If God Is For Us..... Series

Hooray! We will finish the Book of Genesis today!!

I hope you have learned how awesome God is and how loving He is! Whenever you open your Bible, will you remind yourself of how it all began: In the beginning God!

From the Book of Genesis we learned:

God created everything!

God promised forgiveness even though man sinned!

God is Holy and has to judge evil.

God is merciful and provides a way for salvation.

God chose a people to reveal Himself and His plan.

And so the Book of Genesis ends with a reminder of the power of God and His faithfulness to people. God is powerful but loves people! The Book of Genesis ends in Egypt. And before reading Genesis 50, let us remind ourselves that Egypt at that time was a great nation. It was in Egypt where writing, mathematics, science, medicine, and the arts originated and blossomed! Let us remind ourselves that Egypt was the mightiest nation in the world when God brought His Chosen People there.

Please open your Bibles to Genesis 50. Daniel Pryor will read for us this morning. Let us read along with him……

Jacob, who God called Israel, God’s people, was a poor foreigner in the great land of Egypt. Jacob was like a poor farmer from the Philippines who moved to New York City. But what do we read in v3 when Jacob died?

The Egyptians mourned for Jacob for 70 days!

And look again at v7-8……….

Foreigner Jacob was honored by the great nation of Egypt!

Now look again at v14……..

Joseph was a leader in Egypt so he had to go back. Why do you think the brothers went back to Egypt and not stay in their native land, the land God promised to them??

It’s true that the brothers of Joseph still had their children and belongings in Goshen so they went back to Egypt. But it is possible that Joseph’s brothers went back to live in Egypt because they were prosperous there. There may have been some selfish reasons for going back to Egypt.

Why should we consider this thought? In the future, when the Israelites were finally freed from slavery in Egypt through Moses, the Israelites would grumble and wish they were back in Egypt whenever there was hardship!

Like all people, the Israelites were prone to be selfish!

How often do we grumble?

But yes, let us also remember what God said to Jacob in Genesis 46:3-4, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again."

And so, even though they were foreigners in the land, Joseph and his brothers lived in pagan Egypt. You see, God is more concerned about how people live than where they live.

And what can we note from v15-21?

Joseph’s brothers were afraid of Joseph because they knew they had sinned.

But they asked for forgiveness and humbled themselves before Joseph. And because Joseph knew how merciful God is, Joseph trusted God and loved his brothers!

A broken relationship was restored with confession, humility, forgiveness, and dependence on God.

God is a god of relationships and God is the only solution to broken relationships!

And, isn’t v20 an awesome verse?

Look at v20 again with me…..

God is powerful and good and is always at work in saving people’s lives! God is powerful but loves people!

What biblical principles can we apply to our lives today?

God loves people and God chose a People, the Israelites, and called them to live in pagan Egypt for a while. But just because they were called to live in a pagan society, they were not live like the pagans. God instructed the Israelites to live God’s way, not the world’s way! Why? – because God loves them!

How do we know God loves us today?

God gave us Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins! And when a person fully trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, that person becomes a true Christian. Going to church, becoming involved in a religion about Christ, being born in a Christian home, or going to a Bible study doesn’t make one a Christian. A true Christian fully trusts Jesus Christ alone for being forgiven of sins and following Him as Lord!

And Jesus prayed for Christians in John 17:14-15, I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

Just like the Hebrews who had to live in Egypt, Christians live in the world but are not of the world. Jesus prays for Christians to be protected while in the world. But God instructs Christians in 1 John 2:15-17,