God is Sovereign
Ai Transcript
Amen, amen, thank you Ryan. Good morning Redemption Parker. Good morning, good to see you guys. If you would, you can begin making your way to Genesis chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50.
What feels like a lifetime ago, was sitting outside a coffee shop in town, reading the works of Jonathan Edwards, volume one. And I came across a line. went something like a leaf doesn't fall to the ground except that God ordained it.
Many of y'all know my story. As I read this line, I was right in the thick of my dark night of the soul. A season where I experienced the deepest kind of
abandonment and betrayal. A season where I related most to the Psalmist who says, darkness is my only companion. A season where my prayer walks often didn't have many words, but had many tears.
In the season I was living in my pastor's basement with a couple of items to my name, a stack of books written by some old dead guys and a few outfits. And as I read one of those lines from one of those old dead guys, a leaf doesn't fall to the ground except that God ordains it. It gave me a strange, peculiar comfort to my weary
soul. many the doctrine of God's sovereignty, his complete control of all things, that nothing comes to pass unless God himself decrees it, makes us mad.
argumentative even. We argue against God because we don't like the idea of God being that in control. We've experienced enough pain in our lives and in lives of others. We've seen the brokenness, the suffering and the evil in this world. So we struggle coming to grips with this idea of God's sovereignty.
On the total other side of the spectrum. I've seen this topic make folks mad and argumentative because they love the topic. The cage stage Calvinist more of a Calvinist than John Calvin himself. All they want to do is get into an argument with an Armenian. Those who don't believe he's that in control of all things.
What about you? When you hear these three words, God is sovereign. What, what emotions evoke in you? love what one pastor says. The doctrine of God's sovereignty is not so I can win a free will debate. is for my survival. Friends, God's sovereignty.
If understood rightly can be the pillow we rest our head on in this broken world filled with pain, suffering, evil. And that's my aim this morning. I don't want to get overly theological. have Institute classes for that, but at the same time, unless we understand big doctrines like God's sovereignty, we could miss out on the comfort from God.
and the trust in God that we so desperately need, especially when life hurts. If you're not already there, Genesis 50 this morning, our main verse we're to look at is verse 20. Genesis 50 verse 20. We'll start here and then we'll actually be all over the book of Genesis looking at the account of Joseph.
With this topic, God is sovereign. There are so many places we could turn from Job to Esther, from Abraham to Ruth.
Could also just hang out with Jesus, our good shepherd whose sheep hear his voice. Of course we could turn to the apostle Paul and his many words on God's sovereignty, but the account of Joseph is where we're going to find ourselves this morning. So Genesis 50, I'm going to read the first half of verse 20. As for you, you meant evil against me.
But God meant it for good. This is the word of God. When you think of the book of Genesis, much comes to mind, right? So many important moments and key characters from the creation account itself to our great great grandparents, Adam and Eve, the tragedy of their kids, Cain and Abel, to Noah and his family.
the ark, the animals, and the flood of God's judgment, to the Tower of Babel and humanity being scattered over the ends of the earth, to Father Abraham and elderly Sarah and their miracle son Isaac, after well, Hagar and Ishmael.
to Jacob and Esau and that wild story when Jacob with the help of his mom stole his brother's blessing. Then Jacob, the deceiver himself gets deceived. He works seven years for the love of his life. Rachel only to wake up to a bad dream. Married to her ugly sister, Leah. That's what the Bible says. So he worked seven more years only to leave there with four baby mamas.
Jacob then wrestles with God and God renamed him Israel. Genesis is packed with drama and brutally honest about life's brokenness. But you know who gets more screen time than anyone in Genesis? It's Joseph. Joseph.
Joseph first gets brought up in chapter 30 and then from chapter 37 all the way to the end of Genesis chapter 50, he's the main character or so we think at first glance. We don't have time to read 14 chapters. So we're to be doing a lot of summarizing this morning and I'll be throwing verses from his story all over the place. But, but, but try to stay with me because the point this morning is in.
His story. It's through the Joseph story that you see God's sovereignty. And when you see God as sovereign, you can't unsee it. And we so need it. Like I mentioned, Jacob gets renamed Israel and then Israel has 12 sons.
through four different ladies. These 12 boys are also known as the 12 tribes of Israel. Rachel, the wife, Jacob, loved the most, because though you're not supposed to have favorite kids, I guess you can have a favorite wife. Now Rachel had to wait to become a mom as God was blessing others with her husband's sons. And then we hear, God remembered Rachel.
And God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph saying, may the Lord add to me another son. Joseph, whose name literally means may God add.
Well, by Genesis 35, God does add another son, Benjamin, Joseph's little brother. And unfortunately, trauma ensues as Rachel dies giving birth. This is life east of Eden. Obviously, Joseph is tight with Benjamin, but what about his other 10 brothers? Well, the Bible says now Israel loves Joseph.
more than any of his sons." Told you the Bible was honest. Because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to them. Just like every modern film when you get to understand that the f-
villain, you can start to grow maybe a little sympathetic. It's not just that Joseph was loved more by his father, how painful would that be? But he loved to rub it in.
going around everywhere in that rainbow robe of his. And by telling them all about his dreams, his dreams through symbols like the sun and the moon and the stars, that he was telling them that one day he would rule over them. How would you feel being one of his brothers?
The Bible tells us his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the dreams in mind. Well, we know from a little earlier in Genesis with Cain and Abel, what can happen if we don't kill the sin of jealousy in our lives. As the story continues, Israel sends out Joseph to check on his brothers. Go now, he says. See if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word.
His dad didn't know what was about to take place. Joseph brothers see Joseph from a distance, can't miss that rainbow jumpsuit, they start salivating. I'm not thrown away.
my shot. This is our chance. We're done with this guy. Finally, they think dad might look at me and finally be proud of what he sees. Here comes this dreamer. say, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Let's see what becomes of his dreams. Ruben, the oldest and probably a six on the Enneagram sees what's about to go down. He tries his best to stop this nonsense.
Don't take his life guys. Do whatever you got to do. Do not kill him. We're God's people for crying out loud. It is written, do not shed innocent blood. says, throw him in the pit, but, do not kill him. That is what they do.
As a brother approaches, they yank off daddy's robe and throw him naked into this empty pit. this moment, Judah, one of the brothers has a brilliant idea. Yo, what, what profit is it if we leave him dead and cover it up? Let's, let's, let's sell this clown so at least we can make some money. And so they do for 20 shekels of silver or around 500 bucks split 10 ways.
As Father Israel hears the news from his lying sons that a fierce animal has come and devoured his beloved, he is crushed.
As you would expect, he begins mourning. The Bible tells us he cannot be comforted. Grief often hits in waves, one wave after another. Lord, why? First you take my wife. Now my beloved son. Why, Lord?
And you'd imagine the same prayer from Joseph now in Egypt all alone, betrayed by his family, by his own brothers. God, we're supposed to be as numerous as the stars in heaven. That's what grandpa Abraham said. How's that going to pan out now? Why? God, why? As he finds himself in the unknown land of Egypt, he's purchased to be a slave by Potiphar.
the officer of the king. Then we read the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph friends is about to find out what suffering is all about. As Tim Keller says, only when God is all you have, do you realize he's all you need.
As the Lord begins to bless everything that Joseph touches and even his master takes notice of God's hand, God's favor on Joseph, his master's wife wants some of Joseph. Alone in his master's home, his master's wife puts him in a corner. Sleep with me, she says. I can't, he says.
And after explaining to her how, good her husband has been to him, says this, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Though Joseph is a long way from the people of God, he has not forgotten his God.
Reminds me of when Job's wife looks at her broken, beat down husband and says, curse God and die, honey. Job says, naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Though you slay me, God, I will trust in you.
Now I'm sure Joseph had thoughts like, dude, wake up. Where has God been for you curse God and just sleep with her. You deserve this. And yet even Joseph doesn't know. And even Joseph, though he does not know what his future holds, he knows who holds it. Later. She tries again, sleep with me.
But who knows what she's wearing or lack thereof. What we do know is this time Joseph doesn't even try to have a conversation. He gone. Dude runs out of the room. Some of us can learn something from Joseph right here. If you don't put sin to death, it will kill you. So run. Well, Ms. Potiphar had grabbed part.
of his outfit during the escape, all the evidence she needed to tell her husband quote, this Hebrew servant whom you have brought into our home came in to violate me. as soon as I screamed for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside. wonder if Potiphar really even believed his wife will never know, but he did throw Joseph into prison.
And so here he is alone and in prison, his life not working out the way him and his dad had planned. Could you imagine why? Lord, maybe you've felt this before, like God, what are you doing?
I'm serving you. I'm putting you first. Why are you not answering my prayers? But again, like Tim Keller says, God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.
prison starts off promising for Joseph. Again, we read, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.
And he's figuring out what his new normal is in jail. Some cats come rolling in who have been in the company of the king, the king's chief cup bearer and the king's Baker.
Well, one night they, they both have wild dreams and as they're tripping out in their jail cell, wondering who can bring meaning to their dreams. Joseph says, do not interpretations belong to God? Let's hear what you guys got. As they shared, Joseph gives them the interpretation. And now unlike the Baker, the cup bearer is given a good interpretation.
One that will get him out of prison and back to his royal post. So Joseph in his own desperation reaches out to the cupbearer and says, remember me when it is well with you. Please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh. And so get me out of this house.
For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit. As the dreams pan out exactly how Joseph interprets them. The chapter ends by telling us yet the chief cut bear did not remember Joseph, but forgot him when it rains. pours another blow.
for Joseph, forgotten yet again. Too bad Joseph didn't have the Psalms, they weren't written yet. Yet a third of the Psalms are these prayers of laments, like Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
These prayers, these prayers of lament that we see all over scripture teach us that we can be honest with God. They also tend to end in a deeper trust of God, even amidst pain and suffering. They hope in a God they cannot see and yet know that he knows everything.
Psalm 13 will eventually end by saying, I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation, which is what we're going to see next in the story of Joseph. So then we read, after two whole years pass.
Sometimes we can read our Bibles too quickly and miss so much. If you know anything about being in a hard season, each day is filled with its own pain, despair, discouragement, anger, sadness, regret, only to do it all over again the next day. And here Joseph is in prison for two whole years.
Imagine how many times he replayed that final scene with his brothers or how often he would dream of seeing his dad and little brother Benjamin again. How much he would long to trade in his prison garb for that old rainbow robe day in, day out. Pain.
Welcome to the dark night of the soul. But, as one pastor theologian puts it, life is hard and God is good. As Joseph is for sure wondering what this is all for. He's about to see like the title of Elizabeth Elliott's book, suffering is never for nothing.
After those two long years, Joseph gets a call from the pen and he's ready. And so I have to ask, are you walking with God only when he's blessing you in the ways you want to be blessed? Are you walking with God because he's well, God.
Pharaoh the king of Egypt was having a dream nobody could interpret the cup bearer remembers good old Joseph and the king calls Joseph into his throne I'll tell you one thing Joseph has not been spending the last two years scrolling reels on YouTube His mouth speaks what is in his heart Pharaoh
I don't have the power to interpret dreams, he says. But I know the one who does. And I've been spending a lot of time with him over the last few years. And that him is God. The one true God. Yeah, I serve him. And yes, he'll give you the answer you need. As Joseph interprets the dream and in it warns the king about
The future, the king, Pharaoh is blown away by this God fearing man. And so he calls Joseph to power quote, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. What a turn of events.
fresh out the slammer to the right hand of the king. Joseph is now calling the shots. He runs the play from the dream, save food, during the seven years of plenty, and then you will have abundance for Egypt and for the ends of the earth in the coming seven years of famine. During the years of plenty, Joseph settles down,
and marries. He even has some children of his own.
named his first manatha, which means God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. His second Ephraim translation for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. And though he hopes to never think of his family again, to sail off into the sunset of the King's royal cabinet, never to endure any more
pain from this life. The sovereign God has other plans. I'd encourage you to read Genesis 42 to 50 on your own. It's so good. Talk about drama. Let's not settle just for Netflix when we have the drama of redemption at our fingertips.
But the short of it is that the famine happens just as God reveals. And because Joseph has been storing up grain, Egypt becomes the place where starving nations come for food. And one of these nations is his very own, which means Joseph comes face to face with the brothers who betrayed him.
By Genesis 45, he finally reveals himself to them. He tells them not to be distressed, not to even be angry at themselves. As he's weeping over them, he begins to kiss his brothers. This is radical forgiveness, And then he explains to them, brothers,
God has sent me here to preserve life.
Don't be distressed. Don't be mad at yourselves. God sent me here to preserve life. That's one way to look at it. His brother is probably thinking, what do you mean? We did this to you. Well, eventually his entire family gets to settle into the suburbs of Egypt. His dad even gets to meet and bless his grandkids and then their father Israel in the land of Egypt takes his final breath.
If you're still in Genesis 50, look with me at verse 15.
Genesis 50 verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying,
Your father gave this command before he died still lying. Verse 17, say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Think about all that trauma. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. I guess those dreams were right after all. Oh, but look at verse 19. But Joseph said to them,
Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Wow.
would end to the story. But that line, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. This verse is hard for us. But because of the Bible, we have to make it a category in our finite minds for the total sovereignty of God.
and real human agency responsibility. What they did was wrong. And throughout human history, humanity, men and women will be held accountable for what they do. But at the same time,
God meant it for good. A leaf doesn't fall to the ground unless God himself ordains it. reminds me of Job at the end of his suffering. Job says, I know speaking to God, I know that you could do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted. had heard of you before, but now my eyes have seen you. Oh God. This is why Charles Spurgeon says there's nothing like the school of affliction. God is suffering. God.
is sovereign as R.C. Sproul used to say there are no maverick molecules in the universe. Last week as we looked at the question if God is good. Why is this place so bad? And then though we had some answers ultimately we can't answer every why and how question regarding the problem of evil but but we did note one thing is for certain.
It's not because God does not care. He cares so much that He enters the suffering Himself. Well, this morning, I want us to see that same truth from the vantage point of God's sovereignty. When the Son of God took on flesh and became a man,
Because like I said, we will be held accountable for everything we do. And we have all, every one of us, we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. The penalty of our sin is death. And so the Son of God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, came to die.
But even his death for sinners wasn't a roll of the dice. Remember, God is sovereign. Here's how Luke tells us how sovereign he is in the book of Acts.
for truly in this city in Jerusalem. They were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Did Herod Pilate?
Gentiles and the Jews crucified Jesus. Yes. Did we because of our sin, crucify Jesus? Yes. And at the same time, God did whatever his hand and his plan predestined to take place. God is sovereign friends. And this is good news.
Just imagine if he wasn't sovereign. Imagine life if God wasn't in control. And not only is he in control, but like we saw last week, he's good. In his sovereignty, all things work together for our good. Now we named our only son Joseph.
And to be honest, it wasn't my first choice. wanted Zion. Holly, on the other hand, was tired of naming our kids after land from the Bible. But if you go on the Israel trip, you'll get it. You might even name some of your own.
When our little guy came into this world on August 28th, I couldn't help but to think of one of my favorite Bible verses, Romans 8 28. And for me, the best picture of what Romans 8 28 looks like is the story of Joseph. Romans 8 28 says this, and we know that for those who love God, all things.
All things, whatever situation you find yourself in right now, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Sometimes we get to see how things play out and praise God for those moments. I've gotten to witness some of those in my own life. Other times we just have to trust God.
Even when life hurts one day like Joseph will know why. but, but I hope when you hear those words, God is sovereign. wouldn't just be some cliche phrase, so some throw away attribute of God, but you would know.
You would know deep in your knower that God's sovereignty is for your good, your joy, and your survival. Amen. Amen. Let me pray.