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Voddie Baucham - Joseph and His Brothers_ God's Faithfulness · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: There's an amazing contrast that we find in the first
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  Speaker 1: two paragraphs there in Genesis chapter 42, a contrast between
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  Speaker 1: Joseph and his brothers. And we see that contrast when
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  Speaker 1: we look closely. But as we see that contrast, it
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  Speaker 1: makes us aware of a truth about which we all
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  Speaker 1: need to be reminded. And that truth about which we
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  Speaker 1: all need to be reminded is that God is in control.
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  Speaker 1: That God is in control. Last week, we looked at
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  Speaker 1: four great obstacles to Joseph's faithfulness. This week, we want
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  Speaker 1: to look at four great doctrines that explain Joseph's faithfulness.
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  Speaker 1: Four great doctrines that explain Joseph's faithfulness. And here's why
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  Speaker 1: this is important. Because if we're not careful, we come
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  Speaker 1: to trust not in God, but we come to trust
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  Speaker 1: in our execution of what we know of God or
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  Speaker 1: what we know from God. Here's what that looks like.
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  Speaker 1: We think that if we can just get our children
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  Speaker 1: in the right home, right environment, right curriculum, right discipline plan,
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  Speaker 1: right this, right that, that ultimately we can know the
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  Speaker 1: outcome because we've put the right input into this machine.
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  Speaker 1: And if we're not careful, we get to the place
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  Speaker 1: where we trust the input and not God. We get
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  Speaker 1: to the place where we trust the system and not God. Well,
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  Speaker 1: on the other end of that, there are individuals who
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  Speaker 1: believe that perhaps they are beyond hope. Because you didn't
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  Speaker 1: know the right rules when you started off. You didn't
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  Speaker 1: have the right system when you started off. And now
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  Speaker 1: your children are older. Perhaps you have teenagers and you
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what you were supposed to be doing when
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  Speaker 1: they were smaller. So you live in despair. Why? Because
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  Speaker 1: you believe in a system and not in God. If
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  Speaker 1: you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. Okay? Okay?
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  Speaker 1: And so we believe in the system and not God.
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  Speaker 1: We believe our children, perhaps they're grown. Maybe you're here
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  Speaker 1: today and you have children and they're grown. And you think, wow,
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  Speaker 1: I see all these things that people here are learning
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  Speaker 1: to do in their families and learning to do with
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  Speaker 1: their children. Perhaps if I had known these things, there
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  Speaker 1: would have been hope for my children, but I didn't.
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  Speaker 1: Now they're grown and they're gone. They're beyond my reach,
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  Speaker 1: beyond my control. There is certainly no hope for them now. Really?
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  Speaker 1: Let me just share with you before we read these
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  Speaker 1: two paragraphs a couple of contrasts between Joseph and his brothers,
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  Speaker 1: shall we? First of all, their home life. Joseph's brothers
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  Speaker 1: were raised in the home of a patriarch who had
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  Speaker 1: a personal encounter with God. Joseph, however, came to age
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  Speaker 1: in a foreign land filled with idols and governed by pagans.
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  Speaker 1: If you believe in the system, which one's gonna turn
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  Speaker 1: out right? The brothers, right? Not Joseph. If the system
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  Speaker 1: and the right input is all that it takes. That's
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  Speaker 1: just one thing. How about their character? Joseph's brothers are
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  Speaker 1: murderers and slave traders who have never paid for their crimes. Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, was an innocent man who went
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  Speaker 1: to prison for crimes he didn't commit. What about their responsibilities?
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's brothers, who, remember, were raised in the home of
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  Speaker 1: a patriarch who had a personal encounter with God face
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  Speaker 1: to face, are grown men, the oldest ones now in
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  Speaker 1: their 50s plus, and they're so irresponsible that Jacob can't
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  Speaker 1: trust them to take Benjamin with them to go get food. Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, is the governor and vice regent
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt. How about the famine? What we'll discover is
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  Speaker 1: that Joseph's brothers, again, raised in the right home, raised
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  Speaker 1: right there with the parents who know God, who've met
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  Speaker 1: God face to face, they have no idea what to
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  Speaker 1: do when the famine comes. And these grown men have
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  Speaker 1: to be told by their father, stop standing there looking
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  Speaker 1: at each other. Why don't you go to Egypt and
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  Speaker 1: buy some food? Whereas Joseph is now responsible for feeding
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  Speaker 1: the whole world, or at least the whole world around
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  Speaker 1: him because of his faithfulness. Again, it's not about the systems.
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  Speaker 1: It's about God. So there are four great doctrines that
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  Speaker 1: we need to hold on to. And this is true
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  Speaker 1: for those who are in a home that you know God,
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  Speaker 1: you love God, you're doing all those things that God
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  Speaker 1: says you're supposed to do with your children. Praise the
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  Speaker 1: Lord for that. Amen. But if you don't hold on
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  Speaker 1: to these four doctrines, you'll turn even that into works righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: This is also true for those who find themselves on
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  Speaker 1: the other end of the spectrum. And you say, you
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  Speaker 1: know what? My home's not the right place. My home
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  Speaker 1: was not the right place. My children are too old
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  Speaker 1: now for the system to work with them. My children
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  Speaker 1: perhaps are out of my home. And there is nothing
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  Speaker 1: that I can do for them now. So they are hopeless.
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  Speaker 1: You need these same four doctrines. And I'll give them
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  Speaker 1: to you before we lay them out. Doctrine number one.
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  Speaker 1: The sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God. That's what
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  Speaker 1: we see fleshed out here. Doctrine number two, the providence
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  Speaker 1: of God. Closely related, yet different. Doctrine number three, the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of revelation, or the doctrine of the word of God.
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  Speaker 1: And doctrine number four, the doctrine of election. Election. We
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  Speaker 1: see those four here in these two paragraphs as clearly
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  Speaker 1: as we see them anywhere else in the Bible. sovereignty, providence, revelation,
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  Speaker 1: or the word of God, and election. That's the hope.
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  Speaker 1: So if you're here today and you know all of
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  Speaker 1: the things, you've heard all of the things, and you've
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  Speaker 1: been discipled properly and raised in a great home, and
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  Speaker 1: you are doing for and giving to your children all
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  Speaker 1: of those things that the word of God says you
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  Speaker 1: to do for and give to your children, bravo. However,
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  Speaker 1: if you're trusting in that and not sovereignty of God,
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  Speaker 1: providence of God, word of God and election, then you
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  Speaker 1: are guilty of the sin of idolatry. And if you're
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  Speaker 1: on the other end of the spectrum and you look
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  Speaker 1: around and feel hopelessness because you've now learned that you
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  Speaker 1: can blame all of the failures of your grown children
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  Speaker 1: on the system that you didn't perform when they were younger,
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  Speaker 1: news flash. You're also not trusting in sovereignty of God,
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  Speaker 1: providence of God, word of God, election. And that too
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  Speaker 1: is idolatry. So let's look here in Genesis chapter 42.
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  Speaker 1: While we all discover where our hope lies. When Jacob
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  Speaker 1: learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he
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  Speaker 1: said to his sons, why do you look at one another?
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  Speaker 1: I love that line. Why do you look at one another?
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  Speaker 1: Remember here, when this all started, Reuben's in his 30s.
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  Speaker 1: This is some 20, 22 years later. Reuben's in his 50s,
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  Speaker 1: and there's a famine, and these full-grown men living with
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  Speaker 1: their daddy, are just looking at each other. They have
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  Speaker 1: no idea what to do. They're just going to sit
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  Speaker 1: there and stare and starve to death. Why do you
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  Speaker 1: look at one another? He said, behold, I have heard
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  Speaker 1: that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down
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  Speaker 1: and buy grain for us there that we may live
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  Speaker 1: and not die. So ten of Joseph's brothers went down
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  Speaker 1: to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm
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  Speaker 1: might happen to him. Wonder why? Thus the sons of
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  Speaker 1: Israel came to buy among the others who came, for
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  Speaker 1: the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph
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  Speaker 1: was governor over the land. He was the one who
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  Speaker 1: sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's
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  Speaker 1: brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces
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  Speaker 1: to the ground. There's a parenthetical statement there that's not
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  Speaker 1: in the text, but if you look real close, it's
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  Speaker 1: in there. Right after it says bow their faces to
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  Speaker 1: the ground, you can almost read just like Joseph's dream
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  Speaker 1: said they were going to do. You got to look
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  Speaker 1: real close though. Verse 7, Joseph saw his brothers and
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  Speaker 1: recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke
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  Speaker 1: roughly to them. Where do you come from? He said.
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  Speaker 1: They said, from the land of Canaan to buy food.
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  Speaker 1: And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
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  Speaker 1: And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them.
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  Speaker 1: And he said to them, you are spies. You have
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  Speaker 1: come to see the nakedness of the land. They said
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  Speaker 1: to him, no, my Lord, your servants have come to
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  Speaker 1: buy food. We are all sons of one man. We
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  Speaker 1: are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. Think
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  Speaker 1: of the irony of that statement. No, no, no, no, no, sir,
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  Speaker 1: not us. Murderers, maybe. Slave traders, maybe. But we are
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  Speaker 1: not spies. So what do we see here? Again, these
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  Speaker 1: four doctrines. Here's what I want to do. I want
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  Speaker 1: to read a passage of Scripture with which we're very familiar.
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  Speaker 1: That we can juxtapose what we read here and what's
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  Speaker 1: happening in this passage of Scripture. So you can be
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  Speaker 1: flipping over to Romans chapter 8. Flipping over to Romans
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  Speaker 1: chapter 8. We want to read that. And we want
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  Speaker 1: to do a pre and post reading of that. Okay?
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  Speaker 1: Here in Romans chapter 8. I think I heard somebody
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  Speaker 1: just say, oh no, he's about to mess up another
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  Speaker 1: one of my favorite passages. No, you can still love this.
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  Speaker 1: Just love it correctly, all right? Romans chapter eight, beginning
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  Speaker 1: at verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit helps in our weakness,
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  Speaker 1: for we do not know what to pray for as
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  Speaker 1: we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
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  Speaker 1: groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the
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  Speaker 1: hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit, excuse me,
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  Speaker 1: knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: The spirits intercede for the saints according to the will
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  Speaker 1: of God. You don't know what to pray for. You
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  Speaker 1: need somebody to help you. Who's going to help you?
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  Speaker 1: The Spirit's going to help you. So that I can
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  Speaker 1: get what I want? No. He's going to help you
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  Speaker 1: to pray in accordance with, all together now, the will
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  Speaker 1: of God. And we know that for those who love God,
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  Speaker 1: all things work together for good. For those who are
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  Speaker 1: called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew,
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  Speaker 1: He also predestined to be conformed to the image of
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  Speaker 1: His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn
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  Speaker 1: among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called.
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  Speaker 1: Those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom
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  Speaker 1: He justified, He also glorified. So there we have that.
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  Speaker 1: Just put it over on the shelf. What does that
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  Speaker 1: have to do with it? Trust me, you're going to
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  Speaker 1: figure that out in a minute. I want you to
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  Speaker 1: grasp these four doctrines, and then we'll come back to
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  Speaker 1: that passage again. But what are the four doctrines that
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  Speaker 1: we see here? First of all, we see the sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: of God. The sovereignty of God. We often get sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: and providence mixed up. I'll try to bring some clarity
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  Speaker 1: to that. When we talk about sovereignty of God, the
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  Speaker 1: definition is God's exercise of power over his creations. So
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  Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God has to do with authority and ability.
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  Speaker 1: The sovereignty of God has to do with authority and ability.
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  Speaker 1: The sovereignty of God is the reason that God can
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  Speaker 1: say to Joseph through a dream, here's what's going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: The only person who can tell another person with accuracy,
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  Speaker 1: here's what's going to happen, is a person who has
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  Speaker 1: the authority and the ability to make that thing happen. Okay?
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  Speaker 1: Here's what's going to happen. Here's what I'm going to do.
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  Speaker 1: You have to have the authority and the ability to
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  Speaker 1: do that. So God tells Joseph through a dream a
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  Speaker 1: number of things. First, in these first two dreams, remember
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  Speaker 1: they came in pairs. In the first two dreams, God says,
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  Speaker 1: I am going to cause you to be elevated to
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  Speaker 1: a position of authority and your brothers to bow down
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  Speaker 1: before you. God says that in the first part of 37.
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  Speaker 1: What happens here in the first part of 42? What
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  Speaker 1: God said came to pass. Why? Because God has the
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  Speaker 1: authority and the ability to do whatever he wants with
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  Speaker 1: his creation. Amen? That's why that happened. Now, when we
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  Speaker 1: talk about providence, we talk about the how. But the
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  Speaker 1: why is sovereignty. Sovereignty. Now, we have difficulty with sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. And we, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: when I say we, I mean we here at GFBC,
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, with a couple of exceptions, we
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  Speaker 1: here at GFBC, for the most part, with a couple
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  Speaker 1: of exceptions, have as much a problem with the sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: of God as anybody in the whole world. Why? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because we are Baptists. And because we are American, and
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  Speaker 1: not only are we Americans, we're Texans. Amen. The idea
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  Speaker 1: of sovereignty or having a sovereign, we just don't like that.
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  Speaker 1: That just doesn't work, even with God. We don't want
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  Speaker 1: God to be sovereign. Well, what do you mean? Of
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  Speaker 1: course we want God to be sovereign. No, we don't.
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  Speaker 1: And here's how we get around it. We talk about
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  Speaker 1: God's sovereignty, but here's what we usually mean. We believe
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  Speaker 1: that man has a will that is free. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: if God is sovereign, man cannot have a will that
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  Speaker 1: is free. Okay? You can't have both of those things.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot have a sovereign God and a man with
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  Speaker 1: a free will. Those two do not work. Because if
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  Speaker 1: my will is free, then I can do what I
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  Speaker 1: want to do apart from God. Therefore, he's not sovereign
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  Speaker 1: over me. Do you follow that? You cannot have sovereign
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  Speaker 1: God and free will. So here's the way we get
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  Speaker 1: around it. We redefine sovereignty. So what sovereignty means is
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  Speaker 1: that God knows the future so well that he can
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  Speaker 1: make statements of prediction based upon what man will do
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  Speaker 1: in his freedom. That's how you get around sovereignty. God
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  Speaker 1: knows the future so well That he can predict with
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  Speaker 1: pinpoint accuracy what man in his freedom is going to do.
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  Speaker 1: We do that and we think we get around the
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  Speaker 1: sovereignty problem. But the definition of sovereignty is authority and ability.
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  Speaker 1: God does not look at Joseph and say, wait a minute,
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  Speaker 1: let me do some calculus here. Okay, fine. I figured
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  Speaker 1: it out. And based upon my equation and the freedom equation,
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  Speaker 1: of your 10 brothers' wills, here's what's going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Not sure exactly how it's going to happen, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: pretty sure that if I did my math right, one
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  Speaker 1: day they're going to bow down to you. That's not
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  Speaker 1: how sovereignty operates. The way sovereignty operates is God communicates
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  Speaker 1: to Joseph in a dream what's going to happen because
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  Speaker 1: God has the authority and the ability to make it happen.
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  Speaker 1: That's sovereignty. Sovereignty. That's sovereignty. And we see the doctrine
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  Speaker 1: of the sovereignty of God, not just here, but really
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  Speaker 1: in all of these things. But we see it more
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  Speaker 1: acutely here in 42 because we see things beginning to
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  Speaker 1: come to pass. So in this first pair of dreams,
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  Speaker 1: that comes to pass. In the second pair of dreams,
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  Speaker 1: what do we have? We have the baker and the cupbearer.
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  Speaker 1: Another pair of dreams. One, very good. Another one, Not
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  Speaker 1: so much. That's the pair of dreams where we get,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the good news is three days, you're both
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  Speaker 1: getting out of here. Really, how can there be any
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  Speaker 1: bad news? Well, bad news is one of y'all is
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  Speaker 1: gonna wish you were back. Then there's another pair of dreams.
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh has a pair of dreams. And those dreams come
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  Speaker 1: to pass. By the way, it's not until the famine
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  Speaker 1: comes that we verify Joseph's dreams. Because remember, there were
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  Speaker 1: two parts. Part number one is the seven years of plenty.
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  Speaker 1: That happened. Unless we get right after that, the seven
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  Speaker 1: years of famine, the dreams weren't accurate. So it's only
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  Speaker 1: now that we've seen the accuracy of that last pair
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  Speaker 1: of dreams. And it's as we see the accuracy of
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  Speaker 1: the last pair of dreams that we finally see the
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  Speaker 1: accuracy of the first pair of dreams as the brothers
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  Speaker 1: come and they bow down. So we see here this
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  Speaker 1: picture of the sovereignty of God. God has the authority
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  Speaker 1: and the ability to do whatever he wills. Our God
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  Speaker 1: is seated in the heavens. He is enthroned in the heavens.
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  Speaker 1: He does whatever pleases him. Amen. That is the God
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  Speaker 1: whom we serve, the sovereign God. Well, in addition to
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  Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God, and by the way, you talk
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  Speaker 1: about this whole issue of man's free will. There's a
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  Speaker 1: couple of passages here. Let me read this for you
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  Speaker 1: because we sometimes have a problem with this. Let's just
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  Speaker 1: get it out of the way. Ephesians chapter 2, verses
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  Speaker 1: 1 through 3. We know this, but we just need
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  Speaker 1: to read it again. And you were dead in the
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  Speaker 1: trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the
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  Speaker 1: course of this world, following the prince of the power
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  Speaker 1: of the air, the spirit that is now at work
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  Speaker 1: in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once
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  Speaker 1: lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
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  Speaker 1: desires of the body and the mind, and were by
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  Speaker 1: nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. And
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  Speaker 1: then again in Romans 8, earlier in Romans 8, what
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  Speaker 1: do we find? For those who live according to the
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  Speaker 1: flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: but those who live according to the Spirit set their
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  Speaker 1: minds on things of the Spirit. For to set the
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  Speaker 1: mind on the flesh is death, but to set the
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  Speaker 1: mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the
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  Speaker 1: mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.
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  Speaker 1: That's the unregenerate mind. It's set on the flesh and
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  Speaker 1: it's hostile to God. For it does not submit to
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  Speaker 1: God's law. Indeed, it cannot. It cannot. Yeah, but man's
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  Speaker 1: will is free. No, it's not. Because it cannot submit
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  Speaker 1: to the law of God. That cannot happen. Those who
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  Speaker 1: are in the flesh cannot please God. They cannot please God.
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  Speaker 1: So this is an issue of sovereignty. If we don't
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  Speaker 1: understand this issue of sovereignty, here's where we go. And
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  Speaker 1: this is why it's so difficult for us to look
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  Speaker 1: at these two sets of young men on these two
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  Speaker 1: sides of the ledger because you look on one side
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  Speaker 1: of the ledger and you go, okay, let me tell
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  Speaker 1: you a story about two sets of young men. And
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  Speaker 1: the way we think about parenting, for the most part,
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  Speaker 1: if someone said to you, I want to tell you
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: a story about two sets of young men. One set
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: of young men grew up in the home of a
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: man of God who encountered God personally and had his
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: life forever changed. The other in a pagan land, in
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: a pagan civilization, in a pagan household. 20 years later,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: they met one another. One was better off. Now, you
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and I both know, if you hear that, We just
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: kind of go, yeah, I could put two and two together.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: You got two and then two and you put those
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: together and you get one, two, three, four. So how
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: does it not come out like that? Sovereignty of God.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: That's how. Not the sovereignty of systems, but the sovereignty
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: of God. Not the sovereignty of systems, but the sovereignty
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: of God. We trust in the sovereignty of God. Does
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: that mean that we just live haphazard lives? Absolutely not.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: We employ every means that God calls us to employ,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: trusting that God is so sovereign over the ends and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the means, amen? So we do everything that God says
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: to do because we trust in a sovereign God, but
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: we trust in God, not in the things that we
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: do because here's a newsflash. If you think that your
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: children are better off with you than in a house
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: with sinners, I can tell you where your first mistake is.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: You think yours is not a house of sinners. Help
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: you if you believe that. I'm glad they're with me
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and not with some sinful family. Really? I need to
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: see you after church. The first thing I need to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: pray that God will rescue my children from is my influence.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: And if you don't believe that, you don't have kids.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Get you some. And you'll stand up on top of
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: one of these chairs and shout, amen. Amen. Not only
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God, but the providence of God. Remember,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: sovereignty is God's ability and authority. That's why he can
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: say this to Joseph beforehand and bring it to pass
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: exactly as he says. But listen to this. Providence is
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: about his governance of all things. We've talked about this
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: definition before. Let me read it for you again. This
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: is from Wayne Grudem. God is continually involved with all things.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: created things in such a way that He, one, keeps
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: them existing and maintaining the properties with which He created them. Two,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: properties to cause them to act as they do. And three,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: directing them to fulfill His purposes. Let me give that
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to you again. God is continually involved with all created
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: things in such a way that He, one, keeps them
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them. Two,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: properties to cause them to act as they do. And three,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: directs them to fulfill his purposes. That's the providence of God.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: We're not just talking about his authority and his ability.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the way that he governs creation. We
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: see that here as well. Notice that God does not
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: violate anybody's will in this process. And when I say
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: didn't violate anybody's will, what I mean is God did
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: not make them do anything that was contrary to who
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: and what they were. He didn't do that. So it's
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: not as though when we know God and love God,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: that suddenly the change that comes about in us as
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: believers is something that changes who we are basically on
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the outside. It changes who we are on the inside,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: but we still have the same language. We still have
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the same accent. We still have the same mannerisms. There
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: are practices in us that God changes over time as
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: he conforms us to his image, but we're still the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: same people. We don't become somebody else. We are who
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: God created us to be. He cooperates with us and
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: keeps us conforming to the way that he created us
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and works toward us fulfilling his purposes. How else do
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: you explain the pagan sovereign of Egypt, Pharaoh, putting Joseph
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: in this position? It's the providence of God. And he
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: used what Pharaoh thought and believed in the way that
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh was put together. His brothers... Used those things in
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: his brother's lives in order to get Joseph to where
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: he was. This is the providence of God. You look
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: every step of the way and you see God's providence
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: in the process. The ends and the means. Listen to this.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 10 verse 29. Are not two sparrows sowed
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: for a penny? And not one of them will fall
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to the ground apart from your father. Not one sparrow
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: falls to the ground apart from your father. God's providence
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: extends to all things. Not a sparrow falls to the
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: ground apart from your father. Listen to this from John
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Calvin commenting on this passage in Genesis 42. Whereas, therefore,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: scarcely any more illustrious representation of divine providence is to
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: be found than this history furnishes. Let pious readers carefully
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: exercise themselves in meditation upon it in order that they
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: may acknowledge those things which in appearance are fortuitous to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: be directed by the hand of God. Let this remind
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you that whatever the outcome, it's the providence of God,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: not the system. It's the providence of God. Don't trust yourself.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Trust the providence of God. Trust the sovereign Lord of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the universe to work things in accordance with his will
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: and to be actively involved in every part of the process,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: directing every part of the process. Then we trust. Then
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: we rest. I have to read this from B.B. Warfield.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: A firm faith in the universal providence of God is
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the solution to all earthly troubles. It is almost equally
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: providence of God is the solution of most theological problems.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Most of the religious difficulties with which men disturb their
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: minds are rest on the subtle intrusion into our thinking
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: of what we may call deistic postulates and would vanish
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: could but the full meaning of God's universal providence enter
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: and condition all our thinking. It is because we forget
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: this great truth that we vex and puzzle ourselves over
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: difficulties which seem to be insoluble but which cease to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: be difficulties at all so soon as we remember that
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: God's providence extends over all. wrestling with difficulties, are you?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Remember God's providence. Remember God's providence. Thirdly, not only do
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: we see the sovereignty of God, providence of God, but
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: also the doctrine of revelation here, that God has revealed himself.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: We see this clearly in that God uses these dreams
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: with Moses. Remember, they don't have the written revelation. He
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: uses these dreams with Joseph, excuse me. He uses his
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: dreams with Joseph that Moses communicates to us in order
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: to reveal himself and to reveal what it is that
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: he is doing, to reveal how it is that he
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: is controlling the situations and circumstances. It is God's word
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: upon which we rely. When we don't understand or know
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: anything else, What we can trust and what we must
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: trust is the word of God. That's all we have
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to rely on. And we see this here. What does
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Joseph have to hold on to? He loses his family.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: He loses his freedom. And then in a place where
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: he was a slave, he loses his freedom again, ironically.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: What do you have to trust in? God's word. God's word.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Am I ever going to see my family again? You
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: know what? I had two dreams back when I was
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: with my family. Those two dreams that I had say
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: that my family is going to be around me and
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: they're going to bow down before me. So do I
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: believe what my circumstances say or what the word of
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: God has told me? Folks, we need that. Amen. Do
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: you believe what your circumstances say or what the word
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of God has told you? Believe the word of God.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Is there a child in your home that seems to
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: not be responding to the system? Have you given up?
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Or are you trusting the sovereignty, the providence, and the
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: word of Almighty God? Trust His word. Are there other
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: circumstances around you about which you are less than confident?
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Do you trust your circumstances or do you trust the
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: word of God? Are there burdens that you carry that
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: you believe you will never be delivered from? Are you
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: trusting those or are you trusting the word of God?
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: If you trust the word of God, it changes the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: way you see those things and it absolutely changes the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: way you respond to those things. See, if you trust
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: the Word of God, you know that even in His providence,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: God uses the Word in order to conform us to
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the very image of Christ. There's a final piece here,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and that is the doctrine of election. Let me give
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: you the definition. Election is an act of God before
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: creation in which He chooses some people to be saved,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: only because of His sovereign good will. pleasure give it
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to you again election is an act of god before
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the creation in which he chooses some people to be
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: saved not on account of any foreseen merit in them
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: but only because of his sovereign good pleasure only because
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: of his sovereign good pleasure Who saves? Do systems save?
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Or does God save? Does the right home save? Or
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: does God saves? Do you have to find yourself in
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: the ideal situation or circumstance? Or is God more than
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: able regardless of your circumstances? It is the doctrine of election.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Why are things turning out the way they're turning out?
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Does God look down and somehow see in Joseph something
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: that says, you know what? I am going to rescue
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: you and I'm going to rescue the rest of your
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: family because there is such good in you. Let me
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: help you understand something very quickly here. There are several
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: characters in the Bible about which or about whom nothing
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: real negative is said. This is one of those people.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Joseph's one of those people. Daniel is another one of
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: those people. By the way, you look at the story
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: of Joseph and you look at the story of Daniel,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: unbelievable parallels between the two of them, all the way
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: down to God using dreams in order to demonstrate his
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: faithfulness in the midst of captivity in a foreign land.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: But both of these individuals are individuals about whom there's
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: not much negative said. Here's what you can know. All
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: You can know that. There is none righteous. And right there, well,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: what about Joseph? What about that? No, not even one.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Just because God didn't think it necessary to give you
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: all the flaws and foibles of Joseph's life in this
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: story doesn't mean that they weren't there. Joseph is a sinner,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: just like his brothers are. This is about the doctrine
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: of election. We've said it before and we've said it again.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: You don't get Genesis unless you get the doctrine of election.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: You don't understand the life of Joseph unless you understand
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the doctrine of election. And interestingly enough, in the life
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: of Joseph, we see the doctrine of election, but who
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: is the elect one who's being protected through all of this?
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Is it Joseph? No, it's Judah. It's Judah. God is
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: using Joseph in order to bring his family through, but
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: particularly Judah. That's the one through whom the Savior of
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: the world will ultimately be born. It's the doctrine of election. Well,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: when we understand this, it changes a couple of things.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Not the least of which... is the way we view
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: that passage that we started with in Romans. So let's
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: go back to it and revisit it, shall we, in
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: light of what we've seen here. And let's overlay this
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: on Joseph's circumstance. So I'll comment here on Joseph's circumstance
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: as we read again through Romans chapter 8, and then
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: try to help us understand the way that we're to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: apply it. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: for we do not know what to pray for as
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with the
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: will of God. How many of you know that Joseph
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: would never, ever, ever have prayed, God, would you please
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: have my brothers put me in a pit? And Lord,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: then when I'm in that pit, Would you have our
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: arch enemies come by? And would you have the Ishmaelites
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: take me out of the pit? And maybe, Lord, could
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: you have them take me to Egypt? And God, as
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: you have them take me to Egypt, could you put
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: me in the house of a man who really loves
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: me and trusts me? But could you please at that time, Lord,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: just have his wife to try to defile me? And
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: as a result of me not being willing to be defiled, God,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: would you send me to prison for several years while
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: I'm in slavery in Egypt? And then God, only then
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: would you elevate me to a place where Pharaoh would
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: then look upon me in favor. And would you then
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: give me a foreign wife who is the daughter of
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: someone who worships a foreign God and a priest over
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: a foreign God so that I can have children in
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: that foreign land. And God, I think, I just, I
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: don't know, can I just spend maybe 20, 22 years
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: apart from my father who loves me so much? No,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: that's not what Joseph's going to pray at 17 years old.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: But that's exactly what God's will was. We don't know
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: how to pray. We don't know what to pray. Because
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: in my flesh, here's my prayer life. Give me, give me,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, give me, give me.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Bless Zion because he's having surgery. Give me. Give me,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: give me, give me some more. In my flesh, that's
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: my prayer life. In your flesh, that's your prayer life.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: You don't have sense enough to know what to pray for.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Joseph had no idea what the sovereign God of the
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: universe was doing in his providence. He had no idea
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: the glory that God would gain through crushing him. By
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: the way, that's exactly what happened. God crushed a 17-year-old
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: for over 20 years in order to bring glory to himself.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: And at the end of it, the grown man version
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: of the 17-year-old said, thank you, Lord. It continues. We
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: know that for those who love God, all things work
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: together for good. Now, we look at that and usually
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: here's the way we read this. that if you love
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: God really hard, then God's gonna make good stuff come
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: into your life. No, work together for good. Now, in
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: order for things to need to work together for good,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: that means that they're not necessarily good in and of themselves, amen?
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't say God will make all good things work
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: together for greater good. No, no, all sorts of things.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: But what is that good even? For those who are
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: called according to his purpose. In other words, God calls
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: men and women according to his purpose and makes all
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: things work together toward the accomplishment of his purpose in
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: their life. That's the good thing. And what does it
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: have to do with ultimately? Look at the last part.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: conformed to the image of his son. It's the greatest
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: good you can experience. And it's usually the hardest things
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: that conform you to Christ the most. In order that
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: he might be the firstborn among many brothers. By the way,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: who's that for? Is that for you? No. That's for Christ.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: In fact, God gave the elect to Christ as a
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: gift for Christ. Not for you. And those whom he
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: predestined he also called Those whom he called, he also justified.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Those whom he justified, he also glorified. There's the picture.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: By the way, God causes all things to work together
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: for good. You know what I have a tendency to do?
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: I have a tendency to look at my life and say, God, yes,
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: you are going to cause all of these things in
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: my life and in my experience to work together for good.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: I want you to know something. If you're his today,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: if you're in here today and you are a Christian,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: you have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and repentance of your sins. If you have come to
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: take hold of his finished work on the cross and
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: his forgiveness as your own, if you are his today,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: then among those things that God calls to work together
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: for your good is the life of Joseph. Do you follow? See,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: we have a tendency to look at the life of
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Joseph and we go, oh, bravo, that was excellent. Lord,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: would you someday do for me what you did for Joseph? Okay, see,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: time out. See, here's what, wait, see, wait, hold, time out. See,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: because you just asked that God would do the thing
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: that he did for Joseph for you someday. Here's the newsflash.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: The thing that he did for Joseph was for you.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: He's preserving the line of David that would be the
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: line of Christ. Right? There was a famine in the way.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Jacob couldn't see the famine. None of Jacob's sons could
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: see the famine, but God saw the famine in the way.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: The famine was 20 years off, and no one knew
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: anything about the famine. Amen. And so Joseph prays, God,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: my brothers hate me. It's okay, Joseph. There's a famine coming. God,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: my brothers have abandoned me in this pit. It's okay, Joseph.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: There's a famine coming. God, Potiphar's wife has lied on me.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: It's okay, Joseph. There's a famine coming. God, I'm in prison.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: That's okay, Joseph. There's a famine coming. God, I interpreted
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: dreams for them and they've forgotten me for two years.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: That's okay, Joseph. There's a famine coming. God, I don't
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: know if I'll ever see my family again. Well, Joseph,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: number one, you had the dream and it hadn't come
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: to pass yet, so shame on you. But number two,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: that's okay. There's a famine coming. God, I have to
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: marry a woman. That's not one of us. Not only
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: does she not know you, but she's been raised in
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: the service of a foreign God. It's okay, Joseph. There's
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: a famine coming. See, I cannot tell you what God
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: is doing in and with and through your life. But
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: here's what I know. It is not without purpose. And ultimately,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: it's not all about you. Is not your life hidden
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: with God in Christ? Are you not his? If you're
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: like me, sometimes you have to remind yourself, And I
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: have to just sort of figuratively shake myself by the collar.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: And there are circumstances that are bad and I'm thinking,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: woe is me. Wait a minute, time out. The spotless,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: sinless lamb of God, he crushed and he killed for
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: his own glory. And you think you can't have a
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: bad day. Who on earth do you think you are?
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: that he can humiliate the Son of God, but he
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: can't send you through a few bad months or a
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: few bad years or a few bad decades. On your
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: worst day, on your worst day, you have not received
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: a fraction of what you deserve. On your worst day,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: And it's when we grasp that reality that we understand
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: the significance of a life that belongs to God in Christ.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: It is only then. I want you to know something.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Joseph looks back on his life when the picture is
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: not all in clear focus and every day drags on
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: and on and on. But when Joseph gets the rest
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: of the story, It's but a memory. It's but a vapor.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: And it's gone. Why? Well, let's turn to Romans chapter
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: 8 again. Look, beginning at verse 18, for I consider
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: it in hope That the creation itself will be set
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: free from the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: of the glory of the children of God. For we
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: know that the whole creation has been groaning together in
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: pains of childbirth until now. And not only, by the way,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: that groaning ought to sound familiar because that's also the
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: groaning that he talks about for us later on. And
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: not only the creation, but we ourselves groan. who have
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: he sees? But if we hope for what we do
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: not see, we wait for it with patience. That's the answer.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: That's the answer. See, if we're satisfied with systems and
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: believe that we can just go through the motions and
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: get the desired result, we do not comprehend this truth
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: in Romans chapter 8, which, by the way, is the
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: same truth in Genesis chapter 42. You need to know
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: that you live in a fallen world and that in
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: the midst of this fallen world, there will be times
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: When you are crushed under the weight of your own
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: sin and the sin of others. And when you are,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: hope in Christ. When you are, remember Christ. that the
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: sufferings with which you endure now are not worthy to
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: be compared to what will be revealed in us. When
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: you are, please do not forget that the spotless, sinless
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God suffered more than you could ever comprehend
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: or even bring your mind to touch upon. Don't let
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: go of that. And when you suffer, Hope in Christ.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: When you are delivered, give the glory to Christ. But
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, live like those who have hope. And
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: when the time comes, let us pray that we might
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: also die like those who have hope. Because last time
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: I checked, the death rate was still one per person.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Nobody gets out of here alive. But some of us
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: get out of here holding on to Christ. And walk
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: into that glory that is to be revealed in us.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: You hope in that. You do everything that you know
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: how to please God. But what you hope in is
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: not what you do. You hope in God. Let's pray. Father,
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: as we bow, We can't help but be reminded of
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: the lyrics we sang earlier. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Ironically,
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: we more than reluctantly use those words to describe ourselves
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: and not Christ. It is as though we look at
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: the humiliation of Christ as something he deserved and our
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: own humiliation as something that is unwarranted. It is as
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: though We look at the pain and punishment that Christ
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: endured undeservedly as though it were something that he owed us.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: And look at our own pain and our own discomfort
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: as something that brings your justice into question. It is
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: as though We believe that gathering together to offer you
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: the worship that you deserve somehow merits us a life
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: without difficulty. Remind us this day as we need reminding
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: every day that it is Christ and Christ alone who
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: deserves to be exalted. And that it is in his
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: humiliation that we find our deliverance. And in his exaltation
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: and that alone we find our hope. May we hope
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: in him, not in ourselves. Not what we can do
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: not what we choose not to do, not in what
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: we know, but in whose we are. May we be
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: found in him, which is indeed our only hope. And
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: it is in his name that we pray, believe, and ask,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: and hope all these things. Amen.