An Old Testament Demonstration Of Romans 8:28 Pt. 1

[Music] reality open your bibles with me to the book of genesis chapter 37. genesis said chapter number 37 verses 1 through verse number 11. and i want to preach about an old testament demonstration of romans 8 28. you can't shout unless you know what romans 8 28 may say an old testament demonstration of romans 8 28. and jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of canaan these are the generations of jacob joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons of bilhah and with the sons of zilpah his father's wives and joseph brought unto his father their evil report now israel loved joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him and joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here i pray you this dream which i have dreamed for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheath and his brethren said to him shall thou indeed reign over us or shall thou indeed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words and he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said behold i have dreamed a dream more and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me and he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him what is this dream that thou has dreamed shall i and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth verse 11 reads and his brethren envied him but his father observed the saying thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our god shall stand forever an old testament demonstration of romans 8 28 for we know we're not we're not guessing about this we're not talking about what we heard we know that all things work together for good to them that love god and to those who are the called according to his purpose awesome orson scott card an american novelist essayist and columnist in his 1985 novel ender's game raises this query austin scott codd asks do you know why satan is so angry all the time because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief god uses it to serve his own righteous purposes that's why satan is so angry all the time because whenever he comes up with a clever scheme god always uses it to his own righteous purposes god goes on to write god gives us the freedom to do great evil if we choose then god uses his freedom to create goodness out of our evil. so in the long run god always wins but in the short run your pain can be uncomfortable here's where we are in the text joseph who is the son of jacob who loved rachel is the apple of his father's eye his father loves him and favors him over his other brothers because he is his father's son in his old age it's nothing like an old man having a young child just makes him kind of crazy he's just kind of beside himself because he's so proud of what he's accomplished in his old age don't make me go there please don't make me go there but this old man is excited and he loves this child much like abraham was with isaac this this this love manifests itself in the father making him this this tunic this coat that he wears that symbolizes status now we've we've come to call it a coat of many colors uh we've come to call it that because the septuagint which is the old testament in greek and the vulgate which is the old testament in latin the latin vulgate and the septuagint has called it a coat of many colors and even on broadway uh andrew lloyd webber uh has this play this award-winning play uh joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat and we've come to call it a coat of many colors but but it's not really a coat made of many colors it's a it's a kind of a robe that is embroidered in gold and colors that goes all the way down to his feet which symbolizes he has a particular and a special status over his brothers and his father goes to great expense and the great uh extraordinary length to let the other brothers know that this is my favorite son and so what i want to look at first of all in the text brothers and sisters is the folly of favoritism this is a memo to parents with more than one children that there is a following that goes along with favoritism favoritism has a long pedigree in jacob's family because abraham favored isaac over ishmael isaac loved esau more than jacob rebecca loved jacob more than esau jacob loved rachel more than leia and he favored joseph over his other brothers jacob's favoritism might not have been so bad had it stopped with just an old man with a young baby but he gave joseph an expensive gift that became a visible visible reminders to the brothers of joseph that he was favored not only favored but he had a particular status brothers and sisters there was something about joseph wearing that coat that spoke of leadership and status rather than favor leadership that that should not have gone to the youngest in the family because the older boy the oldest in the family reuben should have been the one favored but when you read genesis at chapter 35 around verse 44 reuben has had sexual relation with one of jacob's wives and so he has forfeited his right as the oldest son because he has had sexual relation with his father's concubine which knocks him out of contention of the most favored son now even though god's providence was continually overruling in joseph's life we need to recognize that jacob's actions were unwise brothers and sisters it is poor judgment for a parent to display favoritism among their children can i say that one more time it is poor judgment for a parent to display favoritism among their children we need to cherish each child with obvious love and affection recognizing each child's unique personality individual capabilities and their special needs you ought not pit one child against another because you cause one child to become envious when you favor the other child one of the most often quoted passages of scripture which is one of the most often misunderstood passages of scripture is we quote it from proverbs all the time train up a child in the way that he should go and when he's old he will not depart from it we've come to and understand that to mean that if you whip them and if you're disciplining them and keep them in line they might go wrong they might go to jail they might get on drugs they might make a mistake but if you raise them right they're going to come back and that's true but that's not a proper interpretation hermeneutically properly interpreting interpreting that passage of scripture what the scripture is saying is raise each individual child according to how they are psychologically made up how they are emotionally made up how they are physically or spiritually made up in other words don't try to make a piano player a football player um don't don't don't try to turn somebody who is scholastic into somebody who cleans houses just because you're a girl don't mean you like babies talk back to me if you can just because you're a man don't mean you know how to fix a flat some of us are born for certain things and so the scripture says raise them in the way that they are bent emotionally and psychologically or else you will never bring them to full potential my father growing up my father my father never understood me until i started preaching because all my other brothers were athletes i have six brothers who are older than i am i am the seventh son and i have six brothers who are older than i am and all of them littered in sports and they were football players and swimmers and basketball players and they had leather jackets and they had all the girls telephone numbers they were handsome and strapping and strong and athletic and outgoing and handsome and and good looking and and all of the stuff that goes with being a jock i i was a cheerleader i would go out there and scream and holler for them when they were on the field because i didn't have it i just i just i never had it i still don't have it i can't i don't even wear short pants because my legs look like they're on the wrong side or i'm just made up oh i'm just made up bad i'm that's just not who i am i'm a i'm a thinker i'm a intellectual i'm i'm i'm not a fighter i'm i'm not a ghetto basketball player that's that's beneath me i don't i don't do work with my hand and my father interpreted that as me being lazy which 96 of that was but but i heard him tell my mother one day we don't have to take care of that boy the rest of his life he can't work he can't do anything he don't know how to cut grass he's lazy we're going to be taking care of that boy but he never understood my love for books and words and my affinity for for dictionaries and encyclopedias he thought that that was just not wanting to do anything when when in my mind i just loved words and books and reading and and not knowing being 5 6 8 10 12 years old not knowing god was preparing me for a life of using words but my father mistook that for being lazy and he said to my mother that boy will never amount to anything and my mother saw the expression on my face because nothing can hurt a child listen to me beloved nothing can can destroy the personality of a child to hear somebody you respect say you'll never be anything and my mother saw that i was crestfallen and uh my mother straightened it out immediately and she said to me in my daddy's presence don't listen to anything that fool got to say she said a real man is not measured from his neck down a real man is measured from his neck up she says a gorilla has muscles a monkey has muscles you're not a man because you have muscles you're a man when you take care of responsibility you're a man when you take care of your family you're a man when you do what it is god has put in your heart to do and she was saying that to him and i was standing behind him saying and and brothers and sisters when i started preaching then my father finally understood that this was my calling this is what god had in store for me and he came back and apologized to me not knowing god's hand and god's favor in my life and all my other brothers who were sportsmen and jocks and football players and swimmers and basketball players and had all the girls now they all took up with arthritis and their knees got bad and and and all the girls who wanted them naughty looking at me and and and and and i said back then you didn't want me [Applause] now i'm hot you're all on me come on come on get your mind back here with me i'm trying to i'm trying to make a point don't judge a book by its cover because you don't know who you're sitting next to you don't know what favor god has in somebody's life that you have discarded and said will never be anything may be the very person god uses to bring somebody to christ this this this matter of favoritism that joseph shows to joseph this this folly of favoritism leads secondly to the jail of jealousy favoritism within a family is a foolishness that leads to fury the ten older brothers had an intense hatred for joseph and that hatred was so intense that they expressed it in cruelty and violence against their own brother brothers and sisters the narrative makes clear the three factors that contributed to their hatred was they hated him because he told the truth on him his father sent them to check on them while they were grazing the flock and they were misbehaving they were doing something that didn't represent their father and he came back and told the father what they were doing and they hated him because of his report he wasn't tattling he wasn't lying on them he was just reporting to the father what they had done and they hated him because he told the father what they were doing and then secondly they hated him because every time they saw him they saw that coat that that tunic that long flowing robe while they were in shepherd clothes he was walking around in a tunic he was walking around looking like a prince when they were looking like shepherds dressed better than them he talked better than them his skin was fairer than theirs his vocabulary everything about him made him special not just because the daddy favored him but god favored him [Music] and brothers and sisters when god is on your side i wish i had somebody who knew what i was talking about when god has his hand in your life they don't like you but they got to get out of your way he'll prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemy they hated him for his report they hated him for his coat but here's what i want to get to they hated him because he was full of dreams he was full of dreams here's another way to put that he was pregnant with possibility [Music] and beloved people will hate you when you are pregnant with possibility you can't like joseph you can't tell everybody your dreams because they will do all they can to abort your possibility you pregnant with a dream and they're trying to kill it talking about you can't do that you don't have enough education for that you don't have enough money for that it's not time for that wait your turn get in the back of the line it's not for you why you thank you more than us why are you trying to be out there doing all of this kind of like uh those boat people when peter walked on the water you can't listen to the boat people because peter saw jesus on the water and they were drowning in the boat and he decided it's safer on the water with jesus then in the boat without it and i'm sure some of them both people said peter don't you get out this boat you see how bad this storm is you crazy get back in here you're going to get killed but he said lord if that's you bid me to come and walk and meet you on the water and jesus said come he got out of the boat started walking on the water and he would have kept on walking if he had not considered the wind and i think the wind is not just wind from the storm but wind from the boat because both people are full of wind [Music] [Applause] always criticizing always got a negative word always got a negative spirit don't ever want you to accomplish anything because they are jealous hear me brothers and sisters um their problem the root of their hatred was flat-out jealousy the happiness and the success of others is poison to the bloodstream of people who are jealous jealousy actually destroys the jealous person and it does nothing to the subject of your jealousy because you being jealous that they look good ain't gonna stop them from looking good [Music] talk back to me if you can you being jealous because god is promoting them it's not going to stop god from promoting them am i making sense this morning it doesn't make sense for you to be jealous of anybody because if god had wanted you to have that and if god knew you could handle that he would have given it to you some folk can just handle two talents some folk can just handle one towel thank god for folk who can handle five but the one talent folk ought not be angry with the folk with five talent because god didn't have to give anybody any talent i wish i had two or three more bible readers here john the baptist john the baptist teaches us how to play second fiddle john the baptist teaches us how to ride in the second chariot because john the baptist knew that god had made him a voice and not the word god had made him forerunner and not messiah god had made him a herald and not the king so that when they came to john the baptist to tell him about jesus john said there's one i know coming after me shoes i'm not worthy to unloose i baptize you with water i wish i had a bible reader but when he come [Music] he will baptize you with the fire and the holy ghost and then one day jesus comes walking to the jordan and john sees him coming and john gets happy and says behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world and john john is looking at jesus and jesus is looking at john and he recognized each other because when elizabeth was pregnant i wish i had two or three bible readers mary came to visit and elizabeth was six months pregnant with john the baptist and when mary got in the house and saluted elizabeth the bible says the baby leaped in her womb the baby shouted in her womb because he knew he was the voice but not the word he was the herald but not the king and he said to jesus baptize me jesus said john you need to baptize me so that prophecy will be fulfilled and when john baptized them the heavens opened and the dove descended and the voice of god was heard saying this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased and john almost lost it one day i need two or three more bible readers you remember john was in prison and he sent to jesus and said are you the one or should we look for another jesus said go back and tell john the blind see the lame are walking the deaf are speaking the poor has the gospel preached unto them john went to his death satisfied that he did what he came to do he's foolish to be jealous why would you be jealous of somebody with a car and you walking why would you be jealous of somebody smart and studied and ready for the test and you parted all night somebody got to have some sense why would you hate and be mad with folk who make noise and shout and carry on in worship because god has done something for them that doesn't have anything to do with any material possession it doesn't have anything to do with retirement accounts or 401ks it doesn't have anything to do with clothes or cars or cash it doesn't have anything to do with a house or an address or status or prestige they just know that if it had not been for the lord who was on my side my enemies would have gotten the upper hand but here i am in god's house this morning bless favored and i'm not gonna let you dictate to me how i ought to tell god thank you his brothers hated him they didn't just dislike him they hated him i'm trying to hurry here but the bible says they hated him so much that they couldn't speak peaceably to him they couldn't be in the same room with him the scripture says they could not speak peaceably unto him they couldn't rejoice with him he told them his dreams and they got mad then he told them another dream and they got more mad like my little granddaughter said momada because they hated him because he was pregnant with possibility when god has blessed and favored you and put his hand on your life you can't let everybody in on that favor [Music] have i got a witness here when you have a special gift you can't let people discourage you from doing what it is that god has called you to do because you will overrule the favor that god has put in your life trying to please everybody can i say something to you that hopefully you will go home and repeat to somebody stop trying to get affirmation and approval and applause from people stop trying to defend yourself and and and give excuses for why you're blessed and why god is moving in your life because the folk who matter don't need it and the folk who need it don't matter can i say it one more time stop looking for approval press on the back stop trying to get people to affirm you stop being excited about likes on facebook because the folk who need it don't matter and the folk who matter don't need it the folk who love you are going gonna love you regardless and the folk who don't love you didn't love you to start with and you ain't gonna miss what you never had they don't feed you they don't pay your bills they don't look out for you they don't babysit for you there's always somebody gonna be talking about you there's always somebody gonna be in the background trying to pull you down but if god be for us who can be against us this last word the folly of favoritism leads to this jail of jealousy but always always always there is the grace of god because one day again his brothers went out to graze and they were supposed to be in shechem but they wound up in dolphin shechem was some 50 miles away from where they were in canaan and they go another 16 miles to dolphin and when joseph finally catches up to where they are they see him before he sees them and one of them says here comes this dreamer let's kill him and we will see what will become of his dreams not not not beat him up let's kill him not not push him around because dad is not here not tripping because his mama's not here to protect him let's kill him hatred is such a dangerous emotion listen to me brothers and sisters that you don't have to shoot me to kill me because if you hate somebody you've already killed them in your heart they are dead to you they are meaningless to you they are nothing and nobody to you because you've already killed them off in your heart murder begins in the heart that's why the bible says don't let the sun go down on your wrath if you got ought against your brother get that straight before you take the lord's supper because paul said many of us are weak and sickly and some have even fallen asleep because they have not discerned the lord's body and the lord's blood if you're not going to put your heart in it don't put your hands on it because hatred destroys here comes this dreamer let's kill him and we're going to see what's become of the dreams one of the brothers said no let's not let's not kill him we don't want we don't want to we don't want to give daddy a stroke we don't want to do that uh he he tried to distract them and he had this brother put in a pit uh he decided not to kill him because he is after all my daddy's son but then some gypsies some ishmaelite caravan is on the way to egypt and uh while the brother is trying to uh dissuade them from killing their brother they sell him to this ishmaelite caravan sell him into slavery in egypt but look with me at the grace of god they know that they've sinned and so now they have to shed innocent blood keep your finger on that because they got his little coat of many colors but to make the daddy think he's dead they've got to kill an animal and sprinkle blood on it so that they can cover up their sin somebody helped me preach it whenever sin is committed blood has to be shed they shed an animal's blood put it on his coat bring it to their daddy and say that he is dead but god's grace is on his life because he winds up in egypt and while in egypt god still favors it he doesn't just end up in anybody's house he ends up at an address that god already designated somebody gonna help me preach in a minute he winds up at potiphar's house and even potiphar sees that god's hand is on it because when a man's ways the bible says when a man's ways please the lord he'll make even his enemies to be at peace with him potiphar sees that god's hand is on his life and potiphar puts him over everything in his household except mrs potiphar but mrs potiphar had designs on young joseph because he was handsome and strapping and good-looking and tall kind of kind of something like like like like like reverend washington fine strapping and good looking and and so when joseph was in the house she would she would put on victoria's secret and lie on the divine [Music] with expensive perfume to arouse him but joseph was more man than i would have been because he ran from the seduction and he said i can't do that i cannot dishonor my master and i can't dishonor my god so she lied on him and said he tried to rape her and said to her husband why would you bring this hebrew in this house and he took advantage of me and potiphar to honor his wife had joseph thrown in prison but even in the dungeon god's hand is on it it does not matter what your address is if god is on your side he'll make a way out of nowhere while in the dungeon they didn't put him in a cell with just anybody god arranged for him to be locked up with a butler and a baker who worked in pharaoh's house god arranged for the butler and the baker to start dreaming because joseph was an interpreter of dreams you're gonna help me close this won't you and one night they started dreaming they woke up the next morning they told joseph what their dreams was and he said to the baker your dream is you're going to be dead this time tomorrow he said to the butler your dream is you going to get back to your place as cup bearer to the king and when you get back to pharaoh remember me two years passed by and joseph seems to be forgotten and i want to tell somebody in lilly grove this morning it may look like god is taking a long time to get to you but he set you up for what he wants to bless you with because god has got to get you right for your blessing because if he blesses you before you're ready you're gonna mess up your favor [Music] it is very possible to get too much too soon two years go by and one day god made pharaoh dream and pharaoh dreamed about some fat cows and some lean cows and he called all his magicians and sorcerers and said anybody who can interpret this dream will have half of the kingdom you'll be able to sit on my right hand as my prime minister nobody could interpret that dream but the cup bearer had the cup in his hand and he remembered joseph will the lord remember me keep on trusting it may look like he's forgotten but keep your hand in god's hands keep on praying the answer may be slow in coming but if you keep on believing god will bring it to pass cupberry said i remember a young man who interpreted my dream one day pharaoh said bring him up out of the dungeon they brought him up put him before pharaoh and he told pharaoh this dream that you're dreaming egypt is about to experience plenty because a famine is coming during the years of plenty put away all the grain that you can so that we can sell grain to the entire known world because the famine is coming and just like joseph said that's how it happened but here again is the grace of god while there is grain in egypt there's famine in goshen where his father and his brothers live the brothers got to go to egypt to buy some grain they come with the money to buy some grain and and joseph does not let them know who he is he loves them so much that he lets them buy the grain and then he puts the money back in the sack sends them back to their fret not yourself because of evil doers neither be envious against the workers of iniquity they shall soon be cut off like grass and wither like the green earth [Music] they bring the money back to their father they're terrified they've got to go back to egypt to get some grain joseph said bring your brother with you next time because benjamin has been born by now they go back and tell their father that and he's terrified because he knew the last time he sent a boy with them what happened to him and now they come back the third time to go and get some grain and joseph reveals himself and lets them know who he is and the brothers fall down on their knees just like he dreamed in his dream because now he's in the second chair he has authority to second only to pharaoh isn't it strange our folk get with you when you get up long as you under them they talking about you and wearing you down and criticizing you but the minute you get a position they know you they bow just like they bowed in the dream and here is grace joseph said get up you're my brothers you did me wrong yes you did you misused me my whole life get up you meant it for evil but god [Music] meant it for good because in order for god to save all these people he's getting ready to save he had to do something to me to save them you see where i'm trying to go in order for god to save all of them joseph said he had to do something to me jesus said for god to save all of y'all one friday he had to do something to me he died on the cross it looked like the worst thing the world had ever seen but early [Applause] sunday morning god raised them from the dead to save much people alive for we know that all things work together for good to them that love god and especially to those who are the called according to his purpose

Channel: lillygrovembc

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Id: nc1aDEeO9hY

Length: 46min 45sec (2805 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 27 2020