Revelation

Thanks very much Fiona. Great to see another great hymn given the modern treatment. Some of these words, these old hymns are fantastic and it's really good when we can revive them.

Good evening everyone. We've come to the climax of the story of Joseph for quite a number of chapters now. We've been waiting for it to happen and thinking it would soon.

And now we're going to come to the end where Joseph and Jacob are reunited. The people settle in Egypt and they all live happily ever after.

It is happily until a pharaoh comes along who didn't remember Joseph.

Quite a lot to read so I'm not going to read the whole of chapters 45 and 46 but we will read enough to get the thread of it.

And if you have Bibles it would be really helpful because you can then follow the rest of it as we go through.

So Genesis 45 starting reading at verse 1.

And it says then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants and he cried out,

Have everyone leave my presence.

So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and the pharaoh's household heard about it.

Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still living?

But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were terrified at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, come close to me.

When they had done so he said, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt.

And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here.

Because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

For two years now there has been famine in the land.

And for the next five years there will not be ploughing and reaping.

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Now hurry back to my father and say to him, this is what your son Joseph says.

God has made me lord of all Egypt.

Come down to me.

Don't delay.

You shall live in the land in the region of Goshen and be near me.

You, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds and all that you have.

I will provide for you there because five years of famine are still to come.

Otherwise, you and all your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.

So Joseph sent his brothers on their way with Pharaoh's blessing.

We picked up again at verse 25.

Verse 25.

So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.

They told him, Joseph is still alive.

In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.

Jacob was stunned.

He did not believe them.

But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph

had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

And Israel said, I'm convinced.

My son Joseph is still alive.

I will go and see him before I die.

So Israel set out with all that was his.

And when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, Jacob, Jacob, here I am, he replied.

I am God, the God of your father, he said.

Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.

I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.

And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes.

And so they set off.

There's a long list of the people who went down to Egypt with Jacob.

And then if we pick up again at verse 29, verse 29, it said,

Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel.

As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.

Israel said to Joseph, now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.

And God, I'm sure, will bless his word as we think about it together.

I want to start with a small experiment this evening.

It's very simple.

So, in a few moments, I'm going to put a word up on the screen,

and I want everyone to read it out loud straight away.

So, word goes on screen, speed read it, and say what you see.

So, here we go.

Good.

Well done, everybody.

You passed the test.

Can anyone see any other word?

Did everyone see good there?

Evil.

Evil, absolutely.

If you look at the white inside the black, you get evil spelt out as well.

And I guess that's what the beginning, at least, of the passage we're looking at this evening

is all about.

It's how you look at it.

If you look at the story of Joseph one way, you see great evil.

You see great malice and envy by his brothers.

You see others you go along who would want to do bad to him.

And he could have looked back and been really resentful about it, particularly to his family.

But Joseph looked back and he saw only good.

He saw that out of all the evil that had been done, God had worked together for good.

So, it depends how you look at it, whether it's good or evil.

I'm not promoting relative ethics or anything.

That's not what's good for you.

It's bad for me.

It is that sometimes that God allows things that are bad or that people have done that

are evil to us to be used ultimately for our good.

I'll let you work that one out for yourself.

But if we put something else underneath it to complete it, we can get the picture that

God's hands hold you and me.

We are all in God's hands.

God is directing our lives.

And that's what is the second big thing that's in this chapter.

Just looking at it as good or as evil and is recognizing God's hand, God's providence in our lives.

So, Joseph says twice to his brothers, God sent me ahead of you.

In fact, he does it almost again in verse 8.

In verse 8, he says, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

Looking at it in human terms, how did Joseph get to Egypt?

He got to Egypt because his brothers were jealous of him.

They put him in a pit and then they sold him to some Ishmaelite traders who took him and sold him as a slave in Egypt.

Joseph is able to look and he's able to say, actually what was happening?

Despite what you thought you were doing, ultimately God was fulfilling his purpose.

I think one of the great things we need to learn from the story of Joseph is that God's providence, God's provision for our lives is in everything that we do and we need to be willing to recognize it.

And sometimes we look back, look back at times that have been really, really difficult for us.

Perhaps look back at times when people have done some really bad things to us.

And we can say, actually out of that, God brought good.

So let's look in a little bit more detail at these first few verses of chapter 45.

So if you remember back to last week or two weeks ago when John was speaking to us, we were looking at the brothers coming to Egypt first time, second time.

And they have the silver in their sack the first time, second time Benjamin comes and they have Joseph's goblet in the sack.

And they're really worried about things.

They think we're in big trouble now, not to any fault of our own now, but it must be God revisiting on us the sins of the past.

And then at the end of chapter 44, we have Judah's great speech.

Judah who makes it clear to Joseph that he would rather, he was imprisoned and he took the punishment for what Benjamin was perceived to have done.

Then for them to go back without Benjamin and ultimately that might have led to just Jacob's death.

And that very emotional and very powerful appeal from Judah was what ultimately brought Joseph to the point of saying,

I now need to reveal myself to my brothers because they have shown to me that they really have changed.

Now what they did to me all these years ago, which was very wicked and very evil, they've repented of, they recognize the wrong of it.

And it's time now to move on and to put it behind us.

So at the start of chapter 45, Joseph gets very emotional as he's done a few times as we've gone through the last few chapters.

And he reveals himself to his brothers.

And he does it in a very emotional and also a very personal way.

So he says in verse 3, I am Joseph, is my father still living?

Now read that the first time and think, hasn't Joseph been listening?

Because his brothers have been talking about their father all along and they've made it very clear that their father is still alive.

Two things I think in that.

One is that Joseph here, instead of saying your father as he's done in the past, he now says my father.

It is a personal thing.

And the other thing is he's probably using some kind of idiom of the day.

So when he said, is your father still living?

Actually, what it probably was really meant to get the answer for is, is your father in good health?

Is he doing fairly well?

But he was asking after his father first and then he addresses them as, I am Joseph, your brother.

They hadn't wanted him as a brother.

They had been very jealous of him as a brother because of the concern, the care his father had for them.

He now wants to identify with them as your brother.

So a lot of human emotion going on here.

A family being reunited has been split for so long.

And reconciliation and forgiveness.

But the thing that's going on underneath and that is very important that we get out is this divine perspective.

God's providence, God using things for his glory.

And while Joseph recognises that the brothers had indeed sold him into Egypt,

and he doesn't try to gloss over that in any way,

he says what was actually going on here was that God was using your actions to fulfil his purposes.

You thought it was going to be bad.

God has made it turn out to be good.

And actually if you come to chapter 50, which we'll do in a couple of weeks' time,

and Joseph very explicitly says you meant evil, but God has worked it for good.

God uses the evil thing to bring good.

And the second thing I think is in these verses is how God saves through his servants.

Verse 5, it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

Verse 7, God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So God is working things for the benefit of his people.

And to do that, he is using someone who is willing to be his obedient servant

and who will then save others from the famine that they would have suffered.

Now, of course, we look at that and we think immediately about the Lord Jesus.

How evil men put the Lord to death, sentence him unjustly to be crucified.

And yet God made sure that that greatest of evil brought the greatest of good

as the Lord Jesus bought our salvation through his death on the cross.

God used the evil intention of men to fulfill his purposes and to bring good.

And, of course, he saved through his servant.

As he had sent Joseph into Egypt to be the saviour there,

particularly of his family, but actually of the whole nation of Egypt,

he sent his servant, the Lord Jesus, into the world to be the saviour of the world.

Well, let's think about it in more practical day-to-day terms.

What does it mean to be able to recognise God's providence in our daily lives?

How can it be that men plan something and they want it to go wrong

or perhaps things just seem to happen and somehow underlying it,

God is in control, God's hand is at work?

I used to play chess.

I kind of still know the rules of chess and don't play at all seriously anymore,

but occasionally I play chess against my computer.

I usually set a very low level so I can make a couple of really bad mistakes

and still have a chance of winning the game.

But if I turn up the level a bit and put it at a level which I know is a bit beyond what I'm capable of,

then I can be pretty sure that I'm going to be beaten.

It won't be that long before there's a checkmate.

If I do a good move, then the computer can respond to it by doing a better move.

If I do a bad move, the computer will take advantage of it

and make sure that it helps towards winning the game.

Whatever I do, the computer is able to respond to it and to work it for its purposes.

That's a very poor analogy in many ways, but in some ways I think it's quite helpful.

God doesn't restrict us in what we do.

God gives us free will and he gives us choices to do right or to do wrong.

And we can't say, I did evil because I knew that was going to fulfill God's purpose.

Of course, we couldn't do that.

And yet when things are done which are wrong and are evil and done often with bad intent,

when things just happen, when we do things perhaps carelessly or without thinking and things go wrong,

God can still use that to fulfill his purposes.

Ultimately, God is in control and God is able to take both the good and the bad that we do

and to use them to bring glory to his name and to bring good to us.

Joseph's case, he had a rather foolish father.

He had jealous brothers.

There was a lustful woman in Egypt.

There was a forgetful butler.

All of them going wrong.

And yet all of them ultimately moving towards God's purpose.

And so Joseph can see at the end of it that he, verse 8, he is the father of Pharaoh,

not literally the father of Pharaoh.

It was kind of a bit like being called Pope's chapter or something like that.

It was a position to help Pharaoh.

Father of Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, ruler of all Egypt.

And it had happened because God had worked in his life and the lives of those around him,

despite what people were doing that might have been bad for him.

This last week I've been thinking about the name Joni for obvious reasons.

Those of us of a certain vintage probably can remember two Jonis who were well known in the 70s, 80s,

and perhaps to an extent still these days.

One of them is the folk singer Joni Mitchell.

Joni Mitchell writes a number of very happy, cheerful songs,

but when she looks at life it tends to be often through a fairly gloomy lens.

Let me just read some lines that Joni Mitchell's written.

She says,

Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere, stormy weather.

Just can't get my poor self together.

I'm weary all the time, all the time.

And then maybe her best known song,

I've looked at life from both sides now.

From win and lose and still somehow,

it's life's illusions I recall.

I really don't know life at all.

Very gloomy perspective on the world,

but someone saying it doesn't make any sense,

I don't understand what's going on,

all I can see is the things that come up that appear okay,

and then suddenly they're not,

and I'm really not very happy with my lot in life.

The other Joni,

I think she likes to call herself Joni,

is Joni Erickson.

Joni Erickson, who amazingly is now 65.

Those of us who think of her as a kind of teenage girl,

she's well beyond that now.

Joni Erickson, when she was 17 years old,

was a carefree,

perhaps rather immature teenager,

I think she would have said that herself,

when she was in a very serious diving accident.

She broke her neck,

and she was paralysed from her shoulders down.

So she can move her face,

but nothing below that.

Despite that, she's gone on to be an artist,

an author, a speaker,

a recording artist,

and a number of other things as well.

She hasn't let what happened in her life

deflect her from enjoying a full and very fulfilled life.

Let me just read a few paragraphs from her first book,

the book that's called Joni,

which is one many of us no doubt have read.

And this is what she says.

I'm happy.

I really am.

I wouldn't change my life for anything.

I even feel privileged.

God doesn't give such special attention to everyone

and intervene that way in their lives.

He allows most people to go right on in their own ways.

He doesn't interfere,

even though he knows they're ultimately destroying

their lives, health, or happiness,

and it must grieve him terribly.

I'm really thankful he did something to get my attention

and change me.

Someone who has gone through something that for many of us

would be almost unimaginably bad,

and yet she looks back on it and she says,

this thing that seemed so bad to so many people,

this was God working for my good,

and also for the good of many others,

and through the tremendous witness

that she's had to God's power in her life.

When we look back,

do we see bad or good?

If there's someone that you've had a problem with,

someone has perhaps done wrong to you in the past,

do you look back with bitterness

and with anger at that

and what they've done to you,

or are you able to see how God,

even in these circumstances,

can work and can do things for your good?

If there's something that's gone wrong,

perhaps it's not been someone doing something bad,

it's just something that has happened,

as in the case of Johnny,

can you look back and say,

yes, that was really hard?

Perhaps it's illness, bereavement,

a problem with the family,

anything like that,

can you look back and say,

that was really bad?

But in a sense, it was really good,

because God was working,

and God was able to help me through it.

It's very easy to quote Romans 8,

and say,

God works everything for the good of those who love him,

who are called according to his purpose.

And we would say,

yes, we believe that,

that is what we believe is the case.

When it comes down to our own lives,

when we look back,

and when we see things that have caused real hurt,

perhaps real pain in our lives,

can we look back and say,

God has helped me in that,

and actually it has been for my benefit

that I went through that time of trial.

And if we're in the time of trial at the moment,

if there are things that are happening to us

we don't understand,

perhaps there are people who seem to be so against us,

and we can't understand why it is happening that way,

can we at least be able to say,

well, I trust God.

I trust that God's hand is on my life,

and I want to remain faithful to him,

and look back someday,

and be able to see the bigger picture,

and see how God was at work.

Where there is evil,

where there are bad things that happen,

nevertheless,

God can and does work them for our good,

and we can ultimately look back and say,

yes, that was God at work.

His hand was on my life.

Time's moving on,

so let's move on and look at the remainder of chapter 45,

and I've given the heading,

Reflecting God's Priority.

Chapter 45 is all about grace.

It's all about grace.

It's all about the grace that Joseph showed

to his brothers and to his father,

and there are so many lessons in it

about the grace that God shows to us,

and the grace that we should show to others,

even though they don't deserve it.

So what are the components of grace

that we see here in the life of Joseph?

Well, first of all, there's forgiveness.

There is the forgiveness for his brothers

that he can say to them,

yes, you did a terrible thing,

but God's worked it for good,

so let's put it behind us.

Let's not worry about it now.

And the ability to be able to forgive others

who do us wrong

is very basic for any Christian.

As we look at the forgiveness

that the Lord Jesus has shown to us,

shouldn't we far more be willing to forgive

the little things that may be done against us?

And to forgive and forgive and forgive,

remember the Lord Jesus,

70 times 7,

we should forgive the brother who sins against us.

And it's not just a superficial thing,

say, I forgive you,

and then we allow things to move on,

and actually we haven't really forgiven them,

and we are still resentful about it.

It is as they recognise the wrong that they've done,

as Joseph's brothers did,

and they didn't do this until he's convinced

that they did recognise the wrong,

as people recognise the wrong

and are willing to repent of it before God

and to acknowledge it before us,

then we should be willing to forgive them

and to put it completely behind us.

And part of the putting it behind us

is a real acceptance of them.

Joseph could have forgiven his brothers,

given them grain,

said, go back, take it away,

don't want to see you again,

but because you're my brothers,

because you repented,

then here's the food that you'll need.

But Joseph didn't want to do that.

He wanted to be reunited as a family,

to accept those who had rejected him,

and to show them that greater grace

that was evident in the way he acted towards them.

And again, if someone has done us wrong,

then we should be willing not just to forgive,

but to accept them.

So it's not you say to them,

I forgive you,

and then every time you see them in church,

you run in the opposite direction

to avoid having to talk to them.

It's forgiving and restoring relationships

and accepting one another.

Third thing was evidence of Joseph's grace,

was the great generosity

that he showed to his brothers.

That he gave them and the family

this wonderful land in Goshen,

this land which was ideal for them

as farming people

and as shepherds and cattle minders.

He gave them that land,

he gave them gifts,

he gave them clothes.

Ironic, when they had taken the coat

of many colours off his back,

that he gave them suits of clothes

to take away.

And there was nothing that was too much

for Joseph to give to his brothers.

Again, grace is not just forgiving,

it's not just even accepting,

it's showing the generosity

of the Lord Jesus to others.

And then there was the assurance

that Joseph gave to them.

Assurance that they'd be welcome back,

but there was one other verse

that I thought was quite helpful

in that when Joseph says to his brothers,

when you go on the way,

don't argue with one another.

Verse 34, 24 sorry.

He sent his brothers away

and as they were leaving,

he said to them,

don't quarrel on the way.

Now that sounds like a bit of a

school teacher type lecturer

or mum or dad saying,

don't have a fight together kids.

I think what it actually means,

the word originally meant something like

don't be troubled,

don't be agitated.

It might be he was urging them

not to quarrel with themselves

over who had been at fault

or whatever else.

But perhaps what he was thinking

is don't be worried

that what's happened

the last couple of times

you've left Egypt

is going to happen to you again.

That you'll find something

that shouldn't be there

or someone will come after you

and they'll find that someone

apparently has stolen something from you.

So nothing of that kind

is going to happen.

Don't worry about being accepted

when you come back to me.

This is not any kind of trick.

I have really accepted you.

I want to assure you

of my forgiveness.

Now, as we said,

that message didn't really get home

because if you come on

to after Jacob's death,

Joseph's brothers are really worried.

Now our father's died.

He's going to have all this

pent up anger in him

and he's going to punish us

for the wrong that we've done.

And Joseph again had to reassure them.

But if we have grace

towards one another,

if we are willing to forgive,

to accept,

to be generous,

people need to have the assurance

that we're doing it genuinely

and we're not suddenly

going to change our minds.

And why should we show this grace?

Well, it's because God has done for us

exactly the things

that are up there on the screen.

God has forgiven us

for all these terrible sins

that we've done,

these wrongs against him

through the death of the Lord Jesus

and our trust in him.

We have complete forgiveness.

God has accepted us.

It's not just that he said,

okay, I forgive you

for all the wrong you've done.

He has adopted us as his children.

He has made us his ears,

joint ears with the Lord Jesus.

He has given us

an inheritance in Christ.

He has been generous to us,

generous in the many,

many blessings

he gives us in this world.

Generous too in the prospect

that we have

that one day

we will go to be

with the Lord forever

and things will be

so much better for us

as the trials of this life

are behind us.

And he gives us that assurance.

He's given us the Holy Spirit,

the deposit,

and for what will one day be ours

to give us that assurance

that we really do belong

to the Lord Jesus,

that we are his,

and that we can have his help

and his protection

in our lives.

As God has shown grace to us,

let's also show grace

to one another.

Moving on quickly,

we're having to move

fairly quickly this evening.

Let's look at the opening verses

of chapter 46.

I call this

Receiving God's Promise.

And this is God

appearing in a vision

to Jacob.

Why did God appear

in a vision to Jacob?

Well, Jacob maybe needed

reassurance that what he was doing

was the right thing.

Remember when Abraham

went down to Egypt

in the time of famine

and got into real difficulties there

as he pretended

that Sarah was his sister.

Remember the Lord

appeared to Isaac

and said to him,

don't go down

into Egypt.

And perhaps Jacob

would be wondering,

well, if God was so

against my grandfather

and my father

going to Egypt,

is it the right thing

that I should go?

And I think he was

getting reassurance from God,

God telling him,

yes, it is the right thing

to do.

Let me look at the verses.

The first thing we learn

is about God's character.

God appears

four times

to Jacob.

Interesting,

we have no recorded

instances of God

appearing in this way

to Joseph.

Appearing to Abraham,

to Isaac,

to Jacob,

and although he gave

Joseph wisdom

and discernment,

he didn't in that sense

appear to him.

But four times

God appeared to Joseph

as recorded in Scripture.

First time was at Bethel,

Joseph is running away,

he's using a stone

as his pillow,

and he sees the angels

going up and down

into heaven.

And God appears

to him that time

to give him the assurance

that the covenant

will be fulfilled

through him.

That his descendants

will become

like the dust

of the earth.

That what has been

promised to Abraham

and to Isaac

is also promised

to Jacob.

And as the Lord

appears to Jacob

at that point,

he introduces himself

as the Lord

and probably know

if you get the Lord

in capital letters

in the Old Testament,

the word is Yahweh.

It's the personal name

of God.

That's how he introduces

himself to Jacob

as the Yahweh,

as the personal God

of Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob

and the covenant.

Chapter 31.

Jacob has gone

to be with Laban,

his uncle.

He's met his match

in terms of someone

who could scheme

and deceive others.

And things have begun

to go a bit bad

because Jacob's been

very successful

and Laban's family

are not very happy

about it.

God appears to Jacob

again,

introduces himself

as the God

of Bethel,

reminding Jacob

of what he had had

in that vision

in the past

and he says to Jacob,

now go back

to where you came from.

So again,

taking Jacob

in one situation

and saying,

now it's time

to move on

and go somewhere else.

chapter 35,

Jacob has been

reunited

with Esau,

he's wrestled

with God

at Peniel

and at Bethel

God appears

to him again

and introduces himself

as El Shaddai,

God Almighty.

And that's the point

at which God says,

your name is no longer

Jacob,

the deceiver,

your name is Israel,

the one who struggled

with God.

Again,

a key point

in Jacob's life

that God says,

you're a new person,

you're changed now,

you're now Israel,

you're now the father

of the nation.

And number four here,

God appears to Jacob

at Beersheba

and he introduces himself

as God

of your father.

Now part of the significance

of that

is that many years before

God had appeared

to Isaac

and introduced himself

in exactly the same way

and actually said

many of the same words

that he said to Jacob.

I am the God

of your father,

he was the God

of Abraham,

of Isaac,

and of Jacob

and as I say

in this case

his purpose

is to reassure Jacob

that he is doing

the right thing

in going to Egypt.

A bit of a diversion there

but I thought it was

quite interesting

at least to me.

Second thing

God talks about here

is his covenant.

He says,

do not be afraid

to go down to Egypt

for I will make you

a great nation

there.

So again,

God is appearing

to Jacob

he is reiterating

the promise

that he has given

in the past

to Jacob

and to his ancestors

and saying

my covenant

with you

still stands.

The fact that you're

going down to Egypt

and you're going

to a different place

you're going away

from the land of promise

that doesn't change

the fact

that I am your God

that your family

will be my people

that my covenant

is with you

you will be

a great nation.

And then finally

God promises

his company

God promises

that he will go

with Jacob

I will go down

to Egypt

with you

and I will surely

bring you

back

again.

Jacob hasn't been

sent to Egypt

to get away from God

or to be separate

from God

God will be with him

every step of the way

and God will make sure

not just Jacob

who would be buried

in the promised land

but all his descendants

under Moses

and Joshua

would come back

and would reclaim

the land again.

Here is God

giving his promises

again to Jacob

and saying

I am faithful

what I have promised

I will fulfill

and I will fulfill it

through my way

and my way at present

is for you

to go down

to Egypt.

God again

doesn't appear to us

in visions

in that sense

but God

through the promises

of scripture

and through what he says

to us

through his word

he does reassure us

as he calls us

into service

or into different areas

of life

and we can rely

absolutely

on God's promises

and on his faithfulness

as we are

obedient

to him.

If we are willing

to go where God says

to do what God

tells us to

then we can be sure

that God will work it

for our good

and his faithfulness

will be evident

in everything

that we do.

Finally

we are not going to look

at chapter 46

in any detail at all

but chapter 46

really is about

the Israelites

and children of Jacob

going down to Egypt

and it is the start

of the great nation.

It is the start

of God's people

becoming

a great

people.

Now we have to say

there is not

very promising

material

that God is

working with here.

There are 70 of them.

They are going down

to the land of Egypt

which no matter

there are hundreds

of thousands

if not millions

of people

living in it.

They would be

a tiny, tiny proportion

of the people

of Israel

very weak

in number

not in that sense

very strong

in the land

obviously Joseph

had great influence

but God's people

were very weak

in their number.

They were also

weak in reputation

there is a bit

at the end

of the chapter

we didn't read

and it follows

through into

chapter 47

which is about

the Israelites

Jacob's family

being shepherds

and Joseph

says to them

say to Pharaoh

you're shepherds

and I think

the idea was

that because

they were shepherds

because the Egyptians

despised shepherds

for whatever reason

whether it was

social class

or religious reasons

whatever

it says

the Egyptians

despised shepherds

and therefore

they wouldn't want

them as part

of the general

Egyptian society

and Cairo

wherever the capital

was

and they would be

quite happy

for them to have

an area of the land

that was theirs

and to be there

and to grow there

but to the people

of Egypt

those nomadic

people coming down

among them

they were not

those they would

want to look up to

they were just

shepherds

they were just

people who found

the land

and in the great

sophisticated land

of Egypt

they were seen

as being nothing

and of course

they were weak

in character

don't need to tell you

after all these weeks

they've been going

through the story

of the weakness

of Jacob

and of many

of his son

some of the

little subplots

that we've gone through

as we've gone through

these chapters

which just saw

how weak

and in many ways

how ungodly

Jacob and some

of his family

were

weak in number

weak in reputation

weak in character

and yet God

took them

and he made

them strong

how did he make

them strong

he made them strong

first of all

by bringing them

together

now if you think

of the history

of Abraham

and of his family

it is of

sons separating

and going their

different ways

Isaac and Ishmael

Jacob and Esau

and so on

they all set up

their own

little clans

they travelled

around independently

they had a

nomadic existence

and in the normal

scheme of things

that may well have

happened to Jacob's

sons as well

they were split up

they had their own

little families

they would never

have become

a great nation

as they are brought

to Egypt

as they are given

an area of their

own

where they can

live together

where they can

belong together

so they are able

to grow

into the great

nation

that Moses

ultimately would

lead out of

Egypt

and those who

were weak

at the beginning

because God

blessed them

and because God

helped them

in Egypt

as they were

together

as one people

they grew

into a great

and mighty nation

as God had promised

to Abraham

Isaac

and Jacob

and they were

strong through

the gifting

that they had

directly through

the land

that they were

given

a land

that was

ideally suited

for an

agricultural

lifestyle

for raising

livestock

and so on

they were

given the

ideal circumstances

through the

gift that was

given by

Joseph

or ultimately

by Pharaoh

and where they

were able to

settle

and to

prosper

well the application

is obvious

isn't it

God takes

those who

are weak

today still

we can number

a very small

proportion

of the total

population

of our land

and around

the world

would be

evangelical

Christians

who truly

know the

Lord Jesus

and love him

we can reputation

you go into

the world

what does it

think of the

church

it thinks

it's only

interest in

sex

and the role

of women

and not much

else

because we

really

in this

country

the church

isn't seen

as being

something

dynamic

and that

is really

relevant

to modern

society

we can

character

yes we

all are

aren't we

we're all

just sinful

people

brought by

the grace

of God

into his

family

but still

with many

many issues

each of us

God has

taken those

who are weak

and yet he

makes us

strong

we're strong

when we're

united

we're strong

when we work

together

when all of us

who are different

come together

in the Lord's

church

and work together

building one

another up

it's Ephesians

and Ephesians

4

building up

the body

of Christ

as each

of us

uses

what the

Lord has

given us

what the

Lord has

given us

includes the

gifts that he

has given to

each one of us

which we should

use to

encourage and

strengthen one

another

and to build

the church

of the Lord

Jesus

at Brunsfield

our time's gone

so just a reminder

of the four key

things we've talked

about

we've talked

about recognizing

God's providence

of seeing God's

hand in our

lives

that even

what appears

to be bad

and may have

been intended

for bad

God can turn

to good

we thought of

reflecting God's

priority

the grace that

God has shown

to us

the grace that

Jacob

that Joseph

showed to his

brothers

the grace that

we should be

willing to show

to one another

we thought of

receiving God's

promise as

God reassured

Jacob of what

was happening

reiterated the

promise to him

God's promises

to us are

faithful as well

and we thought

of reviving

God's people

that weak

little group

that went

to Egypt

and which

grew into

a great

nation

that weak

little group

that has come

to know and

trust the Lord

Jesus

and yet which

the Lord

Jesus is

building into

a nation

of priests

that is

building into

his people

that bring glory

to his name

and that

ultimately will

be with him

forever

let's rejoice

in what we've

seen in the

life of Jacob

and Joseph

and let's

take it away

and let's

demonstrate these

things in our

own lives

let's just pray

together

Father we thank

you for your

word to us

we thank you

for Joseph

and for the

example that he

gives us

we thank you

in many ways

he is a picture

of the Lord

Jesus

someone who

was rejected

someone who

lived in

your way

someone who

ultimately

saved his

people

thank you for

the grace

that he showed

to his

brothers

those who

had treated

him so

badly

and yet

he had

nothing but

love and

concern for

him

and thank you

that that

reflects what

the Lord

Jesus has

done for

us

that he was

treated so

badly by

men

and yet as

he died on

the cross

he took the

punishment for

the wrong

that we have

done

we do thank

you for

your boundless

grace in

our lives

and pray that

we too may

have grace

for others

when they

fail

we thank

you for

your presence

as we've

worshipped

together

and as we've

considered your

word

pray for your

blessing on us

as we part

now in the

name of the

Lord Jesus

Christ

Amen

to comment

have

to

celebrate