God’s Plan
Genesis 45:1-15
March 29, 2015
As you know we’ve been studying through the life of Joseph.
• We’ve seen Joseph loved by his father and hated by his brothers.
• We’ve seen Joseph sold by his brothers
• We’ve seen Joseph enslaved by Potiphar
• We’ve seen Joseph accused by Potiphar’s wife
• We’ve seen Joseph imprisoned
• We’ve seen Joseph forgotten
• We’ve seen Joseph exalted
And finally last week we began to see the reason.
God has been up to something.
Joseph’s suffering hasn’t been punishment for something he did wrong.
And Joseph’s exaltation hasn’t been reward for something he did right.
Both were part of a bigger plan.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
We have been learning about God’s providence.
And as I told you at the beginning,
The providence of God is a remarkable thing.
How is that God can take a world of humanity with all their thoughts and plans and decisions, let them do what it is they want, and yet still at the end of the day cause them do fulfill His purpose?
There is a wisdom to God’s sovereignty
That is really not comprehendible on the human level.
He does and accomplishes things
That we would have never thought possible.
1 Corinthians 2:9 “but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
Isaiah said:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
When Habakkuk asked God what He was doing, God said:
Habakkuk 1:5 “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days — You would not believe if you were told.”
All of those verses could also accurately describe
What is going on in the life of Joseph.
God was doing something that neither Joseph,
Nor his brothers would have ever guessed.
The reason of course is because God knew what none of them knew.
• He knew about a coming famine…they did not
• He knew about Israel’s need for refuge to multiply…
• He knew about His plan to save the world through Judah’s descendant…
And so God in His providence orchestrated a plan that
No one would have guessed,
No one would have believed,
No one else could have accomplished.
But it was God’s plan, and it was absolutely perfect.
We saw that plan begin to unfold last week
As Joseph was reunited with his brothers.
We saw how God used this plan to bring Jacob back to faith.
We saw how God used this plan to bring the brothers back to favor.
We saw how God used this plan to bring fulfillment to Joseph.
We saw how God used this plan to bring faithfulness to Judah.
(Judah) This once self-centered, self-serving, sinful man
Had now ascended to the role of prominence among his brothers
And actually volunteered to sacrifice himself for the rest of his brothers.
GOD HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN AT WORK
This morning the story moves forward
As Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers.
But even more than that, Joseph finally reveals to us the plan of God.
So let’s break the text down into three points.
#1 JOSEPH’S EMOTION
Genesis 45:1-2
This obviously does not yet reveal the plan of God to us,
But it is too beautiful and encouraging to just pass over.
Remember Joseph has just heard that remarkable statement from Judah:
Genesis 44:33-34 “Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me — for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?”
You’d have to back up in the story to grab the full significance of this.
Joseph has been testing his brothers like crazy,
And they have been failing those tests left and right.
But now, for the first time, Judah rises to the occasion
And becomes all that Joseph had hoped for.
Instead of selling Jacob’s favorite son,
Judah is here sacrificing himself for him.
And watching this reality unfold touches Joseph in an amazing way.
“Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself knows to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.”
And while all of us have had moments of suffering,
And all of us have had moments of gladness (even those that brought tears)
I don’t known that any of us
Can fully appreciate the emotion that Joseph displays here.
I don’t know of another person who can say
• He was sold by his family,
• Imprisoned by his boss,
• Forgotten by his clients,
• And that all of this occurred back to back to back over a period of 13 years.
And then to get the opportunity to see such a radical change of heart
In the men who caused all of this, would be certainly unexpected.
We all have downs and ups, but I don’t know that any of us
Can honestly say that we know the depth of Joseph’s emotion here.
BUT…I THINK ONE DAY WE WILL
Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Think about that statement from Paul there.
We all know suffering, and most people say “it will be worth it.”
We’ve even heard the song, “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus”
But Paul doesn’t even say that our suffering will be worth it.
He says, it won’t even be worthy of comparison.
Look at:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
I know we’ve discussed it before, but if no one has ever pointed out to you
The obvious contrasts of that passage, allow me to.
• We have an outer man who is decaying
• We have an inner man who is being renewed
• We have affliction that is light and temporal
• We have a glory that is heavy and eternal
And again Paul doesn’t say that the suffering will be worth it,
He says it isn’t worthy to be compared.
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…”
I don’t think we can fully appreciate Joseph’s emotion right now,
But someday we will.
When we stand before Jesus
And we know fully just as we are fully known,
I think we’ll all have our Joseph moment.
Phil Wickham sings a song called “Tears of Joy”
“Let my last breath here be my first with You. Where You rob my fear and You make me new. So whatever comes; whatever I go through, let my last breath here be my first with You. The bells will ring, Your banner lifted high. Our holy King and we Your holy bride. I’ll join with all the saints and lift my voice when I see Your face through tears of joy.”
That’s the kind of moment Joseph is having,
And it’s the kind of moment we will one day have.
That’s why Peter said:
1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”
That’s why Jesus said:
Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Some day our minds will be blown too.
Some day we’ll look back on all our sufferings
And all our pains and all our hardships
And we’ll see why God did it, and we’ll rejoice too.
Not everyone gets their Joseph moment in this life
(In fact, I don’t know if anyone else in history got one like Joseph)
But one day we will and I want to give you a day to anticipate.
1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
And on that day it will be more than just “worth it all”.
The glory we will see won’t be comparable to the hardships we faced.
That is why we see Joseph so emotional.
• He’s weeping like the Egyptians had never heard before.
• His rejoicing is beyond the normal rejoicing.
Well, let me show you why.
It is because Joseph has finally understood
ALL that God has been doing.
And that is what he shares with his brothers.
Joseph’s Emotion
#2 JOSEPH’S EXPLANATION
Genesis 45:3-8
It starts with the shocking revelation.
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.”
I’m sure the brothers were already a little puzzled by Joseph’s weeping,
But this news truly did rock their world.
Not only did they hear this Egyptian speak to them in perfect Hebrew,
But they were just told who this Egyptian was.
It was the brother they had mistreated and sold.
And now this brother has great authority,
And this could be the end of the brothers.
No wonder it says “they were dismayed”
If you recognize that, it is the same feeling they had
When they realized God was angry and out to get them.
Genesis 42:35 “Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.”
If you’ll remember then, they thought they were in great trouble,
And now they think that again…why wouldn’t they?
(4) “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”
And please at this moment feel the panic sweeping over the brothers.
Their stomachs just bottomed out, their heart started pounding, their palms were sweating, they have no clue what Joseph is going to do.
WHY?
Because they know what they did to him.
They know what they did and they know why they did it.
• They hated him so they sold him.
• They didn’t seek God, they weren’t looking ahead to the greater good.
• There is no good reason from their perspective for selling Joseph the way they
did.
They know it was an act of jealousy and hatred and wrath,
And now they fear they are in trouble.
And then comes Joseph great explanation.
And let me do ahead and tell you that
It is all about the sovereign and providential hand of God.
Joseph is going to do what few of us are ever able to do,
He is going to tell his brother exactly why it all happened.
(As I said, someday in eternity we’ll all know, but Joseph knew now)
He is going to give his brothers and introduction into the sovereignty of God and the blessing that it can be in their lives.
Now I want to break this statement down a little bit more
Because I want to show you the benefits of God’s sovereignty.
We don’t have time to quote all the detractors out here,
But just know that there are many evangelical Christians
Who do not like the concept of the sovereignty of God.
There is a whole group out there
That loves to defend what they call “free will”
Well listen, if man’s free will was behind all of these actions
Then Joseph’s brothers are in a world of hurt,
Because the only reason this all happened
Was because those boys were wicked.
But that isn’t why it happened.
It happened because God was sovereign,
And because He has a sovereign plan.
Let me show you the benefits of holding on to the sovereignty of God.
1) COMFORT IN FAILURE (5)
“Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Now the people who hold to “free will”
Would never make a statement like that.
They’d say, “What you did to me was wrong and you should be more careful about doing such wicked things, but God was able to respond to your wicked plans and make something good out of it.”
They’d be ok with seeing God as the hero who saved the day.
But that is not what Joseph said.
He said, “do not be grieved or angry with yourselves”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
He actually tells his brothers that they shouldn’t regret what they did.
Why would Joseph say that?
Because Joseph understood something;
His brothers didn’t sell him into Egypt, God did.
And God did it for a perfectly good reason.
“for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Are you able to swallow that?
How about in the disappointments you’ve faced?
That God wasn’t taking a nap on the day you suffered,
But instead God was the author for a greater purpose.
That’s deep stuff – but we’ve already talked about that.
The focus here is on Joseph’s brothers.
They just learned something.
Joseph told them that since God was sovereign,
And God was in control,
And God was behind all of this
That they did not have to be “grieved or angry with [themselves]”
Joseph comforted his brothers with the sovereignty of God.
And I want you to know that
Not only does God’s sovereignty give me comfort in my affliction
(it’s good to know He knows what is going on)
But God’s sovereignty also comforts me in my failures.
I am glad his plan doesn’t rest on me getting it right.
I stand up here and preach every week and keep watch over your souls.
I am comforted to know that God is working and will not let my failures and shortcomings wreck His plan.
This weekend we took the youth camping,
We have begged and pleaded for their salvation, we long for it. I am comforted to know their salvation doesn’t rest on how good we do in sharing the gospel with them.
God’s sovereignty comforts me,
And Joseph told his brothers it should comfort them too.
God’s sovereignty provides comfort in failure
2) HOPE IN ADVERSITY (6)
“For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.”
Now that is severe famine.
Those brothers already hadn’t plowed or harvested for two years and it’s not like they can just run down to the Piggly Wiggly
Survival depends on plowing and planting and harvesting and storing.
Even a bad harvest can destroy a family,
But forget the harvest, they haven’t even been able to plow.
And now Joseph says we aren’t even half way through.
5 more years are coming.
That is what we call gut wrenching.
• How are you supposed to respond to bad news like that?
• How are you supposed to handle the dark hour when the doctor pulls hope out of the equation?
Well, if you are banking it all on the free will of man, you’re sunk.
But if you understand the sovereignty of God, then you have hope.
You have the hope that nothing happens outside of God’s providential hand, and He’s got this all under control.
He either knows how to fix it, or He knows how to help me deal with it.
But in His sovereignty, I can rest.
That is because God’s sovereignty gives hope in adversity.
Comfort in failure, hope in adversity
3) GRATITUDE IN SALVATION (7)
“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.”
There’s the second time Joseph gave credit for his being sold to God.
To “preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive”
In short, God sent me here to save you!
And if you are the brothers, how are you supposed to respond to that?
I can tell you – with gratitude
No one should be thankful like they are thankful.
They just learned that in spite of their failures,
God accomplished His perfect plan to deliver them from adversity
They didn’t even know was coming.
Their salvation wasn’t coincidence
Their salvation wasn’t blind luck
God used their wicked hearts
To send Joseph to Egypt so He could save them all.
That provokes gratitude.
And then Joseph reiterates the point one more time.
(8) “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Everybody clear on that?
• Who sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt? – God did
• Who caused Joseph to be imprisoned in Egypt? – God did
• Who caused Joseph to be forgotten in prison? – God did
• Who caused Joseph to be exalted in Egypt? – God did
And some people would say, “But that just seems wrong!” “Why would God use such sinful wicked people as Joseph’s brothers and Potiphar’s wife?”
Well I suppose you should tell me
Where He is going to get “non-sinful” and “non-wicked” people to use.
God’s sovereign and providential hand are true realities.
He does orchestrate His will, even using sinners to accomplish it.
It is absolute mind-blowing wisdom that God has.
Don’t fight it
Instead, let that reality
• Comfort you in your failures
• Give you hope in your adversities
• And cause you to be grateful in your salvation
God had a plan and He worked it out perfectly.
(And He always does)
Joseph’s Emotion, Joseph’s Explanation
#3 JOSEPH’S EXHORTATION
Genesis 45:9-15
Up until now Joseph has not asked anything of his brothers.
Yes, he did ask them to do things when he was testing them, but this is different.
Now they know who he is, now they know what God has been doing,
Now they know how long the famine will last.
And so now Joseph starts giving orders.
• “Hurry” he says
• “You shall” he says
• “you must” he says
And what does he command?
• Go tell my father I’m alive and doing well.
• Go get your families and your flocks and move to Goshen.
And you recognize that failure is not an option.
(13) “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”
Now key in on that for a moment.
“you must” do this.
“You must hurry and bring my father”
Perhaps when Joseph mentioned moving to Goshen
He saw the looks on his brothers faces.
Maybe they didn’t want to come
Maybe the thought they couldn’t convince their father
Maybe they thought it wasn’t a good idea
And Joseph steps in and says “you must” make this happen.
The reality is that Joseph is asking something huge of his brothers.
He is asking them to leave the land of promise.
And he is asking them to get Jacob to do it too.
You’ll see in the next chapter that this is such a hard decision for Jacob that before he goes to Egypt he stops by Beersheba to ask God if this is really ok.
What Joseph is asking is no small request.
He is asking them to trust the sovereign plan of God.
• What if God isn’t really behind all this?
• What if the famine isn’t really going to last 5 more years?
• What if there isn’t some sovereign guarantee behind it?
Joseph wants his brothers to trust God.
Now we’ll carry this further in a couple of weeks,
But for now let me go ahead and give some perspective.
We’ve said repeatedly that Genesis is “The Gospel According to Moses”
We’ve seen sin
We’ve seen judgment
We’ve seen justification
We’ve seen sanctification
And Moses has been teaching his congregation about all of those things.
• Stay away from sin, it will kill you
• Place your faith in God and He will justify you
• Follow God’s direction, He seeks to sanctify you into His image
And now we get to Joseph
And it is all about God’s sovereignty and providence
AND MOSES SERMON IS ROUNDING INTO SHAPE.
Sin, Judgment, Salvation, Sanctification, and now TRUST
• Isn’t that what God wants from His children?
• Doesn’t God desire that His children who have been redeemed by His grace, would just trust that He is in control?
• Doesn’t God ask that all those who have tasted of His mercy would stay the course in their trials and just know that He knows what He is doing?
That is absolutely the next step in Moses’ gospel,
And it is a step that should resonate with his congregation.
• They’ve learned of sin – the Passover Lamb
• They’ve learned of judgment – as the death angel came, or even as the flood
waters closed on Pharaoh
• They’ve learned of salvation – as God delivered them out of Egypt
• They’ve learned of sanctification – as they learned to purify themselves after
offending God with that golden calf.
But now they need to learn a thing or two about trust.
• Where are we going to get bread?
• Where are we going to get water?
• What are we going to do for protection?
• What is the new land God has called us to?
Can you see the relevance to this sermon Moses is preaching?
He wants his congregation to see the providential hand of God
And he wants his congregation to trust that God is in control.
THAT’S WHAT I WOULD WISH FOR AS WELL.
That those in here who have been redeemed by His Son and saved
And are now being sanctified and molded into the image of Christ
Would also begin to give God the benefit of the doubt.
That you would also trust God.
Trust that your adversity is according to His plan
Because He is doing something that you couldn’t figure out
Even if you tried.
He knows about things that you don’t know about.
He knows tomorrow and what it holds.
And He has orchestrated today to prepare you and others for it.
Trust Him there.
And as you trust Him, I would ask you that you would hold on to the hope that someday when His full plan is made known
That you will also rejoice as Joseph did.
This story is a simple story of God’s providence
And how you should trust Him for it.
And if you do, you’ll find
• Comfort in your failures,
• Hope in your adversity,
• And gratitude in your salvation.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
