11-30-2025 - TRUSTING GOD WITH MY FUTURE (Joseph's final story series) Genesis 50

 MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M)   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

+++++

This morning, we come to the end of our journey into the life of Joseph. His life was engulfed in a world of jealousy, betrayal, captivity, temptation, perseverance, and forgiveness.  

More pages are given to his life in the book of Genesis than are given to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. The parallels between Joseph’s life and Jesus' are greater than any OT figure.  Just a few of those: hated without cause; sent by a father to seek his brothers’ welfare; stripped of his clothing - a robe torn from him; sold for silver – the price of a slave.  And the list goes on, a more complete look that I’ve made available on the back table.

Joseph’s life is a highlight reel of faith when faith doesn’t make sense. Not faith that’s portrayed as all is well.  Not faith of blessings poured forth and bank accounts full. But faith that centers on God’s promises as He calls us to trust Him even during times that are hard to understand.

If we were to underscore examples of his faith that stand out, many things come to mind:  

-  By faith, when betrayed, Joseph didn’t become bitter

-  By faith, when tempted, Joseph didn’t yield to temptation

-  By faith, when forgotten, Joseph didn’t turn from God

-  By faith, when confronted with his brothers, Joseph didn’t act out in revenge.

But interestingly, when Joseph is mentioned in Hebrews 11, God’s Hall of Faith, not one of these is mentioned.  You would certainly think some of this would make the list.  But listen to what Hebrews 11:22 says, By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

How’s that?  The thing that captures God’s heart about Joseph’s faith is his instruction on where his bones are to be buried.

Are you kidding me?  But here it is, Joseph’s bleached whites get God’s approval as Joseph’s crowning glory of faith.

When he died, he was embalmed and put in a coffin - in Egypt  Gen 50:26.  And lest you forget, the Israelites are going to be in Egypt for 430 years, so his bones aren’t going anywhere quickly.  

Imagine the adolescent–parent dialogue with his ancestors.    

So about this box?  Okay, okay, we’re Jewish, and he’s special.  I get it, long ago grandfather Joseph – loved by all, saviour of mankind, but it’s creepy to have him in this box, just sitting here as if he’s still with us. Why can’t we be like normal people in Egypt and just plant this thing, 6 feet under and forget about it?

Son, look closer at the box.  What’s the writing say?      C’mon – it’s Hebrew.  

Such a teenager – don’t give me a bad time – you haven’t forgotten the language and beliefs we’ve taught you.

Okay so it says, ‘Bound for Canaan.’  So what’s that supposed to mean?

It means we won’t be here forever. Someday we’re going home - to Canaan – the Promised Land and when we go, those bones go with us. Your great-grandfather told us not to leave him behind. He is to be buried in the Promised Land.  It wasn’t his wish.  It was El Shaddai - our all powerful God’s promise.  We’re going home!

Many years later, we read in Joshua 24:32, Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons. 

God’s, ‘THAT was faith!’  Those bones testified that the people of God didn’t belong in Egypt. The land of the Pharaoh might have been their temporary residence, despite that the temporary lasted hundreds of years, but their home was in Canaan.  The promise that in a time to come, Egypt would not even be a memory, because the rich abundance of Canaan would be their home.

All because their faith was in a PROMISE - a promise on which Joseph staked his life. 

It was a promise that God, faithful to His word, would do what He said whether Joseph lived to see it or not.  It was that promise he held onto in the pit. That promise that gave hope when shackled by slave traders.  That promise that renewed in jail.  That promise as brothers responsible for his pain, came into his presence and bowed.

The promise we now understand looked forward to another time when one day the rejected One would be the salvation for the ones who sent Him away. 

It is a faith we are called to see about the promise our eyes turn to this time of year that a Son will be born and a Light will be given and His name will be called Immanuel Is 7:14, 9:2.  Despite what is seen, despite what comes upon us, despite the pain and tears and despite the joys and celebrations – the promise is certain - there’s far greater ahead!  More than we can know.  But our faith isn’t just for a time to come; it is for now and what we will encounter tomorrow.  Yet the songwriter was right, “This world’s not my home, I’m just a passing through, If heaven’s not my home, then Lord what I will do. The angels beckon me from heaven’s eternal shores, And I won’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

That is why Jacob’s father made Joseph promise, and what Joseph, too, will make his children promise, to take me back to the land the promise spoke of.  Take me back to where the land was given. I am only visiting here.  This isn’t where I have been designed to live.    

God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the Land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. 48:3-4

Joseph's sons heard the words of promise every time he spoke their names – Manasseh – forgotten, Ephraim – fruitful.  These boys, who have been raised by the daughter of an Egyptian priest 41:50, need to repeatedly hear the story of their faith. Though they can’t see THE PROMISE in the way you and I have been given to see, it’s more than wealth that surrounds, more than the glory of a nation that surpasses all others, more than the praise given a father before whom all people bow.  Far more than power, riches and fame. 

As Heb 11:13 tells us, We are just sojourners here, the same understanding the brothers pronounced to Pharaoh when as changed people, they came to live in Egypt. They may have been a people with a changed address but there were not to be people with a changed identity, forgetting to Whom they truly belonged. 

Years back, a slogan that became popular among Christians was the quip, ‘He is so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good.’   Cute – witty – yet so incredibly wrong because it misrepresents who we are to be. Because God tells us we need to be heavenly-minded so we can BE earthly good.  The more we live for Him, the more we reflect Him, the more we trust Him – the more our lives will make a difference.  Our identity calls us to place our faith in Him not because of what we see but because of who He is. 

Faith does not say, ‘If we see it, we’ll believe. Faith says, Believe and we will see’.  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him”  Heb 11:1,6.  

This faith in God’s promise was the motivation for Joseph’s father, Jacob, to call his children to gather around him before he died.  His purpose was to impart a blessing, reminding his sons of the rewards of living for God, as well as warn them of the consequences of living for themselves.

Blessings in our frame of reference are – eat well, laugh more and may your year ahead be filled with all you might want.  Feel good, Hallmark stuff.  God’s prophetic blessings take a rather different approach.  

Take Reuben for example. The blessing he received was as far from Hallmark as you could get. You are uncontrolled and ruled by lust.  You had everything in your grasp – power and position – all there for the taking, but you dribbled it away like water. Simeon and Levi, ‘You are self-willed, violent and governed by cruelty and anger.  The things that could have been yours are stripped from you, leaving you without home and without possession.’   Gen 49:4-7 paraphrased.

Words that are honest not wishful. His blessings intended to bring us life  God not calling us well when we are sick, not saying we are dressed when we stand naked.  He says, ‘As long as you deceive yourself, you are lost’.

And then there was the blessing for Joseph 49:22-26, Joseph is a fruitful bough ... The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him.  But his bow remained in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob,  Gen 49:22-24.  Then in verses 25 and 26, Jacob pronounces blessing upon blessing upon Joseph. 

I wouldn’t be surprised that during the times Joseph went through, there were lots of times when he might have asked, God, if this blessing, do you have any other options I could look at?  So much of his experiences were beyond difficult, a good number not making sense.  But he is the one in whom God’s promise will be fulfilled, passed on through his sons.  

Manasseh – God has made me forget

Ephraim –   God has made me fruitful

So when Jacob laid, his hands on his grandsons for the blessing, he crossed his hands so that Ephraim, the 2^nd born, gets a double portion of blessing, which in some sense is a picture of focusing on the bounty ahead and forgetting the things we need to forget. 

When we come into salvation, God’s message is that our sins are forgiven and forgotten and all things are made new. The promise is far greater than what has been forgotten, the blessing is the life we have been entered into, But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.      Phil 3:20-21.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you 1 Pet 3:3-4 .

Joseph, life came at you hard - the attacks real, the wounds deep, the injustices wrong.

BUT Joseph, you held tight to God’s promise by staying close to the spring that sustained you 49:22.  Time and again, you came under relentless attack where the archers bitterly shot and harassed 49:23, but your heart remained agile – rather than becoming brittle, your faith kept you drinking from the promise.  

That’s a hard thing to do when tough things come.  When people disappoint.  When evil is done. When calamity strikes.  I know, I’ve been there.  And in those times, what we’re often presented with is that God’s promises don’t seem to be enough.  The things prayed for, still unanswered.  The disease still lingers; the job still has not come; the relationship still has not improved.  The wrongs are still not made right.   At these times, are Your promises still true?

Causing us to move from faith to demand - Jesus, show me and I will believe.  The disciples echoed much the same when they said, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough and Jesus’ answer, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me? 

Forgetting above all who God is.  We are unaware that sometimes His answers are happening, just in ways I cannot see.  Promises of a Father whose love for us is far greater than what we understand.  But His promise is true, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God 1 Jn 3:1.  God’s promises are anchored in His love that is everlasting, unchanging and unfailing - even when we don’t see.   

Video: A Father’s Love (presentation)

A father who loves, though we do not understand

A father who gives, though we do not recognize the hand from which it is given

A father is often ignored when He gives what we need rather than what we want.   

Joseph placed his trust, believing God’s promises would be fulfilled despite what he saw, despite what He understood.  As we briefly considered last week, there is another one in Joseph’s story I briefly want to return to this morning.  His journey to faith is more like the son in the video - in other words, more like many of us.  He didn’t walk Joseph’s path. He wasn’t hated and betrayed.  He wasn’t dropped into a prison cell and forgotten.  He just got lost in the normal things of life. 

Running after the things that he thought would make his life work, only to find he was running from the very one who could give him life.  Running until God stopped him, showing him as he truly was.  I’m speaking of Judah whom we read of in Gen 49:8-12 

His sins aren’t of the magnitude of some of his brothers, but they certainly aren’t minor.  For the most part, Judah gets by with shades of doing the right thing.  His motto appears to be, ‘Just enough’.  When his brothers wanted to kill Joseph, he intervened on the edge of doing what was right.  Let’s not bloody our hands by killing our brother.  Let’s just sell him and be rid of him.

A good thing but not the truly, right thing that would have put an end to this mess.  Instead, he settled for a workaround.  He’d be guilty but only of the small, not the great - he's doing what we often do - guilty? Yes but only of this.  Yet when confronted with evidence of sin, he acknowledges it fully.  No hiding. No minimizing.  Just repentance.  And when he repented, he went all in. 

This is the amazing transformation God does when we are honest with God.  In repentance he not only lives in truth, he’s also now able to speak truth.  When his father’s fear paralyzes Jacob, causing him to refuse to send Benjamin to Egypt, Judah steps forward and challenges his father.

It wasn’t his place to do so.  That place was Reuben’s, the firstborn but his sinful actions rendered him disqualified.  Judah wasn’t even next in line to speak with an authoritative voice. But it was Judah who stepped up because truth needed to be spoken, no matter the cost.  Tough truth. In your face truth.  Loving truth.  Benjamin goes or we die.  Dad, I get it but you’re wrong. Hang on to him and everyone dies. But let him go with us .

This isn’t about him and it’s not about you.  It’s about all of us. The lives of all of us are at stake.

One more thing to observe about Judah, he not only spoke loving truth, he also he spoke sacrificial truth.  It was true that demonstrated he would lay down his life as an assurance of that truth. – I will be his surety.  My life for his.

Reuben hadn’t done that.  He offered up the lives of others, but his life, he kept safe.  Not Judah.

Later, the encounter with this Egyptian official proved he would do exactly what he’d said.  He didn’t say one thing to dad and another to someone else; he said, Take my life for his, only let Benjamin go free.  As I noted last week, he had no knowledge that Benjamin was innocent.  But his promise wasn’t based on that.  His promise was based on what he’d said to his father – My life for his.  A promise he would fulfill because he pledged his life as a surety. If my promise requires ransom, I will give it.  No wonder as Matthew Henry observes, Judah's name signifies praise. God was praised for him, praised by him, and praised in him.

And so listen to Jacob’s blessing for Judah, Your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies  49:8-12  You are one who will bring victory as your enemies fall at your feet, A lion's cub, a lioness who crouches, who dares to rouse him? but from you will come a Lion:9.  

You are the son of Promise - this is the promise that brings us here this morning.

This is the promise John speaks of in Revelation, the connection to Judah very clear. Weep no more; behold (look closely) the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.  Rev 5:5 .

Jesus, our reigning and conquering King - God’s Messiah coming through Judah.  That promise you and I are called to believe and be transformed by.  That promise that the Father so loves you that He sent Jesus, His Son so you can know Him, you can trust Him, you can follow Him.

Your salvation from the pit in which you may find yourself this morning.  Your rescue when you feel you have no other place to turn.  Your hope when all other hopes have come up short.

His promise - But as many as receive Him, to t

hem gives He the power to become the sons

of God, even to those who believe

on His name Jn 1:12  

www.bethanybaptist.bc.ca