I Doubt That… – Week 5

I Doubt That…
I Could Ever Forgive Like That.
May 14, 2023
Mother’s Day

For most people doubt does not arise from an intellectual crisis but from an experiential crisis.

• “Don’t be angry with a brother or sister.”
• “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.”
• “forgive our debts as we have forgiven.

I doubt that I could ever forgive like that.

• Jacob —> Jewish patriarch and he has 12 sons.
• One of his sons is named Joseph.

Genesis 37:25-28
As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. ²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Jospeh becomes a slave for a man named Potiphar

Genesis 39:11-12
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She (Potiphar’s wife) caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

• Cupbearer and Baker
• Pharaoh’s Dream
• 7 years of abundance & 7 years of famine
• Joseph is in charge of it all

Genesis 42:6-9
Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ 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.” ⁸ Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”

It’s not just what they did. It’s what they did forced him to endure.

The Prison of Offense

• One, is it possible to be forgiven of such a grievous sin?
• Two, is it possible to forgive such a grievous sin?

Genesis 45:1-7
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. ³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

On the other side of forgiveness as new world is formed that moments before did not and could not exist. 

1. Identify who has hurt you and what they did to you. 
2. What do they owe you? 
3. Cancel the debt. 

If you will be faithful, God will make you fruitful.