Purpose In The Pit

Well, please take your Bibles this morning and open them up to Genesis chapter 37.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

!

Their story last week in chapter 36.

And now the rest of the book of Genesis, starting here in chapter 37, is going to focus in on

the story of Joseph.

And so if you would, when you found it, Genesis 37, let's stand in honor of the reading of

the Word of God.

Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan.

And these are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers.

He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives.

And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old

age, and he made him a robe of many colors.

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they

hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

He said to them,

Hear this dream that I have dreamed.

Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field.

And behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright.

And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.

And his brothers said to him,

Are you indeed to reign over us?

Or are you indeed to rule over us?

So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said,

Behold, I have dreamed another dream.

Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.

But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him,

What is this dream that you have dreamed?

Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?

And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.

And Israel said to Joseph,

Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them.

And he said to him,

Here I am.

So he said to him,

Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.

So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

And a man found him wandering in the fields, and the man asked him,

What are you seeking?

I am seeking my brothers, he said.

Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.

And the man said,

They have gone away, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them,

they conspired against him to kill him.

And they said to one another,

Here comes this dreamer.

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.

Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him,

and we will see what will become of his dreams.

But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying,

Let us not take his life.

And Reuben said to them,

Shed no blood.

Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness,

but do not lay a hand on him,

that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

So when Joseph came to his brothers,

they stripped him of his robe,

the robe of many colors that he wore,

and they took him and threw him into a pit.

The pit was empty.

There was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat.

And looking up,

they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead

with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh

on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Then Judah said to his brothers,

What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,

and let not our hand be upon him.

For he is our brother, our own flesh.

And his brothers listened to him.

Then Midianite traders passed by,

and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit

and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.

And they took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the pit

and saw that Joseph was not in the pit,

he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said,

The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?

Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat

and dipped the robe in the blood.

And they sent the robe of many colors

and brought it to their father and said,

This we have found.

Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.

And he identified it and said,

It is my son's robe.

A fierce animal has devoured him.

Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.

Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins

and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him,

but he refused to be comforted and said,

No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.

Thus his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar,

an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

The grass withers and the flower fades,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Father, we pray now as we open up this word

and begin the story of Joseph,

Lord, would you give us our proper perspective

on the suffering that comes into our life?

Would we see it in light of the promises you've made to us in Christ?

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Amen.

God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves.

These ten words changed Joni Erikson Tada's perspective on her suffering.

You may be familiar with the story of Joni Erikson Tada.

She suffered a tragic car accident as a teenager

that broke her neck and left her for life,

suffering as a quadriplegic,

suffering all sorts of physical distress,

obviously as a paralyzed teenager,

but as well as emotional distress and spiritual distress.

She wondered and she asked,

well, how could a good God allow something like this to happen to me?

How could a good God allow someone like me

who has all of my life ahead of me

to go through such suffering?

And these ten words shared by a friend of hers

put everything into proper perspective.

God permits what he hates

to accomplish what he loves.

When you read through the scriptures,

you'll notice that believers,

they have a kind of strange way of thinking about suffering

and injustice.

You read the book of James

and you'll see he tells us,

count it all joy, my brothers,

when you meet trials of various kinds.

That's strange.

Peter tells us,

do not be surprised at the fiery trial

when it comes upon you to test you.

John tells us,

don't be surprised, brothers,

that the world hates you.

And Paul tells us,

we rejoice in our sufferings.

I mean, don't you wish that you knew the secret

to how we can actually view suffering

and injustice with that kind of perspective?

This morning, we get to see the secret

from the story of Joseph.

And the secret is this,

it's the absolute certainty

that God is at work in all things,

even the hardest things in our life,

for good.

Now, this seems to be the big picture message

of Joseph's story.

I'm excited to dive into his story

over the next several weeks together.

This is an innocent man,

a teenager, 17 years old,

who faced harsh and unfair circumstances.

He's the victim of great injustice.

And yet, in all of it,

what we see as we walk through Joseph's story together

is that our God was at work for good.

So let's take a look here this morning

and we'll ask the question,

how should believers think about our suffering?

And we'll see four answers this morning.

This will be our outline if you're taking notes.

How should believers think about our suffering?

Four answers.

First, we should understand

that here in a fallen world, believer,

people may hate your favor.

People may hate your favor.

Look there with me to verse one.

We see this in verses one through four here

at the beginning of the passage.

And here we see how loved Joseph is by his father.

Joseph, by the time that we catch up with him

here in chapter seven,

he's now 17 years old.

You might remember how he was the only son

that Rachel bore to Jacob

until finally she gave birth last week to Benjamin

and ended up dying in childbirth with him.

But we see that Joseph,

he holds a special place in his father's heart.

I mean, he is clearly his father's favorite son.

Jacob loved Rachel more than all his other wives.

She was his favorite wife.

And now we see that he loved Joseph

more than all his other sons.

And I'm sure you realize, right, parents in the room,

this is not a good idea.

We ought not play favorites with your kids.

But Jacob does.

And we see this tension building up in the family as a result.

Look there to verse two.

It says that Joseph grew up with his brothers,

the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah.

And he brought a bad report of them to their father.

Younger brother Joseph is a tattletale.

And you can just imagine Joseph coming and spilling all the dirt,

sharing all those bad things his brothers are up to.

And how do you think his brothers are going to feel about that?

Right?

You probably are familiar with the saying,

snitches get what?

Help me.

Snitches.

Yeah, snitches get stitches, right?

Nobody likes to be told on.

And here's Joseph, his father's golden child.

He's spilling all the family gossip at his father's feet.

So that's strike number one against Joseph.

Strike number two comes here in verse three.

Look there.

Verse three says that Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons.

And again, this isn't a surprise.

We've seen this building already, haven't we?

You remember how when Jacob feared meeting Esau on the way back into town,

how he strategically thought about how to handle the situation.

What did he do?

He put all his other kids at the front of the line

and he put Rachel and Joseph all the way at the back

so that if Esau came and was angry,

he would take care of all of them first

and maybe Rachel and Joseph would be able to escape.

This is nothing new here.

Everybody knows that Joseph is the favorite.

And again, we get to see how Israel's sin

is having this negative ripple effect on the whole family here.

He loves Joseph the most.

And to make that abundantly clear, just so that everyone can see it,

Israel gives him this special multicolored robe.

It's like a visual reminder to everyone every day,

to all his brothers, everybody that sees him,

that I'm special and I'm the one that's loved by my father.

You don't have one of those, do you?

Right?

And we see in verse 4,

when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers,

how did they respond?

They hated him.

They could not even speak peacefully to him.

This is strike number two.

They hate that he is so loved by his father.

Now, none of us are Joseph.

This story is not ultimately about us.

But, if we are in Christ,

then we can draw a connection here

and draw some similarities here

to the experience of Christians here in this world.

You remember John told us,

do not be surprised that the world hates you.

And one reason why the world might hate you,

even if they don't recognize it,

is because you, Christian, are so beloved of the father.

Now, just think about who you are in Christ for a moment.

If you are in Christ,

you are a beloved child of God.

And sure, yes, of course,

God has a certain general love for all his creation

and the most general way of speaking

that we are all children of God

and that he has created all of us.

But the Bible tells us

that the Lord has a special, particular,

saving, steadfast love for his people in Christ

that not everyone in the world shares.

Those who are in Christ are children of God.

The Bible tells us those who are not in Christ

are children of the enemy.

The church is the very bride of Christ.

And I can tell you I love all of you,

but I can assure you

I don't love you the same way that I love my bride.

Ephesians 5 tells us that he loves the church

and gave himself up for the church.

And sometimes we sing the line in the old hymn

that from heaven he came and sought her

to be his holy bride.

With his own blood he bought her

and for her life he died.

We are his own body.

He nourishes us and cherishes us

and he washes us as with water,

with the word of God.

We're told in Ephesians 1,

in love he predestined us for adoption as sons.

We're told in Romans 8

that nothing can separate us

from the love of God for us in Christ.

This is the special love that God has for his people.

We may not be robed in material goods,

and some are, some aren't,

but the Lord robes his people in joy

and in confidence and in hope and in holiness.

And one day, church, we will be robed in glory.

But you see, those who don't know him,

they don't share this special favor.

They don't share this place of privilege.

And they don't share this extravagant love of God.

And so what happens when you speak to them

or to your father about their sin

and this thing called repentance of sin,

what happens?

How do they respond?

Some may listen and repent

and prove themselves to belong to the Lord,

but others, guess what?

They will hate you for it.

Do you notice that when you come to Christ

and some of those relationships

that you had before,

they get a little bit tougher,

a little bit harder to navigate?

There is a spiritual division

between those who know the Lord

and those who do not know the Lord.

And there's a reason why.

Jesus tells us in John chapter 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

if the world hates you,

know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world,

the world would love you as its own,

but because you are not of the world,

but I chose you out of the world,

we could say with Ephesians 1,

I chose you in love out of the world,

therefore the world hates you.

Don't be surprised by this.

Not only this,

but second,

we should also know in a fallen world,

people may hate your future.

People may hate your future.

Look there with me starting in verse five.

And here we see strike number three.

Joseph has a dream.

And it says that when he shares this dream,

when he told him his dream,

they hated him even more.

What could he possibly say

that would make them so angry?

Look there to verse seven.

He says,

we were all there binding up sheaves in the field,

and behold,

my sheaf stood up,

and all of your sheaves gathered around my sheaf,

and they bowed down to my sheaf.

And it seems like they all understand the meaning.

Are you really going to reign over us?

And so they hated him even more for his dreams

and for his words.

But he's not done.

I mean,

you'd think this guy,

maybe he would have gotten the message by now.

But verse nine says he dreams again,

and he goes and opens up his mouth,

and he goes and tells them again,

just no awareness at all, right?

And he says,

well,

this time,

listen to my dream,

guys,

the sun and the moon

and the 11 stars

were all bowing down to me.

Can you imagine the brothers?

These 11 brothers.

Now,

every word that Joseph is saying at this point

is just cranking up the heat right now,

right?

Are you kidding me,

Joseph?

These 11 stars are bowing down to you

and the sun and the moon,

mom and dad too.

And it says,

when he told it to his father

and to his brothers,

his father rebukes him

and says,

what is this dream you've dreamed?

Shall I and your mother

and your brothers

really come down

and bow ourselves

to the ground before you?

And it says,

his brothers were jealous of him,

but his father kept the saying in mind.

Now,

I make no excuses

for what happens next,

right?

I mean,

the brothers are clearly

100% in the wrong,

but you can understand

why they're upset,

can't you?

I mean,

who is this guy?

Who does Joseph think he is?

He's already got it all.

The dad loves him

more than all of us

and now he's telling us

this dream he has

of all of us

bowing down to him.

Really?

They hate him

for what God has revealed to him

about his future.

And again,

Christian,

I don't think we have to work too hard

to draw a parallel

to our experience,

do we?

A Christian,

you understand,

don't you then?

That you have ahead of you

a glorious future.

If you are in Christ,

you are destined for glory

and we know that

without a shadow of a doubt,

if you are in Christ,

you are going to be

with him in glory.

We have ahead of us,

we get to inherit

the new heavens

and the new earth,

all the world

renewed

and freed

from sin's curse.

That's our future in Christ.

And we can say

even more than that,

we know that

when Christ returns,

Christian,

we are going to

reign with him

in the new heavens,

in the new earth.

Paul tells us

in 1 Corinthians 6

that the saints

are going to judge

the world.

In Daniel chapter 7,

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

you remember

when we went through Daniel,

it tells us

the kingdom

and the dominion

and the greatness

of the kingdoms

under the whole heaven

shall be given

to the people

of the saints

of the Most High.

That's us, church.

His kingdom

shall be an everlasting kingdom

and all dominions

shall serve

and obey him.

That is our future

in Christ.

But again,

not everyone

shares this future.

And those who don't

may resent you

for the future

that you have.

They may mock you.

Are you serious?

And what is this talk

of eternal life?

Are you kidding me?

You?

You who have no money

and no status

and no position

of authority

here on this earth,

you're going to reign

over me?

You're going ahead of me?

I say,

that's exactly right.

Earthly status

and earthly positions

of authority

and earthly accumulations

of wealth,

that matters very little.

It matters nothing

in the kingdom of God.

The meek will inherit

the earth,

Jesus tells us.

God chose

what is weak

in the world

to shame the strong,

Paul tells us.

It's incomprehensible

to the natural mind

and people may

hate you

for believing it.

And we know

the enemy certainly

doesn't love your future.

The enemy

wants to keep you

from getting there

at all costs.

The enemy

and all who belong

to him,

they work as hard

as they possibly can

to keep you

from reaching

your glorious

inheritance in Christ.

And so we see

people may hate you

for the favor

you have.

You are loved

of the Father.

They may hate you

for the future

you have.

Your glorious

inheritance in Christ.

And so,

third,

because of this,

we should realize

that here in a fallen world,

people may seek

your failure.

People may seek

your failure.

Look there,

starting in verse 12.

And this dream

that Joseph dreamed

was clearly

strike three,

right?

His brothers have had

enough.

They go out to pasture

their father's flock

in the field

and Israel sends

Joseph out

to join them.

Why?

So that the tattletale

can report back.

How are they doing?

How are they doing

what I've asked them

to do?

And so he goes,

but apparently

it says he has a hard

time finding them

because they're not

in Shechem

where they're supposed

to be.

They're over in Dothan,

which is not in Alabama.

That's about a day's

journey north of Shechem.

Already he's got

a little bit of dirt

to share on his brothers.

So he goes

and he finds them

and verse 18

says that his brothers,

they see him

from afar

and before he makes

his way to them,

they start to talk

amongst themselves

and they conspire

against him

how to kill him.

They said,

here comes this dreamer.

Let's kill him

and throw him

into one of the pits

and then here's

what we'll do.

We'll say that a fierce

animal has come

and devoured him

and we'll see

what becomes

of his dreams.

Except Reuben

speaks up

and why he's

the only one

I don't know

but I'm grateful

for Joseph's sake

that he does

and he says,

no, no, no, no, no,

shed no blood.

Just throw him

in the pit

but don't lay

a hand on him

and we're told

he said this

because his intention

was to come back

and to rescue him

and to bring him

back to his father

but regardless,

all the brothers agree

they think it's a good plan

and so Joseph comes,

they strip him

of his robe,

they take him,

they throw him

into the pit

and they leave him

for dead.

This is a terrible

injustice,

isn't it?

Joseph has done

nothing wrong,

he's an innocent man,

he's their own brother,

can you imagine?

And before you say,

well, that's crazy,

I mean it is crazy,

before you say

I would never do

anything like that,

do you remember

how all this started?

They didn't just

wake up one day

and decide to throw

their brother in a pit,

this has been festering

in their hearts

for a long time,

hasn't it?

This tiny spark

of jealousy

and pride

turns into hatred

hatred,

hatred turns

into a plot

to betray

and to murder

their brother,

turns into this

premeditated deception

that they're going

to have to tell everyone

to cover it all up,

you see this small

spark of sin

left unaddressed

has now turned

into this raging

fire that is burning

everything down

around them

and that's how sin

works,

isn't it?

And on top of that,

look at verse 25,

they don't even seem

bothered by any

of this that they've

done.

Verse 25 says

they throw their

brother into a pit,

they leave him for dead

and what do they do?

They sit down to eat

and their sin

has blinded them

to what they've

just done

but they're not

finished yet,

are they?

As they eat,

they look up,

they see a caravan

of Ishmaelites

coming from Gilead

and Judah has

this bright idea.

Verse 26,

he speaks up

and he says,

what profit is it

if we just kill

our brother

and conceal his blood

and you wonder,

there's this moment

of hope,

maybe just for a moment,

is Judah going to be

the one to speak up

and stop all of this?

Judah,

who's the ancestor

of Christ,

maybe he'll put

a stop to it,

right?

No,

look what he says,

what profit is it

if we just kill

our brother

and conceal his blood?

Let's sell him instead

to the Ishmaelites.

Come on guys,

he's our own flesh

and blood after all,

right?

So they take Joseph

out of the pit,

they sell him

to the Ishmaelites

for 20 shekels

of silver,

which by the way

in today's dollars

would amount

to about $500

and they take Joseph

to Egypt

and Reuben,

when he comes back,

he's devastated

and they have to come up

with this deception

to lie to their father

when they do this,

their father as well

is devastated

as much as anybody

tried to comfort him,

he won't receive it.

He said,

I'll just die

in mourning.

Do you see the impact

that sin has had

on this entire family?

Joseph's own brothers

have sought

to destroy him,

they wanted to make certain

that his dreams

did not come true

and again,

Christian,

draw the connection

to us in Christ.

are we surprised

when the world

around us

hates us?

Don't you realize

that since you now

belong to Christ,

the enemy hates you

and wants to destroy you?

Don't you realize

that we face

a great and powerful enemy

that the enemy

and all who belong to him

actively seek your downfall?

The way the New Testament

talks about the Christian life,

we're not in peacetime,

Christian.

We are in wartime.

The enemy wants to keep you

from the love of God

if that were at all possible.

He wants to keep you

from your inheritance

if that were at all possible.

And one tool

in the toolbox

that they use,

one of their primary weapons

that they use,

is suffering

in the life

of the believer.

In their hands,

suffering

is a means

to destroy you

and stop the spread

of the gospel

through you.

But,

Christians

think about suffering

differently.

We know

because we're told

in the pages of Scripture

nothing

can separate you

from the love of God

in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

Not even the worst

imaginable suffering

in your life.

we're told

nothing can keep us

from this glorious

inheritance ahead of us.

It is kept

in heaven

for you

who by God's power

are being guarded

through faith

but for a salvation

ready to be revealed

in the last time.

I love the story

of Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Peter

and the apostles

they're filled

with this new boldness

to go and preach Christ

and the high priests

and the Pharisees

they're all telling them

they've got to stop

talking about Jesus.

And so they beat them up

and they charge them

not to talk about Jesus anymore

they let them go

they just tear them

to bits

and how do they respond?

It says in verse 41

they left the presence

of the council

rejoicing

that they were counted

worthy to suffer

dishonor

for the name.

And every day

in the temple

and from house to house

they did not cease

teaching and preaching

that the Christ

is Jesus.

they rejoiced

that they were counted

worthy to suffer

for the name of Christ.

How can they see it that way?

It's because in all of this

we know

fourth

and finally

in all things

God

seeks

your welfare.

In all

things

believer

God

seeks

your

welfare.

this is the perspective

that we're called to have.

Let's finish our verses.

We're told

count it all

joy

brothers

when you meet trials

of various kinds.

Why?

For you know

that the testing

of your faith

produces

steadfastness.

Do not be surprised

at the fiery trial

when it comes upon you

to test you

as though something

strange were happening

to you

but rejoice

in so far

as you share

Christ's sufferings

that you may also

rejoice and be glad

when his glory

is revealed.

We rejoice

in our sufferings

why?

Knowing that

suffering

produces endurance

and endurance

produces character

and character

produces hope

and more than that

he says

I consider

that the sufferings

of this present time

are not worth

comparing

with the glory

that is to be

revealed

to us.

Church

we know

we rejoice

to know

that our God

is at work

in every moment

of our lives

even the most

difficult moments

of our lives

for good.

I hate to spoil

how all this story

works out

but we have to go there

because it helps us

frame this whole story

of Joseph

in chapter 50

verse 20

all the way at the end

but we get the point.

Chapter 50

verse 20

Joseph gives us

the Christian perspective

on our suffering

and he says

to his brothers

you meant evil

against me

but God

meant it

for good.

You meant evil

against me

but God

meant it

for good.

His brothers

meant evil

against him

but even

in this

don't you see

God is at work

for good.

God is at work

to save

Joseph.

He worked

even through

the greedy

hearts of his brothers

to have him

sold into slavery.

He was at work

even in their plans

he had bigger plans

to send Joseph

ahead of them

to Egypt

not only just

to save Joseph

but to save

all of his family

from a famine

that they have

no idea

is right around

the corner.

And you zoom out

even bigger than that

go to Exodus

and what do we see there?

We see God's plan

is to bring his people

into Egypt

so that he might

redeem them

out of Egypt

he might display

his glory

in Egypt

and call them

to himself

as his own people

God is at work

in all of it

to point us forward

to an even greater

act of redemption

in the gospel

of Christ.

Now how much

of this do you think

Joseph was aware of

in the moment

while he's down

in the pit?

None of it.

But church

we have the bigger

picture here

God is always

doing infinitely

more than we

possibly are

even remotely

the slightest bit

aware of

at every moment

of our life.

God is working

redemption

here

even in this

act of horrible

evil.

He's at work

to magnify

the glory of his name

even in this

dark moment

where sin

and evil

and injustice

and suffering

seem to take

center stage.

God

permits

what he hates

to accomplish

what he loves.

What could that

possibly be?

Two aims

of God

in our suffering

the display

of his glory

and the eternal

good

of his people.

The display

of his glory

and the eternal

good

of his people.

I'm so thankful

aren't you?

God loves

our eternal

good

more than

our temporary

comfort.

The thief

takes a knife

he takes

suffering

like a knife

and he cuts

us to kill

us

but the Lord

like a skilled

surgeon

takes that

same knife

and he cuts

us to heal

us

to make us

well

and to make

us whole

and to make

us like

Christ

who is

by the way

right at the

heart of

Joseph's story.

Do you see how

all this points

forward to

Jesus?

Joseph's story

is ultimately

about

Jesus.

Jesus Christ

is the beloved

son

of the

father

robed

in glory

his only

begotten

son.

Jesus is

the one

who was

prophesied

over and

over and

over again

that this

Messiah will

be exalted

as king

over all

the earth

and Jesus

is the one

who came

humbly

to his own

brothers

and how

was he

received?

He was

welcomed

with hatred

and envy

and betrayal

and greed

and ultimately

Jesus was

delivered over

to death.

Those who

did not

belong to

him

hated him

and rejected

him

and crucified

him

and put him

down in the

pit of death

but praise

God

and the

greatest

injustice

in the world

in the death

of Christ

was at the

very same

time

the greatest

good ever

accomplished.

The greatest

moment of

darkness

putting the

son of God

to death

was at the

very same

time in the

plan of God

the greatest

victory.

Satan's

plan of

destruction

was at the

very same

time God's

great plan

of redemption

for sinners

like us.

He died

that he might

conquer death.

He became

sin so that

he might

rescue us

from the

powers of

sin.

he was

raised to

new life

so that

in him

we too

might be

raised to

newness

of life.

What man

meant for

evil

God

meant

for good.

This Christ

is risen

and reigning

now and one

day we know

church he will

come again

and every

knee will

bow

and every

tongue will

confess that

Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God

the Father.

Do you

know this

Savior by

faith?

If not

what keeps

you from

coming to

him now?

The truth

is we will

suffer in

this life.

I'm sure you

all have

stories of

your own

life right

now of

suffering and

injustice but

in him and

only in

him can we

have this

perspective on

our suffering

that whatever

we face here

and now we

believe all

things work

together for

good for

those who

love God

and are

called according

to his

purposes.

Father we

praise you for

this hope that

we can have in

the face of

great injustice

and great

suffering.

Lord whatever

trials are

brought into

our life

Lord in your

hands God

are meant

for good.

While the

enemy would

seek to

destroy us

Father you

seek to

mold us

into the

image of

Christ and

so we

rejoice in

our sufferings

yet we

pray Father

for the day

when Christ

would come

and put an

end to

all our

suffering and

all our

trials and

we would be

with you

free from

sin and

death forever.

We praise you

for this in

Christ Jesus

name.

Amen.