What You Meant for Evil, God Meant for Good
Transcript
It's good to see you all this morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Genesis chapter 50. I don't know if you know this, that is the last chapter in the book of Genesis. So starting next week, we will begin back in the book of Genesis because we felt there was a few things we missed. No, I'm just messing with y'all. We will be moving on to other things.
I think it's been good for us to walk through Genesis and I'm glad we're going to be wrapping it up. When my wife and I first got married, we rented a little house in Clinton, South Carolina. I don't know if you're from Clinton. You have to pronounce it Clinton, but I'm not from Clinton, so I will say it correctly. We rented a house in Clinton, South Carolina and we lived on a road called Teakwood Drive, I think. I know it was Teakwood.
And the lady who we were renting the house from had a man that would come by. It was an older gentleman who would come by and help do some work around the house. And he was there repairing something and he had whittled a, I believe it was a dog. I don't exactly remember what it was, but it was a small little figure. And he handed it to me and he was saying, I whittled this. And I was like, man, that's, this is neat.
Like, this is a cool whittled thing. And he started telling me it was made out of teakwood. And he said, now teakwood is one of the strongest woods that exists. And I was like, cool. And I'm holding it. And so when he told me it was really strong wood, all I did was just kind of test that.
And I snapped it in half. And so I broke it and then just stuck it back together real quick. And just stood there like that. Now I'm having a hard time paying attention to the conversation because I'm having to think through, this is terrible. I've made a huge mistake. When someone hands you something they've whittled, you don't break it.
This is like a, you know, feels like a social norm has just been broken, you know. So I'm sitting there holding it. And he's just going on and on about how strong teakwood is, how they use it to build ships, how, you know, it's practically indestructible. I think he was saying stuff like if Superman fought a teakwood tree, the teakwood tree would win. He didn't. But it just seemed like he went for a really long time about how strong teakwood was.
And then when he finished, I said, well, that is really cool. I'm sorry I broke this. And I just handed it back to him in two pieces. You know, I had the option of like pretending he had offended me and throwing it on the ground or just like fumbling the hand off. But I think it was just I just had to own it.
So I just was like, this is broken. And he was like, oh. And I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm apparently an idiot and should not have done what I did. And so I just, you know, he took it well. So that in general is how the book of Genesis starts.
That's how the Bible starts. That's the way it feels. God in chapters one and two creates this beautiful world. And it repeatedly says, it's good. It's good. It's good.
It's good. It's very good. And in chapter three, he makes the, in chapter one and two, he makes the pinnacle of his creation, humanity. And he hands it over to humanity, puts them in a garden. And in chapter three, they walk over and go, yeah, we broke it. We, I don't know.
We were here for, it seems like 45 seconds. And now all the stuff you made is going to be terrible. That's really the way it feels. We start off the book of Genesis and they, it feels like immediately rebel against God. They decide that their wisdom is greater than his. They decide that they cherish something more than him.
So that when it comes down to, do we want to obey or disobey? They, they so lower the value of God that they choose something else and they rebel. And when they do, sin enters the world and everything gets messed up. If we'll remember at the beginning of Genesis, when we were reading this, everything was good. Everything was beautiful. They were in a garden.
The world was going to respond well to them. They were going to have a good relationship with creation. They were going to have a good relationship with each other. Genesis two says they were naked and not ashamed. We have a hard time being naked by ourselves and not ashamed. They were naked together.
This was just the thing that was going to happen. They weren't going to feel shame. They weren't going to feel guilt. And as soon as they sin, they noticed they're naked. They feel shame. They hide, they cover themselves.
And from that point on, everything is broken. And it turns very badly, very quickly. We, and the question that we have from the, from the onset of Genesis is what is God going to do? How is God going to respond? What is he going to do with sin? What is he going to do with this creation now that is marvelous in?
What is he going to do with sinners? How does he remain holy? How does he remain good? How does he, how does he respond? Is he just going to start over? Is he just going to destroy humanity and let animals have a messed up planet?
Is he just, what's he going to do? That's the kind of the question we have is how's, how's he going to respond to sin? How's he going to respond to sinners? What's he going to do? We see in Noah, the Noah story, we see that it says Noah was righteous. The New Testament is later going to tell us that that was through faith, that he inherited righteousness through faith.
But Noah was righteous and so God kills everybody on earth who had gotten extremely evil extremely quickly. Like we jumped some generations to get to Noah, but it says the world just spiraled. We suddenly have murder, hatred. As we read through Genesis, it's like a highlight reel of human sin and debauchery, incest, lust, sexual assault. It, I mean, I felt like multiple times as we were walking through the book of Genesis, we would just have to be like, turn to Genesis chapter 30. It's bad again.
Y'all are used to being sad, right? Because that's what we're going to talk more about. Like that's kind of what Genesis has been. And so he, he kills all of humanity and you go, okay, here's our answer. He's going to get rid of all the bad people, but we'll have the righteous people. He's reset it.
Noah gets off the boat, immediately gets drunk, gets naked. His son sees it, doesn't honor his father, ends up getting cursed. And then God actually says, basically when they're walking off the boat, I'm not going to kill everybody again, even though they're still evil. And you want to be like, wait, wait, wait, I thought you kept the good guy. He's like, yeah, even our good guys are the worst. It seems like the book of Genesis goes out of its way to highlight how terrible the heroes are.
We're like, we got Abraham. Okay. Like the first thing we see Abraham do is walk into a city and he pauses. He's walking in with his wife and she's like, oh, this is a nice city. He's like, yeah, hold up. We get in there.
I'm going to need you to tell them you're my sister. She's like, why? And he's like, because you're cute and I'm a coward. So say you're my sister. And then I will actually just help you marry people when we get in here. That goes terribly.
God helps them. And then the next time they go to another city, Abraham's like, you remember my bad plan from before? And she's like, yeah. And he's like, all right, round two. It moves from Abraham to Isaac. And we think, okay, well, maybe Isaac will have some sense.
No, does some of the same things. It moves from Isaac to Jacob. And Jacob starts off the first half of his story. He just seems like a scoundrel. He does some things okay. But it's like the book of Genesis is going out of its way to highlight these people are sinful.
Even this legacy, this line, this promise of maybe this will work out. That's one of the things we see in the garden is as soon as it goes bad, God steps in and basically says, I promise sin won't win. The serpent had come in, had lied to Eve, had deceived her. Adam had willfully gone along with it, passively at first and willfully afterwards. And God comes in, he curses them, tells them what's going to happen, how the world's going to be messed up now. He kicks them out of the garden.
And he says, though, there's going to be one who comes. Eventually, the serpent won't win, sin won't win. We read through Genesis. It looks like sin's winning. Because every time it steps in, everything gets marred, everything gets broken. Every time someone whittles a beautiful dog, sin snaps it in half.
It's the way it feels. And we can try to glue it back together, we can try to piece it back together, but it's not going to be the same. And that's what we've been walking through. When we get to Genesis 50, we've seen some of the promises fulfilled. We've seen this family line continue. We've seen all the world be blessed.
That's one of the things he told Abraham. I'll make you into a great nation, and through you I'll bless all the world. We've seen a little bit of that. His nation's getting bigger. The 12 tribes are beginning to grow. And through Joseph, the world, the local world there, is blessed.
And you might would say, well, that's the finalized version of this. You read on, and we're going to see that that's not the finalized version, but it is a small picture. But in Genesis chapter 50, we're going to get the answer we've been asking. The answer to the question we've been asking. What is God going to do with sin? How is he going to fix this problem?
Is he going to have to get rid of sinners to do it? And he gives an answer for the book of Genesis that ultimately we'll find is an answer for the entire Bible and for the entire world. For his answer to sin. So we're going to read that in Genesis, and that's where we'll finish out. As Genesis finishes out, kind of letting us see how this works and what God is going to do. So let's pray.
God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how good you are to us. And we pray that we would see the beauty in the reality of how you respond to sin and to sinners. As we finish up the book of Genesis. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.
Genesis 49 ends with the death of Jacob. Chapter 50, verse 1. Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
Forty days were required for it. For that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. Okay, so you would... That rivals, this is almost how long you would weep and mourn for a pharaoh. So Jacob gets a lot of respect and honor because his son is second in command over Egypt.
And so they mourn for him for seventy days. And we're going to see that this mourning continues. It says, When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh saying, My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan. There shall you bury me. Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father.
Then I will return. And Pharaoh answered, Go up and bury your father as he made you swear. So Joseph went up to bury his father. And with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, So the elders of the household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers and his father's household, only their children and their flocks and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites saw the mourning of the threshing floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians. Therefore, the place was named Abel-Misraim. It is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them.
For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. So they go, they travel, and they bury Jacob in the cave that they bought from Ephron the Hittite. They say this every time it's mentioned because they want to make it really clear why they own the land, where it is, who has it. And they mourn for him with a great mourning.
And this is one of the things that culturally I think we have lost. That we don't know how to mourn well. That we try to kind of move on quickly from mourning and we feel like we ought to be past things that honestly we cannot move quickly past. And so a lot of times people will feel like they're still in mourning but everybody else has moved on. But this actually was 70 days where the whole nation mourned.
And then even when they got there they did another 7 days of it. That there is time for and seasons for us to just be sad. And that's okay. And that's what they do. And they greatly honor Jacob. And I'm sorry I've been losing my voice all week.
So I will preach as long as the Lord lets me. And then we may just end in the middle of this sermon. We'll have to see. I'm just kidding. I'll jump to the end. We're going to talk about Jesus.
Surprise. Alright. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead. They said it may be that Joseph will hate us. And pay us back for the evil that we did to him. Okay so this moment in the lives of Joseph's brothers triggers for them their guilt.
Everything had been going fine. They'd been there for 17 years. Things seemed okay. Their dad dies. And suddenly they're like uh huh. I don't know who brought it up.
But at some point in the brother meeting that Joseph wasn't in. And I'm guessing Benjamin wasn't in. They were like hey. Think back. Remember that time. That we threw Joseph in a pit.
Told our dad he was dead. And then decided not to murder him. I think that was the highlight of this. But we did sell him into slavery into Egypt. And then do you remember how we were all shocked when he's in charge of Egypt now? Because that's not how usually the route to being in charge of Egypt doesn't usually go foreign slave to second in command.
Yeah. So you think he's still mad about that? They get together and they're basically like. It feels like maybe he was just being nice to us because dad was here. Because he remembered how upset dad was when we killed him technically. Maybe he thought dad would be upset with him if he killed all of us.
But now that dad's not here. Maybe. Do you think maybe he's going to do that? But don't worry guys. They have a plan. So verse 16.
They sent a message to Joseph saying. Your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph. Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin. Because they did evil to you. And now.
Please forgive the transgressions of the servants of God. Of the God of your father. All right. Before dad died. He told us. To tell you.
To forgive us. We don't know why he didn't tell you. I think it's because he thought it would mean more. Coming from him to us to you. Than just from him to you. And he totally said this.
This is real. Benjamin knows about it. But I wouldn't ask Benjamin about it. Because he'd be his feelings would be hurt if it was brought up. Even if this was just because you know he's sad. So just just know dad said this.
And for you to go ahead and forgive us. And also. Will you will you go ahead and forgive us? Yours truly. Your 12 brothers. Check.
Yes or no. Waiting patiently in Goshen. Like I don't. This. This is the note they send. Says this.
Joseph. Wept. When they spoke to him. He just. He just cries. And he says.
His brothers also came. So this is the messengers brought this. And he just. He just weeps. Because of the brokenness still in this relationship. And his.
Brothers also came to him. And fell down before him. And said. Behold. We are your servants. But Joseph said to them.
Do not fear. For am I in the place of God? He's basically saying. Like. I. I don't get to judge y'all.
It is not my job. To judge. And to condemn. And to decide what your fate is. It is not my job. To.
To weigh your hearts. To know whether you're repentant. It is not my job. I got. It's not. Not my role.
Don't fear. I don't. I don't get to do that. I don't get to bring the hammer down on you. It's not my position. It's a very humble spot.
For the second in command of Egypt. Who absolutely could do what he wanted to. With his brothers. And who had absolutely been wrong. He just says. That's not.
It's not my role. 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. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them. And spoke kindly to them.
Verse 22. So Joseph remained in Egypt. He and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children. Of the third generation.
The children also of Machir. The son of Manasseh. Were counted as Joseph's own. And Joseph said to his brothers. I'm about to die. But God will visit you.
And bring you up out of the land. Out of this land. Into the land that he swore to Abraham. And Isaac. And Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel.
Swear saying. God will surely visit you. And you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died. Being 110 years old. They embalmed him.
And he was put in a coffin. In Egypt. That is the end of the book of Genesis. It will move on from there. 400 years. And we will have the Exodus.
That would walk through. We're not going into that book next. But that is what would happen. If you read this. In the order it comes in the text. So Joseph dies.
And he ends by making them promise. Making basically the nation of Israel promise. When y'all leave. You're taking me with you. And he believes in the promises. That have been made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And he says. My bones will be here. I need y'all to grab those. And tow them on out. Which had to be fun at the Exodus. When they were like.
Alright we're leaving. Also. There was a guy who was super in charge here. About 400 years ago. He's buried in one of these really fancy crypts. We're going to need you to go get that for us.
Because we have to take him with us. And guess what? The Egyptians said. Sure. Because at that point. God had put Egypt in a headlock.
And been doing what he wanted to with him. They do take his bones with him when they leave. So. Go back though. Because this is the answer given in Genesis. The key kind of climactic point here.
Was in verse 20. We'll have it on the screen as well. Says this. 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. That's the answer in Genesis. Jesus. Now. Just understanding how to read your Bible.
That is a thing. That Joseph says. It's not. Prophetic word. Word of the Lord. There are certain places in the prophets.
Where it says. Thus says the Lord. And we take that as something God says. When you're reading these stories. You just have to understand. This is a thing Joseph says.
And so. You have to then look and see. It's actually the way the book of Genesis runs. It's kind of this point. As the summation of what's going on. We're also.
Joseph is a trusted source. To speak on behalf of God. And. The rest of the Bible carries this out. So you cannot always go to a place.
Where someone just says a thing in the Bible. And go boom. Let's build some amazing theology off of this. But you can here. Because it's carried out and displayed. This is what God does.
So. What you meant for evil. God meant for good. That word meant means a lot here. Joseph's brothers meant. To harm Joseph.
They meant to destroy him. They meant to get rid of him. They meant to make some sweet cash. Off of him. And to never see him again. They meant evil.
They purposed it. They willed it. That was their desire. And then he says. But God.
Meant. Purposed it. Willed it. Desired it. For. Good.
We would be inclined. To think. That when everything. Turned to evil. And when everything. Gets bad.
And when everything. Is broken. Our question is. How is God. Going to respond. As if he's having to wait.
To see what happens. And then make a plan. But that is not what that says. What they meant. That the exact moment. That human actors.
Who are free. And choosing evil. When they were exactly. That moment. Were at work. To do harm.
God was in that moment. Through their evil. Flipping it. And meaning it. Purposing it. Willing it.
For good. Are they responsible. For what they did. Yes. Is God bigger. And more capable.
Than them. Yes. And did he control it. And work it out. For something good. Yes.
Did he respond. Nope. He was in it. At the beginning. Psalm 105. Says this as well.
It says. When he summoned. A famine. On the land. And broke. All supply of bread.
Meaning that God. Brought about a calamity. He. Had sent a man. Ahead of them. Joseph.
Who was sold. As a slave. All right. Was the selling. Joseph. As a slave.
Evil. Yes. Should they have done that. No. Was God. At work.
In that. To bring something. About. That he had planned. To bring about. Good.
That was actually. Better. Than what would have happened. Otherwise. Yes. How does that work?
God is amazing. And humans are evil. But God's. Amazingness. And goodness. Outweighs that.
Outshines that. And he works in the middle of this. What it doesn't say was. When a famine. Came on the land. God looked around.
And said. Oh. I need to do something. Egypt's in trouble. Hebrew slave. I talked to the Hebrews.
I used to talk to this guy's daddy. Found one. I'll talk to him. Now let me figure out. How to get him. Into the palace.
It's not what he did. It's not what he did. Potiphar's wife. Lies about Joseph. Gets him arrested. She accuses him.
Sexual assault. She is believed. Joseph is not. He gets arrested. Should she have done that. No.
Was it evil. Yes. But the next line. In the scriptures was. But God was with him.
And that God was working in this. The whole time. To eventually. Elevate him to the palace. So that Joseph could say.
Hey. Y'all took your best shot. And you meant it for evil. And God in the midst of that. Meant it for good. And he saved a bunch of lives.
Through it. And it's not my job. To bring. Be judgment on y'all. It's my job. To do what God wants me to.
And we're okay. Now. The immediate response to that. As we think through that. Is. I.
I want to go. Time out. Time out. Time out. Time out. Time out.
Time out. Time out. Time out. Part of me is much more okay. With God hanging back. People do some evil stuff.
Like we. Shatter the glass. And then God goes. Right. Pause. Shattered glass.
I'm going to make a mosaic. It's going to be beautiful. Like he takes what's already broken. And he fixes it. And he makes something nice out of it. Part of me is a little bit more okay with that.
But as soon as you say. No. No. No. When you were swinging the hammer. To shatter the glass.
God was also with you. Swinging the hammer. Because he had this plan. For this beautiful mosaic. As soon as they're like. Lined up together.
And you're meaning something. And he's meaning something. In the same act. And the act is evil. I suddenly have some questions. Pause.
Hold on. Does God sin? Biblical. Biblical answer. No. Does God cause people to sin?
Biblical answer. No. He doesn't cause or tempt people to sin. He's not. In the midst of sin. Does he mean and purpose.
And will it for something else? Yes. Yes. And those are some fine lines. The other question I have is. Hold on a second.
How can God will. In something evil. And in something broken. How can he will sin? Like doesn't. I thought God's will was always good things.
Like when we pray. May your will be done. Aren't we praying. May good things happen. Not. May evil things happen.
That'll ultimately be better. That's not really. Is that what we're. Like what is going on there? C.S. Lewis helped me a little bit.
With this conceptually. And I'm going to give you the. My paraphrased version of that. That you can have two wills. At the same time. One being.
Kind of a generic will. One being your greater will. The way he explains this is. If you have children. And they have a room. It is your will.
That that room be clean. But you may at some point. Look at your children and say. I am no longer cleaning your room. You are in charge of cleaning your room. And he said.
The moment. That it is dark. And you walk in the room. And you step on a Lego. He didn't say Lego. He said something else.
But Lego is a better example. Because it's excruciatingly painful. The moment you step on a Lego. That was both inside. And outside of your will. It was outside of your will.
In that you will the room to be clean. You desire for the room to be clean. But it was inside your will. As your greater will. Had actually allowed that to happen. Because you are no longer.
Stepping in. You have willed it. That your children would clean the room. Now. You can't push that super far. Into theological things.
But it gives us an example. Of how you can have two wills. One greater than the other. That you can have. At one moment. Your desire.
Is not. That your children would grow up in a house. Where their room was always clean. Your desire is that your children. Would grow up. So that they could have their own house one day.
And keep it clean. Or. Step on all the Legos they want. You don't care at that point. But you want them to get out of your house.
And so you got to take some steps. That's what he's saying. That you can have two wills. So it is God's will that we not sin. But it's also his will.
That we be moral agents. That have some choice. And so he. Allows sin. And he allows evil. And some of us want to go.
Okay well that's where it stops. But no. God does something more beautiful on top of that. Even in the midst of our evil and sin. He's walking right along. And just turn it into something good.
So at first. This sounds not comforting at all. When you are facing evil. Because you want God to be on your team. And somehow. Responding with you to the evil that's going on.
You want him to be sympathetic. But the problem is. Now as soon as you say this. You go wait wait wait wait wait. He's somehow ordained. He's somehow worked in this calamity.
The reality is. The human actors are still. Culpable for what they did. And will be held accountable for it. But the beauty is now.
That we know. That has not left God's control. And that he will work things towards good. And towards an ultimate more beautiful will. And all the fine details of that. The Bible doesn't give us.
But what we understand is that God is good. And so you immediately then. Now the question becomes. Okay well maybe he's not good. Because if you've heard this. This people have posed this.
As kind of a thing for a long time. They'll say. Either God is in control. Or he's good. But he can't be both.
And the reason he can't be both. Is because there's a lot of evil. Terrible wicked things that happen. So either he's in control. And he works in all these terrible things. But then he's not good.
Because he lets terrible things happen. Or he's good. He's just not in control. He's just hurting right alongside of us. He's just weeping with us. But he has no control over.
He can't stop evil. The answer is. He is in control. And he is good. And he has something better. That he's actually bigger than that conceptual framework.
He's big enough to be in control. Big enough to be good. And big enough to have a beautiful reason. For all the evil that we face. Even when we can't see it. And the reason we know that.
The linchpin for that. Is the cross. That he does love us. And that his plan is bigger. Because none of us would have come up with the cross. We can come up with a system.
Where God's big. And in control. But then he'd have to make everything nice. That's our system. Or God's loving. He's really nice.
But he's not in control. But he's with us. And he cares about us. When bad things happen. He's in your corner. He's with you.
But no. God is in control. And he is big. And so now we have a huge problem. And none of us would have come up with the cross. But that's his answer.
That what we meant for evil. He means for good. Acts 2 says almost that. Just lays this out. It shows us this picture. This is Peter preaching the very first sermon.
It says this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up. Loosing the pains of death. Because it was not possible for him to be held by it. This is not a main point of this sermon.
But I love the back half of that verse. Y'all can kill him if you want. But death cannot hold him. It's not possible. So he rose back up.
Because it was not possible for him to be held by death. When Jesus died, death suddenly became very overwhelmed. And was like, I just... Nah. It's a bit too much. And so, again, not a main point.
Look back at the first part. It says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan. Plan. Meaning, we're going to do this. Definite. Meaning, only going to do this.
Not doing something else. Those are pretty simple words. They've been over-explained to you now. And foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge means knowledge you had beforehand. God being the one who was working out this definite plan that he had a plan for beforehand.
You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Now, immediately, my brain can't hold that. They're lawless. Out of control. This is complete and utter chaos. Yes?
Yes. They are actively defying God. Yes? Yes. It is humans killing God. That is not inside of his will.
This is not his desire for people. That we would rebel against him. That we would hate him. John says that we hated the light. That God, Jesus shows up as the light, but the darkness does not love the light. The darkness hates the light.
You know how you feel when you are asleep and someone comes in and turns the light on. That is how humanity responds to Jesus. We hate it. It is, it does not sit well with us. You remember how to lay in your bed and try to not want to like assault your mom for doing that or whatever. That was the response of humanity to Jesus.
Jesus showed up and he just walked around shining in everybody's faces and we're sinful and sick. And we said, quit. Go home. So much so that eventually we got together, we plotted and we killed him. Lawlessly hatred, murder. Definitive foreknowledge of God.
His plan all along. Are they culpable for what they did? Yes. Should they repent? Was that sin? Yes.
Was God going to let sin win? No. God had no desire to destroy the whole world and just eliminate what he had done. He had the desire to step into the world and through evil means to bring about something so much more beautiful and so much better that could have never happened had this not happened. That it's at that exact moment that Jesus is redeeming and working on our behalf. That he is most gloriously displayed.
And that God's plan is most beautifully shown. And so what happened in the Joseph story? He goes to the palace. All of a sudden we have a guy who can interpret dreams. He goes through. He saves this whole place.
His brothers show up. And if you've been reading it, you're like, oh, oh, oh. This were the dreams he had when he was a kid. See, his brother's bowing to him. And you're like, oh, God knew the whole time? We in movies, one of the things that we can kind of contrive is we can contrive a character, a person who would do a lot of good things for an evil purpose.
You watch a movie and there's one of the good guys. And then finally at the end, you find out they're the bad guy. And if they've done it really well, you're shocked and hurt and mad. Because he's like, I trusted you. I thought you were the good guy. And then you see, oh, that's why they were generous.
Oh, that's why they were being a good friend. They weren't being a good friend. It just seemed like it. Like that's, you walk back through the story. And God's a level up above that because he's actually able to, in the free actions of other humans, bring about his sovereign will. How does that work?
I don't know. But it's beautiful and encouraging and hope-filled that in the middle of this mess where people are harming us, because they are. In the middle of the sin, in the middle of the worst brokenness we ever face, God in his sovereignty is walking it towards something that is so much more beautiful, so much more glorious, so much more hope-filled. Than we could have ever imagined. And sin won't win. That's the gospel.
That's the story that's told to us in Genesis where we get this little peek at it in the story of Joseph. And ultimately that's the story that unfolds in Christ. It's the same thing the disciples pray in Acts 4. They say, they quote an Old Testament passage. They say, why did the Gentiles rage? Meaning, internally have hatred.
And the people's plot in vain. That means not just like this emotional response, but mentally they were at work to cause harm. It says, the kings of the earth set themselves against the rulers, were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. And they say, for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Basically everybody.
Everybody who could have been involved was involved. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. In the midst of human depravity and sin, God was at work for something more beautiful. That we are sinners and we will be held accountable and culpable for the things that we do. But God has not handed over the course of events and the course of human history to humans.
So he said, okay, there's going to be sin, there's going to be brokenness, there's going to be murder, and there's going to be hatred. And I'm going to step into the timeline and I'm going to take it all on myself. Sin and hatred, rebellion, murder, brokenness, all of it. I'm going to take it, I'm going to die for it, and I'm going to bring hope in it. And I'm going to turn everything they mean for evil, I'm going to mean it for good. And that's what he does on the cross.
That's what Romans 8, 28 says. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. All things. And immediately we want to say, even this? The answer is yes.
If you belong to Christ, then he will turn it good. And good isn't even the word better. Better than it could have ever been. And this is beyond human reckoning. All we can think is, can he fix the problem? And his answer is, I'm going to do more than that.
Is he just a first responder? No. He's more sovereign and more in control than that. Should they have done what they did? No. Was it sin?
Yes. Was that in God's will? No. But his ultimate will and his purpose will override that and bring about something good and glorious. And that brings hope to us in our brokenness. If we embrace that, we're embracing Christ.
Who did not just respond to sin, but before the world began, chose those in him whom he would save. Because he knew that sin was coming and he predetermined to pay for it. He predetermined to have it met out on him in the cross. So at the moment of man's most self-glorification, God gets the most glory. That when we've rallied together to crucify God, he ultimately turns it on its head. He means good for it.
In our utter brokenness and despair, he brings about unending hope. When death seems like it wins, resurrection walks out of the grave. That Jesus, the author of life, could not be held by death. When hatred looks like it is at its peak, God is displaying his most gracious love. That in all the things that look the most chaotic, God's definitive plan was at work. That when everything seemed to be broken beyond repair, God was creating and building something so much more beautiful than could have ever been.
This is the hope of the gospel and this is the reality of the life for a Christian. That when things seem out of control because of sin, they are not. That our hope is held sure because Jesus Christ has proven to us that all that was meant for evil, he will mean for good and he will bring about something good. And that he can be trusted. We want to say, well does that mean he doesn't love us? Jesus Christ loves us so much that he joins us.
That he takes the brunt of it on himself. I would be inclined to say that it would mean God is not loving were it not for the cross. But he loved us so much he gave his own life and he gave his own son that we might know that we are loved. That he joins us in the middle of this. He chooses in his wisdom not to just keep us from it or to keep it from us. He chooses in his wisdom to work what was meant for evil, for him to mean it for good, and for him to prove to us that he can do this and that he does love us in the cross.
And that is our hope. That is the answer in Genesis and that is the hope given to us in the gospel. That he does love us because he joins us and he takes the brunt of this on himself. That in our rejection of God he was adopting us. That in our pride he was displaying overwhelming humility. The very last book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
There is a hobbit named Sam and the hobbit is just like a half a person with furry feet. I mean like a whole person but like half size. So not just like a little legs down. That would be weird. Has arms and a face and stuff. There is a hobbit named Sam.
In the first book they are all together on this journey and then the team gets broken up. The way the team gets broken up is Gandalf who is a wizard dies fighting a big fire monster thing. It is kind of a sad ending to the book. But good for Gandalf. He was defending his team. Then they break up and Sam and Frodo who is another hobbit go off.
They have to get rid of this ring. Throw in a fire. To stop evil. Everything is getting worse. Everything is broken. Everything is terrible.
And they eventually do it. They stop evil. They come back. And Sam sees Gandalf. And he is excited. Because the last time he saw Gandalf, Gandalf was dead.
So Sam says to him, this is the quote from the book, he says, I thought you were dead. But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? So he sees the risen Gandalf and he says, I thought you were dead. Of course, I thought it was over for me. Does this mean everything that's sad?
Now that everything's gone good again. Now that everything's, all the curse has been broken. The evil has been broken. Does that mean that everything sad is going to become untrue? And Tim Keller, who's a pastor in New York and who loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy, quotes this in one of his books. And he says, the answer of Christianity to that question is yes.
Everything sad is going to come untrue. And it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost. He says, embracing the doctrine that Jesus Christ joined us in humanity and died for us on the cross. He says, this doctrine, embracing this idea, brings a profound consolation in the face of suffering. The doctrine of the resurrection can instill in us with a powerful hope, can instill us with a powerful hope. It promises that we will get the life we most long for, but it will be an infinitely more glorious world than if there had never been the need for bravery, endurance, sacrifice, and salvation.
That when sin entered the world and when sin entered your story, because Jesus also entered the world and also entered our story, he becomes more glorious, more beautiful, and the hope of what he does for us through the cross becomes infinitely more precious and is held secure in the sovereign hand of God, who is not in response to sin doing anything, but who is, by his definite plan, bringing about a most glorious good for his glorious name. The band's going to come back up. We are going to, as a church family, take communion, which is where we celebrate, where we remember that Jesus Christ took on human form, joined us in our weakness, and died in our place. That his body was broken, that his blood was shed, that the most heinous of things happened to our Savior, and that he, like Joseph, says to us, do not fear.
What you meant for evil, in all your sin, in all your rebellion, and what you meant for evil, in murdering and crucifying me, God, I, meant for good. To bring about that many might be saved, as they are at this day. That Jesus, through the cross, brings redemption, so that God does not just destroy sin and sinners, but he joins us, becomes our sin, and gives us hope. And that all along the way, he's taking what others mean for evil, and it is evil, but he's not letting that win the day. That he's meaning it for good, and that he'll bring about something more glorious than could have ever been.
And in the moments of our weakness and brokenness, and when we stand staring face to face with our own evil, and staring face to face with the evil of others, lean into the cross. Trust in Jesus. That evil should not have happened. It was not his desire that we would face all this sin, but he will not let it win. He has a greater will that rises above it, that he might redeem sinners, and that he might bring life and hope. And that he's going to do something more glorious in it.
He loves us so much that he died for us. We can walk with him through anything. That's the answer in Genesis. That's the answer in the gospel. And that's the hope for our souls, our weary souls right now, as we stare into the face of evil. That we get to repent of our own sin, and that he says, do not fear, and he offers grace and forgiveness to us, and that we get to face the sin of others with hope that he is in control, and that he brings about good.
Bow your heads as we begin to pray. I want us to consider the cross prior to taking communion, that we might remember that Jesus suffered for us, that he has joined us, and that he has a definite plan to bring about good, so that we can trust him when everything seems most lawless, and most chaotic, when evil seems like it's winning. So God, we pray that right now, that you would nourish our souls, that you would offer your strength, in place of our weakness, that we would offer your hope, in place of our fear, and that we might trust, your good, sovereign control, and that we might feel, the warmth of your love, shining from the cross, in the face of your son. May we walk away from our sin, may we be quick to repent, knowing at what cost, our forgiveness comes.
And may we take communion, remembering, your glory, and the unending hope, and steadfast love, given to us, in the glorious person, and work of Jesus. Amen.