back to index2021-02-14 Joseph, A Man Hated Because He Was Loved
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If you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews 11, verse 22. 00:00:08.320 |
We're going to go back into Hebrews one verse at a time. 00:00:29.680 |
Reading out of the NASB, "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus 00:00:33.680 |
of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones." 00:00:39.560 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would anoint this word, that your sheep may hear your voice 00:00:49.040 |
Help us, Lord God, to give you worship that you are pleased with. 00:00:56.960 |
Some of you guys know that our church's 24th anniversary is coming up. 00:01:11.120 |
What caused you to want to plant the church?" 00:01:14.080 |
Our church was not a typical church plant because there was no planning involved. 00:01:21.120 |
It just kind of happened because the church that I used to serve at in Irvine, I left 00:01:28.920 |
the church for about a year and I got a phone call and they said that they don't have a 00:01:34.200 |
pastor here and we need you to come back and help us. 00:01:36.160 |
So I went really to kind of fill in the gap, hoping to help out. 00:01:41.320 |
And then once I got there, the new pastor on the Korean side had a vision that we didn't 00:01:49.800 |
And there's a lot of different things that happened, but we didn't want to leave. 00:01:54.520 |
We couldn't leave because we just had a newborn child at home, an infant, and our church members, 00:02:02.420 |
we had maybe one working person at the time, and our offering could not sustain us because 00:02:08.880 |
the people who were with us in the very beginning, they were actually, who are still here, they 00:02:12.560 |
were actually, most of them were still high school students. 00:02:15.200 |
So they were juniors in high school and those juniors in high school are now turning 40 00:02:21.840 |
So we were a very young church and there's no way anybody in their right mind would plant 00:02:27.880 |
And so that's exactly what my friends were saying, "Peter, what are you doing?" 00:02:31.760 |
You know, and again, we didn't plant this church because we wanted to, you know, our 00:02:35.840 |
typically when you plant the church, you know, you plan and you have, you know, you have 00:02:41.080 |
the core members that you get together, you have some funding, what's our doctrinal statement, 00:02:46.160 |
what are our bylaws, what denomination are we a part of? 00:02:49.600 |
And so all of these things are planned and then you execute and you hope to reach these 00:02:53.800 |
people with this kind of thing and none of that happened in our church, you know. 00:02:58.280 |
So whenever you plant something, you make sure that you got the soil ready, you got 00:03:01.560 |
the feed ready, you know, and then you water it and you make sure it's out in the sun and 00:03:06.000 |
you get enough rays and then you go and check up on it. 00:03:09.640 |
Like for us, our church plant was kind of like taking a seed and just throwing it out 00:03:13.360 |
the window and then expecting it to die and then on the way back, we realized, "Huh, they 00:03:20.880 |
That's kind of like the, that was kind of like the genesis of our church. 00:03:24.560 |
And so we got planted out of necessity, just not trying to die. 00:03:30.680 |
And first year that we had our church retreat was about six years into the church because, 00:03:36.800 |
you know, obviously I was busy taking care of our family and I had to get an extra job 00:03:40.040 |
to pay for bills because the church couldn't sustain us in the beginning. 00:03:44.000 |
And so for the first six to seven years, we were really just on a survival mode. 00:03:49.680 |
And it was a running joke in the church that whenever one person visited our church, it's 00:03:54.160 |
like revival, you know, because nobody knew who we were, you know. 00:04:03.080 |
You know, and I remember being so frustrated. 00:04:08.680 |
And so that's kind of how our church started. 00:04:11.440 |
It's been 24 years that our church has, you know, like come this far. 00:04:17.040 |
And you know, if you ask us the first five or six years of the church, I don't know how 00:04:21.120 |
many times we thought we're not going to make it. 00:04:25.080 |
And I was so tempted to, like, I can't do this anymore. 00:04:29.000 |
I got three kids, you know, and it's just not going to happen. 00:04:32.800 |
But in the totality, 24 years looking back, obviously God's hand was upon it. 00:04:40.760 |
And if anybody asked me, like, "What did you do in the early church?" 00:04:44.000 |
And the only thing I can give you is I didn't quit. 00:04:48.880 |
There wasn't like, "Oh, you know, we sought God and we did this." 00:04:52.640 |
We just didn't want to die, really, in the early church. 00:04:56.260 |
And so clearly, as difficult as the beginning was, God's been faithful. 00:05:00.480 |
And I know that there are, you know, people that I can think of throughout the years that 00:05:04.280 |
came to faith as a result of us just persevering through all of it, you know. 00:05:10.100 |
And the reason why I share all of this is because it made me think about Joseph. 00:05:13.720 |
Obviously, you know, nowhere near what Joseph's experienced, but Joseph, the man of faith, 00:05:18.880 |
his whole life can be summed up in what his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. 00:05:27.700 |
We typically think that when bad things are happening, we say, "Well, is that from God 00:05:35.460 |
Because we naturally think if it is evil, then God's not there. 00:05:40.640 |
And if we think that God's in control and God's doing this, then we automatically think 00:05:46.900 |
But from our own personal experience and from what we see in Scripture, what may have been 00:05:58.560 |
And so evil and God's goodness is working simultaneously at the same time. 00:06:03.900 |
And so we talk about the sovereignty of God, and I don't think anybody has a problem pointed 00:06:08.620 |
to God's sovereignty when we look back in our life, in history, right? 00:06:12.880 |
In the past tense, God orchestrated this and this is how I met my wife and God brought 00:06:17.620 |
me to this and God, you know, allowed me to be a part of this. 00:06:21.440 |
And so even if you're an Armenian, you'll look back and say, "Oh, clearly God directed 00:06:26.960 |
But our problem is not past tense, it's future tense, right? 00:06:30.840 |
Do we believe in the sovereignty of God in the present? 00:06:35.200 |
Whatever is happening now, do you understand that a sovereign God that you worship is in 00:06:38.960 |
control and that whatever happened in the past, whatever happened is in the future, 00:06:43.880 |
that whatever was meant for evil, God means it for good. 00:06:46.880 |
Just like it says in Romans 8.28, "God causes all things to work together for good for those 00:06:52.080 |
who have been called according to his purpose." 00:06:55.040 |
There's no better example of that than Joseph's life. 00:06:58.000 |
Hebrews chapter 11.22 says, "By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of Exodus 00:07:03.880 |
of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones." 00:07:06.880 |
Now if you look at that verse, if you know anything about Joseph's life, that doesn't 00:07:16.720 |
There's so many things that we can talk about and we're going to get to it in a minute. 00:07:20.680 |
But of all the things that Joseph went through, in fact, 13 chapters of the book of Genesis 00:07:29.480 |
And of all the things that the author could have highlighted, he said, "When he was dying, 00:07:34.480 |
he made mention of the Exodus and then about his bones." 00:07:39.720 |
I'm not going to answer that until we get to the very end. 00:07:43.600 |
So the point of this sermon is really going to be at the end. 00:07:46.200 |
But in order to understand the impact of what he's saying here, I think it's good for us 00:07:52.680 |
So if you look at the first part of Joseph's life in Genesis 37, up to 17 years of his 00:08:00.700 |
He was the youngest child of Jacob and the scripture says that he was beloved by him. 00:08:07.480 |
Imagine, he grew up in a family that was filthy rich because God blessed Jacob and he was 00:08:15.360 |
In fact, if you look at Joseph's life, there is really nothing negative mentioned about 00:08:21.360 |
The only negative mentioned that we see is in chapter 27, maybe verse 3, it says, "And 00:08:28.000 |
Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father." 00:08:31.520 |
Meaning that as he was working out in the field, and that in and of itself isn't bad 00:08:37.640 |
Maybe the brothers were cheating other people, right? 00:08:40.380 |
Maybe they were doing something negative and say, "You know, my dad needs to know about 00:08:44.320 |
And this is the only negative mention about Joseph. 00:08:48.480 |
The very next part says, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was 00:08:53.080 |
the son of his old age and made him a varicolored tunic." 00:08:57.920 |
You know, that wasn't very wise of Jacob, right? 00:09:01.680 |
Not only did he love him, he put on, you know, multicolor, you know, the tunic over him so 00:09:07.280 |
that his brothers every time, not only were they jealous of him, he highlights him, right? 00:09:12.280 |
It's almost kind of like putting, you know, like a, like fluorescent light on him so wherever 00:09:17.520 |
he moves, there's that kid, right, that our dad loves more than us and he made it very 00:09:26.760 |
And it says, 37, 4-3-8, the author of the book of Genesis wants to make it clear how 00:09:36.600 |
And the reason why he was hated was because he was so loved. 00:09:41.560 |
Starting from verse 4, "His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers 00:09:46.580 |
and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms." 00:09:58.880 |
It wasn't bad enough for him to be walking around with a multicolored tunic and they 00:10:03.680 |
couldn't stand his presence because for whatever reason, Jacob made it very open that that 00:10:09.720 |
was his favorite child, Joseph on top of that has this dream. 00:10:18.440 |
But you know, if anything that it's a flaw of Joseph is he seems a little bit oblivious. 00:10:24.920 |
His brothers hate him and they're jealous of him and he has this multicolored tunic 00:10:33.880 |
And he's excited to tell them about this dream. 00:10:35.680 |
He said, "For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheave rose up and 00:10:40.660 |
also stood erect and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheave." 00:10:46.680 |
I don't know what he was thinking if he thought his brother was like, "What? 00:10:54.800 |
And his brother said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us or are you really going 00:11:00.360 |
So they hated him even more for his dreams, for his words. 00:11:05.760 |
They said they couldn't speak to him like normal. 00:11:09.480 |
And then he tells them this dream on top of that and he said, "Man, on top of that," 00:11:22.160 |
He has a dream where even the sun and the moon is bowing down and he tells this to his 00:11:26.720 |
And his father, as much as he loved his son, he said, "Dad, are you serious? 00:11:31.520 |
Not only are you going to rule over your brothers, you're going to have us bow down before you?" 00:11:38.520 |
And then it says, verse 11, "His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept this 00:11:46.020 |
Even though he rebuked him, he said, "Could that possibly be from God?" 00:11:50.800 |
Because Jacob knows from his own life experience, could this be from God? 00:11:59.760 |
Because Jacob was so hated, his brothers are off and taking care of the land and he's there 00:12:06.160 |
by himself and his father said, "Hey, Jacob, instead of just, you know, moping around at 00:12:12.600 |
So not only is Joseph oblivious, it seems like even Jacob is a little bit oblivious, 00:12:19.360 |
He doesn't realize that he's sending his beloved son to his brothers who just could not stand 00:12:24.520 |
So he follows and his brothers have a plan that when he comes, they wanted to actually 00:12:32.080 |
They hated him so much, they wanted him gone. 00:12:34.720 |
The only reason why Joseph survives is his oldest brother decides that it's not a good 00:12:46.320 |
So he said, "You know, I suggest that we dig a hole and put him in there," you know, with 00:12:51.440 |
the plan that maybe after his brother's angers have subsided or he can come back at night 00:12:57.600 |
But by the time Reuben comes back, the brothers have sold him off to the Islamites and the 00:13:03.200 |
Midianites and then they end up selling him to Potiphar, the captain of the guard in Egypt. 00:13:13.080 |
And so his life of misery starts after he has that dream, you know, because he was loved 00:13:20.280 |
by his father, because he was targeted by God's covenant love. 00:13:26.640 |
You would think that after he has this dream, the next stage of his life would be glory. 00:13:31.800 |
Instead, this 17-year-old ends up oblivious, being sold into slavery, and he wakes up again 00:13:43.040 |
I can understand as an old man, you lived your life and you find out, so you're going 00:13:48.160 |
And that's what I noticed, that the older I get, things don't bother me as much, you 00:13:53.120 |
I remember the first time the doctor told me that I shouldn't be playing basketball anymore. 00:13:56.960 |
Because basketball, outside of ministry, basketball was the only other thing that I gave my life 00:14:05.240 |
So when they said, "No more basketball," I felt like, "I'm done. 00:14:11.080 |
But the older I get, bad news I get, I say, "Okay, I'll ride that out." 00:14:16.400 |
I live longer than I'm going to live, so, you know, it's okay, it's no big deal. 00:14:23.640 |
This guy just started his life, so even a year for him is a long period of time. 00:14:28.520 |
So imagine Joseph living as the precious child of the covenant, you know, recipient, his 00:14:36.320 |
father, a rich home, all of a sudden because of his hatred, wakes up as a slave, as a result 00:14:48.120 |
You would think that he'd wake up just bitter and angry. 00:14:53.440 |
But this is how he's described in Genesis 39 to 2 to 6. 00:15:01.920 |
After being sold into slavery, after his brothers wanted to kill him, in the very next stage 00:15:06.920 |
of his life as a slave, the Lord was with him. 00:15:12.840 |
Who would ever think that the Lord was with him? 00:15:14.680 |
If the Lord was with him, he wouldn't be in this situation. 00:15:18.600 |
If the Lord was with him, that doesn't look like glory. 00:15:25.320 |
So he became a successful man and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 00:15:30.160 |
Now his master saw the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper 00:15:35.360 |
Not only was Joseph clear that the Lord was with him, even his master saw that. 00:15:40.760 |
Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant and he made him overseer 00:15:44.520 |
over his house and all that he owned he put in his charge. 00:15:47.560 |
It came about that from that time he made him overseer in his house and over all that 00:15:53.200 |
The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph. 00:15:56.200 |
Because the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. 00:16:00.680 |
So he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge and with him there he did not concern 00:16:04.780 |
himself with anything except the food which he ate. 00:16:07.400 |
So if you look at that, it's pretty clear that the author is trying to tell us how blessed 00:16:21.120 |
Now if you didn't know where he came from, if he was a born slave and he's being elevated 00:16:27.640 |
in Potter's house, Potiphar's house, we would agree with that. 00:16:32.160 |
But in the context in which he came here, who would say he was blessed? 00:16:38.480 |
And I think any one of us would look at his situation and say, "Lord, if you are with 00:16:45.400 |
See, what they meant for evil, God is working good simultaneously. 00:17:00.200 |
He was sold as a slave but he remained faithful, therefore God elevated him and he became the 00:17:08.200 |
And this is a very rich, prominent man in Egypt. 00:17:12.360 |
However, as rich as Jacob is, they're still nomads. 00:17:19.200 |
Compared to this top official in Egypt, they're still poor. 00:17:24.040 |
But he became the right hand man and everything he did, he just left it all up to him. 00:17:28.560 |
He said, "Oh, now the dream is being fulfilled." 00:17:32.120 |
You would think that's what happens but that's not what happens. 00:17:34.280 |
You know what happens in chapter 39 verse 6, Potiphar's wife gets in the picture. 00:17:44.200 |
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 00:17:51.800 |
If you live in this fallen world, being handsome is a curse. 00:18:01.100 |
He said he was handsome in form and appearance. 00:18:04.400 |
In form and appearance, he's not talking about just your physical appearance. 00:18:07.680 |
In fact, the word for handsome, it's a generic word for being beautiful because the way we 00:18:12.920 |
say handsome, we're typically talking about someone's appearance. 00:18:16.760 |
But word for handsome really is more of a generic word meaning beautiful. 00:18:21.800 |
And the reason why he says he was beautiful in form and appearance is like saying he was 00:18:28.160 |
And I remember back in college, one of the best dating advice that I got from somebody, 00:18:32.320 |
he says don't look for good-looking people, look for attractive people. 00:18:39.080 |
And so the difference is a good-looking person, if they're not attractive inside, eventually 00:18:46.360 |
And then you meet somebody who's very attractive inside, eventually they start looking beautiful. 00:19:04.400 |
And Otterfer's wife notices this and she starts lusting after him and literally begs him to 00:19:14.480 |
And the scripture says that she kept on doing it over and over. 00:19:17.880 |
She was literally desperate and begging him and he was able to resist, right? 00:19:24.280 |
Now, some people may think maybe he was resisting because her eyesight was not good. 00:19:31.600 |
If you don't know what I'm saying, read the previous chapters, okay? 00:19:37.520 |
Maybe she wasn't that attractive, maybe her eyesight wasn't that good. 00:19:41.920 |
This is Potterfer's wife, a very rich, prominent man, so I'm pretty sure that she was very 00:19:47.600 |
attractive and maybe part of the reason why she was so frustrated was because she probably 00:19:54.960 |
Well, she gets so frustrated and she keeps going but he resists. 00:20:00.200 |
And this is what Joseph says in response in verse 9. 00:20:04.600 |
There's no one greater in this house than I and he has withheld nothing from me except 00:20:11.280 |
How then could I do this great evil sin against who? 00:20:21.560 |
He's here because he had that dream, because his father loved him. 00:20:25.800 |
And so you would think that he'd be bitter and angry, right? 00:20:30.400 |
Even though he's been elevated, he says he's still concerned because of his loyalty to 00:20:40.040 |
Remember, he's a young man just like any other young man with a pretty powerful wife and 00:20:51.200 |
He's a captain of the bodyguard, you know, the pharaoh's bodyguard. 00:20:54.680 |
My guess is that guy's probably never home, right? 00:20:58.520 |
His life, he's already on the top of the hill and he can have whatever he wants but instead 00:21:04.560 |
because of his loyalty, because of his righteousness, he gets targeted. 00:21:10.560 |
Potiphar's wife gets so frustrated and then she makes up a story that this Hebrew came 00:21:17.880 |
And because of his righteousness, because of his loyalty, he ends up going to prison. 00:21:24.720 |
But look what it says about him being in prison. 00:21:27.600 |
Verse 21, "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him." 00:21:33.640 |
I mean, I understand, okay, the first one, we'll sweep that under the rug. 00:21:39.520 |
But then now he's in prison and he's there for 12 years. 00:21:47.240 |
Now 12 years for somebody who's older doesn't seem that long, right? 00:21:54.400 |
For a 17, 18-year-old kid, 12 years is pretty much his life. 00:22:00.640 |
He's putting there 12 years but he said, "The Lord was with Joseph." 00:22:04.280 |
Again, if we don't know the full story, we may look at that and say, "How can the author 00:22:10.480 |
possibly say that that was God's kindness on him and gave him favor in the sight of 00:22:16.160 |
The chief jailer committed to Joseph charge of all the prisoners who were in jail so that 00:22:20.880 |
whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. 00:22:24.320 |
The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was 00:22:30.280 |
with him and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper." 00:22:33.400 |
Sounds almost identical to what happened when he was at Potiphar's house because the Lord 00:22:38.680 |
Even though they meant evil, God meant for good and it was happening simultaneously, 00:22:45.840 |
So he spends 10 years in jail in that context and after 10 years, the cupbearer of Pharaoh 00:22:56.040 |
And so he says the cupbearer is going to be released, he's going to be restored back to 00:23:01.000 |
The baker actually is going to get hanged and he tells him the story and the cupbearer 00:23:08.280 |
As he is telling this to the cupbearer, knowing that he's going to be restored in chapter 00:23:12.640 |
40 verse 14, Joseph tells him, "I don't ask for anything but one thing. 00:23:18.880 |
Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you and please do me a kindness by mentioning 00:23:26.840 |
For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews and even here I have done nothing 00:23:31.560 |
that they should have put me into the dungeon." 00:23:40.880 |
It wasn't like he was some strange, strange person. 00:23:42.840 |
He's like, "Oh, you know, this prison is fun. 00:23:48.520 |
He never forgot and that's the one thing that he asked, "Get me out of here." 00:23:55.720 |
The cupbearer gets restored and completely forgets for two years. 00:24:04.720 |
Only when the Pharaoh has this dream and no one could interpret and the cupbearer probably 00:24:08.680 |
for his own benefit, "Oh, I remember this guy who got me out of jail. 00:24:13.480 |
And then so Joseph is brought out, stands in front of Pharaoh and Pharaoh asks him about 00:24:19.400 |
this dream and he interprets it and says, "Your dream basically is for seven years you're 00:24:23.080 |
going to experience prosperity and then for seven years there's going to be extreme famine. 00:24:28.600 |
And so during the seven years make sure that you gather all the stuff and be prepared for 00:24:34.840 |
And as a result of this interpretation, he is elevated and he's given charge over this. 00:24:41.520 |
And as he said, that's exactly what happened. 00:24:43.760 |
Seven years of extreme famine or extreme prosperity while everybody was just living their normal 00:24:49.800 |
life, Joseph made sure that they filled the barns and they were preparing. 00:24:54.860 |
So after the seven years is gone, the famine comes in and the second year into their famine, 00:25:00.400 |
that's when his brothers, they end up showing up to Egypt because they heard that they had 00:25:07.560 |
So Jacob sends his children and they go and they finally meet Joseph for the first time. 00:25:14.200 |
Can you imagine what that meeting would have been like? 00:25:18.160 |
Joseph, everything that happened to him, every negative thing that happened to him was because 00:25:30.600 |
And the scene that we see when he finally meets them, that in Genesis chapter 42, 22 00:25:43.200 |
to 24, they're standing in front of their brother and he's kind of toying with them, 00:25:51.840 |
And you can tell there's maybe a little bit of bitterness and anger, but he's not, you 00:25:54.600 |
know, he had every right to just kind of smash them and done with. 00:26:00.240 |
And then finally, you know, Reuben said, "You see," and you could tell like Reuben was living 00:26:08.200 |
And when he sees Joseph coming out harsh, he said, "You see, we're being punished because 00:26:17.480 |
Reuben answered them, his brother saying, "Did I not tell you, do not sin against the 00:26:20.920 |
boy," talking about Joseph, "and you would not listen. 00:26:27.360 |
They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. 00:26:34.400 |
It doesn't describe why he wept, whether he was angry, relieved. 00:26:45.080 |
And I maybe, you know, I don't think maybe he knew. 00:26:50.640 |
This is something that he held on in his heart for 12, 13 years, one year in Potiphar's house, 00:26:59.280 |
12 years in prison, and other nine years go by. 00:27:05.160 |
For over two decades, he was forcefully removed from his beloved family, his father and his 00:27:14.480 |
And he sees his brothers for the first time, and he just can't control his emotion. 00:27:18.840 |
In fact, not only does he can't control his emotion, all throughout chapter 42 to 46, 00:27:25.440 |
it is repeated over and over and over and over and over again that he kept on weeping 00:27:32.840 |
Up to this point, Joseph seems like Superman. 00:27:36.160 |
I mean, he gets sold into slavery, and he just remained faithful. 00:27:43.560 |
He gets sold into, you know, sent into prison, and then he remains faithful. 00:27:48.820 |
And then the cupbearer forgets him for two years, and he still remains faithful. 00:27:54.320 |
But when he meets his brothers, he finally can't contain himself, and he just bursts 00:27:59.160 |
Chapter 43, 29, "As he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his younger brother 00:28:05.160 |
from the same mom, he says, 'Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me?' 00:28:10.840 |
And he said, 'May God be gracious to you, my son.' 00:28:12.960 |
Joseph hurried out, for he was deeply stirred over his brother, and he sought a place to 00:28:17.880 |
weep, and he entered his chamber and wept there." 00:28:22.520 |
Then chapter 45, verses 1 and 2, "Then Joseph could not control himself before all those 00:28:26.380 |
who stood by him, and he cried, 'Have everyone go out from here!' 00:28:32.520 |
So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 00:28:36.540 |
He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of 00:28:44.920 |
"Now you must tell my father of all the splendor in Egypt and all that you have seen, and you 00:28:52.480 |
Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck." 00:28:57.800 |
And then in Genesis 46, 29, when he finally sees his father, "Joseph prepared a charity 00:29:02.800 |
and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. 00:29:05.480 |
As soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time." 00:29:14.880 |
For 22 years, for 22 years, he was removed from his dad. 00:29:23.840 |
His beloved family was sitting in prison, sold as a slave. 00:29:39.560 |
See, his brothers, after his father dies, they think that maybe Joseph is being kind 00:29:50.920 |
As soon as Jacob dies, his brothers are fearful. 00:29:56.840 |
And it is in that context when his brothers are afraid after the father dies, "Are you 00:30:03.040 |
And Joseph, in that context, answers, "You may have meant it for evil, but God meant 00:30:10.560 |
You may have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. 00:30:16.520 |
You know what that reminds me of in book of Revelations chapter 21 verse 4, when we see 00:30:24.280 |
It says, "And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be 00:30:30.760 |
There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. 00:30:38.160 |
You and I are walking, you know, we're in between. 00:30:46.160 |
And I don't know a single person, young or old, who doesn't have pain, experienced some 00:30:56.840 |
Maybe it's something that happened when you were younger. 00:31:03.480 |
Whatever it was, I don't know anybody who doesn't know some sort of pain, pain of rejection, 00:31:09.760 |
isolation, failure, broken families, whatever it may be. 00:31:17.600 |
What the world meant for evil, God meant for good. 00:31:21.240 |
So we can look at sovereignty, and we clearly see sovereignty when we look at the past. 00:31:30.280 |
The only reason why we got here is because God is sovereign. 00:31:33.960 |
But the problem that we have is not the past tense, it's the present and the future tense. 00:31:38.760 |
That whatever might have happened, whatever pain you have experienced, if we focus on 00:31:44.200 |
what they did to me and completely forget that in the midst of all of that, God meant 00:31:56.280 |
I remember when I became a Christian, I was just in the beginning process of getting into 00:32:06.880 |
I already had two police records, and I couldn't care. 00:32:12.040 |
I was so angry that my parents moved around so much, that we didn't have money, my dad 00:32:20.000 |
Came to the United States when I was seven, went to Philadelphia, moved to Kansas. 00:32:25.520 |
And then from Kansas, I didn't feel like I belonged, and I went to Atlanta and really 00:32:30.760 |
Got excited about going back to Korea, thinking I'm going to go back home, and then they kept 00:32:40.000 |
The second time we came to the United States, I came kicking and screaming. 00:32:50.680 |
If I get old enough, I'm going to go back, I'm going to go back. 00:32:54.760 |
And I had so much anger inside of me, and people would say, "Hey, Peter, if you do that, 00:33:02.720 |
"Peter, if you keep doing that, you're going to get arrested." 00:33:06.880 |
"If you keep doing that, you're going to get hurt, or you're going to hurt somebody." 00:33:13.720 |
So how do you talk to a kid who doesn't care if he dies, who doesn't care if he goes to 00:33:22.440 |
There's nothing that you could have said that could have made everything okay until I met 00:33:32.480 |
What changed me wasn't years of theology, years of counseling. 00:33:37.540 |
What changed me was instantaneously knowing that God was in the midst of all of that. 00:33:47.880 |
He's the one who did that to me in order to bring me to that spot so that I can meet 00:33:54.120 |
And so the moment I realized that God was in the midst of that, all of that completely 00:34:06.000 |
God forced me to be here, or else I would have never met Him. 00:34:11.400 |
Instantly meeting the sovereign God who loved me changed everything. 00:34:18.080 |
What I experienced as evil all of a sudden became good instantaneously. 00:34:28.760 |
Knowing and believing in sovereign God changes everything. 00:34:39.400 |
Of all the things that could have been highlighted in Joseph's life, how he remained faithful 00:34:44.320 |
as Potiphar's slave, that even with injustice, he gets thrown into prison for over a decade, 00:34:52.440 |
and then he remained faithful and God raises him up and the whole nation of Israel is delivered 00:35:02.040 |
All that is mentioned is at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the sons 00:35:07.720 |
of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones. 00:35:21.360 |
After Joseph dies, four hundred years pass, another pharaoh comes up and he completely 00:35:25.520 |
forgets about Israel and what Joseph did, and they go into slavery for four hundred 00:35:32.880 |
When he is dying, he mentions four hundred years from now, when we leave, leave for where? 00:35:43.920 |
So Joseph is talking about a prophecy that he heard from his father and his father and 00:35:55.940 |
When God was ratifying this covenant that he made with Abraham, this is what God says 00:36:03.440 |
God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land 00:36:07.440 |
that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 00:36:13.520 |
But I will also judge the nations whom they will serve, and afterwards they will come 00:36:25.400 |
And remember, why was Jacob so hungry to receive his father's blessing? 00:36:32.280 |
This family, this family is established and persevered through hardship because of this 00:36:39.200 |
And I can guarantee you that that was passed down from generation to generation. 00:36:43.040 |
So as Joseph was dying, he doesn't mention about all the accomplishments and everything 00:36:48.960 |
All he remembers is, God said, "We're going to be imprisoned, and when we leave, take 00:37:01.200 |
It says, not only are you going to be imprisoned, when you come out, God's going to make you 00:37:06.040 |
I mean, these guys were slaves for four hundred years. 00:37:12.240 |
Exodus chapter 12, 35 to 36, it says, "Now the sons of Israel had done according to the 00:37:16.600 |
word of Moses, for they had requested from Egyptians articles of silver and articles 00:37:22.200 |
And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let 00:37:25.840 |
them have their request, thus they plundered the Egyptians." 00:37:34.280 |
These slaves, who had nothing, came out filthy rich. 00:37:41.280 |
They plundered the Egyptians, and they came out more wealthy than they ever were. 00:37:50.160 |
And just like Joseph asked them to, in Exodus 13, 19, Moses took the bones of Joseph with 00:37:55.820 |
him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God will surely take care 00:38:00.440 |
of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you." 00:38:12.160 |
If he was going to get any kind of adoration or veneration, it would have happened in Egypt. 00:38:18.460 |
Not to go with a bunch of slaves that was being slaves and mistreated for four hundred 00:38:27.280 |
In fact, at the end of his life, when he was buried, it says he was embalmed. 00:38:32.160 |
That was only the high officials in Egypt did that. 00:38:38.760 |
And that's why he was preserved, and that's why they carried him along. 00:38:41.400 |
In Joshua 24, 32, it says, "Now they buried the bones of Joseph when they entered." 00:38:51.920 |
This whole story about Joseph isn't even about Joseph. 00:38:56.360 |
This whole story about Joseph is God's faithfulness to his covenant promise. 00:39:06.080 |
It's jaw-dropping to me, but let me conclude with this, okay? 00:39:10.600 |
In Genesis 47, 8 through 10, Pharaoh gets to meet Jacob, Joseph's father, right? 00:39:18.320 |
And they have this conversation, and this is what Jacob said. 00:39:20.400 |
Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many years have you lived?" 00:39:23.000 |
So Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my sojourning are 130, few and unpleasant." 00:39:39.400 |
He was constantly maneuvering, make sure that he got the blessing of God, and he gets the 00:39:45.720 |
His life is actually changed as one who contends with God. 00:39:47.920 |
But when Jacob sees his life, at the end of his life, this is not in the middle, at the 00:39:53.600 |
very end of his life, he said, "My years are few and they are unpleasant." 00:40:06.960 |
The blessing is not he had a nice house or he lived long life. 00:40:22.280 |
That even as they were delivered, he said, "No, we're going to go into bondage. 00:40:25.440 |
In 400 years, when you leave, take me with you." 00:40:32.320 |
"And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and ran from his presence." 00:40:43.840 |
He, humanly speaking, he's a king of kings and lord of lords. 00:40:53.720 |
It was only because of Joseph interpreting this dream, Pharaoh allowed him, and the only 00:40:58.400 |
reason why he's even having a meeting with him is because he was being generous to Joseph. 00:41:04.760 |
And Jacob meets him and says, "My life is long, you know, short and unpleasant." 00:41:12.880 |
So if you don't read this carefully in context, it's like, "Oh, he blessed him. 00:41:20.840 |
Jacob, almost homeless, is meeting the god of Egypt, and he ends up blessing him. 00:41:35.840 |
Possibly think that he's going to leave, it's like, "The Lord bless you." 00:41:43.320 |
Jacob's power was not him, not his wealth, not his vast experience. 00:41:53.440 |
From God's perspective, how dare Pharaoh lift his head before his God? 00:42:06.000 |
They just happen to play a small part in what God is doing in redemptive history. 00:42:11.240 |
And that's why what's highlighted here is that he, at the end of his life, because he 00:42:15.440 |
believed 400 years later when we are free and God fulfills this promise, "Take me with 00:42:29.240 |
I don't know about you, but believing in this sovereign God changes everything. 00:42:36.800 |
Everything that happened in the past, everything that's happening now, and whatever may come 00:42:50.140 |
Whatever was meant for evil, God is working for good, for his purpose and his glory. 00:42:59.020 |
So I don't have a neat package and say, "Okay, now go do this." 00:43:06.740 |
But I think the central question that we always need to wrestle with, not just acknowledgment 00:43:12.140 |
of his sovereignty, but how is his sovereignty affecting you? 00:43:22.520 |
What bitterness do you hold onto where sovereignty exists? 00:43:30.020 |
Once we embrace that and truly believe it, it changes everything. 00:43:33.620 |
Because no matter what happens, God is going to work it out to take us where he plans to 00:43:48.420 |
As our worship team comes up, let's take a few minutes to, again, just thank God for 00:43:56.220 |
This morning, even before we make any petition, if we're true believers of his sovereignty, 00:44:03.900 |
think of the worst thing that has happened to you. 00:44:07.500 |
Think of the struggle that you may be in now. 00:44:10.380 |
Think about the fear that you have that if this continues, what's going to happen? 00:44:16.380 |
And when you think about his sovereignty, thank him. 00:44:20.940 |
Whatever happened, whatever's happening, whatever's going to happen, that God did it. 00:44:32.220 |
So let's take some time to thank him, again, as our worship team sets up and leaves.