“How God is Working” - Genesis 37:1-36 (2.12.20) - Dr. Jordan N. Rogers

[Music] so God accomplishes his will through my failings through my troubles God accomplishes his will despite my ignorance of the details God is working through it all this evening we're in Genesis chapter 37 verses 1 through 36 so covering the entirety of Genesis chapter 37 this evening what I want to talk to you about is how God is working how God is working now that may be somewhat of a not a misleading title but it doesn't exactly give the whole story nor does it tell you everything that I'm going to be able to tell you to be honest with you there are some things that I can tell you about how God is working but really the truth is that the secret things belong to God there are many things about the way in which God is working the details that he is working out in our lives that he does not share with us and he is not obligated to share the details with us we are obligated to trust him with the details we're obligated to trust him with things that we cannot see is that not the definition of faith faith is the substance of things hoped for it is the evidence of things that are unseen and so we're called to trust in God even with the the details of our life even with the difficult details of our lives we're required to trust in God we're called to trust in God when when it seems like our dreams get shattered you're at a dream that got shattered something you thought about your life and the way that it would be and it doesn't come about that way how easy is it to trust God in that moment when that dream seems to come unraveled or fall apart or at a minimum be be it question and you just don't know if it'll ever come about how God is working let me tell you this one truth tonight just to summarize everything I can tell you this God is working through it all God is working through it all I can't tell you all the details I don't know all the details and nor do you but I do know that he's working I do know that God has his sovereign hand in all things Hebrews chapter 1 tells me that even Jesus upholds all things by the word of his power meaning if he if he pulled his word back for just a moment that the very universe would crumble that it's not gravitational pull that's keeping us grounded here on this earth it's the Word of God that's making that happen God is working through it all I'm gonna walk through this passage I believe as it was intended it's meant to be seen as an entire narrative you you are meant to see the in the entire introduction here of Joseph into the land of Egypt we wrapped up last week looking at the generations of the Toledo of Esau you saw those who were descended from him and where he ended up residing he ended up residing there in the hill country of ser also known now or in those days as Edom that Toledo essentially wrapped up the life of Esau so it says there in verse 1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings not like Esau Esau moved out of the land of his father's sojournings but God being faithful to his promises has brought Jacob back in to the land of his father's sojournings and lives there he sets up what you would think to be permanent resident it says that he's in his father's the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan and then in verse 2 it says these are the generations of Jacob these are the Toledo the these are the names that descendants the line that preceded out of Jacob this is Jacob's lineage the book of Genesis has actually built the name Genesis is the the Greek translation of that Hebrew word Toula do't toll adult means generations means beginnings or descendants there are in effect there are 1000 do't sections in the book of Genesis that's the way the entire book is organized we've been walking through Genesis for quite some time now haven't we we have actually just now entering into chapter 37 we have just come across the final Toledo section in the book of Genesis what this section does for us is it opens it opens for us the narrative of Jacob and his family coming into the land of Egypt where they will reside for 400 years the descendants of Jacob will live in the land of Egypt for 400 years they will live there for the majority of that time as slaves living in the land of Goshen but how did they get there how did the people of Israel get there think about the original audience that would have received the book of Genesis it would have been the Israelites who had just been delivered out of the land of Egypt and we would have to remember that they must have been asking the questions how did we get here how did we get to the point where our people they have not always lived in the land of Egypt how did we actually come to be brought to this land and that's what this total adult section explains for us chapter 37 all the way through the end of the book chapter 50 and that section actually goes rather quickly these 36 verses what we're gonna do is divide them up into two main sections two main sections if you're taking notes verses one through eleven you're gonna see Joseph the dreamer Joseph the dreamer and then quite a stark change of circumstances in verse 12 to 36 you see Joseph the slave he actually transitions in this text in this one chapter from a dreamer the favored of all the sons of Jacob to a slave Joseph the dreamer verses 1 through 11 there at the end of this sermon what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna draw for you two principles two principles about how God accomplishes his sovereign will I think that's what we're supposed to understand that God is working out details in Jacobs life and Joseph's life to bring about salvation for the people of Israel look with me there verses 1 through 11 Joseph the dreamer says in verse 2 these are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old remember what that was like some of it it's hard to remember back that far some are looking forward to being 17 you remember what it was like to be 17 though I remember I suppose I do I'm getting more and more of a grasp of it about how immature how naive how naive I actually was about how the world worked Joseph was 17 years old and he was it says in verse 2 he was pasturing the flock with his brothers he was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah his father's wives billa and Zilpah were the maid servants of Leah and Rachel billah and Zilpah billah had born dan and Naphtali and Zilpah bore gad a sure so four of the Chieftains of Israel four of the sons of Israel are born to these two women and Joseph was growing up with them spending a lot of time with them but he was not so much welcomed in their number not after these events anyway it says in the second part of verse 2 and Joseph bought a brought a bad report of them to their father he has just found his way out of the circle hasn't he he has he has displayed what it depends on your perspective doesn't it in in our perspective maybe we look at this and we say what Joseph has demonstrated his honesty Joseph is an honest man what must his brothers be thinking what a snitch that I guarantee you that is exactly what they were thinking what a tattletale what a snitch we can't do anything around him so you know what we can't include him in anything he has just found his way outside of our fellowship outside of our friendship though he is a brother he bought a he brought a bad report a report of their evils it's literally what it says and he bought this bad report of them to their father now says in verse 3 now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a robe of many colors a robe of many faces or a robe of many hands the Greek Septuagint translates that as a robe of many colors of many ornaments and why does Jacob give Joseph this coat of many colors it says because he favors him he is the son of his old age Joseph is the eleventh born son of Jacob and he is the son of Jacob's beloved wife Rachel and so Jacob loves Joseph that love for Joseph is probably only rivaled with Joseph's younger brother Benjamin Benjamin had just been born just a few chapters back just a few years back as Jacob had just entered back into the land of Canaan after his sojourn in paddan-aram you remember Rachel had been bearing the last child she bore before coming into Israel was Joseph Joseph being a young man they come into the land of Israel they go down from Shechem and there in Bethlehem are near the Tower of Eater the Shepherd's Tower and Rachel gives birth to a son and the sons name is Benjamin she says Ben Oni is his name son of my hardships son of my mourning because she's dying and she dies in that childbirth so Joseph not only is the son of of Jacob's beloved wife he's the son of his old age he is also one of the last remembrances that Jacob actually has of the son of his love so he gives Jacob or Joseph a coat of many colours Joseph is favored you see well from your perspective Joseph is honest he's a man of integrity Joseph is a favored man from his brother's perspective again Joseph's a snitch and Joseph's spoiled that's what he is he's not favored he's spoiled he gets everything he wants daddy dotes on him he babies him he coddles him this has got to be very frustrating you would think that Jacob would have learned that that showing favoritism in a family is never healthy you recall the way Jacob grew up Jacob's brother being Esau Esau was the favored son of Isaac Jacob was not the favorite son of Isaac love to eat the game that Esau would hunt you could read about this in Genesis 25 but Jacob was the favored son of his mother Rebekah and so the sibling rivalry is kindled even there and it's it's kept a flame in the home by their parents passions this favoritism is given over here to Joseph to look at verse 4 it says but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him if you can't say anything kind don't say anything at all either they were very silent or they were very ugly but it wasn't any mixture of kindness in there towards Joseph he's a snitch he spoiled and they hate him I think it's important for us to check our hearts right here lest we be guilty of this same kind of hate looking at people who who walk in honesty people who walk in integrity people who may be a bit more favored than us and looking at them with with anything less than love I want to remind us of what our Lord and Savior taught us Matthew chapter 5 verse 21 through 22 Jesus says you have heard that it was said of tho to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire is not right for us to say well that's just for other people we're redeemed Jesus is saying this to his disciples we ought to love one another now look at verse 5 through 11 he's honest he's favored look at this Joseph is prophetic now Joseph had a dream he he dreamed a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more that's actually striking when you read that when you read that in the Hebrew they hated him even more it literally says they added even more hate to him they added even more hate to him Yoast Joseph's name in Hebrew is Yosef or yoseef in Hebrew his name means add to you remember that Rachel names him yoseef because she says may God add to me another son it seems like the names that these children bear actually prophetic sometimes the names are more prophetic than was assumed at first because now it says that he was hated even more they added even more hate to him it actually uses his name here as a verb that they Joseph more hate upon him they hated him y-yo sifu added more and more of their malice to it because he dreamed a dream now listen the content of the dream verse 6 he said to them hear this dream that I have dreamed behold we were binding sheaves in the field and behold my sheaf arose and stood upright and behold your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf his brother said to him are you indeed to reign over us are you indeed to rule over us so they hated him even more they added even more hatred on him for his dreams and for his words they not only despised the content of the dream they despised the way in which he said it too them it seems that Joseph is quite unaware as to how these dreams might make his brothers feel he thinks that his brothers are going to be excited about this maybe he has failed to remember that he brought a bad report of them to the Father and now he's going to go to them and tell them of how how God is actually going to make all of them bow down to him so he tells them a dream it's just an agricultural dream here are these sheaves of wheat all around Joseph and those sheaves of wheat representing all of his brothers and there's one sieve of wheat that remains standing in the end all the rest bow down very simple to understand in fact they needed no interpretation the brothers knew exactly what this dream meant so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words let's talk a little bit about hatred here remind you of what John wrote for us in 1st John chapter 3 verses 14 through 15 he writes we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers whoever does not love abides in death every one who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him in the eyes of God hatred for another person is the same thing as murder murder with the heart and murder with the hands are equivalent in the judgments of God and you'll see quite often that murder with the hands is almost always preceded by murder in the heart Josef's brothers have already slain him in their soul he's already dead to them they don't care if he lives or dies in fact they prefer if he dies and yet they haven't lifted a hand against him just yet now look again there at verse 9 and verse 9 he tells us another dream says then he dreamed verse nine another dream and told it to his brothers and said behold I have dreamed another dream now later on what you'll see is this if you think back I'm not gonna go through the litany of dreams that have already been recorded in the book of Genesis but every dream that has been recorded in the book of Genesis up to this point has come from where it's come from God every dream in the book of Genesis up to this point has come from God what we are to assume when we read this text though the the prophetic nature of Joseph's dreams has yet to be fulfilled they will be fulfilled but even though they have yet to be fulfilled I believe that we are to assume that these dreams are from God in fact later on when Joseph is in Egypt and he is interpreting dreams for Pharaoh Pharaoh has two dreams the dreams of Joseph the dreams of Pharaoh they always come in pairs and Joseph actually gives us commentary and explains that when these dreams come in twos that it is confirmation that God has fixed the thing it's what he says that whatever has happened in this dream because it has been dreamed twice that God has permanently fixed this this is his will of decree this is the will that will be accomplished so Jay Joseph has another dream look at verse verse 9 it says the old I dream I've dreamed another dream behold the Sun the Moon and Eleven stars were bowing to me but when he told it to his father and to his brothers his father rebuked him and said to him what is this dream that you have dreamed shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you and his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the saying in mind his daddy didn't even like the way he was telling the dream his daddy didn't like the content of the dream the thought of a father bowing before their son is a reversal of the created order and this bothers Jacob but it says that that Joseph's brothers they're jealous of him they hate him but what does it say of Jacob there at the very end verse 11 it says that he kept these things in mind that reminds me of a phrase it's used elsewhere it's used in Luke chapter 2 in Luke chapter 2 after the angels appear to the Shepherd's who are out in the field you remember that the Shepherd's are singing in the heavens the heavenly hosts and they tell the the Shepherd's to go and they'll find the baby there in Bethlehem and so the Shepherd's go they find Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and they begin to to tell Mary and Joseph and all those around to tell them everything that these angels have said you know what it says of Mary in Luke chapter 2 verse 19 it says that Mary stored all of these things up in her heart she's perplexed by it and yet there is a hint of faith there's a mustard seed of faith store these things up in their heart is this from God I believe Jacobs is exhibiting faith here Joseph's honest Joseph is favored Joseph is prophetic I don't think his brothers looked at Joseph as though he were prophetic the way I think that Joseph's brothers looked at him not only was he a snitch and spoiled he smug he's arrogant here he is telling us that we're going to bow before him here he is going and telling our Father that our Father is going to bow before him who does this kid this 17 year old think that he is this dreamer that's what Joseph is though Joseph is a dreamer the proof will be in the pudding the proof will be in the fact that these dreams will be validated later on in Genesis chapter 41 you will see his brothers bow before him not once they'll bow before him twice and then for the remainder of their life Joseph will indeed rule as governor over them not one word of God's good promises have ever fallen to the ground now Joseph's a dreamer in these first 11 verses look at verses 12 through 36 though Joseph's not so much a dreamer here he doesn't seem Joseph is slave look at verses 12 through 17 Joseph is sent to his brother's you remember what happened last time the last time he was sent to his brothers he came back with a bad report so it says in verse 12 now his brothers Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem 30 miles north of Jerusalem that is an Israel that is Jacob said to Joseph are not your brother's pasturing the flock at Shechem come I will send you to them and he said Here I am so he said to him go now and see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word so he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem and a man get this and a man found him wandering in the fields that verb for wandering actually elsewhere can be can be construed or translated as found them walking about confusedly here's Joseph 17 year old he's walk he thinks his brothers are in Shechem he has no map in his hands it doesn't seem there's no way to get in touch with these guys and he shows up and check them and he's just wandering around in people's yards here is a man just a man shows up now it's going to be interesting there are some commentators who actually assert that this man could have an angel sent to help Joseph it's quite fascinating that the one man that finds Joseph wandering around in the fields is the one man that overheard Joseph's brothers saying where they were gonna go just a coincidence I'm sure or maybe it's just the Providence of God maybe that's what we're supposed to see in the entire text is that God is providentially guiding the steps of Joseph so this man finds him wandering in the fields and the man verse 15 asked him what are you seeking verse 16 I am seeking my brothers and he said tell me please where they are pasturing the flock and the man said they have gone away for I heard them say let us go to Dothan so Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan now that's an interesting travel decision that they've made they told their father that they would be in Shechem that's where everyone thought that they would be but they've actually left there and gone to Dothan they have traveled 20 miles north on foot with all of these flocks 20 miles to the north in northern Israel to Dothan their father has no idea where they're at Joseph had no idea where they're at there was one man it seemed in all of Shechem that knew where these brothers were lo and behold it's the man who finds Joseph wandering around confusedly there in a field so Joseph gets sent to his brothers now look at verse 18 Joseph gets shoved in a pit verse 18 says they saw him from afar they could have seen that coat of many colors from a mile away couldn't they what was seemingly a blessing to Joseph actually marked him out to his enemies as a target they saw him from afar and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him verse 19 they said to one another here comes this dreamer Bale hello here comes the Lord of Dreams the title that they give to Joseph here is quite sarcastic isn't it here is the god of Dreams blessing us with his presence that smug prophet they said to one another here comes this dreamer verse 20 come now interestingly enough in the Hebrew normally the way that a Hebrew sentence is structured the verb is in the first position in the sentence the verb is right there at the beginning of the sentence but here there is a there is a particle there's an adverb that's at the beginning and it says now now come it's it's flag to to tell us that they are hurrying about their business they want to get this done they see this as an opportunity sin has already conceived in their heart as James would say and it is giving birth to death so they say come now let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams what is their intention and throwing him into the pit their intention after killing him and throwing him to the pit is to undermine the dreams that God has given him they would rather see their brother dead than their knees bow before him they're willing to kill him to subvert the will of God interestingly enough you see how that turns out look at verse 21 but when Reuben heard it he rescued him out of their hands saying let us not take his life and Reuben said to them shed no blood throw him into this pit here in the wilderness but do not lay a hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father Ruben is the eldest son of Jacob he's the eldest of the twelve sons of Jacob he is the firstborn son to Leah the unloved wife of Jacob Ruben if you recall Ruben as the one who slept with his father's concubine Jacob heard of it maybe Ruben feel sorry for what he did maybe Ruben feels shame for what he did and he thinks I can't do anything else that's shameful to my father I've got to protect my younger brother don't lay a hand on him that he might rescue him from out of their hand restore him to his father verse 23 so when Joseph came to his brothers they stripped him of his robe the robe of many colors that he wore and they took him and threw him into the pit and the pit was empty there was no water and unless we think that there was a chance that Joseph was going to drown lest we think that there was a chance that his brothers were going to murder him Ruben stands in the one who has shown some of the least amount of moral fortitude and courage he's the one that steps in to do the right thing and then they throw him into a pit and lo and behold this cistern that's meant to hold water it's dry God is providentially providing for Joseph this entire time look at verses 25 through 28 not only the Joseph sent to his brothers shoved into a pit now he gets sold into slavery verse 25 to 28 then they sat down to eat and looking up behold they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum bomb and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt exactly where the Lord wants Jos to go lo and behold there are Ishmaelites descendants from the son of the slave woman of hay of Abraham Abraham has a child with the maidservant of his wife her name is Hagar this is the son who does not have promise attached to him Ishmael is kicked out of the home he sent off to the east and where do these Ishmaelites come from these Ishmaelites they come from the east because that's where the land of Gilead is it's to the east of the Jordan just south of the Sea of Galilee it says in verse 26 then Judah said to his brothers what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother her own flesh how noble Judah you don't want to kill him because your brother but you're okay with selling him why because your thirst for blood is only surpassed by your greed for money so now not only has God preserved Joseph's life by one of the least moral of his sons Reuben and a dried-up cistern now he allows greed and covetousness to well up in the heart of Judah and Judah says I know what we'll do we'll sell him there's something far more profitable than just killing our brother here what's selling come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites verse 27 and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother our own flesh and his brother's listen to him the Midianite traitors I thought I thought it said Ishmaelite a minute ago these are interchangeable lest you get confused here I was a bit confused when I was studying these are interchangeable names here the instruments the Midianites apparently they had intermarried and become one people to say Ishmaelite means that they're somehow related to the outcast son of Abraham and to be a Midianite was to be a bit more of a specific region of Ishmaelites then verse 28 Midianite traders pass by and they Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit I don't know if Joseph was looking at as salvation or not they drew him up out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver they took Joseph to Egypt Joseph is sold for the common price of a common slave some commentators say that 20 shekels of silver was the price of a slave according to the Code of Hammurabi look at verse 29 down through the end Josephus supposedly did sold into Egypt but supposedly dead when Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said the boy is gone and I where shall I go then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dip the blood dip the robe in blood and they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said this we have found please identify whether it is your son's robe or not it seems that the sins of the father returned on him through his sons you remember that Jacobs name means supplanter Jacob has this name not only by birth but by his character in his previous life Jacob is the one who deceived his father when his father was mostly suspecting and now Jacob is the one who's deceived by his own sons when he is least suspecting verse 33 and he identified and said it is my son's robe a fierce animal has devoured him Joseph is without a doubt torn to pieces he swallows this lie hook line and sinker verse 34 then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son's son many days all his sons and all his daughters rose up to come for him but he refused to be comforted and said known I shall go down to Sheol to my son in mourning thus his father wept for him you know it doesn't actually tell us until Genesis chapter 41 when Jacob hears that Joe is alive in Genesis 41 it tells us that at that point Jacobs spirit was revived within him you know years passed between this passage and Genesis 41 22 years Jacob lived under the false reality that his son had been killed by a wild animal 22 years he wept at night for his son that he had supposed was dead because he had been lied to but look at verse 36 meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh the captain of the guard Joseph is sold not to an ordinary man he is sold to a man of extraordinary position and access to Pharaoh it's in Potiphar's home that Joseph will prove his mettle only to be found in pharaoh's prison but we'll get to that in the coming weeks you know I when I read through this passage and study it I can't help but but understand that Genesis 37 is meant to be seen in light of everything that God did for the people of Israel in using Joseph to save the Israelites from death during that famine but I have to go back to the moment when Joseph is thrown into the pit when Joseph was drawn up out of the pit when he's carried off he's having to travel all the way through from north to south through the land of Canaan through the land of promise only to arrive at Egypt and to find himself on the slavery trading block and I have to wonder what this 17 year old bloodied up must have been thinking in those days I think we all understand what it's like to have dreams get crushed what what it's like to actually think that our life will go a certain way and then have to wrestle in the moment where our life changes directions and wrestle with whether or not we will trust the love of God whether or not we will trust the will system of God or whether we will doubt his love or doubt his wisdom there was a movie I'm sure many of you have seen it and they took the novel turned it into a play and then a movie movie called lame is robbed there's a character in lame is Robin Amos Fantine Fantine is a quite a tragic character she seems to have so much promise she gets a job she gets sacked from that job she loses the job and then she has to hand her child over to somebody else because she can't afford to take care of her child and then she subjects herself unwillingly to prostitution and she sings probably what is the most moving song in the entire movie me read for you just the last few lines of her song but some dreams just weren't meant to be I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I'm living so different now from what it seemed now life has killed the dream I dreamed when we think that our life is supposed to turn out a certain way and it invariably doesn't do we do we sing that song I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I'm living so different now than it seemed life has killed the dream I dreamed I'm sure Joseph was tempted to think that way but I don't think Joseph ever gave in to those temptations I think that Joseph trusted in the sovereignty of God I know this that whether or not Joseph trusted in the sovereignty of God God didn't quit being sovereign over his life god never stopped working and you might think well well maybe God stepped in and started working when when God saw that Joseph's brothers hated him or maybe it's just this maybe God allowed a night a 17-year old in his naivete to present these prophetic dreams in such a smug way so as to allow his brothers to hate him and and to allow his brothers to be welled up with hate and send him to Egypt God carefully manicuring the process the entire way to take Joseph to Egypt how else is he going to get him there that's where God needed his man to be for the salvation of the children of Israel and to get him to the place of saving the people of Israel it meant taking him through the path of suffering let me tell you the first principle about how God accomplishes his will God is sovereign Lea accomplishing his will even through our failings and troubles God is sovereign Lea accomplishing his will even through our failings and troubles I did not write that he is accomplishing his will despite our failings and troubles and many times we might we might think that we have a failure we have a trouble we go through a difficulty and we say God intervene as though he is not already there when the reality is is he has always working God is working through it all Ephesians chapter one tells us that God works all things according to the counsel of his will it doesn't say that God reacts to all things according to the counsel of his will it's that he works all things according to the counsel of his will I would remind you of one of the greatest promises that we hold on to is the fact that God is sovereign over our lives even in troubles Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called who love him who are called according to his purpose God is working through these things he's working them together that word in the Greek talks about a symphony of events all of them playing different notes but all part of the same song of life here's the irony Joseph identifies at for us Joseph sees clearly the hand of God maybe he didn't see it in the moment but he sees it at the end Genesis chapter 45 verse 5 he tells his brothers and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve your life Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 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 God is sovereign ly accomplishing his will through our failings and troubles when your dreams seem to get shattered understand it may have caught you off guard it may have changed your plans but it is the plan of God and he is wise and he is good and he is working his will out to perfection it has never missed a beat even when we don't know the tune it's never missed a beat principle number two God is sovereign ly accomplishing his will despite our ignorance of the details God is sovereign ly accomplishing his will despite our ignorance of the details amen I don't like that one though I want God to tell me but God tell me what your plan is tell me what tomorrow holds and he doesn't do it God isn't interested in me knowing God is interested in me trusting God sovereignly accomplishing as well despite our ignorance of the details Deuteronomy 29:29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law you want to know the will of God that's what Deuteronomy 29:29 says you don't know the will of God here it is this is all of the will of God he has promised to reveal to you in this life trust this leave the secret things to God now just one point of application here never judge the plan of God as evil or unwise when your life doesn't turn out the way that you had planned don't judge that as God being evil and don't judge that as God being unwise even the most unsuspected events in our lives are ordained sovereignly by el-shaddai Almighty God who's working all things according to the counsel of his perfect will so don't judge the plan of God as evil or unwise let me remind you Isaiah 40 13 through 14 who has measured the Spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel whom did he consult and who made him understand who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding that that question is left open-ended because nobody has taught the Lord a thing isaiah 55:8 through nine for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts it's almost as though God tells us in his word I would tell you the details of my plan but you can't handle it you wouldn't know what to do with these details they are beyond you no mind has conceived the plans of God just trust him and watch it unfold I'm saying that to me I hope you hear it but I'm saying that to me so God accomplishes his will through my failings through my troubles God accomplishes his will despite my ignorance of the details God is working through it all if you need one confirmation of this truth I would tell you don't even look to Joseph you need one confirmation of this truth look to Jesus let me remind you of the way the Apostle Peter preached Jesus on the day of Pentecost Acts chapter 2 verses 22 through 24 men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men God raised him up loosing the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it God was working out his plan of redemption through His Son Jesus not despite the failings of the Jews not despite the failings of the Romans but through it he was using that to bring about the greatest good that could ever be accomplished the redemption of sinful people by grace through faith for all who put their trust in Jesus no one on earth knew the plans of God to do that in fact jesus told His disciples multiple times the Son of Man must be betrayed handed over the hands of lawless men crucified and raised again on the third day and not one time did they understand what he was saying it never entered into their mind that God would send his son to die for the sins of the world never entered into their mind but you know what God didn't need them to understand in order to accomplish it he still did it God is working through it all child God take comfort in that you don't have to know all the details and you can trust him through the difficulties God is working through it all you pray with me [Music]

Channel: Dr. Jordan Neal Rogers

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Keywords: preaching, preacher, teacher, teaching, preach, teach, Bible, Scripture, biblical, scriptural, expository, expository preaching, exposit, exposition, exegesis, exegetical, Christian, Christ, Jesus, Lord, Messiah, Old Testament, Torah, Law, Moses, Joseph, Egypt, sold, slavery, Potiphar, Pharaoh, will of God

Id: 0ViFOSfh124

Length: 52min 4sec (3124 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 02 2020