Then we jump to 50:15-21
Joseph’s brothers are afraid that he would be mad at them because he lost all those years with his father.
Tonight we are going to talk about forgiveness this is the first place in the Bible we see the word forgive Gen 50:17
Forgive-to grant pardon, cancel indebtedness.
If you wronged someone ask for their forgiveness.
50:15-17 Joseph’s bad example of asking for forgiveness
1. They worried, what about us, we may now have to pay for ours sin. Self protection. Many times in life we just seek forgiveness because we are caught and we know there is a consequence, so to avoid it we apologize.
Actually Ten years ago today Bill Clinton gave his apology speech to our country and in that speech, he admitted to the fact that he misled the American people to protect himself and his family,
2. They lied about what Jacob said. There is not account that Jacob said this, to their credit it could have been true but I really think there would be some record of it if it was. In their desire for forgiveness instead of being truthful and showing humility they are trying to lie their way out of it. “We know he loves our dad, he will listen to him”
Did you ever lie to protect the wrong thing you did, to soften the blow so you could be forgiven/pardoned, so you did not have to pay?
3. They sent messengers, did you ever hear the phrase don’t kill the messenger, Joseph had the power and authority to take their lives and they knew that, but he would not kill a messenger. His brothers were like the guy that hears a sound in the night and makes his wife check what it is. They were cowards.
We have to face the person we have wronged and take care of business, be a person of integrity and face the music.
I had a situation not long ago
So this begs the question were they really sorry and what should Joseph do if they are not they are just thinking of themselves?
Vrs 18 they did finally do one good thing, they bowed down and humbled themselves before Joseph.
the desire to be forgiven was there many of us have the dsire to be forgiven.
There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
Now lets take a look at how Joseph responded
Keys to Forgiveness from Joseph’s life
Before I even look at the rest these verses I want to remind us of what we already witnessed from his life.
1. Joseph did not spend his time being bitter at his brothers which allowed him to forgive them.
Actually named his sons names to remind himself what God has done.
Manasseh:[a] “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.
Ephraim:[b] “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
We realize that bitterness just hurts us more then anyone else
2. He was content in the places God put him, Potpher’s slave, in jail and Pharaoh’s house.
Remember Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor."
Benjamin Franklin
Paul writes from jail in Philippians 2:11“for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content"
3. He extended grace towards his brothers (who were in many senses his enemies) We talked about that extensively last week.
But now we see what he is truly made of, Jacob his dad is dead and he really has no obligation to his brothers who treated him bitterly. And he has the power 2nd in charge.
1. Vrs 19 1st of all the power has not went to his head. Forgiveness belongs to God.
Listen carefully any sin that we commit whether it is against someone else we need forgiveness from God. Joseph is saying that is who you need to be talking to. Eph 1:7 IN Jesus there is forgiveness Luke 7:47 Jesus has the power to forgive
As we talked about last week in Romans 5 we are enemies of God because of our sin and we need forgiveness.
God is the one who needs to forgive you and in order receive that forgiveness you have to realize you are a sinner and need forgiveness and when you trust that Jesus paid the price for your sins on the cross and believer that He rose from the dead you have eternal life.
Jesus can forgive any sin the only sin that He will not forgive is the sin of rejection of Him. But he does it because of His love for us Proverbs 10:12 love covers all sins
As far as a believer in Christ we confess or ask forgiveness to restore our relationship with God
We as believers need to follow Jesus example of love and forgiveness to the others around us. He humbled himself to death on the cross.
Many times we don’t want to humble ourselves, we say they wronged me, I am right, I can’t get over this. Sorry is not good enough, they are not really sorry.
Jesus could have said, why should I go to the cross they are my enemies many of them will reject. But what did He say “Father Forgive them for they know not what they do”
2nd Vrs 20 Joseph reminds them that God is in control and his hand is at work and the reason why he can forgive them is because he realizes that.
Tapestry, God uses the bad situations that happen in our lives to display that He is in control and will work these things out.
Jesus gives us the power to forgive others Luke 7:44-48 Is a beautiful account of what Christ’s forgiveness can do for us.
3rd Vrs 21 Look at how Joseph displayed his forgiveness he acted and spoke
He acted on his forgiveness
Many times we “forgive” people but still give them the cold shoulder and talk about them. Or refuse to do nice things for them. Joseph was still willing to provide for his brothers
Then Joseph spoke kindly and comforted them. This is an act of restoring a broken relationship. This is the hardest part
Think about the kind words Jesus comforts us with “I will never leave you or forsake you”
Joseph is what we call a type of Christ in the OT that teaches us what forgiveness is all about.
We need to be an example of Christ’s forgiveness in the lives of the people around us by putting these things into practice.
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