Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / February 24, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 6: Joseph

Transcript

February 24, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 6: Joseph · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the chronological study this week.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that you are here.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easier for us to believe that God is with us when things are going well, when the sun is shining, when there's money in the bank, when we're healthy.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Things feel normal and good, and they it feels like God is with us.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: But what about those times when there's not enough money?
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Those times when when the doctor may give us a bad bad diagnosis, those times when when we just don't feel his presence.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: It's important for us to know in those hard times that God is still with us.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Our tendency is to question whether God and where God is in those difficult times.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: As we look at the life of Joseph today, I hope that it will be an encouragement to you and that we will learn a really important truth.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: And that truth is that God is still with us even in the dark times.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, sometimes we find that God is with us there, most of all.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: So pray with me.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we thank you for what we are going to see today.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And I just ask that you would plant this in our hearts and our minds to encourage us and to help us as we look at the life of Joseph.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: We bless you and thank you for this time in Jesus' name.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: You saw clearly as you read through these chapters in the book of Genesis how God divinely orchestrated all every step that Joseph took, even the hard steps, and that's what we're gonna see.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at how Joseph finds himself in the pit that he's in.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: It starts with his father Jacob.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Remember when when Jacob returns to his brother Esau and how he put the maidservants and their children first, and then he put Leah and her children, and then Rachel and Joseph are at the very end at the most protected spot.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: By his actions, Jacob is communicating that Rachel and Joseph were the most important people to him.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: They were his favorites.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Jacob doesn't even try to hide his favoritism in Genesis 37 when he makes that rich ornate robe that he gives to Joseph.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: And that only builds the animosity between Joseph and his brothers.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Teaching the Heart of the Old Testament says there was a ceremony involving such robes in the ancient Near East that marked the recipient as the father's primary heir.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Joseph, the 11th son in the family lineage, takes the rites of the firstborn.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: When he receives the special robe, the situation is packed with emotions because the whole family inheritance is at stake.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: This is a volatile moment because the older boys can clearly see that Joseph has been placed before all of them.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: This is a recipe for sibling war, and that is exactly what happens.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Then, adding insult to injury, Joseph has two dreams with interpretations that are just too evident to miss.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: We read about it in Genesis 37, 5 through 11.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: His brothers said to him, Do you intend to reign over us?
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Will you actually rule us?
3:50
SPEAKER_00: And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Then he had another dream and he told it to his brothers.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: This time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: When he told his father and brothers, his father rebuked him.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?
4:16
SPEAKER_00: His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: The brothers hated him, and then they hated him all the more.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons they hated their brother Joseph was because Jacob played favorites, and that jealousy smoldered and it birthed hatred.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: When Joseph chooses to share those dreams, he with his brothers, he is either being one extremely naive or he's being vindictive.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: He's getting back at the brothers for the ways that they have treated him.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if he was innocent and naive or if he was getting back at them.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: I tend to think that he was just being naive.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: And of course, we know that all of this plays into God's plans.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: But those were very poignant prophetic dreams that Joseph has.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: Remember, last week we saw a much different Jacob returning back to Esau, to his brother, as he wrestled with God.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: And then God changed his name from Jacob to Israel.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Joseph is a very young boy at this point, at this time.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: His older brothers were brought up under the influence of the old, scheming, deceiving Jacob.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: But Joseph was the companion of the changed new Jacob or Israel.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: I've often wondered why Joseph was so different than his brothers, and I think that that partially answers that.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: In Joseph, we see a very unusual man.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: How did he get that way?
6:23
SPEAKER_00: How does he have that just internal desire for Yahweh who communicated the truths about God to Joseph, his father, Jacob did?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: And at such a young age, Jacob took those truths and he planted them deep inside of him so that they became his spiritual DNA.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: It was how he was going to do the rest of his life.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: One day Jacob sends Joseph to check on the flock and to check on the fur, the her, the his brothers, and so he brings back a report.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: He's going to bring back a report to Jacob about how the brothers are doing.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: That one act of obedience on Joseph's part separates him from Jacob for 20 years.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: But God uses that act of obedience to carry out the plans that he has for the whole clan of Israel.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: The hatred of Joseph's brother reaches a whole new level.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis 37, they say, Here comes the dreamer.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Then we will see what comes of his dreams.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Let's not take his life, he said.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Don't shed any blood.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Throw him into a cistern, but do not lay a hand on him.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take them back to his father.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: But while Reuben is out in the fields, a caravan comes by on their way to Egypt, and the brothers drag Joseph out of the cistern and sell him to the merchants for twenty shekels of silver.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Their actions, motivated out of their hatred for Joseph, affected him, but that hatred also affected Jacob, their father.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: The brothers slaughter a goat, and they splatter blood on Joseph's robe, and they take it back to their father, and they let him believe the worst.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Jacob is inconsolable and he mourns for Joseph.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: What dynamics do we see here in this family line?
8:44
SPEAKER_00: We see hatred and rivalry and jealousy and envy and deception and deceit and favoritism.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: We see all of those things, and we could probably come up with even more things if we thought about it longer.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: These dynamics all took their toll on the clan of Israel.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: But we see beautifully how God wastes nothing.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: God didn't cause their evil, but he uses it for his own redemptive purposes.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 37 says, Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, what a hope-filled word that is.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, behind the scenes, things are happening.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: People and things are being placed into action.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Something else is going on beyond the human eye that we can't see or some most times even comprehend.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: We have a God of meanwhile.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: We all have meanwhiles, and we have a God of meanwhiles.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: It's in the meanwhile that we now see God moving those pieces perfectly into place for his purposes.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, we see Joseph in Potiphar's house.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: The Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered, and he lived in the house of the Egyptian master.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Now Joseph was well built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, Come to bed with me.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: The term, the Lord was with Joseph, occurs four times in this chapter.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: It seems to point it seems the point God is making here is that all of this is going to be part of his plan.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: All of this.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: In verse 6, it describes Joseph as being well built and handsome.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: And remember who his mother was, Rachel.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: How was she described in scripture?
11:32
SPEAKER_00: She was lovely in form and beautiful.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: So we can definitely believe that Joseph takes after his mother.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: And Potiphar's wife, how crazy and relentless is she! Totally sounds like a reality TV show.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's motivation for refusing her was that he could not sin against God in this way.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: In verse 10, he sets a very good boundary, and that boundary is or even be with her.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: She is a temptation to Joseph.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: And so he sets a good boundary.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: His motivation is to please God, which leads him to set some good boundaries.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Even though Joseph has a secular setting, is in a secular setting, he maintained a godly worldview that sustained him in temptation.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read that again because I didn't do it well the first time.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Even though Joseph was in a secular setting, he maintained a godly worldview that sustained him in temptation.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: What an excellent example he is for us.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing to see how God uses Joseph and how he makes the best of the circumstances that in Potiphar's household and every time, all the circumstances he's in.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Joseph simply does what he knows best.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: He manages.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: And he manages with the awareness of God's presence, and he manages very well.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: In retaliation, Potiphar's wicked wife trumps up a false charge of rape against Joseph, and he is thrown into the prison that is at Potiphar's home that Potiphar oversaw.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we see Joseph in prison.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him and showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: What do those verses tell us about God?
13:59
SPEAKER_00: They tell us that the Lord was with Joseph just as much in prison as he had been in Potiphar's house.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: The location had changed, but God had not.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: The location had changed.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I would say that these verses show us that godly men and women can be in the center of God's will and still have things go wrong or be bad.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: We don't like that view, but that's what we're seeing here.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: But how comforting is that?
14:34
SPEAKER_00: If you are going through a hard time right now or have recently, you need to know that the Lord is with you.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: And actually, because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have God with us in a different way, even light more likely, than Joseph did.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: And that knowledge should make a difference in those difficult circumstances while we're going through them.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Again, we see Joseph doing what Joseph does best, he manages.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: And through his organizational skills and the presence of the Lord, he is promoted to the prison supervisor.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, two of Pharaoh's servants are thrown into prison.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Sometime later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt defended their master.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, and he put them in the same prison with Joseph, that Joseph was confined.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph and he attended them.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: The two officials each have a dream on the same night, and they tell Joseph the dream.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Joseph interprets the dream, and the results are exactly as God had shown Joseph that they would be.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Joseph continues to do what he does best for two more years.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Two years pass as he finishes his master's in business administration with a minor in criminal, in criminal justice, and he develops the skills that he will need to lead the people during days of famine.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: That's what God is accomplishing right here in this place, in prison, in the meanwhile.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: That is exactly what he is doing.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: A crisis is coming for an entire nation.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: So God prepares one man to lead the nation in a very unlikely place, a prison.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Joseph has no control over his circumstances.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: He spends 13 years as a slave and as a prisoner.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: 13 years as a slave and as a prisoner.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Working in Potiphar's house as a slave, and time behind bars as a prisoner were not wasted years, but years used of to learn important people skills, and they were years that purified his faith.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: The time behind bars is preparation time for what was ahead.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: And what was ahead?
18:00
SPEAKER_00: Only rescuing his family and leading a nation during a seven-year crisis.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Just those two little things.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Rescuing your entire family and leading a nation for seven years.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: What are you learning behind the bars of your life?
18:21
SPEAKER_00: Are you in a place where you didn't really want to be?
18:25
SPEAKER_00: A place that is confusing or uncertain, or where you just feel like you're waiting for God to do something.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Joseph felt that way.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: He had to feel that way.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: That he was just waiting for something good to happen.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Could it be that God is getting you ready for the life that He is preparing on the other side of the bars?
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Before I came on staff here at Topeka Bible Church, I worked for the Kansas legislator as a computer troubleshooter.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Mind-blowing now, but I had done the job for six years and I really liked it.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: But that last year I really felt that the Lord was wanting me to step down from that position and to spend more time studying the word.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: My dear husband Nat graciously agreed, and that's what I did.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I responded to that prompting.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: I stayed home.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: I studied for hours and hours a day.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: I led some Bible studies, and I was an advisor on our women's ministry council.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: It was a great year for me to be very focused and to work closely with our women's ministry director.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: In August of that year, God picked her up, our director, up, and put her in a position at a Christian school here in town, which left the women's ministry without a leader.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Right as we were ready to kick off a new ministry year in September.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: The short story is that through God's leading, I took over the women's ministry with much fear and trembling.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: And I've been on staff now for 20 years.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't see the preparation time at the time, but in hindsight, I saw it very clearly.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Why would God have me step down from something I really liked to just stay home?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: But that's what he was doing.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: It was really amazing to me.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: And I probably wouldn't have been as prepared.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: I know I wouldn't have been as prepared to take over had I not stepped down from that position and stayed home and studied and worked closely with her.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: He took me from something that I really liked doing to something that I love doing.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: I tell you that story is a way of showing you that you never know what God is preparing you for.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what that is.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And he he um or what he will use from your past to accomplish his goals or purposes for your life.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: We all have meanwhile.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: We all have those times when we're waiting.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: And when we're waiting for things to make sense.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: We don't always know that at the time that God is preparing us for something, but in hindsight, we usually can look at it and say, oh, that's what was going on.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: And it makes sense.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: We see that here in Joseph's life.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Clearly, we see that.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: Even in prison, he was preparing Joseph.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: And then just like that, the very next place that we see God use Joseph is in the palace.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: How amazing.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, on the other side of those prison bars, God drops two disturbing dreams into the Middle of Pharaoh's sleep, God sovereignly and strategically places the restored cupbearer into position and he suddenly remembers Joseph at just the right time when God is ready.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: When two full years had passed, let me go back.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: When two, whoops, when two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: He fell asleep and had a second dream.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed the use of twos in this story?
22:31
SPEAKER_00: Joseph had two dreams, and then the cupbearer and the baker had two dreams, and now Pharaoh has two dreams.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: It's like God planned it or something.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: But I also love the chain of events here.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: The Lord interrupts Pharaoh's sleep with two disturbing dreams.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Mystified by these dreams, Pharaoh demands an interpretation.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: The former prisoner suddenly remembers Joseph and he is immediately called for.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Joseph interprets the dream and offers managerial advice.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh recognizes the Lord's presence and Joseph's managerial skills and prompts Joseph to oversee Egypt's economy for the following fourteen years.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Bam! Bam! What great stories God tells.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: The ups and downs of Joseph's life prepares him for the one position that will save an entire generation from massive starvation.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that! Who knew that all these management experiences would lead to an even greater position?
23:48
SPEAKER_00: God did.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's good for him.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Does it matter how we go through difficulties when we have these circumstances in our life?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it does.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: It matters.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: God receives glory when we go through difficulties with a joyful attitude and giving him praise.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see here.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: It couldn't have been easy for Joseph, but he comes through all those tests shining as pure gold in exactly the place God wanted, with the valuable training his next assignment would require.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: And now we see Joseph as the provider for Israel.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: He dressed him in the robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt, just like that, from the prison to the palace in one day.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: When God is ready to work and has set all the pieces in place, he can act and move very quickly.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, in Canaan, Joseph's family is coming to the end of their resources.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, Why do you just keep sitting here looking at each other?
25:46
SPEAKER_00: I have heard that there is grain in Egypt.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: Go down there and buy some for us so that we may live and not die.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: But he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Where do you come from?
26:15
SPEAKER_00: He asked.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: From the land of Canaan, they replied, to buy food.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, You are spies.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: You have come to see where our land is unprotected.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: No, my Lord, they answered, Your servants have come to buy food.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: We are all the sons of one man.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Your servants are honest men, not spies.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: No, he said to them, You have come to see where our land is unprotected.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: What a scene.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that as soon as his brothers said, Your servants are honest men, that no was on his lips.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure the the temptation to tell them just how not honest they were was was really strong.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: In my opinion, it's miraculous he didn't list all the ways that they were not honest.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 13, something interesting starts taking place.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: But they replied, Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man who lives in the land of Canaan.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Joseph said to them, It is just as I told you, you were spies.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And this is how you will be tested.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: And he put them all in custody for three days.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: On the third day, Joseph said to them, Do this, and you will live, for I fear God.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and that you may not die.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: This they proceeded to do.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: They said to one another, Surely we are being punished because of our brother.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: That's why this distress has come upon us.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Reuben replied, Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy?
28:24
SPEAKER_00: But you wouldn't listen.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Now we we we must give an accounting for his blood.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: They did not realize that Joseph could understand them since he was using an interpreter.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Now, after all these years, his brothers sold after his brothers sold Joseph into slavery, they bowed before him in fulfillment of his youthful prophetic dreams.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: They are here bowing before him.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: In verse 18, we see how Joseph purposefully shows them that he has faith in Yahweh, in God, and that he's under divine authority, and that he would be fair with them.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Benjamin was 16 years younger than Joseph.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: So Benjamin would have been 23 at this time, and Joseph would have been 39.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: We know that eventually Jacob is forced to let Benjamin go with his brothers back down to Egypt.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Joseph sees them when they come back with Benjamin, and he instructs his steward to take them to home to prepare a feast for them.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, he said, God be gracious to you, my son.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: He went into his private room and wept there.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: His brothers eat in the palace, and he places them all in from order of oldest to youngest and birth order, and he gives five times the amount of food to Benjamin, and I'm sure that the brothers noticed.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Then Joseph hatches another plan to test the brothers.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: He tells his steward to put each man's silver back in their bags, but to put his gold, his silver cup in the bag that Benjamin had.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: The servant goes after them.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: He repeats everything Joseph has told him to say when he searches the bag from the starting from the oldest and going to the youngest.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the silver cup is found in Benjamin's.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And they head back to Egypt.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Joseph said to them, What is this you have done?
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Framing Benjamin and charging him with stealing the silver cup again tests his brother's loyalty.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Constable of SonicLight.com says that Joseph practiced divination is not clear from verses 5 or 15.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: He may have, but this seems inconsistent with his character as a man of faith in Yahweh.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: It also seems unlikely since Joseph had the gift of interpreting dreams from God.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: If anyone needed to resort to divination, it would not have been Joseph.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Some interpreters believe Joseph's claim was part of his ruse.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: These references to divination seem intended to impress Joseph's brothers with the value of the cup that had disappeared.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: Judah argues for Joseph and with Joseph for Benjamin's freedom, and he pleads with Joseph to let him take his brother's place, which is very interesting.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Judah says, Now then please let your servant remain here as my Lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return to his brothers with his brothers.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?
32:23
SPEAKER_00: No, do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Remember, it was Reuben who was going to come back and take Joseph out of the cistern after they had put him in the cistern.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: But it was Judah who instigated selling him to the merchants heading to Egypt.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Judah, who came up with the scheme to sell Joseph to strangers out of envy and hatred, is now willing to become Joseph's slave so that his brothers, the rest of his brothers, can go free.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: What a switch and what a type of Christ that is here.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is the descendant of Judah.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Jesus demonstrated this same attitude, and we see it in Philippians chapter 2, that beautiful passage about him when it says, but he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: Judah is transformed from one who sells his brother as a slave to one who is willing to become a slave for his brother, which is exactly what Jesus did for us.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, Have everyone leave my presence.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Is my father still living?
34:06
SPEAKER_00: His brothers were shocked, speechless, and not able to answer him, because they were terrified that this was Joseph.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come close to me.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: When they had done so, he said, I am your brother Joseph, the one who you sold into Egypt.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: And now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing or reaping.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by so by a great deliverance.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: So then it was not you who sent me here, but God.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: He made me father to Pharaoh, Lord of his entire household, and ruler of all Egypt.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: Man, don't you love Joseph?
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, what an incredible perspective he has here.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: Your view of God determines everything.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Your view of God determines everything.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Joseph had every right to severely punish his brothers for all they had done to him.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: And he was in a position to do just that.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: Joseph saw the hand of God in all that touched his life and was able to extend forgiveness, forgiveness to his offending brothers.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Three times in these eight verses, Joseph states that God and not his brothers was behind what happened to him.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Joseph says, Tell my father about all this honor accorded me in Egypt, and about everything you have seen, and bring my father down here quickly.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: And Benjamin embraced him, weeping, and he asked, he kissed his all his brothers and wept over them.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Afterward his brothers talked with him.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothing.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Joseph showers Benjamin with favoritism.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: Do you think the brothers noticed?
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Of course they noticed, but this time they probably accepted it.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: I think that's very interesting.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure now they didn't care.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Now we know that Jacob comes down to Egypt, and in Genesis 47, 27 it said, Now the Israelites settled in Egypt and the region of Goshen.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: They acquired property and there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, what was happening to the Egyptians?
37:14
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, they were being bought into servitude through the famine.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: They too were in bondage, they just didn't know it yet.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: But the Israelites acquired property and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Yes, they became slaves in servitude to Pharaoh, but there was a plan behind all of it.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Remember when God made the covenant with Abraham what he told him in Genesis chapter 15?
37:47
SPEAKER_00: Know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love it?
38:09
SPEAKER_00: The fulfillment of God's promise to increase the seed of the patriarchs was advancing under Joseph's rule.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Let's take one more look at Joe and the brose in one of my favorite passages of scripture, Genesis 50, the last chapter.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph holds a grudge against us now and wants to pay us back for all the wrongs we did to him?
38:41
SPEAKER_00: So they sent word to Joseph saying, Your father left these instructions before he died.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: This is what you are to say to Joseph.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Now please forgive the sins of the servant of your servants, of the father, the sins of the servants of the fat of the God of your father.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: We are your slaves, they said.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Am I in the place of God?
39:20
SPEAKER_00: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: So then don't be afraid.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: I will provide for you and your children.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure Jacob really didn't tell the brothers to go and say this to Joseph, but out of fear, they took they were scheming and took things into their own hands again.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: And that just reminds us that some things never change.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: We learn a valuable lesson here, though, and that is men can only do to you what God allows them to do for your good and for his glory.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: That's a hard statement to make, but it's a true one.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: I know experientially how true that statement is.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: God can take the bad, the hard, the things that we've had to endure, and he can bring good for them.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the kind of God that we have.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: He's great enough to do that.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Rejected and disposed of by his brothers, lied, lied about by Potiphar's wife, thrown in prison, forgotten by the cupbearer.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: All of those circumstances were difficult.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: They were bad circumstances, and that would make a person think and feel that God didn't care or see or know.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: All Joseph has done was to seek to honor God and remain faithful.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: And for what?
41:15
SPEAKER_00: It would have been very easy for Joseph to say that and to think that God had abandoned him in those circumstances.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't come to that conclusion.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: What a tremendous example he is to us.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Joseph saw God in every circumstance and difficulty and honored him in every position he held.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: The God who walked with Adam and Eve, with Enoch, with Noah, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is the same God who walks with us today.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: We must learn to see and hear him day by day more and more.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: How do we see him?
42:05
SPEAKER_00: We can see him through concrete answers to prayer, through unexplained resources, through surprising outcomes, or like Joseph, God ordained demotions and promotions.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: If we are looking for and listening to God in every circumstance of our lives, faithfully believing that he is who he says he is, and who we have seen throughout this book of Genesis that he is, we will see him.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: We will see him.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Man's freedom to act never cripples God's redemptive plans.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's what we've seen in the book of Genesis.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: Man's freedom to act never cripples God's redemptive plans.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: God still works in the meanwhile of our lives.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: His sovereignty is still work behind the scenes where people don't see.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for these truths.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: You are still on the throne.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: You are still working all things together on this planet for your purposes, for your good pleasure.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: You're still doing that in our lives too.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: God, protect us against our tendency to not see you when things are going bad or when things are hard.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: Protect us from that.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: You are our constant and our sure refuge in times of trouble.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for that reality.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And we give you praise for it.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: Might we bring honor and glory to you in the way that Joseph did?
44:29
SPEAKER_00: We give you praise and thanks for this wonderful, glorious story that shows us more of your heart.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: We praise you and bless you, and we pray in the mighty name of Jesus.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here, and I will see you next time.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: God bless.