The Disciples- From Fear to Faith (John 20:19-23 Jeff Kliewer)

Church Announcements and Congregational Life

We are so glad that you have come to join Cornerstone Church this morning. My name is Michael. I want to welcome you this morning. Before John comes up and has a few announcements, I want to be certain that everyone knows that the Church Center app has everything that you need to know to connect with Cornerstone.

You should have received a flyer from the greeters up front. It just puts up some things that are upcoming, like some of our church meetings and ladies men's events, those kinds of things, especially the men's retreat and the ladies retreat.

Their QR codes are on there. You take your phone, you point at it with your camera, click on the link, and you're in. You're there with all the information. So there's a lot of things in there that will help you connect with Cornerstone.

John, you have a few announcements for us? I want to say good morning to everybody who.

Made it through the deep snow. The roads are pretty clear, but the snow is beautiful. I think that just being able to see how God, in his providence, provides this way. You're going to talk about that in a minute, so I'll let it go.

But it is good to be here. I'm going to open us up in Proverbs 15, verse 4. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge. Let me read that again. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.

So it's important for us, first of all, to understand this concept of having a heart of knowledge. I'm sorry, a heart of understanding. I think that understanding really is a gift that we get from God through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, working within us.

It's a gift that God gives us so that we can perceive what real truth is. Now, before salvation, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Real understanding cannot be, but with salvation comes the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with that, I believe, comes within our hearts the ability to understand and perceive what is truth, not what is promulgated.

You see, the world promotes a perception that what our feelings are, where we want to go, defines things that are going to satisfy our flesh, satisfy our own worldly desires. But understanding is a gift that comes from God.

I believe that when the heart is driven by God, true understanding motivates us to seek after true truth. So the heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge. Don't let the world motivate you or distract you to pursuing something other than his knowledge and truth, that understanding that comes from God.

That's our ability. That's our blessing. Some announcements that I want to give you. I'm going to start out with tomorrow at seven o 'clock, we have a congregational meeting. We announced it last week.

We're announcing it today. Tomorrow is a called congregational meeting. This will be an amazing opportunity. For the last many years, we have been talking about how is God going to lead us with regard to the fact that our building, our facility, only accommodates so much.

To gain access to additional seating, we've had to lose two of the classrooms that were here. Pastor Jeff, when you came, there were actually two more classrooms. So we've been thinking and considering and seeking God's hand.

And so several years ago, there was a piece of property. Let's buy that piece of property. But we couldn't. And then later we said, but maybe now it's time we tried to buy that property. And we couldn't.

And then this woman bought it and she wanted to build. It didn't work out for her. She sold it and then he sold it. Now there's a gentleman who owns that property who's building a house. And it seems like God is opening a door for us to consider buying that house, which would immediately give us things like classroom space, meeting space, a kitchen, additional bathrooms, perhaps rooms for somebody to live in.

There are so many advantages to buying that house. And so Pastor Jeff last week gave a great overview about what this opportunity looks like. And that's what tomorrow's meeting is going to center on. We are looking for congregational authorization to place an offer on that house and to identify funds that would allow us to complete whatever needs to complete.

Here's another, oh, by the way, there are some things that still need to be done. And what cool will it be is if we as a church get together for work days over there, guys, you can put your two belts on.

And we can, we can put a trim work, we can paint, we can do this. What an amazing opportunity for fellowship that would be. Please come back tomorrow at seven. We're going, we have some membership discussions, but mostly all we're going to talk about that, that house next door.

Next week is the NFC championship game football. And the men have had a longstanding tradition of getting together for fellowship on that night. The Stocklands have graciously offered their house again.

And rumor has it there's going to be some good food. Brenda's nodding, hopefully. So please sign up so they know how many there is a fee to help cover the costs. You can sign up on the app. You can sign up Pastor Jeff's, Pastor Graham, there are ways to link up or they could probably just talk to you.

You're not that scary. No. Okay. So this is not just a men's fellowship. If you have sons that you would like to bring dads, it's up to you if you think they're old enough to really appreciate and to be part of it.

That leads us into tonight at six o 'clock. We have our prayer meeting and there are things that are coming up that are so significant in the life of our church, whether it's, whether it's going to be tomorrow's meeting, whether it's times of fellowship, come back at six o 'clock tonight for our time of prayer.

We look forward to having you there. So moving forward from that, next two weeks from today starts our starting point class. If you're new to the church, you would like to learn about more about the church or about the evangelical free church.

If you're interested in membership, there it's a three week class about that. It will be held during second service the first three Sundays in February. You don't have to sign up to show up and we look forward to seeing you there.

Okay. Now some cool opportunities coming up in April. Then we have our annual retreat. It will be in the Pocono Mountain Bible Camp. It will be the 12th to the 14th, Friday to Sunday. It will be us up there and we're looking for, if you've never been to the Pocono Mountain Bible Camp, it is a great venue for us to have our retreat at and we're looking forward to it.

The sign up again, please do that. It's on the app. It's on the website. It's on Pastor Jeff's, Pastor Graham. So please sign up for that. Again, it's for the men and for their sons. Dads, you know, if your sons are old enough to be able to appreciate.

Your friends, you don't have to be attending this church to go. You have friends, you have relatives. Let's make a great time of teaching and fellowship. Now rumor has it the women have gotten so jealous that the guys have this annual retreat that they're going to have one.

It's going to be two weeks after the men's retreat up at Pocono Mountain Bible Camp. So Pastor Jeff is strongly encouraging that the women come for a good time of fellowship and being with one another up there.

It is a retreat where there will be speakers. There will be other churches there. Again, the sign up is there. So women, that will be two weeks after the men's. So I guess that's the 26th to the 28th.

So that's for the women's retreat. Let's turn to prayer. Lord, we come to you today and worship in acceptance of your sovereign authority over all. We come today seeking to hear your word and to receive truth.

We come to you because your truth is the only answer to Satan's deception, is the ultimate protection against the desires of the flesh. Thank you, Father, for the gift of your Son, who took our sins in payment on the cross, and for the gift of the Holy Spirit that indwells, guides, and reveals your truth that we may understand it.

We pray, Lord, that our time of worship today will be for your glory and that we will draw closer to you in it. We pray you will be with Pastor Jeff as he brings your word and that you will open our hearts to hear, to receive.

To grow closer to you, we pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Let's stand as we sing. It says in Hebrews 4 .16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.

Believe there are wonders and signs, and you're still the same, new word that you said. Believe there are stars in your head, goodness will have end. We'll tell of your wonders, sing of your grace. The God of creation is faithful, yesterday is.

Oh, mercy is mighty, age after age, all generations will bow down and praise. The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always. Even now, our presence, I know there is power, power to save. I will tell of your wonders, sing of your grace.

The God of creation knows me by name, the Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always. Oh, mercy is mighty, age after age, all generations will bow down and praise. The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always.

Oh, you always will be God. You always will be God. Yes, you always will be God. I will tell of your wonders, sing of your grace. The God of creation knows me by name, the Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always.

Oh, mercy is mighty, age after age, all generations will bow down and praise. The Lord, yesterday, next, will be God. You always will be God. Mercy is mighty, age after age, all generations will bow down and praise.

The Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always. Amen. Let's continue to sing praises to his name.

Because he is the Lord most high as he reigns on the throne. The ends of the earth,.

The ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of heaven, your name be praised. Hearts of the weak, from the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong, from the shouts of the strong, from the lips of all people, this song is for the endless ages.

You will be crowned with praises, Lord, exalted in every nation, sovereign of all creation. The ends of the earth, the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of heaven, your name be praised.

Hearts of the weak, from the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong, from the shouts of the strong, from the lips of all people, this song is for the endless ages. You will be exalted in every nation, sovereign of all creation,.

Lord, be magnified, from the depths of the sea, from the heights of heaven. We are redeemed. We are thankful that you came to this earth.

Despite the sin that we had in our hearts from the fall of the garden, we come to you, Lord, because you were the God of all creation. We want you to speak to us this morning. Open our eyes, soften our hearts.

We pray for Pastor Jeff as he delivers your word to us. Challenge us, Lord, to be more like you. Speak to us this morning. As we come to you to receive.

The food. Some of the ladies in first service were worried about me because I'm wearing short sleeves.

On the coldest day of the year. But I'm not as unreasonable as it looks, because on days like this, this is when the heat is cranking the most in the building. And it's like sunny Florida up here. It's nice and warm in the pulpit.

I do wear a coat when I go outside, be assured. So I'm not as unreasonable as I look. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious heavenly Father, as we see the snow, the beautiful driven snow, we are reminded that the blood of Jesus washes us whiter than snow.

Thank you, Father, for the glory of creation, that we can see your splendor in the things you have created, how the snow falls from the sky and how it covers the trees. The beauty of your creation. I even saw a fox running through our neighborhood in the snow yesterday.

And just the splendor of the things you have made. I am in awe of you, Lord. The testimony of who you are is everywhere before our eyes. We give you glory for who you are and what you have done. And we thank you, Lord, for this specific revelation, the word of God, which now we open and we pray that as we open the word, you would work in our hearts, Lord.

We pray that faith would overtake fear and diminish the fear in our lives. Where faith rises, fear must flee. And so we pray for those who come this morning with a spirit of fear, that you would replace that with a spirit of power and of a sound mind.

Fear, Faith, and the Resurrection of Christ

Grant to your children that we would have increased faith. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. In Jesus' name, amen. Stepping out further in faith actually increases the danger to which we are exposed, while at the same time diminishing our fear.

Stepping out in faith actually puts us in a position to be in danger. The missionary who leaves family and friends and comforts behind and goes overseas to a pagan culture, or perhaps to an animistic people, or perhaps where there are cannibals in Erie and Jaya, as my friends Gary and Johanna Fowler did, that I used to know in Florida.

These people who step out in faith are exposing themselves to danger. So why is it that these people are the least fearful people you've ever met? They're at the most danger, and yet they have the least fear.

Faith and fear cannot coexist. There is a street preacher who does the love life ministry in Chicago. He will preach in front of the murder mills where women go in to have abortions. And just this last week as he was preaching, he was assaulted right in front of that building.

Him stepping out in faith to preach the gospel resulted in greater danger, and yet he walks with faith and no sign of fear in him. We ourselves were preaching and sharing the gospel gently and quietly and peacefully in front of the Cherry Hill Women's Center.

There was a King's Highway. There was a large median and then a large lane for parking a shoulder of the road, which was at least 12 feet wide, when all of a sudden we looked back and a car was swerving out of his lane into the shoulder.

We saw in the window his gnarled face. He was screaming as he steered his car to mow down this group of prayer warriors. At the last minute he swerved, we could feel the breeze of his car go by us. We were at great danger because when you step out in faith to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the forces of hell rage against the children of God.

And where faith increases, fear diminishes. We felt no fear. We called the cops. We reported the situation, but we had faith that God was protecting his children even when we were at the greatest danger.

Just on November 15th in Glendale, Arizona, there was a pastor named Hans Schmidt. He pastors in the Victory Chapel. He's 26 years old. Young, beautiful wife with two beautiful little children. But his practice was to daily or at least a few times a week go out to the corner of 51st Street and Peora in Glendale, Arizona and preach the gospel.

He was a street preacher. He would put out banners and invite people to church that evening. He was doing that on November 15th all by himself on the corner as cars passed by when he was ruthlessly shot in the head.

It looked like he was going to die. But all over the country, many of us have been praying and by God's grace, he has woken up from that coma. He seems to be regathering his strength and it looks like God is restoring him to his family.

So what do you do when danger increases? When this corner is haunted by an evil man who hates the gospel of Jesus and has literally shot their pastor in the head? What does the church do in Glendale, Arizona?

I'll tell you what Victory Chapel did. Rather than having one preacher on the corner, the next day the whole church was standing on that corner. And ever since then, there's been at least 20 of them out there every day preaching the gospel where the pastor used to stand.

Most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged by what was suffered as in the book of Philippians. When Paul suffered, it encouraged the believers to step out in faith. They were not captive to fear even when danger was at its peak.

Faith and fear cannot coexist. The resurrected Christ speaks forth the increase of faith like speaking wind over the congregation. When his word goes forth, the resurrected Christ awakens faith. And where faith grows, fear diminishes.

Let's learn this in John chapter 20 verses 19 to 23. John 20 and 21 are the resurrection appearances of Christ. The purpose of the entire book of John and here the resurrection accounts is recorded for us in John 20 verses 30 and 31.

Right in the middle of the resurrection accounts. So you have Peter and John running to the empty tomb and discovering that it's empty and John believes right away. Then you have Mary Magdalene thinking that Jesus is the gardener.

Today we'll have the the disciples in the room. The doors are locked and he appears to them. Then we'll have doubting Thomas and that brings us to John 20 verses 30 and 31. John inserts the reason his gospel is written.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But why are these things written? Why did John choose these particular things? But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.

And that by believing you may have faith in his name. Every unbeliever who encounters the gospel of John encounters signs, evidence, eyewitness accounts that Jesus rose from the dead indicating he is the son of God.

He is the Christ. So this book is written to unbelievers in order that they might believe. But John is also very much writing to believers. His goal is to strengthen the faith of those who already believe.

Lord we believe, help our unbelief. We believe but we're struggling here. We need greater faith. We need an increase in faith. And so very much like Hebrews chapter 11, the resurrection accounts, each one are meant to awaken faith.

And John is very strategic in the stories that he tells and how he tells them. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have already recorded the evidence of the resurrection. When John writes, he is very specific in what he tells and the details that he shares.

So when he tells the story of Mary Magdalene, here is a woman who is deluded with false beliefs that the body was stolen and somebody put it somewhere. And it's captivating her mind and she's fixating on that.

And John wants to show us that faith is taking God at his word. She was believing lies. She was taking demons at their word. But faith is taking God at his word. Today we will see another description of faith.

We don't have here a definition of faith. We have a description. Faith is taking God at his word. Faith is stepping out despite your fears. That's what we'll learn today. Next week, faith is overcoming your doubts because doubting Thomas won't believe until he sees more evidence.

Faith is overcoming doubt. And then we'll see as the fishermen go back to work, faith is working. It works. Faith is not alone. It works for God. Faith is love. Faith expresses itself in love as Peter must learn, feed my sheep.

And faith endures to the end as John learns. It continues and it perseveres all the way through the end of life. In other words, what John is doing in the resurrection accounts is he is awakening faith and he is strengthening the faith of the believer.

Now, each of us sitting here today will to some degree or another struggle with fear. Fear. In some cases, it can be crippling. In some cases, it can have you locked up inside of your room behind barred doors, accomplishing nothing in ministry, accomplishing nothing for the sake of the name because it is fear that grips the mind of a believer.

And John here will address that head on. John 20, 19 to 23. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Amen. It says Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. The first principle that we gather, especially from verses 19 and 20, is that fear must fade as faith rises.

Fear must fade as faith rises. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, this is the Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. Now we need to understand from the other gospels what they know at this point in time.

Mary Magdalene, Salome, the other Mary, and some other women have seen the resurrected Christ. Mary thought that he was the gardener until Jesus said, Mary. And she answered, Ramboni. She recognized him.

And the women went back to the apostles and told them, but Luke 24 verses 10 and 11 says that they did not believe the women because they thought it was only idle tales. Now that's never happened before, has it guys?

That a man would be dismissive of his wife, thinking these are just emotional stories of other women. They're just emoting, they're just hopeful. And so the men, the majority of the apostles, are not yet believing.

They consider these to be idle tales. Now we do know that Jesus appeared to Peter, who now believes. John believed as soon as he saw the empty tomb. The two on the road to Emmaus believed because in the breaking of bread, they recognized him.

And they got on their horse, man, they ran seven miles back to tell the others. So now the others are hearing stories from everybody who claimed to see the Lord, but they themselves are not yet believing.

Some of them. So here we have another appearance of Jesus. Notice the doors being locked where the disciples were. Why? For fear. And this is John's point in this particular pericope. This section is about fear.

Locking people up, closing them up inside when they should be going and telling. You tell me, on the day that Jesus rose from the dead, where should the apostles have been? On the housetops, on the mountains, going everywhere, telling people that Jesus rose from the dead.

Instead, here's the point of the text, they're locked up. The Greek word here means barring the door. They've gone inside, they've shuttered everything, they've locked themselves in for fear of the Jews.

And Jesus comes and shows himself. Now, is he a ghost? Is he only a phantom? Is he just a spirit? And that's why he can appear in their midst. No, Jesus rose bodily from the grave. His glorified body is somehow different in that he can pass through walls.

Maybe he just moves the molecules of the wall around as his body goes through it. But I'll tell you this, when they rolled a stone in front of the tomb, he didn't need an angel to roll it away in order to get out.

The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out, it was rolled away to let the witnesses in. He rose from the dead and bodily being the son of God, he had all power within himself to walk right out of that tomb.

So we see he walks right into the room, doors locked, that doesn't keep him out. He goes right into the midst of where they are. I'm sure they're startled. So the first thing he says is also a word that we need breathed over us.

Peace. Peace be with you. He breathes over them. He grants them faith by opening their eyes to see him in the flesh. And when their faith rises, notice in the text a transition from this fearful, locked up state, this anxiety that gripped them because of this fear of the Jews.

Notice the change that happens in verse 20. When he said this, he showed them his hands and sighed. Then the disciples were glad. Then the disciples were glad. When we use the word glad in English, it kind of refers to almost like a muted kind of joy, right?

Oh, I was glad to hear that my team won. I was glad to hear that your kid's going to the school. It's kind of a muted joy, the word glad. That doesn't do justice to the Greek word ekarison. It means overjoyed.

But the transition here is then, as in they were fearful, to the contrasting position, they were overjoyed. Then they were glad when they saw the Lord. The point is, when your eyes are open, the eyes of your faith are open to see the Lord, the things that you're fearing so much, that seem so daunting in your life, what you're worried about regarding your children, your marriage, your finances, your job situation.

All of these things can cause a believer to be gripped with fear and become insulated around that, locked in a prison of their own mind, their thoughts running wild. But when you begin to look at Christ and when your eyes are open, faith displaces that fear.

When your faith rises, then you are glad. Faith and fear do not coexist. I love this one story of Genesis 37 to 50. And we know that as the story of Joseph. And it is the story of Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery.

And then as a Christ figure, as a prefiguring of Christ, he is resurrected in a sense to bring deliverance to his brothers. But this story is also about Judah. It's not only about Joseph, it's also about Judah.

The two stories are interwoven around themselves. And Judah, in the first place, is sinful and captive to fear. Two of his older brothers, Simeon and Levi, desire to kill Joseph because they're so jealous of Joseph.

They want to shed his blood and kill him right there. But Reuben, the oldest, says, you know what, let's just throw him in this pit. Let him languish and die there. And then he goes away and is surprised to find Judah's solution.

Judah, in a spirit of fear, is unwilling to stand up to the violent older brothers, Simeon and Levi. And so he proposes that they sell him to slave traders and go back and tell their poor father that he was torn by animals.

They took the coat of many colors and they dipped it in goat blood, drenching that coat with blood, and brought it back to poor Jacob and said, I guess he was eaten by animals. When in fact, they sold out their own brother.

This fearful, sinful state only gets worse. We learn about Judah, what happens next. He goes and marries a Canaanite, a woman who did not believe in Yahweh, but worshiped the idols of the nations. And so the child born between them was named Er, and he was wicked.

And the Lord killed him after he had grown and taken a wife of his own. So the second son was named Onan, and Onan was wicked just like Er. He also married the same woman as was the custom, since his brother had died.

And so the Lord killed Onan. And now Judah's thinking, man, every son of mine that I give to this woman dies. There must be something with her. So he doesn't give the third son as he should, and instead withholds that son from her.

This young boy grows up. He doesn't give him in marriage. And Tamar, the scorned widow, is angry. And so she dressed herself like a prostitute, and she deceives him with a veiled face. He doesn't know that it's her, and Judah goes to the prostitute, his own daughter-in-law.

And from this wicked union comes a boy named Perez. And so the story of Judah looks to me like a complete train wreck. No hope here. He's violent. He's evil. He sells out his own brother. He's sexually immoral.

His family is a wreck. There's no hope for Judah until halfway through the story when the famine in the land drives them down to Egypt, and they discover Joseph, this picture, this figure of Christ. And there's deliverance through Joseph.

But what's amazing about Judah is that when, and you'll have to read the story to get all the details. I'm assuming many of you know it, but I also understand that some of you don't. So you'll later read Genesis 37 to 50.

But for those of you who remember the story, Benjamin came down to Egypt, and Joseph set it up that it would look like Benjamin stole a cup of divination. And so Joseph was going to take Benjamin as his slave.

And now Judah, the very one who sold out his own brother, steps up and in faith in God, with love for his father, whereas before he disdained his father and brought grief to his father by selling out the brother, now Judah steps in and says, take me instead of Benjamin.

He's willing to substitute himself to become a slave, to die for the sake of a brother. And this beautiful act of faith indicates that he has become regenerate. He has become to believe in God. His heart has changed, and now he has love for the father.

Turn with me to Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 to 21, because this is a word that believers need to hear. Genesis 50, 15 to 21. Understand that this is the last chapter of Genesis, the end of the story of Joseph and Judah.

Here in the context, Judah's a believer. He's begun to walk by faith. He's received grace and now forgiveness from Joseph. And they live in the land of Goshen, and they're shepherds, and they're blessed.

They're redeemed. But in Genesis 50, verses 15 to 21, you see what I'm going to call a reversion to fear. Child of Abraham, chosen, kept, and secure in the hand of God, who knows what it is to walk by faith, who's done it before, and yet now reverts to fear along with his brothers.

Genesis 50, verses 15 and following. 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. Pause right there.

Do you see their view of Joseph? This is not faith. This is not trusting in the grace that God has shown through Joseph. And Joseph here is a picture of Christ. But in fear, they concoct this scenario of what might befall them.

So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. They're walking in the flesh at this point. They're making up stories. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you.

And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Now notice Joseph's reaction. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. When Joseph saw Judah repentant and now lovingly giving himself in place of Benjamin, the Bible tells us that Joseph wept and he could no longer conceal who he was.

He wept tears of joy because here is faith. Now Joseph is weeping tears of sorrow because he sees in his brothers a spirit of fear. And Joseph's heart is broken. Is this what you think of me? Did you think once dad dies, I would just kill you in vengeance?

Don't you know that I love you? Don't you know that this grace is coming from my heart? Don't you know that I wept on your shoulders, each one of you because I love you? But they're fearful and they're trying to manipulate.

And it says in verse 18, his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. They tried to enslave themselves to him. Because of their fear, it's trapping them. Verse 19, but Joseph said to them, and this is what every Christian needs to hear 365 times in the Bible, one for every day of the year.

Do not fear. For am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. Verse 21, let me repeat.

So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Christian, child of God, you who believe that Jesus rose from the dead, will not the father who gave you his son to die on the cross in your stead, this one who rose from the dead, will he not also with him give you all things?

Don't you know what it means that you were bought with the precious blood of the lamb? Don't you know the heart of the father in his grace toward you? Therefore, why are you afraid? And you say, well, why am I afraid?

Joseph was a child of God and they threw him in a pit and they sold him to slave traders and they took him to Egypt. And as soon as things were looking a little better in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife accused him of accosting her and Joseph was thrown in a dungeon.

So children of God can be thrown in dungeons. And here is the lesson for every Christian that will change the way we think. And this is the antidote to fear. Genesis 50 verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

It was God's loving hand in his purpose that sent Joseph in to slavery. Yes, it was the responsibility of wicked men who betrayed their own brother and they're responsible for that. But this doctrine of the sovereignty of God, God meant even what appeared to be the worst thing that could happen to be the best thing.

The wickedness of Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Roman soldiers, when they took Jesus and they subjected him to torture and the most horrifying death known to man, they meant that for evil, but the cross of Jesus Christ was meant for your good.