Great is thy Faithfulness
God is Faithful • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsGod is Faithful. The world continues to change but God remains faithful. The story is about God and His faithfulness
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Transcript
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 These are the family records of Jacob. At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.
5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold Into Slavery
12 His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.
14 Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15 A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
17 “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer!
20 Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”
22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.
23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.
24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed.
28 When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
31 So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
32 They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”
33 His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.
Ishmaelites
The Bible Knowledge Commentary 37:25–28
Ishmaelites were descendants of Abraham by Hagar (16:15) and the Midianites (37:28) descended from Abraham by his concubine Keturah (25:2). The term Ishmaelites became a general designation for desert tribes, so that Midianite traders were also known as Ishmaelites.
Joseph in Potiphar’s house
1 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,
4 Joseph found favor in his master’s sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.
5 From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.
6 He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.
7 After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
8 But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.
9 No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”
10 Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.
11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.
12 She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
13 When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,
14 she called the household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.
15 When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.”
16 She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home.
17 Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me,
18 but when I screamed for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.”
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious
20 and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there.
23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.
37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
38 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?”
39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you are.
40 You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”
41 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.”
42 Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck.
43 He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, and servants called out before him, “Abrek!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.
44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.”
1 Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.
2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh’s household heard it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.
5 And now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9 “Return quickly to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.
10 You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you, your children, and grandchildren, your sheep, cattle, and all you have.
11 There I will sustain you, for there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you, your household, and everything you have will become destitute.” ’
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”
16 So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command:
17 ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him.
18 Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.
21 Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
One more example of God’s faithfulness
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
5 The total number of Jacob’s descendants was 70; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Then Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.
7 But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.
8 A new king, who had not known Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.
10 Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
11 So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.
12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.
If it was not for God through Joseph preserving the Egyptians during the famine, then would the Egyptians survived?
Now it is the Egyptians oppressing the very ones that preserved their lives.
Flip it
Had God not used the Egyptians to preserve the Israelites through Joseph would they have survived? No
Point Great is Thy Faithfulness.