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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Joseph

David Wright

Passivity is the Enemy

Well, back in 1996, IBM wanted to have a face-off between their deep blue chess computer and this guy you see on the screen, Gary Kasparov.

He was the leading chess champion of the world.

Now this whole idea that man versus computer back in 1996, actually this first face-off, it was the human, Gary Kasparov, that won against the computer.

That computers were just that slow in 96.

They made a few tweaks to the computer and they changed a few of the, I don't know, the way the software was written and so on.

And so in 97, actually this picture I believe is from 97 because if you look behind it says the rematch.

And so they played back and forth and back and forth.

However, it has been said throughout time that chess is a great way to understand an individual's wits and their mental capacity and to think several moves in advance and the complexity and so on and so forth.

And we've even been warned not to get involved in chess, the time that it takes and gambling and all that kind of thing.

But the idea here was man versus machine.

And in 97, at the rematch, the computer won against the greatest.

Then there was some back and forth and back and forth in the years that followed until in 2006 the computer that seems to run our lives today was the clear winner.

In fact I don't believe anybody has ever beat the computer since 2006.

The ELO rating system, which is a method of calculating the relative skills levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess, rates computers at 450 points higher than the best human chess player.

If you know what Elo is, even though I just told you, and I still don't know.

The point is, computers know a whole lot more, and they can see farther into the future, and they can predict this move, well, I can recover by doing these moves and those moves, and they just literally outthink the best human mind and strategy at the game.

What does that mean for you and me today?

Well, it means the days of being the computer at chess are over.

It is what 1 might call an exercise in futility.

Because the computer can reason things through a whole lot better, is a smarter player, a smarter mover, and we just simply cannot think that far ahead.

So what is the point in me putting this picture on the screen this morning.

Friends, compared to God, we are all bad chess players.

I'm gonna make a bad move and this will throw off the other, God can compensate for that too.

God is the computer, if you will, in this very limited illustration, he can outthink every move and every maneuver on the entire universe.

In this complex thing, Have you ever stopped to think, how does God orchestrate things in such a way that these various prayers are answered in such a web of complexity?

And of course, like I said, there's differences.

God's not just in it to win, but is driven by love and compassion.

But to use the illustration, God in His sovereignty sees so many moves ahead that His plans and purposes always prevail.

Now that's not to say that we still don't have freedom of choice.

We do, but someway, somehow, God's plans and purposes, His overarching plan and will Will be accomplished despite what choices?

You or I make I think that's why the devil is so angry all the time, because whenever he works in a particularly clever bit of mischief, God used it to serve his own righteous purposes.

So does God use wicked people as his tools?

Well, God gives freedom of choice, and we can choose to do evil, but then by his sovereignty and power, God uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil.

So in the long run, God's purposes always prevail.

I mean, I believe that's how God can predict prophecy so accurately because God's plans and purposes always prevail.

Well what if this person wouldn't have been willing to be a prophet?

What if this person wouldn't have been willing to be a prophet?

What if this person wouldn't have been the messenger?

What if God says, I have a million ways to answer your prayers and to answer the things that I have prophesied.

That is the sovereignty, the power, the authority of the Almighty God.

And so we're going to begin today a series on the life of Joseph.

And in the life of Joseph we find all kinds of things that we can extrapolate.

There's jealousy, there's deceit, there's plots of murder, lying, cover-up, slavery, temptation, abandonment, patience, promotions, testing, forgiveness, reconciliation, reunion, and integrity.

But above it all is the sovereignty of God.

And sovereignty is simply a big word used to say the power and authority of God to accomplish his purposes.

That's what the heart of the story of Joseph, we see God's ability to fulfill his covenant.

Despite the character flaws of his chosen family, despite obstacles along the way that occur, God is able to bring good out of evil.

So when we see bad things happening in our church or in our world or in our own families.

We can be assured that God's plans and his purposes will prevail.

Job 42 2 says, Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.

Isaiah 46, 9 and 10 says, I am God and there is no other.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come.

Many are the plans in a person's heart but what does the rest of it say but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails do you believe that Is God helpless in this thing called the great controversy?

Or is he the computer that even the devil is no match for?

So as I said, we're going to look at the story of Joseph.

But before we delve into Joseph, I believe there's some significant back story we need to look at.

And so let's, as quickly as we can, turn to Genesis chapter 12.

Here we have God making his covenant with Abraham.

I love to hear the sound of the pages turning.

We're in Genesis chapter 12 verses 2 and 3.

Pastor Skeet made reference to this last week.

But this is a pretty remarkable set of verses and if we're not careful we could stay here longer than we have time this morning.

But Genesis chapter 12, verse 2, it says, "'I, ' this is God speaking, "'I will make you a great nation.

"'I will bless you and make your name great, "'and you shall be a blessing.

"'I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Sorry, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Through you, Abraham, I will bless and touch every family on the face of this earth.

It's easy for us to question, How is this going to happen?

Abraham presumably asked the same question because for 25 years he does not have an heir.

In the meantime, he tries to create his own heir through Hagar.

Finally, Isaac is born to Sarah in her old age.

And Jacob is told by God that as the younger brother he will receive the birthright.

And we're just going very quickly through some of this history we have in Genesis.

But similar to Grandpa Abraham trying to produce his own heir and his father Isaac lying on several occasions that Rebecca, his wife, was in fact his sister, which is a half-truth, if you will, now it is Jacob who takes matters into his own hands, as we see here in this picture, Jacob the deceiver.

How Could I Do Such a Wicked Thing?

Well, if I can pronounce this correctly, down in southern Mexico is a place called Cueva de Vilaluz, which to my understanding means cave of the house of light, if I have that right.

And on your way to this cave, if you ever get the opportunity to go there, you go through some beautiful scenery, if you will, and you go through the jungle.

Anybody been through the jungle of Central or South America or any place near the equator, and it's lush, and it's green, and all the leaves?

Some of them you have plants in your home, but now they're growing wild and their leaves are twice as big.

And then you have beautiful birds and exotic creatures and butterflies and flowers that hang down and dangle and all kinds of beautiful things.

And on the way to this specific cave, it's no exception.

So as you go there, you're seeing all of this beauty and life that surrounds it.

And then as you go into the cave, from what I'm told, there's all kinds of beautiful rooms and big, beautiful pools.

In fact, there's 20 springs that feed into the river of this cave, and it's a gorgeous cave.

The only problem is that if you are accepting of the invitation to go into this cave and you don't have the proper gear or equipment, it will be the last cave in which you enter.

Well, in this particular cave, there are gases that are emitted and fill the entire cave and when you breathe those gases they are poisonous to the human body and you will die." I can't help but think of that verse.

There's a way that appears right and good and pleasing and nice and beautiful unto a man.

We've been going through the story of Joseph, and this is part 2 of this series.

Last time, we looked at how God made a promise to Abraham and that through him the entire world would be blessed.

And by the time we get to Jacob, we saw very clearly that there was a lot of dysfunction in this family.

This family was filled with jealousy and deceit and plots of murder, as we saw last time, lying, covering up, slavery, incest, rape, a passive father.

Yet when Joseph was only 17 years old, his life gets turned abruptly upside down.

Yet even then we see this young man putting his full faith and trust in God.

And in today's piece we're going to look at another all too familiar part of Joseph's story, if you will, the temptation piece.

And you know what I'm talking about when I say that.

But when we left Joseph last time he was putting his full trust, giving God full power and authority in his life, and we're calling this series God's Sovereignty, Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

This idea that God knows what is best, and ultimately, he will carry through his promises not just to Abraham, but to his covenant people, his remnant people, through until the end.

Despite whatever dysfunctions are in your life or in your family, God's purposes will prevail.

He longs to use us along the way, but if we refuse, God's plan will continue on.

We saw last week through this sovereignty peace how God sends this random man to give Joseph direction to find his brothers when he's lost.

We find through an intervention of his oldest brother to stop this plot of murder.

We see seemingly randomly this group of Midianite traders coming through right where they just happen to be, and they say, we know what we'll do.

We'll sell our brother off instead of kill him.

And in the story of Joseph we are reminded that we serve a God who is able to bring good out of evil, to bring light out of darkness.

Until last time we stopped with Joseph on his way in the caravan to Egypt surrendering his life and his situation totally and completely to God.

But granted, things are much different in Egypt.

It's not the countryside that He is familiar.

He's no longer the favored son who is petted by his father, but now he's a slave with no friends, with nothing to support him.

He doesn't need to support himself, I suppose, but he has no future, he has no ambitions, he seemingly has no promise.

And he's here in a rather sinful and secular place and society.

Parents, how do you like the idea of your red-blooded 17-year-old son going into, I don't know, any large city, take your pick.

I know you'll keep God first and last and best in your life and don't allow society to rub off.

Mighty hard to do when you're a slave, isn't it?

You do what we'll tell you to do when we tell you to do it, how we want you to do it.

Would the continual pressure of the culture ebb away his belief?

Is that really true, what I've been raised to believe?

Because as I see over and over and over again, could it be that this was all just a lie.

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me that Genesis chapter 39, now we're gonna read this chapter in its entirety.

Genesis chapter 39, beginning in verse 1 of a story we know all too well.

Now we read here, Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, Some say he's the chief executioner.

So, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, Captain of the Guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.

I don't want to speed past that, because I believe that's an extremely important piece and part of this story.

In fact, we'll see that idea or something similar to that come up over and over and over again throughout this chapter.

The author wants us to know, wants us to be reminded again and again and again, in spite of this secular society, in spite of the fact that he's a slave, in spite of the fact that he's a slave, in spite of the fact that he has no familiar support.

I don't know about you, but that can make all the difference for me.

And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

Apparently, Joseph is doing things differently than everybody else around him.

Apparently, he's living life differently.

He carries out his tasks differently because here his master saw that the Lord was with him.

Didn't just see that he was a good guy, but saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.

That tells me that some way, somehow, Joseph wasn't just keeping his ideas about God to himself, but he was looking for ways to share, not to preach, but to just say, I know the God that I serve and this is how he would want me to do things.

I know that the Lord wouldn't want me to tell a lie or to do this or to do that.

Some way, somehow, he is putting out there that God is first and last and best in his life.

And so his master sees, and his master becomes convinced.

It's not just that he had good schooling somewhere.

It's not just who knows how many other things.

It's the fact that the Lord is blessing this young man.

Somehow, Joseph is redirecting whatever praise that was intended for him.

And verse 4, so Joseph found favor in his sight.

Imprisoned and Forgotten

Well, Joseph was born in Ireland in 1813.

He was a son of British Royal Marine and went to school in London's Trinity College in 1844.

And it was there in school that he fell in love and they started planning their beautiful wedding there in their hometown, and everybody was getting excited, and all the plans and arrangements had been made until tragedy struck.

The day before his wedding, his fiancee drowned.

Overcome with grief, Joseph left Ireland to start a new life in Canada.

And so he taught at Woodstock and Brantford before establishing a home in Rice Lake.

It was there that he met another young lady and fell in love again.

Just weeks before she was to become his bride, she suddenly grew sick.

The best doctors came from all over, but nothing seemed to help.

Eliza only grew worse, and just a few days before what was to be their wedding, she passed away.

So at 25 years of age, Joseph Scriven turned to deeper prayer and Bible study.

He was convicted when he was reading through the Sermon on the Mount, that he should sell all of his possessions and give a vow to the Lord to give his life of service to those that are handicapped and financially destitute, and He never broke that vow from what I understand.

He cut wood for people, but never for payment.

He would do things for widows or ladies or help care for orphans, whatever it might be, but never for himself.

Never for an income, but only for those that couldn't afford it.

And he trusted in the Lord to provide for all of his needs.

10 years later, after his second fiance passed away, he got word that it was now his mother who was growing very sick.

And she was back in Ireland and he didn't have any resources with which to pull together and go home and and his heart was Just wrenched he wanted to be there for his mom But could not and so again he turned to prayer He fell to his knees and he prayed to the Lord and the Lord gave him words words to a poem In fact, he claims the Lord and I wrote this poem together.

It was initially titled Pray Without Ceasing, and this is his own handwriting, pretty good handwriting I'd say, of this poem.

What a friend we have in Jesus, boy to his mother, all our sins and grieves to bear.

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.

Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Are we cold and unbelieving, cumbered with a load of care?

Take it to the Lord in prayer." And he signed his name to his mother and sent the letter on.

Somebody later found that, turned that into a hymn, and Dwight L.

Moody picked it up, used it in his evangelism.

Soon missionaries were using it around the world, to all 4 corners of the earth.

In fact, I am told that Eastern European immigrants sang What a Friend as they arrived at Ellis Island.

That during World War I and World War II, this was 1 of the favorite hymns to be sung at a church service before somebody left for military service.

It became a song that was used to get people through some of the most trying, the most difficult of circumstances.

When people were filled with insecurity and doubt, when trial or abandonment or unfair treatment or sickness would come, this song would remind them, it reminds us to pray, to give it over to the God of the universe.

So my question for you this morning is, what do you do when tragedy strikes?

If you're like many of us, you rush in to fix it.

We can do this, we can take care of this.

I'll send an email, we'll take care of this, we're all gonna band together, and we roll up our sleeves and we go to work.

Interestingly though, it's often said that health is the great equalizer.

And many of you know what that means when I say that.

There are things that happen to you and to others and to me that no doctor can help with, no check can be written.

Yet sadly, it is often those times when we feel like we are in the depths of the dungeon with no options left, it's in those times that God can speak to us in deep and profound ways.

And we hear his voice distinctly in ways that we wouldn't otherwise.

I don't know about you, but I believe we're living in the last days.

I believe as I look around this planet, I believe when I just scan over the news, that's how I like to take it in oftentimes now, just a quick scan.

I don't like to get into the depth of all of it, but There's very little that's encouraging, that's uplifting.

And we could talk about things, not just in the world, but inside the church.

I believe we are living in the last days.

Not that they're coming, but that they are here.

And if we believe that to be true, I believe just right around the corner is going to be some over-mastering delusions, if you will.

Things that will try and test our faith perhaps like nothing else.

And I also believe that there are times that God allows things to happen to you and to me that we call challenges.

To grow and build our faith so that when the biggest challenge of all comes, Our God is not a stranger to us, but is a friend well known, that we have trusted in before, and we can say, if he brought me through that, he'll bring me through this.

And so I wonder if the challenges that you and I face in life, at times are the answer to our own prayers.

When we say, Lord, prepare me for that end time.

And sometimes I wonder if God says, okay, are you sure?

Most of the soldiers that have just enlisted don't like the boot camp commander or instructor or whatever their title, but in a time of war after they've been good they've gone through the gauntlet if you will.

They say I'm so glad for Sergeant such-and-such.

He wasn't easy on us, but he prepared us.

We're continuing this series on the sovereignty of God, his provision, his faithfulness, even in the face of extreme trial, God is faithful.

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Series

Joseph

Activating a Seared Conscience

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