It will work together for what?

It will work together for good. So his brothers came to him to buy food. And although he recognized them, they had no clue who he was. I mean, can can you imagine? I mean, he was just a teenager when they sold him into slavery, and now he's sitting on a throne with, you know, robes and crowns and who knows what on him.

And, of course, they didn't recognize him. He remembered the dreams God had given him as a young man as his brothers unknowingly bowed before him. They went way out of their way to keep that dream from coming true, and guess what? It still came true. It still came true.

In Acts chapter five and verse 39, Gamaliel said, but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily you found even to fight against God. The Sanhedrin was trying to decide what to do with the disciples who were going around telling people that Jesus had risen from the dead and they didn't like that. So they said, what are we going to do with these people? They told them to quit, and they just keep telling people that Jesus rose from the dead and can save them. And Gamaliel stood up and he said, you know, if it's not from God, it'll it'll vanish.

It'll peter out. But if it is from God, then you you better not be fighting against God because that's a battle you're gonna what? That's a battle you're gonna lose because you're not standing in God's way. Satan tries time and time and time again. He tries to to to rob God of humanity in the garden.

He failed because God already had a plan to redeem us and buy us back, bring us back. He tried to destroy Israel over and over again by many different means. And even today, when many other civilizations and people groups have have just blended into Israel still sits over there on the other side of the world. No. They haven't come to back to their Redeemer yet.

They need to. But they're there to a testimony to the power of God. Hitler tried to destroy them. He failed. Why?

Because God is greater. So we see that in the life of Joseph. They tried to stop that from coming true as brothers did, but it still came true. They still bowed before him. They didn't even know that's what they were doing.

So Joseph, rather than revealing himself right away, he quickly devised a plan, a test. He wanted to see if they had changed. He wanted to see if they were repentant over their sin towards him and towards God. He wanted to to test their character. The Bible says God tests us as we just read about in James chapter one and verse two a moment ago.

He tested Abraham. He told Abraham, go take your son three days journey and I want you to sacrifice him. Now was God ever gonna let Abraham commit a human sacrifice? The answer to that was no. He was not.

Later, he forbade it in the law. But Abraham didn't know that, but Abraham was willing to obey God. He demonstrated his faith in obeying his Lord. Joseph wanted to see, have these men changed or are they simply the same selfish, malicious people that sold me that left me in a a well to die, that sold me into slavery, and he wanted to see? He could have just come out and told them who he was, but, you know, they simply would have pled for mercy and recanted out of fear because, well, he could have ended their lives just just like that.

So he devised a test to test their pride, to see if they were remorseful, to test their their love for their father, for his brother Benjamin, and for their God, to test their integrity. And he did not he did not make it particularly easy for them. You know, when God tests us, it's not because God doesn't know our heart, he does. He needs us to recognize where we are, to see our shortcomings, to trust in his grace that we might change. But Joseph couldn't see their heart.

He wasn't God. God man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. So Joseph devised a test to see where they were. Test was somewhat excruciating for Jacob's other sons, for Joseph's brothers, but it forced them to confront their what?

Their sin. You know, everybody needs to be confronted by their what? By their sin. Nobody likes to be confronted by their sin, do they? None of us needs likes anybody to tell us why we're doing wrong.

Certainly doesn't like anybody to tell us that we're gonna die and spend eternity in hell because we're sinners. Typically, men make excuses. We say, well, hey, you know, I'm better than so and so. You know, look, they're in jail. I'm not in jail.

I haven't killed anybody. I'm pretty good. You mean to say that that's your whole, you know, standard on which you base your goodness is whether you haven't killed anybody or not or whether you're not in jail? Well, that's a low bar to, you know, to get over, isn't it? God's got a very high bar, by the way.

Very high bar. And that's his son, Jesus Christ. He was perfect. He was sinless. The Bible says, for us all have sinned and come, what?

Short of the glory of God. He has these things in the Old Testament called the 10 commandments. Unless you think, well, I've done pretty good with the 10 commandments, turn to Matthew five sometime and look how Jesus explained the 10 commandments. It's not just about what you do, it's about what you think. You see.

And we we don't pass that test. Praise God. Jesus passed that test for us or we would have no no hope of heaven. We need to be confronted by our sin. Joseph devised a test to confront his brothers.

Now some disagree on the ethical nature of Joseph's test, but I don't think here that is the point. God does not condemn it. I think God wants us to see that there was a test and that it did reveal to his brothers their sin. It did force them to confront their sin, and it also showed a repentance toward their sin. God came to David via Nathan and told David of his sin.

And what did David do? Well, read Psalm 51. David what? He repented of his sin. And Jesus said, unless you repent, you shall all likewise, what?

Perish. We live in a world today that doesn't wanna repent. They don't want to come to grips with their sin, and they'll never come to a savior until they do. Because it is from our sin and the penalty of our sin in hell, which Jesus died on the cross to save us. Now Joseph, it would seem, had already come to terms with their betrayal years ago.

Joseph had already forgiven them in his heart, but he needed more to forgive them to their face and trust them again as brothers. God sees our heart. God knows of our dependence of heart is real or phony, but Joseph did not know, so the test was given. He accused them of being, what, Spies. Already read that there.

He accused them of being spies and demanded that they leave one brother with him bound until they returned with Benjamin to prove their story and Simeon was chosen. Look if you would in verse 18. So verse 18, Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live for I fear God. If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye carry corn for the famine of your houses, but bring your youngest brother unto me, so shall your words be verified and ye shall not die.

And they did so. And they said to one another, we are very guilty concerning our brother. In this, we saw the anguish of his soul. They're talking about Joseph. When he besought us and we would not hear, therefore, is this distress come upon us.

Joseph is reminding them of their sin. And they knew not that Joseph understood them for he spake unto them by an interpreter and he turned himself abound from them and wept and returned to them again and communed with them and took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes. So he took Simeon. He said, you take take the food, take it back, and when you come back for food next time, you better bring who with you? Benjamin.

You better bring Benjamin back with you. Now that's Joseph's little brother. He said, if you don't bring Benjamin back with you, there will be no more food. Well, it goes on to tell us that Joseph actually put their money back in their sacks and when they found that out, boy, they were afraid. They thought, oh no, he's going to accuse us of robbing him.

And so, they went back with their father Jacob and they took the food and eventually the food, what? Ran out. And they said, uh-oh, we gotta go Jacob said, you gotta go back. And they said, no. No.

We can't go back. Jacob says, why? Because we have to bring Benjamin with us. And they all agreed bringing Benjamin wasn't a good idea. Joseph had already I mean, Jacob had already lost Joseph.

He didn't want to also lose who? Benjamin. Rachel, his most beloved wife of four, by the way. Bad idea. Rachel only had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

She died in childbirth with Benjamin, was buried in what today is Bethlehem. And he did not want to send Benjamin back. But the test continued. When they did return to Egypt later with double the money in Benjamin, despite the protests of Jacob, Joseph found reason to accuse and condemn Benjamin to see how they would react. What are they gonna do with my brother?

Are they gonna throw him to the wolves? Are they gonna let him suffer? He wanted to see. To the satisfaction and relief of Joseph, their response was both remorseful and demonstrated a greater love for Jacob, Benjamin, and God than they had displayed in past years, particularly responses of Reuben and Judah. Reuben didn't intend to kill him or sell him.

He was gonna come back and rescue him, but he came back too late. Judah was the one who said, well, let's not leave him in the pit to die. Let's sell him instead. Okay. If you look in chapter 44 and verse 18.

44 and verse 18. Now this is under threat of Joseph punishing Benjamin. Okay? Verse 18. Then Judah came near unto him and said, oh my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord's ears and let not thine anger burn against thy servant for thou are even as pharaoh.

My Lord asked his servants saying, have ye a father or brother? And we said unto my Lord, we have a father, an old man and a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead and he alone is left of his mother and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants, bring him down unto me that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my Lord, the lad cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst under thy servants, except thou bringest the and except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.

And it came to pass when we came up under thy servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord and our father said, go again and buy us a little food. And we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother be be with us, then will we go down. For we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant, my father, said unto us, you know that my wife bear me two sons and the one went out for me.

And I said, surely he is torn in pieces and I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now, therefore, when I come to thy servant my father and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up and the lad's life, it shall come to pass when he seeth the lad and is not with us, that he will die. And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant came became surety for the lad unto my father saying, if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame of my father forever.

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. For how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me? Lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come to my father. What did Judah offer to do? He offered to take Benjamin's place.

He said, don't don't don't keep Benjamin. Don't punish Benjamin. Punish me. Keep me. Let him go what?

Go home. What a change. What a what what a drastic change in the life of Judah. From a from a man who sold his own brother into slavery to a man that was willing to take Benjamin's place out of love for his brother and of love for his father. That is what Joseph wanted to see.

That was the reason for the test. He wanted to see if they had come to grips with their sin. He wanted to see if they would take responsibility. He wanted to see if they were repentant of heart. And that is what he saw.

And that brings us to chapter 45. In chapter 45, we see three things, the unmasking of Joseph, the mercy of Joseph, and the embrace of Joseph as we close here this morning. The unmasking of Joseph, the mercy of Joseph, and the embrace of Joseph. So look if you would in forty five one. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him and he cried.

Cause every man to go out for me. And there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brothers and he wept aloud. And the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father let live?

And his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence. That is a great understatement. I cannot imagine the fear and shock that came upon them when they realized that the man they were talking to was the brother they sold into slavery out of hatred and jealousy and maliciousness. And now here he is, and he holds their lives in his what? In his hand.

They were troubled. Alright. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near and he said, I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life.

For these two years hath famine been in the land, and yet there are five years, the which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that hath sent me hither but God. And he hath made me a father to pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste she and go ye up to my father and say unto him, thus thy son Joseph, God hath made me Lord of all Egypt.

Come down unto me, tarry not. Wow. What a what a what a a incredible change in this story, and what an incredible attitude we see from Joseph. Joseph finally breaks down. He reveals himself to his brethren.

He has everyone that is not there put out. He breaks down and and weeps loudly so that others outside the room could hear. He reveals himself to those who had earlier rejected him. He simply says, I am Joseph, your brother. Those words revealed a wealth of information.

They can only imagine what was going all through their heads. They were troubled. Yea, they were terrified. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Before you come to the Lord for mercy and salvation, you first have to recognize who he is. He is God. He is sovereign. He is the holy Lord who cannot stand sin.

He holds your eternity in his what? In his hands. He said he therefore said once again as they stood speechless who he was and invited them to come near as does Jesus to the sinner. Fear is the proper initial response to Jesus, but our savior does not desire us to remain in such a state of terror, but he invites us to what? He invites us to draw near.

He invites us to come. Because the great God of heaven, the almighty, all powerful, holy one is also a God of love and mercy and grace. As Joseph demonstrated towards his brothers, far exceedingly so, Jesus demonstrated in his life, his ministry, his teachings, and most of all, his sacrifice on the cross for you and for me. And he invites us to come. Come on to me all that labor and heavy laden, I will what?

I will give you rest. The same forgiveness and mercy we see in Joseph, we saw infinitely more so in our savior Jesus Christ. He was rejected of men, yet he was smitten of God and afflicted. And he but he was wounded for whose transgressions? Ours.

By his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him, that is Jesus, the iniquity of us all. And Jesus comes and he says, I am here. I am your savior.

Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I will give you rest. Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Jesus said in John six, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger.

He that believeth on me shall never thirst. All the father giveth on me giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. God is not a permissive God who can just ignore our sins, but he is also a merciful God who gave himself that we might be forgiven. Sin had to be punished. Jesus said, punish me.

God is a God of mercy. We see that in Joseph's life. And he forgave his brothers. In his heart, he had forgiven them long ago, but he forgave them there to their face. He released them from the guilt of their sin against him.

He said it wasn't you that did it. It was who? It was God. What did Peter say in Acts two when he got up on the day of Pentecost? He says, yes, you crucified the Messiah.

You turned him over to be hung on a tree by the Romans. You did this. But also, that was all part of God's what? Plan. And you know something?

The same Jesus that you hung on that cross, if you will repent and trust in him, he will still what? He will still save you because he is a God of mercy and grace. And what an example of mercy and grace in Joseph we see here that we see unfold in the life of our savior Jesus Christ toward us. If we will come with repentance and faith to him, no matter what you've done, he will forgive you. He will receive you for he came to pay the price for your sins and to save you from its guilt and from its penalty and from the eternal death that sin brings.

To give you everlasting one, Life in him. He is a God of mercy. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his, what? His mercy. He saved us.

And then we see in verses fourteen and fifteen, the embrace. And he fell down upon he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and he wept. And Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them. After that, his brethren talked with him.

He said, I will forgive you. I will feed you. I will provide for you. I will save you. In in a physical sense, Joseph did save his family because of all he went through and because God had a plan.

But even more so, Jesus didn't come to save us from sickness or to save us from famine. He came to save us from sin. And praise God, Joseph doesn't even begin to compare with the love of Jesus Christ and the embrace of our savior who has accepted us into the beloved, who has taken away our sin and our guilt, nailing nailing it to his what? To his cross. And who has given us not only life tomorrow and the next day, but for all what?

Eternity in him. Maybe you're here today and you have yet to receive the mercy and grace of God offered to you, to all those who repent and come to Christ in faith for salvation. Maybe today can be your day that you come in faith to Jesus, that you accept his offer, that you receive his forgiveness, that he takes that burden of guilt and sin up off your shoulders, that he gives you a home in heaven, that you receive his holy spirit, his gift to you, and his promise that he will never leave you nor forsake you. Have you done that? If you haven't, you can.

He's waiting to embrace you if you will become to him to receive everlasting life. And child of God, if you're here today, maybe you need to consider again these words in Ephesians four where it says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evils be speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath, what? Forgiven you. You know, I bet you Joseph's brothers had near any bad thing to say about Joseph for the rest of their life. And he deserved that.

But even more so, us who have been forgiven of so much and have been given so much by our savior, Do we have reason to show gratitude to our Lord who saved us, but also to share that same forgiveness with others? To show them as Joseph did, the mercy of God in our mercy, and to bring them to the one whose mercy mercy endureth forever. Maybe there's a friend, a brother, maybe there's a a a brother and sister in Christ. Maybe there's a coworker that you're holding a grudge against. That just isn't God's will.

Let it go. If you need to go talk to him, go talk to him. It isn't human nature. It is divine. It's not easy, but it's worth it all.

And if Jesus can forgive you, then you can what? Forgive them also. Let's close in prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the mercy that you have extended to us who were far worse in many ways than Joseph's brothers. Lord, I pray with a repentant heart today that we come to you in thanksgiving for the grace of God that has been extended to us and the forgiveness of all our sins, and that we might indeed live as representatives with the testimony of that grace and mercy in our lives.

A life that is holy and service to our God and a life that shows the love of Christ and the mercy of our God to others around us. The world sees too much of the other. Let them see something different in us as they did also in Joseph and even more so in our savior. Thank you, Lord, for your forgiveness and mercy. And we pray, Lord, if there's one in here that is yet to receive Christ as savior, that today would be their day of salvation.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.