God is in Control of My Purpose

The Fifth sermon in our series: "God Meant It For Good"

Scripture: Genesis 42-50

Dr. Nick Floyd

Senior Pastor

Transcript

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Thank you for joining us today. At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus. People need each other. People change the world. And people leave legacies. Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit crosschurch.com.

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Genesis chapter 42 is where we're going to be today. Today we are ending our series on the life of Joseph called God Meant It for Good. And uh here's the wild thing. Today we end our many months-long journey through the book of Genesis. We started this all the way back in uh in when was that September. So we spent most of the fall and really all of the spring uh in the book of Genesis through five different series. And uh hope the Lord spoke to you through it all. And here's the reality it could have been much, much longer. We we cut certain parts just to give you the highlights of this foundational book. And uh, and so uh we're looking forward to ending that today. Uh, we're gonna end with the last eight chapters. So I apologize, but the message is gonna be three days long as we wrap up. So cancel your Mother's Day plans. I'm kidding, we'll be done, but I'm gonna I'm gonna read some, summarize some uh along the way. Uh I don't know about you, but I've had some really high highs in my life. Anyone else? Like I remember where I was in 1994 when the Hogs won the national title in basketball. I remember that high. Uh I can remember going to a DC talk concert in the worship center at Springdale. If you don't know who that is, don't even worry about it. All right. Um I had great times in high school, great times in college at Liberty University. Uh, met my wife, the most amazing woman in the world, met her at Liberty. She's a Florida girl. We got married. We have four amazing children that we've had the opportunity to raise together. And uh man, I I've I've experienced the movement of God in the various churches I've served at or been a member at. So I've been able to just see the movement of God. So I've had some really high highs in my life. And as you could imagine, where else I'm going, I've had some really low lows. Like some really low lows. Like I've I've had um I've dealt with crippling anxiety through a season of my life. I dealt with dark moments of despair where I didn't know what in the world God was doing and when it would end. Um I've been hurt by people, just like you've probably been hurt by people. Uh I was in kindergarten when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I've stood at the the bedside of my dying grandmother who passed away from leukemia. I've had friends and family members who've passed away suddenly, and it just kind of leaves you there in the shock of it all. And here's the weird thing is sometimes all of that seemed like it was happening at the very same time. It was as the famous literature sentence goes, it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Can I add to it? Sometimes all at the same time. Really high highs, really low lows. This is the life of Joseph. We are ending his whole story today. And this is a guy who has lived on the mountains and he has lived in the valleys, and it seemingly he has lived in the valley more than he has lived on the mountaintop. This whole series we have tried to get across to you. This one simple statement is that God is in control of your life. Everything in your life, God is in control. We've talked about different aspects of that. And here's how we're going to wrap up today. We're going to talk about how talk about how God is in control of your purpose. Your purpose in life, God is in control over. Uh, here's how this often works when we are on the mountaintops, we often think, man, I'm really living out my purpose, and God's using me, and I'm helping people, and things are good. And then when we're in the valley, we feel like we are wandering aimlessly without purpose, and we're wondering what God is doing. And here's what I would tell you: living out God's purpose is not relegated to the mountaintops of life or the valleys of life. But you can live out the purpose of God for your life literally in any season or phase of life that you're in. This is the life of Joseph. He has lived it out in the really low moments of being in prison. And he has lived it out in really high moments of being in charge of a lot of things, as we'll continue to see today. Uh, today, I want to wrap up the entire journey through Genesis, and I just want to speak to you about the activity of God in your life. Is that all right? I want to give you, and I'm gonna put it under this banner, I'm gonna give you three truths about God's work in your life. How does God work in your life? How is he working in your life? Some of this is gonna be a review that we continue to see play out even in today's part of the story, and then other parts of it will be new. But I want to give you truth number one. Here's what it is through every season of waiting in your life, God is working for your good. Through every season of waiting in your life, God is working for your good. We've been talking about waiting for a few weeks now. Anyone in a season of waiting right now? Anybody here wondering when God is gonna come through? Or maybe you would say, Nick, I'm full of faith that God is moving. I'm just a little frustrated at the timing. It just seems like it's dragging on and on and on. This is the life of Joseph up until this point. If you're brand new, let me let me recap his story with one slide. Okay, I'm gonna encourage you to just take a picture with your phone if you want the whole thing here. Here's what it is: he was the favorite son of his father, who was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt. He rises to leadership in Potiphar's house. He's then falsely accused and sent to prison. He spends two whole years in prison. And finally, in our passage today and last week, he has been raised to leadership by Pharaoh. Now, if you're uh again brand new, last week we learned that Joseph interpreted a dream of Pharaoh's, and here's what the dream was: there's about to be a famine in the land. And so Pharaoh and the country of Egypt needed to store up all the food because there are times of famine that are coming. And so Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge and says, Hey, you you run the show. You figure this all out. And notice what has happened here. He has gone literally from the prison to the palace. If there's ever been anybody in the Bible who's had really high highs and really low lows, it is this guy by the name of Joseph. He has lived through weird family dynamics. Anybody else? He's lived through family betrayal. Anyone else in the room today? He's been faithful to God and his work, only to have been totally misrepresented. Anybody else? Then he ends up in prison and ultimately is now risen to power because Pharaoh has had this dream interpreted and says, okay, you're going to be in charge of this entire process. Just a wild story, is it not? Like if you're if you're familiar, like with the book of Genesis, familiar with the life of Joseph, where this is the 13th sermon series throughout your lifetime that you've heard about Joseph, I want you to look at the end of this story like it's the very first time you've ever heard it. Take a 10,000-foot view on his story and say, golly, this is just a remarkable, remarkable story. I don't know if you've ever met somebody for the first time, and maybe you sit down at a restaurant or coffee and they begin to unfold their story, and they're like, Hey, and then this happened, and then this happened. And you're like, Are you kidding me? Like somebody needs to make a movie about your story. Last summer, I uh I read a book and I can't remember the title of it off the top of my head, but it was that's funny. Funny premise. It's a true story about how a megachurch pastor became tied up with the Mexican drug cartel. I mean, it is it is a page turner. And so literally, I'm reading this book at the beach last summer, and I'm turning the page and I'm like, you have got to be kidding me. It's one of those stories you're like, I don't know that I can really believe what's going on right here. And then you turn the page, you're like, Are you kidding me? It gets worse and worse and worse. And and I just want you to know this is the life of Joseph. Some of you who have never heard the story of Joseph until this series, you're you're turning the page every week and you're like, Are you kidding me? Like, what in the world is going on? And let me remind you what I'm reminded you of two weeks ago. All of this begins with a period of waiting. The remarkable story of God's provision in his life all began at a season where I'm sure he was wondering what in the world God was doing. If you say, well, Nick, how long from the time that he was sold into slavery by his brothers to the point that we're picking up the Bible today in chapter 42, how long a distance was this? Our best guess 13 years. It's a long season of waiting, is it not? Long season of wondering what God is doing. And some of you need to get a hold of this simple truth today that he is worth the wait. In your life, God is really worth the wait. Again, long story today, spans eight chapters. I'm gonna read some, summarize, read some, summarize. You ready for this? Chapter 42, look with me, verse one. Says when Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, Why do you look at one another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die. So how many of his brothers? Yell it out. So ten of his Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send who? Yell his name out? Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. So Paul's there. The famine has begun. Joseph's family is now still living in Israel and Canaan. And Jacob, the father, is like, listen, I've heard there's there's food in Egypt. Y'all go to Egypt, everybody, but do not, I'm not sending Benjamin. You say, well, why didn't he send Benjamin? This is a father who's dealt with tragedy. It's a father who's dealt with heartache. And he's like, this will not happen again. I am not sending my youngest son out again. Keep on reading. Look at verse 6. It says now Joseph was governor over the land, and he was the one who sold all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, look at this, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Interesting. Verse 7. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. Where do you come from? He said. And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. This is key. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. Or if you're from Arkansas, the nakedness of the land. They said to him, No, my Lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Now there's a little bit of a stretch. Is everybody in agreement there? We're honest men. Your servants have never been spies. Now, do you remember how all this story began? Joseph is the favorite son of his father, as I just told you. But do you remember one of the things that really got under the skin of his brothers? Joseph tells all his brothers, Hey, I had this dream last night that all of you were bowing down to me. Now, how would you respond if your brother woke up tomorrow morning and said that to you? The brothers hated him for this, resented him for this, ultimately sold him into slavery. And it is at this very moment in this passage that Joseph remembers the dreams. And it has become a reality before his very own eyes. All of his brothers bowing down with faces towards the ground in front of him. Now he starts to mess with his brothers a little bit. Hey, once a brother, always a brother, right? He's like, Y'all are spies. They're like, We're not spies. We're honest men. He accuses them and he contrives a plan. One of you is going to remain imprisoned here. Simeon is his name. And the rest of you are going to go back and you're going to bring back your other brother. And then I'm going to know if you are lying to me or not. Now, you may be reading this going, How in the world do they not recognize their brother? Well, it's it's 13 years later. Hunch is, if we were to look at a picture of you 13 years ago to now, you may look a little different as well. But you got to imagine he most likely is full of Egyptian garb. Like he looks Egyptian. He is not speaking their language, but he's speaking through an interpreter. So he's speaking in Egyptian. And they are, they have no idea that this is their brother. But in this moment, the brothers begin fighting back and forth. And they they know the secret that they've held long time, like 13 years long time. And they see this moment before Pharaoh and before his governor here, which is Joseph. They see it as the judgment of God upon their life because of their sin. The Bible tells us that Joseph has to leave the room. He runs out because he's about to burst out in tears, and he ultimately sends them home and he keeps Simeon in custody. The brothers go home, they tell their dad, and he is grieved to find out that he's got to send his youngest Benjamin also to Egypt. Joseph tests the brothers as you get into chapter 43. He tests the brothers to see if they've really changed. There's a lot of details. I'm just going to keep it high. They return to Egypt with Benjamin, the youngest son, and what he finds is that they really have changed. They're much nicer to Benjamin than they were ever to him. And I want you to turn over a page or two in your Bible, chapter 45. And let's look at the first verse. Genesis 45. Says, Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, Make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. What do you do? And he he wept aloud. So the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Just gotta imagine being in the room that day. Again, the brothers don't know that it's him yet. And they just see the governor of Pharaoh bawling his eyes out before these men. So Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him. Underline this last phrase, for they were dismayed at his presence. Circle the word dismayed. I'm gonna come right back to it here in just a moment. They had no idea. This guy speaking in a different language was their brother. They're so shocked they they can't even answer him. The Bible says they were dismayed at his presence. The word dismayed here in Hebrew carries the idea, listen to this, of trembling in horror and terror. You ever seen a scary movie? And there's that close-up on the face of the person who's being scared. Imagine that. Right here with each one of the brothers. You can imagine Joseph, maybe he takes off something he's wearing, he's like, I am Joseph! I'm your brother. And every one of the brothers shocked and dismayed at what they've just seen. This word carries the idea of sudden dread or panic. They think they're all toast. The worst thing that they have ever done in their lives, they are finding out in this moment that it is that same guy who holds all the cards. So here's a question for you, especially if you don't know the story. Like if you if you just imagine this setting in your mind, just for a moment. Joseph in power, all of his brothers before him. This is a beautiful picture. Actually, if you like, see this with New Testament eyes, with gospel eyes. What a reflection this is of our own picture of our lives. We all stand guilty before a holy God who is a righteous judge. All of us guilty of sin that will send us to hell as the penalty for what we've done wrong, and yet God in his grace sends Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me and for you, so that he might provide a covering over our sin. An atonement over our sin. And how Joseph responds here reflects what God and Jesus would one day do for us. What a beautiful picture that is. You see, if you're here today and you've hit rock bottom, no doubt there are some of you here who you've been such uh in such an intense season of waiting, that you've been pressed, you've been crushed, and you would say, Nick, I am at rock bottom. Here's what I would tell you. When you're at rock bottom, it's a great place to meet the rock. I was speaking uh this this past week with one of my best friends who's his name's Jarrett. He's a pastor in uh in Houston, and we were both talking about just some hard things we're both walking through um at our two different churches, and uh and he said he reminded me of a statement I've heard before from from Charles Spurgeon. He said, Man, maybe it's just this. Spurgeon once said, I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me upon the rock of ages. What a statement, right? I've learned to kiss the wave that throws me on the rock of ages. Can I say it in our lingo for today? I've learned to appreciate seasons of waiting because they they take me closer to the Lord Jesus. I I've learned to lean in when God has said wait, because I know he's doing a work in my life and in your life. Truth number one, if you're in a season of waiting, God's working for your good. Truth number two is this through every season of pain, God is working for your good. We've talked about pain in Joseph's life again and again and again. Let me say it a little uh a little differently to you. If you find yourself in the valley today, God is working for your good, turning pain into purpose. He's a man well acquainted with pain. We've talked about this throughout this series, betrayed by his brothers, misrepresented, falsely accused, spent years as a slave and as a convict, has spent 13 years of his life in a diversion. See that that picture? I'm headed this way, and just a diversion. Something he never would have chosen for himself, never would have asked God to do, and yet it is evident that God has been with Joseph this entire time. These and these entire 13 years, God has been with him. He said, Well, why do you say that? I just want you to keep reading. Look at verse 4. It says, So Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please. And they came near, and he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into slavery. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. I mean, I want to pause and give gravity to what the word of God is saying to us here. Do not miss this, no matter if it's your first time to hear it, or your 100th time to read this passage. For God sent me before you to preserve life. How do you get there? He goes on, verse six for the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. Gosh, here it is again. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. I don't know. Are you ready for more? So it was not you who sent me here, but God. Can we just pause there? Anybody anybody read this and go, how in the world does the guy get there? Wronged by everybody that shouldn't have wronged him. Messed over again and again and again two years in prison, thirteen years in a place he never would want to be. How does a guy say those kinds of things? You want to know how? Only God. Only God can can can work in a person's heart like that. Only God can give perspective like that. Only God can explain purpose into what has felt like an extremely painful season. Only God can do that. So if you're here today and and you're like, you're trying to figure out what what file do I put what I'm going through in? I don't know what to do with death. I don't know what to do with suffering. I don't know what to do with what's going on with my kids. I don't know what to do. And it's like you're just juggling. Anybody feel juggling today? I don't know what category to put this in. I don't know what theological file I can put this in. And you're like, I I need something. Yeah, you don't need something. You need someone. You need a work of God that only He can do in your life. Turning pain into the very purpose why God had you born. The chapter ends with Joseph telling his brothers, Go get my dad. I want to encourage you to read the next few chapters, maybe later on this afternoon on your own. We don't have time for it right now. It's a beautiful reunion between Joseph and Jacob after 13 years. Chapter 49, Jacob the father, dies. And I want us to look all the way in chapter 50. So flip over. This is where we'll end this entire series and this journey through Genesis. These brothers are worried about what you'd be worried about if you were in their situation. The brothers are thinking, oh, stink. This is not good. Dad's now dead, and he's going to inflict real vengeance upon us now. And so look down at verse 18. And just remarkable. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me. Everybody agree on that? But God meant it for good. To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are. Today, verse 21, so do not fear, I will provide you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. If you're in a season of waiting or you're in a season of pain, God's working for your good. Can I give you a third truth and when with this we're done? Through every season that seems wasted, God is working for your good. Anyone there today? Anybody honest enough to say, Nick, I see, I don't see how anything good could come out of what I'm going through. It seems all wasted. It seems like these six months, these three years, in Joseph's case, it seems like these 13 years are a waste. And yet what Joseph saw is that God was in control the entire time. Maybe you're here today and you have no idea why you're going through what you're going through. You have no idea why you're here during this season of your life. You feel like this has been an entire wasted season, and it's as if God has given no explanation. Here's what Joseph learned. Through long seasons of waiting, long seasons of pain, and long seasons that seem wasted. Here's what he found out. This is all of his story in one statement. God's purpose is greater than my purpose. I could have saved us the last five weeks and just stood up on week one and being, hey, y'all want the sum of it? Here's what it is God's purpose, greater than my purpose. In your life, God's purpose is greater than your purpose. I I've been a Christian now for right at 30 years. Hard for me to believe that I've I've been anything for 30 years. But I got saved as about 11 or 12-year-old boy. And um heard the gospel on Sunday morning sitting right up there in the balcony at our Springdale campus. Got a grip to my heart. I surrendered to Christ right there in that seat. So I I have now walked with Jesus for some 30 years. Sometimes I've walked really close. Sometimes I've walked really far away. Anybody else? I've learned some deep things in 30 years. You know what they are? I got three of them for you. These are this is why you come across your try here. Deep stuff like this. You ready for deep thing number one? What I think is not really that important. Here's the second thing. What I think God should be doing is really not that important. You ready for the third? What my opinion is is really not that important. You come to grips with those things yet in your life? In your Christian wall? What I think is really not that important. What my opinion is really not that important. What I think that the God of heaven, who's like been God forever, created everything, worked out a lot of scenarios in world history. It doesn't really matter what I think he should be doing. The most important thing that I've learned in my life, 30 years of following Jesus, is the singular principle. The most important thing I can do on a daily basis before the Lord is to surrender to his purpose for my life. Nothing more, nothing less. You see, when I surrender to God's purpose and his purposes, I find my own purpose. So if you're here today and you're like, I'm just feeling like I'm just kind of wandering aimlessly, no purpose, no goals in life, no nothing, just kind of just just kind of just wandering. Could it be? It's that you're not submitted under the purposes of God. So you really are living with no purpose. I've learned that when I stop worrying if God knows where I am, I realize he's been there the whole time. Listen to this. Working for my good. So as we end today, um, what is it that God is speaking to you about your life? In what ways is he calling you forward with him? Maybe you came to church with just a sense of desperation, like this one final lifeline of man, I God, I've I've got to know if you're there. And on the authority of God's word today, I just want you to know that God is there and he sees you. He sees you. Maybe you're here today and you've been wondering what in the world God is doing in your life. And you know that he's calling you to trust him today, to trust his plan, that he really is working for your good. And just a moment, as we wrap up, I'm just gonna ask you to just come to this altar and just say, Lord, I'm just surrendering to what you're doing in my life. No more fighting it. I'm just submitting to it. Maybe you're here today and you're like Joseph, you've been in a long season of waiting and uh just been hard. You know you need the strength of God to go on. I'm just gonna encourage you to come and just lean into the Lord for his strength. Maybe you're here today and uh you've walked through immense pain. You know you need some healing to take place, but in all reality, you don't even know how that's supposed to take place. Why don't you come and get desperate before the Lord today? Maybe you're here today. Sorry. And you're in a season that seems wasted. But maybe finally things have clicked. And you don't want to look back with hindsight and be like, yeah, yes, God was moving. But today, in faith, you want to just come to this altar and say, Lord, I know you're moving and I trust it. Like I really do trust it. Maybe you're here today, and uh you know God's been calling you to just surrender to his purposes. You know God's been calling you to let to just put your yes on the altar. I'm just gonna invite you to come and just do that before the Lord. Maybe you're a mom out there, and what I ended with is like your desire for your kids. I want the purposes of God to reign supreme in their life over all my plans for them, over their plans for their own life. Maybe you just want to come as a mom and bring your kids to the altar. Just maybe they're not here, but you just want to bring their name to the altar. Perhaps you're here, and when I gave you the picture of standing before a righteous judge, you know that you're not saved. You know that you're under the penalty and punishment of sin. And in all reality, you know that today is the day that you need to meet Jesus. I'm gonna invite you to do that in just a moment. Maybe you're here today and your mom made you be here. No doubt there's lots of you here that way. But God's worked in your life today. And maybe, maybe you're kind of juggling and be like, I don't even know how to process all this. In just a moment, our staff is gonna be up here. We'd love to pray with you about anything in your life. Why don't you come? We bow our head and close our eyes as we wrap up. Please, no one moving or leaving. We're literally almost done. The men and women of our team are gonna make their way to the front of each aisle. And they're here for those of you who need to give your life to Jesus today. If that's you, I want to encourage you in just a moment. As we stand and sing, you just find the person closest to you. And maybe you just stick out your hand and say, I need to give my life to Jesus today. There are others of you who uh you just need somebody to pray with you. Like something's going on in your life, and you just need a brother or sister to put their arm around you and just lift you up, you before the Father. We'd love to do that. You come. We've got people all down front, people located by the stairs. Maybe you fit into one of those other categories, you say, Nick, I know I'm a Christian, but man, I just need to get right with God, or I need to lean into the Lord for strength, or I need I need healing that only God can provide. This altar is open as we wrap up our service today. Lord, we uh we ask you to do a work that can only be said as of the Holy Spirit. Would you bring dead things to life? Would you draw wayward Christians back to yourself? Those that need strength and power, would you provide it? Those who need comfort, would you provide it in this moment? It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

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Amen.

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If you have questions about what you have heard or would like more information about your relationship with Jesus, please email us at infocchurch.com or visit our website at crosschurch.com. At Crosschurch, our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ.