In His Hand

Q: What does the Bible say about Joseph's story?

Joseph's story illustrates God's providence and how He uses trials for a greater purpose. Joseph's life, as depicted in Genesis 39, showcases the providence of God in every trial he faces. Initially sold into slavery in Egypt, Joseph remained faithful, exemplifying obedience and righteousness. His journey from a slave to overseer, and eventually to a prisoner, can seem dire, but each situation was controlled by God's sovereign hand. Ultimately, Joseph's suffering led to the salvation of many lives during a famine, showing that God works through adversity for a greater good.

Q: How do we know God's providence is real?

God's providence is manifest in Scripture, showcasing His control over all circumstances. Divine providence is a recurring theme throughout Scripture, illustrated vividly in Joseph's life. In Genesis 39, we see God with Joseph, orchestrating events so that everything Joseph did prospered, despite the challenges he faced. Essence of God's providential care is also reflected in passages like Romans 8:28, affirming that all things work together for the good of those who love Him. Understanding God's sovereign control reassures believers that every trial has purpose, affirming the reality of His providential plan.

Q: Why is Christ's humility significant?

Christ's humility is significant as it demonstrates His obedience and the path to redemption. The humility of Christ, as shown in Philippians 2:7-8, underscores His willingness to take on the form of a servant. This humility is mirrored in Joseph's life; both faced significant injustices yet remained faithful. Christ was exalted following His humiliation, just as Joseph was ultimately elevated to a position of authority. This narrative illustrates the biblical principle that through suffering and humility, divine purposes are fulfilled, culminating in God's glorification in the world.

Q: What is the significance of being 'in His hand'?

'In His hand' signifies security and authority entrusted by the Father to Christ for the salvation of His people. 'In His hand' refers to the deep relational and security implications of belonging to Christ. As depicted in John 10:28-29, believers are secured in Christ, who holds eternal authority over their salvation. Joseph's story emphasizes that God placed everything in Joseph's hand, foreshadowing how God the Father entrusted all things to His Son. This encapsulates the assurance that our salvation, eternal life, and relationship with God are firmly secure in Christ's hands, reflecting the sovereign grace extended to us.

Q: How does Joseph's life reflect Christ?

Joseph's life is a typological foreshadowing of Christ's suffering and eventual exaltation. Joseph serves as a type of Christ throughout his narrative, embodying righteousness, suffering for the sins of others, and ultimately achieving victory. Like Christ, Joseph faced betrayal, false accusations, and unjust punishment; however, these trials were part of God's divine plan for redemption. Joseph's journey from the pit to prominence illustrates how suffering can lead to salvation, echoing the greater redemptive arc found in the life of Christ, who suffered for the sins of His people and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father.

Genesis 39, and Joseph was brought
down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain
of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites,
which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, in that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over his
house and all that he had put into his hand. All that he had,
he put. into his hand. Now, you know,
before we begin this tonight, that Joseph from his very birth,
and we know from messages we've heard before and what we've seen
already in Genesis, that Joseph is a clear and beautiful type
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a picture of Christ. And we see the rich
language here. And as we read it, we see our
Lord. And it came to pass from that
time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that
he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's
sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in
Joseph's hand. And he knew not all he had, save
the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person
and well favored. He was goodly. And it came to
pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes
upon Joseph. And she said, lie with me. But
he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold, my master,
what if not what is with me in the house? And he has committed
all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this
house than I. Neither hath he kept back anything
from me but thee because thou art his wife. How then can I
do this great wickedness and sin against God? And it came
to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened
to not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. And it came
to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to
do his business. And there was none of the men
of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment
saying, lie with me. And he left his garment in her
hand. and fled and got him out. And it came to pass when she
saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth,
that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them,
saying, See, he hath brought in in Hebrew unto us to mock
us. He came in unto me to lie with
me, and I cried with a loud voice, And it came to pass when he heard
that I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment
with me and fled and got him out. And she laid up his garment
by her until his Lord came home. And she spake unto him according
to these words, saying, the Hebrew servant which thou hast brought
unto us came in unto me to mock me. And it came to pass as I
lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with
me and fled out. And it came to pass when His
master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him,
saying, After this manner did that servant to me, that his
wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him
and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners
were bound. And he was there in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. And whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked
not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was
with him. And that which he did, the Lord
made it to prosper. In the first verse, we see these
words that are so meaningful in the life of Joseph and his
brethren. Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Those are weighty words because
as Joseph would know later, he didn't know this now, but he
would know this later and he would say it. God did this to
save much people alive. That's why Joseph was brought
down to Egypt, because in the good purpose of God's grace,
he purposed to save a people. That's why our Lord Jesus Christ
was brought down to Egypt, because God had purposed to save a people. It would have been impossible
to see this when he was first brought there, but if Joseph
is not brought down to Egypt, then he can never be sold into
Potiphar's house. who just happened to be an officer
of Pharaoh, by the way. And if he's not in Potiphar's
house, then he doesn't get falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. And
if not, then he doesn't go to prison. And if he doesn't go
to prison, he doesn't meet Pharaoh's chief butler. And if he doesn't
meet Pharaoh's chief butler, and he never hears that butler's
dream, then the butler has nothing to tell Pharaoh later when Pharaoh
has a dream. And then Pharaoh never calls
Joseph to his house. And then Joseph never has any
influence over Pharaoh. And then Pharaoh will never implement
Joseph's plan to save food so that during the great famine,
thousands and perhaps millions will have something to eat rather
than starve to death. And Joseph's family, his brothers
and his family will die. Joseph was brought down to Egypt. So this day is a dark one in
Joseph's life, but in God's providence, it's a bright beacon of hope
that will one day result in the salvation of much people. You
can't see this bright beacon except in hindsight. And how
often is that the case with us? But learning from this, reading
this, knowing God's way, Knowing how powerfully and secretly he
works in everyday circumstance and how he turns evil to his
own glory and to the good of his sheep. Knowing these things,
we can never look at a trial the same again, can we? Can you? When you see that this God is
on the throne, can you ever have a dark day in your life and look
at it the same way that you did before you knew him? And our
Lord Jesus Christ, like this one who pictures him so wonderfully,
was brought down for the same reason, to save much people alive. He was brought down to this sin-wrecked
world, which is pictured by Egypt in all of the book. And God brought
him down here where we are in order to save us, in order to
save his family. First Timothy 115, this is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came down to Egypt, came into this world to save sinners,
of whom I'm chief. Oh, let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery, to be equal with God. He could say,
if you've seen me, you've seen God and not be robbing God of
his glory, but made himself of no reputation and took on him
the form of a servant. Joseph served faithfully and
was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion As
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Joseph, our heavenly Joseph,
must sit on the throne. He must be given all power and
authority. He was always destined to rule.
There was always a throne with Joseph's name on it. But first,
there must be humiliation. There must be false accusation.
There must be an arrest. And he must pay the penalty for
somebody else's sin. As Joseph paid for the lies of
Potiphar's wife. But then, he must be highly exalted. And we'll see all of this in
the life of Joseph. He must reign. He must reign. It doesn't look like when he's
sold to these Ishmaelites and they brought him down to Egypt,
the last thought you would have ever had is that Joseph would
ever be on a throne, having all authority. But you'd have thought
wrong. He must reign. Paul wrote in
1 Corinthians 15, 24, then cometh the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the father. That's the son. He shall have
delivered up the kingdom to his father when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power for he must reign till
he has put all enemies under his feet. Joseph's going to be
on the throne. You're not going to go there
the way he might've expected if you had told him back when
he was with his father. You're gonna be on the throne
of Egypt. He would have never thought it would have happened
that way. But he gonna be on the throne. God's already established
it. That's an everlasting throne.
Look at verse two of our chapter, Genesis 39. And the Lord was
with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house
of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. That's interesting language.
Does that remind you of any passage of scripture? Everything that
he did prospered in his hand, in his hand. Everything that
Joseph did was successful. This is our gospel. The Jesus
preached by religion. He may or may not be successful.
It all depends on you. My Lord Jesus Christ shall not
fail. It was prophesied of the Lord
Jesus Christ long before he was born into this world in Isaiah
53 10. Listen to this. It pleased the
Lord God, the father to bruise him. He has put him to grief. when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand." Everything that he does will be successful. Everything. Joseph didn't look like a success,
did he? He was hated and sold into slavery
by his brothers and was servant slave in a stranger's house. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
didn't look like a success to this world, did he? He looked
like a miserable, wretched failure. But everything that he did was
successful. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. God is going to be satisfied
with his success. That's pretty successful. If
God says I'm satisfied, that's pretty successful. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify. What is his work? What's he doing
on that cross? What's he doing? under the whip
and with that crown of thorns on his head. What's he doing
being born in that manger? He's justifying many. How's he gonna do it? For he
shall bear their iniquities and he shall not fail. Everything
that my Lord Jesus Christ did as my representative now, I have
an interest in his success and you do too if you know him, if
you've believed on him. As my representative, he prospered. As my representative, the pleasure
of his father prospered in his hand. And as my savior, my redeemer,
he succeeded. He was victorious. In this world,
it prospered all that he did unto the salvation of all that
he did it for. Just as Joseph's prosperity in
Egypt eventually resulted in the salvation of his family,
every time the Lord Jesus Christ did a good deed, every time something
that he did was a success, and that was every time he did something,
even when he worked as a carpenter in his daddy's business in this
world, he did so to the glory of God. He did so in contrast
to my motive all my life for all that I've done. I worked
in some shops too, but I didn't do it like he did it. I didn't
do it for God's glory. I did it to consume it on my
own lust, just like you did. And our Lord Jesus Christ, everything
that he did, he did it for the right reason. He did it the right
way. He did it perfectly. Every time he not only did the
right thing, in his day today with dealings, in his dealings
with men and with God, but did the right things for the right
reasons. He didn't just do the right thing,
he did them for the right reasons perfectly. And everything that
he did was prospering unto my eventual salvation as he was
and is righteousness before God. He said, I do always those things
that please my Father, just like Joseph always did that which
pleased his master. In everything that he did, he
was blessed and successful. When our Savior died on Calvary,
and all that he did in his life, it was prosper us unto the salvation
of his family. And what he did in his death
on Calvary, when he died, on the cursed tree for my sins,
his sin atoning death that he accomplished there. The scriptures
speak of the death that he accomplished. My death is not an accomplishment.
That's just the defeat of my last enemy. There won't be any
more death for his people. But his death was an accomplishment. It was the accomplishment of
the redemption of God's people. It prospered unto the redeeming
of the souls of all of his elect for whom he died. Isaiah said
in 42, four of Isaiah, he shall not fail nor be discouraged till
he have set judgment in the earth. What does that mean? Till he
have set judgment in the earth. He's going to set S E T judgment
in this earth. What does that mean? As a direct
result of his finished all sufficient crosswork, Every reprobate will
be judged and condemned for the hell-deserving, God-murdering
rebels that they are. And every one of his sheep will
be judged holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in the sight
of the Holy God. He's going to set judgment in
this earth. That's what he did. Look at verses four through six
in Genesis 39. And Joseph found grace in his
sight and he served him and he served him. And he made him overseer
over his house and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the
time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that
he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's
sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he
left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he knew not all he
had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly
person and well-favored. Joseph was an obedient and righteous
servant. In verse 4 there it says, he
served him. He served Him. And our Lord said,
I didn't come here to be ministered unto, but to minister. He came to be a servant. And
He did. He served. And He served His
Father perfectly all of His life. He came down to do the will of
Him that sent Him. The Father, God the Father in
glory. And he served his father perfectly.
He was able to say, I do always those things that please the
father. In verse nine, Joseph said, how can I sin against God? How can I sin against God? How
can the Lord Jesus Christ in thought, word, or deed ever do
anything that's not in perfect conformance to the will of his
father? And notice how that God blessed
all who were in Potiphar's house for Joseph's sake. Everybody
in the master's house is blessed in every way and everything.
No good thing withheld from them. Everything working for their
good. Why? For Joseph's sake, for Christ's
sake. All that were in Potiphar's house,
they didn't deserve God's favor. They were a bunch of idolatrous
Egyptians. They didn't know Joseph's God
or care, but God blessed them for Joseph's sake. That's me. I'm an idolatrous, wretched Egyptian
with no thought for God, but God loved me anyway and blessed
me for Christ's sake. All of the blessings that we
have from God, both temporal and eternal, are for Christ's
sake. They're not because we deserve,
it's because he deserves them. We don't deserve anything from
God except wrath, but he deserves blessing and favor and exaltation
and glory. And we're going to get what he
deserves. Then see how in this brief passage, how all things
were committed into Joseph's hand, everything. And God the
Father has given all things into the hands of his son, our brother,
Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't know how really to
impress that upon us because we don't have much concept of
all things. How are you going to comprehend
the scope of what this even means? All things. My pastor Jack Shanks
used to say in Texas, and it's almost a shocking statement,
but the more you think about it, the more you realize it's
true. Vicki will remember him saying this many, many times.
He would say, Christ is all that there is. He's all that there
is. There's Christ. All things We can't even begin
to comprehend the scope of that. And even more humiliating is
our complete inability to fathom what it means that they are,
whatever all things are, they're in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I don't even know what that means. Do you? I just know it's true. Matthew
11, 27, all things he said are delivered unto me of my father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him." Do you see the context there? All things
are delivered unto me of my Father. And therefore, if you're going
to know God, Christ will have to reveal Him to you. I'm not
sure what all things are. And I don't know what it means
that they're in His hands, except I have some idea that it has
something to do with my eternal destiny. You reckon it does yours? My very soul, my eternal destiny,
whether I live eternally or die eternally, is in His hand. Matthew 11, 27. In His hand. And now that I know by his grace
that he's purposed grace toward me and not wrath, I rejoice to
be in his hand and that no man is able to pluck me out from
there. When the master of the house
put all things into the hands of the mediator, I was included
in that. Christ has authority over all
flesh. All authority is in His hand. That He should give eternal life
to as many as the Father gave Him in the eternal covenant of
grace. All judgment is delivered into
His hand. John 5, 21, for as the Father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, if the dead are going to
live, dead in trespasses and sins, but God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, hath quickened us
together with Christ. If you're going to have life,
it's going to come from him. And quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man. Now we think of the judgment
of God, we think of his wrath, don't we? God's going to judge
you, that's the wrath of God. No. Judgment here has something
to do with him quickening you or not quickening you. Even so
the Son quickeneth whom he will, for the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. It's God the Son
who will quicken you if you're going to be quickened. And this
is called judgment here, that all men, here's why he did it,
Here's why he put all judgment into the hands of his son, that
all men should honor the son, even as they honor the father.
He that honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father which
sent him. The word judgment there means
this. It doesn't have just to do with
God's judgment on you in the sense of his wrath, his condemnation. Judgment is defined this way,
a separation, a selection, an opinion or decision given concerning
anything. He's going to decide your case.
That's what it means that judgment is in his hand. He's going to
decide your case. It is not a decision that you
make. It's a decision that he makes. He's gonna decide whether
you live or you die based on nothing in you. He's gonna make
a decision. He's gonna make a separation.
He's gonna make a selection. How's he gonna do that? He quickeneth
whom he will. There's your decision right there.
It's in his hand. Everything is committed into
the hands of the son And notice the last part of verse 6 it says
he was a goodly person, you know what that word goodly means This
is our Lord Jesus Christ. It means beautiful He was beautiful Have you ever known somebody
that was beautiful didn't it it's sad what this world considers
beautiful You wouldn't think I have beautiful feet. I don't
think of myself that way. But see, our ideas of what beauty
is are all messed up, aren't they? Joseph was a beautiful
person. You know why? Because he pictured
our Lord Jesus Christ, that's why. He was beautiful. Notice in our text in verse two,
before any of what happened in the last part of the chapter
had happened, before he was ever falsely accused and put in prison. It says that the Lord was with
Joseph. And then, in verse 21, after he's falsely accused and
imprisoned, while he's sitting there in the prison house, it
says in verse 21, still the Lord was with Joseph thereto. Beautiful
two-fold lesson here. Of course, we take comfort that
it's thus with us, with all of God's little children. David said, if I make my bed
in hell, God is there with me. Does that comfort you? Does that
help you sleep at night? This applies, of course, also
to our Lord. It seemed to this world that
he was an abject failure. Everywhere he went, he was hounded
and opposed and despised, and they tried to kill him. And eventually
they did. Isaiah said in 53 for surely
he has brought born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet. We did esteem him stricken smitten
of God and afflicted. Have you ever thought about that
verse? We did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted.
Well, wasn't he stricken smitten of God and afflicted? Yes, but
not for the reasons we thought. Isaiah is saying there, we did
esteem him being punished of God because he deserved it. We
esteemed wrong. He was afflicted by the father,
but not the way we imagined. Not because he was a loser, but
because I was a loser. Not because he deserved it, but
because I deserved it. He was wounded for our transgression. He was afflicted because I had
affliction coming to me. He suffered because I deserve
to suffer. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was on him. With his stripes we're healed.
What we considered failure was victory. Because the Father was
with Him. That's what it says that God
was with Joseph. And of our Lord Jesus Christ,
it says God was in Christ. What was He doing? Reconciling
the world unto Himself. It didn't look that way to men,
but that's what He was doing. He was winning the victory for
His people. In verses 7 through 20 of Genesis
39, we won't read them again. You'll remember the story. It'll
be in your mind as we talk about this. Joseph is tempted to commit
sin. A pretty strong temptation, I
would imagine. But he refuses. By the grace
of God, he refuses and says, how can I do this evil in the
sight of God? And he reminds us here again
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was tempted in all points, like
as we are, yet without sin. Tempted of the devil in the wilderness,
he said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. He said, it
is written. And he resisted the devil. Our
father Adam in the garden, willfully and deliberately chose to yield
to the temptation of sin. And Joseph here also had a choice
to make, didn't he? And he chose by God's grace,
the glory of God. He chose not to sin against his
God. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ.
See, he was never tempted in the same way that we are. And
when we say I was tempted to do something, that means I wanted
to do it. The Lord Jesus never wanted to sin. He never even
wanted to. He was confronted with it. He
was tested. He was tried. He was tempted.
But not like us. Because Satan had nothing in
him. But when confronted with evil,
he chose the glory of his father. Unlike the first Adam. And then
Joseph is maliciously and falsely accused. It just makes your blood
boil, doesn't it? To think about it. Difficult
for a man to resist temptation like that to begin with. And
then when you do and you still suffer for it. But he never opened
his mouth. He never defended himself in
any way. Do you see it in there anywhere? He's maliciously and falsely
accused and he pays for the sin of another. What a picture. It was Potiphar's wife who lied,
but it was Joseph who was punished for it. It was the bride that sinned. But she enjoyed the favor of
the master while somebody else suffered for her sin. Joseph
was charged, found guilty, and punished for sin that he did
not commit. And it was terrible injustice
on my part that my Savior should suffer in my place. No question
about that. And yet, there's no other way
that the justice of God can be satisfied. How is justice the
justice, the only justice there is, the justice of God? How can
it only be fully satisfied by an injustice? You answer me that,
Christ. If he's gonna save me, God's
justice can be satisfied in no other way than for him to bear
my iniquities and the punishment for them. All of God's bride,
all of the bride of Christ, we're the ones who lie. We're the ones
who sin. But someone else pays for our
treachery against God. First Peter 3.18, for Christ
also hath once suffered for sins the just for in the place of,
in the stead of the unjust. Why? That he might bring us to
God. You're not getting to God any
other way except for him to die in your place, the just for the
unjust. The just suffered for the unjust
in our chapter. And again, what a wonderful picture
of our Lord. It says in verse 19, that the
Master's wrath was kindled against Joseph. God Almighty, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, poured out His wrath upon His only begotten
Son. And again, I don't know what
I'm talking about. The Lord will just have to give
us a glimpse, by faith somehow, of what this means. The innocent
suffered for the transgression of the guilty. And Joseph, as
I said a while ago, he never spoke a word in his own defense. Never once did he say, your wife
is the evil, and she came after me. Potiphar might have half
believed it. I'm sure he knew his wife. Maybe
not. Maybe not. It had been worth
a try, I would have thought. You reckon? No, but it didn't
happen here, because he pictured somebody greater than Joseph. Isaiah 53 7. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is done. So he opened
not his mouth. And his suffering for my sins,
pictured here by this injustice done to Joseph, is pictured another
way in the last three verses of Genesis 39. Look at them with
me. But the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. Who do you think that is? The
keeper of the prison. Joseph had his favor. And the
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners
they were given to Joseph. And whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer. The keeper of the prison looked
not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was
with him. He didn't even have to check
on him. And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
It doesn't matter where you open the book. It's the same story,
the same beautiful gospel. The keeper of the prison clearly
is God the Father. His justice is perfect and uncompromising
and all who are guilty are imprisoned and ultimately punished. The
prisoners are us. And in this case, his people. What the law has said, it has
said to us who are under the law that our mouths may be stopped
and that we might become guilty. We might realize that we're guilty
and own ourselves to be guilty before God. And all of us are
born sinners, violators of the law. and are under bondage to
God's law and prisoners of justice by nature, by nature. But there's one among us, one
numbered with the transgressors who has favor with the keeper
of the prison. He hath done nothing amiss. Joseph
didn't do anything to deserve prison. But he was in there with
him. But he had the favor of the keeper.
And the keeper of the prison committed all the prisoners into
the hands of Joseph. Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thou me with the glory I had with thee. Turn there with me,
John 17. I don't want to misquote it. And we could turn to any number
of verses of scripture to see this, and it's repeated over
and over in John 17. The hour has come, verse one,
glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. The keeper of the
prison gave the prisoners into the hand, of Joseph. And the
keeper of the prison has made it so that whatever we the prisoners
did, he was the doer of it. Verse 22 in our text. He was
the doer of it. In other words, he was made responsible
for us, the prisoners. God made him the Lord Jesus Christ,
the shepherd and bishop of our souls. You know what a bishop,
a shepherd, you know what that is, he's responsible for the
sheep. Anything happen to the sheep, the shepherd takes care
of it. The shepherd, the bishop is one
who's given the charge of some people or whatever. In this case,
the people of God. He's given the charge over, he's
given the responsibility for us. We're under his authority
and care. That's what a bishop is. He's
our mediator. He's responsible for our debt.
He's responsible for everything we do, have done and will do. He is the doer of it. We are
committed to his hand. Now you think about this. He
is the doer of it. Whatever we do, he's the doer
of it. My sin was laid upon him. And he was punished as the doer
of it. He's responsible for everything
that I did. Not for the sins of all men,
but for the sins of all of God's prisoners, all of God's people,
all of those given to him in the covenant of grace. He's the
doer of what they do. He's responsible. He paid for
everything I did. He was punished as the doer of
it. Now think about it in another
way. My righteousness, my righteousness before God, I've got to have
a righteousness. Am I righteous before God? Am
I holy? Nobody gonna enter into his holy
hill except he that have clean hands and a pure heart. What
about my righteousness? He's the doer of it. He's the
doer of it. I'm perfect, spotless, sinless,
unblameable, and unreprovable in the sight of God. Everything
I've ever done is perfect. Here's what you need to know
about that, though. He's the doer of it. And with regard to this whole
arrangement, it must be said, as it is written in the last
words of this chapter, the Lord made it to prosper. He was and
is successful as my righteousness and sin bearer. Amen and hallelujah. That's a pretty good way to end
the day right there. Let's bow in prayer. Gracious Father, thank you for
this glorious news, this wonderful, wonderful gospel. Thank you for
the woman pictured by Joseph in this chapter of your book,
for the beautiful truths that we see in this type. Thank you
for our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we were given, and who's
responsible for us, and who has prospered in all that he's done
to the salvation of his family. Bless our thoughts. and our hearts
to be able to think upon and to rightly contemplate our Lord
Jesus. And to be able, by your grace,
to honestly and in truth worship Him. He's worthy
to be worshiped. Help us to worship Him. And not
just today, not just when we're here, But as we go, as we go
through this life to worship Him who's worthy, bless us, Lord,
with a love for the Lord Jesus that causes us to desire His
glory in all that we do, in all that we say. Bless this church
and use us for His sake. In His precious name we pray.
Amen. Amen. I think Vicki made some
cupcakes if you want to stay and eat a cupcake. Somebody got
a year older today. I don't know who. We'll eat a
cupcake anyway. You're dismissed.

In His Hand

What does the Bible say about Joseph's story?

How do we know God's providence is real?

Why is Christ's humility significant?

What is the significance of being 'in His hand'?

How does Joseph's life reflect Christ?

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In His Hand

What does the Bible say about Joseph's story?

How do we know God's providence is real?

Why is Christ's humility significant?

What is the significance of being 'in His hand'?

How does Joseph's life reflect Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

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