Well may the Lord help us in
speaking and hearing this evening, as we would set before you friends
a verse in Genesis 50. Genesis 50 and the verse on my
mind is 20. Genesis 50 verse 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but
God. meant it unto good to bring to
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. But as for you, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as
it is this day, to save much people alive. The last chapter in Genesis is
an interesting chapter friends in many ways. And I feel that
it brings this wonderful first book in the scripture to a very
positive end. And really as we contemplated
it, it sets forth really in Joseph something of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some very powerful
gospel messages in this last chapter. And there is that that
sets forth in a way almost a sinner coming before God and seeking
pardon. And it's seen in the brethren
of Joseph coming unto him. Now, of course, Joseph was not
a god. He was their brother. but they
came unto him in much reverence because of his position that
he'd been raised up to as number two in Egypt. And in coming before
him, they therefore fell down before
him and desired to seek his forgiveness that the particular sin that
they had committed towards him. Well, really there was more than
one sin. I mean, the first sin that they
committed, as you know, was the sin of jealousy. And they were
jealous of that coat of many colors. They were jealous that
he was somewhat favored of his father. Now we could spend some
time pondering the wisdom of his father in dealing in that
way. But Jacob was a godly man, as
we know. But does it not say to us each
that, you know, the godliest of men have faults, don't they? But that was one sin, but the
other sins were the deceptive, covering up, that the coat should
be bathed in the animal's blood and therefore they should deceive
Jacob for a long period of time. And it was a long time indeed
before Jacob was to ascertain that Joseph was still alive.
So there were these sins that they came to be forgiven of by
their brother. And you know, we speak of a type
of Christ, and we would be simple for the young friends. In the
Old Testament, there are many types of Christ. They're all
fallen sinners. They're all lost men. in terms
of their natural state, yet saved through grace and the love of
the Lord Jesus, yet they are types of Christ. That is, they
set forth the wonders of salvation and different aspects of graces
that the Lord's people have. and you know for Joseph he set
forth these very much in this chapter in verse 21 where he
tells them to fear not I will nourish you and your little ones
and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them and I do believe
dear friends You may be in a deep trial and deep troubles tonight,
but I do believe that the dear Lord, he comforts his people
and he comforts them in his own way. Comfort ye, comfort ye Jerusalem,
is that lovely word in Isaiah. And he grants comfort unto them
just at the time that they need it. Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
at the Lord's hand double for all her sins. So as God in heaven
forgives his people for their sins, so Joseph was given that
spirit to forgive his brethren and friends. It needed some forgiveness. You know friends, if we can't
forgive others for what they've done towards us, if we cannot
accept forgiveness that is offered, you know it's a solemn thing
because the Lord Jesus will not forgive us for our trespasses.
And you know that comes home so close to us, doesn't it? to
be given that spirit of forgiveness. Well, Joseph was given it, but
he explains it. You see, in the verse of our
text, he explains that you thought evil against me. You, my own
brothers, you, my flesh and blood thought evil against me. You know, we have a family here,
but I've been part of a family we each have here. Sometimes
we do think evil to our brothers and sisters, don't we? Sometimes
we wish them harm. What a sin. You know, I don't
think any of us are short of that, naturally. I'm not saying
that we would want to do as they did unto Joseph, but there were
those times when we fall out, we disagree, we have arguments
with our family. particularly when we're young
perhaps. Yes, and you think of this, it's a solemn thing. And they
dealt very harshly with Joseph, and it was over a long period
of time, but he was given the spirit of forgiveness. How lovely
it is when one goes to another and says they're sorry. Friends,
what a hard word it is to say, but how indeed. They came to
him, I believe they came with that right spirit here, although
their father obviously left them that message to do so. They fell down before his face
in verse 18. Now similarly in the gospel message,
that's why I say this chapter friends is a gospel chapter really,
although it's in Genesis. because the Lord's people, he
will have them to fall down prostrate before him. And you see, they
said, we be thy servants and we will be prostrate before the
Lord. He will have us to come to lay
down low before him and to humble ourselves under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt us in due time. So they came before
Joseph, but he explains. Firstly, he says, fear not, am
I in the place of God? I'm not God. He said, you're
coming before me prostrating this way, but I am not God. I am not God. And neither was
he. But then he explains, as for
you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good. Ye
thought evil. You were going to do evil to
me. And friends, but for the holding back hand of God in the
day of evil, they would have killed him. But for the eldest son, I think
it was Judah that intervened and he says, what profit is it
if we slay our brother and conceal his body? But for that, he would
have been slain. But no. The Lord had a work for
him to do. Preserved in Jesus he was, friends,
and each of the Lord's people are. You know, and that work
that he has for them will be done. Will be done. So as for
you, you thought evil against me. Now, friends, turning our
view slightly to Joseph over this, I have to tell you that
we will all know a little bit of Joseph's pathway if we are
going to heaven. And what do I mean by that? Because his was a very tried
and a difficult pathway. But I mean it in the sense that
has occurred to me, friends, is to clearly see God turning
a matter around to the benefit of our never-dying soul. He turns
it, and he even turns matters in providence. that seem to be
against us that end up being for us. I say, have you seen
evidence of these things in your own life? That which seems to
be contrary turns out to be something that is in your favour. Remarkable. And as God did that for Joseph,
so the Lord does that for his dear people. Yes, ye thought
evil against me. There will be opposition, friends,
to your faith if you have any faith. Opposition. I thought of Nehemiah. You know, we love the book of
Nehemiah. That man was a man of prayer from beginning to the
end of the building, that wall and afterwards. But he rebuilt
the wall in Jerusalem after it had been destroyed during the
time of the captivity. And he rebuilt the wall and the
king marvelously gave him, Artaxerxes gave him permission to go and
do that. But we read that there were many
enemies, Sanballat and the army of Samaria. And they said this,
what do these feeble Jews? Yes, will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they
make an end in a day? And so on and so forth. And you
know that. Then there's Tobiah the Ammonite. And he says, if they build a
wall, a fox will knock it down. You know, a fox is not a heavy
creature, is it? Will knock down the wall. You
know, that is how they were. Opposition, friends, opposition. Joseph knew opposition. His own
brothers had turned him, sold him to the Ishmaelites, and he
went down into Egypt. Well, they didn't know where
he'd gone. But you see, opposition. Now, God turned that for good
in the case of Joshua. But you see, here it was the
enemy. They did all they could. But
you see, God turned it into good because he brought Nehemiah to
prayer. As soon as we hear these opposition
groups working against Nehemiah, he says this, hear O God, for
we are despised. Turn their reproach upon their
own head. Give them for a prey in the land
of captivity. And then he says these lovely
words, so built we the wall, ah, they could not stand in the
way of the Lord's work. And friends, I believe this,
those that oppose the work of grace, and friends, your own,
you know, your own natural heart, what we call the old man of sin,
you know, that opposes the work of grace, but it can't. It can't. Because the work of grace will
be the winner, the clear winner. The Lord working in your heart
will have the ascendancy. Yes, the new man of grace. Oh, it's wonderful when we've
got that new man. So I see much in this text, really,
regarding this. As for you, you thought evil
against me. Opposition, you see. To oppose that, that they saw
that was good and they knew that Joseph was good. But God, but
God, those two lovely words we had to preach this afternoon
has helped, and he's beckoned just from those two words. But
friends, this evening, the whole verse has been laid upon us.
But you see, but God meant it for good. In other words, God
turned it into good. God's hand upon it made all the
difference. And that's the thing. If the
Lord is in a matter, his hand, however tried, and friends, it
will be tried. And friends, you will know trouble.
and difficulty in it. You know, we want a plain path,
don't we? You know, we went to our first
Lord's Day to East Peckham and we thought, yes, well, that'll
be local, that'll be OK. The floods were upon the road.
We had to turn back two ways to try and get through. Yes,
it's not far from Staplehurst to East Peckham, my friends.
Then we had our daughter down with COVID. Then we found when
we got there, the dear pastor was not able to be there because
he wasn't well, and also the dear deacon was not able to be
there because his wife wasn't well. Friends, tried, tried,
matters will be tried, there will be opposition. We leave
that matter with the Lord, but I know this, it felt to me that
the start was naturally inauspicious. But that's it, there will be
opposition friends. And I don't want to discourage
any, but rather if you're walking in a time of opposition to encourage
you that it's because the Lord is in the thing and because the
Lord will yet bring those things to pass where you'll have to
say this. And that is, God meant it unto
good. The good of my never dying soul,
the good of the house of God, Yes, he meant it unto good. And when God says it was good
as he did, and he said it was very good when he formed the
earth in day six. Yes, you read that five lots
of good and one lot of very good. When God said it is good friends,
it is good. God meant it unto good. And that's
what we desire, isn't it? In those things where we've got
the opposition, When we think of the Book of
Esther, we don't perhaps immediately think of Mordecai. He's the one, you know, was there
from the beginning, friends. You see, with Esther, it was
with her that she became the queen, but she's not in the beginning,
is she? Because Vashti is the queen. And, you know, King Assyrius it's God's providence that he
puts away Vashti and he seeks out from all the maidens the
next queen and as we read it's to be in God's plan to save the
Jews but you see from Mordecai if we see this book through his
eyes he realizes that he has been
badly dealt with from the beginning, and he realizes that condemnation
is due to the Jews. And he has to live that through,
friends. And we read, he walked every day before the court of
the women's house to know how Esther did. He was so burdened,
so burdened and concerned, yes. And he'd been carried away with
the captivity And so, having been brought back, this man,
this man who had the enemy, he had that wicked Haman against
him. Friends, and it was seemingly
evil that the Jews should be destroyed according to Haman's
wishes. And yet, and yet, It appeared
for evil, but God meant it for good because he turned it around
with Esther. You know, in the first, we don't
know whether Esther will go before the king. You know, when we read
that in Esther, we're not sure immediately that she's necessarily
going to go before the king, but she does in the end agree
to do so. But she realizes that she has
to say that, that except the king hold out the golden scepter,
that she would perish. And if I perish, I perish according
to the law. Yes. But this man then, Mordecai,
but in the end, in the end, God meant it for good. So what happened? The king could not sleep one
night. And they brought to him the chronicles
of that that had gone on. And he sees how Mordecai has
delivered him. And then he realizes that Mordecai
is one who needs to be favored. Yes, what a beautiful word that
is. On that night could not the king
sleep. Everything in God's control,
everything in God's management. What honour and dignity have
been done to Mordyke, I for this says the King. Yes. Of course he couldn't sleep because
the Lord is working, the Lord is turning an evil matter into
a good one, good for his people to deliver them. And the very
evil man that's delivered this, as we read later in the chapter,
that he built the gallows. Oh, when they were high, they
were 50 cubits high, which he made for Mordecai. and then that
solemn verse, so they hanged Haman on the gallows that he
had prepared for Mordecai. Yes, then was the king's wrath
pacified. He turned it into good for his
people. So that they then, and it speaks
later in in that book of Esther of the
days when they would rest and a day of feasting and gladness
amongst the Lord's people, a day of gladness and feasting and
a good day and of sending portions one to another, a good day. Friends, it's wonderful when
we have a good day in the courts of God, isn't it? But as for
you, you thought evil against me. Friends, there is opposition. Those that think evil against
us. Those that would overturn us,
perhaps. And we can see it naturally.
We've known what it is in our life to have those that come
against us, and I'm sure some of you have. But equally, there
is the enemy of souls, Satan. Who thinks evil against the Lord's
people? And my friends, he does. And
I say this, but those insinuations, those thoughts that come into
your mind and the things that he does are to make you, well,
at times tremble. He's an enemy, an enemy. Do you
know him as an enemy? Or do you not know what I'm talking
about? It's a solemn statement, friends, but I feel this. It
is a wonderful thing to know the opposition of the enemy of
souls. And that is, and thoughts come
into our mind. It's not one that we see, there's
those thoughts. Let me try and put this simply.
I believe the Lord had given me a word to go and preach this
last Thursday. But there I am laid low with
a stomach upset. And I'm thinking that they tried
and I can't go and preach. But the enemy comes in and says,
ah, you see how easy it is for me to stop you preaching? You
see how easy it is for me to put a stamp and to stop those
things that are occurring? Yes. And those thoughts in your
mind, they go round and round and we feel the enemy controls
our thoughts. And we start getting carried
away with it. Like he might say to you, look
how impossible it is that you'll ever see deliverance in the matter
that you're desiring to see deliverance in. Look how impossible it is
that your soul should ever be saved. And he'll tell you you've
committed the unpardonable sin. And he'll tell you that you've
gone too far into the life of sinning. And he'll say, look,
you're a closet sinner. No one else knows how bad you
are. You look good there in your suit and your tie and smartly
dressed with your hat on, whatever it is. But he says, look on your,
I know what's in your heart, says the enemy. Friends, the
enemy of souls will attack the Lord's people. As for you, you
thought evil against me. All that we could say. And you
know, friends, there are those times when the Lord blesses his
dear people, we feel we can say, get thee behind me, Satan. Be
gone, be gone, because. Because the Lord has blessed
me, the Lord has been with me, you know he'll be gone. Satan
trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. And I'll
tell you friends, he's gone when the Lord comes. Because why? God meant it unto
good. How he turns around these things. Friends, I believe this. You
read about Job, that Satan was permitted to go so far with Job,
a long way actually. I often think of Job and his
pathway. But he was permitted to go so
far and no further. And it's the same for you. But
you see, God in heaven knows how far Satan will go with you
and I. But it's opposition, opposition.
But we overcome. We will overcome through him. As one said to me earlier this
month, and it is so, that Satan is mighty, but God is almighty. And we see it in this word. God
meant it unto good, unto good, the good of our soul, and even
Satan working, friends, and we found it. This very week, we
found it. Before Thursday night was over,
I had an encouragement through the word that had been preached
earlier. Someone had listened to a recorded
sermon on the internet. And you see, friends, this is
it. This is it, that Satan tells
us all this is bad and even if we're missing one service that
our preaching days are over. And what good are they anyway?
And then you see the Lord comes and shows us that, yes, his work,
his work It's great. God meant it unto good and it's
for the good of our souls. It's to bring us in prayer. It's
to have that closer walk with him and that desire to live nearer
to him, which is exactly as we should have. Yes. But you see,
the wonderful thing is God means it to good. These things, this
opposition and these things in our own heart where we oppose
the word, opposed the word, where we even, perhaps in our youth,
hated the word of God. And then he turns it around so
that we have a love to him. You see, friends, that opposition. You know, I was reading about
Mr. John Pocock. It's lovely to read of that dear
man. He was a deacon at South Moreton,
the current pastor's father. And as a, As a young child, you know, when
he was four, one of his elder sisters pulled him out of a pond.
He was drowning. And he said, then a year later,
he and a brother got, I think it was scarlet fever. The brother
died. He was preserved. And he said,
I could see God preserving me. and keeping me. But God, you
see, but God's power evidenced. And he said, but then he said,
I found that as I got into my teens, I wanted to go the way
of the world and went to the cinema and got involved with
other things and was working with animals and would use them
as an excuse, friends. to not go to the house of God
on the Lord's day. Oh, I've got to feed the animals.
I've got to look after the animals when he could have done it before
and still ended up going to chapel. But there was a day, there was
a day when despite all his natural opposition, and that's the first
part, he thought evil against me. We think evil against our
own souls in a way, friends. The opposition in the flesh to
religion, it doesn't want it and he didn't want it as a young
person. But the Lord came one day and
he heard a minister, a Mr William Hope, I believe his name was,
and he was preaching at Grove Chapel and he said he just spoke
about eternity. He said, I couldn't grasp it,
but I feel came out of that service full of fear and trembling. But
he says this, I had a girlfriend and she was not a chapel girl,
but she sat with me for that service. She occasionally would
come with me. And he said this, he said it
had such an impact on me and it had no impact on her whatsoever. And that struck him as very solemn
too, to realise the work of God, but God, he meant He said it
meant these things for him for good, for his never dying soul.
And you know, it wasn't long after he had to come away from
that girl and things went in that way. But he said, whereas
as a young man, I hated hearing about sin. He said, then I came
to have to plead that word, God be merciful to me a sinner. Yes,
God means it to good. He means things for good, for
our soul's good you see. And that's why we come into these
providential difficulties, these chapel difficulties, these family
difficulties, as well as our soul challenges friends, all
these things that the Lord works in. And you know there's such
a beautiful First, it's been on my mind all day, really, which
we love in Romans 8. And we know, spiritually taught,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. We
know, we know that all things work together for good. I wonder
whether you can say that tonight, dear friend. It needs the Lord,
doesn't it, to come in. All things, all things work together
for good. Yes, you know, we've only got
to read back a chapter or two and we've got dear Jacob saying
all these things are against me. No, Jacob, all things work
together for good, Jacob. All these things are against
me. But dear Jacob had to prove, did he not, that Joseph, my son,
is yet alive. And when he saw the wagons coming,
his spirit revived within him. So were yours, friend. And perhaps
that's where you are. All these things are against
me. And that's it. You thought evil against me.
All these things are against me. But God meant it unto good. The spirit will be revised. to
bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Now
this latter part of the word You see, in a natural sense here,
the ability given unto Joseph to interpret the dream, so he
understood that there would be the seven years of plenty and
then the seven lean years, so that therefore they would put
in store enough corn for the seven years of lean years. And that was all a gift given
unto Joseph. What that did was to save many
people that came to the land of Egypt to get corn, including
all the family that had come up from Canaan of Joseph's brethren
and his father. So it did save much people. God meant it unto good. Now friends,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We would that we could preach
the Lord Jesus, you know, I said the gospel's in this chapter,
but in this verse, you know, to bring to pass, to save much
people. What did the Lord Jesus have
to go through? You know, that start at the beginning
of his life, opposition. Herod, I will have this child. I will kill all the children
that are under the age of two. Yes, and at first, you see at
first Herod's very clever, he calls the wise men, his own wise
men, and he's got the wise men that have come to him and he
inquires at what time the star appears. It's not shown to Herod,
is it? It's hidden from Herod. And then
he sends them to Bethlehem, go and search diligently for the
young child. And how disingenuous is he when
he says, bring me word again, I may come and worship him also.
Yes, well, you see, thankfully they were warned of God in a
dream. They should not return to Herod, whose intention was
to to kill. He saw opposition. He saw that
he was king and here was a king coming, him to be king of the
Jews, which is what the wise men said. And he saw there was
one who was going to come against him. And so he opposed the Lord
Jesus Friends. Before Jesus was even a few, we don't know how old, but
before he was, as he was still a young child, certainly less
than two years old, there was that massive opposition, huge
opposition. But he had a work to do to save,
exactly as it says in the end of our text, to save much people,
to save much people. alive, spiritually alive. And as we read on from there
that Herod, he was mocked and he was exceeding wrath and he
slew all the children in all the coasts from two years old
and under. How solemn. But you see, then there was much
opposition and friends, many sermons could be filled talking
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees I wonder if we might talk of
the disciples. Oh, you might say, well, did
they oppose the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, where were they? Where
were they in the end when he went? Peter said, I'll go with
you, Lord. All the way, really, he said,
I'll be with you. But he wasn't, was he? How solemn,
friends. What about our opposition? Do
we oppose others that have the truth in them? What a solemn
thought, how close these things come to us. You see, friends,
oh, we need much wisdom, don't we, in the things of God. And
I believe we're poor disciples of Him. But you see, you then
come to the solemn time that there were those that reviled
Him upon the cross. They say, if thou be the Son
of God, come down from the cross. Opposition friends, opposition. And then they ridiculed him and
he trusted in God, let him deliver him now and all these things. Yes, you see the Lord Jesus Christ
had to go through with that opposition finally on the cross. But friends, I see a risen Christ
in our text. Yes, to bring to pass that it
is his day to save much people alive, because he rose again. Because this, Pilate said this,
ye have a watch, watch over the grave, go your way, make it as
sure as you can. That's opposition, friends, if
ever there was. Oh, they read that this that
the sepulchre need to be made sure until the third day. They
knew that Jesus had spoken of rising on the third day. So this,
they went, they made the sepulchre sure and they sealed the stone
and they set the watch. Opposition, impossible situation. But this friends, This, friends,
he is not here. The angel said to the women that
came, he is not here, he is risen. He's risen. And in those few words. the saviour
having risen, the saviour, vain was the watch, vain was the seal,
vain was the stone and vain is all opposition to God's work
and certainly the work of salvation, it is done, it is done and it
is finished and then to the resurrection and the ascension into heaven
and it's completed work. And friends, no amount of work
of the enemy, no amount of opposition will change the glorious theme
is that this, as it is today, to save much people, they shall
be saved. They shall be mine, saith the
Lord, when I make up my jewels. Friends, does that include you? Does it include me? They shall
be mine. Yes. Oh, friends, I feel we look
on the opposition and we look at them and oh, and it may be
those things like the mountains in our pathway, but we look at
these things and we don't keep our eyes on Jesus fixed and dare
our hopes to stay and he will make his goodness pass before
us in the way. Friends, those troubles and those
difficulties, those things tonight, may you prove Indeed, as we were
saying, that the subject is all for the best. Oh, it may not
seem to be for the best at the moment. What I do, thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt now know hereafter. Whether that means
later on in this life or hereafter in heaven, but what I do thou
knowest not now, thou shalt know. Thou shalt know. Yes, friends,
really, as we tried to speak this afternoon on those two words,
this but God, you see that that's all the difference. And we read
this about that we are justified by faith and that we and it speaks,
Paul speaks to the Romans of our sins, but he says this but
God. commended his love towards us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's why
there's life, friends. That's why there is this eternal
life, to save much people alive, yes. Friends, I think this, try
and pray that God would show you this, but God means it unto
good. I say that rather this is in the past tense, God meant
it unto good. But that that you're going through
at the moment, Lord show me that this is, they'll just mean it
for good for me. Mean it for the good of my soul. Oh friends, what a blessing that
would be. Oh, what a favour it would be to feel that's for the
good of your never dying soul, that you're having to walk in
the very pathway, perhaps one that you've dreaded, but you're
going in the way that you're having to go. Yes, friends, may
you prove this. God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave and indeed the power of the enemy, for he
shall receive me. And the psalmist finishes that
up with that lovely little word, Sela. Pause and consider. Friends, there's much more we're
scratching around. But what a gospel message there
is in this beautiful account. And dear Joseph had so much to
come through. Opposition of his brothers. Going
down to a strange land. And then he gets to the strange
land. And he's raised up to, and we spoke a little of his
attributes this afternoon, but we leave that this evening now,
but he was raised up to be head in Potiphar's house, opposition
of Potiphar's wife, opposition of those that took judgment against
him and put him into jail. Then he's in jail. then he's
able from there to be able to interpret the dreams. But, you
see, but although he's given that ability, he has to wait. You know, what opposition there
would have been, how would have felt those two full years? Because this, he was forgotten.
The chief butler did not remember Joseph. The baker did not because
obviously he was destroyed the third day. But you see, the butler
forgot him. For two years, friends, opposition,
opposition in every single way. And then, you see, he comes before
Pharaoh, but now is the time of God's power, the time of God's
delivering mercy. And he's able to interpret the
dreams and Pharaoh installs him in that powerful position of
number two in the land of Egypt. Yes. And he's just 30, friends. The wonders God alone can do. Well, we leave the word with
you. There's much to contemplate. But as for you, you thought evil
against me. But God meant it unto good. to
bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Amen.