As we remain standing.
Our first text is from Romans eight. We'll read that at this time, but then read the Genesis text as we get into the sermon itself. Romans in chapter eight, beginning to read at verse 26 this is the very Word of God.
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those whom He called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that he might be the first born among many brothers, and those whom He predestined, he also called, and those whom He called, he also justified, and those whom He justified, he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us, He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all. How will He not also with Him, graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge to God's elect?
It is God who justifies, who is to condemn Jesus? Christ is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. Thus far, the reading of God's own word. Please be seated. We read this text as the first of two texts because the text in Genesis contradicts it.
That's not to say that there is error in the scripture or contradiction in the Scripture.
It accurate records what was said here. It accurate records what Paul wrote as teaching material in Genesis. It accurately records what Jacob said, But Paul's teaching totally contradicts Jacob's observation.
You see, Paul tells us here that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, that it makes us Christ like that we were determined that we will be glorified. We will be with Him in glory. And he goes on to argue, He who gave his own son for us, how will he not with him, just freely give us anything else?
Now, you remember Paul writes to the Christians.
He says to us who have trusted in Christ and are forgiven and made children of God, then we have belief of God's goodness to us eternity, and he says we have confidence in that during time and in this life.
If you're outside of Christ, then don't count on that.
In fact, the Scripture says if you're outside of Christ, you're under his wrath. And it only gets worse.
You might think of going outside in a nice, gentle, Misty spring rain, versus going outside in the middle of Milton, the hurricane, and what you see of his displeasure now versus what awaits if you're not in Christ.
And that's why Paul says earlier in Romans that the goodness of God is intended to provoke you to repentance. Look how good he treats you. Now come to him.
He's a good God, but now he writes to those of us in Christ, those who have rested, to him. And we come to Him as our father.
And our father conveys not only a status, but it conveys, in a sense, certain conditions, because we are entitled, as our shorter Catechism says, We have received all the privileges of the Son of God, the God of Providence, the mighty Ruler of all things, is our father, caring for us, providing for us, giving to us holiness and happiness. Amen.
As we said, he explains that he who gave His Son freely for us, well, duh, everything else is so much less that he freely gives us whatever is there. We're never separated. He says, even in the midst of trials and tribulations, we're more than conquerors. In other words, God's favorable power and God's powerful favor are at work every day and all the things occurring in our life. His eternal favor underlies his day to day dealings as He rules over all things that occur in us, in our life, now in Genesis, we have Jacob's observation and attend to what is said here. In Genesis, 42 beginning at verse 26 speaking of the 10 brothers. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from Egypt.
And as they opened each one is sacked to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of the sack, and he said to his brothers, my money is put back here it is in the mouth of the sack. At this, their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, What is this that God has done to us? And when they came to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The Man The Lord of the land spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies in the land. But we said to him, we are honest men. We've never been spies. We are 12 brothers, son of our father, one is no more, and the youngest is this day in the with our father in the land of Canaan. Then the Lord, the man The Lord of the land said to us, by this I shall know that you are honest men, leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for famine, for your households, and go your way, bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land. And as He emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father said to them, you have bereaved me of one of my children, Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.
Then Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons. If I do not bring them back to you, put him into my hands and I will bring him back to you. But he said, My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he's the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are to make, you would bring my gray hairs with sorrow to shield.
That's the opposite.
Jacob says, All these things are against me.
It's contrary here. Things are bad, and ultimately these blame here falls on God. He blames his son that he ultimately blames God, as did the brothers. They said, this god. What has God done in this?
And Jacob says, it's only more evidence God is against me. All these things have overtaken me.
And the word there is like a wild animal that has come upon you. You think of a wild bear or a dog chasing you and jumping on you. All these things have come on me. It's all against me. God is opposed to me, and yet, Jacob's a believer.
This is Jacob who saw the angels coming down the ladder from heaven, bringing God's blessings and salvation. This is Jacob, even, who wrestled with the angel of the Lord, you recall, who then went and met his brother whom he expected to kill him, greet him with open arms.
Why has he come to this conclusion?
Jacob is a believer, but he's saying God is against me. God has turned against me. Why? How can he come to this conclusion?
Well, the answer is simple, he's suffering. His heart is torn.
He's distraught. He's in pain.
He looks around and and sees what he can perceive around about him, and he's all bad. His current situation there, and it's not a pleasant one, Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone, and now you're going to take Benjamin also. My kids are dying around me. Joseph got killed by that wild animal. He thinks Simeon is down in an Egyptian prison, and now you're going to take Benjamin.
It's terrible here. We're in the midst of a famine, and we can't go back, because we go back, he's going to throw us all in jail, or kill us all, or whatever.
See, Simeon is simply.
Was the most recent loss.
Simeon went with the brothers for food, and you remember how Joseph recognized them and he plotted to make them reveal whether their character was still the same as when they sold him into slavery. And he said, Well, if you want to come back for food, you'll have to bring your brother Benjamin, and we'll keep Simeon here is a guarantee, and now they found their money is in their sack, so they have grain they have not paid for, and a brother who is still down there, and a famine still going on, and they know that if they go back, their life is forfeit, as well as Benjamin's life and Reuben. Hey, if Benjamin doesn't live, you can kill my two sons. Oh, well, thank you very much. Let's kill some more grandchildren, just for the fun of it, or something. That's not I hope kind of messed up family is this?
It's a messed up family.
It's really messed up, and Jacob has not done it well. You remember it started with his love for Rachel and how he was tricked into marrying Leah.
And then he decided, well, my uncle tricked me, so I'm going to trick him and made himself rich by tricking his uncle, he thought, and by going against him and profiting himself. And then, as he goes on, with barely tolerating Leah, who, through whom he basically had children, but the wives would compete, who gets to have relations with him so that we can have a child. It wasn't because they were interested in having love. They wanted to bear more children so they'd have a higher status. And when they couldn't have any more children, and had their maids come in, so they had more children as though they were theirs, and the brothers were against brothers. And so you had the brothers who took Joseph that went to kill him and said they sold him as a slave. They grow up and they're not any better.
Reuben has relations with Bill, how the Jacob's concubine?
Because that's a claimed clan leadership. You take the concubine of the clan leader, and that's a challenge right in his face, and Jacob just lets it go. Judah marries a Canaanite woman against his father's wishes.
Their first child is killed by God. Second child is killed by God. And so Reuben says, I'm not going to risk anymore. We're going to wait a long time. And then he goes to a prostitute, and she becomes pregnant. And so Judah finally has to acknowledge it is his child. All these things going on within that family, the meanwhile, Joseph, they assume, is been killed by a wild animal, but the brothers know full well they wanted to kill him. Instead, they sold him in slavery down to Egypt, and 20 years earlier, far as they know, he's a slave, or slaves don't have a real long life expectancy. He's likely dead by now, so he's out of the way, and now you got famine.
Families in disaster. Famine didn't mean this. The local convenience store was closed.
Famine means you didn't have food to eat period.
Your animals didn't have food to eat period. You recall when they found the money, they stopped on the way back to feed their animals from the grain they had got from Egypt. They had to have the food from Egypt to feed their animals on the way back, because that was all the food there was. And the famine is still ongoing, and now Simeon supposedly in prison. Benjamin's in danger.
Jacob says he's the only one left. We're going to be destroyed.
Everything is gone. Jacob is hurting.
Jacob is destroyed.
Jacob is afraid, and he's in pain, and he cries out that God doesn't care. God is against me all these things, and he believes in the God of Providence. It's woven throughout the text that God has turned his back on him. God is opposed to him.
His faith is weakened as he looks to his situation and judges God by it.
And now the famine goes on until they either starve to death or they send some more people down there. And he's resolved. So you go over another chapter, and he says, may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, may He send back your older brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I'm worried for my children, I'm bereaved, there's no expectation of good for the future.
And this is not recent. Rachel died over 20 years ago. Joseph has been gone. He's been hurting a long time. This is all against me. You.
It's all against me.
Now, who do we believe?
We believe Jacob? Where do you believe Paul?
Paul is teaching, and it sounds really good coming from the pulpit or from his pen. Yeah, all works together for good.
Here's Jacob in real life, and he's hurting badly.
He says, Is it really true? All these evil has come on me.
That's not a simply historical question. It's always a current question.
We've always asked these things throughout history, and I would be utterly amazed if none of us here haven't raised that question at times. How can it be? Is God against me? Has God forgotten me? Things are so bad.
Things are absolutely terrible.
God doesn't care about me. It's clear he's turned his back on me. All that waits before me is misery and pain and suffering and bad times that comes to us in times of family grief, times of disaster, like the natural disasters of the storms, financial problems, health, whatever else I during my recovery from the heart attack a little over A year ago, there are people in rehab and heard the thought a number of times, well, God just against me. I guess God's just opposed to me, or these things wouldn't happen.
Well, we know the answer.
Jacob was wrong.
Jacob was just flat wrong.
Remember when he wrestled with Jehovah, the angel of the Lord?
Remember the vision of the ladder when he saw the angels coming down? We read back in 28 I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, and your father, the God of Isaac, I'm going to give you the land you lie on. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth. They'll scatter the east and west, north and south and through you, all the families of earth will be blessed. God gave a promise, and he left as a refugee who had to sleep out in the desert using a rock the pillow, and came back with 12 kids, with vast herds and servants, and he worshiped God there.
See Jacob is judging by what he sees and using that to judge God's heart because of what he thinks he sees going on. He's determined that God's heart toward him has turned away. And that is the technical term for that is unbelief. He wasn't trusting God. Had he abandoned God? No, he says when he sends them down, well maybe the Lord will have mercy on you and they'll come back. He knows it's in God's hands, but the same God who prospered him, protected to him, gave him material prosperity, is now impugned on the basis of his perceptions and what's wrong with that? Well, he's not right. His perceptions aren't correct. Joseph, my son is dead. Well, no, actually, he's that great man ruling Egypt that your brothers went down to see. He's not dead. He's doing pretty good.
Simeon is in jail. He's gone to us. Well, no, his brother's treating like a royal guest down there.
And if Benjamin goes, he's going to be killed. Strike Three, buddy, Egypt's armies would probably send out to protect Benjamin. If it was a need see what he thinks he sees is not really accurate, because he's looking through the lenses of his grief and the things he thought he saw that were wrong so stirred him up that he didn't see the things that were right.
He says, Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and Benjamin the only one left. Who is he telling it to 10 sons standing around him in the middle of his tent with his herds and servants all around that's really you're ignoring the good things that God has blessed you with.
Even in the midst of all this, you're ignoring the prosperity famine wouldn't be as bad if you didn't have so many herds to feed and so many servants to take care of, a lot of pain.
That he has is self inflicted in his family, and he knows that, but his fear and his pain has overwhelmed him. He's not abandoned God, but he is maligning him. He is slandering him, saying, well, the situation is obvious.
No, it's not, because not only are you not enjoying or seeing what God is doing and seeing reality, you're also ignorant of what God has planned and what God is in the process of doing.
Joseph is gone, partly for his own safety from his brothers, partly to prepare to protect the Egyptians and his family from the famine.
And the famine is there to make his family go to Egypt, so that there this nomadic family counting servants and all less than 200 people will be when they come out, millions, and they'll come out with the riches of Egypt with them.
He didn't know what God has planned, turning them from a nomadic family into a great nation. He didn't know that Joseph, he thinks dead is not really he's a great ruler who will be there to protect them and shelter them as they are growing into a nation.
See, pain has etched into his faith. It has not destroyed it, but it's overcome a great measure of it, I hurt so badly.
God must be against me. I hurt so badly. It must mean that God is not for me any longer. He trusted his feelings and his perceptions, rather than what was revealed by God directly to him, not only in the written word, but also in terms of direct visions, direct statements of God Himself. God appeared and said, This is what it's going to be. You're going to have a huge family the whole earth, face to face with Him.
And God's promises stand Sure.
God was going to bless him and his family, despite Jacob's slanders and despite Jacob's unbelief and poor decisions, wicked decisions trying to trick his uncle, trying to let the brothers and being there in the family, not dealing with that.
All the things that are going on are not simply purely providential, like the famine, a lot of them he's brought on himself at the core, he's forgotten the faithfulness of God, and doing so, he has not only slandered the character of God, but he's overlooked great mercies that God has poured out.
How can he do that? Well, that's just terrible. That's something that I wouldn't oh, wait a minute, Christian, then that question raises ugly head.
Times of stress, times of danger, times when your your home is destroyed or is threatened, times there's great family illness or it goes on and on and times when great pain is God's promise Sure, does his promise stand?
Yes, it stands.
See Paul's statements there in Romans. Not a promise.
It's a statement of fact.
It's not saying God is going to do this. He's saying this is what God is doing.
God is working all these things to good.
You know it, or don't know it.
You accept it, or don't accept it. You doubt it, or you believe it, it doesn't make it is happening.
You drive down the highway 90 miles an hour, and the fellow in the nice uniform of the little flashy light stops you.
You're speeding. Well, I didn't feel like I was speeding. So big deal.
Why? Facts? Facts. It's all working together for good. God is doing it. God is blessing, and Jacob, you can't see it, you don't understand it all, and you didn't trust the God who was doing it, Child of God, pain has that effect.
We.
Are both body and soul and why you cannot distinguish them. You can distinguish them.
You can't say that they are not affected by one another.
When you smash your thumb with a hammer, you don't say, Oh, My thumb hurts. You say, Ow, I'm hurting badly.
Christian, these times come when the pain is there and the pain is so great, does that declaration of God's good working mean there's no problem and no trouble? No.
In fact, right there in the verses we read, Paul says, in all these things, tribulation, distress, famine, all these things. We are our more than conquerors in them, through Him who loved us in all of these things, he said, we're being killed all the day long, quoting the history of God's people throughout just because it's painful, just because something looks like it's going badly and you're suffering, doesn't mean that God isn't still working all things together for good to all of those who love Him and rest in Christ.
Remember Jesus on the cross, suffering there, who had all things against him, and we sometimes focus on the physical pain that he had.
That's the least of it, he's bearing the wrath of God against sin, sins that he didn't do.
He has the anger and the wrath of God on him for something he never did.
And he cries out, My God, why are you forsaking me? But he also repeats himself from the Psalms.
He said, Lord, in Your hands, I commit my spirit, and I say he repeats himself, because that's what he inspired back in Psalm 31 from David.
And in his context, what he said is this, you are my rock and my fortress. For Your name's sake, you lead me and guide me. You take me out of the net they've hidden for me. For you are my refuge. In your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me. O Lord, faithful God.
He's not saying, Okay, Lord, I quit. This did take me. He says, Lord, I rest myself in your faithfulness, even in those things, he trusted God, believing the father was faithful, and the father was faithful, raised him up on the third day, gave him fruit from that atonement that satisfied him for the pain he received.
Isaiah, 53 said, he will see of the travail of his soul, and he'll be satisfied.
He'll say it was worth it because of his trusting obedience, we can be assured that the father takes care of us in fulfilling his loving purpose.
Does that mean suddenly flood damage disappeared, not unless you travel a good ways.
Does that mean your family life's all straightened out?
Does that mean you didn't really mess it up?
Jacob messed it all up, remember?
And yet we sang earlier from Psalm 46 the God of Jacob is our refuge.
And God calls himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Child of God. Yeah, you messed up.
You confess it every time you go in prayer, Lord, forgive me.
You look at your life and it is all messed up.
Does that nullify God's faithfulness now, God is still at work making you Christ, like bringing you home to glory, sustaining you and doing things.
You have no idea what he's doing. You don't know not only what he has done, but what he's in the midst of doing.
You see, there are not any prophets loose in the world, whether they were doctor.
Smocks and carries stethoscopes, or have degrees in economics or political science or whatever else, the Lord God reigns.
Some of you will recall Ed Amin in Uganda slaughtering Christian after Christian after Christian.
Early late 60s, early 70s.
That was the provocation, providentially speaking, of what's called the East Africa revival.
And we would go and people who had nothing of Christ in their life would want to come and hear because they saw what the Christians are doing and living and being.
God's at work doing things you don't know about, and he's doing more than you can even imagine.
Who would have thought it. Yeah, Jacob, you're not in a bad spot.
You're about to be sent to Egypt to a place of your own with all the food you can want, your son's there, and everybody's safe, and you're going to be there for a lifetime and die there in peace with your family gathered around you.
That's more than you could ever dream of.
And God's at work doing stuff you don't know about, like, what? Well, if I knew, I'd tell you, but God knows, and he keeps it sometimes for a surprise.
Again, the illustration that comes to mind was one of the trips to Uganda. We were staying at a church hostel, and bulbs all burned out. We had one light bulb, 12 watt or something that was working, and then it burned out. We had no lights at nights. We're sitting around their flashlights and all right, that's it. Next day, we're walking to the teaching point.
We pass a store. Let's go in see if they have any light bulbs.
They did. They had two light bulbs left.
So bought both of them, put in my bag. We took them home, got back. Oh, they'd replace the light bulbs. Okay. Well, I got two light bulbs. I'm not about to carry them back to the store.
The states. What I'm going to do with two light bulbs, the two prong things like you have for car light bulbs. Okay, so Adam there that evening, we're getting ready for supper. Dr kravinaum comes running up, says Rodney, the man who was going to preach for these people has malaria. Can you go preach for them?
Sure, Gregory, have my Bible, my coat and necktie. You had to have a coat and tie. You weren't a preacher in Uganda at that time riding out there. It's in the poorest area of Kampala where Idi Amin's troop barracks were found out later. The taxis don't even go there at night without a police escort. And they all the men the church, walked me out of that area, and I didn't understand the time, but they just having a good time talking, and realized later it was for protection. But we get together and the sun is setting, and we go to worship, there are a few candles around, but there's electric acquiring, I say. So you have electricity, but you're missing light bulbs.
Are two empty places. Yes, we saved up all of our money and we got the electricity. Now we trying to save up our money to buy some light bulbs.
See where this is going.
I said, Come back with me to my room. I think the Lord has surprise for you.
There were the two bulbs I purchased that I didn't really need, but they did. I didn't think I was buying them for them, the Lord provided for them.
Child of God, you have no idea what God's doing, do you?
You have no idea what he's up to, but he does.
Any question is, can you trust him?
Can you trust him? What do you do when your faith runs weak, where the pain is so so horrible, the sufferings there and looks so bleak, you do what Christ did? You look to God's character.
You look to Christ's promises.
You trust the God who is ruling.
When you are provoked by pain to question his heart, remember the cross.
He who freely gave His Son for us, how and not will he give us all things?
Does he really love me?
Does he really intend to my good? Well, He gave His Son for you, Child of God, answer your own question, does he really care about you?
He gave His Son for you by name, particularly and specifically, He rules over all things for the glory of His Son and the good of his people.
And you're one of his people for whom he's ruling for good.
It's called trusting him.
How do you trust him? You remember who he is.
You turn away from looking at all the problem that you look at the God who rules over all things.
You trust him, and look to what he has done, and you confess your puny little perception is not necessarily right, and it's definitely not clear enough to see the future.
But Lord, I trust you. You know what you're doing and you are doing good, so we will see and wait and see what you're really up to, because it's going to be good.
So let's pray, Father, thank You that You are ever a trustworthy Father, that You are a God of greatness and majesty and a God of great love, as father for us, so we praise your name for all of your mercies, Your faithfulness, the sureness of your love and your grace to us, bless now we ask that we might trust you.
Pray in Christ's name, Amen.
Amen.