Turning Point - David Jeremiah

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Turning Point. They say time heals all wounds.
But if you've ever grown more callous towards someone you
heard in the past, you know time can also hearden hearts. Today,
doctor David Jeremiah reveals this truth in the lives of
Joseph's brothers, who had long forgotten about Joseph after selling
him into slavery as a boy, with his message God's

(00:28):
method for melting hard hearts.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Here's David, and thank you so much for listening. This
is Turning Point, and I'm David Jeremiah. We are studying
the life of Joseph from the Old Testament Book of Genesis.
We're in the forty second chapter. Case you want to
follow along today is an intriguing story about God's method
for melting hard hearts. I don't want to tell you

(00:53):
any more about it because I don't want to spoil
the mystique of it. Oh it's really it's a pretty
cool story, and you want to stay tuned and listen
to all the details and the principles that come from it.
We are moving toward the end of the story. We
have a couple of weeks left in the life of Joseph,
but We've learned a lot from this man. He is

(01:13):
perhaps the best illustration of the Christian life from the
Old Testament, in every aspect of it, because there's so
many aspects that we can study and learn. And I
know that I've been blessed by reading it and studying
it and teaching it again because it's one of my
favorite stories. You can get all this information in study

(01:35):
guide format. We also have CDs that have all the
teaching on the life of Joseph. You'd like to get
the whole series, you can do that by going to
David Jeremiah dot org. There you can find all this
detail and be ready to order it and listen to
it again, teach it if you want to be a
facilitator for a discussion about it in a small group.

(01:56):
All different ways you can use these resources, and they
with the blessing of the Bible, because that's what it's
all about. We don't want you to forget that. During
the month of September, when you send a gift of
any size to Turning Point, we want to send you
our calendar project. I've been telling you a lot about it.
I won't take a lot of time today to rehearse
all of that, but just remember the calendar is for

(02:18):
the month of September. When you send a gift of
any size, we'll send it to you. You'll have it
plenty of time to begin using it in November, and
it will be yours for the whole new year. It's
a wonderful, wonderful tool, and we'd love to make sure
you have one in your house in your hands, so
ask for it when you send your gift. Today. Here
we go with part one of God's Method for Melting

(02:40):
hard Hearts. Today, I want to talk to you about
God's method for melting hard hearts. Do you know anybody's
got a hard heart? Yeah, you probably do. I hope
you're not married to one. God has a method of
dealing with people that have hard hearts, and we're going

(03:01):
to see that played out in this story today. Alexander Solzhenitsen,
the renowned Russian novelist and historian, grew up in the
Soviet Union during a time of enforced atheism. As a
young man, he embraced communist ideologies and even joined the
Communist Party. However, he experienced something during World War Two.

(03:26):
In his subsequent imprisonment in the Gulag, labor camps that
led to an unexpected spiritual awakening. He tells the whole
story in a book that he wrote called The Gulag Archipelago,
and he wrote about how his heart was changed. Here's
what he said, in my most evil moments, I was
convinced that I was doing good, and I was well

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supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay
there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself
the first stirrings of good. Gradually, he said, it was
disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil
passes not through states, or between classes, nor between political

(04:12):
parties either, but right through every human heart. The realization
led Solzenesan to reject Communist i theology, and he returned
to the faith of his childhood. He became a vocal
critic of the Soviet regime and used his writing to
expose its injustices, eventually winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

(04:38):
The line between good and evil, he wrote, runs through
every person's heart. God cares about our hearts because they
are the core of our being and the seat of
our emotions and our thoughts and our intentions. It's why
God is in the business of melting hard hearts knows

(05:00):
the heart is the source of who we are. The
story of Joseph's brothers in the Book of Genesis gives
us a prime example of hard heartness. Driven by jealousy
and resentment over their father's favoritism, they showed a callous
disregard for their younger brother. They plotted to kill him,

(05:25):
settled on selling him into slavery instead. They even deceived
their father about his fate, allowing their dad to believe
that his beloved son was dead. Their hard heartedness would
take years to soften, but as we often see in scripture,
God has many ways to break through the most callous

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hearts in the Bible. He startled some people with the
appearance of angelic beings. He bewildered others with unexpected miracles.
He sent storms and famines and fire from heaven. He
made donkeys talk and wins cease. He raised up eccentric prophets,

(06:07):
charismatic kings, and peculiar preachers. He ambushed Jacob with a
wrestling stranger. He startled Moses with the burning bush in numbers.
God sent a temporary plague of leprosy on Moses's sister Miriam,
and that got her attention. He used thunder and rain
to humble the people. In Samuel's time, he sent Nathan

(06:27):
with a convicting story for David. In the year that
King Euziah died, Isaiah suddenly saw the Lord sitting on
his throne high and lifted up, and that moment changed
his life forever. Read through the history of the Bible
and the history after the Bible, and you will realize
that the God of the Bible is the God who

(06:48):
melts hard hearts, and in some ways that is the
theme of the Bible from the beginning to the end,
and it certainly is the theme of the study of
the life of Joseph. We pick up joseph story in
Genesis forty two. He has risen to power in Egypt
after having interpreted Pharaoh's dreams about a coming seven years

(07:09):
of plenty followed by seven years of famine. And the
seven years of abundance have passed, and the prophesied famine
has begun to grip the whole world. It has also
been twenty years since Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt.
During that time, Jacob's family had settled into a routine.

(07:31):
Still living in Canaan, Jacob and his eleven sons carried
on their shepherding trade and continued interacting with the Canaanites
once in a while. We can imagine Jacob would cry
when he thought of Joseph, his teenage son. He loved
that boy like a father can love a son. But

(07:54):
time had passed and some of the sting of his
loss was gone. Jacob still had Benjamin by Rachel, and
the boy had turned into a fine young man. The
other ten boys had almost been able to bury their
memories of Joseph, though I'm sure sometimes the evil they
had done would come to mind, But with the passing

(08:15):
of twenty years that it erased most of the awful
details and settled into a forgetfulness born of the calendar.
But twenty years is not too long for good. How
many of you know that? And what is about to
unfold is one of the most amazing scenarios of God's
dealing with long past sin. For a while Joseph was

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being dealt with by God in Egypt, the Lord was
also setting the stage for the recovery of Joseph's family.
They were his chosen people too, and no pain would
be spared in bringing the family and Joseph back together.
Even a worldwide famine could be employed to bring a
small tribe of seventy souls Egypt, where they would grow

(09:01):
into a large nation. Of course, more important than getting
the family back to Joseph was getting the family back
to God. The Lord had to melt their hearts and
bring to realization the guilt and sin of their evil
treatment of their brother. So in Genesis forty two we
see the Lord's methods for bringing about change in people.

(09:24):
He still uses those methods, by the way, so take note.
He still works according to the principles of his sovereignty
to bring his children in line with his will. And
if you've ever been far outside the will of God,
if you've ever walked away from the Lord, even for
a while, you know that God can bring you back.

(09:46):
And remember how God dealt with you, and marvel at
the grace and love of your heavenly Father. He's still
doing what he did in Joseph's family. He's doing it
in families today. He may have done it in your family.
Maybe you were walking away from the Lord like one
of the disciples who walk afar off. But God has

(10:07):
his methods of bringing you back, and watch how he
works in the family of Joseph. The intrigue of all
of this is the most interesting thing in the Bible.
You cannot imagine the lengths to which God will go
to make sure your heart doesn't stay hard but gets
softened and you come back to Him. There are a
number of steps the Lord takes to melt the hardened

(10:30):
hearts of Jacob and bring them first to conviction and
ultimately to fellowship with him. First thing I want you
to note is the experience of difficulty. In the first
three verses of the forty second chapter, we learn about
the difficulty that's going on in the family of Jacob.
When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, he

(10:53):
said to his sons, why do you look at one another?
And he said, indeed, I have heard that there is
grain in eedith go down to that place and buy
for us there, that we may live and not die.
So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
All of a sudden, the family of Jacob finds themselves

(11:14):
not the recipients of inflation, but on the edge of starvation.
They have no food and no way of getting any food,
and so he sends his boys to Egypt. Joseph prophesied
this famine when he was interpreting Pharaoh's dream. But now
the time of want has begun to settle upon his

(11:36):
own family. And twice in the text we are told
it was severe Genesis forty one, fifty six, and fifty seven.
The famine was over all the face of the earth,
and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians.
And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt.
So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy

(11:58):
grain because the famine was severe in all lands. It
was a terrible famine. There was no food. When the
grain was gone and the food was running low, jacobril
iyes something had to be done. So he looked at
his sons, who were apparently indecisive about what to do,
and he said, don't just sit there, go do something.

(12:22):
That's a loose translation. And we have to understand that
God is sometimes using unconventional methods to get our attention. C. S.
Lewis once said that God shouts at us through pain
and through problems to get our attention. He wrote, God
whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience,

(12:43):
but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to
rouse a deaf world. Did you know that sometimes God
says difficulty in your life because you won't listen to
his whisper, and he's got a shout. So when you're
going through some tough things, that's God shouting at you,
trying to get your attention. Most of us can probably
point to a time when we begin to stray from

(13:06):
the Lord, and the Lord had to shout. So what happens,
first of all in this story is difficulty comes of famine,
sweeps the land, It encompasses the nation, and it touches
the life of Jacob and his family. Then notice the
exclusion of trust. It says in verse four of chapter

(13:28):
forty two. But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin
with his brothers, for he said, lest some calamity befall him.
Jacob didn't trust his ten older sons to take care
of Benjamin. Deep down in his heart, he suspected that

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they had something to do with the loss of Joseph.
Jacob couldn't shake off this feeling of doubt about what
really happened to his son. And the ten brothers weren't
kids anymore. They could sense their father's suspicion. They knew
Jacob didn't trust them and believed they were hiding something
about Joseph's disappearance. This lack of trust created a tense

(14:11):
atmosphere in the family. Jacob's fear of losing another son
made him overprotective of Benjamin, and while the brothers felt
constantly under suspicion for a crime they knew they had committed.
Things were not well in the family of Jacob. The
exclusion of trust. Then we have, thirdly, the encounter with

(14:31):
the past in verses five through fifteen. And I need
to read this rather extended passage, but you won't have
any problem. Following me and the sons of Israel went
to buy grain. Among those who journeyed for the famine
was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was governor
over the land, and it was he who sold to
all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came

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and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.
And Joseph saw his brothers and wrecka ignized them. But
he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly
to them. Then he said to them, where do you
come from? And they said, from the land of Canaan
to buy food. So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they
did not recognize him. Then Joseph remembered the dreams which

(15:18):
he had dreamed about them, and he said to them,
you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness
of the land. And they said to him, no, my lord,
but your servants have come to buy food. We are
one man's sons, and we are honest men. Your servants
are not spies. But he said to them, no, but
you have come to see the nakedness of the land.

(15:40):
And they said, your servants are twelve brothers, the sons
of one man in the land of Canaan, And in fact,
the youngest is with our father today, and one is
no more. But Joseph said to them, it is as
I spoke to you, saying you are spies. In this manner,

(16:02):
you shall be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You
shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes
here first. Now what happens here is the gradual unfolding
of the brother's own sin. How God does. It is
an amazing episode that ought to awaken in many of
us responses to confession. As they come to Egypt with

(16:24):
their father's mandate to buy grain, they are ushered through
the crowded streets to a special place where grain is
dispensed to non Egyptians, and Joseph, who is in charge
of all the land and food distribution, took special care
to personally dispense grain to those outside of Egypt. So
those boys stand before the very brother whom they sold

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into slavery twenty years earlier. They bow down before him,
just as Joseph had dreamed they would back in the
early part of the story. Some have been troubled when
they read this part of the record that out of
the ten brothers, nobody recognized Joseph. How could that be?

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There are a number of factors contributing to their failure
to recognize Joseph. Watch this. First of all, his appearance.
Joseph was now clean shaven, with a shaved head, long robe,
a gold chain hanging around his neck, and a huge
signet ring on his finger. They had never seen their
brother like this. The last time they saw him, he

(17:29):
was on his way to being a slave. In Egypt.
And then there's the second factor, and that's the factor
of age. Appearance and age. The last time they saw Joseph,
he was seventeen years old. Now he was a grown man,
almost forty, with the usual physical changes that every man
goes through. How many of you guys know you're not

(17:50):
the same at forty as you were when you were seventeen.
Then notice, on top of his appearance and his age
were his announcements. This is pretty need. When Joseph spoke
to his brothers, he did so in Egyptian using an interpreter.
He didn't appear to understand their language, which would also
have contributed to their failure to recognize him. In addition,

(18:14):
Joseph's authority would have surprised his brothers. The last they
knew Joseph was on a camel train as a slave.
Who would have thought that in a short period of
time their brother would rise from slavery to the second
most powerful position in Egypt. They never expected to see
Joseph in such a position. It was unbelievable, unthinkable to them,

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And the scripture also tells us that Joseph was involved
in a bit of acting. The original language tells us
that Joseph made himself unrecognizable to his brothers. He play acted,
and finally his attitude toward them was different. The text
says he spoke roughly to them. Why did he disguise himself,

(19:03):
Why keep his identity from them and hold off a
grand reunion? I think there are a number of explanations.
First of all, some have suggested that Joseph used a
rough treatment in order to keep his own emotions under control.
Perhaps he hid behind a gruff exterior to keep his
own heart from breaking at the sight of his own
flesh and blood appearing before him that day. Others have

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proposed that Joseph was acting by inspiration, remembering his dreams
about his brothers bowing before him. Perhaps the Lord restrained
Joseph from revealing himself to his family. Still, others have
put forth the idea that Joseph wanted to subject his
brothers to the same opportunity to grow as he had had,

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so he put them through a bitter experience to purge
them from their wickedness. I've studied this passage more than once,
and I think the reason Joseph disguised himself was to
repeat for his brothers the last experience they had together,
Joseph had been sent to check up on his brothers,
and his brothers accused him of spying. Remember, so he

(20:12):
accused them of spying. And Joseph watched his brothers come
and kneel down before him and accuses them of being spies.
And they had thrown him into a pit. So Joseph
throws them into jail. Three times, Joseph accuses his brothers
of being spies, and in their response to his second accusation,

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they reveal that their sin against Joseph is still very
much present with them Genesis forty two thirteen. And they said,
your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man
in the land of Canaan. And in fact the youngest
is with our father, and one is no more, one

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is no more. This is oh with them. This is
still heavy on their hearts. They can't forget what had happened. Sometimes,
when we are victims of the same treatment we give
to others, God allows it to create in us a
sensitivity to our own sin. Little by little, the brothers

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have a growing consciousness of their own sin. When they
first came, they had basically forgotten their actions towards Joseph,
but being accused of spying causes them to remember they
had another brother, one who was with them no more,
and their evil actions towards Joseph creep back into their minds.

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So there's the experience of difficulty and the exclusion of trust,
and the encounter with the past. And number four, the
exile in prison. Beginning in verse sixteen of chapter forty two,
we read Joseph's sin, Send one of you and let
him bring your brother, and you shall be kept in prison,

(22:00):
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 he put them
all together in prison for three days. Joseph said to
them the third day, do this and live, for I
fear God. If you are honest men, let one of
your brothers be confined to your prison house. But you

(22:22):
go and carry grain for the famine in your houses,
and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words
will be verified and you shall not die. And they
did so. First of all, God uses solitary confinement to
break the hearts of these men. Here they are away
from home, walking through a strange land, listening to a
language they didn't understand, had to understand through an interpreter,

(22:45):
and Joseph accuses them of being spies and puts them
in the very prison where he had been for more
than two long years, the same prison. It's not hard
to imagine the conversations that took place in that prison,
because those men must have talked through everything they had done.
Their treatment of Joseph was now in the forefront of

(23:06):
their minds as they considered their situation. On the third day,
when Joseph brought them all out of prison, he offered
them a chance for redemption. Rather than insisting that they
all stay, he made only one brother stay while the
rest went back to get Benjamin. Joseph must have been
on the verge of breaking emotionally as he went through this.

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They did not know him, but he knew them. His
compassion and his love for God are evident. But he
didn't yet know if he could trust his brothers, so
he left one in prison. I told you this was
filled with intrigue. You say, who wrote this story? That

(23:52):
was written by God? God orchestrated this. God made this
happen the way it did, And for our learning and
for our benefit were driving great, great blessings from this
story of Joseph. Part two tomorrow here on Turning Point
of God's method for melting hard hearts. Then on Wednesday
and Thursday from a famine to a feast, and Friday

(24:16):
the Silver Cup. Oh, you don't want to miss that one.
This is an ongoing It's like a story that keeps going.
We finish one section of the scripture, but the next
section opens the next chapter, and it's all about Joseph
and how God used him and how he wants us
to learn from Joseph so that we can live our

(24:38):
lives in a better way. Thank you so much for
being with us today. Don't forget to join us tomorrow
right here on this good station for the next edition
of Turning Point.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on Doctor Jeremiah series God Meant It
for Good, please visit our website, where we also offer
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(25:38):
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details when you visit our website. David Jeremiah dot org.
Slash Radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow
as we continue the series God Meant It for Good,
the story of Joseph on Turning Point