Affirming God's Plan

After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

From the very beginning this book of Genesis has been about God… as you read through the rest of the pages of Scripture you find that it is about God!

God is communicating to man

God is working in spite of man

God is revealing Himself to man

God is making promises to man

God is never changing (over 2000 years have elapsed)

Whereas when you look at man we see

Man is turning from God

Man is not listening to God

Man is falling in sin, failing over and over

Man is selfish, prideful, lost

Man is born and man dies

This is the narrative of Genesis… this is the narrative still… man messes things up… BUT GOD!!! But God has a plan, always has, always will, and you and I need to affirm that plan!

In our passage today we see two “BUT GOD” moments… I have labeled these moments “Joseph’s Finest Hour & Joseph’s Final Hour”

Let’s begin first with Joseph’s Final Hour in verse 24

Joseph’s Final Hour

Joseph, an amazing man of God. No sin recorded of him, yet he sinned. A man of integrity and forgiveness.

Yet we see this amazing man still die

Joseph is ready to die!!!

No words of remember me, remember all I achieved…

He has seen his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren grow and he is ready

His words to his loved ones… I will die, BUT GOD!

His focus is on God, his reminder is to God’s Word, His promise!

Joseph lives a powerful life pointed towards God… and this man still points to Him in his death!

NOTICE… BUT GOD WILL...

Continue working in your lives

Take care of you… not Joseph, not Egypt, not a pharaoh or king… GOD WILL!

Keep His word to you and Abraham, Issac, Jacob… God will NOT CHANGE!

Our final hour our life should point people, loved ones, family to our God!… Joseph did this in his FINAL HOUR! Why wouldn’t he? We see this exemplified in his life, and no clearer picture is given that in Joseph’s Finest Hour! verses 19-21

Joseph’s Finest Hour

You and I are at our greatest when we look the most like Christ! Joseph’s finest hour comes from a conversation his brothers have that starts off with… “WHAT IF” seldom do good things come from conversations that start this way. When we begin to speculate about things and make assumptions… I grew up being told what assume made of you and me…

His brothers assume.

They cannot wrap their minds around the forgiveness Joseph has given them!

No doubt they did not feel deserving.

Joseph weeps at hearing that they still are unable to fully accept his forgiveness.

NOTICE his RESPONSE...

He is not harsh, he does not explain how wrong they were, he does not beat them over the head with their sin

He is compassionate, calms their fear, comforts, speaks kindly

Guard your hearts when you stand in a powerful position over someone guilty asking forgiveness

Show compassion over rubbing their nose in their guilt

You meant evil, BUT GOD… wow that is GRACE, That is an understanding of the providence of God, that is FAITH

Joseph had long ago forgiven, free of bitterness and retribution… he had given it to God!

one woman writes… “Do they really matter, all the why’s? Could all the answers take away the pain, or all the reasons really dry my eyes, though from Heaven’s court? No, I would weep again. My God, You have saved me from Hell’s black abyss; oh, save me now from the tyranny of bitterness!”

Why no bitterness, why forgiveness… because he had extended GRACE. Drawing close to the heart of His God he could only extend that which God lavishes on us!

We read the pages, the narratives of Genesis and we see GRACE splashed all over the pages and it flows like a raging river throughout all scripture!!!

Grace

God’s Riches At Christ Expense… we see it demonstrated in saints who walk close to the Lord

DEFINED: to bend or stoop from a high position… to extend to another what is NOT DESERVED.

The late pastor and Bible scholar Donald Barnhouse perhaps said it best: “Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.”

Charles Swindoll States:

To show grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who doesn’t deserve it and can never earn it.

Receiving God’s acceptance by grace always stands in sharp contrast to earning it on the basis of works. Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver.

PICTURE WITH ME...

She was ripped from the place of her sinful deed, drug through the streets in shame, hateful words spit upon her clothed in only her shame and guilt as she is thrown down at the feet of Jesus. This woman caught in the very act of adultery…

Her accusers state her guilt for ALL to hear… she cannot deny it

They grab stones LOOMING OVER HER… as they declare the law demanding she be stoned… waiting for Jesus reply

IN THAT MOMENT… a Holy, righteous Son of God, sinless

Stoops low to the ground where she is on the ground

GRACE… He writes in the sand

Perhaps touching the dirt He remembers we are but dust

Perhaps to draw attention from her, guilty, upon Himself

Perhaps He scribbles in the sand GRACE

The one without sin… Cast the first stone.

One by one rocks drop… left there stooping is the ONE who has not sinned, righteous, extending GRACE

The woman had NOTHING to offer, she could only receive this Grace given as a gift. Ephesians 2:8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Joseph’s Finest Hour

When he resembled the most like Christ.

We can resemble the brothers who struggled to receive grace thinking it needed to be deserved

OR we can resemble the who KNEW grace cannot be deserved only freely given and freely recieved

Have you recieved His grace? If so, do you extend His grace to others around you?

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