The Life of Joseph: God's Good Work

Genesis 50:15-21 Romans 8:28 God’s Good Work (Nothing Can Stop the Gospel) Introduction: Now that we have come to the end of Genesis I would like to take an overall view and look back through the book and sort of summarize it in one study. We have continually affirmed that the overall theme of the book of Genesis is that: God is working to restore his good kingdom on earth. I think we could also say that theme of Genesis could be worded like this: God is working all things together for good to those who love him and for those who are called according to his purpose. Lets take this theme through the book of Genesis. 1. A Good Beginning. a. In the beginning as God creates the universe he continual testifies that his creation is good. God is good and his creation is good. b. The earth was intended to be God's good kingdom where he would dwell and live in harmony (Shalom) with his creation. c. God created man in his image to rule over his good kingdom as his priest representative. 2. The Evil that befell us. a. Sometime shortly after our creation, our first parents Adam and Eve were enticed by the devil to choose to put themselves in the place of God and to choose for themselves what was good and what was evil. b. Through their act of defiance, disregarding the word of God, Adam and Eve plunged the creation under the dominion of sin. The creation is now subject to death and decay. Evil has now corrupted God’s good creation. 3. Now what of God's good creation? a. Here's where we begin to see the underlying theme of Genesis take form. God is going to restore his good creation. God is going to take evil, and what is intended for evil and work it for good. b. Beginning with the promise of Genesis 3:15 a savior will come - it is he who will end the serpents reign and restore the kingdom of God. c. Now rather than God's immediate triumph what we see in Genesis is often conditions going from bad to worse. Evil seems to be triumphing. i. Wicked Cain murders righteous Abel. ii. Cain's descendants begin to prosper and they do so in defiance of God. Example: Lamech - two wives, extreme revenge, no need for Gods covering. iii. Wickedness grows so much so that God must destroy Mankind because every thought and action is continually evil. (only eight souls are delivered from the judgment of God) iv. Shortly after God's judgment we see mankind again setting themselves up against God, declaring again... We are gods we know what is best for us. This is seen in the building of the tower of Babel. God again comes down in judgment and scatters the people. 4. God’s new work a. God calls Abram to leave his father's house and it's gods. God will make a new start with him in the land of Canaan, which was watered "like the garden of God". Canaan was to become another paradise - a beachhead on earth for the kingdom of God. God's promise to Abram of land, nationhood, the presence of God and blessing to the nations (through the savior) restores what has been lost through man's misbehavior in Genesis 3-11. i. But even with this new start, evil stands in God’s way. 1. Abraham is an old man. 2. His wife is also old and she's barren. 3. Abraham and Sarah’s lack of faith - the Ishmael/Hagar incident. 4. Abraham allowing Sarah to be taken into the Philistine king’s harem. 5. Abraham’s call to sacrifice Isaac; the son of promise. 6. Isaac’s need for a non canaanite wife at 40 yrs of age. 7. Isaac’s stubborn rebellion against God’s oracle concerning Jacob and Esau. - The older shall serve the younger. 8. Jacob and Rebekah’s pragmatic interference concerning God’s plan. 9. Jacob, is God’s chosen one to carry on the covenant of Abraham but he’s being driven from the land of promise by Esau’s hateful wrath. a. God will be with Jacob, will prosper him, and bring him back to the land of Canaan safely. 10. 10.Jacob’s deception by Laban. 11. 11.Jacob’s fear of Esau. 12. 12.Jacob’s self reliance. 13. 13.Jacob’s wicked sons. 14. 14.Jacob’s sons selling their brother Joseph into slavery. 15. 15.Joseph goes into slavery and then into prison, finally to be exalted to the second ruler over Egypt. 16. 16. From his place of authority he is able to shelter and provide for his family through the devastating famine. a. At the end of Genesis we find Joseph doing the opposite of what Adam and Eve did in the garden. Joseph refuses to put himself in the place of God and he lets God decide what is good for him, rather than Joseph deciding for himself. It is a fitting end to the book of Genesis. b. We find from Genesis 3:15 to Genesis 50 that what Man and the Devil intend for evil God overcomes and works for good! c. Nothing will stand in the way of God’s purposes. Conclusion: Nothing can stop the gospel! If I could sum up the book of genesis in a phrase or if you were to ask me what is the book of Genesis about I would say, that it teaches us, that nothing can stop the Gospel. 1. Not the wicked hatefulness of Cain. God will give Seth, in Abel’s place. 2. Not the whole world being contaminated by Sin and demons intermingling with women, God will have grace on Noah. 3. Not the whole world gathering in defiance of God. God will scatter them and choose for himself Abraham, and gather his descendants under his rule. 4. Nothing will stop the gospel. The gospel marches on! a. Not the decrepitness of Abraham. b. Not the deadness of Sarah’s womb. c. Not the sacrificing of Isaac. d. Not the lagging behind of Isaac or the going ahead of Rebekah. e. Not the deceitfulness of Jacob. f. Not the wrath of Esau. g. Not the expulsion from the promised land h. Not the wickedness of Jacob’s sons. i. Not the slavery, false accusations and imprisonment of Joseph. j. Not the the continual lack of provision in the promise land. k. Not the going down to Egypt. i. Nothing will stop God’s eternal purposes to bring his promised savior (the seed of the women) into the world. Nothing can stop the gospel, it marches on triumphantly. ii. Now for a moment lets go back to this idea of suffering, but in a broader sense where as we the church, the people of God suffer. As Jesus himself said, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence.” It almost seems in our day that the “christian era” is coming to an end. Liberalism is ravaging the church, no longer is the church holding to sound doctrine, divorce rates are sky rocketing, pastors are falling into sexual sin, pastors and church leaders are coming out of the closet, churches are embracing the homosexual agenda, the youth are departing from the faith in droves... And there are countless other things we could point to like the persecution in the east (china, Pakistan, India, Africa), the triumph of Islam, the trial and trouble we experience in our own lives. Evil seems to be triumphing! Will all the evil actually be overthrown one day? Will God triumph? 1. Paul writing to the Romans addressed these issues! “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:35-39 2. This Book of Genesis was written to assure the Israelites that God is faithful to his word and to his people. He has said and it will come to pass. It is written that they might know, “that no power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck (them) from his hand” 3. Jesus has come, the promised seed of the woman, and triumphed over the serpent, proof that God is faithful to his word. God has begun recreating his good creation, through the work of Jesus Christ, but this time he is starting backwards. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” and we read in Revelation, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.....And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.”. 4. We can be confident “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 Nothing will stop his plan and purpose. God will bring us to a glorious end. 5. Why has God allowed it all to happen this way? There is only one answer. Love. God loved us so much that even when he saw the sin and suffering that would darken and distort his creation, he chose to create us anyway. As Augustine so wisely put it, “God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil at all”.