A story from Genesis 37 to 50.
Peter Jackson had to do that with the movies is because Tolkien had written this beautiful
story with so many storylines and he was weaving them back together at the end of the book
in such a way that you would have just left all these storylines hanging if he hadn't
had seven endings in this movie.
I feel a little bit like that about Genesis 50.
Genesis 50, we're going to pick up storylines that the writer of Genesis has been weaving
and sort of laying out throughout the book.
And in fact, as we will see later, it points us even to the greater weaving work of God
as he weaves together his work in this world.
And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning.
And you know, one of the things we haven't talked about very much as we've thought about
this Genesis series, but I want to point out is that as I understand it, the context of
the writing of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, it was as Moses was leading
the people to the brink of the promised land, as they were wandering through the wilderness
for 40 years, as they were waiting and slowly approaching this promised land that God had
said they would take.
God, through Moses, was recording what he had done up to that point in the history of
his people.
Think about this for a minute.
They're standing on the brink of entering into a land that is full of people, full of other
tribes.
They're entering into a land where they have never lived and they're going to claim it as
their own.
Perhaps they were filled with fear.
Perhaps their minds were captured by this question.
Will God be good to us as we go across the Jordan?
I wonder if that's a question that we all ask.
Different places, different times in our lives we ask, is God really going to be good to us?
Why do we ask it?
Well, it's not hard.
Open the page on CNN and what will you see?
Well, there's racism in Ferguson.
There's Ebola devastating West Africa.
There's civil wars in various countries around the world and so on and so forth.
We live in a world where there's lots of suffering and pain.
But my guess is that that's not the most powerful argument for most of you.
Probably for most of you as it is for me as well.
It's that our experience, our own personal story has moments of trial, moments of pain, moments
of injustice, moments of tragedy and disappointment.
And even if you have lived one of those blessed lives where you feel like, no, I haven't really seen that.
Even then, I wonder if you live with an insecurity.
How long will it last?
Will it continue forever?
You see, the challenge that we have is that our experience doesn't always seem to match with our theology.
God says that He is good and we want to believe Him.
But then we look at our world and we look at our own lives and we wonder.
We wonder why it's so hard and where is God's goodness in all of that.
And you know, without diving into the whole philosophy of it, I'll refer you to great books if you want after the service to delve into it.
We can resolve it one way by denying that God's good.
We can just say God's sovereign but He doesn't care very much.
He doesn't care about the details of your life.
We could resolve it by saying that God is good but not sovereign.
He's like a great-grandfather who's going to hold your hand and say, I'm so sorry.
But He can't do anything to help you.
But this will not do.
It is not what the Scriptures tell us.
Jeremiah 29, 11,
For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord.
Plans for welfare.
And not for evil.
To give you a future and a hope.
And Isaiah 46, 9 says,
Remember the former things of old.
I am God and there is no other.
I am God and there is no one.
There is none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning.
And from ancient times.
Things not yet done.
Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purpose.
And so the Bible says that God has good plans.
And He will accomplish His purposes.
It's hard, isn't it?
When your best friend in high school decides that you're now the target of her mockery.
When you watch the self-destructive patterns of a loved one spiral down.
When that thing you'd hoped for.
A spouse, a job, an opportunity.
Snatched out of your hands.
And an untimely death rocks your family.
As you are worn down by the wearying battle.
Depression.
Chronic pain.
Slow, painful tearing apart of a marriage relationship.
How is God good in these things?
Will God be good to us?
This is what our passage is about this morning.
As we end the book of Genesis.
We see God drawing together these strands of His story.
To answer the question, will God be good?
Will God be good to Joseph and his family?
Will God be good to the people of Israel?
Standing on the brink of the promised land.
Will God be good to you and to me today?
So, turn with me, if you will, to Genesis chapter 50.
The page number is in your bulletin.
I'm sorry, I forgot to get it.
Genesis 50.
As you're turning there, we will see that in the first 14 verses of chapter 50,
it's this record of Jacob being taken up into Egypt and being buried with a great train of Egyptian court officials and people.
He's buried in the tomb of the Bible.
He's buried in the tomb of his fathers.
And it leads us to verse 15, chapter 15, which is where I'm going to read from.
I'm going to read 15 through 21 as the simple text today.
So, please read with me.
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.
So, they sent a message to Joseph saying,
Your father gave this command before he died.
Say to Joseph,
Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you.
And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of God, your father.
The servants of the God of your father.
Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
His brothers also came and fell down before him and said,
Behold, we are your servants.
Joseph said to them,
Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?
As for you, you meant evil against me.
But God meant it for good.
To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
So, do not fear.
I will provide for you and your little ones.
Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Please pray with me.
God, we thank you that you have not left us to strive to understand you in our own efforts.
Lord, we thank you that it is not in our reasonable mind alone that, Lord, we know you.
But God, it is that you have revealed yourself to us.
You have shown us and told us what kind of a God you are.
Lord, I pray this morning that we would be comforted.
Comforted as we see you as you truly are.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
In this central passage.
It's quite a story, isn't it?
If you haven't been here, remember?
Joseph's brother sold him into slavery long ago in chapter 37.
God was with Joseph sovereignly through great trials and sufferings.
And miraculously and sovereignly brought them back together years later where Joseph was in a position to provide for and to care for his family.
And in the middle of that, God worked not only provision for his family but also reconciliation.
God brought them together and brought, in fact, Jacob, his father and his sons and all of their families down to Egypt to live.
And at the end of the story, Jacob, the patriarch, dies.
And now it is his 12 sons who are left.
And 11 of them are afraid.
They remember the evil that they did.
And even though Joseph had spoken words of forgiveness and pardon, even though he had demonstrated through his actions to them, they don't believe it.
Maybe now that Jacob's gone, maybe he'll finally take revenge on us.
Maybe he'll finally mete out the punishment that we know that we deserve and never got.
So they come up with a scheme.
They make up a story.
What Jacob probably didn't say.
They make up a story about how his father asked them to tell Joseph to forgive them.
Joseph sees through this ploy and he weeps.
He weeps because his brothers still don't understand.
He weeps because they don't get the God that he knows.
And therefore the ways that he has acted towards them.
They come and they fall down before them.
They bow down again.
Fulfilling the dream in chapter 37 that sparked the whole story.
They say, we are your servants.
Please don't kill us for what we did to you.
Just make us your servants.
That's enough.
They beg to be his slaves rather than be executed.
Joseph's reply is a complex one, isn't it?
Joseph says, you did do evil to me.
He remembers the suffering.
He's not forgotten.
He remembers the years of slavery in Potiphar's house.
He remembers the time when he was unjustly accused and then sent to prison.
He remembers when he was abandoned by the cupbearer.
Spent more years.
He's totaling probably close to 17 years as a slave in prison in Egypt.
He remembers all of those things.
And he does not sweep it under the rug or make it go away and say, ah, it's fine.
He says, you did mean it for evil.
He called it what it is.
But then he says, am I in the place of God?
I am not the one to be your judge and jury and executioner.
That is God's job.
And I will not presume to take it.
I will not make myself the arrogant one who believe that I have to bring judgment and make the world right.
He says, am I in God's place?
Your sin certainly deserves punishment.
It certainly deserves judgment because of the suffering that I endured.
But I won't inflict it on you.
I will not take revenge on you.
He trusts the judgment to God.
And he turns.
And in verse 20 makes the most astounding comment.
The most surprising thing.
A few minutes for evil.
But God meant the devil.
Joseph saw that through all of the trials and all of the suffering and all of the injustice that he endured,
God had a good plan that he was working out.
What did that goodness look like?
Let's remember this story.
Let's think through some of these threads of what God's goodness has looked like to Joseph.
First of all, Joseph and his brothers.
These brothers that sold him into slavery.
They hated him for his dreams.
They hated him because he was the favored one.
And they wanted to get rid of him.
They only didn't kill him because in an act of sudden and unexplained mercy,
Judah decided to intervene.
And instead of killing him, they sold him off.
And he was gone for 17 years.
And they never looked for him.
And they never went to find him.
And God brought them back together.
God sovereignly worked through all of Joseph's cycles of suffering and trial and injustice
so that he could be exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh
so that he could be the one in charge of a grain distribution
in the middle of a grand famine.
And then brought his brothers from Canaan down to Egypt
because it was the only place where there was food
so that they could be reconciled.
God worked.
You remember chapters 42, 3, and 4
in surprising ways through Joseph
to help his brothers see their sin,
to help his brothers confess their sin,
to help his brothers overcome the guilt
by repenting of it.
He reconciled them
and brought them together
so that they together were family again.
Not only a family, but they were provided for.
They had everything they needed in Egypt.
They had land.
They had the protection of the right hand man of the king.
Joseph says, and you see in verse 21,
this blessing wasn't just for them too,
it was for their posterity.
Which was a remarkable thing
because in that culture,
one of the best ways to wreak vengeance on your enemies
is to kill their children.
Joseph wouldn't do that.
Instead, God brought them together
into this unity,
into this reconciliation.
The second thing that God did
is that He brought the promise of Abraham
to the next step.
Do you remember Abraham chapter 12?
God comes to him and says,
Abraham,
I am calling you to God
and I'm going to bless you
and I'm going to make you a great nation.
Your descendants will be as many
as the stars in the sky
and the sand in the seashore.
And I will give you land
for you to dwell in.
I will make your descendants
a great nation
and I will bless the nations through you.
I will raise up you to be my people
so that the world may know
what kind of God I am.
Well,
you think about the storyline of Genesis
from 12 to 50.
What have we had?
Abraham had two sons.
Isaac had two sons.
The family isn't growing very big, is it?
And certainly none of these men
showed exemplary character
and faithfulness to God.
God surprisingly and graciously
fulfilled His promise
to an undeserving people.
And here we are in Genesis 50.
And Jacob's household,
now more than 70,
is positioned to thrive.
Positioned to explode
in multiplication.
Positioned even in,
one commentator pointed out
the fact that God brought
the family of promise
down to Egypt
in a culture where
the Egyptians would have
nothing to do with them
so that they couldn't intermarry
with the people around them.
But that they would live
in this isolated
setting
so that they could grow
like an incubator
from a small family
into a great nation of people.
God did all of this.
All of this providing
and all of this furthering
of His promises
being fulfilled
to the patriarchs
through Joseph's suffering,
through his pain.
Not only were they blessed,
but they were a blessing.
Egypt consolidated its power.
Egypt,
through this famine,
was exalted to
the highest place
in the nations.
And the people of Egypt
lived
when other nations
came to them for food
because of Joseph.
Because God,
through suffering,
had brought Joseph
to this place
where God would provide
and be a blessing
to the nations.
Wind the lens again.
Think about the Israelites
standing on the brink
of the promised land.
Looking in
to where the Canaanites were,
the tall men
who scared all the spies
40 years before.
Wondering.
But then remembering.
How has God been good
to Israel?
Not only did God
preserve the family
of promise
and take them down
into Egypt,
but by the time
Moses is writing this,
they've also been delivered.
They've seen God
work with a mighty hand.
That they became
a great nation,
so great that they
became a threat
to the Pharaoh
who did not know
Joseph anymore.
And then God came
and the book of Exodus
is about
God's powerful
deliverance
of his people.
And the rest
of the Pentateuch
all the way up
to the beginning
of Joshua
is God providing
for his people,
shaping them
to be his people,
teaching them
what kind of a God
he is through the law,
providing for them
as they wander
in the wilderness
and as they face
various trials
and enemies.
God's goodness
is all over.
All over
the history
of his people.
All over
the history
of his people.
I want to stop
for a second
and think about
a little bit
of application
for us.
Sometimes when we
in a church setting
like this
talk about
God's goodness,
isn't God good?
And you're sitting there
and you're going
through a really
hard trial.
You're facing
something that's
overwhelming
and painful
beyond what you
think you can endure.
You think,
that just sounds
like happy power.
That's not real.
Friends,
I want you to think
about Joseph
for a minute.
Joseph spent
those 20 years
prison,
in prison,
treated as a slave,
wrong and unjust.
I think one
of the challenges
that we face
in the trials
that we go through
is a question
of perspective.
We think
that God
ought to fix
things now
for him to be good.
Joseph
clearly didn't
think that
that was necessary.
God's timing
is not our timing.
And his greatest
good for us
is not simply
alleviating the pain
of our life
in this moment.
No matter how
great it is.
Joseph did not
forget
the evil
and the suffering.
He did not
pretend that it
didn't exist.
He acknowledged
it and looked
beyond it
to the goodness
of God.
We're going
through trial.
May we have
this perspective
and be able
to wait
to see
God's goodness.
May we also
do as Joseph
did.
May we focus
on his
goodness.
May we see
that
every day
there are things
that are good
about what God
has done
in our life.
every day
God gives you
blood.
Every day
there are people
who love you.
Every day
there's food
on the table.
And you know
what?
Even when one
of these
is taken away
there are other
ones that are
still there.
I know some
of you may not
experience those
three things I
just mentioned.
But still
there is God's
goodness in your
life.
And even if you
don't see it
right now.
Even if you
are in the
place of Psalm
88 where
darkness is my
only friend.
And you can't
see any goodness
in your current
situation.
Stop and think
and remember
God's goodness
in the past.
He has been
good to you.
I have no doubt.
It may be hard
to remember
but see it
all.
Focus on
God's goodness
and not just
the tragedy
or the evil
or the pain
that you are
facing now.
That's what
Joseph did
to be able to
say you meant
it for evil
but God
meant it for
good.
Friends I
want to
say that
there are
times when
we do lose
sight of
any goodness
in this world.
There are
times when
we think
it would be
better to
not be
here.
But you
know
the bedrock
of the
Christian
hope
for us
is that
the greatest
evil
ever
in this
world
accomplished
the greatest
good
ever
in this
world.
Joseph
spoke
better than
he knew
when he
said
the words
we meant
it for
evil
but God
meant it
for good
because he
spoke
without
knowing
the details
of what
God would
do
in the
future.
This is
what
Kyle read
earlier
from Acts
but let
me read
Acts 2
22
again
for you
to remind
you.
Men of
Israel
hear these
words
Jesus
of Nazareth
a man
attested
to you
by God
with mighty
works
and wonders
and signs
that God
did through
him
in your
midst
as you
yourselves
know
this
Jesus
delivered
up
according
to the
definite
plan
and
foreknowledge
of God
you
crucified
and killed
by the
hands
of lawless
men.
Friends
Jesus
was the
best
human being
ever.
He was
attested
to by
mighty
works
of good.
He healed
the sick
and the
lame.
He raised
the dead.
He loved
the outcast.
He challenged
the injustice
in his
world.
He exposed
the religious
hypocrisy.
He exhibited
love in
every time.
Jesus
was the
only
person
who did
not deserve
to die.
Who could
never say
you meant
it for evil
for there
was no
evil in
Jesus.
He did
no evil
and there
was none
in him.
He alone
of all
the human
beings who
have walked
the earth
did not
deserve
to die.
Yet he
the creator
of the world
was crucified
by his
creation.
He the author
of life
was beaten
mocked
and killed
by those
that he
gave life
to.
He the
sinless
righteous
one
who in
all of
history
alone
did not
deserve
to die
was accused
and executed
as a
common
criminal.
The greatest
evil
the greatest
wrong
that has
ever
happened
is the
death
of Jesus
Christ.
If you
are a
crusader
for injustice
in the world
hear this.
This is the
worst injustice
ever
that Jesus
would not
be
honored
and exalted
but instead
treated
with great
harshness
ultimately
being
crucified.
Not only
did this
great injustice
happen but
as Peter
says in
Acts 2
it happened
by the
definite
plan and
foreknowledge
of God.
God did
not send
Jesus to
try to make
the world
a better
place and
then suddenly
these evil
people
jumped out
and out
of his
control
and beyond
his plan
suddenly did
something that
completely derailed
his plan
and he had
to think
what do I do
now I guess
I'll raise
him from the
dead that
might help.
From the
very beginning
this was
God's plan.
And the
father and
the son
agreed upon
it before
the foundations
of the
earth
God
and Jesus
willingly
came
forsaking
the privilege
of being
God
himself
humbling
himself to
take on
human flesh
making
himself a
servant
and submitting
himself even
to the cross
for us.
for this
was the
greatest
good.
The
greatest
good that
God would
redeem for
himself out
of this
fallen broken
world that
deserves only
judgment for
the evil.
The evil that's
out there and
the evil that's
in our hearts.
God wanted to
bring something
good.
So he would
redeem a
people through
the death and
resurrection of
Christ.
What good is
there for us in
Jesus' death and
resurrection?
Let's think about
it for a minute.
First of all,
we have
forgiveness of
our sins.
Just like
Joseph's
brothers who
bore the
burden of
guilt and
therefore the
fear of
judgment throughout
their whole
lives.
So we,
knowing our
sin, bear
that burden of
guilt and a
fear of
judgment.
And God
comes and
he says,
I will do
for you what
you can't do
for yourself.
I will die in
your place and
take the
punishment for
you just as
Joseph suffered
for his
brothers.
Instead of
inflicting
vengeance, he
offers forgiveness,
freedom, welcome,
reconciliation.
You who don't
deserve it, come
back to me.
This is what God
says is a good
for us.
Secondly, he
brings reconciliation
with God and
adoption into his
family.
just as God
brought Joseph
and Jacob's
family back
into a unity
and into a
place of health
and prosperity
in Egypt.
So God in
Christ calls
all who believe
in him into
his family,
breaking down the
dividing wall,
not only between us
and God because of
our sin, but
between each other,
between Jew and
Gentile.
And he's made us
one people in
Christ and a
great family, a
family that will
be forever with
God.
Not only does he
bring us into
this reconciled
relationship with
God and with one
another, but he
gives us a purpose
in this world.
1 Peter 2, 9,
that we may
declare the
excellencies of
him who called
us out of
darkness into
his marvelous
light.
God is
that all
the things
of our
life, our
jobs, our
family, our
work, our
friendships, our
hobbies, that
were meant to be
blessings that we
so often look for
to give us meaning
and purpose and
significance in our
world.
God says, no, I've
already given you a
purpose.
It's to tell about
the great Savior who
has rescued you.
He will one day
come and
renew the world.
He's given us a
purpose like the
dying man who
finally found water
in the desert is
refreshed and ran
around for the rest
of his life saying,
do you know where
the water is?
It's here.
Come, find it.
Drink of it and
live.
The goodness of God
to us on the cross
is forgiveness,
it's reconciliation,
it's adoption,
it's purpose,
and it's hope.
God did not
abandon the
Egyptians.
He did not
abandon his
covenant people.
You meant this
for evil, but God
meant it for good,
for the saving of
many lives as you
see it now.
God, the hope
is that our lives
will be saved
because of Christ.
Death is no longer
the end, but the
beginning for all who
have put their hope
in Christ.
We don't need to
live to seek our
life just here,
but we can see that
the 70 years that we
have now are merely
a preparation for an
eternity of life with
God.
And our pain,
and our sickness,
and our trials,
no matter how deep
they are,
no matter how
overwhelming they
are,
they will not last.
The trial will not
be forever.
The evil that was
done to us will
not triumph.
God raised Christ
from the dead.
And one day,
Christ will return,
and He will make
all things new.
And He will redeem
this fallen,
broken world.
And when He does
it,
evil will be judged.
And we will see
goodness that we've
never seen before.
There will be no
more tears.
There will be no
more sorrow.
There will be no
more sickness.
There will be no
more suffering.
There will be no
more death.
that we will be
with the author
of life
forever.
So everything
we do now
is in preparation
for that ultimate
renewal that is
yet to come.
We have all we need.
2 Peter
says,
the apostle
writes this,
His divine power
has granted to us
all things that
pertain to life
and godliness
through the knowledge
of Him who called
us to His own glory
and excellence,
by which He has
granted to us
His precious
and very great
promises,
so that through
them you may
become partakers
of the divine
nature,
having escaped
from the corruption
that is in the
world because
of sinful
desire.
God has
granted to us
great and
precious promises.
His goodness
stands.
We look at the
cross and we look
at the empty tomb
and if the darkness
in your life is so
completely overwhelming,
if the evil
seems so great,
look there.
There is where
you can stand
in the midst
of it.
There is where
in the midst
of the storm
of your life
there is not
just
resigned
hope.
But there is
real hope.
God
needs it
for good.
He has
good for you.
And friends,
He may not
explain it to you.
He's not
answerable to us.
We don't always
get to see
in this life
what the good
is.
Friends,
I know He's
good.
and I stand
at the foot
of the cross
in front of you
and I know
that He is
there.
If you are here
this morning,
you are not
a believer
in Christ.
I want to urge
you.
I want you to
hear what I
have said.
hope.
I don't
hope there is
because I
don't honestly
know what
hope there is
outside of
Christ.
I don't
know what
will keep you
going when
it gets that
hard.
But I know
what God has
done in the
world.
I know what
God did in
Joseph's life
and I know
what God has
done at the
cross.
And I know
that there
is a refuge
and a hope.
So come to
Christ.
Believe today
in this God
who loved the
world so much
that He did not
abandon it but
entered into it
and endured the
greatest evil
ever for your
good.
For you who
have put your
faith in Christ
hold fast.
Hold fast
to what you
know.
Look again
and again
to the Savior
who loves you.
He's done good
for you.
God what
love have you
shown to us
that you
are God.
What amazing
grace you
have shown
to us.
Lord we
thank you.
We praise
you.
Even in the
worst
even in the
darkest
hours
you can
serve you
good.
It's not
just wishful
thinking.
It's not
just ignoring
the evil
because it's
true.
God
hopeless.
The worship
team is going
to come
and we're
going to
stand and
we're going
to sing a
song.
It's a song
of victory.
Now unto
the King
who reigns
over all
and never
changes or
turns.
Unfailing
justice
and
builders
are
willing
justice
and
мир
and
you