God’s Method That Saves Lives (Genesis 45:1-8)
Let us bless one another, and please bless your family at this time, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The title of today’s message is, “God’s Method That Saves Lives.” I hope that this will be a blessed time where you’re able to observe through seeing Joseph, the person God is with and how God can be with me. When you look at the Bible, Joseph may be different than you, but the God Who was with Joseph is with you, just as He was with Joseph. As I stand before you at the pulpit now, I stand with a testimony and evidence that God has been with me.
If you say things like, “Oh, Joseph’s personality or power was different,” or, “The pastor’s personality or power was different,” that is not what’s important. What you should notice here is whom God is with and how He works through those He is with. Through Joseph, I hope you will figure out who God is.
This is something that is not taught in schools. In schools, they only teach you about the things you can see with your eyes and the principles of this world, but the worship that we do in the temple is teaching you about who God is. Today’s message is, “Oh, this is how God worked through Joseph’s life.”
When God called us to this earth, God had a goal and a reason. From God’s perspective, He surely had a purpose, a will, as well as a reason for calling you to this earth. Why was I born in this country into this family? Only God knows this, and it is because God has His own plan and reason for doing so. Joseph happened to be born into Jacob’s family. I was born in a nonbeliever’s family, and it’s irrelevant. Whether you were born into a believing family or a nonbeliever’s family, God has a reason.
Main
1. Those with the Covenant That Saves
Naturally and automatically, Joseph grew up listening to the covenant from his father.
1) Covenant
Joseph was able to hear about the covenant about the Messiah that was promised in Genesis 3:15 to crush the head of Satan. Joseph was able to know and to experience God from a very young age, and he had a very good relationship with his father, which means it was very easy for Jacob to relay the faith he had in the covenant to his son Joseph.
If Joseph did not like his father Jacob, he would not have listened to Jacob’s words. Joseph would have reacted like a kid, “Why do you always talk about faith and God? I hate it.” That was Joseph’s older brothers. “Gosh, you’re talking about Genesis 3:15 again? I can’t talk to you, Dad.” But Joseph had a good relationship with his dad, it means that Joseph liked to hear about the words of the covenant that his father shared.
In the midst of that, Joseph’s mother passed away at such a young age. Joseph experienced a difficult life. However, for the people who have the covenant, the greater difficulties they face, the more God blesses them. It’s not that God dropped a sack of money in front of Joseph, but Joseph received a vision of God that included all those things, too. As much as you know what’s going to happen in your future, that’s how much inheritance and possessions you will accumulate.
2) Egypt
God gave Joseph the vision of saving Egypt in the future, and if anything, God wanted to do it through Joseph. God also gave Joseph the vision to save Egypt and the world. Why did God use Joseph? It was to also save Israel. A lot of people in the world will use standards based on your abilities or your appearance, but God doesn’t look at that. God’s standard is looking at the covenant.
God works through the people who hold onto and fulfill God’s Word. As soon as Joseph receives his vision, something shocking happens. He was sold into slavery by his own older brothers. The standards that we think about and God’s standards are quite different. It seems to Joseph that he was sold into slavery, but from God’s perspective, God was sending him to Egypt. The most accurate way to interpret the parts of your life that you could not understand before is simply by understanding that God did it on purpose.
If Joseph’s older brothers had not sold Joseph into slavery, then Joseph would never have gone into Egypt. If he was very close with his older brothers, then Joseph would have to spend the rest of his life close to his father, and because of that, God continued to give Joseph’s older brothers the heart to want to kill Joseph. God used the hearts of his older brothers to send Joseph to Egypt.
We think our past is full of scars. Joseph had the same experiences in the past, but instead of being scarred by them, he was able to realize that this was the guiding hand of God. Even nonbelievers who are successful in the world have a different way of thinking. When they face a crisis, it is not a crisis, but it is an opportunity for them. Thomas Edison’s famous quote is, “I did not fail 99 times, but I had to try 99 methods to find one successful one.” However, if someone fails 50 times and gives up, they will not have success.
This is especially true in the walk of faith. Last week during the Easter service, we learned about the resurrection faith where now, all of your standards are Christ and you have been united in the Spirit of life with Christ by His resurrection. God uses the one who sees every single thing based on the standard of Christ.
Then, Joseph goes into the house of Potiphar. Joseph was not sold into slavery, but God was sending Joseph into Potiphar’s house because Potiphar is the captain of the guard for Pharaoh. How could someone like Joseph ever get to meet the captain of the guard of Egypt? If he stayed as a lowly farmer in the land of Canaan, he would never have been able to meet the captain of the guard of Egypt. God used his older brothers to send Joseph, and there is something that Joseph did there.
Of course, he performed well on the tasks he was given, and there was no way he could do a bad job because a slave was treated like an animal. However, God was with Joseph and that is the unchanging covenant. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then God will be with you. Even if you’re in a different country, completely irrespective of anything, God is with you. Joseph had this correct thinking and correct faith.
3) Joseph Who Saves
Because Joseph had this covenant of saving, every single thing that he did ended up saving, so whenever Joseph worked, God gave him the blessing of prospering in everything that he did. Because Joseph was such a good worker, Potiphar raises him to become the head of the household, in charge of everything.
If someone is a nonbeliever, the more helpful you are to them, the more they will want to promote you. If someone is a nonbeliever, they will fire people who do not help them because that person is not helpful.
2. Location of the One Who Saves
As Joseph went into Potiphar’s house, Potiphar’s wealth continued to increase. How is it possible that a slave could become the head of a household? But if Joseph had stayed in the land of Canaan, then how would he ever become the head of Potiphar’s household to take care of every single thing that happened under his authority? It is the plan of God.
Remnants, you have to realize that every single thing that you are studying right now becomes a footstool or stepping stone for God’s plan. Some students say, “I can’t study at all.” Sure, you might have the freedom to quit your studies, but that is not in line with God. That’s not believing in God. Joseph had the greatest internship opportunity through his slavery. When you’re a student, that is a time for you to learn. That is the plan of God.
After Joseph becomes the head of Potiphar’s household, God blesses all of Potiphar’s household because God works upon the people who have the vision of God.
1) Prison
One day, Joseph was falsely accused and imprisoned. How could a child of God experience something that is so unfair and end up going into prison for it? That’s how normal people think. Not only was Joseph unfairly put into prison, but Joseph was put into a situation because of the unfair accusation that he could not escape from going to prison.
Potiphar’s wife had irrefutable evidence that Joseph had tried to assault her because she had his clothes. Even if there was a small hole by which Joseph could have escaped, perhaps Joseph could have tried to defend himself, but God had blocked all doors so that there was no possible way Joseph could have gotten out of it.
For us, we might complain, “This is unfair, we are unjustly accused,” but that’s not true. God was actually sending Joseph into the prison that had all of the royal prisoners. Joseph did not go into a jail that had other slaves in it, but Joseph was imprisoned with political leaders and royal people who had worked with the king.
If Joseph was not falsely accused, he would have never been able to go to that royal prison. In reality, it was not just an unfair accusation, but it was God’s perfect plan to send him into the royal prison without any possibility for Joseph to use humanism. The important thing is that God’s covenant did not change even there, and God was still with Joseph.
Joseph was so good at his job in the prison that the head of the prison puts Joseph in charge of the prison. As Joseph is interacting with all these scholars, politicians, and these great leaders of the country, imagine how great of an opportunity that was for him.
Even if you’re learning about finances, economy, politics, and history from school, it’s very different learning it through knowledge versus talking to someone who actually lived it. You need to take what you learn from school and put it into practice in the world, and the fact that Joseph was learning directly from the people who had already put it into practice made it an even greater learning opportunity for Joseph.
2) Pharaoh
After that, some time passes and one of the royal prisoners is set free and Pharaoh has a dream where no scholar in all of Egypt was able to interpret that dream. There wasn’t a single religious leader or powerful person who was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams for him. At that time, the royal prisoner who was set free while he was a prisoner with Joseph remembers Joseph.
All of these are blessings of meeting related to the covenant. When Joseph was exactly 30 years old, he was released from prison. God is the One who moves time. In order for Joseph to become a politician in the royal household, he had to be 30 years old. Before that point, Joseph had to stay in prison. As soon as Joseph meets Pharaoh, he tells Pharaoh, “God has revealed to you what He is about to do,” and he flawlessly interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and gives a plan about how to deal with that in the future.
No one else was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, but because Joseph was able to do it immediately, Pharaoh raised him up to be the governor, “I need to raise this person to be the governor in order for him to do that work well.” So, it’s not that we’re trying to succeed, but if we’re able to help nonbelievers, they raise us up to the seat of success.
Success is something that should follow us. If we try to follow success, then we end up becoming a slave to Satan. Where was Joseph, though? I’m not talking about his physical location, I’m talking about his spiritual location. Where was Joseph spiritually, whether he was a slave in prison or meeting Pharaoh? That’s very important. Joseph was with God, he was always with God, he was always looking to God and always asking God. That’s worship and prayer.
3) Joseph’s Location
It’s very important where you are. Depending on where you are spiritually, right now, your future is decided. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, they were hiding because of their fear. God asked, “Where are you?” Do you think God asked Adam where he was because God didn’t know where Adam was hiding? God was saying, “You’re supposed to be within My Word, but where are you now?”
Every single problem in this world began from going outside of the Word of God. When God created mankind, the principle and the law with which He created us is that we cannot survive unless we are with God. God created us with the blueprint of ruling over and subduing the earth on His behalf. Because we’re trying to rule and subdue the earth without God and without the Word of God, of course, we have no choice but to be conquered instead.
However, Joseph’s current spiritual address was within God’s spiritual covenant. When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh replied, “verse verse.” We do not do things with our words. I’ve never seen a smart person who talks a lot. I’ve never seen someone who knows so many things do what is important at the time it is needed, why? Because if you talk so much, you don’t have an opportunity to talk to God. Joseph had gone into the mystery of being with God through worship and prayer.
God is the One who gave us the coronavirus, and this is the first time I’ve experienced something like this since I was born. If you are a person who prays, you’ll realize this quickly. It is the fact that God has created an unprecedented event. He has made it so that everyone around the globe is unable to go outside. This is an unprecedented opportunity for us, this is the best opportunity for us to restore individual worship and prayer with God.
Why do you think God made this happen? It means that God is preparing us because there is something big that God is doing, but if you don’t pray, all you can do is try to figure out what’s going on physically so you will never be able to go against someone who is constantly in prayer and worship. That is why God filled Joseph full of wisdom…
No matter where you are, if you’re able to restore the worship and prayer of being with God, your circumstances will [not overcome you]. God is showing us this through Joseph. Through this time of the pandemic, I hope that your individual worship and prayer will be restored. That’s how you will be used like Joseph.
If Joseph was sent as a slave and all Joseph did was complain, how would God use Joseph? If Joseph was always looking for other people’s opinions of him or following the environment, how could God use Joseph? If Joseph always talked about the standards of the world and never talked about the standards of Christ, how could God use Joseph?
The people who have the covenant will discover truths when they pray. It may seem as if they have nothing, but actually they have everything. People in the world will look at that and call them crazy because they don’t see spiritual things with their eyes. However, the one who has the covenant and prays will realize they have everything, why? Because God is genuinely with them, and God is absolutely, really fulfilling His vision.
3. Confession of the One Who Saves and the Light of the Gospel
The confession of the one who saves is different. In today’s passage, Joseph meets his brothers, and his brothers were trembling in fear before him. The fact that their little brother whom they tried to kill is now the governor of Egypt, it says in the Bible that Joseph had become the lord of Egypt, and if Joseph said one word, all of his brothers would die. Listen to Joseph’s confession.
1) One Who Was Sold into Egypt (Genesis 45:4)
It is a fact that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. Joseph confesses, “God sent me ahead of you to save lives.” This isn’t something he learned by reading the books of the world, and these aren’t words that could come from asking the most brilliant scholars of the world. This is something God gives to the one who has the covenant and the one who worships and prays.
Look at verse 7, “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth and save our lives.” That is how Joseph was used. If Joseph tried to become the governor, how could he have done so on his own? But Joseph knew that God had something that He had to do through Joseph.
The one who has the covenant, the grace of God, the one who goes into prayer, will express things differently. From a nonbeliever’s perspective, they will say, “Oh, it’s just that person’s mentality and personality.” However, in Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his older brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
As I look at Joseph, I’m amazed because God used Joseph at such a young age. When I look back at my own life, it’s the same. The method through which God is with you is the same. I thought it was a difficulty, but it wasn’t a difficulty; it was necessary. My life was in utter despair because my friend had died, but God used it as a blessing to save me. I used to think that this world was so filthy and unfair and despicable, but God actually saved me.
I used to resent God for making me born into a nonbeliever’s family, but God has told me now, “What better way is there to evangelize to nonbelievers? You need to know the world in order to save the world.” Everything that Joseph experienced and everything that I experienced is all the same because it is all by the guidance of God.
I thought that God had originally sent me to America so that I could be a foreign exchange student, but actually He sent me to America so that I could raise a church so that I could save the future generations and the 237 nations of the world. When you look physically, something isn’t working out, but as I pray and worship, God reveals to me through His Word that God sent me here to save lives.
2) God Who Works for the Good
You need to realize that, “Oh, the God Who was with Joseph and working on Joseph thousands of years ago is with me and working on me in the exact same way.” God changes everything for His good. The things in my past I thought were painful are actually not painful, and that is the reason why I need the gospel. It becomes a stepping stone that allows me to proclaim the gospel to other people in similar situations.
I got married late in life. I didn’t think I was very late, but everyone kept telling me I was. I didn’t think I was married late; I thought I got married at the appropriate time, so around my age, everyone’s kids are already starting to get married, but my kid is in fifth grade. I’m thankful. If I had raised a kid when I was young myself and I didn’t know much, I would have created a very strange masterpiece, but now that I have a child while I’m spiritually mature, I think I’m doing a better job.
If I had raised a kid when I was 30, the kid would have come out to be such a weird masterpiece, but now that I’m raising her at my age, at my maturity, I think I’m raising her to be a greater leader spiritually. Physically, there may be so many standards, but if you look at it spiritually, God is so perfect.
Joseph confessed, “God sent me ahead of you to save the lives of many people.” In Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” God uses all things to work for the good. We might have regrets, but God does not have regrets. In all things, God uses it all for the best good, so trust in that God.
You should respect people, but you shouldn’t believe in them because humans do not have the ability to create good in all things. However, the God we believe, the Triune God, is that kind of God. He is righteous. If you look at the world, you will get discouraged; that’s why we have to look at God. If you look at your past, it’s possible you won’t receive the answer, so that’s why you have to look at the complete God. Then you will confirm that this is a God who does good in all things. What an amazing God is that?
We try to meet very cool people, but all you have to do is meet with the coolest God every day. We keep trying to meet smart and wise people, but all you have to do is meet with the God Who has knowledge over everything He has created in this world.
If we feel bad about something or find something unfair, we try to vent, but just because we complain or talk about something unfair to us, will other people accept that? No, God is the only One who can make that unfair circumstance good. So, all of our hope and all of our answers are in the Triune God. Where is my future? Where is my life? It is in God’s hands.
God has an even greater IQ than if you combined all the intelligence of all the people in the world together, and right now, we’re seeing exactly how powerless people are. It might seem as if people are strong and that America is strong, but look. Everyone is trembling and powerless before the coronavirus. Humans look so incredible because we’re sending spaceships out through NASA and we’re creating weapons, but we’re powerless against one single virus.
What must we do at this time, then? This is the time schedule that we must meet and look to God through Jesus Christ. This is an incredible time schedule where you can tell other people who God is and how they can meet God. That’s the reason why God gives us difficulties. Nothing can be solved in this world.
3) Reveal the Light of the Gospel
God used Joseph to reveal the light of the gospel. Joseph went to Potiphar’s house as a slave, but it says in the Bible that Potiphar, who was a nonbeliever, was able to see that God was with Joseph. How can one see with one’s eyes that God is with Joseph? From Potiphar’s perspective, Joseph is just a foreigner, someone with different skin color, but this foreigner is saying, “I believe in the Jehovah God,” and ever since this foreigner came into Potiphar’s household, “My entire household has been blessed and changed.” Through that, Jesus Christ of Genesis 3:15 and the Triune God is relayed.
The same thing happened when Joseph went into prison. Of course, he was a different race from everyone else and when he went in, of course the others would talk to him. When you go to prison, there’s nothing to do there, so all they do is talk about your past, where you were born and what did you do, so Joseph began to talk about the Jehovah God, and of course, Joseph explains the gospel to them.
That means that everywhere Joseph is going, the light of the gospel is being spread. As soon as Joseph meets Pharaoh, he proclaims the Jehovah God to Pharaoh. Who is that God? The Pharaoh worships Ra, the god of the sun, and all the gods of Egypt, that’s all. But the God who was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream was imprinted into Pharaoh, and that message was also relayed to all the royal officials around them.
“There was someone who was raised as a governor of Egypt, and he has a different skin color than everyone else, but in this time of great famine, he is giving me rice.” Then everyone asks, “Who is this governor? This governor is truly above everyone else.” Don’t you think this is a rightful thing that must happen?
If there is a vaccine discovered for the coronavirus, everyone will wonder, “Who is that person?” And this news will be spread throughout the world. Just like at the time in Egypt, one politician, one governor was able to save all the nations. Then, they get to proclaim that this was a Hebrew person who believes in the Jehovah God.
How could this happen? Pharaoh didn’t close Joseph’s mouth for him; Pharaoh didn’t threaten Joseph, “Hey, if you ever speak about your God,” so of course Joseph talks about it, and that rumor spread to the rest of the nations. That’s how the light of the gospel spread, and even the surrounding nations all came to Egypt to buy grain, so of course they would ask, “This famine reached all the nations around Egypt, but Egypt still had rice? How is that possible?”
Then of course, Joseph would immediately tell people about how he met God and how he is with God. Joseph was the leader who was able to enjoy that time schedule of proclaiming the gospel and saving everyone in that region. I hope that you will be able to compare your life with Joseph, one by one, and look at your own life that way, to realize, “The reason God sent me to this place and to this church is to save lives.”
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Conclusion
1. God Works through the Person with the Covenant
Remnants, I hope you will study holding onto that covenant. For people who are working, I hope you will do your job holding onto that covenant. There is no reason to collapse if there is something that God is doing. If God purposefully allows you to collapse, it is also for the benefit of saving lives. Just as God sent Joseph into slavery and prison, God does not do things without reason.
2. God Fills Them with the Strength of the Spirit of God
For people who are thinking about going into a business, unless it is related to evangelism and missions, don’t do it because God is giving us this time right now for the sake of saving lives. There is absolutely no way you will fail. Look at Joseph. Everyone may have thought that Joseph had failed, but that wasn’t a failure at all.
3. Allows Them to Save the World
The salvation ministry that God fulfills will never fail. Your jobs and academics must go into this. Your family must go into this. That is the message that God is giving to us through the story of Joseph, and to whomever has the covenant of God. God will pour down the filling and power of the Holy Spirit so that you can save the world. I hope that you will believe in this God who was with Joseph exactly as He is with us. May you and I be victorious throughout this week.