Special Series #5: Joseph - Biblical Characters and How They Finished

 Israel loved Joseph more than all of his sons because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a very colored tunic. His brothers saw that his father loved him more than all of his other brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him on faith. Friendly terms. How would you like that growing up in that kind of home where your older brothers hated you? On top of that, Joseph even had dreams of God's future for him, which offended His brothers. And listen to this, then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

Listen and learn how Joseph finished.

Transcript

Dr Hal Habecker: 0:26

Well, welcome again to this study. As you can see on the screen, this study is about how characters in the Bible finished in the end of their lives, we would do lot to learn from them. The apostle Paul told us in First Corinthians that they're all there, as are examples to learn from, and we should look at them. I serve with a ministry called finishing well ministries, and our mission is to motivate and encourage older people to catch a fresh wind in their lives for all God has for them, for us, for me, in our aging years. So that's the purpose of this study, and I hope you'll go through all the characters we do. But today we're going to visit Joseph in Genesis. But before we do, let's just do a little review. Robert Browning's poem, grow old along with me. The best, really, the best is yet to be the last of life for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand. Who say, Oh, I play all your life. Don't be afraid. Trust God. See it all, and let's live it for the glory of Christ in our lives these aging years, I have that little statement on the first slide by Crawford loritz, don't drown in shallow waters in your age. Let's finish strong. Let's swim at the deep end. Like J i Packer said, when we come down that last home stretch, we want to finish flat out. So that's our mission. In this series, Joseph, we find his story in Genesis. 3337 to 50. We first meet Joseph when he was born to Rachel as the 12th son of Jacob. The text says, then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb so she conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. She named him Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son. So that's where we meet Joseph in his infancy, in Ecclesiastes. By the way, I love this verse. I open almost every memorial service I lead with this verse, a good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. What does your name mean? What will it mean when your life has finished? So you say the name Joseph of Genesis. He was a good man. He finished well to the end. Would that be said? Of all of our names as we follow Jesus into the very end of our lives, that's Joseph when a person is born, parents have no idea what the impact of that little person's life will be, but at the end, the impact of that life will have been made very, very clear like Joseph, Lord, help us always to think and live with this end in view. Let's now take a quick look at the synopsis of Joseph's life, and then reflect together on what we might learn reflecting on that life. He was the 12th born of Jacob's 13 sons, a family that emerged out of four biological mothers. Interesting story, to say, the least a bit dysfunctional, you might say. And then on top of that, Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. Now that's a disadvantage in some ways in your family, and maybe an advantage of others, but let's pursue it now. Israel loved Joseph more than all of his sons because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a very colored tunic. His brothers saw that his father loved him more than all of his other brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him on faith. Friendly terms. How would you like that growing up in that kind of home where your older brothers hated you? On top of that, Joseph even had dreams of God's future for him, which offended His brothers. And listen to this, then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, please listen to this dream which I have had, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect. And behold your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf. What would your older brothers say that if you told Devin as a younger brother, you're going to bow down to me just wait and see crazy. So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. But it continues watch now he still had another dream and related it to his brothers and said, Lo, I have had still another dream. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars were bowing down to me. He related it to his father and his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream you have had? Joseph, shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground? And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept these things in his mind. What's unique about this son, my son, Joseph. We continue the story, Joseph's brothers are so angered by his behavior they sell him to Egypt and lie to their father that Joseph was killed by a wild beast. By the way, Joseph was 17 years of age at this time. Now, again, as we've said during this series, you never see the end. By the beginning, you don't know what's going to happen to Joseph's life at this point, but we would appeal to the idea that all of us should be faithful to God in our lives to the very end, and we'll see how Joseph did in that in Egypt, the Lord was with Joseph, and he thrived as he served in Potiphar house. You know the story, but I'll just read it. The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now, his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer of his house and all that he owned. He put in charge. So Joseph is sold into slavery, he becomes highly favored in Potiphar house. Joseph's success makes him the envy of potiphar's wife, and she tries to seduce Joseph, although Joseph refuses her advances, she lies about him, and Joseph spends the next 13 years serving God in prison in Egypt, and you say, God, is this what my faithfulness to you gets me. I get landed in a jail in Egypt and nobody will ever remember me. My life will not amount to a thing. Well, hang on, the story's not finished yet. Joseph's faithfulness in prison will lead to God's next step for his life. God reveals the dreams of the chief cup bearer and the chief baker to Joseph. They were in prison with him, and when the dream of the cup bearer becomes true, Joseph is called to solve a dream that Pharaoh had. So here's the story. Joseph is in jail. The cup bearer's dream was fulfilled, and Joseph asked him to remember him the next time Pharaoh needs help. So that's what happened. Note, Joseph faithfulness and trusting God, wherever he is, becomes a pivotal truth and how he will ultimately finish. Now think about that. What's pivotal in our lives is our faith and trust in God in the midst of the most difficult seasons, you might add, whatever it is, we trust a God who is in charge, who knows the end from the beginning. He knows how Joseph's life will unfold in finishing. Well, ministries, we talk about finishing every day. Well, we're not just talking about the last event of life. We're talking about every day. God wants to finish. Wants us to finish each day. Well. All, and thereby we will finish life. Well, in the end, that's a pattern of life. It's a pattern of daily obedience, daily expectation, like Simeon or Anna or the other people we've seen. So Pharaoh had a dream. You can study that in the text, and nobody could interpret the dream. The cup bearer remembers Joseph, and Pharaoh calls Joseph to interpret the dream, which he does. He explains it in detail. Pharaoh seeing how brilliant Joseph was in his wisdom of explaining the dream, says to Joseph, I want you in my house. Pharaoh then appoints Joseph to lead Egypt through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. Now remember, Joseph was 30 years of age at this time, he had spent the last 13 years in prison. Now, the text says, Now, Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And he went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty. The land brought forth abundantly. So he gathered all the food from these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt, and placed the food in cities. He placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. Thus, Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, because it was beyond measure. So you see Joseph's life story to this point now let's keep going. It was during the years of famine that God brings Joseph family to Egypt, and it's ultimately through Joseph provision that God will provide life for His people. Imagine this. I mean, just rerun the story of Joseph in your mind, how he grew up angering his brothers with a sense of God working in his life. He was lied about, sold into Egypt. They told his father he was dead in Egypt 13 years serving faithfully, and then he rises to Pharaoh's right hand man, and HE SOBS Pharaoh's dream and leads Pharaoh through the next 14 years. It's a May whoever would have guessed. Now, it's not the intention of this series to walk through the drama of how Jacob and his sons, who betrayed Joseph, found reconciliation. That's an amazing story all of its own. While it's a fascinating story, our point here will be to draw some general conclusions. Follow me, Joseph's plan of dealing with his brothers is shrewd in that He desires to test their integrity and bring them to a point of honesty. Isn't that the way God calls us to live? This process goes back and forth during the first two years of the famine, ultimately, during the brother's second visit for grain, Joseph cannot control himself any further, and He reveals Himself to His brothers. It's a rather dramatic scene, as you know from your own Bible study. Here it is. Then Joseph said to his brothers, please come closer to me. And they came closer. And he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold in Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves. Listen to this because you sold me here, For God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years to come where there'll be no plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all of his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry go up to my father and say to him, Thus says your son, Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to Me and do not delay. Let me read Genesis, 45 here, and you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks and your herds and all that you have there, I will also provide for you. For there are yet five years of famine to come, and you and your household. All that you have will be impoverished. Now just think about that again. We're talking about finishing well and the faithfulness to God and finishing well every decade of your life. Joseph is in his 30s and 40s. He understands the purpose of being faithful to God, and how God will use that faithfulness to help him finish well, so let's draw a couple overall conclusions before we finish Joseph's story. As Jacob begins his journey to Egypt, God reveals to Jacob that he and his son, Joseph will take care for him. That's a whole sermon on its own about how God provides people to care for us. God reassures Jacob that he can go safely to Egypt, because God has been there already through his son's faithfulness. Isn't that amazing? So Israel set out with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to God of his father, Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions in the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. He said, I am God. I am God of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again. And Joseph will close your eyes fascinating. So Joseph arose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father, Jacob and their little ones, and they all go down to Egypt. They took their livestock, their property, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and come to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him, his sons, his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt. Now, watch this. Jacob lives in Egypt for 17 years with Joseph. He moved there at the age of 130 and he died at age 147 so Joseph cared for his father's father and his family those 17 years, you know, I think about that we don't know how God is working ahead of our lives, in the faithfulness in our family and providing for each other. Joseph is a brilliant example of being faithful in his family, being faithful to God despite the challenges he's had in life. Pharaoh said to Jacob, how many years have you lived? So Jacob said to Pharaoh, the years of my sojourning are 130 that's how old he was when he moved down. Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning. So Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years. So the length of Jacob's life was 147 as we saw now. Number three, Joseph cares for the burial of his father. Jacob, you always live with the commandment in the Decalogue Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. That's important for us as we finish life, there are things that we should do to finish life. Well, we should care for our parents. They should anticipate planning ahead in their own lives, what God will provide for them. And number four, this is important in thinking about Joseph's life, he makes sure there's no resentment between him and his brothers after his father dies. I mean, that's really an important issue in finishing life. Well, here's what the text says. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him? That would be the time to get back at him after their father died, so they sent a message to Joseph, saying, your father charged before he died, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, please forgive. I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong, and now, please forgive the sins, the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph hears their request. Look at this, and Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell to. Down before Him and said, Behold, we are Your servants. But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid, for Am I in God's place as for you? You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. So therefore don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. It's one of the most amazing sections of the Bible to live to the end of your life with no resentment for what your family or siblings or other people have done to you. And finally, Joseph takes care of his burial plans and speaks a word of hope for generations to come. You know we as we age, we need to take care of our burial arrangements. What's going to happen to us. We should tell our kids and our grandkids what we want to happen to our bodies when we die. You know, finish your life well, anticipate all the decisions that need to be made as your life finishes. Don't put that in your children so that they have to make those decisions for themselves. So now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father's household, and Joseph lived 110 years, and Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim sons. That's five generations, if I calculate correctly. Also the sons of makir, the sons of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees, and Joseph said to his brothers, now listen to this. This is the whole point of finishing well. Joseph says, I'm about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. Now let me remind you, God told Abraham, when he called him to lead begin the children of Israel, that his Israel would go down to Egypt for 400 years. So that idea has been with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph now knew that, and all of a sudden the big picture comes into view. Joseph realizes what God has been doing in his life all along, and he brings it full full circle when he dies at 110 he looks at his family and says, God took care of me, and He will take care of you. God took care of me, he states it again, and God will take care of you. Is that not amazing Would to God that we would finish our lives being full of hope and confidence that the work of God has not only continued in our lives, but will continue after we die. I just think that's amazing. So Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely take care of you and you shall carry my bones up from here. So Joseph died at the age of 110 years, and he was bombed and bombed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. God said to Abraham, remember, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in the land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. You know that statement came back to Joseph at the end of his life, and our hope is that as we near the end of our lives, we'll begin to see the perspective of God's hand, how he made all the difference in our lives all along. So Jacob and Joseph knew that truth God kept His promise to Abraham 400 years later, Moses will lead people, God's people, out of Egypt. God will use for his purposes in the same way he kept his promise then, and he'll use them for our purposes as well. He will do the same for us. Let's finish well, 430 years later, Joseph still gives hope. Joshua says in Joshua, 2432 that Joseph's bones were laid in Shechem. Some general conclusions as we finish this story, hold on to God's word all your life, but especially in your latter years. We saw how Joseph's life started. Let's finish well, like Joseph did, by the way, leave a written legacy for your children and grandchildren. Joseph did, hoping God, he will provide for you and take care of your. Are end of life issues. So we saw this first in Moses, and now, as we think about him coming to deliver Israel 400 years later, Moses reminds us so Teach us to number our days so that we would present to you, oh God, a heart of wisdom. You know, Joseph did that with his life. He trusted God those 110 years, and it made all the difference in providing for others. Do you know our faithfulness to God will provide for others as well. It'll provide a legacy for our children, our grandchildren. It'll provide a legacy for younger generations in the church, watching us being there, trusting God in our lives, may God help us to be like Joseph and capture a vision of finishing life. Well, you