Introduction:
Everyone I know believes what the Bible says in the first verse of Psalm 73—that “truly God is good to … those who are pure in heart." We believe that. I daresay everyone here holds that if someone has a pure heart, God will see to it that they receive good in return. Conversely, we also expect that if someone leads a self-centered and cruel life, God will make sure that he or she doesn't receive good in return.
We generally operate with the expectation that life should work with some fundamental fairness. This bedrock belief is so commonly accepted in our country that even those who leave God out of the equation accept it as the norm. If life is working as it should, goodness gets rewarded, badness gets punished. This conviction is almost axiomatic in America.
What parent doesn't raise their kids saying: "Be diligent on academics, be nice to others, and doors will open for you”? What society doesn't say: "Do right by the law and it will go well for you"? What employer doesn't communicate to his employees: "Work hard, keep up your end of the deal, and you'll prosper"? When you think about it, the whole ethical, legal, and economic system we call Western civilization rests on this foundation that people reap what they sow.
Now we call this principle "justice." And our national concept of it actually comes from a biblical worldview that has profoundly influenced Western culture. The Bible teaches that, at the heart of the universe there is a Creator who is both fair and purposeful, who has established links between actions and consequences. This is what is behind the assertion in Psalm 73:1 that "Truly God is good to … those who are pure in heart."
So what do you do when it doesn’t work out that way? Asaph is the God-inspired writer of Ps. 73 and he is really struggling over this very thing. In v. 2, he says, But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. In other words, "Judging from appearances, God doesn’t enforce justice evenly, and frankly, that is causing me to lose my spiritual balance." He goes on to describe the seeming injustice of life, how that the wicked get along well while the righteous struggle.
In essence he says, “I’ve discovered how life really seems to work. You try to stay humble and do good and you have a tough, mediocre life. You live by lust, power, greed, and deceit and you become a celebrity.” Sounds like he lives in America! In Asaph’s own words, we have the axiom in v. 1: Truly God is good to … those who are pure in heart? But by v. 13, he has come to another conclusion: All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
In our study of the OT man of faith, Joseph, we’ve found plenty of reasons that could lead him agree with Asaph. He was sold like cattle by his own brothers to passing slave merchants; he was falsely accused of rape by a conniving, immoral woman; he was imprisoned though innocent; he was forgotten after he had helped others out. His young adult years were littered with circumstances that seemed to defy the biblical order that God blesses the faithful and judges the wicked.
Oh how easy it would have been to let anger become bitterness, so normal to let temptation lead to immorality, so understandable to let fear foster despair, so common to let suffering turn to self-pity. Joseph had ample ammunition and power with which to formulate a spectacular revenge against his ruthless brothers, should the opportunity ever present itself.
But through it all, this admirable man stayed steady, exhibited a gentle, forgiving spirit, allowed God to work in him and through him. It was as if he was living by a different script—one that empowers a person to glorify God no matter what. Is it really possible to rise above the raw deal, to stay clean and focused when your severely tempted and tried?
This morning’s message is for all who have been abandoned, betrayed, wronged, slandered, robbed, or forgotten. Today, God has something for the bruised and confused. I want you to hear from Joseph himself as he interprets the events of his life and teaches us about LIVING BY A DIFFERENT SCRIPT.
I take you now to Gen. 45, where one of the greatest moments in the entire OT is about to unfold. We have come to the climactic point of this story we have followed for weeks. Let me ready you for this incredible scene. Last week, we saw what happened when Joseph, now the Prime Minister of Egypt, recognized his brothers who had come to purchase grain during a famine. Joseph is lead of the Lord to conceal his identity from them and unfold an elaborate plan that spanned several months in order to lead his sin-hardened brothers to a point of repentance and readiness.
The culmination of this came in 44:16 when Judah, perhaps the most immoral and heartless of all Joseph’s brothers—the very one who, 22 years before, had suggested that they sell Joseph into slavery 22 years before--comes as a broken man to openly confess the sin he and his brothers had committed against God and their younger brother.
Verse 16: And Judah said [to Joseph, whom he doesn’t recognize], “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Judah will ultimately do what he didn’t do two decades earlier with Joseph—he would offer himself as a slave in the place of Benjamin, the youngest brother.
That did it for Joseph. What happens next unfolds some two of the deepest and most important truths we can learn about life—two truths that need to become convictions of your heart, for they can equip you to march to a different drumbeat and live life according to a different script. As Joseph stands before his brothers, he reveals the first conviction we need to honor God when it all goes south:
God Will Always Bring Full Disclosure
Joseph had just heard Judah’s pleas offered while his brothers stood close by. He knew that his brothers were becoming transformed men. The time had come to reveal his identity to them. Look at 45:1-3: Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, "Make everyone go out from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
Some of the more imaginative in this room have no problem putting yourself in that royal room, where only Joseph’s eleven brothers now stand. You can see Joseph burst into tears. Years of sorrow and longing pour out in sobs before these bewildered brothers, who still don’t know who this Egyptian official really is. And then suddenly, Joseph utters a sentence that left everyone reeling: I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?
Now shift your focus to these brothers as they were processing what is going on. The Bible says they were dismayed at his presence. That’s a rather calm way to translate the Hebrew. Actually, they felt shocked, terrified to the point of trembling, blown away, not comprehending it all.
Joseph could read it in their faces, so in v. 4 tells he said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." And they came near. The Hebrew verb that Joseph uses for “coming near” means more than just a closer proximity. The word was sometimes used for coming near for the purpose of embracing or kissing someone. Joseph was inviting them into a new relationship as they stepped a little closer to him. Notice what he says as they huddled around him. "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”
Now look at their faces as one-by-one recognition begins to dawn on them. Floods of emotions surge in their hearts—alternating waves of shock and shame, of guilt and gladness strike them. The best-kept secret in all of Canaan was now out in the open. What will he do with them now? What would their father think of them when the truth comes to him? Joseph, whom they had so deeply wronged, was a living indictment, not just a guilty memory. Their chickens had come home to roost.
Listen to me, those of you who have been wounded and wronged: God’s character demands that justice will be fully served. The Lord of the universe will see to it that a full disclosure of all the wrongs you have endured will occur, and a just repayment be exacted. No one ever gets away with anything. As we saw last week, you can be sure your sins (and the sins of others against you) will find you out.
Hebrews 4:13 puts it like this: There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. You’ve been blatantly cheated, slandered, scarred—you can rest on this: He will set all things right. He will do it at exactly the right time and in the fullest possible way.
Our world doesn’t need more Clint Eastwoods, taking justice into their own hands because they don’t think God is doing a good job of it. Instead, our world needs to see a Christian who will rest in this personal promise from God: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." (Rom. 12:19). Joseph was convinced that God would handle the reckoning, and it freed him from vengeance.
God Governs Our Griefs for Our Good
Look at Joseph’s testimony in v. 5-9, and watch for how many times he refers to God: And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry.
Did you see it? Here is the single most distinguishing aspect about Joseph’s attitude throughout all his experiences: he sees God behind it all. Joseph consistently related everything that happened back to God.
When Joseph was tempted to commit adultery with the wife of Potiphar, he said, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (39:9)
When he was falsely imprisoned and was told of dreams that Pharaoh’s officials were unable to interpret, he responded, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams. (40:8)
When he stood before Pharaoh, he said the same thing: I cannot do it…but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires (41:16). Later he reflected again, God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do (41:25)
Joseph had two sons with his Egyptian wife, one of whom he named Manasseh, saying God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household. (41:51) The other he named Ephraim because, he said, God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering (41:52).
Then there was the classic statement of Gen. 50:20 where Joseph says to his brothers, As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
And then there is our passage, where he makes the same affirmation four times: God sent me before you to preserve life…God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep you alive. So it was not you who sent me here, but God…God has made me lord of all Egypt. Joseph looked past secondary causes to God. He saw the Lord’s hand in it all, governing, limiting, and tailoring every circumstance to bring about the best possible outcome for the most people for the longest possible time.
Donald Grey Barnhouse, a wise preacher of a past generation, made these observations from Joseph’s example: “To see God in all things, both good and evil, enables us to forgive easily those who injure us. It does not incline us to condone their fault as if they were unconscious instruments…for they act as freely as if God had no part at all. But we can pity, forgive, and pray for them…for they are the unwitting benefactors to our souls.
“This is strongly exemplified in Joseph, for he saw the hand of God overruling the designs of his brothers; and from that consideration, he not only readily forgave them but entreated them ‘not to be grieved or any with themselves,’ since whatever had been their intentions, God had used their misdeeds to accomplish His own gracious purposes.” (source: quoted by James Boice in Genesis, Vol. 3: Living by Faith, p. 1062)
Is there someone you’re struggling to forgive? The very mention of their name causes you to tense up with anger! You’ve prayed about it and had little relief? If so, try thinking of their words and actions as part of God’s providence. See His hand in it. Anticipate the good that He will bring from it.
What this world needs to see are real Christians who stand out in the crowd because they simply believe God. Life is not always fair, but God is always good. Circumstances out of our control will come our way, but God is always sovereign. Let today be the day of relief and release. Time to stop carrying your wounds and let Him who was wounded for you take them.