Provision and Peace

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Genesis 45.

This is our last sermon in the Joseph series. We’ve covered a lot of P words at this point, finding the rich gospel lessons that are present in this story. We’ve covered the Promise, the Process, Perfection, the Procession, and the Path to Penitence. Today we will cover God’s ludicrous Provision, and we will end with his unthinkable Peace.

● Promise: The foretaste of glory. (The taste or glimpse of glory to come.)

● Process: The reality of suffering. (The painful experience of an impossible journey.)

● Perfection: The reward of maturity. (The internal treasures of character and resilience that can be gained ONLY through the Process.)

● Procession: The unveiling of beauty. (The lived experience of victory as God "shows us off" in the world for His glory.)

● Penitence: Reckoning with the reality of our sin. (The painful process of confronting our own evil and aligning with God against it.)

● Provision: The sacrificial substitution. (This is at the zenith of mature Christian expression.)

● Peace: The joy of reconciliation. (The experience of family restoration, intimacy, knowing we are a part of God's eternal family.)

MAIN IDEAS FOR THIS SERMON

(Internal Note to Pastor)

● How does God provide for his children?

● How good is God? How good are his intentions? (Theme of Peace, Intimacy, and Nearness.)

● How does God’s Gospel Provision come to us?

● What keeps us from living as loved sons and daughters, at total peace with God?

PRAYER

“Lord, I pray that you will open hearts and eyes today to see the utter lavishness of your Provision, and to experience the heartfelt intimacy of your Peace.”

CRUCIAL QUESTIONS

Let’s start with the three crucial questions we’ll be answering in this sermon:

What is God’s Provision for his children? How good are God’s intentions? Too good to be true? What is God ultimately doing with His family? What keeps us from embracing the fullness of God’s Peace?

INTRODUCTION

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SCRIPTURE 1: JUDAH’S REDEMPTION

(Pastor: Scriptures are given in ESV, but feel free to use whatever version you want. I’ve included the scriptures, because I find it helpful to underline for emphasis. You will read the scriptures below, and then give some commentary for each section of scripture.)

Genesis 44:32-34 -- (32) For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ (33) Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servantto my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. (34) For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

REFLECTIONS:

The culmination of the last section is Judah effectively saying to Joseph, “Don’t punish Benjamin -- punish me instead.” The Process of the Path to Penitence has been successful. We see changed action coming from the same brothers who once sold Joseph into slavery out of envy and spite. We see them now willing to sacrifice themselves instead of sacrificing their brother. We see them beginning to act like God, instead of acting like the devil.

As you will see, this blows the situation wide open and changes the entire spirit and objective of their interactions with Joseph. We have passed through Penitence, and now we are moving into Provision and Peace.

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SCRIPTURE 2: JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF

Genesis 45:1-3 -- (1) Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. (2) And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. (3) 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.

REFLECTIONS:

Joseph finally reveals himself, in the moment of their great distress. This is the climax of the restoration process between Joseph and his brothers, and it is an incredibly emotional moment. Joseph can contain himself no longer, and all the pain and sorrow and longing of the last decades comes forcefully to the surface. He makes everyone but his brothers go out from him, and weeps so loudly in front of them that the house of Pharoah hears it. And the response of his brothers? They are dismayed at his presence. They are dismayed. They are terrified, they are shocked, they are despondent. Why? What is the reason that they have such a negative reaction to finding out their long lost brother is alive? It’s because they do not know him, and they do not know his intentions. Decades have passed, and they have no idea what kind of man he is. They don’t know that he has accepted the fact that he has become a ransom for his entire family, that all may survive the famine. They don’t know the deep virtue that the years have worked into him, rather than bitterness. All they know is that Joseph has the power, the motive, and the opportunity to do them great harm. Can you imagine? They think this revelation is the end of them. They think their deserved judgment is coming for them like a heat seeking missile, and Joseph is the vessel of their destruction. And worst of all, they know they are 100% guilty and totally without excuse. They are silent in the moment of their reckoning.

APPLICATIONS:

This has amazing parallels for us, in our Christian walk. Have you noticed that when people throughout scripture come into the actual presence of God, or even the presence of an angel, the reaction is fear and dismay? Even prophets and righteous men fall down like dead men in his presence. This is the effect of the holiness of God on a sinner like you and me. In our everyday context, we think we’re fine. We compare ourselves with “worse” sinners and find ourselves to be adequate. It’s only when we come into the presence of God when we discover the distance between our own perceived righteousness, and the ultimate righteousness that is God Himself, and we see that this distance is infinite. We have much more in common with the murderer than we do with the Holy One, if we were to plot ourselves on a holiness chart. And the response? Dismay. We are estranged from glory; we are foreigners to perfection. We don’t belong in the presence of God. We see our deserved outcome coming for us, and that outcome is hell and damnation. How can the chasm between us and a holy God ever be traversed?

Joseph is, in this moment, a type of the holy God, and his brothers are having the natural reaction of dismay, as they look at their spiritual bank account and find themselves bankrupt, with nothing to say in their own defense. They are the hopeless defendant standing in the courtroom after all the damning evidence against them has been presented. They are waiting for the verdict that they know is coming: Guilty, Guilty, Guilty.

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SCRIPTURE 3: JOSEPH’S ASSURANCE

Genesis 45:1-3 -- (4) So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. (5) And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. (6) For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. (7) And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. (8) So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

REFLECTIONS:

And it’s at this exact moment, at the pinnacle of their fear and shame, that Joseph says, “Come near to me, please.” This is stunning. Can you see the Father’s heart in this? Yes, you’ve done terrible things. Now come close to me. I want to be close to you. I am greater than the terrible things you have done. I will provide for you. Come close to me.

The next thing he says is, “I’m your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.” In other words, YES, the terrible things you’ve done have caused harm. They are true, and the consequences are true. But I am able to hold your wrongdoings in tension with my desire to be close to you. The fact of your guilt is not weightier than the fact of my love and forgiveness.

And now comes the mic-drop moment. Joseph says, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” This is EVERYTHING. When I say Provision, this is what I mean. It all comes down to this. Joseph has already clearly stated that they did do this: “I am your brother, whom you sold.” But there’s a greater truth. God did this. Yes, the brothers did this. But the greater truth is that God was also doing something; God had a plan. Joseph was in the place where he was able to see the sovereign God, and God’s purpose of healing and life and deliverance, looming so large in his vision, that it made his brothers offense insignificant in comparison. In fact, God loomed so large in Joseph’s vision, that it swallowed up his brothers’ sins in love. Joseph was God’s provision. Joseph was God’s chosen sacrifice. Joseph could see, here, at last, that his story is not a tragedy. HIs story is a story of redemption and salvation and forgiveness and the unbelievable love of God that transcends all things.

APPLICATIONS:

And now, thousands of years later, we can see even more -- God was making a show of Christ through Joseph. Joseph was a type and shadow of the coming atonement. Joseph suffered as an innocent man for the deliverance of his people from famine. Jesus suffered as an innocent man for the deliverance of the whole world from the power of sin. Joseph was the forerunner of God’s ultimate provision, given to us in the form of the crucified son of God himself.

What I hope to bring home to you today is how God is on a complete different level. His ways are higher than ours. He is the crashing wave poised above our thimble sized minds and hearts. His forgiveness is unbelievable. His love is absurdly ludicrous. He is nothing like a man, or the son of a man.

If it doesn’t seem too good to be true, if it doesn’t seem downright scandalous, then it’s something less than the gospel.

We get a beautiful glimpse of the ridiculous love of God through the story of Joseph. And it's just getting started.

ILLUSTRATION:

Pastor: Can you think of a time when you got the exact opposite of what you deserved, in a good way? Ever had a moment when something seemed too good to be true? How did you react?

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SCRIPTURE 4: JOSEPH’S PROVISION

Genesis 45:9-15 -- (9) Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. (10) You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. (11) There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ (12) And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. (13) You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” (14) Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. (15) And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

REFLECTIONS:

Jehovah Jireh means “The Lord is my Provider.” Jehovah Shammah means “The Lord is Near.” We see both attributes of God clearly present in this story. The first provision is that God has provided Joseph who has willingly chosen to absorb the penalty for their sin, not exercising his right to judge and punish. Next, Joseph provides for them physically. He bids them to go and bring his father, and their children, and the whole family so he can provide for their needs during the famine. And now, there’s something even greater than the physical provision: There’s the peace of intimacy. There’s the nearness. Joseph grabs them, and holds them, and weeps over them. He is not just giving them his things. He is giving them himself -- peace and intimacy with the most powerful man in the world.

APPLICATIONS:

If you can’t tell -- we are the brothers in this story. We are the prodigal sons of Jesus’s parable. We are the ones who are receiving the opposite of what we deserve. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and our distance from perfection demands judgment. So God sent Jesus to absorb the penalty of our sin, so that we could dwell with God in perfect peace, totally unmerited by us, through faith. This is the gospel. It’s not just not getting the infinite punishment we deserve. It is also getting the infinite reward we don’t deserve. And that reward is not just God’s things -- it’s God himself. It’s Christ in you, the hope of glory. It’s intimacy, nearness, and perfect peace with the most powerful and beautiful being in the universe.

ILLUSTRATION:

Pastor: When have you most experienced the peace of God? Can you think of a moment when the peace of God which surpasses understanding of Philippians 4:6-8 has come to you, when circumstances were not great, but God caused you to somehow transcend your circumstances? Can you describe this?

SEGUE

In verses 16-24, Pharoah and his household hear the commotion, and Pharoah starts handing out blessings as well. It’s this massive celebration, culminating with Joseph sending his brothers back home to retrieve the family.

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CONCLUSION: JACOB’S NUMBNESS

Genesis 45:25-28 -- (25) So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. (26) And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. (27) But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. (28) And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

FINAL APPLICATIONS

Jacob’s response to the news that his son is alive? His heart becomes numb, because he does not believe them. There’s something so rich and special here. This good news is all true, but Jacob initially can’t enter into the joy. Why? He doesn’t believe it. It’s too good to be true. And he risks losing out on the experience of the good news because of a wounded, stubborn, unwillingness to believe. And what does this unwillingness do? It makes his heart numb.

What’s the solution? When they tell him all the words of Joseph, and show him the wagons that Joseph sent, then he believes. And when he believes, his spirit revives. He enters into the celebration. What did it take to activate the blessing in his life? He had to stop believing that it was too good to be true, and believe that it was true. Then he was able to enter and have his spirit revived.

Here at the end, not only of this sermon, but of this series, I want you to see the display of God’s amazing gospel intentions through this ancient text. We are both Joseph, the innocent son on a rugged path to glory, and we are the brothers, who must confront their own evil to enter into their redemption story. All of these experiences have relevance to your Christian walk. God gives us the Promise, and takes us through the Process. His goal is Perfection, or maturity, and maturity comes with pain. Then he displays us to the world in the Procession. At times we must enter into Penitence, as we wrestle with the ramifications of our own wrongdoing. But through it all, we ultimately find God’s Provision, waiting to bring us into the place of Peace and intimacy.

CONCLUSION: CALL TO ACTION, HEART CALL

I want you to know that God has provided for you. Just as he provided Joseph to be the sacrificial deliverer of the fledgling nation of Israel, He has provided Jesus for you, as the all sufficient sacrifice for all of your sins, past, present and future.

His love for you is insane. Infinite. Lavish. Scandalous. His love is the exact opposite of what you deserve, and has nothing to do with what you do or don’t deserve. His love for you is the most supernatural thing in your life. And you and I might be missing out on some -- or all -- of the most powerful reality available to us, the overwhelming love of God, because we instinctively think it’s too good to be true. We are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Our hearts are numb. God will love me when I get my act together. God will love me when I stop doing X and start doing Y. Own the fact that you have some measure of this poverty mentality in your mind and heart, and that this is keeping you from living the life you could be living.

How long did the Prodigal son need to starve, in order for his hunger to bring him home? And once home, after his daddy ran out to him, and received him, and put a ring on his finger, and a cloak on his back, and slayed the fatted calf, how long do you think it took for the old voice to creep in: Oh, Prodigal, when will the other shoe drop? You wasted your whole inheritance on prostitutes and wild living; someone’s going to have to pay for that. When will you get what you know you deserve? Isn’t this forgiveness just too good to be true?

I’m here to tell you that you and I who are in Christ don’t get what we deserve. And thanks be to God, we never will. We have been given the treasure of ages and generations -- the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given us the best of Himself, which is Jesus. This is His guarantee that He will ultimately withhold nothing from us.

Romans 8:32 -- He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Will you believe? I ask the Lord to awaken every numb heart in this room -- wholly numb, or even partially numb. I pray that our God will cause your heart to rejoice in the unrestrained intimacy and peace with God that we get to revel in for the rest of our lives, and for eternity. I call you to say aloud what is true, and set your heart to believe that there are no strings attached between your deserving and his generosity. He gives to the needy, not the deserving. It’s sick people who need a doctor, not the well.

You may be afraid to embrace this, because you think the only thing that keeps you from sinning is your fear of punishment. You ought to be concerned with righteousness, oughtn’t you? But is fear required in the pursuit of righteousness? Is God glorified by your fear that his promises are too good to be true? You may be afraid of your capacity for failure and sin. You may think you need your fear to make you a good person. Your fear once protected you from doing the bad things you wanted to do. But perfect love casts out fear. Love is a greater force in your heart than fear could ever be -- He’s changing us to make this so. Could you let go of the fear and let the love take its place? Lord Jesus, help us to receive, not 10%, or 50% of the potency of your love and your sacrifice, but 100%, all of it, all that it means, and all that you intended to give to us when you paid the ultimate price. Transform us, redeem us, and showcase your glory in us. Help our unbelief that keeps us fearful and timid when we could be bold and audacious.

Let’s pray together.