The Gospel According to Joseph: Teaching Christ from the Old Testament

Back at the beginning of the summer, when I started this preaching series on The Gospel According to Joseph, one of the things I also set out to do was to teach how we can see Jesus in the Old Testament (OT), i.e. how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming nature and work in Christ. Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease and practical use, I have attempted to boil it down to some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Throughout the series, I presented four questions that we can ask of any OT to help us to do just that, and here I want to recap those questions.

Now, all these questions do not always apply to every OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture:

1. What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? When we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption in an OT passage, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need.
2. What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? When we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature in an OT passage, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His person (i.e. who He is) and in His work of redemption.
3. How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? For example: An OT story might point us to the lordship that God exercises over His people, in which we can see Jesus' person, for He is the lord of the Church. An OT story might present a hero as a representative of the people, in which we can see Jesus' person, for He is our representative before God. Or, an OT passage may describe a sacrifice or priestly duty under the ceremonial law, in which we can see Jesus' work for us as our ultimate sacrifice and priest, satisfying God's wrath and interceding for us. An OT passage may describe a king ruling and defending his people well, in which we can see Jesus' work for us as our ultimate king, ruling and defending His Church. An OT passage may describe God teaching His people about Himself, His salvation, or this world, in which we can see Jesus work for us our ultimate prophet, revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will and mind of God. 
4. How is the text calling us to respond to the grace of God and follow after Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? This is the part of preaching and teaching from OT stories where it's appropriate to see some instances as examples to be followed, but these examples are still Christ-centered. They are OT illustrations of what Paul says in 1 Co. 11:1 "Be imitators of me [i.e. follow my example], as I am of Christ."

Certainly much more can be said about seeing Jesus in the OT, but I believe these four questions boil it down for us in a holistic, practical way. What do you think? Am I missing anything? 

B. B. Warfield once said that the OT is a room "fully furnished but dimly lit," and when we use Christ as the interpretive tool, the lights come on and we see everything clearly. I pray that these questions will help turn on the lights for you as you read through inspired Word of the OT. 

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Reconciliation

Yesterday I preached the final sermon in this series--The Gospel According to Joseph--from Ge. 50:12-21, which shows us the final reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. Reconciliation is a fitting way to end this story, this sermon series, and even the whole book of Genesis because it brings a sense of closure to each. If you want to find out how and hear about reconciliation from this story, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

This one did not introduce any new questions we can ask of the OT to determine how we may be able to see Jesus in this story, but I plan to write a future post that summarizes the questions we have talked about in this series, so keep an eye out for that.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Hope, Even in Death

This Sunday's sermon will be the final sermon in our series: The Gospel According to Joseph. As we said in the beginning and have reiterated many times throughout this series, there is too much in this story to cover it all in nine sermons (or even nine sermons plus nine devotionals). In every passage, there is some Christ-centered content that we just do not have time to cover. So, in this short devotional, we are going to talk briefly about the hope that the final chapters of Genesis give us, which we will not have time to cover in a sermon.

Both Ge. 49 and Ge. 50 end with death--the deaths of Israel and Joseph. Death may seem like a bad way to end such a great story, but when we look at the faith of these two men, we can see that in their deaths we're given hope--the hope of the gospel. Back in Ge. 47-48 (cf. The Gospel and Finishing Faithfully), we saw in Israel preparing for his death that his true hope was not in the physical land of the promise but in the God of the promise who was preparing a "better city, that is a heavenly one" for him and his descendants. In Ge. 50:24-25, we see Joseph express the same hope (a hope that we saw he had back in Ge. 41 as well, cf. The Gospel and Perspective) as he tells his brothers and descendants to take his bones with them to the promised land when they return. This is the hope that the author of Hebrews highlights in He. 11:13, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." And, this is the hope that we have as well--a hope beyond the sin, pain, and death of this world.

We too will die as "strangers and exiles on the earth," for this world is not our home. Our home--our true inheritance as sons and daughters of God--is life without sin, sadness, or death in the new heavens and new earth with God Himself. John describes it for us briefly in Re. 21:1-4 (one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture):

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Emphasis added)

That is our hope, brothers and sisters in Christ, and even in death it is an anchor that will not fail.

Death is not the way it's supposed to be. We were created for so much more, but sin has brought the pain of death into our lives, which is in fact is something that I have seen tragically and clearly in my own congregation recently. Yet, Christ has defeated death for us (cf. 1 Co. 15:55) and given us hope even in the midst of it. This is why Paul says in 1 Th. 4:13 that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Now, that doesn't mean we don't grieve. We do, for death is not the way it's supposed to be and someone we love has had to endure it, and now we have to continue as "strangers and exiles" in this world without their comfort and companionship. Yet, we grieve as those who have the hope of the gospel, for we know that believers are redeemed in Christ (Ro. 3:24), live in Christ (Ga. 2:20), and even die in Christ (1 Th.4:13-14), and we know that we will see them again when we too go to our true home. We have the hope of knowing that even in death our Savior is with us and will bring us into a world so much better than our life as "strangers and exiles" here on earth--our true inheritance with Him in the new heavens and new earth for all eternity. We know that the death of a believer (even untimely, early ones) means they're finally home, receiving their true inheritance from Christ, which gives us hope. Death, as the Heidelberg Catechism says in the answer to question 42, puts an end to our disease of sin and begins our eternal life--our true inheritance. Christians have hope, even in death.

So, even though this great story ends in death, it's good ending. It's an ending that reminds us that this world isn't our home, that we have a glorious inheritance awaiting us in Christ, and that even in the midst of the pain of death in this life, the loved ones of believers can grieve with hope instead of grieving with fear and despondency. Rest in that hope that the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah gives to us here at the end.

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Grace

My apologies for not publishing this on Sunday, my friends. The weekend was very busy for a number of reasons, and I simply forgot. Please forgive that memory lapse. Here it is, though, the sermon that complements last Friday's devotional: The Gospel and Grace. Israel's life has been a picture of God's amazing grace ever since he was born clinging to Esau's ankle, and here at the end of his life and near the end of this whole narrative, he becomes a bestower of grace through the blessings he gives to his sons and grandsons. The scope of this sermon only had room to look at two of those blessings--the blessing on Joseph's sons and the blessing on Judah--but in those two blessings we learn a lot about God's grace to us. So, if you want to hear about that, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use a question we have talked about in previous sermons: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus, the Greater Judah

As has been the case in almost every sermon passage so far in this series, there is so much in Ge. 48:1-20; 49:1, 8-12 that we cannot possibly cover it all in this Sunday's sermon post. In fact, the sermon will only highlight one major aspect of this passage. So, in this devotional, we will talk briefly about Judah's blessing, which is really a prophecy of Jesus Himself.

In Ge. 49:8-12, Israel blesses Judah with nothing less than a prediction that the Messiah Himself will come from Judah's line, which is an amazing grace to Judah (the grace aspect of this blessing will be brought out in Sunday's sermon post). Take a look at Israel's words to Judah:

8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion's cub;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
    and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk."

There are four aspects of the coming Messiah--Jesus Christ Himself--that are brought out in this blessing and prophecy given to Judah: His praise, His preeminence, His power, and His prosperity. Let's take a brief look at each of those.

First, praise: Israel says, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you..." From a language standpoint, this is a literary play on Judah's name which means "to praise" in Hebrew, yet its meaning goes much deeper. This prophecy may have had a minor fulfillment in Judah's personal relationship with his brothers, and it did have a proximate fulfillment in the kings of Judah, of whom king David was the greatest. Yet, it finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. When Christ was raised from the dead, He was given the name that is above every name (Php. 2:9), so that at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess His lordship (Php. 2:10-11). Presently, this prophecy is fulfilled in the true children of Abraham (i.e. Christians, cf. Ga. 3:7) giving praise to the Greater Judah who comes from the line of Judah. It also will be fulfilled in an ultimate sense when every knee bows to Jesus at the final judgment, whether they want to or not (Php. 2:10-11, explained in more detail in this sermon here).

Second, preeminence: Israel tells Judah that he will be greater than all his enemies, that his brothers will bow to him, and that the scepter will not leave his house. Now, while this may have had some minor fulfillment in Judah's lifetime, this too is ultimately about what would come from his line. Israel does nothing less than predict that the right kingship of God's people will come from Judah's line, and in v. 10, Israel makes it clear that the kingship of Judah's line will have no end. This kingship began to be true with king David but has its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. Out of the line of Judah has emerged the Messiah who is king (e.g. Ps. 2; 89; Is. 11:1-16; Je. 33:15; Am. 9:1-14), and this messiah is Jesus (Lk. 1:32-33; Ro. 1:3; Re. 22:16). He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Re. 17:14; 19:16), who rules over everything (Col. 1:15-17). Presently, His rule may not be recognized by all, but one day, it will be (Php. 2:10-11, cf. Re. 20:11ff).

Third, power: Israel likens Judah to a lion in this prophecy, and, of course, the lion is a picture of power and might. The lion is the most enduring image of Judah in the themes of redemptive history. This theme is carried through to the time of the judges, then to the reign of king David, and ultimately is fulfilled in the victorious reign of the Lion of the tribe of Judah: Jesus Christ Himself (cf. Re. 5:5, 9-10). This enduring image of the Lion of Judah is often set with the image of the Lamb of God to serve as the quintessential image of Christ (i.e. power and sacrifice). Here, though, there is no hint of the lamb; there is only the power of the lion. Jesus is the powerful lion who protects, defends, and fights for His people, both now and forever more.

Fourth, prosperity: Finally, Israel tells Judah vv. 11-12 that his prosperity will be unimaginable. Now, the language of these images may seem a little odd to our culture today, but to Judah they were a picture of great prosperity. The binding of the foal and the donkey to the choice vine shows this because a foal and a donkey would eat the vine to which they were tied, which means Judah has such a successful vine harvest that it doesn't matter whether a choice vine is eaten, for there are so many more. In modern terms, it might be like us saying that someone can park their Lamborghini in the worst part of town with the keys in the ignition because they have so much wealth that one car, as expensive as it is, doesn't really matter. The washing of his garments and vesture (i.e. cloak/robe) in wine is a similar picture: so much that it does not matter how you use it. Wine is an expensive liquid (imagine your water bill calculated at the price wine is sold), so to use it to wash clothes like one would use water shows that the wine harvest is as abundant as water to them. Finally, the color of his eyes and teeth are along a similar line: Judah has so much wine that his eyes are becoming colored like the wine and his teeth are white when seen against the foreground of his red, wine-stained lips. All these images show the immense prosperity of Judah. And, like with the previous predictions, such a prosperity may have had some fulfillment in Judah and the later kings from his line (e.g. king Solomon's prosperity), but it is ultimately fulfilled in Christ and what He has secured in the new heavens and the new earth. The description of the new Jerusalem in Re. 21:9ff shows us this kind of lavish wealth in different terms but the end result is the same: unimaginable prosperity. And that, Christian, is the inheritance that those adopted into the family of God through Christ will have one day. That is our hope in Christ, not anything in this world.

Judah's blessing is really a prophecy about Jesus Himself. So, when you look at Judah's blessing, remember that he is just a picture of who Christ is as the exalted King of kings, Lord of lords, and head of the Church. And, He is your Savior.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Finishing Faithfully

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, we come to the part of the story where the Israel gets the majority of the attention. We have seen a lot about Joseph so far, some about Judah, and only a small amount about Israel, but in chapters 47-49, the story shifts is character focus mainly to Israel and the end of his life. In the sermon for today's post (from a selected reading in Ge. 47-48), we see Israel, who was stumbling greatly at the beginning of this narrative, finish his life faithfully and pass on his renewed faith in God to the succeeding generations. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have talked about in the other posts in this series, we're not only studying the story but learning how to see Christ properly in these Old Testament (OT) narratives. To accomplish that, we've been talking about questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. For today's sermon, we added a new question: "How is the text calling us to respond to the grace of God and follow after Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit?" This is the part of preaching and teaching from OT stories where it's appropriate to see some instances as examples to be followed, but even these examples are still Christ-centered. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus is Coming Soon!

In this Sunday's sermon, one of the things that we will see is Israel's hope in the promises of God that looked forward beyond the promised land to "a better city, that is, a heavenly one" (He. 11:16). Now, he didn't know as much about it as we do, but he knew enough to place his hope not in this world but in a "city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (He. 11:10). We know now that this city is the new heavens and new earth (cf. Re. 21) into which Jesus will take us when He returns.

When thinking about Jesus' return and the solid hope we have in it because of the truth of the gospel, sometimes we wonder why He has not yet returned. Didn't He say He was coming "soon"? Well, yes He did in Re. 22:

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
⁷ “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Re. 22:6ff)

In the above Scripture passage I've italicized Jesus' words just so there's no mistaking who is speaking to whom. This is, of course, a theologically packed passage, but I want to use it for this devotional since His return to take us home is our ultimate hope and because three times in it Jesus says, "I am coming soon." Do you think He means it? If you repeat something to someone three times in a single conversation, don’t you really mean it? But, it doesn't seem "soon," does it? When you pray for Christ's return, do you sometimes feel like a child in the back seat of your parents' car on a long road trip asking "How long?" and always hearing "Soon"? Almost two thousand years doesn't seem "soon" to me. Of course, I'm not the only one who's thought that for even the early Church wondered why Jesus had not yet returned. Many of them thought Jesus would return before they died, and even Paul appears to have believed this early on in his ministry (cf. 1 Th. 4:15). After several decades passed they started to wonder, "What happened to 'soon'?" If they asked it then, how much more may we ask the question two thousand years later?

As you might imagine, there have been many over the centuries who have attempted to answer this question in a variety of ways. Indeed, this is a very complex question on which Christians have come to no sort of consensus. That means I don't believe I have the final answer to this important question, but I would like to give you two things to consider that I think will help put the question in a less ominous context. First, consider Peter's answer to this question. Peter acknowledges that his readers were asking this question and answers it but not in the detail for which we (or they) might have hoped:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
…⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…. (2 Pt. 3:1-4, 8-10)

Peter knows there will be "scoffers" who will basically say, "Where's your God now? It's been two thousand years and He said He would come 'soon.'" His answer is not a systematic defense of how "soon" can be reckoned with a long delay of Jesus' second coming. He simply says, "Look, God doesn't perceive or calculate the passage of time the way you and I do, so stop acting like He does and forcing our view of 'soon' on Him. And, what you call 'slowness' I call 'patience' for the Lord is waiting so more can repent and believe." Then, Peter tells us that the day will come like a thief, which is the proverbial way of saying that we have no idea when it will come. He wisely doesn't try to answer a question no one can answer completely but appeals to God's timelessness and mercy for an explanation of His delay. There are more God wants to become Christians and He is waiting until they do (cf. Mt. 24:14).

The second thing I think we need to consider is the nature of biblical prophecy. There is in prophecy a characteristic perspective that foreshortens time and presents the future from a theological perspective as a whole with the chronological gaps unaddressed. So, for example, the prophets of the Old Testament could move from the destruction of Judah to the coming of the Messiah in a single step even though there would be almost six hundred years in between. The same is true of Revelation. In it, the future is presented theologically and is seen in terms of its entirety, not in its chronological detail. Prophecy is a theological interpretation of history, however long it endures. Think about that for a moment. Theologically speaking, what is the next important event after Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? It's the second coming of Christ. Everything in between is incidental compared to those important, redemptive events. John's prophecy in Revelation, then, can make a chronological jump of unknown duration because theologically Christ's second coming is near, and it is looked at as part of the redemptive whole of Christ's work. So, Christ is coming soon, but we need to look at "soon" from God's perspective on time, in the context of His awesome mercy, and theologically not chronologically.

Today let He. 11:8-16, 39-40 (which will be discussed in Sunday's posted sermon), and the above passages remind you that Christ is coming soon. What He means by "soon" may be different than what you and I think of as "soon," but we know it's the next important redemptive event and it could happen at any time. Remember that God is delaying Jesus' return because He is rich in mercy towards the unbelieving world, not because He’s trying to drive Christians crazy. Ask Him to give you a love for the lost like He has because as our love and compassion for the lost grows, we will understand His delay and see it as a chance to spread the gospel more. Ask Him to give you a deep anticipation of His immanent return so that your love for Him will increase, your love for this world will decrease, and your concern for the lost will grow. Ask Him to help you be a testimony to the hope that you have in the gospel to the lost around you and younger generations. And, pray like John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and God's Sovereignty

As Friday's devotion mentioned, this sermon post focuses particularly on God's sovereignty. Sovereignty (and the providence which results from sovereignty and God's love for us) can be sometimes be a tough theological truth to swallow, especially for "modern," Western Christians who have been raised in a culture of "self-determination" and individuality. Yet, it God's sovereignty is a very comforting, wonderful doctrine when it is viewed rightly, and the episode of this narrative found in Ge. 45-46 shows us several aspects of God's sovereignty. My prayer is that this sermon will help your view of God's sovereignty to be more biblical and comforting. You can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use a question we have talked about in previous sermons: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Providence

This Sunday's sermon post will focus on God's sovereignty, which is clearly seen in Ge. 45-46 in several ways. One of those ways is providence. Providence has been one of the two major themes that we've seen weaving its way through this narrative thus far, and we have had the chance to talk about it in several ways in several of the past sermons. We are not going to discuss the details of providence in this devotion because the sermon will talk about that, but we are going to discuss the comfort that the knowledge of God's providence can bring to our lives.

The Heidelberg Catechism has a really good statement about the comfort that God's providence can bring to our lives. In question 28 (which will be our confession of faith this Sunday) it asks, "How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?" And, it answers:

We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.

Let's consider this a line at a time. First: "we can be patient when things go against us." When we remember that God is in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and that He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (which are the two parts to providence), then "we can be patient when things go against us" and don't seem to make any sense because we can know that one day He will work them out for our good (Ge. 50:20; Ro. 8:28). Joseph's sale, slavery, and imprisonment didn't make any sense to him at first, but in our passage for Sunday, we see that he finally understands (at least in part) God's purpose in it. His patience paid off. The enslavement of the Israelite nation didn't make any sense to the Jews at first, but it does now that we can see the whole story. The crucifixion didn't make any sense to the apostles at first (even though Jesus had told them it was coming), and yet they soon figured out how crucial and important it is. And, I bet there are many things in your life that didn't make sense at first, but now that you can look back on them, you can see at least some part that God worked for your good or the good of others in them. Of course, you may be in the middle of something against you right now and cannot see any good reason for it, but be patient for your heavenly Father is working it for your good. As Spurgeon once said, "When you can't trace God's hand, trust His heart."

The next line is, "we can... be thankful when things go well." This is a convicting line in a comforting answer. How often do we pray for God to act and then forget to thank Him when He answers our prayers in the way we'd hoped? How often do we attribute success or prosperity to our abilities? When we realize that God in His providence never for a moment removes His hand from our lives, we'll start to see all things as a reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving; we'll start to realize that everything good is a gift of grace from our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (cf. Js. 1:17).

The third line says, "...for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love." This is simply a restatement of Ro. 8:38-39. Since God is always in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and, again, since He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then we can know that nothing will separate us from His love. Since He is sovereign over this universe, nothing can take us out of His hand, and since God loves us with a never-stopping, never-giving-up, unbreaking, always-and-forever love, He will not let us go. His providence guarantees this comfort and makes promises like Ro. 8:38-39 absolutely certain.

And, finally, the HC states, "All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved." This is the doctrinal statement that comes from passages like Ps. 115:3; 135:5-6; 145:11-13; Jer. 27:5; Ac. 2:23; 4:23-31; 17:24-26; Eph. 1:11 that makes the three preceding comforts absolute and certain. Without God working "all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11), we can't have the comforts of patience during the hard times, thankfulness for the good, and knowing that nothing can pluck us out of God's hand (Jn. 10:29) or separate us from His love (Ro. 8:38-39).

Now, at this point, the modern, Western sense of autonomy with which most of us grew up tends to recoil and question whether this is really good or fair. Naturally, we want to be masters of our own "fate" or "destiny." But, consider that alternative carefully. I can maybe control the way I respond to what's going on around me in the world, but I can't control the world around me itself. So, how can I possibly think that I can be the master of my own destiny? The best I can do is attempt to respond circumstances that are largely out of my control in way that helps my future, but even then, I'm a sinful man and my even responses are not to be trusted. So, with such sinful, limited ability, how is it at all good for me to be the master of my own fate? Where's the comfort or peace in that? Yet, if God is sovereign and my loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then I can trust Him and rest in His hands. That's what Joseph does, and we'll get to see more of that, Lord willing, in Sunday's sermon post.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Transformation

Continuing our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah brings us to Ge. 43-44, which is one of the high points of this narrative, at least when it comes to the theme of gospel-change working in our lives. In the previous sermon, we saw Jacob and Joseph's brothers' consciences being pricked and awakened by God; yet we didn't actually see any transformation of their hearts. In Ge. 43-44, we see God use the tools of providence and guilt to transform Jacob and the brothers' hearts. It's a wonderful development in the plot of this story, and you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? And, when we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His work of redemption. In this sermon, we also get introduced to another way of seeing Christ in these Old Testament stories: types. A "type" is a theological term for an OT person, place, or object that God ordained to serve as a predictive pattern for Christ and what He does for us, and we see Judah as a type of Christ at the end of ch. 44. If you want to learn how, you can hear the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Growth

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, we come to Ge. 42, where Joseph meets his brothers after more than 20 years of separation. Now, we have seen Joseph grow a lot in the past 20+ years in this story, but we have no idea what has been going on in his brothers or Jacob. Both Joseph and we need the answer to the question: How much have Jacob and Joseph's brothers grown in the past 20+ years? What is the state of their spiritual health? Well, we find that out in this passage and we learn a little about our spiritual health and growth as well. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up, this sermon was not recorded, but you can read the transcript here.

As we have stated in the past posts in this series, we are also learning the questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on the page of Scripture. In this passage, we do not learn a new question but reuse one we have already learned: What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? And, when we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need. With this passage, we can see ways in which we can examine our own spiritual health and see our need of Jesus for growth in those areas.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Sanctification

Since this Sunday's sermon post will largely focus on spiritual health and our growth/sanctification as children of God, a little perspective on the biblical balance of God's work and our effort in sanctification would be helpful. The senior pastor of my church, Chris Hutchinson, has written an excellent article on this balance, which will be our devotion this week. If you would like to read it online in its original venue on The Aquila Report, you can find it here; otherwise it is below:

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Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. ~ Philippians 2:12-13

There has been quite the dustup recently in the Reformed world over the doctrine of sanctification. To over simplify things, some are saying that our sanctification primarily comes from remembering our justification, while others want a more rigorous attention to the effort we must contribute. I have no ambition to provide a comprehensive answer that will settle the dispute, but there is one often-neglected paragraph in the Westminster Confession of Faith that I believe can provide some peace to both sides, and thus settle at least some of the dust.

But first, we should not be surprised that there is considerable debate about sanctification among the Reformed. After all, the only remarkable thing about the Reformed doctrine of sanctification is that there is nothing remarkable about it. We are the ones who reject any sort of “golden key” solution to the problem. Other traditions offer a “second experience of grace,” the sacraments, or some one doctrine as offering the ultimate solve-all to the problem of ongoing sin in the Christian’s life. But the Reformed say we need all of the above, and even more. We are precisely in the already/not yet stage of our salvation, and so it must be messy – how could it not? We are already perfect – justified by simple faith in Christ (Romans 4:5); and at the same time not yet perfect – glorification still awaits us (Romans 8:23).

So of course we have discussions and debates about what this messy stage of sanctification looks like. And it may look different from Christian to Christian. A word in season to one believer may be a crushing discouragement to another. That is why we need wisdom – and even more, love for one another, that we might know how to speak in order to build up as each case requires (Ephesians 4:29; II Timothy 4:2).

But in all this, I believe that our forefathers wrestled through this problem well and produced a very helpful paragraph that is not as well known or used as I think it might be in these discussions. And that is Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2, from the chapter on Saving Faith, found just after the chapter on sanctification:

By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

Now to place this section in context, this chapter on saving faith follows the chapters on justification, adoption and sanctification – the three main benefits of redemption in this life (WSC 32). And so this chapter is written to ensure that we see salvation as full orbed. True saving faith is more than just a one-time decision to receive Christ, but is a life long and growing faith (cf. I Thessalonians 2:13 and I Peter 1:2, in which we are said to be “saved” by sanctification, which I take to be more than definitive, positional sanctification).

So WCF 14 begins with the reminder that saving faith is the work of the Spirit in our hearts “ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word,” and only then increased and strengthened by all three means of grace – Word, sacraments and prayer. This reminds us of the priority of the Word in Reformed ministry. The spoken promise of the Gospel is where we must begin all ministry, to believer and unbeliever alike. Sacraments and prayer assist this ministry, but nothing avails anyone unless they first passively receive the Word – not as actors but as those acted upon. Justifying faith is always and only passive as the Larger Catechism makes clear (WLC 72). If we lose this we lose any hope of providing a sure and certain assurance of salvation.

But then, unless we think that the Christian life is an entirely passive affair, the divines give us 14.2, as quoted above. This paragraph reminds us that following on our justification, the Christian life involves life-long repentance and obedience and even trembling. Every passage of the Bible must be believed and – once properly understood – applied. The Christian life involves action. It is Philippians 2:12b, straight up: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So is that it? Does that settle the debate? The “effort” side wins? It is almost as if the divines anticipated our present day dispute. Which, of course they did, since it was a dispute in their day as well (cf. The Rise of Moralism by C. Fitzsimons Allison). And so they went on to write this important sentence:

But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

The authors remind us that even though the Christian life must involve action, that which is principal is still passive – accepting, receiving and resting upon Christ alone. And note that this is not just for justification, but for sanctification as well. So the divines state that the principal acts of sanctification involve resting on Christ, not our own actions! And so now, it is Philippians 2:13: for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Now, I am not sure what that always looks like in any given situation. We have all known people who “try too hard” to live the Christian life and just end up making themselves and everyone around them burdened and depressed. I would suspect that most of us have been that person at some time in our lives. And so our word to them must be to rest. To remember their justification. To somehow depend upon Christ for the strength to be more holy. To slow down and relax a little. To enjoy their life and remember that in Christ, God has already approved their works and they should not try to be more than they are (Ecclesiastes 9:7; Colossians 2:8-23).

But we have also all known believers who take their salvation for granted and seemingly have little interest in increasing their faith and repentance. They need to be reminded of the first part of this paragraph; that if they have true saving faith, then they will respond to the Word with particular repentance, change and action, as various passages of the Bible are learned and understood. This is why pastors and elders must be involved in their parishioners’ lives so that the general Word in sermons may be specifically applied to individual situations through discipleship, with gentleness and patience (cf. Philippians 3:15; II Timothy 2:24-25).

And so this section of the Westminster Confession provides important guidance and balance to these discussions. To the “rest” side, it reminds us that the Christian life involves effort – God empowered effort, but effort nonetheless. And effort that at times even trembles at the threatenings of God’s Word. To the “effort” side, it reminds us that we must not make principal what God’s Word does not – that the principal acts of sanctification remain accepting, receiving and resting on Christ alone, and never our own efforts.

Now no ministry ever gets this balance perfectly and so we must be careful not to pick and pull at each violation lest we devour one another (cf. Galatians 5:15). But if, as a whole, a Reformed ministry does not remind its people that their sanctification involves ongoing repentance, change and trembling, then it fails its own confession at that point. Believing the Gospel leads to concrete application (cf. Romans 12:1ff; Ephesians 4:1ff).

And likewise, if a Reformed ministry fails to emphasize resting in Christ for sanctification, then it too falls short of the Confession. I have heard many preachers and conference speakers who have done just that. I have left such talks wishing that the speaker had first meditated upon WCF 14.2 before burdening their hearers with so many strong, specific and fleshly exhortations. They had reversed the Confessional order, making effort principal, rather than rest.

So I believe that there is enough in Westminster Confession 14.2 to satisfy and challenge both sides of the discussion. And if heeded, that some of the dust of this debate may peaceably settle, with all sides better able to listen well and balance out what may be imbalanced in their own ministries, rather than everyone else's.

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Pastor Hutchinson has many other excellent articles and resources that he has written, which you can find on this resource page on our church's website. I hope the above article has been a blessing to you, and on Sunday we will see God beginning growth in Joseph's brothers and Jacob.

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Perspective

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, Joseph shows us what it means to have a God-centered perspective and how that carries us through both affliction and prosperity in Ge. 41. As we saw in the previous devotion, Joseph shows remarkable humility in this passage, and that's because he finds his core identity in who he is in relationship with God. Well, the sermon that goes along with this passage explains that perspective further, and it also talks about God's work in this world and our true hope in this life, all of which gives us a perspective that will carry us through both affliction and prosperity, just as it did for Joseph. You can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use the question we learned in last week's sermon: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Humility

As we continue through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, there are so many great aspects of this story that we won't be able to cover from the pulpit. The passage at which we will be looking this week, Ge. 41, is one of the high points of this whole narrative. In it we see the climax of God's providential work in and through Joseph, and in it we also get a great look at Joseph's character.

Remember, one of the things we noted in the very beginning of this series is that we can often see the gospel in the development of characters in OT stories, i.e. gospel-change working in their lives. In the previous chapters of this narrative, we have seen Joseph become a man who endures and serves God faithfully wherever God has put him. However, in Ge. 41 we get the clearest picture of Joseph's developing character so far, and one of the things that stands out is the humility that God has developed in Joseph.

Humility is a tricky virtue to nail down. It's the one fruit of the Spirit that when we look at it or gaze upon it in ourselves, it immediately becomes something else. That's because true, gospel-driven, Christ-centered humility isn't what we might normally think of as "humble." I think we often think that the opposite of pride is self-abasing, but that's not true humility. True humility isn't talking or thinking about how bad we are and constantly bemoaning our flaws or sin in our own minds or before others. Constantly thinking about or pointing out how lowly we are is just another way of putting ourselves at the center when it is Christ that should be at the center. Furthermore, when do debase ourselves in our minds or before others, what creeps into minds after that is how great it is that we're so humble, and we become proud of being humble! Listen to what Jonathan Edwards has to say about this aspect of humility:

If on the proposal of the question [Are you humble?], you answer, "No, it seems to me, none are so bad as I." Don't let the matter pass off so; but examine again, whether or no you don't think yourself better than others on this very account, because you imagine you think so meanly of yourself. Haven't you a high opinion of this humility? And if you answer again, "No; I have not a high opinion of my humility; it seems to me I am as proud as the devil"; yet examine again, whether self-conceit don't rise up under this cover; whether on this very account, that you think yourself as proud as the devil, you don't think yourself to be very humble.

C. S. Lewis called this cycle of fighting self-admiration and then admiring yourself for defeating your self-admiration "like fighting the hydra... There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration."

That's because humility is the one fruit of the Spirit that flourishes when our thoughts and our gaze are on Christ and others and not at ourselves at all! Humility isn't thinking less of ourselves, it's thinking about ourselves less. It is "blessed self-forgetfulness," as Tim Keller calls it. Lewis has a great statement about this in Mere Christianity:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. [Emphasis added]

And, in Ge. 41, we see this kind of humility in Joseph when he stands before Pharaoh. In that moment, he has the chance to put himself in the spotlight. He has the chance to show Pharaoh how useful he could be to him or how he's been treated so unjustly, but he doesn't take it. In fact, it is remarkable how Joseph points the spotlight away from himself towards God. He doesn't give any hint of trying to impress Pharaoh with his abilities, self-abasement, or anything else. He simply serves God faithfully and let's God handle the rest. Before Pharaoh, Joseph isn't thinking about himself at all. He's self-forgetful, and that's because he finds his true, core identity in his relationship with God and nowhere else. And, that will be one of the things we talk about this Sunday from Ge. 41: true identity in Christ.

In the mean time, when you read through Ge. 41, make note of Joseph's humility and how it is in his self-forgetfulness, not self-abasing.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and God's Presence

We have been working our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah in a series of devotions and sermons. In the previous devotion, we learned about temptation and godly living from Joseph in Ge. 39. The sermon that goes along with that devotion, however, focuses on the main thrust of the two episodes of this story in Ge. 39-40: the impact of God's presence on Joseph's life. The sermon is entitled "The Gospel and God's Presence, and you can listen to it here or read it here.

Now, as I mentioned in the previous sermon post of this series, one of the things I am trying to do is teach how to study these Old Testament (OT) stories and how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming work in Jesus. For Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease for this series of sermons, I have been teaching some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Now, all these questions do not always apply to each OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture. In this sermon, there one new one come up: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? These two episodes of the Joseph story show us that part of Jesus' work for us is His presence with us to give us the strength to endure, and they prepare us for His person as our Lord, showing us that whatever we do, we ultimately work for Him, no our earthly masters.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Temptation and Godly Living

As we talked about in the first sermon of The Gospel According to Joseph series and as Pastor Hutchinson pointed out in his first and second articles about preaching Old Testament stories, we must avoid the extreme of treating these stories as simply self-improvement stories and teaching them merely as moral lessons. Yet, at times, we can still find some examples that our Lord Jesus would have us follow (cf. He. 11:1-12:2). In the episodes covered in the sermon that will be posted this Sunday, there is such an example, and because of time and scope, it won't brought out in Sunday's sermon. So, we'll look at it here.

In Ge. 39, Joseph finds himself sold as a slave to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard. There, because God's personal presence is with Joseph, he is quite successful and eventually Potiphar makes him overseer of his entire household. Well, apparently Joseph caught more than Potiphar's eye. Potiphar's wife took an interest in Joseph, but for a very different reason. Moses tells us in 39:6b that "Joseph was handsome in form and appearance," which caught the attention of Potiphar's wife. "Day after day" she made sexual advances and propositions to him, but he refused. And, I believe there are four things that we can learn about temptation and godly living from Joseph's response to Potiphar's wife.

First, Moses tells us in the text that Joseph refused even "to be with her." Joseph refused even to spend any time around her. Her temptations were strong, but Joseph protected himself by not even flirting with the danger. Joseph probably knew that if we crossed that line and spent time around her, resisting her advances would be even more difficult, so he stayed as far away from her as he could. We can learn from Joseph's example here. Sometimes we put ourselves in situations where we know the temptation to a certain sin will be strong, and when we do that, it should be no surprise at all when we give in. Joseph shows us that in the battle against sin, we need to stay far away from places, times, and situations where we know temptation will assault us. In 1 Co. 10:13 that God will always provide a way out for us, and sometimes that way out is never to approach the places, times, and situations of temptation in the first place.

Second, what happens when we can't avoid a place, time, or situation of temptation? Well, in v. 12, Moses tells us that Potiphar's wife "caught [Joseph] by his garment," and Joseph "left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house." Joseph got out of there as quickly as he possibly could, so fast that he didn't even take the time to remove his garment from her grasp. When we find ourselves unavoidably in a place, time, or situation of temptation, we need to flee it. Here, Joseph points us to Jesus' teaching by the pen of Paul in several NT passages: "flee sexual immorality" (1 Co. 6:18), "flee from idolatry" (1 Co. 10:14), "flee [false teaching, quarrels, and the love of money]" (1 Ti. 6:12), and "flee youthful passions" (2 Ti. 2:22). Joseph and Paul show us that we aren't to mess around with temptations to sin. In such cases, don't try to be a hero, run from it. Now, sometimes our "running" might be in a figurative sense, which often looks like Jesus' example in Mt. 4 of using Scripture to battle temptation thus redirecting our thoughts "on things that are above," and sometimes our running might mean literally removing ourselves from the situation as fast as we can. (It is worth of note in the literary context of this story, that Joseph's flight is in stark contrast to Judah's solicitation of the Tamar as a prostitute. Judah walked right into temptation in Ge. 38:15-16. In slavery, because God's presence was with him, Joseph was faithful. In freedom, Judah descended further into sin.)

Third, Joseph's words to Potiphar's wife show us that he kept a God-centered perspective on his service and on sin. In vv. 8-9, Joseph tells her that Potiphar has trusted him with everything and not kept anything back from him (except her), and we might expect him then to say, "How can I sin against him, your husband?" But, Joseph ends his statement with "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Joseph realized what David did after his sin with Bathsheba: "Against you [God], you only, have I sinned." (Ps. 51:4) Sometimes it's easy to rationalize sin when it's against someone whose also a sinner like us. If Joseph had been thinking only in reference to Potiphar, he could have rationalized it by saying something like, "Potiphar bought me as a slave, so, for that reason alone, he deserves it." He, however, had a God-centered perspective on sin: that every sin is ultimately against God Himself. That changes our perspective on sin, and it gets at our primary motivation to resist sin: thankfulness to God. The Heidelberg Catechism states in the answer to question 84, "We do good... so that in all our living... we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us."

Fourth and finally, this story also shows us that sometimes obeying God means incurring the wrath of men. Joseph resisted Potiphar's wife, and she was so upset by his final flight that she took revenge on him and lied about him to Potiphar. She told Potiphar that Joseph tried to tempt her just as she had done to him, which is a little bit of irony for you, and Potiphar threw Joseph in jail. Sometimes following Christ and living for Him will cost us greatly. Sometimes telling the truth gets you fired. Sometimes playing by the rules gets you in last place. But, our hope as Christians is not in our jobs or winning. It's in the ultimate justice and providence of God secured for those who are in Christ. Ro. 8:28 is going to come up a lot in this series because Joseph's story is a real-world example of this promise to those who are in Christ: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." The key here is God’s purpose. We cannot separate providence from purpose or substitute our purpose for His. Yet, since God has given us everything in Christ (cf. Ro. 8:29-32), we can trust His purpose, even when it costs us materially in this life.

These are four things that we can learn from Joseph's example, but I do want to make it clear that Joseph's example is not the emphasis of these two chapters. Moses emphasizes the impact of God's personal presence on our lives by highlighting how "the LORD was with Joseph" and what that did in him. That will be the topic of the sermon that will be posted Sunday afternoon.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Sin

In the previous post, I talked about the summer series I am presently preaching at GCPC called "The Gospel According to Joseph," and I also posted a short prequel to the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, briefly summarizing the first 36 chapters of Genesis. Well, the first sermon in this series comes from Ge. 37: 2-8, 18-28, 36, and it is entitled "The Gospel and Sin."

Now, our culture doesn't like to talk about sin and doesn't want us to talk about it. And, honestly, you'd be a strange person indeed if you actually enjoyed talking about sin, but to be faithful to God's Word and truly Christ-centered people, we have to talk about it. The good news of the gospel isn't really good and doesn't really affect our lives until the bad news of our sin first drives us to Christ. Well, that's where Moses begins in the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, and it's where we begin in the first sermon—clearing seeing our sin, so that we're driven to our Savior. You can listen to the sermon here or read it here.

Also in this series, one of the things I am trying to do is teach how to study these Old Testament (OT) stories and how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming work in Jesus. For Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease for this series of sermons, I will be teaching some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Now, all these questions do not always apply to each OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture. In this sermon, there are two that come up:

• What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? And, when we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need. 
• What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? And, when we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His work of redemption. 

If you want to learn how to apply those questions and see it done with Ge. 37, you can listen to the sermon here or read it here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Prequel to Joseph

Wow, it has been quite a long time since I have had a chance to write. I apologize for being MIA for so long. It has been quite a busy past few months, and I have barely had enough time to get done what I have needed to get done for my family and church over the past few months, so I have just let writing fall to the wayside. I still do not have a lot of time to write presently, but I have also started a new sermon series at my church, (GCPC), and it should give me enough for a couple of posts per week.

The sermon series is called "The Gospel According to Joseph," and it is on the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah from Ge. 37-50. And, each week I write a short devotional that relates to the passage on which the sermon will focus and, of course, preach a sermon from that passage. So, I will put all that up here as the series progresses. I am actually already three weeks into the series, but I will probably post them a week at a time so as not to give my regular readers information overload.

The first weekly devotional for this series was a short summary of the story of Genesis leading up to the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah. The prequel provides important information for understanding this wonderful story. So, here it is. On Sunday I will post the first sermon entitled, "The Gospel and Sin."
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In Ge. 3, we read about the fall of Adam and Eve that introduced sin into this world and to all of mankind that followed. Their fall created a huge problem for them and for the rest of humanity: how will we ever be able to get back into right relationship with God and have peace with Him? How will we be redeemed from our sin? But, God in His grace doesn't leave us without hope even for a moment. In Ge. 3:15, in the midst of His curse on the serpent, He promises a Redeemer who will crush satan and save His people. That Redeemer will come from Adam and Eve's "offspring" or "seed" (you can read about this covenant in more detail here). Then, the story of Genesis progresses, and the immediate offspring of Adam and Eve are certainly not the promised Redeemer, so we must continue to wait, trusting God's promise.

Then, in Ge. 12, God calls a man named Abraham, and God promises to make him into a great nation and bless "all the families of the earth" through him. And, as Abraham trusts God and follows Him, he gets more information about how God will fulfill this promise in the covenant God makes with him in Ge. 15:8-22; 17:1-14. There, we learn that the "offspring" or "seed" that will Redeem His people promised to Adam and Eve will come specifically through Abraham's line. God promises to make his descendants more than the stars in the sky or the sands on the seashore, and one of those descendants will be the Redeemer (you can read about this covenant in more detail here). And, Paul tells us later that it's through this promise that the Scriptures "preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham," and it is this very promise that Peter says Jesus fulfilled (Ac. 3:25-26; cf. Ga. 3:16). Jesus is the "offspring" or "seed" promised to Adam and Eve and Abraham! He would one day come from the line of Abraham to redeem the world through His life, death, and resurrection.

After God made His covenant with Abraham, the story of Genesis continues and we must continue to wait, trusting that God will fulfill His promise. Abraham sees the seeds of that fulfillment in the miraculous conception of his son Isaac, who will continue the line that would one day produce Jesus. Isaac has two sons--Esau and Jacob--and while Jacob is the younger, God chooses him to be the one through who the Redeemer would come. Jacob gets the covenant God made with Abraham and Isaac confirmed to him in Ge. 35. Yet, we still have to continue to wait, trusting that God will fulfill His promise of a Redeemer.

That brings us to the story of Ge. 37-50, which will be our summer series. In this story, we see that there is a crisis in the family line of Jesus. Jacob's family is a complete mess and there is a famine coming that threatens to wipe them out. Will this messy group of people actually produce the Redeemer who will save them from their sin? Will the line of Abraham continue or will the hope of the "offspring" or "seed" promised to him die with this family as they starve in the famine? We, of course, know that God does save them and Jesus does eventually come, but as we study this story, we'll see God's great providence working to accomplish His promise of the Redeemer and His gospel working in the lives of this messy family to make them faithful followers of Him who live by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Co. 5:7).

By His Grace,
Taylor