3-24-2019 God Works Our Difficulties for Good

it's been a while since we've had an opportunity to look at our continuation of our studies in God's word has come to Romans chapter 8 and get the context for this morning's thoughts from Romans chapter 8 verses 16 and 17 well the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him the way to glory is by faith in Christ but it's also suffering along with Christ and the Apostle here has been encouraging us that in the journey to heaven there's going to be a great degree of suffering and he's helping us understand put suffering in perspective than we have for the last few weeks look at all the different ways that God is encouraging us to endure suffering we come to verse 28 this morning verse 28 a precious precious text that so many of God's people had memorized and flee to in times of great difficulty and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified Romans 8 is one of the great chapters in God's Word it is the Mount Everest of the Bible and this text is probably of all verses that would you and I would ever flee to in terms of difficulty one of the most popular that we have most common and most precious and most treasure that God causes all things to work together for good to those that love God you know we have a crisis in America crisis all around us people live in highly dysfunctional lives because they somehow feel that their life has not been all that it should be we look out of the troubles and afflictions and issues of life and then we look at that and realize we've had a terrible terrible life either in the past or the present and then we we get dysfunctional we get depressed we are affected by that and the end result is that somehow we don't live the God's God's life as he would want us to live it we need to look look at this text of fresh my beloved I want us to look at this text all over again because there is a here a great promise that God gives to us the new memory of circumstances no matter your problems that God has taken everything that we're going through and is working everything for our good it all comes out for our good and it is something that we need to understand that's why it begins by saying in verse 28 and we know and we know the problem is that we don't always know it and we know and we know that God causes and we know means that you have to understand certain things about God for this text to mean anything to you you have to understand certain things about God and we know that God well understand that God is good god is good from Genesis to Revelation the the nature of God is clearly displayed he is good he never does anything that is evil never does anything that is harmful to God's people it is always good god is good I have to understand that in the midst of troubles and difficulties if you think that God is punishing you God is judging you as a child of God you're wrong you're dead wrong god is good understand that God is also Almighty we sang about him this morning to be Almighty means that God can do anything there's nothing is impossible with God God is not limited God is not limited any in any iota in any way God is totally able to take everything and make it work out for good understand also that God has a plan God didn't just fling the world the universe and then left it alone he didn't just create it and then abandon it now God is involved in every single detail of life not a hair of your head falls without God allowing that and prescribing it and it says here that God then is taking every event in your life and working it together it is called the Providence of God that God is intricately involved in your life from day one until now this is God at work and that that the object of this notice it is not for everybody that God causes all things to work together for good to those who what to those that love God if you do not love God then this is not for you if you're outside the will of God outside the plan of God outside the life of God there's a whole different operation for you but if you're under the umbrella of these people that are known to be children of God then God is working in your life to cause everything to work out for good for good that's why says and we know people of God if you don't know this if you don't know that God is good that God is Almighty that God is working all things together for those that love him then the end results gonna be bitterness of life you're gonna go through life looking at the fact that God has not been fair with you that life has not been fair with you that you've missed out that you've had more than your share of troubles and difficulties and you will be enveloped with a bitterness in your heart and life and you look at everything from that perspective you'll read the Bible with a bitter attitude you look at life with a bitter attitude if you don't know these things you'll become depressed uh hopelessness will come over you there will be very difficult to deal with if you don't see the almighty hand of God orchestrating the events of your life for the ultimate good of your life you'll also you'll also have a defeated attitude you'll you'll give up you look at your life and you'll see that everything's not right it says certain dysfunctional ISM there's certain weaknesses in your life and you'll have a tendency to throw in the towel give up on life and quit the race and ultimately if you're not careful it can result in certain godlessness a certain anger at God the results in sinfulness a life of just living a life that is breaking God's laws and and being godless in your behavior this is why we need to know we need to know and so I want to spend time with you this morning just explaining not just this morning but explaining this text for us and making us understand what it means for God causing all things to work together for good for those of you that love God when I look at this text from three perspectives first of all from our difficulties in life our past our past you know most of us have not had a good pass most of us are not in that category we have not been raised in a solid Christian home and if we leave we have not had that experience we've had a hard past in our lives what do we do about that how does that figure in then next Sunday we'll look at weaknesses why it is that God allows us to have weaknesses sicknesses and things that that are debilitating in our life why does how does God do use that for our good and then the next Sunday we'll talk about how God uses even our our spiritual failures because we'll fail him from time to time and God could take all your spiritual failures your sin in Christ and can take that and ultimately use it for our ultimate good and so this morning let's talk about our difficulties in life our difficulties in life and we're gonna be turning to a classic example of a young man who had some harsh life a very difficult life it's found in the book of Genesis go to chapter 37 of the book of Genesis chapter 37 of the book of Genesis it's a story of Joseph's story of Joseph some of us are acquainted with a story of Joseph some of us have not read the Bible from the very beginning so we don't know who Joseph is and Joseph was a young man that God in this in His Providence allowed him to have a very very difficult life at the age of 17 he was sold into slavery by his own brothers his own flesh and blood took him and sold him into slavery and he spent he spent 13 years as a slave in the land of Egypt as a slave via he was a he was a slave he was abused he was up he was defamed he suffered as a jailbird all of that and yet and yet in all of that Joseph could come to the end of his life and not only in the end of his life in the middle of his life and see that there was that God was in it that God was in it and you'll see his life totally totally you know a whole different man a whole different person any furrow becomes an example for us if you think you've had it bad wait till you hear the story of Joseph and you'll think you've been in Disneyland all your life in chapter 37 and by the way Joseph had his own problems in chapter 37 now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourn in the land of Canaan these are the records of the generations of Jacob Joseph when seventeen years of age was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah his father's wives and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father know now Israel Jacob loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic that is a special robe long sleeve robe a long robe that was very precious and very expensive his brother saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers so they what so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms now Joseph at a dream when he told it to his brothers they what hated him even what so was he was he was he loved by his brothers was this a very nice loving family they got together for Thanksgiving meals in the old hug and kissed each other yes or no no the men had problems Joseph was a snitch you've had brothers like that you've had sisters like that they told on you and sometimes you deserve that they told on you not not that it's entirely wrong but he was he was also spoiled his father spoiled Joseph treated him better than all the other brothers you've seen that happen you may have been that middle child or the other child or the ugly child and he was he was spoiled by and then this guy had dreams Joseph had a unique ability to dream and the dreams that he dreamed he was the hero of the dreams and the brothers were always like you know the other guy and they hated him because he was not well liked now the chapter we don't have time to read all the account this is like 37 to 50 is a story of Joseph 20% of Genesis is a story of Joseph consider how important the life of Joseph is in the nation of Israel by the end of chapter 37 the brothers have conspired to kill him first of all they want to kill the son but they changed their minds it said you know if we kill him he's dead but if we sell him to the Egyptians we get money and so they sold him to the Ishmaelites who were traitors they traded in goods and also human trafficking and so they took they took Joseph his soul Joseph to the Ishmaelites and the Ishmaelites went over to Egypt and his sold they sold Joseph to the Egyptians he come to chapter 39 that the thirty-nine of the book of Genesis and then you see the story is picked up when you next time you see Joseph is in Egypt now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh the captain of the bodyguard bought him from the issue lights who had taken him down there now he became chattel it became human chattel he was then a slave to this man Potiphar who was in charge of the Kings Kings prisoners at King's soldiers high official now I'm gonna pause there guess what you're gonna see now in Joseph here's now Joseph you know abused by his brothers rejected by his brothers sold into slavery entirely hated by him now how did Joseph respond to all of this how do you respond to all of this and you're gonna see you're gonna find in Joseph that Joseph was able to understand this great great plan of God the following because many of us have found found ourselves in this situation some of us are in the same situation now we feel ourselves enslaved box in rejected in a very tight tight straight others of us in days to come for fault of our own or not fault of our own we'll find ourselves in similar situations are for things that want you to understand about Joseph first of all is this that Joseph trusted in God he never lost his perspective on God he was 17 years of age but by 17 he had an awareness of God in a knowledge of God now I wasn't that it wasn't the kind of knowledge that you and I have been certain in God in Christ but he had a knowledge of God he knew God he knew who he was and he never lost his perspective of God he never sensed he never sensed that God had abandon him his brothers had his people had but God had never ever abandoned him so you look at the text look at verse 2 the Lord was with what there it is that's in that little phrase says everything had God abandoned Joseph No will he ever abandon you no and you find that those remarks all along the way all along the way come to verse 21 after ease he's a kicked out of he's he loses his position there with Potiphar and later on he's thrown into a deeper jail verse 21 but the Lord was with what there it is again he was there verse 23 and the chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was what with him all throughout the Lord never he never abandoned and Joseph knew that Joseph knew that he was never ever ever alone and people that's something that we have to understand as he walked through our circumstances as you look back in your life that you were never ever alone God never abandon you it is God who says I will never forsake you no will I ever what a bandit I'll never leave you I'll never leave you Joseph understood that in his circumstances and his testings and his abuses he knew that God had never abandoned him never abandoned him a prisoner a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi prison camp wrote on the wall God is here many of us many had lost their faith in God but this prisoner never did that even ended up in the cruelest hellish prisons of the Nazis he could sense God there I want you to understand secondly the Joseph made the most of his circumstances Joseph made the most of his circumstances Joseph did not sit around foot inside for himself he didn't sit around just moping and that somehow here he was a prisoner father his father didn't know anything his brothers had forsaken him his mother had died see Joseph was an orphan his mother had passed away he had no mom he said I'm feeling sorry for himself he wasn't blaming the world for all his problems noe he determined to make the best of his circumstances so if when you follow him you see that taking place let's go back to chapter 39 and verse to verse 2 and the Lord was with Joseph so he became a what kind of man a a successful man and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian and the mass just saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand and so Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant and he made him overseer over his house and all that he owned he put in his charge he bloomed where he was what where planted he bloom who was planted we feel that sometimes they were not planted in the ideal garden we don't have to born are gonna bloom we're not gonna prosper and that is wrong people that is wrong Joseph is teaching us that wherever you find yourself whatever circumstance on your self in there you make the best of it and you made the best of it he rose in the ranks he rose in the ranks to become the top man under Potiphar to be in charge of everything the only thing that Potiphar did not give him was his wife and you know the story later on that things went south after that the wife this wicked witch tried to make him sin and wanted to have sexual relationship with him and Joe Jonas said no and the result was that things went from bad to worse go to verse 21 verse 21 and so it actually verse 20 so Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail the place where the Kings prisoners were confined and it was there in jail this is a dungeon French this is a dungeon this is where the Kings worst prisoners who were on death row were placed and he was placed there but the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer and the chief jailer submitted to Joseph charged all the prisoners who were in the jail so that whatever was done there he was responsible for it the chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whatever he did the Lord made to what prosper here is now he's you know he's in a worse situation because I said you know God what is it what good does it do for me to try to honor you look what you do to me I try to be an honest man a faithful man a pure man honest and here what is this he he didn't send it feel sorry for himself he just made the best of it made the best of it and before you know it he's in charge of all the other jailbirds top jailbird in charge of all the jailbirds but still a jailbird you know but there it was so much so that the main guy could he didn't even bother to check up on and there he wants and in jail later on in jail in the dungeon to other jailbirds had dreams the Baker and and then the guy that gave you know the doll for the drink they both had dreams and they were bothered about the dreams and Joseph noticed that there were despondent he says what's happening guys I have some bad dreams though tell me the dreams I remember that was Joseph's gift dreams and when they gave him the dreams what a Joseph do what did Joseph do you could have said you filthy wretches me or rot in this dungeon for the rest of your lives you could have said that there were some of you talk plain and say that he says you know what you know God is the interpreter of dreams and he helped them by interpreting their dreams for one guy a good dream a good interpretation other guy was bad good news bad news but he said you know when you get out of this jit dungeon if you do get out remember me did they no they didn't but see he still utilized his gift he utilized his dream and it's because he utilized his dream that he ultimately met Pharaoh because one of the prisoners whose dream was in the positive sense when the dream when Pharaoh had a dream he dreamed of of lean cows and fat cows he dreamed of of rich harvests and poor harvest and he didn't know what to do with it and then the prisoner the guy said you know what there was a guy there was a jailbird that interpreter dreams and they all came true talk to him and what did what did Joseph do when they called him did he said I'm not I'm not helping this these stinky heathens is that what he said no he said he came he came and he met with Ferrell and he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams to the core and the result of that was a pharaoh made Joseph prime minister of all of Egypt to go from the jailhouse to the White House overnight because he bloomed wherever he was what he didn't uses his circumstances you know to hold him back he he didn't look at the fact that he had all these problems and difficulties and issues and then gave up on I know he made the best of it made the best of it we have a culture today that is rotting in dysfunctional ISM because we think that we have been given a bad deal in life and we're sitting around moping and blaming others for our problems instead of making the best of our circumstances that's the second lesson now here's a third lesson and that is that that that Joseph states sensitive to God it's one thing to be aware of God in your life but it's something else to stay so sensitive to God and that's what he did at the age of 17 when you find him in potted for his life you already find him sensitive to God you find that earlier when he's when he's a young guy in Jacobs life he was different from the other brothers he was totally different he was like he was like the like but in a Eve good kid oh he had his issues but when all is said and done he was the naive good kid innocent and he kept that at the age of 17 and bought it for his life that didn't change any I didn't change any what Joseph learned was he learned to walk along with God now people young and old get this this is the greatest lesson God desires to teach all of us to learn to walk alone with God that is the failure of so many of us that we have not learned to walk alone with God and what God is trying to teach us in our difficulties is to learn to walk along with God they depend upon God alone was there another Christian in Potiphar's house no no was there was their channel was there a Christian channel in part of his wife well part of hers home no was there a church no there was no one there was nothing oftentimes people say when you a pastor will tell ya I've not been discipled no one's discipled me shut up you cry-baby neither have I I was never discipled by anybody else either shut up you have to learn to walk along with what God just you and the scriptures you and God all by yourself that's the lesson that Joe that Jonas the Joseph is teaching us here he learned to walk along with God and once you learn that friend you'll never fail you don't learn that and you'll fail because eventually you'll be walking alone eventually you will and you won't be able to do so you learn to do that in chapter 39 he finds his crisis by this crisis this which verse 7 came about after these events that his master's wife look with desire at Joseph's and she said lie with me by the way Joseph was a good-looking guy the Bible says he was he was handsome in form now when God says you're the good-looking guess what you're good-looking when your mama says you're good-looking I may not be true b-boy and it's usually not you know what I'm saying but when God says you're good-looking guess what and he was good-looking and the the the his boss's wife propositioned him per se but he refused and said his master's wife behold with me here my master has not commit concerned himself with anything in the house and he has put all that he hasn't shot in my charts there is no one greater in this house than I and he has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how then could I do this great evil and sin against not not him but against what God did you see his great sensitivity this is a young man this is a young viral man a man in the prime of his youth temp tested and yet his sensitivity to God that he would not allow himself to become impure his circumstances were no excuse for sin now people understand that he had a he had a no-win situation there was no win if he gave in to her and his boss found out he'd be dead meat if he didn't give in to her well you know that you know what happened it still would be dead meat this is no-win and he knew was no in he knew it but he stood his ground and it preserved his integrity and refused to sin hmm you see people our circumstances are no excuse for us to sin we've had this we've had this you know this parade of people public and private going into the past and talking about them sinning etc it's a choice all of us make gonna be placed in circumstances where were tempted and tested a sin it's up to us to say no agreed Joe Joseph did Joseph these are young men he said no he said no and he ran you see great sensitivity to God your problems your afflictions give you no excuse to sin now you learn to walk with God all by yourself you see him in interacting with Potiphar later on and and Pharaoh later on it's great discernment great discernment always sensitive to God when he goes and meets with fair ones in chapter 41 verse with Pharaoh and find tap 242 and Pharaoh says you know I hear understand dreams he goes yeah listen Pharaoh God is the one that interprets dreams it's up to God to do though you tell me your dream and God will give you an answer it's what Joseph said to Pharaoh imagine that here's his young man now you know close to 30 now close to 30 saying to Pharaoh you tell me the dream and God is going to give you an answer I know he will because he knew that he knew how God had answered dreams and he knew that he had the ability to do so and so he stood sensitive to God because he he listened to God he recourse to God listen people this is why this is our ultimate resource to God we should always be a people of the book yes or no people of the book stay close to the book go to chapter 41 chapter 41 and verse 15 41 and verse 15 now he is thirty years of age he's made prime minister he's given a wife she marries an Egyptian lady verse 50 now before the year of famine came two sons were born to Joseph whom asked enough the daughter of Potiphar is priest of on board to him this cat was upper class and so Sephton aimed the firstborn what Manasseh say it Manasseh for he said God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household and he named the second what Ephraim say it for he said God has made me fruitful in the land of my afflictions now for this is this is no coincidence he took his two sons and he gave them special names and we named ourselves after rock stars you know it's just some movie star some beauty or some wacko we or make some name up now the Jews didn't do that but Jews were very careful in the selection of their names and Joseph said thus my son's name is Manasseh it's gonna remind me that that God has made me forget my affliction here in Egypt Manasseh Manasseh every time he said Manasseh reminded him that God all the stuff in the past all the abuses all the problems all the betrayals all that stuff that he went through was over forgotten was past Manasseh reminded him of that no bitterness no anger no it's gone it's gone this is key and then his other son Ephraim if it means success God has made me a success all the glory goes to who God he could not say I did it who did it God did it Ephraim if iam God did it see his legacy he's raising he's raising a brand new family in a heathen home he's raising a family in a heathen home I was in a freeway here years ago here on telegraph in this five freeway getting on the freeway it was a brutally hot day really hot smoggy days you know and has the light that goes like one curve every five days you know one of those one of those lights you know and I was sitting there enough and I looked down and I saw a little plant there in the freeway a freeway and all little plant coming in through the cracks in the freeway little plant it was a tomato plant now how do you know that tomato plant because it was a little cherry red tomato growing on it and I said what I live bloom for you are what middle of a freeway smog everywhere you know cars and gas and fumes and here the tomato plant determined that it was going to not only grow but bloom and produce what are you doing hmm what's your Excuse what are you doing with your life hmm only you can answer that only you can answer that and Joe Joseph would say listen bloom where you're planted raise a whole different family you're raising a mr. family changed that raise a manasa raising ephraim yes or no do a different legacy for the glory of God what a chapter 50 actually no not chapter 50 verse 40 chapter 45 45 you know the story now he's no Prime Minister he's in charge of everything you know what happens that over in Canaan the the famine is over in Canaan and they're out of food so Jacob sends the brothers except Benjamin to come and buy food remember that they come to buy food and Joseph is there he's the one that receives those that come to buy food and Joseph is obviously shaved that we Egyptians are is also dressed Egyptian he also talks Egyptian and when the brothers come in they all bow down before him under that they all bow down before him remembers the dream that he had you know 13 years ago and so he puts him to the test he talks roughly to them through interpretation datascape anonymity he says what are you doing here he can is you bothering and what about your father my darling and the guys have seen his face like you know look this guy is really bad news right he's like this and he's like really like wow he says all right go home but you can't come back unless your little son comes back and so they go home and then they say you know that we're out of food now we'll go back now we can't why not well you know you the man the man said you can't come back until until unless he comes why did you tell him you had a younger brother he's asking us all these specific questions about your dad but your brothers and we we had to tell him you can't take him you then we can't go the fun do they have to go and Judith says you know dad take him with me and and I'll be sure he for him out you know any happens I it's my fault and then he goes into the story and Joseph once again once again but pulls a trick in Benjamin is the one criminalized and now he says all are you go home but the young man stays because he'll be my prisoner all for the rest of his life and the brothers have a they just have a meltdown major meltdown and Judith says you know you can't do that you can't do that they'll kill my dad kill my dad let me stay instead of you if you don't go home his dad will die and that was a reason for the tests Joseph was not being crude he was an angry he wasn't bitter he was invincible he wanted to know have you guys changed at all in 13 years and look at chapter 45 then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him and he cried have everyone go out from me so there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers and he wept so loudly but the egyptians heard it in the house of hassel a farrell heard of it and Joseph said to his brothers I am Joseph is my father still alive but his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed at his presence then Joseph said to his brothers please come closer to me and they came closer and he said I am your brother Joseph whom you too sold into Egypt now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here don't be angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life for the famine has been in the land these two years and there are still five years in which they'll be neither ploughing nor harvesting God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance now therefore it was not you who sent me here but God and he made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord over all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt hey Joseph understood the plan of God that God causes all things to work together for what for good he wasn't angry he wasn't bitter he wasn't seeking vengeance that was a furthest thing from him by the way every account where he's dealing with him they live here you know I promote that okay he would take time out and go out and cry weep wash his face I mean not just hadn't we're but you know and then he come back and then he would resume his discussion always but always tenderness towards his brother but notice he said it was God's plan this is the plan of God for me and this is it people this is it there is a plan of God for you and all the stuff in the past as mean and is bad and as rough as that could be that is all God doing something for good for you and for others it was it was Joseph's life that saved the world from from starvation in his own family from obliteration that's how Joseph saved the world now let me ask you can you see now in your life can you see why your past was the way it was can you see now that difficulties in your life nothing's by accident but we know that God causes some things all things to work together for for good to those that what Wow I had a grandma Dona was Tina that's how you talk to Grandma's in the old days Dona agostina mean me me but she was she was so artistic she used to crochet and she'd make these marvelous like pillow pillowcases I mean our pillow cases like Plain Jane Costco specials you know but my grandmother had her pillow cases that were embroidered embroidered they she would make the stuff for the tables everything embroidered nice to watch her she would take her glasses they would be able to be like this and beautiful designs boy gorgeous designs Wow but you turn them upside down and it was a mess there's a mess all these strings different color strings all that but turn around the beauty when you look at your life you're looking at the bottom side God is looking at the top side the one that he's weaving one that he's weaving so friend don't let your heart become bitter hmm don't become depressed and hopeless don't give up on life and by no means ever get angry at God because God loves you and God is working all things for good everything for good he has a purpose and a plan for that thank him for that and you know friend for maybe one or more of you it's interesting that may God may have been working in your life in the past for this day because you haven't given your heart to Christ yet he's doing all of that to make you aware that God is and for you to come to the point where you give your life to Jesus Christ and making the Lord and Savior of your life could that be the reason why all the things happened in your life only you can answer that question let's pray or father thank you

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Length: 46min 19sec (2779 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2019