Let's open the Word of God together to
Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 is a mountaintop chapter in
the Bible, and sometimes we're tempted to say,
well, is there anything there we haven't already
learned?
But I'd like us to learn it in
a new way tonight, because I'd like for
us to have a meeting between the man
who wrote this chapter, the Apostle Paul, and
some people who lived this chapter long before
Paul was ever born.
Now these people are Jacob, and you all
know Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's brothers.
Did you know that Jacob and Joseph and
Joseph's brothers met the Apostle Paul spiritually in
Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 28 and
closing with verse 39?
Jacob met the Apostle Paul in verse 28.
Joseph met the Apostle Paul in verses 29
and 30.
And Joseph's brothers met the Apostle Paul in
verses 31 through 39.
Now since that is true, you're going to
have to keep a marker in Romans 8
and turn back to Genesis chapter 42.
Jacob and Joseph and Joseph's brothers learned three
important spiritual truths when they met the Apostle
Paul.
Now if you and I will learn these
truths, we'll be able to walk out of
this auditorium tonight and not worry.
Some of you are worrying.
There's something deep down inside that just eats
away at you and you're fretting.
Believe me, if you and I will learn
these three spiritual truths, we'll stop our fretting
and our worrying and our complaining.
Now if we stopped complaining, we wouldn't have
much to talk about, but it might do
us good.
It will help our praying.
It'll help our witnessing.
There'll be a new joy in our lives.
There'll be a new dimension of blessing in
our lives.
Now with that kind of advertising, you're saying,
well I wonder what in the world he's
talking about.
Let's start with Jacob.
I like Jacob.
God calls himself the God of Jacob.
I like that because I find myself so
much like Jacob.
Let's begin in Genesis 42 about verse 29.
Jacob's sons have come back from Egypt.
Now you know the story.
You learned it in Sunday school.
A famine in the land.
They went down to Egypt to get grain.
Verse 29.
And they came unto Jacob their father under
the land of Canaan and told him all
that befell unto them saying, the man who
is the Lord of the land spoke roughly
to us.
Of course this was Joseph.
And he took us for spies of the
country.
And we said unto him, we are true
men.
We are no spies.
We are 12 brethren, sons of our father.
One is not.
And the youngest is this day with our
father in the land of Canaan.
And the man the Lord of the country
said unto us, hereby shall I know that
ye are true men.
Leave one of your brethren here with me
and take food for the famine of your
households and be gone.
And bring your youngest brother unto me.
Then shall I know that ye are no
spies, but that ye are true men.
So will I deliver you your brother.
You see he'd kept Simeon for hostage.
And ye shall do business in the land.
And it came to pass as they emptied
their sacks that behold, every man's bundle of
money was in his sack.
And when both they and their father saw
the bundles of money, they were afraid.
And Jacob their father said unto them, me
have ye bereaved of my children.
Joseph is not.
And Simeon is not.
And ye will take Benjamin away.
Now here we get to Romans 8 28.
All these things are against me and bless
your heart.
Jacob, all of these things were working for
you and not against you.
Now, what are these things that Jacob is
complaining about?
What problems did he have?
Same problems we have today.
He was having some economic problems.
They had the money, but they couldn't buy
the food.
Had to send down to Egypt to get
food.
And then when they got back, they had
the food and had the money too.
A little bit scared.
Economic problems.
He had problems with just getting the everyday
necessities of life.
He had family problems.
I doubt that there isn't a person here
tonight who at some point has not had
family problems.
Now, Jacob was sort of a morose fellow.
He got this from his father.
Isaac was this way.
Isaac was always going to die.
I had an aunt like that.
As long as I was alive and can
remember the phone ringing, oh, she was going
to die.
She was going to die.
She finally died.
She was over 90.
Outlived her husband, her daughter, her son.
Isaac was that way.
And Jacob was a little bit like that.
Jacob is saying, I've got family problems.
I can't trust these boys.
They get out of my sight.
I don't know what they're doing.
Jacob always had a feeling that they had
done something with Joseph.
And now Simeon was being held hostage.
And Benjamin, the darling of his heart, was
going to have to go down to Egypt
or they wouldn't get Simeon or any food.
So he had family problems.
But you know what his biggest problem was?
Not a food problem.
Not a family problem.
You know what his biggest problem was?
A faith problem.
He really wasn't trusting God.
He'd forgotten everything God had done for him.
We do this.
Mr. Spurgeon used to say that Christians write
God's blessing in the sand and they engrave
their complaints in the marble.
And that's true.
Oh, how many times have we sung, all
the way my Savior leads me, what have
I to ask beside?
And we've forgotten what He's done for us.
He forgot what God had done for him.
God protected him.
God provided for him.
God protected him from Esau.
God protected him from Laban.
God blessed him.
God met his every need.
One night Jesus wrestled with Jacob and He
weakened Jacob in the thigh.
And He said, I'm going to give you
a new name, Israel, a prince with God.
And here is the prince with God, sitting
and crying and saying, all these things are
against me.
Don't you be too critical of Him.
Because you've done the same thing.
So have I.
Last time you woke up from the sodium
pentothal, you said, all these things are against
me.
Last time you went to the doctor's office
and he read the x-rays and looked
at the reports, you said, all these things
are against me.
We're prone to do this.
And about the time that Jacob was crying
out, all these things are against me, the
Apostle Paul was shouting across the centuries, and
we know that all things are working together
for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His
purpose.
Jacob, stop complaining.
Jacob, turn on the lights.
Jacob, dry your tears.
Jacob, don't be afraid.
All of these things are working for you.
And they were.
He'd lost Joseph.
It's a good thing.
Joseph was down in Egypt preparing to save
the nation.
He'd lost Simeon.
Good thing.
That guaranteed the boys had to go back
to Egypt and that meant Joseph could reveal
himself to them.
He was going to lose Benjamin, he thought.
Oh, it's the best thing that could happen
to him.
Because Joseph would look at Benjamin and he
would go off into another room and weep
and come back and give Benjamin five times
more food than anybody else got.
And then there'd be a great big reunion.
Now, the Word of God does not say,
and we see all things working together for
good.
It doesn't say that.
I'm glad it doesn't.
I have seen things that weren't there.
So have you.
I woke up in the hospital one night
and I saw some things.
Boy, did I see some things.
They weren't there.
And I rang for the nurse and she
came hot footing it in there.
And I told her what I saw.
And she just patted me in the head
and said, now you just go back to
sleep.
But they were so real.
And yet the Word of God says we
don't see all things working together for good.
It doesn't even say we feel all things
working.
I felt some things that weren't true.
It says we know.
And I'd rather know something than see it.
I'd rather know something than feel it.
And we know that God is at work,
Jacob.
He's putting all the pieces together.
You think God has forsaken you.
You think He's working against you.
Bless your heart, Jacob.
He's working for you.
And somebody here tonight needs to meet the
Apostle Paul at Romans 8.28 and learn
the truth of God's providence.
God's providence.
You know what the word providence means?
Pro, beforehand.
Video, to see.
To see beforehand.
The psalmist says about Joseph, and God sent
a man before them.
Oh, they meant it to him for evil,
but God worked it out for good.
Isn't that great?
Somebody tonight, they're working against you for evil,
and God is saying they can work all
they want to, I'm going to work it
out for good.
Jacob learned the lesson of God's providence.
All things are working together for good.
Now, some of you are good Bible students,
and as you look at Genesis 42, you
say, but why did these things have to
happen?
I mean, couldn't God have worked it out
some other way?
Yes, sure.
God is not limited.
Well, why did he have to go through
these things?
Two reasons.
One, he was reaping what he had sown.
He lied to his father about his brother,
and so his sons lied to him about
their brother.
You reap what you sow.
The chickens come home to roost.
He had killed an animal to deceive his
father.
He put those skins on his body, and
his sons killed an animal and put blood
on Joseph's coat to deceive their father.
You reap what you sow.
That's God's government.
Jacob had been pampered by his mother, and
he got in trouble, and so he pampered
Joseph, and God had to take Joseph out
of the scene, or Joseph would have grown
up and been a spoiled brat.
He was reaping what he'd sown.
Be careful.
Be careful what you do.
Be careful how you treat your parents.
It may come right back to you.
The second reason why he was going through
these things is because God was overruling even
the pain, even the heartache, even the misunderstanding,
the loneliness.
He was overruling it for Jacob's good and
for his own glory.
Just quickly before we move on to the
second truth, God's providence.
Look at Romans 8.28, and we know
that all things are working, are working together.
God is working consistently.
He never quits.
He never takes a vacation.
All things are working together.
God works consistently, and God works coherently.
He puts it all together.
And he works completely.
All things, not some things, all things.
We have a God up in heaven who
is working for us.
You say, my body is sick.
He's working for you.
I'm facing surgery.
He's working for you.
I may lose my job.
He's working for you, if we love him,
and we're seeking to fulfill his purpose.
Jacob learned the lesson of God's providence, Romans
8.28. Now, what lesson did Joseph learn?
He learned the lesson of God's purpose.
What is God's purpose?
Look at Romans 8.29, to be conformed
to the image of his son.
Them who are called according to his purpose.
What is his purpose?
To be conformed to the image of his
son.
Joseph went through thirteen years of suffering.
Thirteen years separated from his beloved father.
Thirteen years separated from his brethren.
Thirteen years living in pagan, idolatrous Egypt.
He was a slave.
Now, he became a steward in the home
of Potiphar.
He had all the credit cards, all the
bank books, signed all the vouchers.
Potiphar's wife lied about him.
Anybody who lives as pure a life as
Joseph did will be lied about.
Put him in prison.
There he befriended people.
Became the assistant jailer, but he was still
a prisoner.
Lost his reputation.
Didn't lose his character.
Lost his freedom.
Didn't lose his spiritual liberty.
Helped a man get out of prison.
The man forgot all about him.
You'd think as soon as that man got
out of prison, he would have said, I'm
going to do something to help Joseph.
He didn't do a thing.
Forgot all about him.
You ever done somebody a good turn and
they forgot about you?
And then all of a sudden it happened.
A guard comes to the door and says,
are you Joseph the Jew?
Yes.
Pharaoh wants to see you.
Not the way I look.
We'll fix you up.
Off to the barber shop.
They shaved him.
They prepared him.
They perfumed him.
They clothed him.
He goes and stands before Pharaoh.
He interprets Pharaoh's dreams.
He's made second ruler of the land.
Like that.
Thirteen long years of suffering.
Now why did God permit that?
I don't know everybody here tonight, but I
think I know one problem all of us
face collectively.
I confess I'm in this problem.
You know what it is?
We don't know how to wait.
Right?
If we took an honest poll, I'm in
an honest poll now tonight, and said do
you ever have the problem of impatience?
Being unable to wait.
I think most of us, if not all
of us, would say I'm a candidate for
that.
I have a hard time waiting.
Imagine waiting 13 years and while you're waiting
people are gossiping about you.
Did you hear what that Jewish boy did
to his mistress?
Did you hear what happened?
He's in prison.
Now where there's smoke there's fire.
What was God doing to Joseph?
Joseph met the apostle Paul in Romans 8,
29 and 30.
Joseph learned the lesson of God's purpose.
He was being conformed to the image of
his son.
Now hear me.
Did you know that no one in the
Old Testament is a more beautiful picture of
Jesus Christ than Joseph?
Arthur Pink in his commentary on Genesis has
100 comparisons and contrasts between Joseph and Jesus.
Both were beloved of their father.
Both were hated by their brethren.
Both were tempted and won.
Both were lied about.
Both were prisoners.
Both got a Gentile bride in their exile.
Both fed the nation.
The name Joseph means adding.
A-D-D-I-N-G.
Jesus is the great adder.
Satan is the great subtractor.
Jesus said about Satan, the thief comes not
but for to steal and to kill and
to destroy.
That's the devil.
He's the great subtractor.
Jesus is the great adder.
He adds to your life.
Joseph was sold for the price of a
slave.
So was Jesus.
Joseph was numbered with the sinners.
So was Jesus.
Joseph was exalted after his suffering.
So was Jesus.
You could go on and on and on.
How did God make Joseph like Jesus?
Joseph went to a seminar.
No.
How did God make Joseph like Jesus?
He sent him suffering.
When will we ever learn that when we
pray, oh God, make me more like Jesus,
we're going to suffer.
Conformed to the image of his son.
Now Joseph suffered for his own sake.
It built his character.
He suffered for his family's sake.
He saved them.
And he suffered for our sake.
We wouldn't be here tonight if it weren't
for Joseph.
Did you know that?
Joseph kept the people of Israel alive.
Had it not been for Joseph, the nation
of Israel would have died.
And how could Jesus have been born?
We're here tonight because Joseph suffered.
Conformed to the image of his son.
Jacob learned the lesson of God's providence.
Joseph learned the lesson of God's purpose.
I don't know what you're going through.
I know what I go through, but I
don't know what you're going through.
But I know this much.
If we wait, if we have faith and
patience, we'll become more like Jesus.
You won't see it.
I won't see it.
As we grow in the Lord, we sometimes
don't see our own spiritual growth.
Others will see it.
At Pentecost, no man could see the fire
over his own head.
Other people could see it.
Nowhere in the New Testament does one man
say to another man, you are filled with
the Holy Spirit.
You can't always see what's going on in
your own life.
Others can see it.
God can see it.
A third lesson.
Jacob learned the lesson of God's providence.
Joseph learned the lesson of God's purpose.
Joseph's brothers, verses 31-39, learned the lesson
of God's pardon.
Let me remind you what happened.
Those boys had a guilty conscience, and rightly
so.
They sold their brother into slavery.
They lied to their father.
They perpetuated the lie when they came back
from Egypt.
That would have been a good time to
say, Father, we have something to confess to
you.
We sold Joseph into slavery.
They didn't.
Joseph knew they were lying.
That's why he dealt with them the way
he did.
You know why Joseph was doing what he
was doing?
Not because he was brutal.
The man dealt roughly with us.
But how roughly did you deal with the
man?
You know why Joseph was rough on his
brothers?
He loved them.
He wanted to bring them to the place
where they would admit their sin.
And they finally did.
They didn't know he understood.
In the Hebrew language, they said, oh, we
saw our brothers travail, and we wouldn't release
him.
And Joseph's heart welled up.
They admitted their sin.
But they had not yet admitted it to
their father.
They had to.
When they went back the next time, and
they brought Benjamin along, and Joseph revealed himself
to them, did you ever notice in the
Bible that whenever God sent a Savior to
Israel, they rejected him the first time and
accepted him the second time?
Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus.
Joseph said, I am your brother.
And oh, were they scared.
There comes a time, my friend, when your
past catches up with you.
What's he going to do?
He's going to forgive you.
Forgive us.
He's going to forgive you.
And he did.
He wept and he kissed them.
And he said, I know you meant it
to me for evil, but God meant it
for good.
I forgive you.
Now forget about it.
Go home and tell Father.
And all the way home, that long distance
from Egypt to Canaan, they were writing their
speech.
And if you were following behind them, you
would have seen pieces of parchment start all
over again.
How do you tell your father?
You've been lying for all these years.
How do you tell your father what you've
done to your brother?
But it has to be done.
True repentance always involves restitution.
And they told him, Joseph is alive.
And dear Jacob, in his moroseness, I want
to go see him before I die.
And down they went to Egypt.
They had a great time.
Joseph put them up in the best part
of the land.
Joseph was able to minister to them.
And then one day, Jacob died.
Now you remember what happened?
It's found back in Genesis chapter 50, if
you want to turn back there.
When Jacob died, the brothers became frightened.
Oh, they say, what's going to happen now?
Verse 15, Genesis 50.
And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father
was dead, they said, Joseph will perhaps hate
us and will certainly repay to us all
the evil which we did to him.
And they sent a messenger to Joseph saying,
thy father did command before he died, saying,
I don't know if he did or not,
but they said he did.
So shall ye say unto Joseph, forgive, I
pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren
and their sin.
For they did unto thee evil, and now
we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the
servants of the God of thy father.
And how did Joseph take this message?
Did he say, now I've got those fellows,
I'll let them have it.
That's what some of us would have done.
Some of us would have said, now's my
chance to pay them back.
But Joseph wept when they spoke unto him,
and his brethren also went and fell down
before his face.
They said, behold, we're thy servant.
It sounds like the prodigal son.
He comes home and says, oh, make me
one of your servants.
And the father says, no, you're my son.
I forgive you, I clothe you, I put
shoes on your feet, I put a ring
on your finger, make you a servant.
Joseph said unto them, fear not, am I
in the place of God?
Fear ye not, I will nourish you and
your little ones.
And he comforted them and spoke kindly unto
them.
I've met people like that.
The devil comes and reminds them of their
old sins.
The devil comes and says, oh, the Lord
doesn't love you anymore.
Oh, you see what you did.
Oh, what you said.
Oh, the Lord doesn't love you anymore, says
the devil.
You're forsaken, you're forgotten.
Watch out, you're in trouble.
All over this country in these last 11
months, I have met Christians who are miserable,
they're on the shelf, they have no witness,
no joy, no prayer power, no blessing because
they are afraid and they're listening to the
devil.
Now look at Romans 8 and verse 31.
What shall separate us from the love of
Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine
or nakedness or peril or sword?
And the answer is no.
Nay, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us, for
I am persuaded that neither death, that's our
last enemy, puts it first, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities or powers, that's the devil,
nor things present.
Whatever you're going through right now, nor things
to come, the things you're worrying about, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other thing in
all of creation shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is saying to Joseph's brothers and he
says to us, he will not hate you,
he loves you, but what we've done to
him, he will not hate you, we'll work
our way in, he has forgiven you, you
have been pardoned, nothing, nothing, nothing can separate
you from his love.
I know what it feels to have tubes
stuck in your body, I know what it
feels like, you know what it feels like,
you know what it feels like to hurt,
we know what it feels like, all of
us do, to lose a loved one, and
the first inclination of our carnal hearts is
to say God doesn't love me anymore, I'm
afraid.
Joseph said to his brethren, you're breaking my
heart, I'd sooner have you slap me in
the face than not believe that I've forgiven
you, and I won't hold the past against
you, it's gone, my sin, oh the bliss
of this wonderful thought, my sin, not in
part, but the whole is nailed to the
cross, and I bear them no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my
soul, and I wonder sometimes if we don't
make the heart of our Savior weep, because
we don't believe what he says, he says
I have forgiven you, your sins are buried
in the depths of the sea, they are
blotted out, as far as the east is
from the west, I have removed them, I'm
remembering them against you no more, all I
want you to do is love me, because
I love you.
I know you say, well I'm lying here
in this hospital bed and God doesn't love
me, but I love you, and I'm perfecting
my glory in you, and I'm working out
my purposes in you, now stop complaining, stop
worrying, stop fretting, and start trusting.
Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate you from God's
love, he loves you whether you feel it
or not, he loves you whether you know
it or not, but if you want to
enjoy it, just love him back, and just
say dear God I hurt, oh I hurt,
but I love you, and you love me.
And nothing in all of creation, heaven or
hell, past, present, or future, valleys or mountains,
can separate me from your love.
Jacob learned the lesson of God's providence, no
matter what's going on in your life, God
is working it together for good, believe it.
Joseph learned the lesson of God's purpose, no
matter what is going on in your life,
God is conforming you to Jesus Christ.
Joseph's brothers learned the lesson of God's pardon,
no matter what is happening to your life,
God has forgiven you, he'll never remind you
of your sins again, and he loves you.
No wonder Paul says, what shall we say
to these things?
You know what we ought to say to
these things?
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
That's what we ought to say.
That takes faith, and faith comes by the
word of God.
Let's learn these lessons, and share these blessings.
We can't explain it, we can't understand it,
but thank God we can believe it.
As you folks know, one of my great
heroes is J.
Hudson Taylor.
On more than one occasion I have gone
to the biography section of my library and
pulled down those two great volumes written about
that man.
There came a time in J.
Hudson Taylor's life when he was physically, emotionally,
mentally at his worst.
And he wrote this, I cannot think, I
cannot even pray, but I can trust, I
can trust.
And you can trust a God like the
God of Romans chapter 8.
Father in heaven, I pray that you will
encourage us tonight, deliver us from the shallowness
of unbelief.
Help us to believe your word.
We are so quick to believe our feelings
and our circumstances, and they change.
Help us to believe your word, which never
changes.
And may we not only believe your word,
help us to achieve your purpose.
Make us more like Jesus.
Father, you never promised to make us comfortable,
you did promise to make us conformable.
Make us more like the Lord Jesus.
Forgive us when we've been impatient and critical,
we've complained, we've broken your heart.
Help us to love, and to trust, and
to know.
I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.