Thanks very much Fiona. Great to see another great hymn given the modern treatment. Some of these words, these old hymns are fantastic and it's really good when we can revive them.
Good evening everyone. We've come to the climax of the story of Joseph for quite a number of chapters now. We've been waiting for it to happen and thinking it would soon.
And now we're going to come to the end where Joseph and Jacob are reunited. The people settle in Egypt and they all live happily ever after.
It is happily until a pharaoh comes along who didn't remember Joseph.
Quite a lot to read so I'm not going to read the whole of chapters 45 and 46 but we will read enough to get the thread of it.
And if you have Bibles it would be really helpful because you can then follow the rest of it as we go through.
So Genesis 45 starting reading at verse 1.
And it says 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.
And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and the pharaoh's household heard about it.
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.
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.
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.
For two years now there has been famine in the land.
And for the next five years there will not be ploughing and reaping.
But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Now hurry back to my father and say to him, this is what your son Joseph says.
God has made me lord of all Egypt.
Come down to me.
Don't delay.
You shall live in the land in the region of Goshen and be near me.
You, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds and all that you have.
I will provide for you there because five years of famine are still to come.
Otherwise, you and all your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.
So Joseph sent his brothers on their way with Pharaoh's blessing.
We picked up again at verse 25.
Verse 25.
So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.
They told him, Joseph is still alive.
In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.
Jacob was stunned.
He did not believe them.
But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph
had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
And Israel said, I'm convinced.
My son Joseph is still alive.
I will go and see him before I die.
So Israel set out with all that was his.
And when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, Jacob, Jacob, here I am, he replied.
I am God, the God of your father, he said.
Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.
I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.
And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes.
And so they set off.
There's a long list of the people who went down to Egypt with Jacob.
And then if we pick up again at verse 29, verse 29, it said,
Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel.
As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
Israel said to Joseph, now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.
And God, I'm sure, will bless his word as we think about it together.
I want to start with a small experiment this evening.
It's very simple.
So, in a few moments, I'm going to put a word up on the screen,
and I want everyone to read it out loud straight away.
So, word goes on screen, speed read it, and say what you see.
So, here we go.
Good.
Well done, everybody.
You passed the test.
Can anyone see any other word?
Did everyone see good there?
Evil.
Evil, absolutely.
If you look at the white inside the black, you get evil spelt out as well.
And I guess that's what the beginning, at least, of the passage we're looking at this evening
is all about.
It's how you look at it.
If you look at the story of Joseph one way, you see great evil.
You see great malice and envy by his brothers.
You see others you go along who would want to do bad to him.
And he could have looked back and been really resentful about it, particularly to his family.
But Joseph looked back and he saw only good.
He saw that out of all the evil that had been done, God had worked together for good.
So, it depends how you look at it, whether it's good or evil.
I'm not promoting relative ethics or anything.
That's not what's good for you.
It's bad for me.
It is that sometimes that God allows things that are bad or that people have done that
are evil to us to be used ultimately for our good.
I'll let you work that one out for yourself.
But if we put something else underneath it to complete it, we can get the picture that
God's hands hold you and me.
We are all in God's hands.
God is directing our lives.
And that's what is the second big thing that's in this chapter.
Just looking at it as good or as evil and is recognizing God's hand, God's providence in our lives.
So, Joseph says twice to his brothers, God sent me ahead of you.
In fact, he does it almost again in verse 8.
In verse 8, he says, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
Looking at it in human terms, how did Joseph get to Egypt?
He got to Egypt because his brothers were jealous of him.
They put him in a pit and then they sold him to some Ishmaelite traders who took him and sold him as a slave in Egypt.
Joseph is able to look and he's able to say, actually what was happening?
Despite what you thought you were doing, ultimately God was fulfilling his purpose.
I think one of the great things we need to learn from the story of Joseph is that God's providence, God's provision for our lives is in everything that we do and we need to be willing to recognize it.
And sometimes we look back, look back at times that have been really, really difficult for us.
Perhaps look back at times when people have done some really bad things to us.
And we can say, actually out of that, God brought good.
So let's look in a little bit more detail at these first few verses of chapter 45.
So if you remember back to last week or two weeks ago when John was speaking to us, we were looking at the brothers coming to Egypt first time, second time.
And they have the silver in their sack the first time, second time Benjamin comes and they have Joseph's goblet in the sack.
And they're really worried about things.
They think we're in big trouble now, not to any fault of our own now, but it must be God revisiting on us the sins of the past.
And then at the end of chapter 44, we have Judah's great speech.
Judah who makes it clear to Joseph that he would rather, he was imprisoned and he took the punishment for what Benjamin was perceived to have done.
Then for them to go back without Benjamin and ultimately that might have led to just Jacob's death.
And that very emotional and very powerful appeal from Judah was what ultimately brought Joseph to the point of saying,
I now need to reveal myself to my brothers because they have shown to me that they really have changed.
Now what they did to me all these years ago, which was very wicked and very evil, they've repented of, they recognize the wrong of it.
And it's time now to move on and to put it behind us.
So at the start of chapter 45, Joseph gets very emotional as he's done a few times as we've gone through the last few chapters.
And he reveals himself to his brothers.
And he does it in a very emotional and also a very personal way.
So he says in verse 3, I am Joseph, is my father still living?
Now read that the first time and think, hasn't Joseph been listening?
Because his brothers have been talking about their father all along and they've made it very clear that their father is still alive.
Two things I think in that.
One is that Joseph here, instead of saying your father as he's done in the past, he now says my father.
It is a personal thing.
And the other thing is he's probably using some kind of idiom of the day.
So when he said, is your father still living?
Actually, what it probably was really meant to get the answer for is, is your father in good health?
Is he doing fairly well?
But he was asking after his father first and then he addresses them as, I am Joseph, your brother.
They hadn't wanted him as a brother.
They had been very jealous of him as a brother because of the concern, the care his father had for them.
He now wants to identify with them as your brother.
So a lot of human emotion going on here.
A family being reunited has been split for so long.
And reconciliation and forgiveness.
But the thing that's going on underneath and that is very important that we get out is this divine perspective.
God's providence, God using things for his glory.
And while Joseph recognises that the brothers had indeed sold him into Egypt,
and he doesn't try to gloss over that in any way,
he says what was actually going on here was that God was using your actions to fulfil his purposes.
You thought it was going to be bad.
God has made it turn out to be good.
And actually if you come to chapter 50, which we'll do in a couple of weeks' time,
and Joseph very explicitly says you meant evil, but God has worked it for good.
God uses the evil thing to bring good.
And the second thing I think is in these verses is how God saves through his servants.
Verse 5, it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
Verse 7, God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So God is working things for the benefit of his people.
And to do that, he is using someone who is willing to be his obedient servant
and who will then save others from the famine that they would have suffered.
Now, of course, we look at that and we think immediately about the Lord Jesus.
How evil men put the Lord to death, sentence him unjustly to be crucified.
And yet God made sure that that greatest of evil brought the greatest of good
as the Lord Jesus bought our salvation through his death on the cross.
God used the evil intention of men to fulfill his purposes and to bring good.
And, of course, he saved through his servant.
As he had sent Joseph into Egypt to be the saviour there,
particularly of his family, but actually of the whole nation of Egypt,
he sent his servant, the Lord Jesus, into the world to be the saviour of the world.
Well, let's think about it in more practical day-to-day terms.
What does it mean to be able to recognise God's providence in our daily lives?
How can it be that men plan something and they want it to go wrong
or perhaps things just seem to happen and somehow underlying it,
God is in control, God's hand is at work?
I used to play chess.
I kind of still know the rules of chess and don't play at all seriously anymore,
but occasionally I play chess against my computer.
I usually set a very low level so I can make a couple of really bad mistakes
and still have a chance of winning the game.
But if I turn up the level a bit and put it at a level which I know is a bit beyond what I'm capable of,
then I can be pretty sure that I'm going to be beaten.
It won't be that long before there's a checkmate.
If I do a good move, then the computer can respond to it by doing a better move.
If I do a bad move, the computer will take advantage of it
and make sure that it helps towards winning the game.
Whatever I do, the computer is able to respond to it and to work it for its purposes.
That's a very poor analogy in many ways, but in some ways I think it's quite helpful.
God doesn't restrict us in what we do.
God gives us free will and he gives us choices to do right or to do wrong.
And we can't say, I did evil because I knew that was going to fulfill God's purpose.
Of course, we couldn't do that.
And yet when things are done which are wrong and are evil and done often with bad intent,
when things just happen, when we do things perhaps carelessly or without thinking and things go wrong,
God can still use that to fulfill his purposes.
Ultimately, God is in control and God is able to take both the good and the bad that we do
and to use them to bring glory to his name and to bring good to us.
Joseph's case, he had a rather foolish father.
He had jealous brothers.
There was a lustful woman in Egypt.
There was a forgetful butler.
All of them going wrong.
And yet all of them ultimately moving towards God's purpose.
And so Joseph can see at the end of it that he, verse 8, he is the father of Pharaoh,
not literally the father of Pharaoh.
It was kind of a bit like being called Pope's chapter or something like that.
It was a position to help Pharaoh.
Father of Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, ruler of all Egypt.
And it had happened because God had worked in his life and the lives of those around him,
despite what people were doing that might have been bad for him.
This last week I've been thinking about the name Joni for obvious reasons.
Those of us of a certain vintage probably can remember two Jonis who were well known in the 70s, 80s,
and perhaps to an extent still these days.
One of them is the folk singer Joni Mitchell.
Joni Mitchell writes a number of very happy, cheerful songs,
but when she looks at life it tends to be often through a fairly gloomy lens.
Let me just read some lines that Joni Mitchell's written.
She says,
Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere, stormy weather.
Just can't get my poor self together.
I'm weary all the time, all the time.
And then maybe her best known song,
I've looked at life from both sides now.
From win and lose and still somehow,
it's life's illusions I recall.
I really don't know life at all.
Very gloomy perspective on the world,
but someone saying it doesn't make any sense,
I don't understand what's going on,
all I can see is the things that come up that appear okay,
and then suddenly they're not,
and I'm really not very happy with my lot in life.
The other Joni,
I think she likes to call herself Joni,
is Joni Erickson.
Joni Erickson, who amazingly is now 65.
Those of us who think of her as a kind of teenage girl,
she's well beyond that now.
Joni Erickson, when she was 17 years old,
was a carefree,
perhaps rather immature teenager,
I think she would have said that herself,
when she was in a very serious diving accident.
She broke her neck,
and she was paralysed from her shoulders down.
So she can move her face,
but nothing below that.
Despite that, she's gone on to be an artist,
an author, a speaker,
a recording artist,
and a number of other things as well.
She hasn't let what happened in her life
deflect her from enjoying a full and very fulfilled life.
Let me just read a few paragraphs from her first book,
the book that's called Joni,
which is one many of us no doubt have read.
And this is what she says.
I'm happy.
I really am.
I wouldn't change my life for anything.
I even feel privileged.
God doesn't give such special attention to everyone
and intervene that way in their lives.
He allows most people to go right on in their own ways.
He doesn't interfere,
even though he knows they're ultimately destroying
their lives, health, or happiness,
and it must grieve him terribly.
I'm really thankful he did something to get my attention
and change me.
Someone who has gone through something that for many of us
would be almost unimaginably bad,
and yet she looks back on it and she says,
this thing that seemed so bad to so many people,
this was God working for my good,
and also for the good of many others,
and through the tremendous witness
that she's had to God's power in her life.
When we look back,
do we see bad or good?
If there's someone that you've had a problem with,
someone has perhaps done wrong to you in the past,
do you look back with bitterness
and with anger at that
and what they've done to you,
or are you able to see how God,
even in these circumstances,
can work and can do things for your good?
If there's something that's gone wrong,
perhaps it's not been someone doing something bad,
it's just something that has happened,
as in the case of Johnny,
can you look back and say,
yes, that was really hard?
Perhaps it's illness, bereavement,
a problem with the family,
anything like that,
can you look back and say,
that was really bad?
But in a sense, it was really good,
because God was working,
and God was able to help me through it.
It's very easy to quote Romans 8,
and say,
God works everything for the good of those who love him,
who are called according to his purpose.
And we would say,
yes, we believe that,
that is what we believe is the case.
When it comes down to our own lives,
when we look back,
and when we see things that have caused real hurt,
perhaps real pain in our lives,
can we look back and say,
God has helped me in that,
and actually it has been for my benefit
that I went through that time of trial.
And if we're in the time of trial at the moment,
if there are things that are happening to us
we don't understand,
perhaps there are people who seem to be so against us,
and we can't understand why it is happening that way,
can we at least be able to say,
well, I trust God.
I trust that God's hand is on my life,
and I want to remain faithful to him,
and look back someday,
and be able to see the bigger picture,
and see how God was at work.
Where there is evil,
where there are bad things that happen,
nevertheless,
God can and does work them for our good,
and we can ultimately look back and say,
yes, that was God at work.
His hand was on my life.
Time's moving on,
so let's move on and look at the remainder of chapter 45,
and I've given the heading,
Reflecting God's Priority.
Chapter 45 is all about grace.
It's all about grace.
It's all about the grace that Joseph showed
to his brothers and to his father,
and there are so many lessons in it
about the grace that God shows to us,
and the grace that we should show to others,
even though they don't deserve it.
So what are the components of grace
that we see here in the life of Joseph?
Well, first of all, there's forgiveness.
There is the forgiveness for his brothers
that he can say to them,
yes, you did a terrible thing,
but God's worked it for good,
so let's put it behind us.
Let's not worry about it now.
And the ability to be able to forgive others
who do us wrong
is very basic for any Christian.
As we look at the forgiveness
that the Lord Jesus has shown to us,
shouldn't we far more be willing to forgive
the little things that may be done against us?
And to forgive and forgive and forgive,
remember the Lord Jesus,
70 times 7,
we should forgive the brother who sins against us.
And it's not just a superficial thing,
say, I forgive you,
and then we allow things to move on,
and actually we haven't really forgiven them,
and we are still resentful about it.
It is as they recognise the wrong that they've done,
as Joseph's brothers did,
and they didn't do this until he's convinced
that they did recognise the wrong,
as people recognise the wrong
and are willing to repent of it before God
and to acknowledge it before us,
then we should be willing to forgive them
and to put it completely behind us.
And part of the putting it behind us
is a real acceptance of them.
Joseph could have forgiven his brothers,
given them grain,
said, go back, take it away,
don't want to see you again,
but because you're my brothers,
because you repented,
then here's the food that you'll need.
But Joseph didn't want to do that.
He wanted to be reunited as a family,
to accept those who had rejected him,
and to show them that greater grace
that was evident in the way he acted towards them.
And again, if someone has done us wrong,
then we should be willing not just to forgive,
but to accept them.
So it's not you say to them,
I forgive you,
and then every time you see them in church,
you run in the opposite direction
to avoid having to talk to them.
It's forgiving and restoring relationships
and accepting one another.
Third thing was evidence of Joseph's grace,
was the great generosity
that he showed to his brothers.
That he gave them and the family
this wonderful land in Goshen,
this land which was ideal for them
as farming people
and as shepherds and cattle minders.
He gave them that land,
he gave them gifts,
he gave them clothes.
Ironic, when they had taken the coat
of many colours off his back,
that he gave them suits of clothes
to take away.
And there was nothing that was too much
for Joseph to give to his brothers.
Again, grace is not just forgiving,
it's not just even accepting,
it's showing the generosity
of the Lord Jesus to others.
And then there was the assurance
that Joseph gave to them.
Assurance that they'd be welcome back,
but there was one other verse
that I thought was quite helpful
in that when Joseph says to his brothers,
when you go on the way,
don't argue with one another.
Verse 34, 24 sorry.
He sent his brothers away
and as they were leaving,
he said to them,
don't quarrel on the way.
Now that sounds like a bit of a
school teacher type lecturer
or mum or dad saying,
don't have a fight together kids.
I think what it actually means,
the word originally meant something like
don't be troubled,
don't be agitated.
It might be he was urging them
not to quarrel with themselves
over who had been at fault
or whatever else.
But perhaps what he was thinking
is don't be worried
that what's happened
the last couple of times
you've left Egypt
is going to happen to you again.
That you'll find something
that shouldn't be there
or someone will come after you
and they'll find that someone
apparently has stolen something from you.
So nothing of that kind
is going to happen.
Don't worry about being accepted
when you come back to me.
This is not any kind of trick.
I have really accepted you.
I want to assure you
of my forgiveness.
Now, as we said,
that message didn't really get home
because if you come on
to after Jacob's death,
Joseph's brothers are really worried.
Now our father's died.
He's going to have all this
pent up anger in him
and he's going to punish us
for the wrong that we've done.
And Joseph again had to reassure them.
But if we have grace
towards one another,
if we are willing to forgive,
to accept,
to be generous,
people need to have the assurance
that we're doing it genuinely
and we're not suddenly
going to change our minds.
And why should we show this grace?
Well, it's because God has done for us
exactly the things
that are up there on the screen.
God has forgiven us
for all these terrible sins
that we've done,
these wrongs against him
through the death of the Lord Jesus
and our trust in him.
We have complete forgiveness.
God has accepted us.
It's not just that he said,
okay, I forgive you
for all the wrong you've done.
He has adopted us as his children.
He has made us his ears,
joint ears with the Lord Jesus.
He has given us
an inheritance in Christ.
He has been generous to us,
generous in the many,
many blessings
he gives us in this world.
Generous too in the prospect
that we have
that one day
we will go to be
with the Lord forever
and things will be
so much better for us
as the trials of this life
are behind us.
And he gives us that assurance.
He's given us the Holy Spirit,
the deposit,
and for what will one day be ours
to give us that assurance
that we really do belong
to the Lord Jesus,
that we are his,
and that we can have his help
and his protection
in our lives.
As God has shown grace to us,
let's also show grace
to one another.
Moving on quickly,
we're having to move
fairly quickly this evening.
Let's look at the opening verses
of chapter 46.
I call this
Receiving God's Promise.
And this is God
appearing in a vision
to Jacob.
Why did God appear
in a vision to Jacob?
Well, Jacob maybe needed
reassurance that what he was doing
was the right thing.
Remember when Abraham
went down to Egypt
in the time of famine
and got into real difficulties there
as he pretended
that Sarah was his sister.
Remember the Lord
appeared to Isaac
and said to him,
don't go down
into Egypt.
And perhaps Jacob
would be wondering,
well, if God was so
against my grandfather
and my father
going to Egypt,
is it the right thing
that I should go?
And I think he was
getting reassurance from God,
God telling him,
yes, it is the right thing
to do.
Let me look at the verses.
The first thing we learn
is about God's character.
God appears
four times
to Jacob.
Interesting,
we have no recorded
instances of God
appearing in this way
to Joseph.
Appearing to Abraham,
to Isaac,
to Jacob,
and although he gave
Joseph wisdom
and discernment,
he didn't in that sense
appear to him.
But four times
God appeared to Joseph
as recorded in Scripture.
First time was at Bethel,
Joseph is running away,
he's using a stone
as his pillow,
and he sees the angels
going up and down
into heaven.
And God appears
to him that time
to give him the assurance
that the covenant
will be fulfilled
through him.
That his descendants
will become
like the dust
of the earth.
That what has been
promised to Abraham
and to Isaac
is also promised
to Jacob.
And as the Lord
appears to Jacob
at that point,
he introduces himself
as the Lord
and probably know
if you get the Lord
in capital letters
in the Old Testament,
the word is Yahweh.
It's the personal name
of God.
That's how he introduces
himself to Jacob
as the Yahweh,
as the personal God
of Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob
and the covenant.
Chapter 31.
Jacob has gone
to be with Laban,
his uncle.
He's met his match
in terms of someone
who could scheme
and deceive others.
And things have begun
to go a bit bad
because Jacob's been
very successful
and Laban's family
are not very happy
about it.
God appears to Jacob
again,
introduces himself
as the God
of Bethel,
reminding Jacob
of what he had had
in that vision
in the past
and he says to Jacob,
now go back
to where you came from.
So again,
taking Jacob
in one situation
and saying,
now it's time
to move on
and go somewhere else.
chapter 35,
Jacob has been
reunited
with Esau,
he's wrestled
with God
at Peniel
and at Bethel
God appears
to him again
and introduces himself
as El Shaddai,
God Almighty.
And that's the point
at which God says,
your name is no longer
Jacob,
the deceiver,
your name is Israel,
the one who struggled
with God.
Again,
a key point
in Jacob's life
that God says,
you're a new person,
you're changed now,
you're now Israel,
you're now the father
of the nation.
And number four here,
God appears to Jacob
at Beersheba
and he introduces himself
as God
of your father.
Now part of the significance
of that
is that many years before
God had appeared
to Isaac
and introduced himself
in exactly the same way
and actually said
many of the same words
that he said to Jacob.
I am the God
of your father,
he was the God
of Abraham,
of Isaac,
and of Jacob
and as I say
in this case
his purpose
is to reassure Jacob
that he is doing
the right thing
in going to Egypt.
A bit of a diversion there
but I thought it was
quite interesting
at least to me.
Second thing
God talks about here
is his covenant.
He says,
do not be afraid
to go down to Egypt
for I will make you
a great nation
there.
So again,
God is appearing
to Jacob
he is reiterating
the promise
that he has given
in the past
to Jacob
and to his ancestors
and saying
my covenant
with you
still stands.
The fact that you're
going down to Egypt
and you're going
to a different place
you're going away
from the land of promise
that doesn't change
the fact
that I am your God
that your family
will be my people
that my covenant
is with you
you will be
a great nation.
And then finally
God promises
his company
God promises
that he will go
with Jacob
I will go down
to Egypt
with you
and I will surely
bring you
back
again.
Jacob hasn't been
sent to Egypt
to get away from God
or to be separate
from God
God will be with him
every step of the way
and God will make sure
not just Jacob
who would be buried
in the promised land
but all his descendants
under Moses
and Joshua
would come back
and would reclaim
the land again.
Here is God
giving his promises
again to Jacob
and saying
I am faithful
what I have promised
I will fulfill
and I will fulfill it
through my way
and my way at present
is for you
to go down
to Egypt.
God again
doesn't appear to us
in visions
in that sense
but God
through the promises
of scripture
and through what he says
to us
through his word
he does reassure us
as he calls us
into service
or into different areas
of life
and we can rely
absolutely
on God's promises
and on his faithfulness
as we are
obedient
to him.
If we are willing
to go where God says
to do what God
tells us to
then we can be sure
that God will work it
for our good
and his faithfulness
will be evident
in everything
that we do.
Finally
we are not going to look
at chapter 46
in any detail at all
but chapter 46
really is about
the Israelites
and children of Jacob
going down to Egypt
and it is the start
of the great nation.
It is the start
of God's people
becoming
a great
people.
Now we have to say
there is not
very promising
material
that God is
working with here.
There are 70 of them.
They are going down
to the land of Egypt
which no matter
there are hundreds
of thousands
if not millions
of people
living in it.
They would be
a tiny, tiny proportion
of the people
of Israel
very weak
in number
not in that sense
very strong
in the land
obviously Joseph
had great influence
but God's people
were very weak
in their number.
They were also
weak in reputation
there is a bit
at the end
of the chapter
we didn't read
and it follows
through into
chapter 47
which is about
the Israelites
Jacob's family
being shepherds
and Joseph
says to them
say to Pharaoh
you're shepherds
and I think
the idea was
that because
they were shepherds
because the Egyptians
despised shepherds
for whatever reason
whether it was
social class
or religious reasons
whatever
it says
the Egyptians
despised shepherds
and therefore
they wouldn't want
them as part
of the general
Egyptian society
and Cairo
wherever the capital
was
and they would be
quite happy
for them to have
an area of the land
that was theirs
and to be there
and to grow there
but to the people
of Egypt
those nomadic
people coming down
among them
they were not
those they would
want to look up to
they were just
shepherds
they were just
people who found
the land
and in the great
sophisticated land
of Egypt
they were seen
as being nothing
and of course
they were weak
in character
don't need to tell you
after all these weeks
they've been going
through the story
of the weakness
of Jacob
and of many
of his son
some of the
little subplots
that we've gone through
as we've gone through
these chapters
which just saw
how weak
and in many ways
how ungodly
Jacob and some
of his family
were
weak in number
weak in reputation
weak in character
and yet God
took them
and he made
them strong
how did he make
them strong
he made them strong
first of all
by bringing them
together
now if you think
of the history
of Abraham
and of his family
it is of
sons separating
and going their
different ways
Isaac and Ishmael
Jacob and Esau
and so on
they all set up
their own
little clans
they travelled
around independently
they had a
nomadic existence
and in the normal
scheme of things
that may well have
happened to Jacob's
sons as well
they were split up
they had their own
little families
they would never
have become
a great nation
as they are brought
to Egypt
as they are given
an area of their
own
where they can
live together
where they can
belong together
so they are able
to grow
into the great
nation
that Moses
ultimately would
lead out of
Egypt
and those who
were weak
at the beginning
because God
blessed them
and because God
helped them
in Egypt
as they were
together
as one people
they grew
into a great
and mighty nation
as God had promised
to Abraham
Isaac
and Jacob
and they were
strong through
the gifting
that they had
directly through
the land
that they were
given
a land
that was
ideally suited
for an
agricultural
lifestyle
for raising
livestock
and so on
they were
given the
ideal circumstances
through the
gift that was
given by
Joseph
or ultimately
by Pharaoh
and where they
were able to
settle
and to
prosper
well the application
is obvious
isn't it
God takes
those who
are weak
today still
we can number
a very small
proportion
of the total
population
of our land
and around
the world
would be
evangelical
Christians
who truly
know the
Lord Jesus
and love him
we can reputation
you go into
the world
what does it
think of the
church
it thinks
it's only
interest in
sex
and the role
of women
and not much
else
because we
really
in this
country
the church
isn't seen
as being
something
dynamic
and that
is really
relevant
to modern
society
we can
character
yes we
all are
aren't we
we're all
just sinful
people
brought by
the grace
of God
into his
family
but still
with many
many issues
each of us
God has
taken those
who are weak
and yet he
makes us
strong
we're strong
when we're
united
we're strong
when we work
together
when all of us
who are different
come together
in the Lord's
church
and work together
building one
another up
it's Ephesians
and Ephesians
4
building up
the body
of Christ
as each
of us
uses
what the
Lord has
given us
what the
Lord has
given us
includes the
gifts that he
has given to
each one of us
which we should
use to
encourage and
strengthen one
another
and to build
the church
of the Lord
Jesus
at Brunsfield
our time's gone
so just a reminder
of the four key
things we've talked
about
we've talked
about recognizing
God's providence
of seeing God's
hand in our
lives
that even
what appears
to be bad
and may have
been intended
for bad
God can turn
to good
we thought of
reflecting God's
priority
the grace that
God has shown
to us
the grace that
Jacob
that Joseph
showed to his
brothers
the grace that
we should be
willing to show
to one another
we thought of
receiving God's
promise as
God reassured
Jacob of what
was happening
reiterated the
promise to him
God's promises
to us are
faithful as well
and we thought
of reviving
God's people
that weak
little group
that went
to Egypt
and which
grew into
a great
nation
that weak
little group
that has come
to know and
trust the Lord
Jesus
and yet which
the Lord
Jesus is
building into
a nation
of priests
that is
building into
his people
that bring glory
to his name
and that
ultimately will
be with him
forever
let's rejoice
in what we've
seen in the
life of Jacob
and Joseph
and let's
take it away
and let's
demonstrate these
things in our
own lives
let's just pray
together
Father we thank
you for your
word to us
we thank you
for Joseph
and for the
example that he
gives us
we thank you
in many ways
he is a picture
of the Lord
Jesus
someone who
was rejected
someone who
lived in
your way
someone who
ultimately
saved his
people
thank you for
the grace
that he showed
to his
brothers
those who
had treated
him so
badly
and yet
he had
nothing but
love and
concern for
him
and thank you
that that
reflects what
the Lord
Jesus has
done for
us
that he was
treated so
badly by
men
and yet as
he died on
the cross
he took the
punishment for
the wrong
that we have
done
we do thank
you for
your boundless
grace in
our lives
and pray that
we too may
have grace
for others
when they
fail
we thank
you for
your presence
as we've
worshipped
together
and as we've
considered your
word
pray for your
blessing on us
as we part
now in the
name of the
Lord Jesus
Christ
Amen
to comment
have
to
celebrate