Connect with Skip - Skip Heitzig

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Connect with Skip Heizig. We're glad you've tuned
in for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig wants to
connect to you to God's never changing truth through verse
by verse teaching of his word. And that's why we
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(00:22):
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dot com. That's connect with Skip dot com. Now let's
get into today's teaching from pastor Skip Heitzig.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Just go back. Just remember it was the brothers of Joseph,
the sons of Jacob who killed slaughtered all the Shechemites.
Remember that story. It was Judah, one of the brothers,
who went looking for a prostitute and slept with his
daughter in law. These are scoundrels, so he's treating them

(01:05):
as scoundrels. Now, notice it says, by the life of Pharaoh.
This is an oath he's taking in Pharaoh's name. Why
would he do that, Well, it would once again mask
his identity to them. Further, what if you were to say,
I swear by your God, the only true in living God,
they were to go your Egyptian. So he's taking a

(01:27):
very common oath by the name of Pharaoh, by the
life of Pharaoh. Verse sixteen. Send one of you and
bring your brother, and you shall be kept in prison,
that your words may be tested to see whether there
is any truth in you or else. By the life
of Pharaoh. Surely you are spies. So we put them
all together in prison for three days. Now the word

(01:50):
prison literally means custody. They didn't necessarily have to be
behind bars. They were just capped, sequestered alone, no freedom
for three days, a lot of time to think, a
lot of time to process. All the while, Joseph must
have been thinking, I wonder how they're gonna take this.
I wonder what they're gonna come up with. I wonder
what they're going to say in the midst of this test.

(02:11):
It's absolutely fascinating. Then Joseph said to them the third day,
do this and live for I fear God. Okay, that's
a red light that should have been he's dropping a hint. Now,
I fear God. It seems to just go right over
their heads. If you are honest, man, let one of

(02:31):
your brothers be confined to your prison house, but you
go carry grain for the famine of your houses and
bring your youngest brother to me. I'm sure he couldn't
wait to see Benjamin, his flesh brother, his blood brother.
So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.
And they and they did so. Then they said to

(02:55):
one another, They said to one another, now listen, they're
gonna have a little conversations like they rally. They get
together and they talk. They're talking out loud, not knowing
Joseph understands Hebrew, even though he's speaking to them. You'll
see it. They're speaking in Egyptian with an interpreter. But
now they're just sort of processing this in Hebrew, not
knowing Joseph Here's that understands every word they're saying. They

(03:15):
said to one another, we are truly guilty concerning our brother,
for we saw the anguish of his soul when he
pleaded with us, and we would not hear. Therefore, this
distress has come upon us. They're referring back twenty one
years prior to what happened with Joseph, and Reuben answered
them saying, did I not speak to you saying do

(03:37):
not sin against the boy? And you would not listen. Therefore,
behold his blood is now required of us. Starting to work.
They're processing their treatment of Joseph. They're going, oh, man,
twenty plus years ago, do you remember that God's getting
us back for that. They're distressed over it. Now you

(04:00):
see the repetition of the word we and us. It's emphatic.
I read in the Hebrew. It's emphatic we and we alone.
It's like we're getting busted by God. He's singling us
out here. It's an admission of their guilt. Now, I
say it's working, because to admit your guilt is always
the first step. You'd be surprised how long a person

(04:25):
can go and not be able to say it's my
fault or I'm sorry, I'm the one. They just have
all well, you know, if she wouldn't have done that,
then of course what I said probably was improper. However,
there's always an excuse, but to admit you're wrong is

(04:49):
always the first step in healing and reconciliation and forgiveness. Proverbs,
chapter twenty eight, verse thirteen. Some of you know it.
He who covers his will not prosper, but whoever confesses
and forsakes them will find mercy. Confess Now, confess means
more than just admit. It means to agree. And when

(05:12):
you make a confession to God, you are agreeing with
God and saying what you say about my sin, I
also say the same thing. I'm agreeing with what you're
calling this, Lord, instead of just saying it was just
a mistake, it was just a slip up, it was

(05:34):
just no Lord, it was sinful, it was wrong. That's
what you say about I'm agreeing with you. And so
they're admitting their guilt Verse twenty one. We are truly
guilty concerning our brother. Now, some people will say, no,
why do I need to confess anything to God? Since

(05:54):
God is all knowing, He knows it anyway, Why would
I ever inform God about what he already knows? Because
He wants to hear you say it. He wants to
hear you admit it. That's what confession is all about.
There's something else. It's been twenty years plus twenty one years,

(06:17):
and their conscience, they've been burying it, they've been hiding it.
They've not processed it until now. But now that wound
is opened up again and it shows they're still guilty.
They're still remorse. They've never dealt with You've ever heard
the saying time heals all wounds. That's a lie. Sometimes
you can stuff behavior and feelings down so far and

(06:40):
never deal with it, But you should deal with it,
and you should deal with it the right way. Sin
causes you to hold on to that load of guilt.
It's not healthy Verse twenty three. But they did not know,
and now they're talking it out loud. They did not
know that Joseph understood them, for he's spoke to them

(07:02):
through an interpreter. He's speaking fluent Egyptian to an Egyptian interpreter.
He'd speak an Egyptian. The interpreter would say something to
the Hebrews and their language. Then the brothers would speak,
and then he would interpret it back in Hebrew. So
they're totally faked out Verse twenty four. And he turned
himself away from them and wept, and then he returned

(07:27):
to them. Again and talked with them, and he took
Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Okay,
this is the first of six emotional statements like this
six times in this story. In Genesis, Joseph will weep.
He weeps here when he sees Benjamin, He's going to

(07:48):
weep again. When he reveals himself to his brother, He's
going to weep again. When he sees his fathers brothers,
he'll weep. When he sees his father, he'll weep. When
he sees his father's death, he'll weep. And when he
assures his brothers of forgiveness, towards the very end, he'll weep.
Begin six times he'll weep. Wow, after all he's gone through,

(08:13):
after all the emotional scarring, after all of the years
of neglect, and then sudden prosperity, you would think that
those are enough experiences to sort of kind of toughen
one's skin and not be moved by much. I'm impressed
that he was emotionally moved, and I like it. I honestly,
I see a man weeping. Maybe I say that because

(08:36):
I found myself the last few years becoming weepier, and
it bothered me at first. Little things. It would, you know,
I just somebody would tell me something that was said,
I'd just start crying and they go, something in your eye. Yeah, tears,
I'm actually crying. Oh. When I held my grandson the

(08:58):
first day, just blubbered my way through. When I picked
him up the second day, same effect. I'm getting better.
But now it says that he took simeon verse twenty
four from them and bound him before their eyes. By

(09:20):
the way, what makes you weep is a test of
your character when you weep for yourself or you know.
I have a friend who's a preacher back in Chicago.
He tells an interesting story, James McDonald, Doctor James McDonald,
great guy who's having a conversation with another buddy, Alistair Beg,

(09:41):
and they were talking about Hell. Hell came out and
he said to Alistair, goes, you know what, there's people
tonight today, right now in Hell. And Alistair Beg, in
his Scottish broke, said I but can you say it
without a tear in your eye? And you say it
without a tear in your eye, it's a test of character.

(10:03):
What makes you weep? He sees his brothers. He can't
contain it. He steals himself away, He weeps, He puts
his Egyptian makeup, go tee back on, goes in. Looks
really cool. And why does he make Simeon the hostage?
You see, Logically you would think he would take the
oldest Reuben and tie him up, but he doesn't tie

(10:26):
up the eldest, who's the head of the family at
this point, representatively, he ties up Simeon number two. A
couple of reasons. Number one, it was Ruben who twenty
one years prior told his brothers, don't do this, don't
do this, let him go. This is not good form,
stop it. They didn't listen to him. He left, and

(10:48):
when he left and came back, Ruben came back. Joseph
had already been sold to the Midianites. Simeon was number two,
which means he was in charge. He was probably the
one that arranged it. So now Joseph gets to watch
Simeon rye a little bit, squirm a little bit as

(11:09):
he's tied up.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig before we return
to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if
God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print The
Life of Abraham. Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful
messages on the faith journey of one man who learned
to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty. Abraham's life

(11:32):
was shaped by God, and so can yours be the
God Print seven message series is our thank you for
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the Bible so they can connect with God's timeless truth.
So request your CD package or digital download of God

(11:55):
Print the Life of Abraham when you give a connect
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and nine two two eighteen eighty eight. Now let's get
back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
There's a scripture in the Book of Romans, chapter eleven,
verse twenty two. Just I want you to think of this,
maybe even look at it later, Paul said in Romans eleven,
Now consider the goodness and the severity of God. Interesting

(12:28):
combination the goodness and severity. Here's Joseph being good to
his brothers. He's going to give them grain, give them
their money back, reveal himself take care of them events.
She's gonna do good. But he's being severe. He's being
severe because the result of the goodness and severity will
be reconciliation and restoration. That'll be the result goodness and severity, restoration, reconciliation.

(12:55):
Remember that, next time God allows something to come in
your life that you particularly don't like it's severe, consider
the severity and the goodness of the Lord, and why
he might be doing it, and how all things can
work together, synergize together for your good Verse twenty five.

(13:17):
We'll make it. Then Joseph gave a command to fill
their sacks with grain, to restore every man's money to
his sack, to give them provisions for the journey. Thus
he did for them. So they loaded their donkeys with
grain and departed from there. But as one of them
opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment,

(13:41):
he saw his money. It was in the mouth of
the sack. You see that word encampment. Can I just
throw something out to you that I think might be
helpful when you get to the New Testament. It's sometimes
translated in encampment. In when Jesus was in the womb

(14:02):
of Mary and Joseph and Mary were on the way
to Bethlehem and there was no room in the inn.
Same idea encampment. It was a caravansery where caravans would stop.
Animals would feed in the middle of a courtyard, and
people would just stay around their animals and little lean toos.
That's all it was. It wasn't a nice hotel that

(14:23):
neverpool to Neva Jacuzzi, wasn't a holiday inn. It was
a caravansery. It was an encampment. There wasn't even room
at the animal encampment. That's why they sought a cave
a manger where animals were kept. Well, they opened up
the sacks and they noticed that the money's still in
the mouth of the sack. Joseph had given their money back.

(14:48):
He gave it back. Here's probably what happened. Joseph paid
for it himself out of his own money, put their
money back in. Now, why would he do that. They're
gonna get all paranoid. Why would he do that? Because
Joseph knows they're gonna need it for the next trip
they'll be back. He wants him back. He doesn't know

(15:10):
how much money they have. They may have used everything
to get there and buy grain. He's giving them money
so they can come back, making provision for their next journey.
So he said to his brothers after he finds the money,
my money has been restored, and there it is in
my sack. Now he's saying it like that because it
says then their hearts failed them and they were afraid,

(15:31):
saying to one another, what is this that God has
done to us? Okay, this is a bit weird. It's
not typically the right response. You know, if you went
to the grocery store and you paid out your money,
and then you got home and unloaded all the groceries

(15:52):
and you found like three hundred dollars wadded up put
in the sack with a little note, did you go, God,
what have I done? You might go, well, it was
either a mistake or praise God. Guilt, listen. Guilt turns

(16:14):
blessings into distress. They couldn't enjoy His brother gave him
a blessing. Pharaoh's secondhand man gave him a blessing. They
can't enjoy the blessing because that's what guilt does. It
ruins blessings from God. You can't even enjoy them. It

(16:36):
turns blessings into distress. It robs us of joy, It
turns joy into misery. It aroused a sense of shame
in them. Now, I notice they mentioned God here. This is,
by the way, the very first time in this whole
scenario that these brothers are talking God talk. They're really
spiritual lately, but their view of God has warped. Their

(16:59):
view of He's vengeful, he's retributive, he's not blessing, he's
not giving, he's not loving. Their view of God is
seen through their view of themselves. And how many people
see their God is like they are. That's what idolatry is.
They concoct a God in their own minds, and they

(17:20):
worship that God. And what an unfortunate God they've concocted.
So they're all paranoid. I love it. One preacher said,
love your enemies. It'll drive them nuts. It will. They
won't know what to do. Someone at work, someone in
your family giving you a hard time. Go out of

(17:40):
your way to show lavish love on them. It will
drive them crazy, and it'll just be so fun to watch.
Then they went to Jacob, their father in the land
of Canaan, and told him all that had happened, saying,
the man who is lord of the land spoke roughly
to us, poor being babies, and took us for spies

(18:02):
in the country. We said to him, we are honest men.
Again I see Dad rolling his old eyes. We are
not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father.
One is no more. The youngest is with our father
this day in the land of Canaan. Then the man,
the lord of the country, said to us by this,
I will know that you are honest men. Leave one

(18:22):
of your brothers here with us, Take the food for
the famine of your household, and be gone, and bring
your youngest brother to me, so I shall know that
you are not spies, but that you are honest men.
I will grant your brother to you, and you may
trade in the land. Then it happened as they emptied
their sacks. Surprisingly, each man's bundle of money was in

(18:46):
his sack. And when they and their father saw the
bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father,
said to them, you have bereaved me. Joseph is no more,
Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin.
All these things are against me Okay, this tells me something.

(19:10):
This tells me that people change, but not that much.
People change but not that much. Jacob is still Jacob.
It's still all about Jacob. This sounds what like Jacob
back in Shechem when his brother's killed the Shechem and
he goes, you guys have like ruined my reputation. You're

(19:33):
worried about your reputation with dead people all around you.
It's all about him. He hasn't changed that much. A
crisis doesn't make a man. It shows what a man
is made of. This is what Jacob is made of.
Would Joseph ever have said this, by the way, would
Joseph his son ever have said this me? No, he

(19:57):
would have said, you know, this is hard and I
I don't get it, and this really has been a
long trial, but I know God's in control. Dad is
one way. Joseph his son is another way. Jacob is
still Jacob. But allow me to give you hope. You
don't have to follow in the footsteps of your mother

(20:20):
or father. If there haven't been a good example, you
don't have to say, well, you know what my dad
was always like, that's just why I am the way.
You don't have to be that way, not an excuse.
Jacob is one way. Joseph is totally a different way.
Jacob is still Jacob. It also tells me that Jacob's
not over his son's death. Now. A parent is never

(20:41):
over his son or daughter's death ever, but there's a
healthy way to be moving on. It seems like he
never moved on. He's bringing this up and holding his
brother's responsible. It seems like maybe he knew something was
up when my brother died and my family grieved and

(21:03):
we put it behind us. My mother never did. For
years and years. She would never have a picture or
a memento of my brother Bob in the house. It
was as if he didn't exist. It was too painful
for her. And it was like that for years until
one of my aunts came to visit and took my
mom aside and said, now, listen carefully. I love you,

(21:27):
and I know that you miss your son, Bob, but
you can't treat his memory like this or do this
to your other sons. You need to put his picture up.
You need to get through this. You need to face
this head on and move on. It was one of
the best things she ever did. It helped her tremendously
and it was healing for the family. I think Jacob

(21:47):
is still living with that past, deep scar and never
moved through it. Then Reuben spoke to his father saying,
now listen to this. Okay, I'll just say right, I
think it's stupid. Reuben said to his father, saying, kill
my two sons if I don't bring him back to you.

(22:08):
Oh yeah, that would really go overwell with your wife
and your sons. And I will bring him back to you.
But he said, my son shall not go down with you,
for his brother is dead and he is left alone.
If any calamity should befall him along the way in
which you go, then you would bring down my gray

(22:28):
hair with sorrow to the grave. That's a stupid, foolhearty suggestion. Okay,
I'm sure he sure of himself, and don't worry, I'll
take care of it. In fact, here, oftentimes, in ancient
times they would make these wild oaths. I swear by
my head, I swear by my mother's this. I swear.

(22:51):
They would make these elaborate That's why Jesus came along
and said, don't swear at all, neither by heaven nor
by earth, for it is God's footstool, heaven is God's throne,
Nor by the hairs of your head. But let your
yes b yes, and your no be no. Just be honest,

(23:12):
just be full of integrity. So next week we'll see
the meeting, the meeting with Benjamin, the second meeting with
the brothers, and then the third. Okay, none of this
would have happened unless there was a famine in the land.

(23:33):
Just keep in mind the purpose that God had for
Joseph's life. Why did Joseph Why was he allowed to
be sold as a slave by Why was he allowed
to be a slave in Potipharsa. Why was he allowed
to be falsely accused and put in jail? Was he why? Well,
now we were understanding it. To save the world from
a famine number one. Number two, to bring Israel, the

(23:56):
children of Israel, down into Egypt and for hundreds of
years being nurtured in the land of Goshen where they
could grow, and to preserve moreover, most importantly, preserve the
lineage for the Messiah. Talk about purpose. God is a
purpose for your life. Some of you are sweating it

(24:19):
out and wondering about that purpose, and it's so difficult
and you're going to Romans eight twenty eight and say
most things work together for good. To those that love God,
aren't called of them. Some things work together for good.
Last time I checked, it still says all. Let that
be a soft pillow for your tired heart.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Thanks for listening. To connect with skip Heitzig before you go.
Don't forget to request this month's resource, God Print the
Life of Abraham. This powerful seven message study from skip
Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and
how he can shape yours. It's our thanks for your
generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry.

(25:06):
Call eight hundred ninety two two eighteen eighty eight. That's
eight hundred ninety two two eighteen eighty eight, or visit
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sign up for Skiff's weekly devotional email to grow deeper
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more verse by verse teaching of God's Word. Here unconnect

(25:26):
with skip Heidzig, Make.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
It Connects, Make Connects of the Cross Chats song makes Next.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
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