"Sometimes You Can’t Forget"
Gen. 42:1-28
Introduction:
I want to show you something. This is a Levi’s blue jean jacket that a friend left at my house a while back. It’s really a classic. When I have put it on Kathy said I looked good! I am going to send it back but I wanted you to see it. We’ll talk more about the jacket. Let’s talk about Joseph.
This morning we pick up our story of Joseph some twenty years after he has been sold into slavery in Egypt. He endured thirteen years in either slavery or prison. As examined last week in Genesis 41 he has in God’s perfect time been not only delivered from prison but made the highest ranking official in Egypt next to Pharaoh. Joseph had predicted that there would be seven years of great production of grain followed by seven years of terrible famine. The seven years of famine have now begun and have devastated not only Egypt but all of the middle eastern world at that time. Part of the place that the famine has hit the hardest is in Canaan, the home of Joseph and the home of his family. To survive the famine it will be necessary for Jacob, Joseph’s father, to send his sons to Egypt to buy grain. What they expected was to buy grain. What they didn’t expect was to relive their sin against Joseph from twenty years ago. They got a whole lot more than they ever dreamed. They discovered that there are some things that we do that are wrong that nothing--not time or distance--can take away. Sometimes you can’t forget.
Sometimes you can’t forget either. There are things in our past that we may have done to someone else or against God and try as we may to forget we discover that we can’t. The guilt is always there haunting us and reminding us that we are responsible for something we have never made right with God or with someone else. The story of Joseph and his brothers’ meeting shows us that repentance is the only cure when can’t forget the guilt of the past.
In our study this morning we discover that the scene of the story changes. We move from focusing on Joseph to focusing on his brothers; from the location of Egypt to Canaan, a place where Joseph had not been for twenty years.
The story begins with Jacob and his sons discussing the famine that is so pervasive no area of the country is unaffected (42:1-2). If you would let me take a small bit of liberty with the text here I would like to say what I think is occurring here. I don’t necessarily believe that the reason the brothers of Joseph were "staring at one another" was because they were hungry and without any solution. I believe that though the word is not quoted until verse 2 that it is very likely that the reason they were staring at each other was because Jacob had mentioned their going to "Egypt" to buy grain.
If they had heard there was wheat anywhere else in the known world they would have left in a moment. But instead they heard that there was wheat in Egypt. The very mention of that word cut them to the heart! If you could have had a sword you could not have stabbed them deeper. Some words are historic! The very mention of a name can bring a time or place back to life in our heart we thought was long forgotten. The brothers stare at one another, I feel, in guilt and shame because what they had spent 20 years trying to forget was now vivid in their mind! Sometimes you just can’t forget.
The time had run out for the family. Jacob sends his ten sons, except Benjamin, to Egypt to buy grain (Gen.42: 3-5). Notice that Jacob is reluctant to send Benjamin with them. This was I’m sure for the reason that the last time his favorite son was with them, as far as he knew, ended up dead. The brothers were not aware that Joseph was still alive nor did they know that he was Prime Minister in Egypt. To them, Joseph was dead and had been so for 20 years. It was just that now their conscience was becoming active to a sin committed 20 years ago. Sometimes you just can’t forget.
Tens of thousands of people were now dependent upon Joseph for food. They crowded into line waiting their turn for grain. Joseph’s eye was attracted to ten men in line whom he noticed to be his brothers. Immediately he disguises himself. We have no idea what went on in the mind of Joseph. What kind of decisions he was being challenged to make as he looked upon those who had been the source for all his suffering. Did he want to kill them? Forgive them? Punish them? We don’t know but what Joseph decided to do took only seconds but we don’t know the process of this in God’s mind.
Pearl S. Buck said, "Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied." What spoke to Joseph in all these events was the dreams he had had 20 years ago (v.9). Here now he was seeing the literal fulfillment of all that they had ridiculed him for. Now they were bowing before him just as he had seen in his dream. Joseph, no doubt, was tempted to evil but somewhere in that "half way moment" he decided to live by God’s grace, not by his past.
Part of Joseph’s disguise was to speak harshly to his brothers. He inquired of their home, "Where are you from?" While his brothers were bearded, he was clean shaven. They looked like men of the earth. He wore the headdress of Egypt. As he spoke to them through an interpreter (v.23) in Egyptian, all he was to them was a strange government official. Joseph intentionally accused them of spying to buy some time to develop his plan and probably to get their attention. Had he exposed himself immediately they may never have repented of their sin against him. Never in their life had they been called to pay for their past sins. Joseph test was clearly a disguise to enable him to see his younger brother Benjamin. Yet he is also testing their character to see if he could trust them with who he was. They claimed in verse 11 to be honest men. He simply can’t bring himself to use that word so he tells them that he is only seeking the truth (v.16). To help them understand how he felt Joseph put them in the very same prison that he had been in for an unknown period of time. They will stay only three days but Joseph was there for years.
The plan or strategy of Joseph is developed in Gen. 42:18-24 What was Joseph’s plan? The final strategy involved Joseph detaining Simeon while he sent the other nine brother’s home. Having spoken through an interpreter, the brothers did not know that the one with whom they were speaking understood Hebrew (v. 18-19). But notice how quickly the events of today reminded them of their sin of 20 years ago. "They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he as when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us’" (42:21). They felt immediately that they were being punished for what Joseph had suffered by their hand. They knew at once what had haunted them for 20 years: That sin can’t be erased by time! No matter how far back they thought that day was it could not be forgotten!
Reuben remembered even better and added a very real principle to his guilt: "Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood" (42:22). "Now comes the reckoning for his blood." What Reuben knew in theory now became reality for him: You will reap what you sow. Jacob knew that and now Reuben knew the payday was now for his sin.
Sometimes you just can’t forget!
How did all this effect Joseph? "And he turned away from them and wept."(v.24). All the separation, thoughts of home, his father, all of the past now releases itself in a flood of tears. You will see that his action toward his brothers is evidence that he was not going to allow the past to control him. However his weeping is a reminder that forgiveness doesn’t mean we will not continue to feel some negative emotions. Time takes away so much hurt but when we are confronted with it in a fresh way as Joseph was the tears or other emotions will flow.
The brothers depart from Joseph and Egypt leaving Simeon at Joseph’s order (Gen.42:25-28). The amazing forgiveness in Joseph’s heart was demonstrated as he gave them back their money by secretly placing it in the top of their sacks of grain. The brothers didn’t know it until they stopped for their first night rest. Their response says so much, "At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. "My silver has been returned," he said to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack. "Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"(Gen.42:27-28). The guilt from 20 years ago will not let go of them. It is alive within them and causes everything they do to be seen as resulting from that sin against Joseph. Sometimes no matter what you do you just can’t forget.
When you can’t forget the past and it haunts you and torments you, the way you can forget is by godly repentance. Why can’t we forget? Because you see time can’t wash away our sin. 20 years after the brothers had sold Joseph—they still remembered the incident like it was yesterday (v. 21)! Time is totally incapable of helping you forget or do anything about the guilt of your sin! Time may affect your mind but it can’t touch your conscience!
Another reason is that while we may try to hide our sin but some day God will expose it. He may use a word, an incident, a face, a nightmare or some other event and what you had pushed back in your conscience suddenly lives again! You can’t forget it! The Old Testament records several instances that show us how foolish and insane it is to try to hide our sin. The Lord asked Cain, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground."(Gen.4:10). Moses hid the Egyptian that he had murdered in anger in the sand but the sand obviously blew away! His crime was discovered. David tried to hide his sin with Bathsheba but God sent a prophet named Nathan to confront him. Numbers 32:23 says, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out!" Hebrews 4:13 echoes that, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account!"
The reason you can’t forget is because God does not forget until there is repentance made in your heart before Him! We all have a moral memory. We may forget our phone number, Social Security number and many other things but where we live with sin unconfessed – it will not go away! Every time you hear that name or go to that business or see that face it all comes back again and again. Time can’t heal our memory of sin. Your trying to forget your sin does not wash sin away! Time will not redeem us! Ten thousand years will never change the fact that we have sinned. Your conscience will always make you live in the present.
The hard truth is that some day we will all be required to pay. Reuben said, "Now comes the reckoning for his blood." Bills come due! Accounts must be settled. That is the way God works. God will by no means clear the guilty! Our sins and shame are not erased until He by our repentance erases it. You may be worrying and fretting about all that people owe you and whether or not you will get what is coming to you! But there will be a day when the wrongs done to someone else must be accounted for – and no person will escape that day except through repentance. Time is totally worthless to you to try to forget!
You see only godly repentance can cause us to forget what we don’t want to remember! Because our conscience won’t let us forget, there is only one way to erase the tape – God’s way of repentance.
Paul said, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…"(II Cor. 7:10). What is godly sorrow? God’s sorrow that produces repentance causes us to be broken about our sin! Repentance is not just feeling sorry for our sins. It is an attitude of broken heartedness over our sin. "Have mercy on me, a sinner." Until you are ready to look up to God and say, "I have sinned," you won’t be able to forget! We must call it what it is: sin! It’s not a mistake or a misjudgment or a misstatement but a sin.
God’s sorrow will also be so powerful that it will allow our guilt and brokenness to alter our character. All the tears in the world are worthless if there is no mind to change. Paul said, "Repent and turn to God and do what works that give evidence of repentance" (Acts 26:20b). There must not only be a broken heart but a changed mind!
Our forsaking our sin finally completes God’s sorrow that stirs repentance! You see Joseph is seeking to test their repentance. He must know if they had changed. That’s the whole design behind his tests.
So must we be tested! God is not just looking for some crisis repentance. He wants to know, "Will you forsake your sin?" Will you put that away? Drive it from your heart? Crucify your will to that thing.
If you want to forget – repent!!
When that is done you will experience God’s forgiveness! Joseph is a perfect illustration of God’s love and forgiveness to us when we repent. Joseph did not let the bad experiences of the past to harden his heart (v.9). That’s the amazing thing about God is that all of our past is no hindrance to His power to forgive and cleanse. There is no lack of willingness to wash away our sin. He is anxious, ready and waiting to forgive. Richard Foster said, "Remember the heart of the Father; He is like a shepherd who will risk anything to find that one lost sheep. We don’t have to make God willing to forgive. In fact, it is God who is working to make us willing to seek His forgiveness."
When Joseph forgave he extended love, not justice. In v.18, " I fear God…". 20 years in Egypt had not taken anything away from his walk with God. When we repent God meets us not with justice but with everlasting love. Listen again to Psalm 103:11-14, 17, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
…But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children…"
The hands of God reach out to your heart and say, "Repent and let me wash away your sin."
Conclusion:
What can’t you forget?
I know you have been wondering about the jacket. Well a friend did leave it at my house- my house in Hot Springs. It was awhile back- I was a junior at Hot Springs High School, 1971. He left it in my closet and never asked for it. I conveniently just forgot to mention it. Even when we were suite mates at Ouachita. I’ve taken good care of it for 28 years. Somehow I always thought, "I need to get this back to Coy." You know how you do. The other day I was reminded about it and rather than put it off I decided to contact him. Oh, we have seen each other many times over the years. So I looked up his address on the Internet and gave him a call. We had a good laugh about it and he said his son would get a kick out of wearing it. Tomorrow I’ll mail back to where it belongs. Sometimes you can’t forget.
I wish getting rid of guilt was as easy. You can’t mail it back to the owner because it’s yours. You can’t forget it and you’ve learned to live with it. But it’s always there. There is a place you can send it though and that is to the cross. Paul said, "You were dead because of your sins … Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross."(Col.2:13-14). John said, "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."(I John 1:9). You can send it to the cross and let the blood of Jesus wash it away.
What things stand to be accounted for that haunt you and sicken your heart? You don’t have to live with those things. Today if you will repent, he will forgive. There’s an old hymn from Alfred E. Brumley that say’s:
"There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven
An old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven.
My name was at the top and many things below, I trusted
In the Saviour and settled long ago.
O sinner seek, the Lord, repent of all your sin
For this He has commanded if you would enter in
And then if you should live a hundred years below
Up there you’ll not regret it, you settled long ago.
Long ago, long ago, yes the old account was settled long ago.
And the record is clear today for he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago!
Is the old account settled with you?
Sometimes you can’t forget – but when you repent you find these glorious words, "I will remember their sin no more."
God can forgive and forget!
Sunday, September 26, 1999
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas
btippit@fbcjonesboro.org