Just Say Manasseh

Go to the book of Amos, please. If you have your Bibles, go to the book of Amos. Amos chapter 6. This is the time in which you look down at your Bible, and you see that you have those little book designations, and you're very thankful, because Amos is hard to find.

But Amos is in there. Amos is in one of the minor prophets. Not minor in that it's lesser, minor in that it's smaller compared to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah.

So Amos chapter 6, and we're gonna be in verse 1. This is not our passage for this morning. This is just an introductory to what will be more next week. But it does give us a hint of what's to come today, and I'm stoked.

So Amos chapter 6, verse 1. That's where we'll start, and we'll read down through verse 7. Hear the living and active word of God speak. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, the distinguished men of the foremost of nations, to whom the house of Israel comes. Go over to Calna, and look, and go from there to Hamath, the great.

Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater than yours? Do you put off the day of calamity, and would you bring near the seed of violence? Those who recline on beds of ivory, and sprawl on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall. Who improvise to the sound of the harp, and like David, have composed songs for themselves.

Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls, while they anoint themselves with the finest of oils. Yet, they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, and the sprawlers banqueting will pass away.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear what God has said. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your forgiveness, and for an opportunity to come before your word unadulterated, to understand what it says to us, and what it means.

We thank you that we have a place in which we can gather and worship with believers, to serve one another, to love and good deeds, and we pray that we would do so this morning. And we ask this all in your name. Amen.

It's great to be here. I'm excited. This is gonna be really good.

I'm teaching on Wednesday nights as well, and then two Sundays. So that gives you timeline as to what Sundays not to be here, if you don't wanna hear me speak. But I'll be speaking this week and next, and again, we'll be in Amos next week, but this week we're gonna be in Genesis, and I'll kind of talk about what that looks like more.

My wife and I spent July traveling. We went to Catalina Island, and to Utah, and Indiana, and it was really nice. And now we're back here, and we're really excited to be back.

I believe that you are the sum average of the five people that you spend the most time with, meaning that whoever you spend the most time with, the five people you spend the most time with, you're gonna be the average of them. And those influential figures in your life deserve gratitude and thanksgiving for what they've done for you. And being a part of this church for my entire life, for the last quarter of a century, just saying that to make it sound like it's longer than 25 years, has really been a blessing.

And there's been a lot of people in this church that I am very appreciative of, and are able to look up to, and to learn from. And you have seen me at my worst in kids time, and at my best at Camp Regen and Youth Ministry, winning, which was great, my senior year. So, ever since then, I think people kind of know I'm a bit more of a troubled kid, at least when I was younger.

I wasn't the best kid growing up. I don't know if I can say I'm the worst. We'll let you kind of decide who you think that was out of all of us growing up, but I definitely wasn't up there with the best.

And whenever I came into a room, I was running by nine months. My grandma was terrified, and I would have a bat, and I would come into the room swinging the bat, and she would freak out. And people would wince when I came into the room. And now, the reason why they wince when I come into the room is because I'm going to say that I'm a communication major every single time.

So, my wife and I have been married for the last three years, and it's been wonderful. And God has used people like my parents, and people of this church, and other influential leaders to be instruments in my life.

And so, I'm very thankful for you as a church. I was saved at the perfect time, right before high school. And that's when I began to get a passion for sharing the Lord, but it wasn't right away.

My brother Cade led a group on campus called Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and he asked me to be a part of it. And I was a freshman, and I didn't want to do it at all. I hated public speaking.

And so, he said, AJ, you're going to give a message during the second semester. I said, no. I'm not asking you. Okay.

And so, I chose, as any other young believer would, 1 Timothy 4:12, let no one look down on you for your youthfulness. And there were seven people in the room. That was it.

Acting like it was a big audience. And so, I remember sitting there in the chair, and I was shaking so much that I had to get my Bible and press it into my leg, so people couldn't see how much I was shaking. And the Lord really worked in my heart for the next three years to love evangelism.

I read a book by John MacArthur, Saved Without a Doubt. And that really gave me confidence and assurance in my salvation, and preach Christ to people at the school. I then moved from Summit High School, where I went to high school, to the great promised land of Crafton Hills College, junior college.

And I swam there for a little bit. COVID happened. Continued to get my degree in communication.

I wanted to be a youth pastor, and that's why I did communication studies. But the Lord had other plans, and I was able to love teaching. And so, I went into that route.

I went to CSUSB in Arkansas State to get my master's. And my wife and I have been living out in Redlands for the last three years. I've been a teacher for six years.

And I just stopped teaching, and I work at the Tree of Life law firm with Edmund Yam. And it's a blessing. And now at the church here, I used to be a youth pastor for five years, and now I'm the director of ministry development. So, I just do electives, and every now and then I'll teach like this.

So, go to Genesis chapter 41. That's going to be our main passage for today.

I figured I'd give you a bit of an introduction about myself, because it kind of gives you an insight as to how I'm going to read this passage as well. I grew up in a Christian family, and it's abhorrent when an individual grows up in a Christian family, and they say, I don't really have a testimony. Because then they put the impotence or the power on the testimony, rather than the God that saved them in the first place.

And growing up in a Christian family obviously doesn't mean that you're saved, but you do get used to a couple of things in church. Some things are just normal, because you've gone to church for so long. That's why when I was standing here, and I said, we're going to go on our knees in a second.

If this is your first time at church, and you hear, join me on your knees before the throne of grace, you're thinking, what are they all doing right now? Oh, I have to do this too. And then you do it. And so I grew up in church.

This is normal for me. But when we start to read things or look at things normally, or with familiarity, that's when we start to miss a lot of really key things that are really important. I've been blessed to be, and I'm indebted to men like John MacArthur, Johnny Artavanis, my father of course, R.C. Sproul, John Piper, and more men like that.

But above all, for this sermon specifically, in my understanding of Genesis, Voddie Baucham, who has since passed away to be with the Lord. And one of the interesting things growing up loving evangelism, is that you come to scripture, you try to come to scripture with a different set of lenses, as if maybe a non-believer would be reading this. So I tried to read the scripture a bit differently, not in a bad way, not in a critical way, but reading it thinking, what would an outside thinker think about this? Or can I come to this reading it as if for the first time? And it's very hard to do that.

And I wanted to learn things, so I could hopefully impart that knowledge to others in the truth of God's word. And that begs that you come to a passage with fresh eyes, every time, every single time. And again, when I say different perspective, again, I think there's a lot of times when we can become familiar with the passage.

So how many of you have memorized a passage of scripture for so long, and then you go back to read it in the Bible, and you're like, oh, there's like, you know, a couple of words. Anyone ever do that before? Like when we didn't see a couple of words that were in there before? It's because we've become familiar with it. And our goal is not to become familiar with the gospel to where then it becomes numbing to us in that sense.

So in the Old Testament, there's a lot of times in which we can do this. And when we're looking at this story today in the Old Testament, we have to look at it with a set of fresh eyes. And that's the story of Joseph.

And we're familiar with the story. But we look at the story, and we read it maybe like the Odyssey or Aesop's fables, a story through which we can then read it and then draw some sort of moralistic truth from it. And there's a reason why the majority of us will spend time either reading Psalms or Proverbs because they make us feel good, or we'll read the New Testament because it tells us exactly what to do.

And if you want to read a book like Amos or Hosea or Nehemiah or Zechariah or even in the Torah, you have to do some digging. You have to do some more understanding. You can't just read it and be like, yeah, I understand it.

You have to do a bit more reading than that. And not everyone wants to do that. When we read these stories, we can't read them as a fairy tale in a sense, but they are a story in the sense to where a story is a retelling of events.

That's the definition of a story. It's a retelling of events. So as you read this, you're looking at events that have been told before or events that have happened before.

And we are homo narens, meaning that we are storytelling beings. And the stories of the Old Testament are archetypal stories. And what that means is that the story has been stripped to its essence of what it is.

The essence of the story is that the story is always happening, how this is true. It has happened, and it's going to keep happening and continue to happening in the future. This is the story of God and man, always and forever.

It's a representational pattern of adaptive behavior. So we can develop the essence of the story by understanding the context of it and then looking at the forms of it in the sense. And the forms, the essence of the story oftentimes is more real than what Paul might tell you to do in Philippians.

You might be able to look at something in the Old Testament and receive a truth from that and say, this is more real than Paul telling me, hey, go do this or go do this or the fruit of the spirit or wherever else it might be. So in the story of Joseph, we read it, we see a faithful man. See, Joseph had brothers, had dreams, got a cool robe, and then his brothers didn't like it.

So he sold them into slavery. He went into slavery and then Potiphar helped him out, but then like Potiphar's wife was a little weird. And so then he went into prison and then he met two guys in prison and he interpreted their dreams.

And one guy, he was like, hey, this is really good. You're going to get your job back. The other guy was like, hey, you're going to die.

Sorry. And then everything went well. And then, you know, one guy went back to be with Joseph, or I'm sorry, with Pharaoh.

And then Joseph was in prison still. And then Pharaoh had these two dreams and no one could help him out. But the servant that was with Pharaoh was like, hey, I remember there was a guy that when I was in prison, he helped me out.

And so then they got Joseph, they bring him back up and he gets all these things and we read the story. We say, hey, here's a story of a young man that was faithful, that was good to God. He followed God and God blessed him.

And his name, Joseph means doubly blessed. I wouldn't know, my middle name is Joseph. His name means doubly blessed.

And God blessed him doubly because of his faithfulness to God. What if I told you that not only is that not the point of the story of Joseph, it's the exact opposite of the point of the story. Totally.

Not only if I told you that, but showed it to you. Now, before you get out of here running for Pash Lance to come back, it's a great story. It's a wonderful story.

But we need to do some Inigo Montoya theology. Anybody know what that is? Princess Bride? You keep reading that story, but I don't think it means what you think it means. So, I think it's gonna be better than what we think it means.

So let me give you a bit of an understanding and kind of a summary of this. You have an outline with you. I will go through that with you all as well.

So here's a literary understanding of the story of Joseph. You can divide it in a couple different ways. Number one, you can divide it by books and chapters.

That's not the most practical way to do it. When we put books and chapters into it, it's making it easier for us to remember it. There were a group of men in First Chronicles that would transcribe the books of the Bible.

That was their job. So they would know what papyrus or what tablet and then what line. Now we can just say Genesis 41 and then we know exactly where to go.

So that's not the best way because those were added in later. You can also look at it in the second way which would be by themes and like the stories that it goes through. So the different scenes you could say.

So first way is chapters of verses, second way is scenes. So you can see creation, you see fall, the first murder, there's a flood, there's Babel, there's some promises with Abram who then gets a different name called Abraham and then Joseph. And that's not a great way to do it either because it's still kind of up to interpretation.

So let me introduce you a different way to look at this book and that's kind of that first portion in your outline which is called a toledot. So that's that T that's kind of underlined that's missing something. T-O-L-E-D-O-T.

Toledot. That's how you spell it. T-O-L-E-D-O-T.

A toledot is basically the generations of. That's a great way to divide this book because it's the lineage. So in the book we see a toledot 11 times.

11 different times in Genesis is there a toledot. Number one, chapter 2, verse 4, is the generations of the heavens and the earth. Number two, chapter 5, verse 1, the generations of Adam.

Then chapter 6, verse 9, the generations of Noah. Chapter 10, verse 1, the generations of Noah's sons. Chapter 11, verse 10, the generations of Shem.

Chapter 11, verse 27, the generations of Terah. Chapter 25, verse 12, the generations of Ishmael. Chapter 25, verse 19, the generations of Isaac.

Chapter 36, verse 1, and again in chapter 36, verse 9, the generations of Esau. So a lot of generations. And if you missed it go back and read the Bible.

It's good. But the final one gives us a hint as to who the story is about. It's in Genesis chapter 37, verse 2, and it gives us the generations of Jacob.

So even by the literary structure of the book of Genesis the story of Joseph has nothing to do with Joseph whatsoever. Now there's another way that you can read this and that's by looking at reoccurring themes in the Old Testament but specifically in Genesis. So this is kind of that second part in your outline.

There's different themes throughout the Old Testament and it's themes of land seed and covenant. Land seed and covenant. Those are major themes in Genesis.

There's typically a land then there's a seed then there's a covenant. And that's a great way to read it and then see where the land the seed and the covenant are throughout the whole book of Genesis. Where do we see it? Number one from the beginning we see that God created the heavens and the earth the lands.

And from that land he gave plants, vegetation, seeds to then be multiplied from their seeds. Then at the end of chapter two we see that man makes a covenant with God through work. So we see land seed covenant.

We also see that in the fall. We see that in the fall man is kicked out of the land but there is a covenant and the covenant there's a promised seed. So again land seed covenant.

And again and again and again every time there is a repeat of this covenant. What about Genesis 12? We have Abram. We have this covenant with him.

There it is the covenant. What is the covenant about? It's about him being made many nations. That's the seed.

And then I'm going to give you a land. So again land seed covenant. So those are two things to consider.

Okay? So again the story of Joseph it's probably not what you thought it was about. So don't leave me before you're about to renounce it. Don't mess up my favorite story.

I'm not going to mess it up. The goal is to show it to you clearly. So Joseph there's three sets of dreams.

Three pairs of dreams in Joseph's life. The first there's a pair of dreams and he shares with his brothers. They don't go so well.

His brothers hate him. They despise him. They already despise him because he's the favorite son.

He gets this fancy robe from his father and maybe if you've seen the retelling with Donny Osmond playing Joseph in the coat of many colors that play thing. It's nothing like that but there's a dream and they're all going to bow down to Joseph. That's what he says and his brothers get mad at him.

They're going to kill him but instead of doing that they put him into a slavery and in doing so he goes to Potiphar, goes to jail, prison, two servants, Pharaoh interprets dreams, all that kind of stuff. That's kind of leading up to this. So the part where I think it starts to turn then is when Pharaoh calls Joseph up to then interpret the dream.

Joseph comes to him and he says in the dream that you've had there's healthy corn and there's unhealthy corn. There's healthy cows and there's unhealthy cows and then he talks about the famine that's going to come. How the unhealthy will eat the healthy and so you need to have food preserved, stored up so when the famine comes everything is fine.

So that's where we pick up here in Genesis chapter 41, verse 37. Look at me. Look at me.

We're reading this with fresh eyes. Do not assume anything about this story. Fresh eyes.

Chapter 41, verse 37 let's read. Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and so all his servants the proposal of the famine storing up years of seven then be ready for the years of famine for seven years. Verse 38, then Pharaoh said to his servants can we find a man like this in whom is a divine spirit.

Stop right there. That's irony. The Bible uses literary devices all throughout it and this is ironic.

Why is it ironic? Well why do his brothers hate him? His brothers hate him because he had this dream. He interprets the dream. His brothers didn't like it.

Not only did they not like it but they didn't believe the word that was in it and they hate him because of it. Now he stands before a pagan king Pharaoh and Pharaoh says hey, I believe you. I like that.

Let's do it. That's ironic. The covenant people of Joseph his brothers his own family didn't believe him but a pagan king can believe him and even believe the messenger of God.

Let's go to verse 39. So Pharaoh said to Joseph since God has informed you of all this there is no one so discerning and so wise as you are. Now Pharaoh uses he says God but in his mind he's not thinking of the actual God Yahweh.

He might be another God but when he looks at this miracle it's not this is amazing this is so good this is miraculous. God has informed you of this. He's not fearing Yahweh as Joseph is then interpreting this dream for him.

Let's go to verse 40. It says you shall be over my house and according to your command all my people shall do homage only in the throne I will be greater than you. Stop right there.

Every house that Joseph serves prospers. Everyone that he comes in contact with prospers for the most part in the book of Genesis but whose house is Joseph supposed to be prospering right now? Jacob not Pharaoh. So if you go to the back on your handout there's six reversals and this is the first one this is the wrong house the wrong house.

So we read Pharaoh saying you shall be over my house what we're supposed to be saying this is the wrong house. It's not Pharaoh's house he's supposed to be over Jacob's house his father's house. This is not a good thing.

What else do we see? Again themes of land seed and covenant what land is Joseph supposed to be in? He's supposed to be in the land of Canaan. Go to verse 41 it says Pharaoh said to Joseph see I have set you over all the land of Egypt. And again not only is this ironic but this is wrong because Joseph's supposed to be over what land? Canaan the promised land and in the biblical narrative the opposite of Canaan is Egypt and now he's over the land of Egypt.

So first we have wrong house, secondly we have the wrong land. And he stretched the imagination. Do you think that Moses who wrote the Torah wrote Genesis is trying to say Joseph is in a really good spot right now.

He's really blessed right now. Let's read further verse 42 Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. Now we have two more wrongs.

First one is the wrong robe. How was Joseph identified in the beginning with his robe? The robe of many colors. Now he's given a robe by a pagan king.

And secondly in this sense the passing of that is typically what a father would do to the next generation of father to the son. So within that third one you have two wrongs. First one is the wrong robe.

Then you have the wrong father. Pharaoh is not Joseph's father. But the things he's doing is in accordance to what a father would do with his son.

Again if you're reading this honestly how can we at this point say that Moses is trying to lead us to the conclusion that this is a blessing for Joseph? Verse 43. Here's another great irony. He had him ride in his second chariot and they proclaimed before him bow the knee and he sent him over all the land of Egypt.

Again more irony. Why? His brothers wanted to kill him because he said in my dreams you guys are going to bow the knee to me one day. And they hated him for that.

Then you have a pagan king and his people saying bow the knee and they bowed the knee. The covenant people of God didn't do it but pagans will do it. His brothers would rather kill him than bow the knee.

Let's go to verse 44. It says moreover Pharaoh said to Joseph though I am Pharaoh yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah and he gave him Asenath the daughter of Potiphar a priest of On as his wife.

And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt. The fifth wrong is the wrong name. Now a lot of us will read this and breeze over it because Zaphenath-paneah is really hard to pronounce and so we'll just say and then we'll keep reading.

This is huge. There's something really wrong here that sets up the rest of the story of Joseph. Not the rest of the book of Genesis.

The rest of the story of Joseph. Joseph's story, the punchline of Joseph ends here in chapter 41. And I'll talk about that more in a second.

Because when we get to this part Joseph has been given a pagan name and that's wrong. Zaphenath-paneah is a pagan name. It's not the covenant people's name.

And when we go to any other part of Scripture, we see it as a bad thing. So take for example Daniel in the lion's den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel was faithful to God. Daniel chapter 1, verse 8. He would not defile himself before the king and then they had to bow down. They didn't bow down but then they got these name changes that were horrible.

They were being tortured. And the name changes there were huge. Daniel's name, I'm sorry, Daniel's name means God is my judge.

His name became Belshazzar, which means bel's prince, a false god. Hananiah means Yahweh is gracious. His name was changed to Shadrach, which means command of Aku.

Mishael, who is like our God, that's what his name means, became Meshach, which is who is like Aku. And Azariah, his name means Yahweh has helped, and his name was changed to Abednego, meaning servant of Nebo.

So we read Daniel and we think this is awful. This is horrible.

Then we read Joseph. We just kind of pass over this whole part: Joseph’s being blessed because he's been faithful. That's not what the book is about.

This is an awful thing. And Moses is not showing us that this is a good thing. But we've come with this preconceived notion that, because he is blessed and everything ends well in the end, that these are all good things that are happening to Joseph.

Maybe you're not convinced yet. Maybe you think the story of Joseph is still different than what I'm trying to say. So let's read on.

He then gets Asenath, right, the daughter of Potipharan. This is crucial for the next part. This is the last wrong.

It's the wrong wife. The wrong wife. And the issue wasn't that she was from a pagan priest necessarily. It was that her theology was wrong. It wasn't the foreignness that was wrong, but it was the theology of this paganism that was wrong.

So the problem is that we get to this point of the story, say, see kids, you can be just like Joseph. You can stay faithful to God and you'll end up in the wrong home, in the wrong land with the wrong father and the wrong wife and the wrong name, and you're going to be blessed. Hallelujah. We don't say it like that because it's not how we read this portion of Scripture.

So let's keep going. Maybe you're not convinced. Go to verse 46. This is the punchline of Joseph's story.

Now Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and he went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven years of plenty, the land brought forth abundantly. So he gathered all the food, this is verse 48, of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the 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. That's important because it's kind of going back to Abraham's promise of your descendants being as many as the sand of the sea; until he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

So then we get to this point in verse 50. This is so good. Now, before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph.

Joseph gets two sons. First name is Manasseh. Second name is Ephraim.

Notice that both of these names are Hebrew names. They're not Egyptian names like Joseph's name, Zaphenath-paneah, has been changed to. He gave them covenantal names, seed, land, covenant.

Joseph is identifying with the covenant by naming his sons after the covenant. He's identifying with God's covenant people. And this is an important note.

Manasseh's name means that God has made me forget my hardships. Again, God has made me forget my hardships. Another way, let it go.

I've let everything go. Anything in the past that's happened, I've let it go. God has made me forget my hardships.

So how would this look in modern times? Egyptian comes up. Hey, Zaphenath-paneah, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great.

You're just so blessed, man. Like, you know, you were in slavery. You were going to die.

You went through all these crazy things. But now look at you. You're the second in command of Pharaoh.

Look at all these blessings that you have. You've been so richly blessed. Oh, look, I see you have a son.

What's your son's name? My son's name is Manasseh. That's not a Hebrew. I'm sorry, that's not an Egyptian name.

That's a Hebrew name. Why would you name your son after a Hebrew name? Well, because I identify with my covenant people. That's why.

And I'm a man of the covenant. And so my children will be men of the covenant as well. And even though Pharaoh can change my name, he cannot name my sons.

And because he cannot name my sons, I will name them after my covenant people. Well, you know, weren't you betrayed by your covenant people? Yeah, but I let that go. Well, didn't, you know, they do all these wrong things.

They haven't come to check on you. Yeah, but I let that go. They sold you into slavery.

They were going to kill you. Manasseh, I let it go. And the name of his sons become really important then at this point of the story.

He then has a second son. But before we get to that, I think it's important to note, I think some of us need a Manasseh in our life. And if you can't say amen, as Voddie Baucham says, you ought to say ouch.

There are some people that are holding on to things right now and identifying not as redeemed people of the covenant, but as people that have been broken by their past or have been wronged presently. And they're holding on to that. And you need a Manasseh.

You need to let that stuff go. Well, you don't know what I've been through. I spit, let it go.

I have so many trust issues and just people have wronged me. Let it go, Manasseh. And I said this in the first service.

I say Maranatha all the time. Maranatha means come Lord quickly. And you cannot say Maranatha unless you're willing to say Manasseh before that.

Unless you're willing to let those things go, don't start proclaiming Christ's kingdom until he comes because you're not going to be living clean in the future, clean in the present because of the future if you're still holding on to things of the past. But the second name is even more powerful than the first. So again, Zaphenath-paneah, how are you? I'm good, how are you? So you have another son.

What's your son's name? My son's name is Ephraim. Now Joseph's name means doubly blessed, but Ephraim's name means fruitful. And if you read on in Genesis verse 52, he named the second son Ephraim for he said, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

So imagine, okay, so listen, Pharaoh has exalted you. You're the right-hand man of Pharaoh. You've been brought out of poverty and slavery and prison and you're gonna name both of your sons after Hebrew people? Yeah, Manasseh, I've let it go.

And Ephraim, God has blessed me in the land of my affliction. I can imagine an Egyptian saying, how on earth could you say that where you are right now is the land of your affliction when the people that you just came from tried to kill you? They threw you in slavery. How could you say then that this is the land of your affliction? Because he's not looking for a place that has physical walls.

There's a kingdom that's going to come. And until I get to that place, every land that I'm in, no matter how wealthy or what position I'm in is the land of my affliction. Until I get to be with my God and Savior, this is the land of my affliction.

And I will make this place as much like home as I can, as I, Manasseh, let everything go because it's been forgiven by the blood of Christ. And I don't identify with the sin and the shame and the regret. I identify with the covenant people of God because I identify with my God and my Savior.

People ask me why I live in Redlands and we just really like it. It's really nice. You guys should visit it.

It's far, but it's really nice. It's about 45 minutes on a good day, on a Sunday and on a Wednesday. It's about an hour and a half, hour and 15.

So people always ask me, move out to West Covina. Everything's out here. It's great.

And they'll ask, are you going to move to Indiana with Madi's family? And I don't care where I live because as a believer, our job is to look for a building or a kingdom that is not physical. And until we get to that place, we are longing to be at home with our Savior. And until we get there, the land that we're in is the land of our affliction.

So we have to remind ourselves that even though Joseph lives in the land of affliction, he's trying to be the biggest blessing that he can be in doing everything that he can. Now, Paul talks about this for me to live as Christ, to die as gain. If I die, I go to my home.

If I live, I'm in the land of my affliction. But for me to live in the land of my affliction, I'm going to live for Christ. And I do that by Manasseh, letting sin go.

I'll say this at the end. When we forgive, we are most like Christ and letting things go, forgiving others is a necessity. That's still not the point of the story.

That right there is Joseph's ending, I would say. Joseph continues to talk a bit more. Joseph's involved throughout the rest of Genesis.

But that's like Joseph's point of the story. If you want to talk about a point of Joseph's story, talk about his two sons' names. I'm in the land of my affliction.

I've let it go. Manasseh and Ephraim. That's it.

Where do we see the point of the story? Go to chapter 45. Chapter 45 of Genesis. Joseph's brothers have run out of food.

They hear there's a famine in the land, but then they hear that there's also food in Egypt. So they go to Egypt. And obviously Joseph is there.

They don't recognize Joseph because they think he's dead. And so Joseph puts his brother to the test. He does that in a couple of different ways.

The first test is tied to the very reason that Joseph was in slavery. One of the reasons that they hated Joseph was because Joseph was the favorite. Right? But then there's another brother now that Joseph's gone that is the favorite, the youngest, which is Benjamin.

Benjamin is now seen as the favorite. So Joseph has no idea because Benjamin doesn't come on the first trip. So Joseph has no idea.

Did they kill him too? And so he wants them to bring Benjamin. He wants to know if he's still alive. So he sees that they would abandon him.

They go back and they bring Benjamin. And then the next test is that he plants goods in Benjamin's bag. And he basically says to his brother, Benjamin has to say, but you guys got to go.

And then we see the final test in which one of the brothers stands up and says, take me instead. That's where we're at. When we get to Genesis chapter 45, then Joseph, then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him.

And he cried, have everyone go out from me. There's no man with him. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers, he would have so loudly that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not even answer him for they were dismayed at his presence. Imagine the famine has gone on.

So many things have transpired since then. And they came there thinking, our dad's going to die. There's a famine.

We need food. So we're here. And then he takes Benjamin.

Our dad's going to die. And then Benjamin's going to die. And then he says, it's me, Joseph.

And now they're probably thinking we're probably going to die now because we threw this guy into slavery. And now he's a second in command. Go to verse 4 of chapter 45 says, 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 into Egypt. And this is the point of the story of Joseph.

Verse 5. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. It doesn't say God sent me here before you so that he could show you what happens when you're faithful to God.

Or God sent me here before you so that you could be doubly blessed when you endure the persecution. God sent me here before you to preserve life. Before we get into that, let's look at the doctrine for today.

Doctrine for today is very simple. God's sovereignty. And this is one of the blanks.

God's sovereignty overrules the offenses of man. Again, if you have an outline, the one that was out there, the paper, that's what it is. God's sovereignty overrules the offenses of man.

So here's some verses that I think are important. Genesis 50, verse 20. As for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, yeah? Psalm 76, verse 10 is another good verse.

For the wrath of man shall praise you. Again, Psalm 76, verse 10. Another classic one that we love is Romans 8:28.

And I know I'm spewing these off fast. I would love for you to go home and look at all these and see how the sovereignty of our God overrules any wrongdoing, any offense that man can give to us.

Romans 8:28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. Not the circumstances of Joseph. Everything worked together good for Joseph because he remained faithful to God.

No, Joseph became more like Christ. And so during Joseph is one of the clearest pictures, types of Christ in the Old Testament that we see.

You have Acts 2, verse 23. Another great verse. Since this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. God has always used the offenses of man for his glory and his own purposes.

Before we finish the story, let's look at some application briefly. I'm not huge on application anymore. I used to be when I was teaching youth ministry, I used to have a lot of application like all the time.

And that was how I spent the bulk of my message. And that was wrong of me. So you students, I apologize.

The bulk of my time should be spent in studying the gospel within the story that we're reading or within whatever we're reading. The gospel is what saved you and the gospel is going to keep you saved. That God is a loving God that sent his son to die for our sins.

So don't look at his application like, okay, now I know what to do. No, look at what Joseph did. Look at Joseph's life.

Look at the goodness of God and be comforted by that. So some brief application. Number one, make this place as much like home as possible.

Make this place as much like home as possible. Whatever means you have to do that. Inviting people to your house, serving in the church, naming your kids after your afflictions and your sufferings.

Hebrews 11, good verse for that. Verse 13 through 16 says, all these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, if they'd been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them. So make this place as much like home as possible. Secondly, find those who are a burden to you.

This is an important one. Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, we'll go to verse 2. It says, bear one another's burdens, thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I think a lot of times in relationships, we can see someone that is a burden and think, Lord, please, please change them. God, just do a great work in their life that they might not be such a burden to me anymore.

If no one was a burden, we wouldn't be able to fulfill that command in Galatians. We are to bear the burdens of one another. So instead of trying to avoid people that are burdensome, find the person in church that has the most baggage, the most burden and bear their burden.

Third application, the offenses done to you should be seen as something that strengthens you. Again, the offenses done to you should be seen as something that strengthens you. Romans five, verse three says, and not only this, but we exult in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proving character and proving character hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts, the Holy Spirit who's given to us.

Again, the offenses done to you should be seen as something that strengthen you because they cause you to rely upon your savior even more. And then the last one, work the hardest for your relationships with other believers. Work the hardest for your relationships with other believers.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 10. So then while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those of the household of faith. Romans 12:10 talks about being devoted to one another in brotherly love.

But back to Joseph, the land, seed and covenant. You know, the fall happens in chapter 3 in Genesis and the covenant promise comes in the form of a curse, the curse of the serpents. I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

You're gonna bruise his heel. He's going to bruise your head. And God makes the promise that there's another one who's going to come to undo this curse.

And then the next chapter, we get the first murder. The seed of the serpent, Cain, kills the seed of the woman. Then we have a problem because there was a promised seed and then they've been murdered.

But then right after that, we're introduced to Seth, another son of Adam. And then in chapter 5, there are 10 generations between Adam and Noah to the godly line of Seth, the promise seed that has been preserved. Now Noah has three sons, but only one of them could be the promised seed.

And eventually we find out that it is Shem who is the promised seed. Eventually we come to Abram who is the promised seed. And then Abram has two sons.

Only one of them could be the promised seed. Interestingly enough, his wife is beyond seed bearing years, but miraculously he still gets the promised seed. And so Isaac is the promised seed.

And then all of a sudden with Isaac, twins are born, Jacob and Esau. Who's gonna get it? Is it Esau the firstborn? No, it's Jacob. Then Jacob has 12 sons.

Which one of these is gonna be the promised seed? Well, by the looks of just reading the book of Genesis at face value, Joseph seems like he might be the seed. But again, the promised seed is not him. The promised seed is one who identifies himself to his brothers as taking the place of Benjamin to stay there, Judah.

And interestingly enough, the way the promised seed identifies himself is very telling as to why he is the promised seed. Benjamin is about to be kept behind and Judah the promised seed says to Joseph, this will kill my father, take me instead. So in essence, Judah the promised seed offers himself as a substitute in the place of the one whom his father loves, which is exactly what the promised seed would do, just like another promised seed.

But don't go that way yet. Judah had another son who identified himself with the promised seed. Judah's greater son, David, actually identifies himself as the promised seed one day.

And there's a giant in the valley who's challenging Israel to fight with him the battle of champions. I will represent my people. You sent me someone who will represent your people.

Then David, before he's King David, comes to the valley. He defeats Israel's enemy on behalf of all of Israel, which means that Israel is victorious because all of Israel is in David, the promised seed. And then there is the greater David who identified himself as the promised seed to which all other promised seeds point to.

And he is what Judah and what David did in one fell swoop. He also offers himself as the substitutionary atoning sacrifice for the sons whom his father loves. And then through dying and death on the cross that we deserved into that great valley, defeats the enemy on behalf of all those who are in him in faith.

See, Joseph didn't go to Egypt so we could tell our children be faithful and God will bless you. Joseph went through everything he went through and went to Egypt so that Judah, the promised seed, wouldn't starve, so that David, the promised seed, could be born, so that Jesus, the promised king, could save his people as the ultimate seed. That's the point of the story of Joseph.

Not some moralistic, materialistic, hoorah, be faithful to God, he'll be faithful to you. It's the heart of the gospel and the providence of God. And by the way, that's just good news.

It's good news. When we look at God's providence and how he uses a famine, not only does he use a famine, but he uses slavery and prison, all kinds of things that would make us look at God and say, you've forgotten us. But the gospel, God's providence, doesn't allow us to do that.

All the tragedies in life remind us of the very reason why God is so good. He is our Savior. So you see, it is the providence that gives us hope in the midst of our darkest days.

It is the providence that says, no, this is not the New Jerusalem where you are. You might enjoy life, but this is not as good as it's going to get. Our best day here pales in comparison to the New Jerusalem of Jesus Christ.

Because I don't know where all of you are right now. And next week we'll focus more on the intricacies of that. But I do know this, that God saves his people.

So flee to Christ. And I want us all to be aware that when we look at these issues of forgiveness, I'm speaking to all of us. We can't be sitting in this room thinking, I have a nephew, I have a son, or I have a wife, or I have a niece or a granddaughter that really needs to hear the sermon on forgiveness and letting things go.

Because then you miss the whole point of this message. And some of you might be mad because I've ruined your favorite story of Joseph and I put the burden of forgiveness on you. And people that are often upset at that, it's because their whole identity is rooted in unforgiveness that you hold onto someone and your entire path is wrapped up in bitterness.

And we'll say, you have no idea what I've been through. You have no idea how long I've waited for this opportunity or this job or this person or this thing. You don't understand my trauma.

You don't understand what he or she did to me. You don't understand how my parents broke my trust. You don't understand what the words they said, what they did to me.

You don't understand what my husband or my wife, you don't understand the abuse I had to go through. And to that I say, I don't need to know your exact specific situation. I never need to, because the solution is always the same.

It's Christ. It's forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel that's been given to us. So remind yourself of God's providence and all the things that had to happen in order for Christ to be born, let alone die and rise again on the third day.

And if God did all that to rescue his sons and daughters whom he loves, how much more can we trust him in the midst of difficult circumstances? It's not an application point. It's a resting of your heart that God is going to come again. And as long as I'm here, this is the land of my affliction.

I let things in the past go because my God, my savior has saved me. And we can just say Manasseh. Let us not forget the weight of our sin.

Let us seek to do nothing, but be forgiving to others because the very act of forgiveness is when we display that we are like Christ the most. And that is a story of Joseph, not of blessing, but of preservation. How are you preserving the seed and the blessings and promises of God in your own life right now? I pray that the spirit makes us known to us this week, as well as next week.

Let's pray. God, we thank you for your forgiveness and the opportunity to read the story of Joseph with a fresh set of eyes, to see that there were so many wrong things that were happening with him. He was in the wrong house.

He was in the wrong land. He had the wrong robe. He had the wrong father.

He had the wrong name. He had the wrong wife. These were not blessings, but Lord, you've used men like Joseph to then show us that Manasseh, we've let it go.

And then his other son, Ephraim, that this is the land of my affliction. As reminders that we are waiting for a kingdom and a city that has no physical walls, but a kingdom and a city that is built by your son, Jesus Christ. We pray that we'd remain faithful until you come again.

And we ask this all in your name. Amen.