Living in an Unfinished Story

Take your Bibles, turn to the last chapter of Genesis, chapter 50. You follow along now as I read verses 22 through 26. so Joseph remained in Egypt he and his father's house Joseph lived 110 years and Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own and Joseph said to his brothers I'm about to die but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.

So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Father, now open our eyes to your word, this revelation from you, this living word. Use it to change us, to make us more faithful followers of the Lord Jesus. Give us ears to hear now, we ask. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, we finally reached our destination, the end of the book of Genesis. You may be tempted to say, are you kidding? That's how the story ends? Seriously? The story ends with the hero's embalmed remains in a box?

What a disappointment. That's not how you expect it to end. but you see Genesis ends by pointing beyond its own story There more to come Well, let's look at what we have in front of us here. Let's see how the story ends. Several decades have passed since the family laid Jacob to rest in Canaan. Because the opening scene of this story finds Joseph at the ripe old age. of 110 years, which by Egyptian calculation was the perfect age.

God has blessed him with a number of descendants through his sons. He's adopted his grandson, Makir, and so his sons are counted as his own, so that they are counted as his, and he's old enough to see the third generation of Ephraim's children. And as the page turns, the narrator lets us in on a conversation between Joseph and his relatives. I use the term relatives because it's quite possible that the term brothers oftentimes is used referring to relatives.

These are probably the descendants of his brothers. And I say that because it's hard to imagine that he has older brothers still alive when he's 110 years old himself. and he's the youngest in the family, or next to the youngest in the family. And so these are probably the descendants of his brothers. And he says to the family, I am going to die. But I want you to understand something of incredible importance.

God has promised by covenant to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give us the land of Canaan. And in order to fulfill that promise, he will surely visit you and he will bring you up out of this land to go there. Now, when he says visit you, you need to understand exactly what he means by that. It does not mean that God's going to show up and have conversation and tea at a later date.

That's not what it means. In fact the term is used with the idea of God shows up to change destinies All right It in Genesis chapter 18 If you want to look there Genesis chapter 18 verse 10 we read, I will surely return to you. Now, I will surely return to you is the same word that's translated visit you here at the end of Genesis. So, here is God saying to Abraham, I will surely visit you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son.

And then a few verses later, in verse 14, the Lord says, Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you, or, as it's translated here, at the appointed time, I will visit you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. So God shows up in order to accomplish something, in order to change destinies, if you will.

And so Joseph asserts here that because of the promise of God, God must bring them out of Egypt. And he will show up, he will visit them, he will be faithful to the covenant that he made with them. I don't think Joseph can see ahead. I don't think he's looking ahead and saying, I can see that God's going to bring you, I can see in my mind's eye God bringing you out.

He's saying, you know what, if God's going to remain faithful to his covenant, then surely he's going to have to show up and get us out of here. That's the only way it's going to happen. So he's sure of that thing. And he continues, so when God comes to take you to the land, you must promise me, you must swear to me, that the family will take my bones with them to that land that God has promised us.

He is so sure that God's going to remain faithful to his promise, and he says, I want to be buried in our homeland. Soon after they made that promise, Joseph dies. They embalm him, they put him in a coffin so that their descendants, whoever they may be, and whenever it's going to happen, will take his remains to the land that God had promised them. That's it?

That's it? This is how Genesis and Joseph's story ends? Yeah. Yeah You find Joseph here in an unfinished story It an unfinished story at this point Look at all the promises that God has made. This whole book has been going toward the end, that God has made these promises to Abraham, he sealed it with a covenant, he's going to fulfill those promises, and here we end up with bones in a box.

What were those promises? A great nation. God's going to make you Abraham. He's going to take you, your son, and from your son, He's going to make a great nation. You'll have descendants as numerous as the stars. There's going to be a seed that will bless all the families of the nations.

And last but not least, you will possess the land of Canaan. Well, I would guess by this time they could look back and say, well, you know what? we have a pretty good sized tribe. But a nation? No. Sure, we have more descendants than Abraham ever could have imagined. He was an old man who had one son.

And there are more descendants here than he could have imagined. But as numerous as the stars? Not quite. We can see that we've been a blessing, at least to Egypt. I mean, Joseph from our family saved that whole nation from starving to death. But a blessing to all nations?

That's a little bit of a stretch. As for Canaan, we own a field near Machpelah, and we have a little ridge near the city of Shechem, but all of Canaan, we're not even there. We don't even live there. So we come to the end of the book, and the story is unfinished. The story of the promises is unfinished. I'm sure Joseph knows that.

They all know it. So how does Joseph respond to his life in an unfinished story? How does he respond? And this is where we have to see what Joseph is doing. Joseph responds with expectant faith. Joseph responds with expectant faith.

And what God wants you to do here is to see the life of expectant faith. And faith. See the life of expectant faith here. Joseph most certainly believes that God is going to do everything that he's promised. He doesn't doubt it for a bit. He expects God to keep his promises.

At the end of the life, with all those promises ringing in their ears, because I'm sure that covenant that was made with God and Abraham has been passed down from generation to generation to generation. and now he sits there and they're not fulfilled but he expects it to be fulfilled he has no doubt in his mind that god's going to fulfill all those promises he really believes that sometime in the future god will visit them and bring them to the land of canaan that he promised them he honestly expects he honestly expects for god to show up and fulfill everything that he said he says I'm so convinced of that that you must promise to take my bones to Canaan when God shows up to take you there he is so convinced he's saying I know you're going to get the land so when you go take my bones with you and I'm convinced of this that his expectant faith gave him endurance and hope in the midst of all the calamities of his life. This is the faith that kept him going, kept him persevering, kept him enduring, kept him hoping in all the horrible things that happened in his life. It's this kind of faith that changed the man, that made him the man who made it through imprisonment, false accusations, hatred from his brothers, all of it.

He handled it. Why? Because he always expected that God would fulfill his promises. He never doubted it. Here's the question. What is the source of that kind of faith?

What is the source of that kind of faith that says, I know God's going to do it. I know God's going to do it. There only one source of that kind of faith You know what it is God faithfulness God faithfulness He had seen that God had been faithful That's why he believed that God would do what he said. God had promised the seed that would crush the serpent's head and deliver us from the curse way at the beginning of this book.

Is that not true? When Cain killed Abel, what did God do? He gave Seth. He raised up Seth. In the face of universal, unstoppable corruption that filled the entire earth, God rescued the seed by rescuing Noah. When a proud, united, false religion, anti-God religion, threatened to snuff out the line of promise, God showed up, right?

And He scattered them. He confused their languages so that that unity became impossible. And the seed, the line of the seed, was rescued. And then God said that the seed was going to come through a man named Abraham and a woman named Sarah. And that couple's infertility and disobedience did not keep God from keeping His promise. And He gave them a son.

Not even the lying and the dysfunction and the hatred of Isaac's boys could keep God from keeping His promise. And in order to keep His promise, He took the worst character of the bunch by the name of Jacob and transformed the schemer into a man of faith. And all the disunity and the evil of Jacob's family turned out to pave the way for the salvation of that entire family.

Saving the seed. That's why Joseph had expectant faith. Joseph's expectant faith in God's promises grew because of God's unshakable determination to fulfill his promises. He believed that God would fulfill his promises because God had showed this unshakable determination to fulfill His promise. To keep His promise. That's why He has that kind of faith.

It's not because He a great guy It because He has a great God His God has remained faithful all the way through He sure that if this God has remained faithful all this way he's going to remain faithful in the future. He will keep his promise. He is convinced of it. Now why does God record this story for us of expectant faith? Why does he tell us to see a life of expectant faith? why does he want us to see this kind of faith in the midst of an unfinished story it's not just that you would see a life of expectant faith but you will live a life of expectant faith this is not about Joseph this is about you it's about you this was not written so that we would have some good story to read.

This is written so that you would live a life of expecting faith. Now, if the truth must be known, you are part of Joseph's unfinished story. You're in the story. And it's not finished yet. You are part of this great story of promise. I want you to take just a few moments and turn to Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians chapter 3. You see, this is not just the story of Joseph. This is our story. We fit into the same story. We're part of the story. How do I know?

Galatians chapter 3. As Paul is talking about the difference between the law and the gospel and so forth, in chapter 3, verse 16, he makes this statement. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring, or to his seed. It does not say, and to seeds, referring to many, but referring to one. and to your seed who is Christ. So that promised seed to Abraham long ago the seed that will bless all the nations the Apostle Paul declares that seed is Christ That seed is Christ.

Now jump over to the end of the chapter. Pick it up at verse 25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, or Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. Jesus is the promised seed. And if you put on Christ, then you too are Abraham's offspring. You're part of the seed. You're heirs of the very same promises. Listen, he says, the promises made to Abraham, you are heirs.

You're part of the story. The unfissioned story of Joseph is your story. You're right in the line of that story. Now, the story has progressed since Joseph's day. we now form part of that great nation promised to Abraham we are part of that great nation Peter the apostle says this but you referring to believers but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. We're part of that great nation that God has promised Abraham. We're part of that nation because we are part of Christ. We are part of the descendants that are as numerous as the stars.

Why is it that God could say to Abraham, your descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars? Now if you would go out west or somewhere else, not around here where there's too much light. If you go to a place where there aren't much light. If you go with the greens when they go to Canada. every summer, and you look up into the sky, you will see a sky that is absolutely filled with stars.

There's no light pollution to keep us from seeing it. The stars are just innumerable. And that's just in your field of vision. Why is it that God can say to Abraham, you're going to have descendants that are going to be like the stars in the sky? You know why? Because it's not just his natural descendants.

We're part of Abraham's seed. Remember, if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed. We are part of those descendants. We are some of the stars in that sky. You too will inherit the land. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 4, verse 13.

I want you to look at Romans chapter 4, verse 13. This is a verse that has fascinated me now for years. how can how can Paul say that we're heirs of all the promises of Abraham? Look what he says in Romans chapter 4 verse 13. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be the heir of the what? Of the what? Of the world.

Did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Wow, what is he saying there? He said, wait a minute, God. Whoa, hang on. I see Canaan back there in Genesis. And Paul says, God promised Canaan, but guess what?

He's given us everything. You get Canaan's throne in. Isn't that amazing? We have an inheritance of land waiting for us. Do you know that? As the spiritual descendants of Abraham, we too are going to be part of that land inheritance.

Except it's not going to be that little tiny corner on the eastern Mediterranean. It's going to be the entire world. We get the whole thing. What did Jesus say in Matthew 5? Do you remember? Blessed are the meek, for they will what? inherit the world.

You see we have a land promise too But it the whole world And God continues to bless the nations through that seed because the gospel of that seed the Lord Jesus Christ continues to go to all the nations and to call out a people for God's own possession. Having said that, you notice the story remains unfinished. The story remains unfinished. We still wait for the destruction of the curse that was promised way back there at the beginning of Genesis.

We're still waiting for the entire elimination of the curse, the reversal and the destruction of the curse that the promised seed must bring. So you also are part of this unfinished story. And so the question remains the same for you as it did for Joseph. And that is, how will you live in this unfinished story? How are you going to live in this unfinished story?

And the answer is, you ought to live with expectant faith. You ought to live that says the story's unfinished, but I know that God will do what He says. Just like Joseph. God's going to visit. And when He does, take my bones. We have to live with the same faith.

The story's not done yet. We're part of that unfinished story. Are we going to live by faith? do you expect that your heavenly father will keep his promises in Christ? Do you really believe it? Do you really believe it? I just willy nilly, kind of willy nilly, grab some promises from scripture.

Okay? Promises that are great. All right, for example, John chapter 6, verses 27 through 40. If you want to turn there. John chapter 6. I'm sorry, that should be...

30, yeah, whatever. 37 through 40, not 27. John 6, verse 37. Here's what Jesus says. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Do you believe that?

Do you believe that? Do you believe that if you come to Jesus, He'll take you? Do you believe that everyone who flees to Jesus will have His arms embrace them. Do you really believe that? He says it doesn He He doesn say get your life straightened out He doesn say get it all ready Get it all cleaned up He says you come to Me My arms are around you Keep going For I have come down from Heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up in the last day. All of those people that come to Him, He says, I promise, they'll be raised up in the last day because that's my Father's will and I've come to do my Father's will and His will is whoever comes to me, I'll never lose them. I will raise them up on the last day.

But that's not all. For this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day. Do you believe that? The story's not done. It's not happened. It's still future.

Do you really believe it? Let's go on. John chapter 10. John chapter 10. John chapter 10. John chapter 10.

Verses 7 through 10. Here Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. You believe that?

He's the door. He's the door. And if you go in by the door, by Jesus, what does he say? You will be saved. And notice, you will have pasture. That is a good life. which he goes on to say in the very next verse the thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy I came that they may have life and have it abundantly do you really believe that? do you believe that following Jesus leads to a better life than you ever could have imagined? some of you here I know some of you here have never come to Jesus you've never entered through that door and you're trying to find an abundant life apart from Jesus how's that working for you listen expectant faith says if Jesus says my life will be better and I will have pasture to rest in I believe that Come what may, I believe that what God has for me, what Jesus has for me, is better than what anyone else can give me.

That anyone else who tries to promise me a new life is nothing but a thief and a robber and a murderer. That's the life of expectant faith. Here's another one. Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you, will be added to you. What's he talking about there?

Food and clothes and shelter. He says, seek first the kingdom of God. Live your life by what Jesus says. and I'll take care of everything. Do you believe that? You know, in that whole context, he says, stop worrying about, stop worrying about, am I going to have enough money? Stop worrying about, oh, we're going to be able to have food.

Stop worrying about that. You don't have to worry about that. It's a given. You seek my kingdom, I'll take care of the rest. Don't worry about that stuff. That's a phenomenal promise.

I mean, that's one promise I'm always going to go to. You've heard me go to this promise hundreds of times because I have seen that so much in my life. Especially after we got married and had kids. And I was out of a job. And I saw what God did. That's a life of expectant faith.

I expect God to keep His promise. one more promise this one is found in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 beginning in verse 5 this is evidence, what's this? this endurance and persecution this endurance and persecution is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering Since indeed, God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. There's a promise for you.

God says, my people who are afflicted, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to afflict their enemies. to repay those with affliction that afflict you. That's a gospel promise. I know that's hard for us sometimes to say, to see. But God says, look, right now you're suffering a great deal. I know it.

I'm not ignorant of that. You need to remember this promise that those who persecute you will have to answer to God for the way that they treated His children. I don't know about you, but when someone, when my kids were little and someone was being nasty to them, I know what my response wanted to be, right? God says, I'm watching. Those who afflict my people will be visited with incredible, unbelievable, eternal affliction.

That is a promise. Do you expect God to do that? When you are suffering, do you expect God? To remain a just God. Now what's the reason for this kind of faith? Why should we live and expect in faith?

The answer is still the same. God's faithfulness. You know what? We have seen more faithfulness of God than Joseph did. We have the whole history of God's faithfulness from Genesis to Revelation. And in fact, we see the future of God's faithfulness. but we have a whole history of faithfulness that Joseph never saw Joseph never did see those people delivered from Egypt but they were we see it, don't we? we have seen how God working through the ages formed a nation from Abraham and through that nation we got the word of God We got the worship of God We got the Son of God We have seen it all develop and grow We have seen the story unfold more than Joseph ever did.

We have more. We know more of the faithfulness of God than Joseph did. But not only that, you have a personal history. you have a personal history of God's faithfulness to you. You know what, I want to challenge you. You know, when I have a tendency to worry, there are times where I just stop and I say, have you been through this before? Yeah, like a thousand times.

Okay. Let's think about some of those things that have happened in your past. was God faithful to you all these years in situations like this yeah why are you worried folks if you're going to live a life of expected faith then look back over your life some of you have had horrible lives but you look back now and see how God worked. You have a history of God's faithfulness in your own life.

God's been faithful. How will that kind of faith change you? You see, it saw Joseph through everything that he went through. This kind of expectant faith transforms you so that you can endure with patience the afflictions that come and the calamities that come in this fallen world as people hate you, as sickness comes, as horrid things enter your life, this kind of a faith, expecting that God's going to keep all of His promises, will transform you so that you can endure with patience all the things and live with confidence in the midst of all of this.

A Puritan by the name of Samuel Clark wrote a book called Scripture Promise And here what he said Listen to what he says here A fixed, constant attention to the promises and a firm belief of them would prevent anxiety about the concerns of this life. See what he's saying? We've got all these promises. If I give my mind to the promises, I wouldn't be anxious about the things of this life.

It would keep the mind quiet and composed in every change and support and keep up our sinking spirits under the several troubles of life. Christian deprives themselves of their most solid comforts by their unbelief and forgetfulness of God's promises. For there is no extremity so great, but there are promises suitable to it and abundantly sufficient for our relief in it.

Promises of God. If we believe them and believe that God will certainly, like Joseph, God will certainly, surely visit you and deliver you. And so I say, God will surely. keep His promises. That's going to transform my life no matter what the world brings. See, the last chapter of this story has not been written. So my question is, are you living in an expectant faith with expectant faith in this unfinished story?

And can those around you see a difference in you? because of that expectant faith. I don't know what you're facing. You know what you're facing. You know what's coming. Do you have expectant faith? Can you say, I see it coming, but I'm confident because I know God will keep His promises.

So we come to the end of the book but not to the end of the story The story of the promised Redeemer who has conquered the curse of sin and death That's the story that we're in. The Redeemer who is at this point subjecting all things to Himself. This book begins with paradise lost by the sin of one man. the story ends with paradise regained by the obedience of another Father thank you for your word as we close this book this book of Genesis please remind us whenever we open its pages let us see your faithfulness whenever we read that book again let us see your faithfulness and Father let it point us to the ultimate expression of the fulfillment of all the promises you made, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us see Him in those pages. And Father, use the history of your faithfulness in that book to grow our faith in you. So that we, will live lives of expectant faith and that the world would see our faith. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the Spirit's work in our hearts through this Scripture. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.