"God Meant It for Good"

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 50:15-28

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Well, here we are, almost bittersweet to come to the very end of our time in Genesis, at least as far as breaking new ground.
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We will have time over the next several weeks to review the book of Genesis and consider some of the main themes and things that we've noticed along the way.
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Maybe that'll have some bearing along where we go next. Hint, hint, wink, wink, we'll see, I don't know. But it is bittersweet.
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It's bittersweet to have spent so much time working through this opening book of the
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Scriptures and to come to these last verses. And it feels like it was but yesterday that we began, though it was well over two years ago.
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Of course, as we work through the last part of chapter 50, we come to one of the most important passages, arguably, in the entire book of Genesis.
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And this week, I think I read more than I probably should have about the theological issues behind it.
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And then for those of you who were at the Bolton conference yesterday, one of the points that Stuart Elyot drilled home was simple sermons save, easy expositions edify.
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And so what do I do with 20 pages of notes on doctrines of God's sovereignty and how that coheres with man's responsibility?
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So thankfully, we have Sunday night and we have our study of the Second London Baptist Confession and we happen to be in chapter three on God's decrees and we'll be there for a few more weeks.
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So we'll have plenty of time for those notes to filter into the drinking water. And so they've been somewhat edited from our time this morning.
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So what we'll do from verse 15 to the end of chapter 50 is really look at three needs, three needs that we see in the text, needs that arise from the text for us today.
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The first need is the need for forgiveness. The second need is the need for faith in God's providence.
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And the third need is the need for fealty to God's promise.
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When we get to that, I'll explain what fealty is, if that's a new word. It's shorter than marmalade, but we don't use it that commonly.
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So the need for forgiveness, the need for faith in God's providence, and third, the need for fealty to God's promise.
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You'll remember last week that we left off with the death of Jacob. All his sons had gathered, and they received the blessing from Jacob.
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And when he crawled up back onto his bed, you can imagine him as if he was just going to sleep for the night, and he breathed out his last.
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And as they wept for him with this great weeping in Egypt, they all gathered to carry him into the land of Canaan to bury him in the tomb along with Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah and Leah at the cave of Machpelah.
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And now they've all returned to the land of Goshen. The weeping is over, the burial is past, and the brothers begin with a great fear, beginning in verse 15.
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When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, perhaps Joseph will hate us, and he may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.
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And so they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, before your father died, he commanded, saying, thus you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.
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Now please forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.
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Well, the way verses 15 through 17 is constructed, it leads us to assume that this is an entirely made up report.
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This is completely falsified. We can't be sure of that, but it's almost screaming off the page.
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There's this causal link between they saw that their father was dead, then they all gathered together and they say,
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Joseph is going to hate us, and then they say, let's get some messengers together and send those messengers to Joseph.
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And altogether it seems like a very desperate attempt to beseech mercy from their brother.
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It has been two decades, close to two decades, that they've been dwelling in relative peace in Goshen with Jacob and also with Joseph nearby.
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But now that Jacob is dead, they fear retribution is imminent. And so they send out of fear this message to Joseph.
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They seek to deceive Joseph. Remember, Joseph is the man of God.
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If anything, what we've seen in Joseph's life is he's the great interpreter. He's the diviner.
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Don't they themselves remember the stern warning that Joseph gave them when he was under disguise in chapter 44?
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What is this deed you have done? They pulled out the cup that was in Benjamin's sack. Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?
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But here they are trying to deceive him. In their fear, they ignore all the consequences.
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They forget who they're lying to. You see, fear is antithetical to faith.
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Fear is antithetical to faith. We saw that with Abraham, and we see it here.
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If this really was from Jacob, you would think Jacob would have shared it around the time he had all his sons there.
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Even when Joseph came to see him, he would have said, please forgive what my sons have done to you,
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Joseph. Please forgive their trespass, the evil that they did. But Jacob never said such a thing.
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You would think Jacob would have pled with Joseph if it had been on his heart, if it had been his plan or his desire.
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But he never thought to do it, because he knew the nature of Joseph. He knew the nature of Joseph from the time he was born up to the ripe age of 17.
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And then, toward the very end of his life, he saw God's grace even more magnified in the life of Joseph.
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He knew the nature of Joseph. He would have never doubted that Joseph would have been full of grace and mercy to his brothers.
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He didn't have to plea for forgiveness. He knew that Joseph would be full of forgiveness. Isn't that everything we read in chapter 44 and 45?
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Wasn't that the entire plan of all those trips back and forth from Canaan to Egypt? It was all Joseph's strategy to reconcile himself to his brothers.
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He had been the one that sought forgiveness, not them. So why would he be the one to take it away?
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In their words, Jacob had said, I beg you, please, forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin.
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They did evil to you. Now, please, again, the repetition for emphasis, forgive the trespass.
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And notice how intricate this language is. The servants of the God of your father.
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So you have the emphasis there, forgive the trespass. Notice these words, trespass, sin, evil.
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There's four major words in the Hebrew language. Three of them are used here. Four major words for sin, evil, offense.
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75 % are right here. You can imagine them all balling up paper.
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No, that draft won't do. No, no, write it again. No, no, change that. Not your brothers, not your father's sons.
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No, how about the servants of your father's God? Oh yeah, that'll really work. Artful almost in what they're trying to get across.
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Well chosen words. As Charles Simeon says, they're keeping out of view everything that seems presumptuous.
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They're trying not even to mention them. They're just mentioning their father and their God. They're reminding
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Joseph of what Jacob would have wanted and surely what God would want. And so what's the result of this?
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We read, Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Here come these messengers.
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Joseph has just finished weeping. He's just buried his father. 70 days of weeping plus seven days of weeping have passed.
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He's finally dried his eyes and who's coming but messengers. And here comes this report.
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Before he died, this is what your father said. Please forgive the evil that your brothers did to you.
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And he bursts out in tears all over again. Why is he weeping? Is he weeping because he sees through their little ruse?
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And he's so irritated and he's frustrated? Is he disappointed and so he just weeps?
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I don't think that's it at all. It's been close to two decades since Joseph brought about reconciliation with his brothers.
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Remember how he burst out of the bedchamber? He couldn't contain it any longer. His heart was bursting.
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And he said, it's me, it's Joseph. And how they all were so stunned.
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And he explained that it was not them that had brought him into Egypt, but it was
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God. And though then they were in fear, the outstretched arms, the gracious invitation, they couldn't keep back.
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Two decades they've been with him. His demeanor toward them hasn't changed. For two decades, daily he's been providing bread, not only for them, but for their little ones.
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There have been two decades of unfailing, unceasing provisions up to this very morning.
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They've been dwelling in the midst of famine in the land of Goshen. And despite the panic of the famine, these brothers have been cared for patiently, perseveringly by Joseph, and yet they're fearing vengeance.
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No wonder Joseph is weeping. The Hebrew syntax here, you could almost translate it,
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Joseph began to weep as they spoke. As soon as this little fib started unfolding from the messenger's mouth,
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Joseph just begins to burst in tears. And as the message keeps going, imploring him, he begins to weep more and more.
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It's as though he's stunned and now wounded. How could they think this way? How could they think so little of my mercy?
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How could they think so little of the past 20 years of all that I've done and continue to do for them?
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Why would they doubt that? It makes us think of Joseph's great antitype, the
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Lord Jesus. Remember Stuart Elyot yesterday? For those of you who were there, he talked about how he was raised with the little nursery rhyme about Jesus being a tender shepherd.
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And Elyot said, you who haven't come to Jesus, the tender shepherd, what prevents you from coming?
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Why won't you come to him? Something like Joseph felt. Haven't I been tender to you, my brothers?
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Why would you send messengers to me? Why wouldn't you just come to me? Charles Simeon, he says, if indeed the brothers thought
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Joseph was a determined hypocrite, he was just putting on a show until Jacob passed away.
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He didn't want to break the old man's heart, but now he would pull an old Simeon on his brothers and massacre them all.
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Simeon says, if the brothers thought Joseph was a determined hypocrite, they might think that he could hold such resentment.
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But if Joseph had any hope of forgiveness from God Himself, he could never allow such feelings toward them.
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Notice how Charles Simeon here relates the true grace that one receives from God with their ability, indeed their necessity, to forgive others.
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Only a hypocrite can claim to have received God's forgiveness and not be able to forgive.
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That's what Simeon is saying. Now, do we grasp the importance of forgiveness in this way?
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Do we swallow our pride? Do we cover offenses 77 times 7?
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Do we leave our gifts at the altar daily because of the clear warning of Jesus along these very lines?
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A warning that He gives not to pagans, not to unbelievers, not to Gentiles, not to the dogs, but to actually
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His followers. What warning is that? It's the warning of Matthew 18, the parable about lacking forgiveness, the parable of the unforgiving servant, where the master exclaims, should you not have had compassion on your fellow servant as I had pity on you?
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And Jesus says the master was angry. And what did the master do?
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He delivered him to the torturers until he paid his due. And Jesus says, that's what my heavenly
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Father will do to you if each one of you does not forgive the offense.
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Actually, He says a little bit more than that. So my Heavenly Father will do to each of you if you from your heart do not forgive the offense of your brother from the heart.
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Of course, I've forgiven. We're still in the same house, aren't we? We're still in the same job, aren't we?
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We're still texting each other three times a year, aren't we? Of course, I've forgiven them. What do you mean
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I haven't forgiven them? No, Jesus says from the heart. The Heavenly Father will get
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His just due for the hypocritical servant who claims to be forgiven from God and yet cannot show forgiveness to another.
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That means forgiveness is not merely restraint. Oh, there's a lot of things I could say, a lot of things
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I could do. Frankly, a lot of things I should do. They're lucky I'm not like anyone else.
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I'm restraining myself. I'm a Christian after all. Isn't it wonderful that I've forgiven?
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No, that's not forgiveness. It's not temporary. It's not, well,
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I'm going to let the water slide under the bridge and we're just going to begin to float away. We'll not look at each other, talk to each other, dwell together.
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That's not forgiveness. It's not strings attached. We'll see how things turn around.
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We'll see if you can keep up to new expectations and new demands. We'll see if you can make up for your offense, for what you've done to me and the damage that you've caused in my life and all of the trust that you've now undermined from me.
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We'll see if you can atone for those things. That's not the forgiveness that Jesus is warning against.
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What Jesus is encouraging His followers to adopt and to display is full and free forgiveness as one said, real forgiveness, cordial forgiveness, permanent forgiveness.
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Now what happens when we talk about these things is you begin to tune me out and you go to your mental rolodex of all the reasons that you haven't forgiven that brother, that sister, that family member, whoever it may be.
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So I'm competing static and you don't understand the situation. Yeah, that's really nice, but it's a little bit different with me.
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Yeah, we've been down this road. There's been some time. I even sought counseling, but you just don't get it. And I'm saying, you just don't get it.
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We have our endless trains of excuses, but the Lord's warning cuts through them all. What does
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Paul command the church in Ephesians for? Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you.
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I was reading an article this week about Ukraine and how he just cut a check for $90 million for the sole operation of removing anti -personnel landmines from some of the
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Ukrainian countryside there on the east. From what
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I gathered, there's a hotline and a training facility and all sorts of informational broadcasts and videos about how to identify and then who to contact to dispose safely of unexploded ordinance or anti -personnel landmines.
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And since February of this year, they've had to dispose of over 200 ,000.
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They estimate that the areas that still are potentially laden with Russian mines would be equivalent to the whole state of Virginia and Maryland put together.
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Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, those are landmines in the church of God.
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And Paul says, get rid of them. Get rid of it. It'll blow up people in the church.
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It's a ticking time bomb. But how do we get rid of it?
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What does Paul go on to say in Ephesians 4? Be kind to one another, tender -hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
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How has God forgiven you in Christ? Strings attached? Temporary? Did you have to make up the difference, keep on earning it?
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Or was it full? Was it free? Was it given readily and abundantly?
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Was it given out of cost, out of sacrifice? That's how Christians are to forgive.
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That's how you must forgive, Paul says, if you're a Christian. So there's a need for forgiveness.
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The brothers know, though they approach it in the wrong way, the brothers know there's a need for forgiveness.
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But you see, they have a problem. They don't understand the forgiveness they've already received. And sadly, that's a problem a lot of Christians have because we fail in operating toward each other with God's forgiveness as God intends forgiveness to be.
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That begins to stain and affect the way we view God's forgiveness toward us. We find it hard to forgive someone else in offense.
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And therefore, we begin to become distant from God. We begin to feel guilty. And the accusations of our enemy begin to stick into our conscience.
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Maybe I do have to earn it. Maybe there are strings attached. Maybe it won't be enough. Maybe I will just have to be distant and cold to the
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Lord. Sadly, Christlike forgiveness is rarely given, even among Christians.
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Sadly, Christlike forgiveness is rarely received, even among Christians. Christians, as well as anyone else, can nourish their sensibility of having been offended.
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And they allow the relationships to cool, distance.
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I think well of them. God bless them. I'll pray for them, but I'm not going to sit next to them. And our relationships, the ones that we can't avoid that easily, they become burdened with misery.
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And why is that? It's not a very complicated reason. It's because genuine forgiveness has not been sought, or it has not been given.
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Genuine, Christlike, as God forgave you in Christ, forgiveness.
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How few of us truly embrace God's forgiveness? And how easily we miss our great calling to extend forgiveness.
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You know, this is one of the primary ways we display the gospel. It's how we forgive offenses. Why is this the case?
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Why do we struggle with these things? Well, for one thing, look at these brothers. They have contracted a very deadly disease that is prone to spread among believers very easily.
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It's like MRSA in a hospital wing. It's called spiritual amnesia. They have spotty memories.
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And the way spiritual amnesia works is this. They forget the things they should remember, and they remember the things they should forget.
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That's spiritual amnesia. And spiritual amnesia leads to the guilty fear, the anxiety, the shame, the distance, because you've clung to the things that you were meant to cast off or to cover.
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But the very things that you were meant to remember and hold fast to, those are the things that you've forgotten.
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Doesn't Satan have a field day with spiritual amnesia? Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk in the strength of God's love.
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God's grace, if we have forgotten God's grace in our lives. If we can't think back to 20 years in Goshen of grace after grace after grace.
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If we've forgotten God's grace, we can't expect to walk in the strength of God's grace. We cannot expect to walk in the joy of God's mercy if we've forgotten the mercy we've received.
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And so we're like the unforgiving servant. We cannot live in freedom from our shame when all we can remember are the accuser's darts, the accuser's humiliations, the wounds, the sting, the irritation, the offense, the damage to our pride.
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You see, these brothers have spiritual amnesia because they forgot the embrace of Joseph. They forgot the whole plan of Joseph.
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They forgot the self -sacrifice of Joseph. Take away all the feasts of Joseph, the provisions of Joseph, the ostrich fan feathers, the chariots, the dwelling place in Goshen, the very best of Egypt, the spiritual care to separate them from the
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Egyptians so that they could walk according to God's will. They've forgotten all of that. But what do they remember?
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The evil that we did and the power he has and what he could do with that power. They've forgotten who they are.
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They've forgotten about Judah's great triumph of grace. They've forgotten who Joseph is. The ancient serpent slithers up toward the ear gate and whispers, did
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God really say you are forgiven and your sins I will remember no more? Surely you couldn't think it would be that easy.
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How blind our sinful hearts are to the reality of God's forgiveness.
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It's like these brothers. They're blind to the reality of God's forgiveness.
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They're closed in it, literally. They're surrounded by it. But they're ignorant to it.
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So there's a need for forgiveness. And these men felt that need. It was gnawing at their consciences.
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It was animating their fears. They're so overcome with dread that they make up this whole false plea from their dead father and they send messengers rather than going to Joseph's face.
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We must remember who Joseph is and what Joseph has done. And you see, that's a lesson for us as well as Christians.
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These brothers' greatest fears at this time of crisis would have been allayed. They would have had peace and assurance if only they had drawn near to Joseph rather than kept away.
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And our default as believers with guilty consciences is we tend to keep away and allow those fears and anxieties and miseries to grow when the answer is to draw near, to seek his face and say,
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I will not listen to the deception of that ancient serpent, my accuser. I will seek your face.
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It's no different for us today. Fear is antithetical to faith and perfect love casts out fear.
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Well, the brothers finally come. They hear the report back, likely with it.
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Joseph has said, come to me, brothers. What are you going on about?
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What is this nonsense? I know you're making it up. Come to me. And so they come to him.
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Verse 18, they come to him and they fall down before his face and they say, behold, we are your servants.
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They feel the pressure, this need for forgiveness. And what does
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Joseph say? That takes us to our second point. So first, there's a need for forgiveness. Second, there's a need for faith in God's providence.
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Look at Joseph's response beginning in verse 19. Joseph said to them, do not be afraid.
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Am I in the place of God? So often like we see on the lips of Jesus himself or we see in the messengers that are sent from God.
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The first word is a word of reassurance. Do not be afraid. And then following this is a rather startling confession of faith in God's sovereignty.
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Not startling to us, perhaps, but startling to them. It shouldn't have been, but they've already forgotten who
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Joseph is. That's why they're in this predicament. But it's a startling confession of his faith in God's sovereignty.
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We've already seen that in chapter 45. I've already referenced it. It was not you who brought me here.
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It was God. God brought me here to Egypt, which was a roundabout way of saying,
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God, through your efforts of murderous envy, through your efforts of trying to kill me, cast me into the pit, exile me away from my father and from the land, that was actually
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God secretly moving in his providence so that I might save many alive, even as it is this day.
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Am I in the place of God? What an amazing statement. How different our lives would be as believers if when difficult times came, when difficult circumstances exploded in front of us, we could pause long enough to say, am
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I in the place of God? Am I in the place of God? Far be it from me to assume
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I know what is best. Far be it from me to presume how tomorrow or next week or next month or next year must go.
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I'm not in the place of God. So Joseph shows his faith in God's sovereignty.
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He shows a faith in God's unassailable purpose, His unthwartable providence.
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And as he's pointing his brothers to the Lord in his sovereignty, he's encouraging them toward mercy rather than retaliation.
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This is not mine to give. He has a Romans 12 theology. That's not my place. That's the
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Lord's place. And if the Lord has any dealings with you, He must deal with you in the way
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He's dealt with me. He is a God of mercy if you would but seek Him. Paul says in Romans 12, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.
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Do you please notice that? It's a rather clever way of tripling in emphasis.
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Bless those who curse you, bless and do not curse.
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What does it mean to do not curse? Bless. So essentially Paul is saying, bless those who persecute you, bless them, bless them.
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That's a Pauline theology of grace that is sorely needed in our society's climate today.
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I dare say even among Christians. There's a rather biting spirit that's unbecoming of Christians.
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My blood boils like the rest. When I see certain headlines, certain bills being passed, certain measures taken, bless those who persecute you, bless them, do not curse them.
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Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. That's part of how you're going to get there. When you're rejoicing with those who are rejoicing, you begin to be thoughtful about what in life is worthy of rejoicing about.
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When you weep with those who weep, you begin to become sympathetic and sensitive to the things in life that are worth weeping about.
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When you rejoice and when you weep and you do this simultaneously with people you have a relationship with, you begin to learn relational empathy much like Jesus.
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Be of the same mind toward one another. Don't set your mind on high things. Associate with the humble.
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We sang it earlier already this morning. I don't know that I've ever noticed it. It stuck out to me this morning.
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And Lord, grant us grace that we like them, the meek and lowly, may dwell on high with thee.
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Isn't that beautiful? Grant us grace, Lord, like the meek and lowly so that we can dwell on high with thee.
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Don't associate with the high and mighty of the world. Associate with the humble.
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Don't associate with the humble. Don't set your mind on high things. Don't be wise in your own opinion. Lord knows we need a dose of that in today's climate.
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Everyone's wise in their own opinion. Everyone's a Facebook expert on everything. We pay no one evil for evil.
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It's really what we're reading here in Genesis 50. The brothers are expecting evil returned for evil.
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Joseph is beating Paul by quite a stretch of time. I will not return evil for evil.
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Verse 19, beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine,
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I will repay, says the Lord. Verse 21, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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I generally don't like study Bibles where the translators assert little section titles because sometimes those are read as if they're divinely inspired and they're not.
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I understand it's meant to be a foothold or a help along the way to understand sections of Scripture. I think it's better just to have it plain.
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But I happen to love the New King James Study Bible that I use beginning in verse nine, including the verses that I just read to you from Romans 12.
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The subtitle is, behave like a Christian. This is what behaving like a
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Christian looks like. Not being overcome by evil, but overcoming evil with good.
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Rejoicing, weeping, being humble and meek, associating with those who are lowly and blessing, blessing, blessing those who persecute you.
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What has Joseph done for 20 years but blessed those who persecuted him?
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We see Joseph's great faith in the sovereignty of God's providence and coupled right next to it is man's responsibility.
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And we must always couple these things together because this is true of human experience.
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This is true of you and I day to day coupled in our lives and everything that we encounter is
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God's sovereign secret providence ordering all things whatsoever that come to pass and our own responsibility as moral agents making decisions and acting not because we counteract
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God's decree but rather because we unfold it. And that's held together here in verse 20.
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As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it.
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Please notice that little pronoun it. But as for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it,
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God meant that evil for good. You meant the evil,
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God meant that evil for good. Derek Kidner says this verse is the most important theological assertion in the entire book of Genesis.
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That's a bold statement. Moses has been showing us something like this along the way.
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Remember when Abimelech cried out, Lord, I didn't touch her. And what did the Lord say in response?
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I know you didn't touch her because I restrained you from touching her. As for you, you meant evil, but God meant evil for good.
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John Gill says God meant it for good. He designed that good should come by it.
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He brought good out of it. And it shows us that the action which is sinful in itself fell under the decree of God or rather was the object of it.
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A little flashback here to SLBC a week ago. And there was concourse of providence in it.
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What a beautiful word concourse. You think of a course, a direction in that prefix con which means together with.
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Concourse, a folding or interweaving together. The interweaving of man's free willful action with God's decree unfolding through the invisible hand of providence.
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Not that God was the author of sin. No, no, no. No darkness in him.
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No shadow of turning. He can't look upon sin. Not that he's the author of sin.
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Which neither his decree about it, about evil, about sin, nor that marvelous concourse of providence with the action supposes.
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This doesn't, when we say concourse, we don't mean to imply God is righting the sin. God is desiring evil.
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Because God, this is Gill, leaving the sinner wholly to his own will and having no concern for the disorder of it, but through his infinite wisdom, he makes it to work for only an infinite, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely good
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God could bring this about. And Joseph knows it. He knows his brothers aren't off the hook.
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They sent the false message, forgive them for the evil that they did. And he said, you did evil.
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You meant evil. You were demonic to me, but God meant it for good.
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John Calvin says, if Satan and ungodly men rage, God acts by their hands in such an inexpressible manner that the wickedness of the deed, it belongs to them and the blame of the deed, it's given to them because they're not induced to sin.
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They're the authors of their own evil. They follow Satan as their leader. You have your father, the devil,
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Jesus said. And you do the works of your father, authors of their own evil.
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Calvin says, thus we see the justice of God shining brightly out of the darkness of sin.
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For as God is never without a righteous cause for his action, so men are held in the chains of guilt by their own will.
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Surely the wrath of men shall praise you. There's a need for faith in God's providence.
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Joseph has faith in God's providence. That's why Joseph can say God meant it for good.
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Ultimately, God overrode what you intended, what you desired, all the evil that corresponded to your will.
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God had a different purpose in allowing that to unfold. And he spells that out.
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In what way did God mean it for good? Well, he tells his brothers to save many people.
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To save many people. He didn't spare me so that many others would be spared.
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I was not able to let suffering pass over so that many would not suffer.
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Joseph is preaching the gospel in Genesis 50, verse 20. John Calvin says as much.
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Seeing that by the secret counsel of God, he was led into Egypt for the purpose of preserving the life of his brethren,
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Joseph must devote himself to this plan. Otherwise, he will resist God.
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Do you see how significant that is? Joseph understands the promise that had been given down to Abraham and Isaac and my father
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Jacob. And to me, this covenant is to bless the world.
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Nations will rise up and call the Lord blessed. And so if I resist
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God's dealings in my life and the suffering that He sees fit to put me through, then
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I'm resisting His will to save many. His whole plan has not been ultimately about me, but about the many that would be saved as a result of me.
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Joseph here is reflecting really Romans 8. Pauline theology of grace. What does
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Paul say in Romans 8? He testifies that for the sake of the elect, God does marvelous good even in the midst of evil and His plans cannot be overthrown.
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Romans 11, even the house of Israel here in Genesis has stumbled. They persecuted their brother to death.
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But as a result of their stumbling, many were saved. Paul's plucking this right out of Genesis and applying this to everything that the
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Roman Christians are beholding. Israel stumbled at that stumbling stone, but their disobedience has brought about salvation.
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Only God could do that. You see, God meant evil for good to save many people.
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Joseph's faith in God's providence compelled him to look into the eyes of his persecutors, these murderers, with compassion, with mercy.
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All along he's known God's desire is for salvation. It's not about me retaliating at all.
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It's about God being merciful. Me being an instrument of that mercy. Behind all of their evil actions, he saw
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God's desire to nevertheless bring salvation to them. And so he submitted to being torn from his father's side, sold as a slave, subject to humiliation, being put to an open shame.
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All so that when he was exalted as Lord of the land, he could save many.
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Jesus' faith in God's providence compelled him to look into the eyes of his persecutors, his murderers, with compassion and mercy.
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Because behind their evil actions, he knew his father's desire to bring salvation to many.
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And so he submitted to being torn from his father's side, sold as a slave, subject to humiliation, put to an open shame, so that when he was exalted as Lord over all, he could save many.
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Please notice that Jesus, like Joseph, does not view sinners as Manchurian candidates, as robots that are simply unfolding
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God's puppet strings. God puppeteers them according to his decree, no.
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He sees them as responsible moral agents that will be held to account. They'll have to give an answer to God as their judge.
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And so when Jesus sees these men coming with clubs and torches and swords, knowing that their hearts are full of hatred and rage, they've come to arrest him, to seize him, and to thrust him to be crucified.
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He sees each individual and all of their evil intent, the evil that they will bring upon him.
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He sees it. But what does he say in John 18?
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The cup which the Father has given to me, shall I not drink it? It's their evil.
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And they'll have to answer to God for it. But this is the cup that the Father has given to me.
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Shall I not drink it? Acts chapter four, when
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Peter and John are sent away from the Sanhedrin, and really what was almost a victory for the early
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Christians, and they're so excited to hear that they've been muzzled because that's the one thing they refuse to do.
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You will not muzzle us from spreading the gospel. And so they gather in prayer. We don't even know who's praying.
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They're all unified in prayer. And they begin to quote Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage?
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The people plot vain things. The kings of the earth take their stand, and rulers gather together against the
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Lord, against His Christ. Notice this moral agency.
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Raging nations, people plotting, kings standing, rulers gathering against the
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Lord. For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom
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You anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, the people of Israel, gathered together.
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That direct application of Psalm 2, to do whatever
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Your hand, whatever Your purpose. It was their evil, but it was the
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Father's cup. They meant it for evil, to save many.
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Another application we see here, following off this first point about forgiveness, is faith in God's providence will free you from bitterness.
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Why do you need to have faith in God's providence? Well, if you're struggling with forgiveness, faith in God's providence will free you from bitterness.
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God has not allowed anything to happen to you, or happen around you, or to wound you, outside of His purpose, outside of His decree, outside of His providence, and His wise design for your life.
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Every difficulty, every heartbreak, every sorrow, every trial, He has allowed,
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He's allowed your failures. He's allowed your stumbling, your backsliding, and your weakness.
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Faith in God's providence can free you from bitterness. If ever a man had the right to pay back, and the time to pay back, and the means to pay back, it was
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Joseph. But because he has faith in God's providence, all he can do is show grace.
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You've done nothing to me, but what God has seen fit to happen to me.
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Nothing has happened to me outside of God's perfect plan and work of grace for my life.
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You want to be free from bitterness? Have faith in God's providence. No wonder
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Joseph can show mercy to his offenders. The whole intent of Joseph, full of grace and truth, is to draw his brother's attention off of their concerns and guilty fears toward him, to the
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God of grace, and the God of salvation. Even here, Joseph is testifying of God.
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He wants them to know what he has come to know. They've had it relatively easy compared to him.
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He understands you haven't quite taken the same path. You don't know the Lord like I know him. You haven't experienced grace like I've experienced.
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You don't know the presence that I've known. Oh brothers, I want you to know it. Why are
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Calvinists stereotyped as cold and as dull? Why are we the frozen chosen?
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If we have faith in God's providence, if we're the ones above all that reflect and meditate upon God's sovereign disposal of whatever comes to pass, and we see in the midst of that his constant patience, his long -suffering, his tender kindness, even toward those who despitefully use him, how dare we be cold and lifeless and dull?
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If we know that our God sits above the heavens and controls all that comes to pass, then even the heartbreaks in our lives should be things that produce hope and yearning within us rather than cause us to be rather shut down and dry.
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Don't you see that in verse 21? Joseph's more Calvinistic than anyone. He's also more tender than anyone.
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Don't be afraid, he says again. You're not getting it. Stop bowing, stand up, hug me.
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Let's go have some wings together. What are you doing? I will provide for you.
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Have I not all this time? I'll provide for your little ones. Is there anything you lack that I wouldn't give?
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And he comforted them and he spoke kindly to them. When a believer has a high view of God's sovereign control over every aspect of their life, when a believer exercises faith in his perfect providence that is constantly unfolding before them, there and then a believer can submit to the most difficult trials, the most unthinkable circumstances.
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And we see that in the life of Joseph. Not only will they submit to it, they'll be gracious and tender -hearted like Joseph as well.
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If you've become a cynical, miserable old ratch, don't think that you've learned this lesson.
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Yeah, I've submitted to my share of trials, let me tell you. Tender, gracious, that's someone who has met with the
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Lord. Deep and unfathomable minds, we sang this, of never failing skill.
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He treasures up his bright designs, he works his sovereign will. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain.
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God is his own interpreter, he will make it plain. There is a need for faith in God's providence.
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So third and last, there's a need for fealty to God's promise, spelling
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B -F -E -A -L -T -Y, fealty. Ding, fealty.
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Comes from the Latin, fidelitas, meaning here would be loyalty, steadfastness, faithfulness.
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But primarily, I think, loyalty. Loyalty to God's promise.
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Verse 22, Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household, and Joseph lived 110 years.
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Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation, the children of Macca, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph's knees.
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Isn't that a lovely image? Grandpa Joseph. No, no, Joseph. And Joseph said to his brethren,
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I am dying. We've heard that language before. But God will surely visit you, bring you out of this land, to the land of which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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Notice that we have no text between him encouraging his brothers after his father has died to now him being on his deathbed.
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It's as though Moses says, well, a lot of stuff happened, but none of it is worth repeating.
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None of it is worth being written down. What you need to know most about Joseph is that when he was on his deathbed, the only thing he was focused on was the promise that God made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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That God will surely visit you. God will bring you out. The word in Hebrew for visit here, pachad, it means intervening for a blessing or even a curse.
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So it doesn't mean God's going to share his presence with you. It means God's going to decisively visit you, either for blessing or for judgment.
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God is coming. And why is he coming? He's coming to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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He will bring you out of this land. He's speaking now down four centuries. He will bring you out of this land.
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He will bring you into the land. Decade after decade after decade are simply passed over between verses 21 and 22.
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Please think of that. Just again, we don't often appreciate these things, but Joseph is lord of the land, second in command in Egypt for decade after decade after decade.
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Men at his disposal, armies of servants, provisions, wisdom, skill, honorary inscriptions, epitaphs, statues, tribute being brought to him.
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All the things that would cause us to store up treasures on the earth, all the things that would cause us to forget
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Canaan. I spent a lot of time there in my youth, but really only been back to bury
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Canaan. I've really settled here in Egypt. But decade after decade after decade of governing the mightiest, richest empire on the face of the earth at that time had not dulled
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Joseph's faith in God's promise at all. That is fealty to the covenant.
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That is loyalty to God's promise. In fact, he doubles down.
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Verse 25, he takes an oath from the children of Israel. I'm not just telling you this to remind you.
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I want an oath. Don't let my bones stay here in Egypt. When four centuries have passed and you are brought out by God's hand, make sure you take me with you.
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That means that the same faith in God's providence that Joseph saw from the beginning of his life up to that encounter ended in verse 21.
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Joseph says that same control, that same sovereignty, that same powerful but mysterious movement of God will hold true over the next four centuries.
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Come what may, come what will, God is unfolding his purpose. Therefore, the day will come when the children of Israel will be delivered from this land.
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And when that day comes, swear to me, oath to me, you'll take me with you. Loyalty to the promise.
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Fealty to the covenant. And then how do we close
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Genesis 50? He was put in a coffin in Egypt.
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That's it. He was put in a coffin in Egypt.
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Like Abraham, like Isaac, like Jacob, he dies.
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All these died in faith. All these died waiting for the promise.
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Loyal to the promise. Looking for the promise. Looking for the day. Looking for the city.
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Looking for the Savior. Like Abraham, like Isaac, like Jacob, Joseph died looking for the day.
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Seeing it from afar, it made him glad. Looking for the city whose builder and maker is God. Looking for the seed that God promised the woman, the serpent crusher, the
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Lion of Judah, the Lamb of Glory, the Messiah. We began
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Genesis with God springing life out of nothing ex nihilo.
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Life emerges. The abundance, the myriad, the cacophony, the noise and vitality and energy.
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That's how Genesis began. And it ends with a dry, silent coffin in Egypt.
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Waiting. Looking. Hoping.
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Our story in Genesis ends here, but the story of Scripture is just beginning.
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This is the book of beginnings. There's no greater text for where all of this story is going than Genesis chapter 50, verse 20.
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Kidner was onto something when he said, this is the most important theological assertion in the book of Genesis.
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How does this set us up? To follow not only Exodus, but all the rest of Scripture?
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Well, where do we find evil against the Lord and against his anointed?
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And yet God meaning it for good in order to save many people.
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We find it in the glorious good news, the centerpiece, the apex of our faith.
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We find it in the perfect life, sacrificial atoning death, and glorious resurrection of our
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Savior. Genesis 50, verse 20, prepares us to understand what's coming for all of the rest of Scripture.
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Evil against the Lord, yet God moving down through the millennia in order to work good out of that evil and save many.
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We know all things work together for the good of those who love
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God, to those who are called according to the purpose. For whom he foreknew, he predestined, and who he predestined, that they would be conformed to the image of his
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Son. Paul says we know that. Do we know that? How do we know that?
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There's a need for forgiveness. There's a need for faith in God's providence. There's a need for fealty to God's promise.
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On what basis can we find forgiveness? On what basis can we find faith enough to trust that the
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Lord has control and the Lord is in control of our lives? On what basis can we dare hope to ever be loyal to God's promise?
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Is it up to us? Well, you have to keep reading what Paul's saying in Romans 8.
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There's more that we know. Verse 31, and we'll close here.
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This is the basis upon which you and I can be forgiven, you and I can have faith in God's providence, and you and I can have fealty to God's promise.
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He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not also with him freely give all things?
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Every promise of God is yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Let's pray.
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Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, as we've come now to the very last verse of this book of Genesis, Lord.
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In many ways, we've been ice skating across the surface of a bottomless iceberg.
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Such richness, such beauty. The details that so transparently bring us to behold our
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Savior in your perfect plan. That which was a mystery hidden to those prior, but now that mystery has been revealed.
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That we, on this side of fulfillment, Lord, do not look afar, but we see with great clarity as we look back.
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We know, Lord, that we cannot see, we cannot behold Him, unless we have eyes of faith.
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We know that man is wholly unable to believe, to behold, unless you begin that work of grace.
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And so we pray, Lord, we pray for grace that we, like the meek and lowly, may dwell on high with you.
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We pray for that grace. When we consider the life and the testimony of Joseph, may we understand how in our own lives we must always be moved by your plan and your purpose of showing forth mercy that many might be saved.
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Show us, Lord, where we lack forgiveness. Singe our conscience,
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Lord, with the warning of Matthew 18. So many of us who are people, far be it from any Christian, to be undone at that last day, when never striving, never seeking, to show forgiveness to offenses.
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As those who have been forgiven, may we freely, richly, abundantly, permanently forgive. of.
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May we have the heart and the faith of Joseph. A heart of mercy, a heart of wisdom, understanding your purpose and seeking to sacrifice himself and and his life for your great mission in the world.
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His faith in your utter control. Help us Lord in this room to have more faith, more trust that you are controlling all things
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Lord. That not a hair can fall from our head apart from your sovereign will. Let us live in light of that reality, not as a token, not as theology that we have indexed on a piece of paper, but as a felt lived experiential reality.
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May it make an impact. Bless us Lord if there's one here in this room who's a stranger to your covenants of promise, a stranger to your grace.
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They have that gnawing guilty conscience. They're in their sin, but they're keeping from you rather than seeking you.
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Do the work that only you can do, calling sinners to yourself. These things we ask even this morning in your name.