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??It all happened so fast! One moment Joseph was a prisoner, the next, he was standing in Pharaoh’s court as the prince of Egypt! As the prince of Egypt, Joseph has worked wisely for the last 7 years to prepare Egypt for the coming famine. Do you remember what we said the word "famine" meant？It's a time when there is very little food. Now not only Egypt is entering the time of famine, but also all every country round about Egypt. The Bible says in Genesis 5l：57, And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands. And also in verse 52：6, the Bible says：And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land：Every person that wanted to buy corn must buy it from Joseph. One day ten men were standing together in the line of people waiting to buy corn. When Joseph saw them, he must have gasped in surprise! Joseph recognized the faces of his ten older brothers! Yes, it had been about 22 years since he had since them, but he still recognized each one! As they came closer and followed the custom of bowing down before the Egyptian ruler, they certainly did NOT recognize him!
??When they bowed down before Joseph, suddenly another shocking thing ran through Joseph's mind. He remembered the dreams! Do you remember the dreams Joseph had as a seventeen-year-old boy, dreams in which his brothers were bowing down to him？Right before his eyes, these dreams were coming true!
??The Bible says Joseph spoke roughly, harshly, to his brothers. Why？Remember how they had treated him？Perhaps because he was testing them to see if they had changed in their hearts. Joseph said, "From what place did you come, and why are you here？" They answered, "We’ve come from the land of Canaan to buy food." Joseph raised his voice, "You are spies! You have come to see how poor our land is!" The brothers all defended themselves, "No, sir, your servants have only come to buy food. We are all l0 brothers, sons of one man. We are telling you the truth, we are NOT spies!" Joseph insisted, "You are spies!" Oh how upset the brothers were! "Sir, " they said, "your servants are l2 brothers, the sons of one man in Canaan; and, the youngest brother is with our father, and one brother is dead. We are not spies!"
??They were so upset because, even though they were telling the truth, this man would not believe them! Do you ever get upset when you are telling the truth and your parents and your teachers don't believe you？But wait, did Joseph’s brothers always tell the truth？What terrible lies they had told about Joseph! Do you remember？Do you always tell the truth？No! And when we don't it's lying. And lying is sin, so is disobeying your parents, or pouting to get your way. And you know, sin should upset us more than anything, because all sin is against God. You know what sin is! Sin is anything we even think, say or do that breaks God's laws, and God says in Romans 3：l9 that all the world is guilty before God of breaking His laws! That should upset us more than anything, especially when we know what the punishment of sin is.
??If we refuse to receive the Lord Jesus as our Saviour from sin, then we must bear the everlasting punishment for sin. Do you remember what that is？It is forever being separated from God and His wonderful perfect Heaven. But you've heard me tell you how much God loves you and wants you to be in Heaven with Him some day. He created you and Heaven for that very plan, so you could enjoy and share in all that happiness and beauty and richness! Our holy and perfect God made a way for you to have your sins forgiven. God sent Jesus His perfect Son to be your Lamb, the Lamb who would die in your place. We know Jesus rose from the dead and is in Heaven now, ready to forgive your sin. If you have never done this, you can choose today to receive the Lord Jesus or reject Him. Rejecting Jesus means you must bear your own punishment for sin. That should upset you more than anything!
??Joseph's brothers were upset, not because of their sin but because this Egyptian ruler did not believe them. Finally Joseph said to them, "I will find out if you are telling the truth." Joseph took Simeon and bound him like a prisoner and put him in a prison house. To the other brothers he said, "You go home and take corn for your families. But the next time you come back, you had better have your younger brother with you, the one you told me you left at home. If you bring a younger brother, then I will know you are telling the truth and you will not die."
??All this time Joseph was speaking through an interpreter to his brothers. He spoke Egyptian, the brothers spoke Hebrew. They didn't think he could understand them, so they began to talk to each other in Hebrew right in front of Joseph. "Do you know why all this is happening to us？It's because of what we did to our brother Joseph years ago! Remember when we saw the anguish in his eyes as he begged us to have mercy on him, and we wouldn't listen？Now, look at what is happening to us!" Reuben the oldest brother added, "Yes, and didn't I tell you not to sin against the child, and you would not listen to me？Now God is judging us for our sin!"
??The brothers were realizing, their secret sin was not so secret! Even though their father still did not know the truth about what happened to Joseph, God knew! No one's secret sin is secret to God! God will judge every secret! And Joseph's brothers were realizing that right now!
??There stood that proud Egyptian ruler, acting as if he didn't understand. But suddenly, the Joseph who is hiding behind that proud Egyptian image, suddenly he was so touched by their words that he had to run out of the room. He found a private place where he could let the tears flow. He cried and cried. He had many reasons to cry, didn't he？. Soon he washed his face and returned and sent them back to Canaan.
??When the brothers arrived home, they told the long and strange story to their father. Then to add to their distress they each opened their sacks of corn they had bought in Egypt, "Oh, no" they discovered their money was put back in their sacks. "We are surely in more trouble than ever!" At first, old Jacob was not going to allow Benjamin to go back with them to Egypt, even though Simeon's freedom depended on Benjamin being brought. Let's read from Gen. 52：38 what old Jacob said："My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead..."
??Poor old Jacob! He had grieved all these years for Joseph, believing that he was dead. believing the wicked lie his sons had told him. Those sons had to see their father's grief every day and be reminded of their secret sin. You can be sure the sons of Jacob lost many happy hours because of their secret sin! Even though Jacob was grieving and did not think he could give up his son, finally, all that corn ran out. Everyone began to be hungry. And Jacob relented. He said：take a present to this Egyptian ruler. And may be his heart will be softened. The brothers took a present of honey, spices, nuts, and precious ointment called myrrh. They took double money for their corn.
