Sermon: Providence, Trust, and A Sure Hope

Those of you who don't know me, my name is Dave Hinkley. I am an elder here, ruling elder at University Reform Church. I'm also on staff as the children and youth ministry director. Uh, as you probably know, those of you who have been coming for our evening sermons, sermons, services, we have been answering questions related to, uh, death and to the life to come. And as I said before, this is an eminently practical series

that touches every one of us. Uh, this week, however, we're taking a break from that series to talk about God's sovereignty and his faithfulness to his people. Uh, these are not unrelated topics to the series to be sure and they're necessary as we think through the topic of death and the afterlife. Each one of us faces the fallenness of this world and deals with the repercussions of sin, repercussions of our own sin, of others, sin,

and just of the general curse that has been put on creation because of sin. Our text tonight is from the book of Genesis chapter 50. It is the last interchange between Joseph and his brothers, and you'll find it on page 44 of your pew Bibles. As you turn there, I'll give a little bit of an introduction. The story of Joseph is a story of faith. Joseph was a pretty good guy. He did really good things, and the stories that we have

of him are markedly different in character or demonstrate a markedly different character than that of his father or his grandfathers. Uh, surely he's a little annoying as a boy, but other than that, Joseph's a pretty good dude. This will lead us if we're not careful to view Joseph as merely an example of how to be awesome, how to be a good leader, how to love your family well, how to resist sexual temptation, even how to bear misfortune.

Well, all those things are great things. All those things are things that you should do. But let's be clear, the thing that we want most to emulate Jo in Joseph, is his humble trust in the God of his father and his grandfathers. In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good. This can be a difficult idea to wrap your mind

around all things. Surely there are some things he doesn't use. There's some very ungodly stuff maybe in my life, evil things that maybe I have done in the past or that have been done to me. How could God use evil to bring about good? Uh, no story in the Bible illustrates this amazing reality better than Joseph's. It is all at the same time a cautionary tale about the destructiveness of sin and a jaw dropping tale of trust in God.

At its core, it's a tale of God's providential, sovereign care for his people. Reading it, we are warned away from sin, moved to trust God more than ourselves and taught what forgiveness looks like and shown that God will never leave or forsake those who belong to him. Before we turn to it and read it, let's pray together.

Lord, we ask that you would, uh, speak to us by your word, uh, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Every word on the page, uh, is the voice of God to us. So we pray that we would not only hear, but we would obey. We would not only, uh, listen, but that we would love your word as it is spoken, read to us, preached to us, and as we seek to apply it to our lives, we we pray that you would renew us, uh, in our minds by the reading and applying of your word.

And we pray it in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, Genesis 50, we are reading verses 15 to 21.

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 transgression of the servants of God and 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. But Joseph said to them, do not fear or am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about, bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear I will provide for you and for your little ones. Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Amen. To tackle this passage, we are going to look at it from two angles and draw applications as we go along. Uh, looking at those two angles, what I want to first examine is the story that led up to our passage and what happens relationally in the passage. Let's, let's look at the people and their story and second, we'll zero in on Joseph's incredible words in verse 20. Uh, and think a bit more about tho the ramifications

of those words, the truth, uh, that comes out of those words and applies to our life. We'll call that providence people and Providence, that those are our two, that's our outline for the night. So first, look at the context and understand the players, what they say, why they say it. You're likely familiar with the story of Joseph Jacob's second youngest and favorite son. Jacob was so evident in his favoritism that his older brothers were provoked to extreme jealousy,

which in turn led to a heinous sin against Joseph. Their hatred of the brother was not helped by the prophetic dreams that he had and shared with his family as a little boy, which were that they would all bow down to him. The brothers resolved to kill the boy, but ultimately they sell him into slavery. Instead, let's pause to consider how grievous a sin that was committed against Joseph, a betrayal above all other betrayals, his older brothers

who should care for and protect him, plan to murder him. The mercy that they have upon him is to sell him into slavery. Instead of killing him, they get to go home and tell their father that Joseph is dead and pocket a tidy prophet. This is evil of the first order. They considered him less than nothing. They hated him and they got rid of him. And again, as you probably know, Joseph's story, ma takes many twists and turns as a slave in Egypt who rises up

to be the second in command in Egypt because of the favor of the Lord that was upon him. The slave he resists his master's wife's advances is falsely accused and thrown into prison, interprets the dreams of his two cellmates and then is forgotten until Pharaoh is looking for someone to interpret his own dream. Called out of prison. The Lord grants Joseph insight into the truth behind Pharaoh's dream. A great drought is coming to the whole region

because of the wisdom and favor that is granted to Joseph by the Lord. Pharaoh grants him power over all of Egypt, and with that, the drama of this story really hits a crescendo. Joseph's brothers hear that there is grain in Egypt and they travel there to try and buy some from the overseer of Pharaoh's affairs, who although they do not know it is Joseph, Joseph recognizes them and immediately puts them through the paces

only to discover that he has a full brother born after he is gone and that his father Jacob is still alive. Joseph ultimately decides to reveal himself to his brothers and invite the whole family to come to Egypt and live under his care. Joseph shows his brothers the mercy that they did not show to him in chapter 49. Jacob, after living under Joseph's care for 17 years is on his deathbed and he gives a prophecy or a blessing to each of his children

and to Joseph's two sons and when he dies, we have the events of our passage. Today, the brothers seek an audience with Joseph and and tell him that their father had said that Joseph should not kill his brothers when Jacob was no longer alive. This, this appears to be a lie. As I said in chapter 49, there is a long list. It's a long quote of Jacob and he never says that in chapter 49, this command is not listed there.

So stop and consider. Why would his brothers do this? They have been in Joseph's care, they and their children for almost two decades. He's not held their heinous sin against them. In fact, when he revealed himself to them, his accounting of what happened is that God sent him ahead of them into Egypt so that they could be preserved in the time of famine. Their interaction with Joseph here in chapter 50 would be comical if it wasn't so tragic.

He promised in chapter 45 verse 11 that he would provide for them and protect them, them, their father and their children. But at this point, because Jacob has finally died, the confidence that they've had in Joseph's word has failed. The brothers appear to be haunted by the heinous sin that they have committed. They did something so terrible that they cannot for accept the forgiveness that has been given to to them. They cannot comprehend it.

Their consciences are stained by what they have done and therefore they are terrified of what Joseph will do to them next. This paranoia and constant fear is one of the awful after effects of sin. Brothers and sisters don't be fooled. Grievous sins will wreck you on the inside. If you have been around me for any length of time, you know that my favorite novel is Crime and Punishment by odor Doky. I think that Christians should read Doky like we read Lewis.

The marvel of this book is that in a simple story of a horrible crime, it completely undoes the late modernist idea that we can invent our own mor mortality or invent our own moralities and become Superman. The protagonist in that story commits this horrible crime and then over 800 or so pages falls apart. Uh, the punishment referred to in the title is not so much any legal penalty. It is the guilt, uh, that is, uh, slowly eats away at the main character

and it is a guilt driven slow descent into insanity. So just as these brothers lied to their father to cover up their sins so long ago, they now lie to Joseph in their father's name that he has commanded that they be protected from Joseph's wrath. Ironically, this lie makes them more, not less likely to alienate and anger. Joseph, Hey, we've not changed. We're still the same people that we used to be, but we are terrified of you

because of the cruelty that we inflicted upon you. And in a worldly accounting, they are not wrong to fear their sin is very likely. All things being e equal, uh, likely to receive an equal or greater sin of retribution. In fact, if you read the story of Joseph as as if it was a fictional story, the only satisfying resolution is some sort of comeuppance upon these brothers, some sort of justice. They deserve retribution.

They deserve, uh, for the ground to open up and swallow them. That's the story that our hearts expect and it's the story that the brothers hearts expect. These brothers know what they deserve and they know what kind of mercy they themselves showed Joseph when he was in their power and they have not trusted Joseph's word of forgiveness because their own consciences testify that they do not deserve his grace.

But Joseph is operating on another frequency. Joseph has seen his whole life through the lens of the providence of a merciful God. In Joseph and his brothers, we see reflections of both the faith and faithlessness of their fathers before them. When Joseph reflects upon his life, he regards it from the perspective of the work that a supremely good and supremely powerful God is accomplishing. When he hears his brother's words, he does not scoff

or call them on their attempted deception. He weeps why? I think he weeps because of his brother's inability to grasp his forgiveness. I think he weeps because of their paranoia brought about by their grievous sin. I think he weeps because of his brother's inability to see the sovereign and good God at work. Why do I think that Joseph's response to his brothers is strange in the best possible way, real forgiveness is a supernatural grace of the Lord

By rights they should be afraid. A just punishment is not just the natural outcome of this story, uh, but as it is the natural outcome of the story. It should be the natural outcome of our story and just as it is, it is in Christ not the natural outcome of our story. It is not the outcome of the brother's story. Joseph says, do not fear for am I in the place of God. First of all, he kind of is. These men are in his power

and he is the second most powerful man in Egypt. Surely delivering justice to them was well within Joseph's ability, but Joseph does not consider himself to be the judge of his brothers in this matter. It was clearly a sin against him, but Joseph has truly forgiven them for it and he can even see the Lord's hand working through it.

I want us to notice before we move on to the next part, that he has not forgotten the evil or the intent of his brothers. His forgiveness is not pretending as if the evil did not occur. He knows what they did and he sees the Lord's hand in it. It is here that he says some of the hardest and most beautiful words in all of scripture, uh, and it and it is this in verse 20. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

I want us to think about these two things related to this statement. First, I want us to note that God allows evils to occur within a larger and redemptive purpose. RC Spro put it this way in his book, chosen by God, God is so sovereign and so powerful that he can even use the evil of man for his purposes. Joseph's brothers acted in evil, but God used their sin to save many lives. God never approves of sin, but he uses it to bring about his righteous purposes.

In the end, it was God's plan that Joseph would rise to power and save his people. Often I think when we ask questions, hard questions about God and evil, we forget our finite perspective on the matters.

We forget that we are limited and bound and small in ways that God is not. I dunno if this, this is a helpful illustration, but I I recall a story I heard once about people from the real 3D world traveling to the 2D land of cartoon or picture and they are scoffed at by the people in 2D world and persecuted for using crazy words like around the truth. Value of a fact is not limited by whether or not it fits into the human brain.

The clear testimony of the scripture is that God takes the evil that he is allowed to be in this world and he weaves it together for the good of his people. We see that truth proven in the J, the story of Joseph. We know it to be true from Paul's words in Romans eight that I quoted earlier. We see it to be true in the death of Christ himself. Whatever evil is intended or committed in this world will ultimately be used by God

to bring about blessing, redemption, and care for his people. Brothers and sisters, this should be for us a very comforting thought. It means that the sin that has been committed against us and the sufferings that we endure will be used by God for the glory of Christ and the blessing of his people younger saints. I dare you to ask the older saints in the room if this is true, has God used hardships in their lives to bring about good

in the lives of his people? In what ways I know this to be true in my own life. The seasons of grief or injustices that have been committed against me have been used by God to bring about good and bring about uh, redemption in others, even those that were committed against me with an evil intent. This is the kind of God that we serve brothers and sisters, the kind that heals the kind that forgives, the kind that weaves our sins

and our wounds from the sins of others into good for his people.

Can you see that our God is so good, so powerful, so amazing, so gracious that even the sin of mankind has been worked into eternal blessedness for his people.

The second thing to notice about the statement, as for you, you meant for evil against me, but God meant for good is that it is a profound statement of faith in this way. Joseph proves himself to be in the line of Abraham and Jacob. He's the most powerful man in Egypt, but Joseph is humbled before a righteous holy and sovereign God. Verse 19, he says, the first thing he says to them, first thing he says to them is do not fear.

Second thing he says to them is, where am I in the place of God? Joseph knows and fears the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the right orientation of the heart toward God. Joseph's right fear led to a genuine and spirit empowered forgiveness. Again, humanly speaking, Joseph had every reason not to forgive. The brothers prove themselves guilty again by trying to lie the worldly story. The ones the brothers expected was this arrogant sin

begets a sinful retribution. The heavenly story, the one that Joseph enacted is that the fear of the Lord begets mercy. Joseph's life had taught him that his fortunes rose and fell by the grace of God. His life had taught him that God is sovereign over over good. In every circumstance, God is sovereign and good In every circumstance over Joseph's life, he had come to know the transformative mercy of a sovereign God want us to see

that when we come to know, when we come to a real conviction of our dependence upon the mercy of a sovereign God, it automatically produces in us mercy as a byproduct. The fruit of a heart that has been shown divine mercy is mercy.

He did not minimize or ignore what they did When they attempt to protect their own lives by deceit, he's grieved by their words, but he responds to them with the kind of grace that overcomes fear and overcomes sin. You should not leave here thinking that being a Christian means there are no consequences for those who sin against us. Of course, there are human consequences for our actions. Forgiveness is not a blind restoration of trust to those

who have proven themselves untrustworthy. Forgiveness starts with the recognition of the sovereignty of God and our dependence upon his mercy. Forgiveness is a sober humility before the one who will judge forgiveness relinquish the worldly right to have our injuries. Avenged and humbly releases those who have injured us into God's hands. Forgiveness and mercy does not always mean restored relationships, but it does mean

that you remember your own sin and you remember God's mercy to you and you let go.

The more correctly you understand yourself before a holy God, the more difficult it becomes to hold onto grudges. Even as we see in Joseph's life justified grudges, this is the point of Jesus parable in Matthew 1821 to 35, the unforgiving manager you recall, the man owes money to his master and the master forgives the debt and then leaving the man cruelly demands a smaller debt that is owed to him by another man. The mercy of God to us

by necessity produces in us mercy.

It's almost certain that in the midst of the trials he faced during his life, Joseph did not see clearly the work that was going that God was going to do through these trials. He wasn't like, well been falsely accused of a heinous crime and now I'm in prison. Well, it's okay. God was gonna save Egypt and my family. He didn't know that. Instead, what Joseph won through the years of hardship was a deepened trust again in the sovereignty

and goodness of God, a mercy that he was given, and I believe that we were all we all will be given

ultimately is that he was allowed to see the redemptive purpose of the evil that he endured. This is a great mercy and a gift. How many times in the midst of hardship are we tempted to cry out? Why is this happening? More certainly than the sun will rise tomorrow. The believer will one day see God take their sorrows and do something joyfully, wonderfully and redemptively good with them. When you think about this man, Joseph, you aren't meant

to think, oh, he had such great strength of character. He had such a noble value for family. He resisted sexual temptation so well. What's worth emulating about this hero isn't that he could take a punch from fate so well. What we are meant to see in Joseph is a man who trusted God in the midst of the most extreme trouble, and what that says to you and I, brothers and sisters is that when that trouble comes in our own lives, we can be certain

that God will be just as faithful to us as he was to Joseph Close. We live in an age that offers all kinds of untrue and unbiblical things in order to cope with the hardships of life in order to give hope in the midst of a fallen world. It is worst of all when they offer such thing in the name of Christ, they might say God would never ask you to do something more cost so costly as to not indulge your romantic desires be free

or from another angle they might say, God never intended you to struggle financially or with your health. You just need to name and claim the promises. Jesus the better. Joseph lived a life in contradiction to those ideas. He submitted himself to his father's will on our behalf and enduring terrible suffering unjustly on our behalf. If this is the way of the master, then this is the way of the servant. What is more? Jesus explicitly told us what

to expect out of the Christian life. In John 1633, we find most both the sobers promise in the Bible accompanied by the most glorious reassurance possible after his teaching at the last supper and before what is called his high priestly prayer, Jesus says, I have said these things to you that in me, you may have peace in this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome this world. Don't miss either side of that statement.

It's not an if or a maybe or an only if you are bad or only when you're starting out as a Christians, but the mature ones do everything and get rewarded perfectly and their lives are perfect In this world, you believer in Christ will have tribulation. Paul leader refers to this as the filling up of the afflictions of Christ. You and I are Christ's body. We are his servants, and we will face hardship. It will look differently. Some

of us will actually face persecution. Many, if not most of us, will face situations that discourage and test our faith in the goodness of God. But don't miss the glory that comes after the sober promise. Take heart, have good courage. Face it without fear. Do not lose your hope or joy because the same Jesus that loved you enough to die on your behalf has overcome this world. The same God, even Jesus himself who was faithful

to Joseph in Israel and in Egypt will be faithful to you in this current trial. Those of us who are united to Christ by faith have a hope that is unshakeable. Like Joseph, we can know that our trials have meaning and will be used for good. We can know that the evils that are done to us will serve a greater and glorious good, and we can know that our hurts are woven together for the good and the blessing of God's people.

Our God is a God who creates and a God who recreates our God is a God who makes new the things that are broken. Our God showed his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ has mercifully taken the wrath that we deserve, our loving and recreated God is turning our destructive purposes and our death to redemption and to life. God is taking dead bones, so decayed and scorched by the sun that they are dry

and completely devoid of life and he is reinvigorating them. He is turning deserts into gardens. He's turning Mars into earth. He's turning filthy monsters into loving and beloved people. This is the God that we worship. Let's pray together.

Father, our great hope in life and in death is that we do not belong to ourselves, but to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all of his people's sins with his precious blood, and he has set us free from the tyranny of the devil. He watches over us in such a way that not a hair can fall from our head without your will. In fact, hallelujah. In fact, all things must work together for our salvation because we belong to Christ.

The Holy Spirit assures us of our eternal life and makes us wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. May it be so, Lord, may it be so in each of our hearts. Amen. And.