Joseph: A Man Who Did the Next Right Thing

Acts 7:9-15
Richard Spencer | Sunday, November 02, 2025
Copyright © 2025, Richard Spencer

We have been examining a series of biblical examples to help us learn how to develop Christian character, which is essential to live in a way that pleases God and projects a clear picture of the power of the gospel to the world to make our evangelism effective.

As I started to work on a sermon in this series and looked at the lives of different people described to us in the Scriptures, I found myself returning over and over again to one of Pastor Mathew’s favorite sayings; “Do the next right thing.” And it dawned on me that this saying encapsulates to a large measure all the different examples we have been looking at. But to look at them through the lens offered by this saying provides a different perspective to help us organize, retain and put into practice what we are being taught. And I want to look at the life of the patriarch Joseph as one of the best illustrations of this principle.

Therefore, the title of my sermon this morning is, , Joseph: A Man Who Did the Next Right Thing. And my first point is that we must do something.

I.             Do Something

At first blush, it may sound completely unnecessary to say, “Do something.” After all, it is virtually impossible to do absolutely nothing. Whether you consciously decide what to do next or not, you will, in fact, do something. Even lying in bed all day is, arguably, doing something.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we are to do it all for the glory of God. Therefore, we need to think carefully and make conscious choices to do that which will glorify God at all times. Don’t think this command only applies to large, important decisions. By mentioning something as mundane as eating and drinking, it is clear this verse is referring to every moment of our lives. You are not free to do whatever you want even when you think you are involved in unimportant activities. Every decision you make, no matter how minor, is to be made for the glory of God.

And the Bible does not leave us to figure out for ourselves how to glorify God. In John 17:4 Jesus said to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” In the same way, we also bring glory to God by completing the work he has given us to do. And, if you are a Christian, Paul says you were created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing the good works that God prepared in advance for you to do as we read in Ephesians 2:10. Therefore, the only thing we have to do is to find out what those works are, and then do them.

And, if you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, the Bible is clear about what the next right thing for you to do is. In speaking to a crowd of people who had been amazed by his miraculous work of feeding 5,000 people, we are told in John 6:27 that Jesus said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” The people then asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” And Jesus answered them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” In other words, place your trust in Jesus Christ. In Acts 17:30, we read that when the apostle Paul was speaking to the learned men of Athens, he said that God, “commands all people everywhere to repent.” We are all sinners and deserve God’s condemnation, but he sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sins and if we confess that we are sinners and trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we will be saved. You must declare, “Jesus is Lord” and begin to live for his glory. That is the next right thing for you to do if you have not done so before.

But if we are Christians, how do we determine what works God has prepared for us? Well, Jesus told us in John 14:5, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” So, the commands of Jesus give us the only proper place to begin our search for what we should do. The Holy Spirit can guide us, but the Holy Spirit will never guide us in a way that violates God’s commands. For example, if you think the Holy Spirit is telling you to quit your job because your boss is insufferable, you should reconsider and get some counsel. The Bible says to work six days a week and, if you are single or a husband, you are to support yourself and your family. Therefore, quitting your job without being sure you have another one, is in general not the right thing to do.

You can easily multiply examples here. If you think the Holy Spirit is telling you to walk away from some commitment you have made, it is not the Holy Spirit speaking unless the commitment was to sin. And any time you plan to do something, and aren’t absolutely clear that it is God’s will, you should get counsel. And, even if you are sure, if it is a major decision, asking for counsel is a good idea.

But what about all of those minor decision you make many times every day? This is where the difficulty comes in. Jesus gave us many commands. For example: Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord in everything. And children, obey your parents. We are also told to work six days a week, to be honest, to obey all legitimate delegated authorities, to tithe, to not get drunk, to not steal, to not lust after money or the things of this world and so on. But there are also many things we do each and every day for which we can find no specific command in the Bible. So, how do we decide which of these things to do?

The answer is that we need to study the word of God all of life so that we are saturated, so to speak, with God’s ways. We need to know what pleases God and what God hates. And we need to be sure that our heart’s desire is truly to do God’s will. We need, in other words, to develop godly character. We are told about this by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:2, where we read, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” And we renew our minds by studying the word of God and then consciously putting it into practice. It all begins in the mind, which is why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Now, in looking at Joseph as an example, we realize that he didn’t have the commands of Jesus, but he did have commands from and knowledge of God. And he had the same responsibility to meditate on the ways of God in order to develop godly character to enable him to make right decisions. And this is, of course, a process. It takes work and it takes time.

And, regrettably, we all make decisions that are not the right ones. And Joseph certainly must have had his share of those; he was, after all, a sinner just like us; although he was also an extremely godly man and one whom we should all seek to emulate. But God works in his chosen children to correct and train us by experience, his word, and his delegated authorities, in order to develop godly Christian character. Our responsibility is to be humble and teachable, to kiss the rod of discipline as the psalmist says, repent when we sin, and move on to do the next right thing. As the writer to the Hebrews put it in Hebrews 12:11, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Therefore, we need to embrace God’s discipline in whatever form it takes and seek to continually be being transformed to live for his glory.

We can’t undo the past. We can, occasionally, repay someone for some harm done, but in general, all we can do about the past is repent, forsake our sins, and move on with a renewed commitment to do what is right. In other words, we can learn from the past, but should not dwell on it. Paul wrote about seeking to live a godly life and said, in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

And, therefore, we are to stay focused on what we can control, which is the present, and to do the next right thing, which is my second point.

II.           Do The Next Right Thing

In doing the next right thing, we need to not be unduly influenced by the past as I just noted. Obviously, the past has produced whatever circumstances we currently experience and that will have a proper influence on what we should do now, but as I said, we should never dwell on the past. We should repent of past sins, purpose to not commit them again, and learn whatever we can from the past, but otherwise we must move on. What Paul meant by saying that he forgets what is behind is that he didn’t allow anything from the past to distract him from pursuing the goal now. So, for example, he didn’t allow himself to wallow in regret over some past sin, nor did he waste time or energy being angry or bitter over something done to him. He focused on the goal, which is to be conformed to the likeness of Christ and to finish the work God had prepared for him to do. And we should all seek to do the same thing. And now, let’s look at Joseph as a great example of how to do this well.

He was the first son born to Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, and the eleventh of Jacob’s twelve sons. He was his father’s favorite, which caused his brothers to be jealous of him. In addition, he had given his father a bad report about his brothers’ behavior and, most significantly, he had been given dreams by God that predicted his father and brothers would eventually bow down before him. These things caused his brothers to hate him intensely and they sold him into slavery and told his father Jacob that he had been killed by a wild animal. Such a past would surely not be easy to forget. But let’s look at how Joseph responded.

He was taken down to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, who was the Captain of the Guard to Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. Now, you must ask yourself what the next right thing to do would be in this situation. He could have tried to escape, and that would, arguably, have been a proper thing to do if the opportunity presented itself; for Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:21 that a slave should gain his freedom if he can do so. But we aren’t told that any such opportunity presented itself. We could also understand, given that we are sinners too, if he then did the minimum amount of work and the poorest quality work he could get away with; but that would clearly not be right given the general biblical admonitions to work with all our might at whatever our hands find to do, Ecclesiastes 9:10, and to honor those who are over us, even if they are harsh, 1 Peter 2:18. Even slaves are to work as if they are working for the Lord Christ himself, Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22. And, even though Joseph obviously did not have these Scriptures available to him, he had an understanding of God’s nature and what pleases God, so these principles were known to him. If he had been a lazy slave who did the minimum possible to get by, what kind of witness could his life have been to Potiphar and others? The answer is obvious.

I don’t think anyone here this morning is likely to ever be sold into slavery, but we do encounter troubles. And sometimes those troubles are undeserved and may even be the result of someone else’s undeserved animosity toward us. But, independent of the cause of our troubles, we should not allow ourselves to respond improperly. We need to remember, as Joseph obviously did, that God is sovereign over everything that happens. And so, when troubles come our way, we should do as Joseph did and do the next right thing rather than responding in anger or petulant rebellion.

Remember when all of Job’s children died, almost all of his servants died, and all of his livestock were stolen all in one day? What was his response? In Job 1:20-22 we are told, “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’” And then we are told, “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

Let me ask you, is that how you respond when serious trouble comes your way? And it got even worse for Job. God allowed Satan to attack Job’s health, and his wife gave him the wicked counsel to curse God and die. And what was his response this time? We read in Job 2:10 that he responded, “‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’” And then we are again told, “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”

Friends, this is how we should respond to trouble. And we should consciously train ourselves and our children to do this. Start with small troubles. How do you respond when you get a flat tire on your bike or your car? How do you respond when the traffic is worse than you expected and you are late getting somewhere? You should give God thanks! Perhaps the flat tire or the traffic prevented you from being involved in some accident. You don’t know. But, whatever the case, you need to trust that God is good, he can do no wrong, he has promised that all things work together for the good of his children, and he is absolutely sovereign over every detail of our lives. Therefore, you should praise him for the troubles you encounter. If you learn to do this in small things – and to be sincere in doing so – then you can also pass the bigger tests when they come; and they will come.

And that is what Joseph did. Think of his situation. He was in a foreign land. He didn’t know the language or the culture. He undoubtedly started out as the lowest of the slaves. But he did the right thing; he worked hard. He learned the language, and he did the best job he knew how to do at all times. We know this because we are told in Genesis 39:2-6a, “The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.”

This passage clearly places the emphasis on God’s blessing of Joseph; God was with him. It is God who enables his children to do good works and grants success. But God would not have been with Joseph if he was a lazy, good-for-nothing, slave. Nor would he have been promoted by Potiphar, nor would God have blessed all the work of his hands. Clearly, Joseph’s conduct was exemplary in every way. And notice that Joseph did not take credit for the blessings placed upon his labors; for how could Potiphar have known that Joseph was blessed by the Lord unless Joseph told him about God? Joseph obviously took the opportunity to witness to those around him.

And notice that he also didn’t personally prosper greatly because of his hard work! He was, without a doubt, better off than other slaves, he did live in his master’s house and almost certainly had better food and living conditions. But he wasn’t free. And he wasn’t rich, he was still a slave. His work benefitted his master – the slave owner – far more than it did him.

And now let me ask you; how do you respond if you work hard, do a really good job and either don’t get recognized, or your boss gets most of the credit? Do you then stop working so hard? Do you bitterly complain to God? Or do you just keep doing the next right thing? I’ll let you answer these questions for yourselves and, if necessary, repent and change.

Not only did Joseph not reap all the rewards that we might think he deserved, but instead, his situation actually took a nasty turn for the worse. Starting in Genesis 39 Verse 6b we read, “Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’” I again want you to picture yourself in a similar situation. Joseph was, at this time, in his mid-20’s. He was not married, and I’m sure had all of the normal physical appetites of a young man. He also had to know that refusing this woman could cause him some serious trouble. But he refused nonetheless. He said, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Joseph knew that giving in to her request would be sin. And he knew that all sin is, first and foremost, against God. He also knew that sin is wicked. We learn from his example that we need to call sin what it is. It is wicked. It is rebellion against the Lord God, Creator of the universe. Our society almost never uses the word sin, and it almost never talks of actions as being wicked. But we need to be sure to call sin what it is. It isn’t just a mistake. It isn’t just a bad decision. It isn’t just something that you did without proper thought. It isn’t just “My bad”, or not the best thing to do. It is all of those things of course, but it is also wicked. It is rebellion against God. And we need to call it that and understand how serious it is.

And notice that Joseph didn’t just have to say “No” one time. We are told that Potiphar’s wife came after him day after day. And, ultimately, she took an opportunity when no one else was around to try and force him, but he ran away. And you all know how the story continues. Potiphar’s wife was incensed and lied to her husband, falsely accusing Joseph of trying to molest her, so Potiphar had Joseph thrown in prison. And we are told in Psalm 105:18 that “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons”, so we know that this punishment was severe. This is, yet again, way worse than anything we are ever likely to have happen to us; and we need to again ask ourselves how we would respond. We should do as Joseph did, in spite of these incredibly unfair and difficult circumstances, he did the next right thing.

And notice that Joseph did have something to be thankful for even in this miserable situation. We aren’t told explicitly, but it seems probable that Potiphar didn’t really believe his wife or he would, most likely, have had Joseph killed. We learn in Chapter 40 Verses 3 and 4 that Potiphar, as Captain of the Guard, was in charge of the prison, so he could easily have done so. Therefore, we should ask ourselves why Potiphar didn’t believe his wife. Surely, it was partly because he knew her character, but I think it is also very likely that Joseph’s exemplary life meant that Potiphar was unwilling to believe such a thing about him. We are told in Proverbs 11:5-6 that “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.” In other words, if you live a righteous and upright life, it will provide great protection in at least two ways: First, living a righteous life will avoid many temptations; and, Second, it is far more difficult for someone to cause you serious harm with false accusations.

We also see, yet again, that Joseph responded to this terrible turn of events in the best possible way. We aren’t given details, but his behavior was obviously again exemplary, for we read in Genesis 39:20b-23 that “while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”

We again see that the credit is given, first of all, to God. Joseph was successful because God was with him and showed him kindness. But, at the same time, Joseph did whatever he was asked to do and did it well, without complaining, and therefore, the warden rewarded him. Doing the next right thing generally leads to rewards.

We see an example of Joseph’s behavior in the next chapter, Chapter 40, where we are told that Pharaoh’s chief baker and chief cupbearer were both put in prison and placed under Joseph. One day he noticed they were both dejected and inquired as to the reason. This shows that independent of his own miserable circumstances, he cared about other people and paid attention to those under his care. This is just one specific example of what must have been his pattern. And we must again ask ourselves if that is true of us.

And most of you again know the story. Both the baker and the cupbearer had dreams, and Joseph interpreted the dreams for them, being careful to make clear that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God alone. Both interpretations came true; the baker was hanged, and the cupbearer was restored to his previous position. Joseph had told the cupbearer, in Genesis 40:14, “when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.” But Joseph was again mistreated, because the cupbearer failed to speak to Pharaoh about him, and two more years went by with Joseph unjustly stuck in prison.

But when those two years were up, God intervened again and gave Pharaoh a disturbing dream. God also prevented the magicians and wise men of Egypt from coming up with a specious interpretation so that Pharaoh was left searching. And, at that point, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him. Joseph was summoned from prison and came before Pharaoh. And we again see Joseph’s character displayed. When Pharaoh asked him to interpret his dream, we read in Genesis 41:16 that Joseph told Pharaoh, “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” Now, you have to remember that Pharaoh was the most powerful man in that part of the world, so it required great courage and conviction for Joseph to speak to him of God and to say that God would provide the answer. It would have been much easier to just say he would try and then take credit for himself.

And now I must again ask you; have you taken credit for something when you should have given glory to God? Whenever you do anything worthy of commendation, you must remember that God gave you every ability or resource you possess, and every opportunity you have had; therefore, be sure to give him the glory like Joseph did.

I remember years ago when a man came to organize a Christian faculty group at UC Davis. He invited professing Christian faculty members to a lunch. During the lunch this man spoke and asked the faculty members, “How many of you tell your students that you are a Christian?” He made it clear that he didn’t mean you dropped some hint or mentioned going to church, he was asking if you clearly identified yourself as a Christian. Very few hands went up. He then said, “Let me give you something to think about; if you don’t identify yourself as a Christian and you do anything worthy of praise, you just stole from God.” I can tell you there were a number of uncomfortable people in the room at that point. But he had a great point, which we should all take to heart. Don’t steal from God. Be like Joseph and give God all the credit. But then also be warned, if you have clearly identified yourself as a Christian and do things worthy of reproach, you have brought reproach on the name of God! Let us all make our faith clearly known and then use that as incentive to help us live holy lives for his glory like Joseph did.

Now, getting back to the story of Joseph, he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream for him and Pharaoh was so impressed that he made Joseph second in command over the entire land of Egypt. God’s ways are truly amazing, and it is at this point in the story that we start to see some of God’s plan and purpose in sending Joseph to Egypt. Here was a man who had been sold into slavery and entered Egypt as a foreign slave, who couldn’t even speak the language, and now, 13 years later, he was made second in command to Pharaoh himself. This is the ultimate rags to riches story, and it is true.

But we again need to take notice of God’s sovereign actions because they are not all explicitly mentioned. First, God had given Joseph the ability to interpret dreams, which was not an ability he had previously possessed. And it seems clear that Joseph must have been aware of this God-given gift because he gave the interpretations of the baker’s and cupbearer’s dreams with such specificity and certainty, and was bold enough to tell Pharaoh that God would provide the interpretation of his dream as well. God also gave Joseph the boldness to go beyond interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and to offer a solution to the upcoming famine. In addition, not only did God give Pharaoh his dream and prevent the Egyptian magicians and wise men from interpreting it, God also must have worked in Pharaoh’s heart to cause him to humble himself enough to listen to this foreign slave, who had been in prison. And then God must have done more work in the heart of Pharaoh and others to enable Pharaoh to name Joseph as second in command and others to accept this without a major fight. We aren’t told these things, but it is certain that God was doing a lot of work in the hearts of Pharaoh and others to bring about this amazing transformation in Joseph’s life.

And we again see Joseph’s godly character shine through. He goes to work and diligently executes the responsibilities given to him. He proved himself to be a competent and conscientious manager. And we must remember that he did not know God’s plan. He was just doing the next right thing day after day and was trusting God for the outcome. Which again provides instruction for us; we don’t usually know why God brings certain troubles or opportunities our way, so we need to be diligent at all times to just do the next right thing and trust God for the outcome.

But, getting back to Joseph’s story, the famine was, by God’s design, severe in the land of Canaan as well, which caused Joseph’s father, Jacob, to send his brothers to Egypt to buy food. In Chapter 42 Verse 6 we are told, “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.” Can you imagine how you would react if you were Joseph? Here are the very men who sold you into slavery, asking for your help and bowing down before you just as you had dreamed they would do many years before. And you have power to have them thrown into prison, or killed, or to simply refuse to sell them any food. To say, “I told you this would happen, now go away!” The temptation must have been immense.

And, at this point, I must say that commentators differ in judging Joseph’s response since he did not reveal himself to his brothers right away, but continued to use an interpreter, hiding his identity from them and treating them harshly. Some think he sinned in seeking some personal revenge, while others think God directed him to do this. Either way, God was certainly using him to lead his brothers to repentance. And Calvin notes that Joseph might also have been trying to protect his brother Benjamin and his father Jacob from the harm that might come to them if his brothers were not repentant and continued to try and cover up their previous crimes. We can’t know for sure what Joseph’s motives were, but he certainly could have had pure motives for what he did, so it isn’t necessary to conclude that he sinned. But we do know that God works all things together for the good of his people. Even our sin cannot derail his plans.

And what we do know for sure about this episode we are told in Verses 7-9; namely, that “As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked. ‘From the land of Canaan,’ they replied, ‘to buy food.’ Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, ‘You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’”

And you know the story. Joseph interrogates them, throws them in prison for three days, and then sends them back home, but keeps Simeon in prison and told the others they would not see Joseph’s face again unless they brought Benjamin with them. At this point you need to remember that Jacob had been unwilling to send Benjamin because the brothers had lied and told him Joseph was dead. As a result, he thought Benjamin was the only remaining son of his favorite wife, Rachel.

It is interesting and important to note in this account that we see Joseph’s brothers express awareness they sinned against him and that their sin was finally catching up with them. After Joseph put Simeon in custody and told them to bring Benjamin back with them, we are told in Genesis 42:21 that “They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us.’”

When Joseph sent his brothers back to Canaan, he also instructed his servants to put the silver with which they had purchased food back into their sacks. We aren’t told why he did this, and commentators again differ in their conclusions, but independent of Joseph’s motivation, God used this to bring further awareness to his brothers that their sin was known to God and that he was in charge of all that was happening to them. While they were on their way back to Canaan and one of them discovered the silver had been put back in his sack, we read in Chapter 42 Verse 28, “Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’” James Boice makes an interesting point about this verse. He says, “This is the first time in the entire story, beginning with the birth of the first of the sons of Jacob in Chapter 29, that any of Joseph’s brothers is said to have mentioned God. As we have seen, Joseph spoke of God constantly.”[1] Boice goes on to point out that Joseph’s brothers had almost certainly spoken of God before, but this was probably the first time they had acknowledged God was real, whereas, Joseph always lived with the recognition that God was real and in control. We must also know that God is present and he is sovereign to enable us to do the next right thing in every situation.

After the brothers had all returned home, we are told they discovered the money had been put back in all of their sacks and we read in Verse 35 that “When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened.”

But when they told Jacob about what had happened, he was still unwilling to send Benjamin with them even though Reuben took responsibility and told him he could put Reuben’s sons to death if he didn’t return with Benjamin. Later however, when the food they had purchased was gone, Jacob wanted them to return to Egypt and buy more food. Judah reminded him that they could only return if they had Benjamin with them and, in Chapter 43 Verse 9 he told Jacob, “I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.” Jacob then relented and sent the brothers back to Egypt with Benjamin.

When they all appeared before Joseph in Egypt, he had them taken to his home and had a banquet prepared. They were terrified, thinking he was going to enslave them. Therefore, they told Joseph’s steward about the money and in Verse 23 we read that he replied, “‘It’s all right, don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.’ Then he brought Simeon out to them.” We can again see that Joseph must have told his household about the true and living God. The brothers then had a feast in Joseph’s house before being allowed to head home with more food. But, once again, Joseph had his servant put their money back into their sacks and also had him place Joseph’s silver cup into Benjamin’s sack.

Then, after the brothers left, Joseph sent his servant after them and had him confront them and say, as we read in Chapter 44 Verses 4b-5, “Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.” The brothers denied any wrongdoing, but when the money and the cup were found in their sacks, they had to return to Egypt, where they threw themselves at Joseph’s feet, and, in Verse 16, Judah says to Joseph, “God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” To which Joseph replies, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” But Judah pleads with Joseph to take him as a slave instead in order to spare their aged father the heartbreak of losing Benjamin, in whose sack the cup had been found.

And it is at this point we see the wonderful work of repentance that God had brought about in Joseph’s brothers. Here was Judah, making good on his promise to Jacob, willing to sacrifice himself to spare his aged father the trauma of losing Benjamin. What a change this is from his participating in the sin of selling Joseph into slavery and lying to his father!

After Judah pleaded with Jacob to take him, rather than Benjamin, Joseph could not contain himself any longer and he revealed himself to his brothers. He also indicated that this was all the work of God. We read in Genesis 45:7 that he told them, “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

After this amazing revelation, Joseph sent his brothers back to Canaan to get his father and the rest of their families and bring them all to Egypt. They did this and Jacob was able to see his son Joseph and Joseph’s children. Jacob then lived his final years in Egypt and died. Joseph and his brothers took his body back to Canaan and buried him and then returned to Egypt. And we then see the final statement of importance for our purposes this morning.

Joseph’s brothers were afraid that with Jacob gone, Joseph would take vengeance upon them. So, they lied to Joseph and said that Jacob had told them to say he wanted Joseph to forgive them. Joseph’s response is, perhaps, the most wonderful statement in all of Scripture about how God uses everything, including sin, to work for the ultimate good of his people. We read in Genesis 50:20 that Joseph said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Brothers and sisters, this is a wonderful illustration of the truth of Romans 8:28, where we are told that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I used the ESV rendering of this verse because it says that all things work “together” for good, which is what the original Greek says. And “together” is an important word because it is manifestly not true that all things that happen to us are, in themselves, good. But it is absolutely true that all things work together for our good.

The statement in Genesis 50:20 is also a great demonstration of the godly Christian character of Joseph. He was always aware that God was with him and that God is good and he therefore correctly concluded that all he needed to do in every situation was to obey God and do the next right thing. He could then trust that God would work everything out in the end.

And this is what each one of us needs to do as well. It may be extremely difficult at times, although I don’t think any of us will encounter circumstances as difficult as those Joseph endured, but in the end proper Christian conduct is very simple: Believe in God and do the next right thing. Which means, believe all that God has promised and recognize that he is the sovereign Lord of all creation. Believe his promises to never leave us or forsake us and to work all things together for our good. And then seek to know and do his will in every circumstance. We need to know God’s word, be led by his Spirit, and control our emotions and thoughts, rather than letting our circumstances and emotions control us. Simply put, do the next right thing. If we do this, we will be blessed and God will be pleased.

[1] James M. Boice, Geneis; An Expositional Commentary, Vol. 3, Baker Books, 1998, pg. 1008