The Rescuer

And then let me say what a privilege it is for me to be here. And I mean that most sincerely. All of us know what it is like to have your life influenced by those men whom God uses so tremendously, to listen to them on the radio, to read their books and so on. But there is little that can compare to getting a call on behalf of one of those men saying will you come and participate in the conference that I'm putting on? And when that happened, doctor Sprawl, I have to tell you, my first inclination was to say absolutely, not way that I'll do that. I'm no, I'm not gonna do that. That's arc Sprawl, No. But it is an honor and it is indeed a privilege for me to be here, and I'm grateful for having this opportunity to be here. I'm grateful to you for the ministry that you have had in my life, and I want you to know how much it is meant to me and how much it continues to mean to me, and how much you have taught me over the years. I'm grateful for this ministry, for the ministry of Ligoneer, and for all of you who participate in that ministry in various ways, in the investment and contributions that you have made. I'm grateful for this conference and for the privilege of being able to participate in this small way in this conference. And so what I will do is say my peace and allow the rest of the conference to continue on as I say my piece. My responsibility here in dealing with the autobiography of God is to address the issue of God as rescuer, and particularly God's work in the person of Christ in rescuing his people. Now, the central theme of the Bible is God himself, God as the sovereign creator and Lord of the universe. However, that manifests itself very particularly in the way that God rescues and redeems his creation. We find in Genesis chapter one, God creating the world. We find in Genesis chapter two that more focused picture of God making man, and then right after that, in Genesis chapter three we find the fall of man. So things go awry rather quickly. And then in Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen we have the thesis statement of the whole Bible. We heard it earlier. God speaks to the serpent. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. You will bruise him on the heel, he will bruise you on the head. And the rest of the Bible is the outworking of that redemptive plan. As we look forward to the coming of the person and work of Jesus Christ, we see his crosswork, and then we see the anticipation of the consummation of all things in him at his second advent, for which we wait anxiously. And yet we have come to a place where we treat the Bible as though this redemption is only a minor theme, whereas though this redemption is something that we see only in the New Testament. And as a result of that, there are a couple of things that I would like to address in the time that I have been given. And one of those things I'd like to address is this. There is an argument over the very nature of the rescue that God performs on behalf of his elect Steve Chalky, speaking about the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement, says that it amounts to cosmic child abuse. The Reverend Jeffrey Johns says that it is an insane and cruel doctrine. Emerging Church leader Brian McLaren says that the doctrine of rescue that we see in the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement makes God out to be a butcher. And so somehow there is this picture of God's rescue that changes from what we see in this scripture. And you cannot change the nature of the rescuer without changing the nature of the rescue itself. For example, if we are talking about rescue, imagine, if you will, I think of myself. I'm sleeping in my bed at night in my home, and I awaken to the smell of smoke and I see flames. I need rescue, My family needs rescue. I turn to my wife and I say, call the fire department. And then I go and try to attend to the fire myself and try to attend to my family and get us out. But what we need is the fire department, because the nature of our rescue calls for a fireman. However, if I awaken in the middle of the night and hear a burglar coming into my house, I don't call the fire department. That's a different kind of rescue. You don't call the same rescuer. You must change the nature of the rescuer because of the nature of the rescue. If I wake up at night and I hear a burglar coming into my house, I don't turn to my wife and say call the fire department. I turn to my wife and say call the No, call the ambulance. You get your gun, I get mine. You go left, I go right. Make sure you don't shoot me. But when you change the nature of the rescue, you inevitably change the nature of the rescuer. But you also change your understanding of the need of the one rescued. What do we ultimately need? If I don't need penal substitutionary atonement, what do I need? And there are various commentaries offered. There are those who argue that what I need more than anything else is to be at peace with myself. I need therapy. I need to learn how to deal with the world and be at peace. There are those who would argue that what I really need is social justice. I need for the scales to be balanced and somehow that will make everything all right. Others would argue that what I really need is to be educated. By that way they need is I need information? And certification, because after all, that's the key to answer in all of mine greatest problems. See, when we determine that man's greatest need is something other than the rescue that he finds in the person and work of Christ, it changes the way we look at God, and it changes the way we look at man. It changes the way we look at the scriptures. Now, all of a sudden, when we look at the Bible, we are looking through a lens that is not a lens that says God is the rescuer who brings about this rescue that he pronounces through bringing the promised seed and crusting the head of the serpent. But somehow, now God is the rescuer who makes us more informed, more at peace with ourselves, or just more just in our dealings with one another. Nowhere is this scene more profoundly than in the way that we read the Old Testament. And if you listen to the way that we teach the Old Testament, what you hear time and time again is the idea that man needs something other than the rescue that comes from the redemption we find in Christ. Because Christ and his redeeming work. If you listen to the way we teach the Old Testament is not the central theme found therein But that's not the way Jesus looked at the Old Testament. In Luke chapter twenty four, on the Road to Amaeus, for example, when Jesus is finally revealing himself to these men on the road to amas. I love this encounter on the road to Amais because one of the most profound questions and all of the Bible is asked there on the road to they're talking to Jesus about what's been going on, and they look at him and they say, are you the only man in Jerusalem who doesn't understand what's been going on here these last few days? And he doesn't say it, but what he could have said was no, I'm actually the only one who does understand what's been going on here. He makes a statement. They're in verse twenty five, and he said to them, old foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Jesus does not say, you should have understood my redemptive work on the cross because of what I've been telling you all this time. He says, you should have understood it because you have the Old Testament in John chapter five. What do we have recorded there in John chapter five? At the end of John chapter five, listen to these words beginning of verse forty five. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Moses wrote of you? What are you talking about, Jesus? Do you mean that we can go to the pentitup and find you and your redemptive work? Do you mean that when we go to the Old Testament we don't have to read it like Aesop's fables. It's precisely what he means. This redemption is not something that is a second thought or an afterthought. It is something that we find in the pages of the Bible from beginning to end. So here's what I want to do. I want us to turn to a very familiar Old Testament passage, and I want us to see Jesus in all his glory. Now, as we do this, we must be careful. Here's what we don't do. We don't go to the Bible and allegorize it, so that every little thing that we find there has to somehow symbolize some aspect of Christ. So we have to be careful there. But the other thing that we do is we don't go to the Old Testament and somehow read it as though Christ's redemptive work is insignificant. So what I want to do is go to a familiar passage in the Old Testament so that we can do a number of things. Number One, I want us to examine the way that we're used to looking at Old Testament scripture and repent. If you can't say amen, you ought to say all right, that's what I want us to do. Two, I really want to go to a familiar passage of scripture because I want us to refocus our lens. I want this to be striking. Three, I want us to see Christ in all of his redemptive glory. And then finally, I want us to have a pattern and a hope as it relates to the way that we deal with the Old Testament in general. All of that. Yes, in that amount of time, Genesis chapter forty one and Genesis chapter forty one, we find the story of Joseph, and not just the story of Joseph. We find what is considered to be the apex in the Joseph story and Genesis chapter forty one. Joseph has already been in the pit. He has already been with Potiphar, and now he's been in prison, and he finds his way, finds his way to the palace. All of that has already happened. And it is this moment at which he stands before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh announces his approval of Joseph. Joseph has interpreted three pairs of dreams in order to get to this point. By the way, that's very important. The first pair of dreams gets him into the pit. By the way, that's the Genesis chapter thirty seven. There's two dreams, and the first dream he comes to his brothers, who already hate him, and as though it was a good idea, he tells them about his dream that basically foretells them bowing down to him. That didn't go well. He had another dream, and now not only does he tell his brother, but he tells his father that goes even worse. It is after this that we see him in the pit, after being in the pit. Eventually we see him in the prison. In prison, there is another pair of dreams, the baker and the cup bearer. One ends marvelously, the other not so much. It is that pair of dreams that leads to his eventual release, although still two years later. And now he stands before Pharaoh, who asks for the interpretation of a pair of dreams. He interprets this pair of dreams. There are the ears of corn, the healthy ears, and the sick ears, and the seven sick ears gobble up the seven healthy ears. There are the seven healthy cows and the seven sick cows, and the seven sick cows gobble up the seven healthy cows. And he looks at Pharaoh and says, there are going to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Store up during the years of plenty, so that you have food to eat during the years of famine. And it is at this moment that we see what, for the most part, is considered the payoff in Joseph's life. And so in Sunday School, here's how it goes. Joseph was hated by his brothers. Have you ever been hated by anybody? And because they hated him, they mistreated him, and after they mistreated him, he went through some bad circumstances. Have you ever experienced bad circumstances? Is But because he endured the bad circumstances, he held on and God was with him, and as a result of that, God elevates him to the second highest position in all of Egypt. The moral of the story is, if you will but trust God, even when people despise you, God will eventually reward you and elevate you to a position of prominence, just like Joseph. Really, that's why Genesis forty one is in the Bible. I beg to differ. In fact, here's what I would argue. If you are reading Genesis for the first time and you come to Genesis chapter forty one, if you are an honest reader who's been paying attention, when you get to Genesis chapter forty one, you don't stand up in cheer for Joseph. You fall on your face and pray for him, because this could be the most perilous moment of all of the moments that he has experienced. I know that look, that's the look that says, really, yeah, really. Let me explain Genesis chapter forty one beginning in verse thirty seven. Let's see this here, and we have to see this in its grammatical, historical biblical context in order to understand where Christ and his redemptive work fits here, because we're not just going to allegorize. So look here beginning of verse thirty seven. This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God? Pharaoh was not just converted, folks. What he means there is that this is revelation that comes from somewhere beyond the human. Pharaoh's not saying the spirit of God in the same way that you and I understand the spirit of God. Pharaoh thought himself to be a god. But what he is acknowledging here is that there is something divine about what this young man just did. Then, Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards to the throne, will I be greater than you? And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see I have set you over all the land of Egypt, and stop. Now, all of a sudden, he's gone from the pit to Potiphar, to prison, and now to power in the palace before Pharaoh. And we say this is the payoff moment. I don't think so. He's part of the covenant community. God has made a covenant with his great grandfather Abraham. And the covenant that he made with his great grandfather Abraham is not that your descendants will serve pagan kings. But that's precisely what's happening right now with Pharaoh. Joseph is second in command to a pagan king whose very existence is blasphemous before a holy God. This blasphemous king who thinks that he is a god, says to a covenant child of the Most High God, you are now my servant to prop up my kingdom where I am God. Really, that's what we want for our children. Mamas come crying to their pastors when this happens to their sons. I don't know what's wrong. We raised him right, and now this big, powerful, muckety muck serving the pagans, giving his life to those individuals no longer committed. It seems to the covenant people of God. It's not scriptural, but it's true. Lord acting was right. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, And now here he is in power. Jesus warns about power, does he not about those who lord it over others? And about those who would be great being servants, not being in power, certainly not having pagan power. But there's more. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments and fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chart, and they called out before him, bow the knee. Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. By the way, make no mistake about it. There is an intentional reference here to bowing the knee that goes back to the first pair of dreams that Joseph has interpreted. Joseph interprets this dream his brothers are going to bow the knee before him. Rather than bow the knee before him, his brothers would rather kill him, we see in Genesis chapter thirty seven. And we know that they don't just mean that figuratively, because they've proven that they are murderers. Do you remember the Shechemites family didn't accept you, the Covenant community didn't accept you. But that's okay. The Pagans will bow the knee. But not just that. He's got the signet ring, he's got the limit clothing, and he's riding in a bentley to what else would you compare Pharaoh's secondariot. Now not only does he have pagan power, but he has pagan wealth. It's easier for Campbell to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven. And now not only does Joseph have power, but he has great wealth. And again in the Sunday School, lesson, this is why you hold on. You hold on because if you hold on when people mistreat you, ultimately God will elevate you and give you great power and great wealth. And after all, that's what life is all about, is it not? We continue? Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name zapfanaf Panayan now only has a pagan name. A pagan identity. Are you beginning to see this. Here's what's ironic to me. We get to Genesis chapter forty one and we say, this is the payoff moment. Really, this is the payoff moment. Yes, of course, this is a payoff moment. All I've seen so far is that this man is serving a pagan king. He has pagan wealth and all the accouterment that goes on with being in power in a pagan culture, and now he's been given a pagan identity. Why is it that in Genesis chapter forty one we praise this, but in Daniel one we decry it. They get their names changed, they get a pagan identity, they're serving a pagan king, and we say, whoa to them? This guy gets the exact same thing. And in fact, it's his story that would have given Daniel hand and I a Michel and Azariah the courage to continue on in Babylon. Why because they want pagan wealth. And that's what Genesis forty one is all about. No exact opposite. There's a final piece of the puzzle, and he gave him in marriage Asanath, the daughter of Potiphara, priest of an So Joseph went out of the land of Egypt. Now he's got a pagan wife. Let's recap. God makes a covenant with his people. This covenant with his people has to do with the promised seed that is going to come and continue on. It has to do with a place, this promised land, and it has to do with blessing from them to the nations. Now Joseph, who is beginning to experience the first fruits of the covenant people of God living in the Land of Promise, is taken away from his father, away from the Covenant community, away from the Land of Promise, into a pagan land where he has pagan power, pagan wealth, a pagan identity, and a pagan wife. And we say, hold on, children, you can have that too. If this is the way interpret Genesis chapter forty one, why do we get angry if a young man grows up, leaves the church, marries an unbeliever, and then gives his entire life to a corporation, living in order to attain material wealth and completely ignoring the spiritual side of his life. Because if you challenge him on it, all he has to do is go back to his Sunday school. Lesson on Genesis forty one and say why are you angry? Shouldn't you instead be telling your friends, look at what happened to my boy, because he endured hardship. There's another reason why this cannot be the apex and what Genesis chapter forty one is all about. Look at the second reason. The second reason you find beginning in verse fifty, before the year famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asinath, the daughter of Potiphara, priest of own, bore them to him. He's got two sons who were born by the way, born by whom Asinath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of one of the two most powerful pagan priesthoods in all of Egypt. She's the one who bore them to him. So now he's having children. Now watch what happens here in the naming of his sons, and you will discover that Joseph doesn't think that Genesis chapter forty one is the payoff moment. Joseph called the name of his first born in Manassa, for he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Three things. Number One, he gave his boys Hebrew names. He did not give them Egyptian names. He says to everyone who is paying a I do not consider myself an Egyptian. I'm a Hebrew. I'm a member of the covenant people of God. I am not one of these people. This is not my payoff moment. This is not as good as it gets. Secondly, the name of his firstborn boy, I've forgotten all my hardship in all my father's house. It's very difficult to translate this from the Hebrew, but that name Manassa does not mean I have forgotten that I belong to my father's house. It can't mean that because he gives them a Hebrew name. What does it mean? It means that I have forgotten all of that hardship in my father's house that led me to this place. Can I give you my own translation of what the name Manassa means. The name Manassa means I let that stuff go. That's what Manassa means. I do not choose to define myself by the difficulties that have encountered me up to this point. My journey with God. Oh, Joseph, embrace Egypt. Egypt embraces you and your family. Didn't I let that stuff go. Joseph, Embrace Egypt. Your brothers did not want to buy these people do I let that stuff go. Joseph, Embrace Egypt. It was because of your brothers that you spent years as a slave. I let that stuff go. Embrace Egypt. It was because of your brothers that you ended up in prison. I let that stuff go. I do not define myself by those things. Instead, I look to the promise of God, the name of his second born Ephraim. God has prospered me in the land of my affliction. Did you catch that? Joseph says, Egypt is the land of his affliction, not the land of payoff. Egypt is the land of his affliction. Yeah, but you're rich here. It's the land of my affliction. Yeah, but they love you here. It's the land of my affliction. Why because this is not what I was living for. I'm a child of the Covenant. I'm a child of the One True God. I'm a servant of the King of Heaven. I don't exist to serve the King of Egypt. So number one is not the payoff moment, because if you just look at the narrative, these are not the things that we look forward to. But secondly, if you look at the naming of his sons, Joseph didn't even see this as a payoff moments. Or here's the question why Genesis chapter forty one. I'm so glad you asked. Joseph himself answers this question. When his brothers show up, he finally reveals himself to his brothers. He cannot control himself anymore. And when he reveals himself to his brothers, here's what doesn't happen. Joseph does not look to his brothers and say, I'm Joseph. I'm the one you sent into slavery. I'm the one that you wanted to murder. I'm the one that you did not want to bow before. But you've been bowing before me ever since you came to Egypt. I'm the one that you didn't think much of, but now God has made much of me. I am the one that you thought God gave too much favor from his father. Now I'm the one that God has favored before the most powerful man in the world. See that's what you would have said How do I know that, because that's what I would have said. But what does Joseph say to his brothers, I'm your brother, Joseph, when you sold into slavery, and just when they could feel the noose around their necks, he says, do not be angry with yourselves, because God sent me here to save you. What Joseph does not say God sent me here to give me all the things that Egypt had to offer. Joseph says, God sent me here because God is a rescuer. God sent me here to rescue you in spite of you. You didn't like my dreams, But newsflash, do you know that we were a wealthy family because God spoke to our father through dreams? And when I began to dream, why did you not realize that God was again speaking to our family through dreams. God was showing me through a dream this very moment when he would rescue you. And when God brought his word through me that said he would rescue you, your answer was to kill the rescuer. Familiar. But I'm not mad because I let that stuff go and this is not my home. Genesis forty one wasn't about Joseph. Who's it about? Actually, briefly, let me explain. God makes a promise in Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen. This promise involves the promised seed. He pronounces this promise and a curse against the serpent. The serpent believes exactly what God says, which is why in Genesis chapter four we have the first murder. What is the first murder? The seed of the serpent Cain kills the seed of the woman able What happens after that in chapter four, at the end of it on in chapter five we get the announcement of the coming of Seth and the restoration of the godly seed. Then in chapter five we get a genealogy, and so there are ten generations from Adam to Noah through the godly line of Seth. God wipes out the world in the flood, and he preserves Noah, sham Ham, Jfef and their wives. Why is this important? Because you got to have husbands and wives in order to have seed. The seed that was promised still had not come to fruition. Eventually, you come to a man named Tara who has an offspring by the name of Abraham. God makes a promise to that man named Abraham, and this promise involves, among other things, seed. But this promise is rather significant because he and his wife, particularly his wife, too old for seed. So how do you get promised seed if the seed bearing woman is too old for seed? The answer is God must intervene. No, the answer is, we got to find somebody else, Heygard, wrong answer. God didn't say a seed. He said thus seed Ishmael was us seed, but not thus seed. Isaac is thus seed. Isaac then goes on and they have twins. Which one is it going to be? Certainly it's going to be the older. No, this is not about birth order. This is about election. The older will serve the younger, So it's not Esau, it's Jacob. Jacob goes forth and if seed is going to come, certainly, Jacob's got to find a wife. He goes to Laban, and he meets Laban's daughter and falls in love and thinks he's found one one. Seven years he works and he gets married and wakes up next to the other one. And you thought it was a love story, But it was not a love story. It was an election story. The one whom he loves cannot bear children. Told way later in the story when she gives birth to a son named Joseph, and then one named Benjamin, and then she dies. Joseph has loved above all of his brothers because he was the beloved son of the beloved wife, but he was not the promised seed. The woman that he didn't even want. When her sister couldn't have children, she did and she proceeded to give birth to Ruben Simeon Levi, the father of the priesthood, and Judah. And as we come to this story Genesis chapter thirty seven, we are introduced to Joseph and Genesis chapter thirty eight, there seems to be a chapter that's out of place because now we read about Judah and Tamar are the worst moment in Judah's life. Why is that there in the midst of the story about Joseph, Because it's not about Joseph, it's about Judah. So why show Judah at his lowest point. Because God has to redeem Judah for him to take his place as the head of the family and to be identified as the promise seed because of the electing work of God. And so God redeems Judah. And in what moment do we see Judah's redemption when Judah says to his father, Jacob, send me with the boy Benjamin. I know you love him, and if anything happens to him, I will be his substitute. Joseph tries them, and he takes Benjamin and says, I'm keeping this one. Jacob says, it will kill my daddy. Take me instead of my brother as his substitute, and put his punishment upon me in order that my father may be pleased by his redemption. Does that sound familiar. Judah goes on to have a son. It's a great great great great great grandson, and his name is David. David just like his father, Judah shows up on the scene like this great great great great grandfather of his And what does he do when he shows up on the scene. When he's finally identified and the Promised Seed brings forth his presence with authority, he walks down into a valley where there's been a giant who made this proposition, Send me a man to fight with me. If he defeats me, we will serve you. If I defeat him, you will serve me. David goes down fights the giant as the representative substitute for God's people, wins victory over the giant, thereby winning victory on behalf of all of God's people. There's a covenant with him, and that covenant promises the throne and the king and great King David, descendant of Judah, eventually has a greater son, who is a greater king, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah. The New Testament opens up with a genealogy, and basically that genealogy screams, the God who made a promise in Genesis chapter three has fulfilled that promise. These are the lion of the promised seed who will crush the head of the snake. And what does great Kingsdavid King David's greater son Jesus do. Like his forebears David and Judah, he stands as a substance on behalf of God's elect lays down his life, accepts the wrath of God poured out upon him, that he might win victory on behalf of God's people, that all of those who are found in him might be rescued. Why is Genesis chapter forty one important Because God rescues Joseph in order to rescue Judah, in order to rescue Israel, in order to rescue me. This is not about material wealth. This is about rescue and redemption. This is about God, in his providence orchestrating all of history in order to bring about that which we need more than anything else, and that is to be rescued from God. The first atom eight and we all died in him. The last atom died, and as a result, we shall all feast with him. This is why not only Genesis forty one, but the whole Old Testament matters and makes sense because it points to God's redeeming, rescuing work and the person of Christ. Therefore, regardless of where your story ends up, you must find its significance and the ultimate portrait of God's work of redemption and rescue. If you don't, you are settling for something far less significant, and you have completely missed your greatest need. Let's pray God, you are good, Your mercy is overwhelming, your grace all sufficient. Forgive us, Lord, for thinking so much of ourselves that we actually believe that redemption and rescue is not our true and greatest need, but that somehow we actually believe our standing before You is such that we can move on to something else. May it never be, May we be ever mindful of the fact that our greatest need is the redemption that is only found in the person and work of Christ, and that, as we read, preach, teach this unfolding story of your redemption, we must make much of Christ in his work. Our greatest need is not to be vindicated when people hate us. Our greatest need is to be vindicated because you hate us in our sin. Our greatest need is not to be delivered from the pit. Our greatest need is to be delivered from the penalty of hell. Our greatest need is not to be freed as slaves. Our greatest need is to be freed from the slavery of sin. Our greatest need is not to get out of prison. Our greatest need is to be made righteous, though we are indeed guilty. Our greatest need is not the material wealth that this world has to offer. Our greatest need is to realize that we are poor and wretched and miserable, and naked and blind. Our greatest need is not to have favor with men. Our greatest need is to have favor with God. Our greatest need is not a bible that points us to our best life now. Our greatest need is a Bible that points us to our best hope. Ever. Christ is that hope. He is that life, He is that rescue. And it is him whom we love and adore. And it is in his name that we pray Amen.