Sunday School, Joseph - From the Pit to the Palace

Okay, grab your Bibles because you're gonna need it. We're

gonna be in chapter thirty seven of Genesis. Genesis chapter

thirty seven. If you don't have a Bible, we have

them available at the resource desk and the lobby. Please

get one and keep it. We want you to have

the Bible. You're gonna need the Bible today because we're

going through thirteen chapters in Genesis. Thirteen chapters. I looked

up on chat GPT my best friend Lately. I asked

how long it would take for me to read Genesis

thirty seven through fifty and it said it would take

sixty to seventy five minutes. Buckle up, we're gonna read

the whole thing. Just kidding, We're not. We're gonna read

through portions of it, and then I'm gonna explain or

summarize portions of it so we can get through it.

But it's thirteen whole chapters in Genesis. And we are

taking a break from our series in Luke and we

started a summer series called Sunday School. I'm called it

Sunday School because we're going through for the whole summer.

We're going through some of the biggest Sunday School stories.

So if you've, like some of us, grew up hearing

these stories in church every Sunday, and some of us

have grown up never hearing any of these stories at all.

But our hope is that what I know is that

we can benefit from knowing the real stories and the

real points of all these stories. Because if you're anything

like I was, I may be able to tell you

kind of what the story was, but I had no

clue what was about, or the main point of it

or why it actually mattered. So our hope in this

series is for us to know not just the stories

or what happened, but also to know the points of

what God has for us in his word. And so

far we've covered Noah in the Flood, and we've covered

Abraham and Isaac, and Pastor Duncan did a fantastic job

with those two stories. Those are huge, big stories that

we all have had a lot to learn from. And

as much as like Noah's Ark was a joyous, rainbow

filled story of God's saving Noah and his family, it's

also a story that shows us about God's seriousness about

sin and wickedness, that he's a just God and he

does punish wickedness, but he saves those who believe in

Him and have put faith and trust in Him. And

how about the story of Abraham and Isaac. Is there

anything that we're withholding from God? Is there anything that

we're willing or unwilling to give up? Have we started

to worship the gift rather than the gift giver? Have

we stopped trusting God to provide for us? Are there sacrifice?

There idols in our lives that need to be sacrificed

before him. This is some challenging stuff, so we get

to see all that in these stories, but we also

got to see how amazing and how gracious God is.

God makes promises to his people and look at me.

He always fulfills his word. Always. God is good for

his word. And today's story is no different. Today recovering

one of my favorite stories in the Bible and one

of my favorite Bible characters, We're going to go through

the story of Joseph, and I called today's message Joseph

from the Pit to the Palace. Joseph from the Pit

to the Palace. How many times have you had someone

come up to you and say the words You're never

gonna believe this. When I hear those words, I'm instantly

extremely skeptical about the next thing they're about to say.

Because if it's so unbelievable about what you're about to say,

probably isn't true. Whatever story you're about to tell me,

probably is not true. But what happens next they tell

me the story? I say, yeah, right, prove it. Then

they show me the receipts. They showed me the proof,

and then my mind is blown. I'm like, oh man,

I had no clue, and then they prove it. And

I think that the whole story of Joseph is kind

of like that. It's one of the craziest and most

unbelievable stories that you'll ever hear. What are the odds

that the story goes the way it does? We're talking

like one in a million chants here, one in a

million chants type of odds that the way his story

plays out, every single little detail has to happen in

exactly the way it does. In order for the story

to turn out the way it does, every single little

thing has to happen exactly the way it does. If

any part of Joseph's story goes rogue, it doesn't end

the way that it does, if any part of it.

But why does it matter that it happens exactly the

way it does. Why is that even important? Well, it's

important because a promise was made. God made a promise

to Abraham, and then that promise was also given to Isaac,

his son, and then also to his son Jacob. The

promise was given to Jacob, who God changed his name

to Israel. The promise of descendants as numerous as the stars,

that a nation and a company of nations would come

from them, the kings would come from them. And that's

a really hard promise to keep if everyone in your

family dies of starvation during a famine. A promise is

only as good as the promise maker. A guarantee is

only as good as the guaranteur. If the one making

the promise doesn't have the ability to make sure that

it happens, then what good is the promise? What good

is that promise? If the person who's guaranteeing it has

no power or no ability to make sure that it happens,

the promise is worthless at that point. So the main

thing that I want us to see in the story

of Joseph today, the point that I really think that

Moses is trying to get at as he's recording and

writing down the life of Joseph. And the point that

I think God wants us to see today is this

that God always accomplishes his plans, and often in unexpected ways.

God always accomplishes his plans, and often in unexpected ways.

So as we're going through this life and story of Joseph,

I want you to keep this in mind, and you'll

see that in every part of Joseph's story that God

was at work. And that's the final conclusion that Joseph

comes to that in every aspect of his story, God

had a purpose. Guys, ready to meet Joseph. In chapter

thirty seven of Genesis. We're gonna start in verse one.

Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in

the land of Canaan. That's the promised land. These are

the generations of Excuse me, Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old,

was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a

boy with the sons of Bilha and Zilpah, his father's wives.

This is descriptive, not prescriptive. God intends for you to

be married to one woman not multiple women, and Joseph

brought a bad report of them to their father. Snitches

get stitches verse three. That is actually kind of on

brand for what's about to happen verse three. Now, Israel

Jacob loved Joseph more than any other of his sons

because he was the son of his old age. And

we also know he's the son of his favorite wife, Rachel,

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. Joseph is the favorite son, and

his brothers hate him for it. He's one of twelve.

Verse five. 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've 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. His brother

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 he told it to

his brothers. You figure you were just like, like, cut

it out, Joseph, Like they didn't respond real well to

your first dream. But then he explains a second dream,

behold the sun, the moon, and the 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 this saying in mind, do you see this kind

of like set up to Joseph's story that's happening here?

We have this seventeen year old kid, it's the favorite

son out of twelve boys, and all his brothers hate

him for it. And then, to make matters worse, he

just keeps having dreams. But his family and his brother's

bowing down to him and serving him, so his brothers

hate him even more. Do you feel this rising tension happening?

A lot of times, not a lot of times. Every

time when you have a narrative story, you see a

setting happening, and then there's rising tension leads to some

climax and some resolve in a new setting. That's what

we're walking through here. There's this rising tension, this hate

that Joseph's brothers have for him. And it kind of

makes sense, right, who here has a younger sibling, And

if that younger sibling comes to you and says, hey,

one day, you're gonna be bound to me and serving me,

you're probably not gonna take. If my brothers came and

said that to me, it's WWF time, like off the

top ropes, elbow style. I'll bring the chair, I'll bring

the ladder, I don't care. Let's make it a cage match. Yeah,

they're not gonna get away with that, but let's see

what Joseph's brothers do. Joseph's Jacob sends Joseph out to

check on his brothers who are tending the sheep near Shakem.

And just for reference, Chakem is like fifty miles away.

I mean, things are just farther apart. Back then. It

isn't hey go next door and see how they're doing

on the farm. This is fifty miles away. He gets

sent so Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers.

They all see him coming and they all decide, we're

gonna kill this guy. They hate their brothers so much

they're planning to kill him. They're literally planning on killing

their own brother. But the oldest brother, Reuben, talks them

all out of it. He convinces them just to throw

him in a pit, a sister and a well basically

that doesn't have any water in it. Just throw them

in the pit. But he has plans to come back

and save him. He's like, I'm gonna deliver him out

of the pit and deliver him back to our father.

So that's what they do when he finally arrives. Look

at verse twenty three. So when Joseph came to his brothers,

they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many

colors that he wore, the symbol that he's the favorite,

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. Let's have lunch, brothers

just chilling in the pit. He's not going anywhere, And

looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites. We'll not

have time to get into like the Ishmaelites. But Abraham

had another son named Ishmael. That's where the Ishmaelites come from.

And they're coming from Gilead and with their camels bearing gum,

balm and mir on their way to carry it down

to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, what prophet is?

What prophet is it? If we kill our brother and

conceal his blood verse twenty seven, 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 Midinite 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. They took Joseph to Egypt. So Joseph's

brothers they take his robe off of him, they toss

him in the pit. And then Judah, Yes, that's the

same Judah that the lion of Judah Jesus comes from.

That's that Judah. Just so we know who we're talking about.

Judah sees the Ishmaelites traveling by and decides to make

a quick buck, and he talks his brothers into selling

Joseph to him. They actually sell their own brother into

slavery for twenty shekels of silver, and he sold and

taken to Egypt. So think about this for a second.

A seventeen year old boy is taken from his family,

hes sent into another country, probably with no other Hebrews,

and made a slave. Everything in his life just got

flipped upside down. Nothing is the same anymore. Everything's been

taken from him. Everything he knows has known for his

whole life, every person, his family, and his friends that

he's seen every day, all gone in an instant. Do

you think Joseph thought that this is how his life

was gonna go? Do you think that this is how

Joseph thought his story was gonna go. No, Never in

a million years would he think his brothers would sell

him into slavery. Yet this is exactly what he's going through.

This is exactly what's happening. And then after the boys

sell them into slavery. I say boys, they're all older

than him. They could be anywhere from twenty what do

you think, like twenty five to thirty seven, somewhere in

that range. There are men. They know what they're doing.

After they sell Joseph into slavery, then they take his coat,

his coat, his robe of many colors, and they dip

it in goat's blood. And then they go and tell

their father that a wild animal has killed Joseph. And

this destroys Jacob. He refuses to be comforted by anybody.

He refused to be comfort he said, I will go

down to the grave basically in pain. He's mourning the

loss of his son. And while this is happening, seventeen

year old Joseph he might have been a little older

at this point, depending on how long it took him

to get into Egypt. But he gets sold in Egypt

to a man named Potiphar, so he's still a slave.

Gets sold to a man named Potiphar. And Potiphar is

an official excuse me, an officer of Pharaoh. He's the

captain of the guard, so he's kind of a big deal.

He gets sold with this guy, Potifar, and Joseph does

very very well in Potiphar's house. So if you flip

over a page or two in near Bible, look at

Genesis chapter thirty nine. Let's start in verse two. The

Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man.

And he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

What's the first thing it says there, someone say loud,

The Lord was with him. The Lord was with Joseph.

God was with Joseph and became a successful man. The

Lord brought Joseph success. And verse three, his master saw

the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused

all that he did to succeed in his hands. So

Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and

he made him overseer of his house, and put him

in charge of all that he had. From the time

that he made him overseer in his house and over

all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house

for Joseph's sake. The blessings of the Lord was on

all that he had in house and field. So he

left all that he had in in Joseph's charge. And

because of him, he had no concern about anything but

the food he ate. He didn't have to worry about anything.

It's every man, I'm hungry, what do I want to eat? Now?

Like That's how much he trusted Joseph. And he saw

that the Lord was working through Joseph and making everything successful.

God made it all successful that Joseph was doing. Who

did God did? God did it? And Potiphar is benefiting

greatly from all of this, so much he puts Joseph

in charge of everything. He doesn't have to worry about anything.

He lets him run the whole show. Well. Joseph is

a young, good looking strong man, and he catches the

eye of Potiphar's wife, and she starts to pursue him

day after day. She's trying to get him to sleep

with her, but he keeps refusing her. And I love

his response to her in verse nine, and I think

it gives us a look into kind of like how

Joseph just carries himself, how faithful he is to the Lord.

He says that that Potiphar made him the greatest person

in the house and hasn't kept anything back from him

except for his wife. And then he says, how then

can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Man?

Joseph is such a ge like this is an awesome response.

Joseph is most likely in his mid twenties at this point.

That means a twenty something something year old guy is

resisting a woman who's throwing herself at him. That in

and of itself is a miracle. I don't know if

you read the Bible like I do, that's crazy. To me,

that's a miracle. But it's because of his desire to

please the Lord. That's what's driving him to this. Joseph,

no matter what the circumstances are, is submitted to the Lord.

He's submitted to God. He wants to please the Lord.

His desire to please the Lord outweighs his desire for sin.

Let me say that again. His desire to please the

Lord outweighs his desire for sin. Sin loses its appeal

when we see the true beauty of holiness. If you're

taken notes, write it down. I have it like highlighted

in my notes and all bolded. Sin loses its appeal

when we see the true beauty of holiness. Now what

does that actually mean? I like Psalm sixteen eleven. Everyone

knows I'm hyper for Piper, and he quotes this all

the time. John Piper is a great dude. Psalm sixteen

eleven says, you make known to me the path of life.

In your presence, there's fullness of joy. At your right

hand are pleasures forevermore. Think about the most joy filled

day you've ever had in your life. That doesn't even

scratch the surface of fullness of joy. There's no more

joy to be had. That's the kind of joy that

we're reading the Psalmist talk about. At you or right

hand our pleasures forever more, forever, never ending. In your

presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right

hand our pleasures forevermore. Sin will always promise that and

can never deliver. It will always promise that, and it

can never deliver. It's only scratching a temporary itch you have.

It will never fully satisfy you. It will never fully

satisfy you. Stay faithful to the Lord, Stay in his presence,

because that's where joy and pleasure are found forever. Amen.

After continuing to reject Potiphar's wife's advances day after day

after day, one day he finds themselves alone in the

house that's dangerous, and she gets a hold of him.

She grabs a hold of his garment, his clothes, but

then he runs and as he's running, his garments get

left behind, so she is left in the house with

the garments well this is the left a straw for

Potiphar's wife. She's not gonna be rejected anymore by Joseph.

So what does she do. She grabs a garment and

brings it to the other people who are living in

Potiphar's house with them, and she accuses Joseph of trying

to mock them by trying to sleep with her. And

that's a false accusation she makes. And when Potiphar hears

about this, he throws him in prison. He says, this

guy is going in prison. And at this point, if

I'm Joseph, if I'm in Joseph's shoes, I'm standing here

looking up to Heaven. Be like God, what the heck

is going on? I don't even deserve to be a

slave right now, like my brothers did something evil to

me and I shouldn't even be there. And even though

I am, I'm still working hard for my master. And

what happens now, I'm being falsely accused and thrown in

prison over a lie? Like God, what is going on?

But what happens in the prison? Look at verse twenty one.

But the Lord was with Joseph, who is with him?

The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love

and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper

of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put

Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in

the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one

who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no

attention to anything that Joseph was in Joseph's charge because

the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the

Lord made it succeed. Again, the Lord was with Joseph.

We've seen a pattern here, starting to see this repeating theme.

The Lord was with Joseph no matter where he ended up,

whether it's in the pit or if it Potiphar's house

or now in the prison, the Lord's with him. The

Lord is with him and makes him successful. Joseph just

keeps putting his head down and getting to work. He

just puts his head down and works. And while he's

in prison, he meets two other guys that Pharaoh has

tossed in there. He meets Pharaoh's cupbearer and his baker,

and these two guys have some really weird dreams and

they're kind of stressed out about it, and Joseph sees

them in distress and says what's wrong. They tell them

they both have these dreams and there's no one to

interpret them. They don't understand what they mean. They know

the dreams means something. Now in Egypt there's lots and

lots of like, every dream means something, and it's all

deep in whatever. Sometimes dreams you mean something, sometimes they don't.

But this moment, these guys are so freaked out about it,

they can't even control their face. They said, there's no

one to interpret these dreams. And Joseph says, do not

interpretations belong to God. Please tell them to me. They

tell him what the dreams are, and he lets them

know what they mean. And after they explain the dreams,

he says, it means in three days the cup bearer

would be taken out of prison. I wish we had

time to read through this. I need you guys to

read it at home. But he says, in three days

the cup bearer will be taken out of prison and

restored back to his job. But the baker and that

same three days, whill we be put to death? And well,

three days later, that's exactly what happened, exactly the way

he said it was going to happen. It happened, and

before the cup bearer was taken out of the prison,

Joseph made one small, simple request, just one Look at

chapter forty, verse fifteen, only remember me anyone seeing Coco.

I'm not gonna sing it, but every time I read

this I think about it. Remember me when it is

well with you, and please do me the kindness to

mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of

this house, this prison. For I was indeed stolen out

of the land of the Hebrews. And here also I

have done nothing that they should put me in the

end of the pit. Don't forgive me down here, bro,

That's what I'm asking. I just told you what your

dream means when you get restored. Don't forget me. But

what does it say happens after the cup bear is restored?

Look at verse twenty three. Yet the chief Cupbear did

not remember Joseph, but forgot him. You had one job, Bro,

one job. The Chief Cupbear had forgotten about Joseph, and

it wouldn't be until two years later that he finally remembers.

Joseph's been forgotten for two years. Joseph is stuck in

prison unjustly before he's remembered. It isn't until Pharaoh starts

having his own weird dreams, these crazy dreams, these dreams

that would cause him great distress, these dreams that no

one else can interpret, not even all the magicians they

brought together in Egypt. Only then does the cutbearer remember Joseph.

He tells Pharaoh. He says, there was this guy who

named Joseph who interpreted my dreams, and they came to

pass exactly the way he said. So Pharah pulls Joseph

out of prison and says, I hear you can interpret dreams,

and this is in Genesis, chapter forty one and verse sixteen.

Joseph says, it's not me, it is not in me.

God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. He's saying again, like,

do not interpretations belong to the Lord? You saying the

same thing. So Pharaoh tells Joseph about his dreams and

kind of summarize those. The first one, there's seven plump,

good looking cows, healthy looking cows, and then there's seven nasty,

sickly looking cows. And these thin, ugly cows eat all

seven of the plump and healthy cows. But after they

eat the seven, they don't look like they've eaten anything.

They look just as sickly and disgusting as before. And

then he has a second dream where he sees seven

plump and good ears of grain on one stalk. Then

seven thin and withered ears sprout and consume the seven

good ears of grain. So, after hearing these two dreams,

Joseph interprets them for Pharaoh. So look at chapter forty one,

verse twenty five. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams

of Pharaoh are one. God is revealed to Pharaoh what

he's about to do. The seven good cows are seven years,

and the seven good ears are seven years. The dreams

are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came

up after them are seven years, and the seven empty

ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years

of famine. It is as I told Pharaoh, God has

shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There

will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the

land of Egypt. But after them there will rise seven

years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten.

In the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,

and the plenty will be unknown in the land by

reason of the famine that will follow, for it will

be very severe. Verse thirty two and the doubling of

Pharaoh's dreams mean that the thing is fixed by God,

and God will shortly bring it about. Who revealed this

plan to Pharaoh? God did? God did. Who's the one

who's bringing the famine? God is, That's what he says,

God is bringing it. Verse twenty five says God has

revealed what he is about to do. Verse twenty one

says the same thing, and then verse thirty two puts

the nail in the coffin. This thing is fixed by God.

This is going to happen. There will be seven years

of plenty and seven years of an extreme famine. So

Joseph tells Pharaoh what he should do, just checking really quick.

Who's making all this happen? God is? God is making

all this happen Verse thirty three. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh

select a discerning and wise man and set him over

the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to a point

overseers over the land and take one fifth of the

produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years,

and let them gather all the food in these good

years that are coming, and store up grain under the

authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let

them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for

the land against the seven years of famine that are

to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the

land may not perish through the famine. And after hearing

all this, Pharaoh realizes, like, Joseph's kind of gotta be

the guy in charge of all this. He's like, the

Lord's with this guy. The Lord revealed this plan through him.

He's like, you have to be the guy that Joseph

has to be in charge of everything. So he puts

Joseph or makes Joseph the most important person in all

of Egypt, and the only one who is more power

than him is Pharaoh himself. And this all happens when

Joseph is thirty years old. Is anyone tracking with the

math so far? Joseph was sold into slavery at how

old seventeen years old, and that means he's either been

a slaver in prison for the last thirteen years thirteen years,

it's almost half his life. But now he's kind of

sitting on top of the world after those thirteen years,

so he puts this plan into motion during the years

of plenty, he stores up all the grain into the

storehouses for seven whole years, and then the famine hits,

and the famine hits hard. Everyone is out of food,

everyone except for Egypt. Egypt is the only one with grain.

So everyone has to go to Egypt to buy grain.

And guess who's there to oversee and manage it all.

Joseph is. Joseph is there to manage it all. He's

still in charge of all of Egypt. But you know

who else ran out of food? Joseph's family. Joseph's family

runs out of food. And for the sake of time,

I'm going to super fast forward through chapters forty two,

forty three, and forty four. Please go back and read

them all. They're very, very good. I'll give you all

the details, but basically, this is what happens. The brothers

show up to get grain. They don't recognize Joseph, which

why would they. He was seventeen when they saw him last,

and he's like looking super Egyptian now. And they look

very different. They just different styles, different haircuts, everything, painting

stuff on their face, it's just the way it is.

They don't recognize him. So he said, that's upt this

whole crazy back and forth plan to test his brothers,

and in that process he sees how they act when

they're trying to save their youngest brother, Benjamin. Benjamin is

the twelfth brother. It's Joseph's only full blood sibling, and

they see how they act. He sees how they act

trying to save Benjamin, and he has overcome with emotion

and he finally reveals who he is, and those brothers

are terrified. They are terrified of their brother when they

find out you're Joseph, like our Joseph. Joseph they find

out and they are terrified. It's been twenty two years

since they've seen him. It's been twenty two years since

they've seen him at this point. I mean, the math

in there is because five years of plenty plus two

years of famine when they show up. So it's been

twenty two years. And the last time they saw him,

what were they doing. They were selling them into slavery

for twenty shekels of silver. They're looking at his eyes

and he's begging them not to do it, and they

still did it. That's the last time they saw Joseph.

And they've been living with that guilt of selling their

brother into slavery for twenty two years and seeing what

it did to their father, and now they're bowing before him,

completely freaked out. But do you remember Joseph's dreams that

he had. I mean, if I'm Joseph and I'm like

I told you so, maybe a little, that's not what

he does. His brothers are all bowing before him. This

is a dream he had twenty two years earlier. And

to that, I just have to say, God's timelines rarely

match our short sighted and impatient ones. Man, I'm impatient.

I love the microwave, My ADHD brain prais and asks

God for something, and I can't remember it twenty two

minutes later, let alone twenty two years. Twenty two years.

We're told to wait on the Lord. But how long

do we wait? How long are we willing to wait?

Joseph didn't see these dreams come to fruition for twenty

two years, and a lot of extremely unexpected things happened

along the way, and that, I think is what makes

what Joseph said to his brothers next so incredibly profound.

Look at chapter forty five and verse four. So Joseph

said to his brothers, come near to me, please, And

they came near, and he said, I am your brother, Joseph,

whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be

distressed or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here.

For God sent me before you to preserve life. For

the famine has been in the land these two years,

and there are yet five years in which there will

be neither plow nor harvest. And God sent me before

you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and

to keep alive for you many survivors. And verse eight.

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

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

He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord

of all his house and rule over all the land

of Egypt. Wasn't you who sent me here? God sent

me here. Do you remember what I said? The main

point of Joseph's story was that God always accomplishes his plans,

and often in unexpected ways. No one could have known

that every part of Joseph's story was all leading to this,

to this moment that God was bringing about his plan

to save the people of Israel through the most unexpected means.

That was the reason that Joseph went through everything that

he went through. And he echoes this chapter fifty, verse twenty.

If you want to turn over to fifty, it's it's

really important that we see this. Chapter fifty is after

Jacob dies and Joseph's reassuring his brothers who were still

terrified of him, and he says in verse twenty, as

for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant

it for good to bring about that many people should

be kept alive as they are today. That's that's crazy.

Joseph is telling his brothers what you meant for evil,

They intended to kill him and then sell them to slavery.

What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Doesn't

say that God used it for good. It's not what

it says, says that he meant it for good. God

isn't just watching everything unfold, crossing his fingers hoping that

something happens that he can use. It's not how God worked.

I hate to burst your bubble if this is the

first time you're hearing that God is sovereign over everything,

and he makes sure his purposes come to pass, and

he even accomplishes it, accomplishes it through the evil that

others do. How does that work? I have no clue.

Ask God. He's God, not us. I don't know how

that works. But as a side note, this isn't a

free pass to blame God for end of your sins

or any other's sins. We don't have time to really

dive into that today. But what is Joseph actually saying

here as he's talking to his brothers, He's saying, brothers,

you didn't throw me in the pit. God did. You

didn't sell me into slavery. God did, and he did

it to accomplish his plan of saving many people. That

many people will be kept alive as they are today.

But think about if any part of Joseph's story changes,

it doesn't end the way it did. None of it does.

There was a reason for every step of this twenty

two year long story, this twenty two year long plan,

so very quickly we're gonna run through it. If Joseph

isn't the favorite, his brothers don't hate him, if he

doesn't have the dreams, they don't hate him enough to

want to kill him. If they don't want to kill him,

Reuben doesn't talk him out of killing him. If Ruben

doesn't talk him out of it, then he isn't alive

when the traders who are headed to Egypt pass by.

Side note what if the traders never passed by. If

he isn't alive when they pass by, he doesn't get

sold into slavery. If he doesn't get sold into slavery,

he doesn't go to Egypt. If he doesn't go to Egypt,

he doesn't end up in Potiphar's house, And if he

doesn't end up in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife can't pursue

him and falsely accuse him. If he's not falsely accused,

he doesn't end up in prison. If he doesn't end

up in prison, he can't interpret the dreams of the cupbear.

If he doesn't interpret the dreams of the cup bearer,

then the cup bearer won't think of him when Pharaoh

has his dreams about the famine coming. Another side note,

there's no famine. Joseph's family doesn't need to go to

Egypt for grain if the cutbearer doesn't think of Joseph

with Pharaoh when Pharaoh has his dreams then Joseph isn't

brought before Pharaoh. And if he's not brought before Pharaoh,

he can't interpret the dreams and get put in charge

of everything. And if he doesn't interpret Pharaoh's dreams and

get put in charge, then Egypt doesn't have a surplus

of grain. If Egypt doesn't have a surplus of grain,

then no one has any reason to travel there. And

if no one has a reason to go there, then

neither does Joseph's family. They don't go to Egypt. And

if they never go to Egypt, they never reunite with Joseph.

And because Joseph is in charge of everything in Egypt,

if they don't reunite with Joseph, Joseph's whole family dies

of starvation during the famine. But what happens if Joseph's

family dies, If all the sons of Jacob, also known

as Israel, die, then we don't have the twelve tribes

of Israel. And if we don't get the twelve tribes

of Israel, we don't get Jesus. WHOA Okay, that story

just got a lot bigger. Now. Every piece of this

plan had to happen exactly the way it did. God

made all that happen because he made a promise to Abraham,

to Isaac, to Jacob, and he always fulfills his word.

Can you see God's hand at work in this whole story?

I call this the sow that story. I'm not going

to go back through the whole thing. But he was

put in the pit so that he would be sold

in slavery. He sold in slavery so that he'd end

up at Potiphar's house, and so on so on. It

all had a reason, It all had a purpose. It

was God fulfilling his purposes through his own means. He

has to make sure that all that happens. We don't

get Jesus. A promise is only as good as the

promise maker. A guarantee is only as good as the guaranteur.

After twenty two long years, Joseph's conclusion is God did it.

He made it all happen, every single part of his story,

even the bad stuff, being hated, rejected, sold into slavery,

falsely accused, thrown in prison, forgotten for two years. Don't

forget that one. God did it all. You meant it

for evil, but God meant it for good. May have

been done through the hands of men. But God orchestrated

it all. It's kind of like when Jesus was crucified.

I want to say, I mean exactly like, whose plan

was it to kill Jesus? Those are the religious leaders,

those are the romans. Was it God's plan? Look at

Acts chapter two. Don't turn there, We'll put it on

the screen. Acts chapter two, Verse twenty two. Men of Israel,

hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man tested to

you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs

that God did through him in your midst. As you

yourselves know this, Jesus delivered up according to the definite

plan and foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge means forethought or pre arrangement.

That's what that word means, pre arrangement. According to the

definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed

by the hands of lawless men. This was God's plan.

He put it together. God made it happen, and it

was through the hands of men that he made it

come to pass. Proverbs twenty one says a king the

king's heart is a stream of water. In the hands

of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills. God

is sovereign over all and always accomplishes his plans Isaiah

forty six. Remember this, This is verse eight. Remember this

and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember

the former things of old. For I am God, and

there is no other. I am God, and there is

none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and

from ancient times, things not yet done, saying my counsel

shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose, calling

the bird of prey from the east, the man of

council from a far country. I have spoken, and I

will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I

will do it. Anytime God sits you down and starts

talking like this, like it's a paradigm shifter. He does

the same thing at the end of Job. He's like,

all right, Job, I've heard you speak. Now you're going

to sit down and you're going to listen, and I'm

going to speak. That's some of the most terrifying words

out there. God is saying, I will bring it to pass.

I have purposed, and I will do it. God writes

a story from end to beginning. We just experience and

live life from the beginning to end. We don't see it.

Joseph didn't see the end of the story, but God

wrote it from the end. God will accomplish all his purpose.

He will bring it to pass. Well. God has purpose,

he will do. God always accomplishes his plans, and often

in unexpected ways ways we never could have guessed. No

one could have predicted or expected Joseph's story to go

the way it did. But God's plan was to save

Joseph's family. But to think that all these pieces would

come together in such a way that ended with his

family living in Egypt, living in the best of the land,

literally the choice land there for their flocks, and becoming

a great nation there, growing and thriving. And none of

that would have happened if Joseph didn't go through what

he went through, none of it. But I want to

talk about something that is a little bit more serious

of a topic, and if I can have the worship

team come up, please a little bit more of a

serious topic. If God is sovereign overall, and he is

accomplishing his purposes, then what do I do with my

pain and suffering? What I do with hardship? Because maybe

you're somewhere in the middle of your story, like Joseph

when he's sitting in the bottom of the pit wondering

what's happening next, or when he's sold into slavery, marching

into Egypt, or he's been thrown in prison and forgotten

for two years, not knowing what it's all for or

knowing why. And I want to start by saying this simple.

Everyone's heard this before. Hindsight it's twenty twenty. Hindsight's twenty twenty.

Joseph didn't understand God's plan until the very end. He

has no what Hindsight's twenty twenty is, you know, after

the fact, kind of just making sure all of a sudden,

I was like, man, maybe no one knows what that means.

Joseph didn't understand God's plan until the very end. He

to walk through twenty two years of life before he

learned what God's plan was, thirteen of those years as

a slaver in prison, suffering, suffering for thirteen years. Flora's

with him. He's finding success, but he's not free. He's

not on his own, he's not with his family that

he grew up knowing. He's in a foreign land. Sometimes

we have to walk through something before we understand it.

And it's in that process of walking it out that

oftentimes all of a sudden, the light bulb goes on,

Oh I get it now, That's why you had me

go through that, God, Or is it pertains still obedience?

I think understanding is often found in obedience. Once we

finally obey the Lord and do what he told us

to do, we're like, Oh, I get it now, that's

why he told me to do that. Sometimes it takes

walking through things to understand the purposes or the why

behind them, and that even includes the painful things we

go through. But what encouragement can we have when we're

still in the middle of our journey? What encouragement can

we have when we haven't reached the end, when we

don't know why we're going through what we're going through.

What encouragement can we have and we're in the pit,

when we're sold into slavery, when we're being falsely accused.

My answer is, what you meant for evil, God meant

for good. What you meant for evil, God meant for

good that many people would be kept alive. I think

that we can take comfort in the fact that there

is always a purpose to what God does. There is

always a purpose to what God does, even in our

pain and our suffering, whether we know what the reason

is or not, whether we ever get to find out

what the why is or not. God is not arbitrary.

He's not willy nilly just doing whatever he feels like

on a whim. He's purposed. He has to be. Look

how the whole Bible goes. He's making this happen. It's

not making it up as he goes. He's written the

story from end to beginning. There is always a purpose

or plan behind what he does. And I believe what

God says in Romans eight through the mouth or the

pen of Paul. And we know that for those who

love God, all things work together for good, for those

who are called according to His purpose. That's a comforting

and encouraging thought. What do you do when things get heavy?

You have to remind yourself of the promises of God

in scripture. We have to remember things like this in

the midst of pain and suffering, what God says in

Romans eight. But sometimes our pain can blind us to

looking to the future. Pain can blind us We get

so preoccupied with what's right in front of us that

we forget about eternity, We forget about the forever. We

forget that. For the believer, all things work together for

our ultimate good, our ultimate good, no matter what happens

in life, we win. Do you know that you've put

faith in Jesus. No matter what happens in life, you

win because you get to spend face to face in

eternity with Jesus. I can be drugged through how long

do people live nowadays? You know, between sixty five and

ninety and with advances in modern medicine, probably one to

ninety five. Just kidding, we can be drugged through that

many years to face eternity with Christ, face to face

with Jesus. Life is only this long compared to eternity.

Eternity is a long time. So we have to think

about forever. We get to expend eternity face to face

with Jesus. But remember what the words that Paul said

of the church in corinth tewod Corinthians. For so we

do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away,

our inner self is being renewed day by day. For

this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal

weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not

to the things that are seen, but to the things

that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient,

but the things that are unseen are what they're eternal.

This life is temporary. The way things are right now

is just temporary. If you've put faith in Christ means,

if you've confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe

in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

then you have eternal peace, happiness, comfort, and joy coming.

We have all of that to look forward to in

our future. You have an eternal weight of glory that

is beyond compare in your future. It's when our eyes

are fixed on eternity that we can stay faithful to

the Lord through any pain or suffering. When our eyes

are fixed on eternity, we can stay faithful to the

Lord through any pain or suffering because, in comparison to

what we're looking forward to in eternity, every ounce, every

little bit of our pain and suffering is only light

and momentary affliction. We're told not to play the comparison

game growing up. You should compare this. Any of our pain,

any of our suffering that we're walking through, is light

and momentary affliction compared to the eternal weight of glory

that we have in our future. So even in the

midst of pain and suffering, am I going to look

to eternity? Am I going to remain faithful to God?

You don't know what tomorrow is gonna bring. You don't

know tomorrow if you're gonna end up in the pit,

Potiphar's house, the prison, or the palace, y'all start at peace.

That was great. You don't know what tomorrow is gonna bring,

you don't know where you're going to be. But no

matter what, am I going to be like Joseph? Am

I going to trust in God and remain faithful to him?

Am I going to trust God and remain faithful to him?

When I don't understand the plan? And I want to

close with this last piece. I had a great conversation

at Cutters because I'm there all the time with this

pastor named Scott. Great dude. I can't even remember what

church he's a pastor of. I should probably ask him again.

He's a great guy. We talk all the time. But

he asked me a question when I was talking about

today's message, and he said, do you trust in God's

plan or do you trust in God? Do you trust

in God's plan? Or do you trust in God? And

I think that a lot of us will say, my

trust is in you, God, have tell me the plan.

My trust is in you. But tell me what's up,

what's gonna happen next? But what are we really saying

when we say that. We're saying, I trust you God

if I know and agree with your plan. I trust

you if I know and if I agree with your plan.

And so my challenge for us today is, no matter

what circumstances you're in, doesn't matter, to trust God and

remain faithful to Him, whether you are in the pit

or the palace, trust in God and remain faithful to Him.

And the driving force behind why we can trust Him

in the midst of pain, why we can remain faithful

to Him in the midst of suffering, is because God

is not arbitrary. He has a plan that he's working out,

and he always accomplishes his plans, and often in unexpected ways.

So are you in the pit in the palace either way,

be just like Joseph, must continue to trust in and

stay faithful to the Lord. Amen, you please stand to

your feet,