SUBJ: The answer to the dreams Joseph had many years before is realized with the ten brothers going to Egypt for relief and the testing Joseph imposed on them in bringing them to themselves and to deal with their sin against him.

AIM: That we might be moved to be in a way of repentance before Him who knows all before we come, and thus to sue for mercy and long for grace and His glory.

INTR: It had been a long torturous journey for Joseph but now he is in the position to bring the deliverances that suited the purpose of God and the plan of redemption.
1. This chapter presents some difficulties for preaching in that we find preparations but not the actual deliverances brought about. We see Christ but in the role of one trying them regarding their sin.
2. Often, we must not only be examined in the sense of that which is well known by the Lord, but also, to be brought to the place of reckoning within ourselves.
3. Joseph would here put his brethren, the ten, through some rigorous testing that they might discoverer their true character to themselves and so be prepared for the mercy and forgiveness that would follow.

THESIS: It is well that we self-examine often and determine how much of what we were is affecting what we are in the present (we are given to such thoughts as "I have always been that way").

I. The stage is set for trial (vv. 6-11)
1. We consider the account of them arriving in Egypt and why as the providential work of the Lord - it well may be that He brought Joseph to Egypt and the famine to bring the brothers and Jacob to the land.
2. Joseph was to witness the interpretation of the dreams he had had many years before and witness them bowing in complete obeisance to him.
3. Joseph knew his brethren on sight but was careful not identify himself to them and appeared as an Egyptian.
4. He challenged the fact that they had come to buy food and rather put them on the course to be proven and to be discovered.
5. When he called them spies, he elicited from them and assertion they would be called upon to prove and they would fail in most of it.
1) They were the sons of Jacob and that was true
2) They denied being spies which was true but
3) They called themselves "true men" which he knew was not so.
6. But he would press them further.

II. Testing begun (vv. 12-20)
1. He pressed the accusation of spying further - there was something he needed to know
2. There answer became more detailed and as they identified themselves now as
1) Ten of twelve brethren and revealed that both Benjamin and Jacob were still alive
2) Joseph acutely remembered what they had done to him out of jealousy and feared they might have harmed or even killed his younger brother as they had thought to do to him.
3. These men were of questionable character to say the least and yet Joseph loved them still
4. Voddie Baucham saw seven tests applied to these men and I will briefly share them with you:
1) Is Benjamin alive and this test they passed.
2) Will someone go get Benjamin while the rest are being held (they were bound three days to decide and the solution finally came from Joseph.
3) Will someone volunteer to stay - Simeon was forcibly restrained. (Simeon may have been the most violent (the matter with Diana and it is suggested that he wanted kill Joseph).
4) Will someone come for Simeon? We will come back to this thought.
5) How will they respond to the money? This was an intended source of consternation to them and their honesty was being tested.
6) Would Jacob trust them? He certainly did not and knew of their treachery in the past and
7) Would Benjamin (who was a grown man by now) be willing to go with them?
5. Benjamin must be brought else they would die

III. Confession and repentance (vv. 21-28ff)
1. Seeing their circumstance before this man whom they feared would kill them memories of past deeds began to be rehearsed.
1) They were all a party to what happened to Joseph
2) Reuben reminds them of his attempt to stop the crime but was ineffective
3) Now they sensed that his blood (supposing him to be dead) was to be required of them.
2. The reaction of Joseph is a source of amazement to us: Here we see the love of Christ manifested in this and we remember, I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)
1) It is again an evidence of the loving them in despite what they had done and
2) Perhaps, even the joy that restoration was soon to come.
3. And so, the departure takes place with Simeon in an Egyptian prison as Joseph had been to await the outcome of his brother’s task.
4. It was now for them to deal with Jacob and the matter of the money and the stage was set for forgiveness to be exercised in accordance with the purpose of God and the example of Christ.