Turn to Genesis chapter 50, as we come to take a second look at a message of entitled Save Without a Doubt, and we’ll be back to look at the same subject next Wednesday night. This is a critical study, something we want to spend some time just getting our hands and our hearts and our heads around. How can you and I be sure about our security in Jesus Christ? And we’re using this incident between Joseph and his brothers around the time of Jacob’s death as a launching pad for that whole study.
Genesis 50 verse 15. “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said ‘Perhaps Joseph will hit us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.’ So they sent messengers to Joseph saying, “Before your father died, he commanded saying, ‘Thus you shall say to you, Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin for they did evil to you.’ ‘Now, please forgive the trespass of the servants of God of your father.’ And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and they said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’ Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to see of many people, neither therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.’ And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”
At the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners now that they’d finally been defeated and returned to the Union of the United States? The questioner probably expected that Lincoln would take some dire vengeance. It would be payback time. But Lincoln answered, “I will treat them as if they have never been away.”
That is exactly how Joseph treated his brothers upon their reunion. We saw that in a couple of studies back. Despite the enormity of their transgression and the enormity of its treachery, he had expunged their debt and in a gesture of free grace, he had endowed them with land and luxury. He gave them what they didn’t deserve, and he withheld what they did deserve. Their sin was covered by grace and by mercy. They feared the worst, and yet amazingly they received the best. Genesis 45 in verse 18 tells us that we’re back at that point in the story where Joseph’s inviting the brothers to bring their father down, and he will resettle them and resituate them. And in verse chapter 45, he says, “Bring your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land. Now you are commanded. Do this. Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives. Bring your father and come.
“Also, do not be concerned about your goods for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.” How cool is that? They feared the worst, but they received the best. So for 17 years, coming up to the point in the story we’re considering tonight, for 17 years, they lived in Goshen and it must have seemed like a fairy tale. It was so good that at times it must have seemed too good to be true.
And that was certainly the case upon the death of their father Jacob, because his death opened up a can of worms in their minds about their security before Joseph and their standing before Joseph. We read here in chapter 50 and verse 15, “And when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘Perhaps Joseph will hit us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.'” Upon Jacob’s death, they concluded that it was open season on them. The fairy tale was exactly that, a fairy tale. It was too good to be true. And amazingly, after 17 years, remember 17 years, that’s how long that Jacob lived in the land of Egypt. After 17 years of incontrovertible evidence of Joseph’s love, they walked past it right into the arms of fear, right into the arms of distrust and insecurity. Jacob had been their insurance policy, and now that policy had expired and they were in for it. They were as good as dead.
Making a transition toward us, I quote the words of Donald Grey Barnhouse in his commentary on Genesis. On this very passage he says, “The human heart is slow to recognize grace.” And how true that is. It was true of Joseph’s brothers and it is true of us. Sometimes that thought crosses our mind as we come to understand the grandeur and the greatness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it not too good to be true?
Free forgiveness? Complete acceptance? An inheritance reserved for us in heaven that fades not away, all based upon what God and a free act of His own will toward us has offered us in Jesus Christ. And sometimes we get to a place where we saw last week where our position is doubtful like Amelia Earhart. We are really not sure about our position before God, and we even question whether we have a relationship with God, or whether He’s at peace with us and we are at peace with Him. Like Joseph’s brothers, we walk past incontrovertible evidence. Grace is always undeserved, but we forget that. We walk past the doctrine of the sealing and the baptism of the spirit of God upon faith in Jesus Christ, the promise of God that the work He has begun in us, He will finish it.
We turn a blind eye to the imputed and forensic nature of justification, that the moment we put faith alone in Jesus Christ alone by God’s grace alone, we are given a perfect standing before God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us immediately. We are forever declared righteous in Him, but we doubt that stuff. We question the immutable character of God, the trustworthiness of the Bible. And we seem to lose sight that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. In the third day, rose again and presently He has entered into heaven for us. We walk past all that stuff just like Joseph’s brothers walked past 17 years of incontrovertible evidence. And you and I find ourselves in the grip of doubt, and we find ourselves in the clutch of uncertainty. But God wants us to be saved without a doubt. And that’s what we’re back to looking at tonight, and we’ll let it spill over into next Wednesday night. We’re kind of gathering our thoughts around two big, big ideas, the evolution of their doubts, what brought them to this state of panic, and in how was it resolved.
Last week we looked at the fruit of their doubt. They were certainly doubting believers, and because they began to question Joseph’s love for them, they ended up being joyless and fearful and ineffective. Along the way, we made a couple of distinctions. We tried to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. One is acceptable, the other is unacceptable. We sought to make sure we understood the difference between subjective assurance and objective security. Even if you and I doubt the fact that God loves us, it doesn’t change the fact that God loves us. And we want to pick up tonight where we left off.
But even before we get there, I’m doing some more thinking on this whole issue. And if you remember in our introduction last week, I kind of said that when it comes to the issue of our security before God, there’s generally two views. I actually thought about it today, and I come up with a third view. Now, I want to spend a little bit of time in this just by way of further introduction.
Last week we said there were those who were sure you cannot be sure. There are those who are sure you cannot be sure about your standing before God and the hope of heaven. They’re sure you cannot be sure, although they might wish it to be otherwise, to be fair to them. It’s not like they’re wishing this on them, says, “I’m the kind of person that likes to live in insecurity.” But as they’ve wrestled with things in their mind, they’re sure you can not be sure.
Then there’s a second group, this is where we would be. There are those who are sure you can be sure. Not because they will it to be so, it’s because they come to believe that God says it to be so. And Jesus Christ certainly achieved that, and the spirit applies that.
But I come up with a third group, hang with me. There are those who are sure it’s a bad thing to be sure. Because you see, the first group are sure you can’t be sure. Not because they wish it. It’s just, that’s their perspective. And the second group, they’re sure you can be sure, not because you know what, they want to blindly believe that, but they’ve got convictions that lead them to that. But there’s an interesting third group, and it’s an emerging group in the church, and it’s even found in the world. There are those who are sure it’s a bad thing to be sure. There is a growing aversion in our culture to any certitude and confidence in speaking of God, or to God, or for God.
Now hang with me on this, because I think this isn’t the singular reason, but it’s a contributing factor because of Islamic terrorism rooted in fundamentalist Islam. Our society has become uneasy with any form of religious foundationalism, fanaticism, or fundamentalism. And you know what? If you and I are pushed, we would probably say we’re fundamentalists. There are certain fundamental things that undergird our belief and our behavior. There are certain fundamental doctrines that it’s just not for sale. There are certain hills we will die on, the inerrancy of the Bible, the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinlessness. We will have no truck with anybody that denies that. And we’re so convinced on the Bible’s sufficiency and Jesus’ identity as the Savior of the world, that we will go to other people and other religions and call them to obedience to Jesus Christ. And that scares the dickens out of our culture, because it’s become now more relativistic and pluralistic, and therefore there’s this growing idea that it’s actually… There are those who are sure it’s a bad thing to be sure.
Because if you listen hard enough, you’ll actually hear modern commentators in our culture, liken Bible-believing Christians to the Taliban. We’re all in the same boat. We’re all to be put in the same category. In fact, in an article in Time magazine just a while ago, they were encouraging the embracing of spiritual doubt as the key to defusing the cultural tensions between east and west. Let’s have a trade-off. You lose some of your fanaticism, we’ll lose some of ours, and we’ll meet in the middle, and we will stir the Irish stew of whatever.
And here’s how the writer concludes this idea that spiritual doubt is the only honest position to take. “If God is beyond our categories, then God can’t be captured for certain.” He’s basically saying, let’s get to a position where we’re all generally agnostic. There is a God, we can know Him to some degree, but not with any certitude or confidence. And that’s probably the best place to be for all of us. And if the Christians are half right and the Hindus are half right, maybe He’s the God of both.
That’s where we’re going by the way. Get your antenna up and open your eyes to that reality. There are those who are sure it’s a bad thing to be sure. That’s why the Southern Baptist Convention were harangued for making one of their desires a couple of years ago to reach out to the Jewish community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How dare they say that their faith is better than someone else’s faith? And this is the stuff that stirs up animosity and violence and terrorism.
What’s lost in all of that? I’m sorry, I don’t want to get political or to give opinion. What’s lost in all? I haven’t read recently of Christians putting bombs to their tummies and walking into buildings and blowing Muslims up or blowing Buddhists up. I mean, and the equation just doesn’t even bear the light of logic, but that’s where we’re at. But here’s the thing that’s interesting to me. This aversion to certitude in spiritual matters is now being mirrored in the church. There are those who are advocating that, you know what, they’re sure it’s a bad thing to be sure. Increasingly, you see books in Christian bookstores that advocate a certain humility. The church shouldn’t be so dogmatic. And these writers are especially those of the emergent movement. Guys like Rob Bell whose wife actually a while ago said, “When I was growing up, the Bible to me was very black and white, but now it’s all color.” And it’s probably all gray if I understand her or her husband right.
I mean, what kind of a statement’s that? Of course we don’t want to be brash, bullheaded. We must come humbly by God’s Spirit, to grasp the Bible. We must read, not read into the Bible but read out of the Bible. But the Bible is black and white. It’s there to be understood, and the Spirit of God has been sent to lead us into all truth. Not to leave us hanging in some limbo state where we are really not sure about anything.
Guys like Brian McLaren aren’t even sure if homosexuality is a sin. And they speak of a growing certainty about uncertainty. In fact, let me quote Brian McLaren, who really is one of the founders of the modern emergent movement. He said, “I drive my car and listen to Christian radio station. There I hear preacher after preacher be so absolutely sure of his bomb-proof answers and his fool-proof biblical interpretations, in spite of the fact that preacher A at 9:30 usually contradicts preacher B at 10 A.M., and so on throughout the day. And the more sure he seems the less I find myself wanting to be a Christian. Because on this side of the microphone, antenna, and speaker, life isn’t that simple. Answers aren’t that clear, and nothing is that sure.”
Now, you know what? I’m willing to admit that life gets complex. I’m willing to admit there are certain doctrines in the Bible that are not as clear as other doctrines. There is a certain mystery to certain things. But I don’t think that’s what McLaren’s saying. Because you see, they’ve bought into a hermeneutical humility. And there are certain things that are clear and there are many things that are sure. And of course, some preachers are more fury than they are light, more heat than they are light. But to conclude from that, that there isn’t a place for a preacher to be on the radio to say, “Thus says the Lord.”, with clarity and confidence is something beyond my comprehension. But these men tell us that we need to be more muted, more humble in expressing what we know about God, and be freer in talking about what we don’t know about God. Let’s be less presumptuous, less precise and declaring this is God’s view on anything. Things are foggier than the average evangelical Protestant is willing to admit.
Now if you’ve read any of their stuff, you’ll realize they’ll talk about how language is an awkward vehicle and things get lost in translation. And we often filter understanding through culturally conditioned biases, and so on, and so on; to the point where they would argue, God can say thus says the Lord, but we can’t say thus says the Lord. But I don’t believe that whatsoever. The Spirit of God was sent to lead us into all truth, and we’re not to preach like an uncertain trumpet. Emergents tell evangelicals that they need to be a bit more agnostic, a bit more humble. The word agnostic comes from Thomas Huxley, a Darwinist who was, even as an atheist, somewhat of an atheist or a Darwinist, an evolutionist wasn’t willing to state categorically, “I can’t say there is no God.”, but he said, “Neither can I say is there a path to Him? There’s no knowledge of Him.” So he kind of come up with this idea, agnostic. And if you read his writings, he said he was surprised that it stuck.
And the word agnostic is made up of actually two Greek words. Gnosis, knowledge, and the alpha primitive, the taking away of knowledge. It’s actually interesting that a form of that is found many times in Paul’s writings, and you’ll always find it like this. “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren.” He said, “I don’t want you to be agnostic about spiritual gifts about my coming to you at Rome.” And then he says in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, “I do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep. I’ll tell you how it’s all going to end in Jesus Christ.”
And yet today, in evangelicalism we’re promoting a kind of biblical agnosticism. And Paul, yet throughout his writings go, “I don’t want you to be a biblical agnostic.” Although I do like the story around 1 Thessalonians 4:13, where the lady who refused to date any man in her church said she did it on biblical grounds. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, “I will not have you ignorant, brethren.” But that’s a little bit of an excursion, a little bit of an excursion. There are three views not two. There are those who are sure you cannot be sure. There are those who are sure you can be sure. And sadly, there’s a growing number out in the church, out in the world we understand, but incomprehensively now in the church who’s saying, they’re sure it’s a bad thing to be sure.
While we admit we know in part, the part we do know, we can know. And as we come to know it, it is sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation, and it’s sufficient to equip us onto every good work. The incomprehensibility of God and the inscrutability of His ways does not equate to unending mystery. That’s one of the buzzwords today. Get your antenna up for the word mystery. You’re going to find it a lot in Christian writings, and you need to become a little bit wary of it. Because it’s being used to an extent it shouldn’t be used. Of course, there’s mystery about God. There’s things about God we’ll never understand, but that which He has disclosed upon Himself in revealed truth I am meant to understand clearly and confidently. The Bible wasn’t written with a stutter or a stammer. It was written so that you and I can come to know the God who has revealed Himself through the written word, and through the living word, Jesus Christ.
Well, let’s move on. We’re looking at the evolution of their doubts. I want us to look, if time allows me, for a couple of things that will help us to grasp the root of their doubt, right? We’re looking at the evolution of their doubts. How did they get to this place? Here they are, joyless, fearful, ineffective, groveling. Groveling at the feasts like they’re holding the ankles of Joseph. “Oh, Joseph, dad said, ‘Don’t do this to us.'” And we saw the fruit of it. What about the root of it? How in the world could they doubt 17 years of incontrovertible evidence? I think there’s four factors. We’re only going to cover two tonight. But if you’re taking notes, take these four down and we’ll look at two.
They doubted his promise, that contributed to it. They couldn’t get over their sin, that contributed to it. They focused on feelings and circumstances. And fourthly, they had grown apart, which led them to misread their brother. They had a lack of knowledge about their brother. They doubted his promise. They couldn’t get over their sin. They focused on feelings and circumstances, and they had grown apart, which led to misunderstanding.
So number one, they doubted his promise. They needed reassurance. I mean, back in chapter 45 and verse 5, Joseph had indeed assured them over 17 years earlier, maybe even closer to 20. He says to them, “Do not therefore be grieved.” Verse 5, chapter 45. “Or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life for these two years of the famine that’s been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and deceive your lies by great deliverance.”
I mean, why would they believe 17 years later that Joseph would take their life when he had already recognized 17 years earlier that God had sent them to preserve it? But now they were doubting the word of their brother. They were having second thoughts about what he had promised. And so sadly, Joseph has to reiterate all of this. And you see at the end of verse 21 in chapter 50 where we read earlier, “He comforted them and listened, spoke kindly to them.” No doubt he revisited and rehashed the things that he had said earlier. “Look, guys, yous are forgetting. I recognize that what you meant for evil, God meant for good. He sent me ahead to preserve your life.”
So what’s this idea that I’m going to take it? They doubted his promise. Gradually, the voice of doubt had drowned out the voice of conviction and the voice of confidence. Now, this translates into New Testament Christians becoming doubting believers. If we’re going to connect the dots, okay, we leave the story in Genesis. It’s a pretty simple thought, but we’re going to expand on it. Here they are doubting their brother’s words. And I think that would remind us in a spiritual sense, if you and I get to a place before God where we’re uncertain and unsure, you can bet that one contributing factor is, we have lost some of our confidence in the word of God. We’ve begun to wonder if the word of God is really the word of God? Can the Bible be trusted?
Night, next Sunday night we’re going to make a start, and so this might even go into a fourth Wednesday night, at looking at how you and I can be confident about the inerrancy and integrity of God’s word. I’m going to use this sermon just as an excuse to do a whole sermon on the inerrancy and integrity of the Bible, to give you seven or eight reasons why you don’t need to doubt your Bible. So we’re going to leave the majority of that for next Sunday night, and even probably our next Wednesday night, and the Wednesday night to follow.
But the issue of our assurance, the issue of our sense of well-being is an issue of the Bible. Do we believe the Bible and its promises? Is it true and is it trustworthy? What about its historicity, its ferocity, its inerrancy? We’ll leave that to next Sunday night. I keep saying Sunday night, Wednesday night. Thankfully they’ll be able to edit that out. But standing behind that question, standing behind the question of can we trust the Bible, is an even greater question. Can we trust God? Because, keep the logic together. We believe God wrote the Bible. If you doubt the Bible, really your issue is with God, not with the Bible. Is He true? Is He trustworthy?
And I want to just spend a few minutes on that. Next time we’re together, we will convince you of the trustworthiness of the nature of Scripture. But tonight, I want to convince you of the trustworthiness of the nature of God. You’ve heard the old business adage, right? A promise is only as good as the business behind it. And the same is true of our walk with God. A promise is only as good as the character of the person who makes the promise. And therefore, to understand God’s person is to believe God’s promise. If you understand God’s person, you will more easily believe God’s promise.
I was helped by a number of writers on this. Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham’s written a very helpful little book called, Do I Know God? And then he kind of gets into this issue of understanding God’s person, which leads to a greater confidence in God’s promise. And if you and I together would think through regarding some of the aspects of God’s nature, and make the application, we’re going to come up with something very encouraging.
They shouldn’t have doubted Joseph, and we don’t need to doubt God. Follow along. Hang with this. God is independent. Okay, we’re looking at God’s nature, and how it plays into you and I finding security. God is independent. You say, “Pastor, what do you mean?” God’s uncreated, okay? God is self-contained. In the beginning when there was nothing else, there was God. By himself, self-contained, uncreated. And you and I need to make a comparison between Him and between us. Apart from God, I cannot exist. Apart from me, God does exist. Before there was a creation, there was a creator. He existed apart from us. In the beginning, God. Before anything was made that was made, the word was in the beginning with God. John 1, 1 through 3.
I like this thought. I think R. C. Sproul give me this thought. God does not need me in order for Him to be Him, but I need God in order for me to be me. I like that, Steven, you actually want to think about that. God needs nothing outside of himself to do something. And hang on to that, because that means that nothing outside of Him can keep Him from doing what He promises. Okay? You and I are not independent. And when you and I make promises, other people and other things can affect us, but not God, He’s independent. He’s dependent upon nothing, and He’s dependent upon no one.
God is immutable. Okay? We’ve got a little theology going on here tonight. God never changes. Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord. I change not.” He can never be less than He already is, and He’s nothing more, and He can never be more than He already is. That means that God needs no improvements, nor does He suffer any impoverishments. He remains perfectly that which He has always been fully. He’s independent and He’s immutable. And where does this plays into the thought then? That God, that God who never changes, never changes His mind about His ultimate purposes which are expressed in His promises. Okay? So when you read the Bible and you see God’s word and you come to view God’s promises, we’ll hopefully next week convince you of the trustworthiness of the nature of Scripture; but look at the trustworthiness of the nature of God standing behind these promises. He’s independent, He’s immutable, and He’s infinite. God knows no limits. There’s no ceiling to what God might do if He chooses to do it and it accords with His will. He’s infinite, boundless. He’s from everlasting to everlasting. We cannot run from His presence.
There’s nothing too hard for the Lord. He fills time and space. A little more of God always makes up for a great deal less of us. That means that God can do anything, anything He says He will do, He can do past, present and future, because He’s independent, He’s immutable, and He’s infinite. Now listen to our writer Tully, and he says this, “God is morally and physically incapable of breaking His promises.” That’s what struck me as I read his book. He’s morally incapable of breaking His promises because He’s perfect. God cannot sin. For God to break His promise, He would have to cease being God, and God will never cease being that which He’s always been.
And he goes on to say, “God cannot stop being God. He’s physically incapable of breaking His promises because He can do all things, knows all things, and be all places without any physical restrictions and boundaries. So while human beings often break their promises, even with the best of intentions, God’s promises will never fail because of who He is.”
That is a powerful thought. God is morally and physically incapable of breaking His promise when you consider the fact that He’s independent, immutable, and infinite. And you and I need to lay hold of that. When we begin to doubt God’s word, just like Joseph’s brothers began to doubt their brother’s promises, you and I need to fall back on the nature of God, and realize that not one good word of His promise will fail us. The Bible says, doesn’t it, in Numbers chapter 23 in verse 19, “God is not a man that He should lie.” It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
David Ireland was diagnosed with a crippling neurological disease that would eventually take his life, and he was often frequently asked, “Do you believe God will heal you?” And he would often respond with a question of his own, “Do I really need to be healed?”
He wrote a book to his unborn child called, Letters to an Unborn Child. And in the book, he explains his thinking on wrestling with his suffering and God’s sovereignty. He says this quote, “I’m firmly convinced that God is extremely good, and that He does love and understand all the world and all the people in it. Does He want to heal me? I can’t even answer that. My faith is in the genuineness of God, not in whether He will do this or that to demonstrate His goodness.” That’s a great quote. “My trust, my faith is in the genuineness of God.” You can greatly trust God, because God can be genuinely trusted, because God is genuine and trustworthy. He’s independent, immutable, infinite. He can do what He’s promised, He will do what He’s promised. He must do what He has promised.
We’ll come back to the nature of scripture next time, but one more thought and we’ll be done tonight. I don’t want to be so long tonight. The second issue for them was that they couldn’t get over their sin. They couldn’t get over their sin. I think that’s got to be a factor. It’s not explicit in the text. Well, to some degree it is. Let’s go to verse 15, “When Joseph’s brother saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘Perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.'” The father’s death produced a panic attack on their part. They revisited the past. They exhumed the ghosts of yesterday, and all the events of over 20 years ago started flooding back. And they started to think about what they had done to Joseph, and they couldn’t get over their sin.
There was two issues as we’ve said so far, they distrusted his promise, and secondly, they couldn’t get over their sin. And ironically, I was thinking about this today and this afternoon as I study, ironically, I think this was exacerbated by Joseph’s kindness. I think this was exacerbated by Joseph’s kindness, right? For 17 years they had lived in the land of luxury, in luxury. We read it earlier, they must have expected the worst and they received the best. Joseph said, “Go and get Dad. Come down. I will give you the best of Egypt and the best land of Egypt.”
And so for 17 years they have enjoyed Joseph’s goodness. His love has been demonstrated in a way that continues almost to baffle them. And now he sees by panic, we’ll see next week, focusing on their feelings, the circumstances, wondering, guessing, second guessing Joseph. Now that the father’s gone is it open season? I think this plays into it. And I think this also is a principle. Because as you and I, as Christians, walk in the light, and we actually grow in grace, and we develop our spiritual perceptions, and we’re not dull in our spiritual senses. As we walk in the light, the older we get in Christ, the more clearly we see ourselves. Which is interesting, because as we constantly hold ourselves up against the mirror of God’s word, five years into walking with Christ, even 10 years into walking with Christ, we see more things about our sin than we saw five months in Christ and 10 months in Christ.
And although we’re getting stronger, and more clear in our vision of God’s grace in our sin, the interesting thing is, as we grow in grace and as time passes, we actually get a new sensitivity to sin, and we start to revisit all sins. And if we don’t handle that correctly, we get disturbed at the thought of them. Because now with the greater sensitivity, their enormity actually has grown. And I think some of this is going on in the life of the brothers. And it can happen in your life and my life, as we begin to revisit, as we begin to review ourselves, we begin to revisit aspects of our life.
And because now we understand the love of Christ more clearly, we also understand the enormity of our sin more widely. And if we handle that well, that doesn’t turn to despair, that turns to greater thankfulness and worship. Because as Spurgeon said, “For every look at self, two looks at Christ.” But if we don’t handle that well, that kind of spiritual sensitivity and a renewed understanding of our sin nature and what we did to Jesus Christ, and what we did in terms of the affront to God’s holiness can actually can turn us to despair. And I think, hopefully I’ve made a connection there. You can grasp that, that even Joseph’s kindness may have exacerbated this. Because as they get into a bit of a spiritual funk here, they go, “You know what? This guy has loved us so much. It does show us how great our sin was. And now that we think about it, you know what? That was a great sin. Could He really forgive it, overlook it, bypass it?”
Hopefully, there’s some truth to that. And the point is, whether that is a contributing factor, and I would make an argument it is, they’re at a place where they’re very, very conscious of the evil they did to him and they can’t get over their sin. And they’re concluding that Joseph can’t get over their sin, and they’re beginning to doubt his word. And if you’re at a place, or you find yourself at a place where you’re doubting, an aspect of it may be exactly that. You haven’t got over your sin. There’s something, some ghost from the past that continues to disturb your peace. And then into the mix comes the accuser of the brethren, Satan himself, and he loves to dig. He loves to dig those old bones up and have you chew on them. And he loves to stir up the ghosts of the past, and then you begin to die. You know what? How could I have done that, and God be willing to do this?
A couple of little easy thoughts and we’re done. If you were dealing with that issue, how do you get over your sin? The enormity of it? I would say a couple of things. Remember that the chief of sinners has been saved. Remember the chief of sinners has been saved. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 15 through 16. The Apostle Paul’s writing to his protégé and apprentice in the ministry, Timothy, and you’ve got these beautiful verses. I’ll begin in verse 14. “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly, hallelujah, exceedingly abundant, because his sin was exceedingly grotesque. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to a sea of sinners, listen, “Of whom I am the chief. And however, for this reason I obtained mercy, for in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Neither the king eternal, immortal, invisible to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever.” What’s Paul basically saying? If He done it for me, He can do it for you.
I’m the first fruits of a harvest of vile sinners, Christ rejecting men, persecutors of the church, the blood of the first martyrs on my hands and on my soul. But Jesus Christ was exceedingly abundant in His mercy. And He come into the world to a sea of sinners. “I am chief, and I am the first fruits of a great harvest.” God has scraped the bottom of the barrel already. It’s a great thought. And when you’re tempted to think that there’s no mercy left for you, that you have exceeded the limit, you got to remember, one, the chief of sinners has been saved. Two, you are remembering what God has forgotten, and that’s not something you want to do.
God doesn’t want you remembering your sin. As I said, if you visit the past, and you remember something of your life without Jesus Christ, when you walked according to this world… And you’re going to do that and I’m going to do that, let that turn you not to despair, but you rejoice in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and you turn in worship. You want to come in a Sunday morning and hopefully there’s some Christ centered, cross-centered songs that you can latch onto, and express your thankfulness to Jesus Christ for what He has done. And you’re meant not to remember what God has forgotten. Hebrews 10, verse 17, “I will remember their sins no more. I will remember their sins no more.”
God, when we read in the Bible that God forgets, you’ve got to be careful of that concept. It’s not literal forgetting. It’s not like God’s got amnesia with regards to your past and your sins. He’s omniscient. All things are streaming in God’s mind, past, present, and future. But what it really means is, He won’t take account of it. That’s what it means. He knows it’s there and He can remember it, but because of Jesus Christ and what He did in the cross, God takes no account of your sin because your sin was put to the account of Jesus Christ. That’s what it means. God’s not dealing with you on the basis of your sin. He’s dealing with you on the basis of the mediation and the death and sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus Christ. How great is that? “I will remember your sin no more. I will not take account of it. I will not deal with you on the basis of it.”
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 103, that verse where it says, “I have not dealt with them according to their sins.” It’s not that He hasn’t dealt with sin. You need to go to that Friday afternoon in the darkness of that Easter weekend when Jesus Christ dies on our behalf on the cross and God pours our sin upon Him.
There’s a great story that comes out of Northern Ireland actually, of a Sheila Kagan who was a factory girl broken in health, was advised to take a holiday by the seaside. In fact, her heartache was more spiritual. The doctors had misdiagnosed. Her problem was her sin, and her conscience was giving her no peace. She spent some time at a beautiful part of the North Antrim coast in Northern Ireland. I’ve been there many times myself, called the Giant’s Causeway. It’s a geological wonder, hexagon shaped stones coming out of the ocean. And as she sat there overlooking the ocean, maybe seeing Scotland in the distance, the words of Micah came to her mind. Micah 7:19 “They will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Sometime later she was found dead. But on her desk was this following verse that it is believed she wrote. “I will cast in the depths of the fathomless sea, all thy sins and transgressions whatever they be: though they mount up to heaven though they sank down to hell, they shall sink in the depths and above them shall swell all the waves of my mercy so mighty and free, I will cast all thy sins in the depths of the sea.”
We might add to that story the words of Corrie Ten Boom, “And when God cast your sins in the depths of the sea, He puts a sign above them. No fishing.” No fishing, because God doesn’t want us remembering what He has forgotten in Jesus Christ. And so when you are struck by the enormity of your sin, and that even may be produced by a new sensitivity to sin as you grow in grace, this Christ as you’re going through it, is a sign of grace and growth that should turn you to thankfulness, not despair. Remember that the chief of sinners has been saved. Remember that God has forgotten what you’re remembering. And finally, remember, grace is unaffected by the degree of your sin. Grace is unaffected by the degree of your sin.
Grace by its very nature is undeserved. It’s not affected by the degree of the sin it’s covering. You know what? You and I need to remind ourselves of that fact. That it’s not like it’s extra work for God to save one sinner over against another sinner. Ephesians 2, it through 10 says what? “For by grace are we saved that undeserved favor of, God for by it we are saved through faith.” The condition of coming into the blessing of it through union with Jesus Christ is faith alone in Him. “For by grace are we saved through faith, that not of ourselves, it’s the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” I thought about this, our good works doesn’t merit it. Write that down. Our good works doesn’t merit it. But put in brackets after that, our bad deeds don’t dissuade it. Our bad deeds don’t dissuade it.
Just as our good works tainted by pride and self-righteousness doesn’t win or merit God’s grace, neither does the enormity of our sin dissuade it. It’s grace, it’s mercy, it’s undeserved. And at the end of the day in the big picture, your sins are no more enormous than most people’s sins. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. And maybe at street level, you and I might make a contrast. Say, I was a number of years ago, I was in Chicago. I’m standing beside maybe the Culbertson dormitories at Moody Institute. And yet compared to the Sears Tower, which is just a number of blocks away, they’re small and it’s large.
And from the vantage point, one is of a much greater height than the other. And I suppose you and I could from a human point of view, look at each other and go, “Well, you know what? He’s a great sinner.” And you might be able to point to grotesque evil actions. And there’s some truth to that. It’s better to be a decent sinner even without Jesus Christ than a mass murderer. No doubt about that. But if you and I are really making the truest comparison, the measurement’s not you against me, me against you. The measurement’s us against God.
And here’s then the analogy. It’s not the Moody Bible Institute over against the Sears Tower. It’s more like this. Let’s think of the constellation Orion. It’s a few thousand light years away from the earth. Sure, the top of the Sears Tower is closer to this stellar constellation than the top of the Moody Bible Institute. But now does it really matter? In the presence of thousands of trillions of miles, there’s no appreciable difference now between the height of those two buildings. At the end of the day, grace is unaffected by the degree of our sin. Because while there are degrees, I think ultimately we need to remember, we have all fallen short, and it takes as much grace to save one of us as it does the other. And if we’ll bear those things in mind, that the chief of sinners has been saved, that God’s not remembering what we are trying not to forget, and that grace is unaffected by the degree of our sin, we can maybe get to a better place in our peace before or with God, and our position before God.
Well, let’s pray. Lord, we are excited to make this journey together through this passage in the story of Joseph. We thank you. There’s much to learn from this conversation between Joseph and his brothers. And Lord, what we see in them, we see in ourselves. Forgive us, how quickly we doubt your word. Even though there’s centuries of evidence stacked up to show us how faithful you’ve been to your people and your word; yet in a given situation, Lord, somehow we doubt your ability to perform.
And Lord, we pray that you’d remind us that an independent, immutable, and infinite God is physically and morally incapable of not keeping His promise. You will do what you have committed yourself to do, and nothing will stop you. Whether time, space, or objects.
Lord, help us to grasp the abounding grace of God. We don’t sin that grace may abound, but we thank you, because of our sin grace has abounded. The chief of sinners has been saved, and our sins have been cast into the depths of the sea. And our grace is undeserved in the first place, and therefore unaffected by the degree of our sin. Oh, these are great truths. Help us to tuck them away. Help us to indeed come to a place of security and certainty. Help us not to be thinking that we cannot be sure, or that we shouldn’t be sure. Lord, help us to know you want us to be sure. And everybody said, “Amen.”