May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning. As we meditate in his word, let
us turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 50, and we'll read verse
20. The book of Genesis, chapter
50, and reading 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. The life of Moses, yes, was very
wonderful. but we're thankful that he has
been able to record, under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
this account of Joseph. And what we read here with regard
to Joseph's life has, of course, application to so many people,
not in regard to this specific instance, but as the Lord graciously
deals with his people. It was, of course, over many
years that we have the evidence of God's dealing with Joseph. He was only, of course, 17 when
he had those dreams, quite a young man. And he was that age when
he was sold to the Midianites by his brethren, and therefore
we have this statement here by Moses that he says Joseph is
speaking but as for you, ye thought evil against me they didn't like
Joseph they were jealous of Joseph and therefore they wanted to
get rid of him apart from Reuben who obviously wanted to keep
his life but he was not able to do that So there we find that
Joseph was sold and went down into Egypt to live there for
13 years or so. And at that time clearly he was
tested in his faith as to whether those dreams that God had given
to him were of God. or were they were just false
with no real evidence of God being in them well we prove in
our age today perhaps not in the same way but nonetheless
we do have to prove that God does work and God does have a
program and God does have a time scale and it usually is very
different to that which we have in our little minds. But the
great truth is that in Joseph's case it was to work out for many
people's good and most of all of course for the honour and
glory of God. And what a blessing for us it
is to be able to consider to meditate, to think upon God's
dealings with us and come to a right conclusion Joseph came
here to a very good and a very right conclusion when he was
able to tell them you meant it for evil but God meant it unto
good and if we ponder that to think
of our lives if we are a true child of God if we are a believer
we can come to this conclusion that whatever occurs in our life
God means it for good good for our souls eternally good for
us we may not think about it at the time no doubt Joseph couldn't
understand it why he was all those years in prison and he
hadn't done anything wrong and yet he was in prison let us not
be too disturbed if we find ourselves as it were in prison perhaps
sometimes it is a spiritual prison sometimes it's a famine of the
hearing of the word but to realise that God allows these things
to occur indeed we should say causes them to occur for the
benefit of our eternal soul and that should be a wonderful strength
and a wonderful encouragement to us as we journey on and to
thank God that we have therefore such a record in the word of
God, such, we might say, an outstanding account of Joseph passing this
way. And of course, his brethren didn't
realise really what had occurred and they were afraid when we're
told Joseph revealed himself unto them after the second year
of the famine in Egypt. when they came again a second
time and Joseph then eventually told them who he was and it was
of course a great shock to them but eventually they were so thankful
and rejoiced in it and so no doubt they had this burden in
their hearts this sin which they'd done no getting away from it
they desired the death of Joseph sometimes we need to just be
very careful in our own estimation we don't perhaps do such a thing
as this but we may perhaps wish that sometimes people weren't
there or out of the way or were far off you know the effect is
really not any different to such a statement as this that we thought
evil perhaps do think evil about people and wish they weren't
there well the position was that Joseph's brethren were really
acting the position as murderers and perhaps we've been in that
situation and it's a good thing when God convinces us of that
often think we're very upright and very good and we haven't
disobeyed this command and that command and we definitely have
not committed murder well we may have done so in our minds
by wishing someone was out of the way see this is a very solemn
realisation but what it does under the influence of God it
brings us into a condition of conviction And we then are eventually
brought, like these people were, these brethren were, to confess
their sins, the evil that they had done. And they came and they
sent a messenger. They weren't, as it appeared,
almost brave enough themselves. They sent a messenger, the Joseph.
And this is what the messenger was to say. Forgive, I pray thee
now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin. For they did unto
thee evil. Now we pray thee, forgive the
trespass of the servants of the God of thy Father. Well, eventually
they came to confession. And it's a good thing, isn't
it? When God touches our hearts, perhaps in a sin not necessarily
this but perhaps a sin which we have committed and the Lord
brings us to a confession of it well we see the effect it
had upon Joseph Joseph wept when they spake unto him he didn't
bear any malice against them And He didn't bear any malice
against them because He was able to tell them this very great
and important truth. 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. God's work had to be performed
and God's work was worked out in a very amazing way no one
would have thought when Joseph went to look for his brethren
all those years ago that he would be found in that prison house
and that he would have been able to have given the interpretation
of the dreams of the butler and baker and the butler was to be
restored to his position and the butler would have forgotten
about Joseph two more years until the appointed time that God had
ordained in eternity past to bring Joseph out of prison and
to be able to give the interpretation of that dream or those dreams
that Pharaoh had and the result was of course he was placed second
in command in that place in Egypt well beyond man's natural comprehension
what a blessing it is to realise God's ways are higher than our
ways We only see the present. We don't see the future. God knows the future and God
has planned the future in every detail like he had for Joseph. And to realize that the time
came when Joseph was able to declare this truth and to tell
his brethren Fear not, for am I in the place of God? No, fear
not. You don't have anything to fear. God is the one who would judge
you. Fear not. And then he tells them so very
clearly. But as for you, you thought evil against me, but
God meant it unto good. So this morning, it will be a
blessing if you and I can look back in our lives to trace out
not the same position obviously but perhaps a similar line of
thought a similar occasion in our lives to realise that those
things that we thought so wrongly about God in his gracious and
glorious providence meant it for good and so it came to pass
and so it will come to pass and what a blessing therefore to
know we worship today this same great almighty God to think that
God means it for good that Lord brings us into situations to
cause us to realise our condition before a holy God to plead for
forgiveness and to realize that that path that God has led us
in these brethren of Joseph they didn't realize for all those
years that God was in that action which they had done yes it wasn't
obvious was it but it came to pass God's purposes were to be
fulfilled. And those purposes were to be
fulfilled for His honour and for His glory. And it is really
very amazing to trace out the wonderful benefit of this occurrence. Because what did it do? It brought
Joseph and all his brethren and his father into Egypt as the patriarchs Abraham Isaac
and Jacob had been told the prophesy prophecy came to pass and they
were to be there for 400 years a long time wasn't it but you
see God's mercy God's blessing was be was to be revealed in
a very remarkable way. And it wasn't only, of course,
to bring Israel out of Egypt. It was that, which was a very
wonderful thing. And again, if we can just draw
the analogy, it's a wonderful thing sometimes if God brings
us out of spiritual Egypt, where we've been perhaps for many,
many years in darkness and brings us out. The Egyptians came out
in a most amazing way. And of course, the final situation
which occurred was when Moses was directed to introduce the
Passover, which set before Israel, without any mistake, the blessedness
of being safe under the blood of Christ. was therefore all
in God's purpose and here it was as Moses says recording Joseph the words that
he spoke when he said God meant it unto good what a wonderful
thing it is in our lives when we can trace things out which
are for our good at the time of We may think situations are
not so good and we may think it's not good at all, we may
think it's evil. But what a mercy when God overrules
things and shows us it is for our good. God meant it unto good. What does this really bring us
to? It brings us surely as I mentioned, to deliverance. And eventually
it brought Israel to that great occasion of the Passover, when
through that sacrifice of that Lamb that was set before them,
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that of course ran on, didn't
it? Right through all those many years until the Saviour Himself
partook of that last supper in the upper room and then introduced
what we are privileged to have today as the Lord's Supper. What do we see? We see a wonderful
and glorious chain of God appearing and God working. And my friends,
God didn't stop working then. He continues working right through
to our day today. And what a mercy, therefore,
in our lives, if we can see God's hand upon us, bringing, perhaps,
things which we didn't want to occur, we didn't expect to occur,
and they appear to us evil. No, they were for good. God meant it unto good. And so,
what a blessing for us today. to be able to sit, ponder and
meditate upon the good hand of God upon us like the good hand
of God was upon the Israelites all those many years ago the
Lord appeared, the Lord appeared in a wonderful way to Joseph
in that deliverance and when that deliverance came there was
no stopping it The deliverance was brought about by the king
of Egypt. Nonetheless, it was the king
that brought Joseph out of prison. It was the king that established
Joseph in that position, a second ruler of the land. And my friends,
today, we can surely say it is the king of kings the Blessed
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who brings us out of prison,
who puts us in a position which will be good for us and be good
for His honour and for His glory. As we trace through the lives
of the children of God, in the Word of God, one thing is very
clear, that when their lives are laid out as it were spread
out the one thing that shows forth is the work of God the
work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and the evidence of it
is joy and rejoicing and the evidence of it brings honour
and glory to God how often I say and often it's true and often
we need to recognise it and seek to observe it that our lives
are for the honour and glory of God in every detail it was
so in the case of Joseph after all those many years it was so
and of course we might say well of course the Israelites had
to stay in Egypt for a hundred years it was many years before
they were brought out and in that place they had to endure
hardship, bondage it wasn't an easy life at all never expect
an easy life on this earth never expect a life of smoothness and
without any problem but do expect a good end and do expect a deliverance
and do expect that God will be with you and he won't forsake
you, although it may appear sometimes as though he has, as Joseph tells
us, when he was in prison. The Word of God tried him. He
was tested, and it is so in our spiritual life. Don't expect
to live a life of ease and comfort with everything glowing and joyful. No, the devil comes and wants
to destroy. the work of God if he can, but
he never will be able to it will be tested but the good news is
that which is of the Spirit of God will only shine brighter
because it is pure it's like gold, it shines brighter as all
that which is not gold is removed as gold passes through a furnace
through heat and all that which is false and not true gold is
burnt off so it will be in the life of God's people all that
which is false and wrong will be burnt off and that which is
his work gold in the furnace tried it only loses dross and
so it is in our spiritual life the Lord brings us into these
times of a testing to purify us as it were to set our hearts
and our affections more clearly on the things of God and not
to be so sidetracked by the poor things of this world what a blessing
it is to know that we have a God who is dealing with us and indeed
means everything for our good. It will prove his grace. It'll prove his mercy. It'll
prove his favor. What it is good, you know, when
Joseph revealed himself to his brethren, and of course, they
were very concerned and very worried about it. We're told
they were troubled at his presence. Joseph said on his breath, Come
near to me, I pray. And they came near and he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, who you saw in Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. For God did send me before you
to preserve life. yes God's purposes were worked
out and in one sense Joseph's brethren were used by God to
bring this about and we know of course Joseph's brethren were
godly people the patriarchs they were godly people and so God
was with them and he allowed them allowed them to do this
sinful act so that his purposes would be revealed and to be worked
out well it's a solemn thing when the Lord allows us perhaps
to do things which are wrong but it's a mercy when God shows
us that yes, God allowed us to do that to bring about his purposes
And of course, the result was, without any doubt, praise to
God, praise for his deliverance, praise indeed. Dear old Jacob
was brought up once again to see his son. Never thought he
would. Convinced his son was dead. But the time came. when he found
his son was not dead. And when he had the evidence
of all those wagons which Pharaoh had sent to bring Jacob, then
you see his heart revived, his spirit revived. And he said,
Joseph is yet alive. I will go and see him before
I die. What a favour it is to realise
we worship today the same great almighty God who doers with us
in our little lives, in our little circle. We might think it's very
insignificant. Well, let's remember that all
God's people are precious to Him. And the blessed saviour has died
to atone for the sins of all his people. The blessed saviour
died to atone for the sins of Joseph's brethren. The blessed
saviour has died to atone for the sins of all his people down
through the ages until the end of time. And what a favour it
is to know that the Lord Jesus has died for our sins whatever
they may be however hidden they may be you know these brethren
they kept this from poor old Jacob hadn't they Jacob didn't
know anything about it he thought his son was dead all those years
you see 17 years or so it was But the time came when God in
his mercy would show to Jacob, his son was alive and he was
able to go and meet him and see him before he died and spend
a few years in that place. What a wonder working God we
have. And so we should never think
that our life is unobserved by God. we should never think well
I don't think God can be in this at all we should realise God's purposes
are worked out day by day God's purposes will be fulfilled
there will be no doubt about them and we can think can we
not in the New Testament we can think of Paul and Silas, when
you think of Peter, they were imprisoned, weren't they? Not
because they'd done anything wrong in accordance with the
laws of the land. They never disobeyed God. They fulfilled His commandments.
And especially, we might think perhaps, in Paul and Silas, how
they'd gone over into Macedonia, into Philippi, and there preached
the Gospel, and because of that which they had done, they were
obeying God they were taken, put in prison and beaten we should
not think perhaps, sometimes that if we are doing God's will
we should escape any difficulty we may think, well everything
is going to be smooth now I'm obeying God and I'm walking this
way well Joseph obeyed his God Paul and Silas obeyed their God. Paul obeyed his God. Peter obeyed his God. But they
all faced difficulties. They all faced opposition. And
not in a small way, not just a few words. We can read the
account of the Apostle Paul. He was beaten many times, put
in prison many times, stoned. Great opposition. But it was
all in the purpose of Almighty God. And it was all for the blessing
of God's people. And so let us not therefore be
discouraged if we find things aren't working quite as smoothly
or quite as well as we anticipated. Or perhaps a little pattern that
we'd written out or perhaps thought out isn't being performed. We're finding things are far
more difficult than we anticipated. Well, remember God's servants? Remember Paul? Remember Philip? Remember Joseph? Yes, what a blessing it was that
God appeared for them. And of course, in the case of
Paul and Silas, you know when they were imprisoned there was
a wonderful outcome and the outcome was the jailer who was jailed
who was the keeper of them when the earthquake occurred and all
the prison doors were opened and he thought the prisoners
had all escaped but Paul said no do thyself no harm we're all
here safe and the jailer sprang in and called for a light and
heard the good news. And then clearly the apostle
Paul preached the gospel to him and his house so that come the
morning they were all willing and desirous to be baptised and
to follow the Lord. What a case that was. That was
surely God was meaning it for good. He meant it for good. Paul
had to be in prison with Silas. in order for the jailer and his
house to be born again. God's work. Wonderful, isn't
it? And so let us not therefore be
discouraged, even today, when things may not appear to be going
just as we hoped. Fear not. Fear not. That's what was said. For am
I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil
against me but God meant it unto good well it's good if you and
I can ponder these words ponder these statements because as we
know Joseph was a type of Christ and it's a good thing to be able
to realize such a truth and to trace out God's gracious dealings
with Joseph. And how he was given grace to
endure. Given grace to endure. Must have
been very hard, mustn't it? All those years in prison. Prisons
weren't as comfortable as they are today. It was hard there. And yet you see, he didn't despair. He was resting in his God. And the appointed time came when
there was to be this great and wonderful deliverance. He was
delivered. He was able to bring his father
and brethren down into Egypt. He was able to bury his father
back in that place that Jacob had commanded him so to do. And
then when they had returned, it was then his brethren came
fearful what would happen to them fearful of what would occur
they said and he said they came and said they said Joseph will
perventure hate us and will certainly requite us of all the evil which
we did unto him that was what they thought that's what they
deserved but it was clear there was no such thought in the heart
of Joseph no God had dealt with graciously with him and Joseph
and a love to his brethren and therefore what a mercy it is
and his brethren also went and fell down before his face and
they said behold we be thy servants Joseph said fear not for am I
in the place of God 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. Well that was what occurred in
the life of Joseph. Much people were to be saved
alive through that interdisposition. But what a mercy it is for us
today to realise that things still work out in our lives. That God brings to pass those
things which are for our good and above all things are for
His honour and for His glory. How we need to be conscious and
to realise again and again that our lives on this earth are not
to please ourselves in everything we do and say. We are to recognise
that we are bought with a price. The price of the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy then to know that,
to have the evidence that we are amongst those for whom Christ
has died, for those for whom Christ rose again, for those
for whom Christ intercedes even today at the Father's right hand. Such puny, evil sinners as you
and I are to think that this blessed Saviour intercedes to
his father, to our father, so that our prayers are received. They are accepted and answers
do come in God's way and in God's time. We must be very aware not
to think that our prayers are going to be answered in a specific
way. God answers the prayers of his
people in a way which honours and glorifies His name and doesn't
leave any room for pride. What a blessing that is. By nature,
how proud we are. What a blessing it is that God
deals with us in such wonderful love, so that we are able and
we don't want to glory in it ourselves. We desire to glory
our God for what he's done, for his great grace, for his wonderful
mercy in not dealing with us as our sins deserve. And of course,
in this case, not dealing with Joseph's brethren as their sins
deserve and perhaps others that we are in contact with. God doesn't
deal with them as their sins deserve. And so this morning,
may we ponder these gracious words. But as for you, yes, unworthy
sinners as we are, as for us, ye thought evil against me. We
do think evil, we have thought evil, but to realise this great
truth that God meant it unto good. It was all ordained, nothing
by chance, every detail worked out, every detail. for the honour
and glory of our God and for the blessing of our souls to
bring to pass, God brings it to pass, everything, nothing
fails, ordained by God. Go home rejoicing in the truth
of God, rejoice in the providence of God, rejoice in the love of
God, rejoice in the grace of God, rejoice in the mercy of
God to such unworthy sinners and to believe, therefore, if
we have the evidence of his goodness to warn us that one day we shall
be with him in glory with all the Church of God to praise him
throughout eternity. A wonderful prospect to the Church
of God. Amen.