Coincidence? Not A Chance

Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis 37. Genesis 37. Before we look into the word, let's ask God to help us as we listen to him. God of heaven, our heavenly father, you are good to us. As your word says, you are good and all that you do is good.

And so, Lord, we pray that you would help us to see that in this text. Lord, open our eyes, not just to this text, but to our own lives. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Joseph's brothers, the Joseph that you heard about earlier in our Old Testament reading, Joseph's brothers hate him. And that's putting it in the best light we can put it.

They hate him because he is dad's obvious favorite. and with that coat, if you're not aware of that, with that coat, he has been designated as clan leader. He is the ruler. He is the designated ruler. But what's worst of all is he had those cursed dreams. The dreams that seemed to validate God's choice of him as the head of the family. They hate the very idea that they're going to bow down before this little spoiled brat who's a tattletale and who just bothers them to no end.

They cannot stand the thought of giving him their honor and allegiance. These ten brothers despise, detest, abhor, hate Joseph with every fiber of their being. Now I want to remind you what the theme of the book of Genesis is. Way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, You remember the story of Adam and Eve falling? And at one point, God addresses the serpent with these words.

I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Here God promises a deliverer that will yet come. And the theme of the book of Genesis is how God protects and preserves that promise. And when you get to chapter 12, the promise of the seed is narrowed down to one man and his descendants, and that man is Abraham.

For God at that point says to Abraham, the seed that will come from you will bless all the nations. So this seed promised way back, way, way back at the beginning of time, is now going to come through Abraham and his descendants. And from chapter 12 all the way through, you see the many ways that God protects and preserves, protects that seed and preserves his promise. and as you look at the way he does that through the many twists and turns of the story you see this incredible inconceivable way that god protects and preserves it's unbelievable the things he does and as we come to genesis 37 you can see how he does it again in ways that are just beyond comprehension, right?

I wouldn't have done it that way. I wouldn't have done it that way. I was reminded of this this last week. Someone mentioned to me what an old radio preacher by the name of J. Vernon McGee said. this is God's universe and God does things his way you may think you have a better way but you don't have a universe and you see that happening in this very familiar story of how God preserves and protects his promise in this crazy wild unbelievable way And it's the story of how these ten brothers who hate and abhor Joseph deal with him.

Alright, let's pick it up. Genesis 37 verse 12. Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? come I will send you to them and he said to him here I am so he said to him go now see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word so he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem and a man found him wandering in the fields and the man asked him what are you seeking I'm seeking my brothers he said tell me please where are they pasturing the flocks and the man said well they've gone away for I heard them say let us go to Dotham so Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams. But when Reuben heard it, he He rescued him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.

And Reuben said to them Shed no blood Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness but do not lay a hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and they threw him into a pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat, and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Then Judas said to his brothers, what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother, our own flesh. Then Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him up out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

They took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, the boy is gone and I, where shall I go? Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said this is this we have found please identify whether it is your son's robe or not and he identified it and said it is my son's robe a fierce animal has devoured him joseph is without doubt torn to pieces then jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his sons many days all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and said no I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning thus his father wept for him meanwhile the Midianites had sold him to Egypt to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh the captain of the guard well here are these 10 at work, getting rid of their brother.

So this is the story of how God preserves the seed and rescues this family. Jacob sends his sons to pasture their huge flocks at Shechem, but after a bit he wonders how they're doing. I mean, this is a big investment. You got to understand Jacob's a rich man. he doesn't want to lose anything so he sends his son Joseph to check on them expecting him to bring back a report and if you heard Jake's reading of the previous verses you know he's the boy that's going to tell his dad everything he's always talking about his brothers to his dad so Jacob's pretty sure he'll come back with a report on his brothers now the brothers have moved on from Shechem and Joseph wanders around the fields trying to find him he can't find them anywhere and some guy happens to come by and says hey man what in the world are you doing and Joseph says well look my brothers should be pasturing our flocks around here somewhere but I can't find him there's 10 of them they speak Hebrew have you seen him and the guy says ah actually I overheard them.

Yeah, they said they're going down to Dothan to pasture those flocks. So you might want to check down there. And so off he goes. He goes down to Dothan. And sure enough, there they are. There they are.

However, they see him coming off in the distance. They can see him coming over that hill. And as he's walking toward them, they start talking. There's the dreamer. Man, they hate him. Here's our chance to make an end of those dreams.

Bow down to that brat. Not if we can kill him first. Throw him in one of these cisterns and tell dad he was killed by an animal. But Reuben, maybe he's on a hill a quarter of a mile away or something, comes up just as they say these things and he protests. He comes to Joseph's rescue and he says, It is not a good idea to kill the boy. Instead, let's just throw him in one of these cisterns. you see Reuben has a plan of his own he's going to rescue Joseph and return him to his dad not because he has any law any love for Joseph not at all because he wants to get back into the good graces of his father he's got an ulterior motive here he doesn't love Joseph more than the others but he needs Joseph to accomplish this plan he's got in mind so I want you to imagine this unsuspecting 17-year-old approaching the huddle, only to have four of the guys tackle him, strip him of his coat, a couple of them drag him away and throw him in a hole.

I don't think he was expecting that. Now if you want to know how much they hated the boy, just look at what happens in the following verses. The absolute callousness of these guys. Now later on in chapter 42, and by the way if you want to read the rest of the story of Joseph read it this week all right but here's one thing in chapter 42 they recall this incident and they say this we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not listen so it wasn't like they just tossed him down in a hole they dragged him to that hole he's begging he's begging them he's crying to them.

He's telling them, what are you doing? He begs. He pleads. And what do they do? Do you notice what they do? They throw them in the cistern and then what do they do?

Start eating lunch. It's no big deal. It's no big deal. Now while they eat, a caravan of Ishmaelites appears on the horizon. These are guys who are bringing products to Egypt. And Judah gets an idea.

We can let the boy die in the cistern and try to conceal his death, or we can have the best of both worlds. Right? We can get rid of the dreamer and make a profit After all he is our brother isn he Right You see what Judah's doing? We can get rid of him and make some money. Let's sell him. So they haul him out of the cistern, they sell him to the traders for 20 shekels of silver, and they finish their lunch.

Now I want you to imagine this. This is what I always think about. imagine Joseph tied to a camel looking over his shoulder and thinking maybe never going to see my dad again never going to see my little brother again never going to see home again right and off he goes he's gone forever now Ruben enters the picture he missed the call to lunch or something maybe he was running down some stray goat or whatever but he wasn't there when all this transpired but when he returns to find Joseph gone he's beside himself and he tears his garments now if this is concern is for Joseph maybe he could have gone after the brother or after them maybe he could have confronted his brothers but his concern is for himself and his position in the family. Look at verse 30.

Do you see the cry of anguish he has? The boy is gone and I, where shall I go? This is not a cry of concern for Joseph. It's an anguish about him. It's about him. Well, they have to have some kind of story.

So they say, let's go with the fierce animal story. so they kill a goat and put his blood on the coat. Now by the way, I'm not sure, but there may be some irony intended here. Do you remember how Jacob deceived his father? With a goat and a coat. Right? So they return home and they show the coat to dad.

Now they still hold their brother in contempt. Do you see how they identify the robe? In verse 32. Look at what it says. This we have found. Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.

Your son's robe. Jacob is inconsolable in his grief. He acts as if Joseph was his only son. Even in grief he shows his favoritism. And look at the hypocrisy of the ten. Do you note?

They and their wives try to comfort Jacob. You think they really were trying to comfort him? No, man, if we don't comfort him, it blows our cover. Jacob believes Joseph has gone down to Sheol when he's actually gone down to Egypt. Now at this point, let's say you may be a stranger to this whole thing and you're hearing it up to this point, you may be thinking, oh no, everything is messed up.

This family is in turmoil. How will God possibly fulfill his purpose? How will God possibly fulfill his purpose of the seed? Now you could say that we've come across a whole slew of interesting coincidences. Coincidence? Not a chance. this is God at work he was at work by giving Joseph those dreams he was at work in the murderous intentions of his brothers he was at work even in that he was at work in the events that seemed to kill the dream right? and it's all it is all a God thing all right all of it is work all of it is the working of of God now if Jacob had come up over the hill just as the brothers were dangling Joseph over that cistern and shouted hey what are you doing with your brother stop it right now we would call that a God thing wouldn't we if Jacob had come over and just as they're ready to throw him in and Jacob says hey what are you doing we would say, wow, that was a real God thing.

Right? Or if God had appeared in a fiery pillar in the middle of the family's camp and declared, work hard in the next seven years because a famine is coming and you're going to need to go to Egypt if you're going to survive. We would call that a God thing. Right? This is a God thing, except it's called providence. now God can accomplish his purposes in two ways God can do it miraculously he has a purpose he can accomplish that purpose miraculously he could have done it by a fiery pillar appearing in the family camp one night and saying hey look in seven years there's going to be this incredible famine so here's what I want you to do I want you to go to Egypt in order to survive but he didn't do that okay he doesn't do that so that's that's miraculous work but God also accomplishes his purpose by what we call providence which is not miraculous it is God accomplishing his purpose here's the theological way of putting it it's God accomplishing his purposes through secondary means or ordinary means.

Maybe that's better. God accomplishing his purpose through ordinary means. That is to say it not miraculous at all It just him using ordinary means and just everyday ordinary things or maybe not so ordinary things like trying to kill somebody using that as a means of accomplishing his purpose You see? Like a dream, like hatred, like traitors happening upon the camp.

Even the things that seem to contradict what he plans to do. that's providence so let's see how god sets in motion the very things that will fulfill joseph's dreams and actually rescue his people look at the providence in jacob's actions jacob sends joseph on this ill-fated errand probably because he knew he could count on him he could count on joseph joseph could be counted to bring back a report i mean he's done it before When you read it before, it's like he's kind of a little bit of a tattletale, right? He kind of tattles on his brothers. He says, Dad, you know what they were doing?

I mean, that's what you read in the first 11 verses. And so Jacob figured he'll bring back a report. I don't have to worry about that. And Joseph was willing to go. he should have known Jacob should have known that his ten boys hated Joseph but maybe he didn't either way because he wanted to know how things were going with his property and his wealth because he wanted to know what was going on with his property he delivered Joseph into their hands coincidence coincidence not a chance that's God working look at God's providence in Joseph's experience Joseph sets off but he can't find his brothers because for some reason they move the flock to another place was there not enough rain maybe they had exhausted the resources near Shechem and they needed to move on to better pastures but for some reason they had left and because they're gone Joseph ends up wandering around in the fields outside of Shechem looking here and there for his brothers.

And because he wandered around looking, he was delayed. He was delayed. And guess what? That delay of wandering around put him in their camp at the moment when the Ishmaelites came by that camp. If he had, if they had stayed in Shechem, maybe they wouldn't have come across those Ishmaelites. And maybe if he had heard sooner, he wouldn't have been delayed.

Or if maybe he'd been delayed longer, he wouldn't have got there when the Ishmaelites came through, but everything's timed out right. And then you have this chance meeting with this fellow who happened to overhear the plans his brothers were making. Have you thought about that? Now remember, God did not come to him in a dream or whisper in his ear that those shepherds were headed for Dothan, that he needed to go immediately to the fields, find a boy, and tell him where they went.

That's not how God worked. Imagine this for a moment. This is what I call sanctified imagination okay it's not in the bible but these are the the bible gives us like just the bare minimum but you all know there's a lot going on underneath so let's just imagine for a moment so here's this guy let's just call him chance no let's just call him sam so here's sam two days two days ago he approached these shepherds with a deal he says he's got a goat He wants to sell him a goat.

And so they say, okay, you know, we'll buy it. We'll buy it. But he goes home. He overhears them while he's there, by the way. He overhears what their plans are. But he goes home, and a day later he realizes that the staff he could not find was out at the well where he met the shepherds.

And so he heads out of town, but then he realizes that his little girl is following him. So he takes her by the hand and takes her back home. And then he heads back to the well where he met those shepherds. And he walks out there. And there's this guy wandering around. This kid, this 17-year-old kid, wandering around.

Right? He engaged him in a car. What would have happened? What would have happened if he said, oh, forget the staff? Something happened. There were little things that happened in that man's life so that he ended up walking into the pasture land when Joseph was wandering around.

There's all kinds of things that happened that orchestrated it so he was there at the right time. Coincidence? Not a chance. Right? That was God working. Now look at the providence of God in the brother's intrigues.

This is the hinge to the entire story. His brother's intention to kill Joseph. All right? Look at their motive for murdering him. Verses 19 and 20. Look at the motive for murdering him.

They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer. come now let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams they hated the idea that they would ever bow down to this kid they want to kill him because of his dreams they didn't want to see those dreams fulfilled with them bowing down before their hated brother. Now this plot and these actions set the events in motion that will save them from starvation.

It's interesting that they intend to kill him so that those dreams will not be fulfilled. And it turns out, their intention to kill him turns out to be the very instrument that God uses to save their lives. Okay? And why? Because of Reuben. Reuben.

Reuben Reuben is the firstborn of the family all right Reuben is the firstborn of the family and Reuben hates Joseph just as much as his brothers but Reuben is out of the good graces of his father here's why in chapter 34 chapter 34 is when the two brothers Simeon and Levi wipe out a city they wipe out a city and Reuben is involved in plundering that city the city of Shechem he plunders it with them and then if that's not bad enough chapter 35 in his bid to be clan leader he had slept with his father's concubine he is not in good graces with his dad right He needed to get back in dad's favor, especially if he's going to regain the privileges of the firstborn. That's why he says, what am I going to do? Right?

Not, what did you do to our brother? It's, what's going to happen to me now? That's what's behind it. And so although he hates Joseph, he acts out of self-interest. All right? Now, because of Reuben's selfishness, the stage is set for Judah's part in the play.

So let's engage our imaginations again. Reuben's not around when they take their lunch break. It's entirely possible. Who knows? A goat got separated. He just had to go off to relieve himself.

Who knows why he was gone? But while he's gone, his plan to use joseph back home is foiled because now judah comes up with another plan so when those traitors appear judah gets the idea of selling the young man originally they wanted to kill him so they wouldn't have to bow down to him but now we can make some money let's sell him it's essentially the same thing you sell him into slavery he's going to die anyway so we get to Beth of both worlds they keep the coat and bring it back to Jacob keeping a conspiracy of silence the whole time do you realize you've got to realize these 10 guys never cracked over the next several years that happened before they go to Egypt they don't crack they keep the secret how many you've had any kids in your family and they try to keep you have six kids in the family you think they can keep a secret well maybe they can but it pretty unusual right these ten guys had a conspiracy of silence that lasted for years Not one of them cracked You see the many intrigues of this group of wicked brothers all the way through. And some of those intrigues work against the others, right?

The intrigues they have are even competing with one another. but the whole thing ends up with Joseph in Egypt Joseph in Egypt you know the story becoming the second most powerful man in the world who saves his family from starvation wow that should blow your mind that should blow your mind to see what's happening here and to see what happens because of these intrigues is this a coincidence? Answer? Not a chance.

This is God working. This is a God thing. Now there's one more view I want you to take. See God's providence in all of the events of your life. This isn't just a story to tell your children. You know, sometimes I think we have the attitude that these great stories are in the Bible, so some publisher could make Bible storybooks out of them and we could entertain our kids.

We'd have Sunday school material. Right? No. This reveals the nature of God. It reveals a God who is faithful to keep His promises and accomplish His purposes. God is intent on keeping His promises and accomplishing His purposes.

It reveals a God who will accomplish that purpose in hidden providential ways. Every event in your life, good or evil, reflects the fact that God is working through them to fulfill his gracious purposes. What's going on in your life right now? What's going on in your life right now? Did you know that what happened at work on Thursday, You came home from work on Thursday all out of sorts because of what happened on Thursday.

Do you realize that God was working behind the scenes? Maybe you're suffering from some chronic disease. And it just seems so hopeless. And you don't see any good purpose in it. And yet, yet. God's at work.

God is at work. Looking back on your life, some of it may bring the most horrid memories anybody could have in their life. Some of the things that have happened to you are almost unspeakable. And you don't want to tell anybody what's happened to you. They're that bad. But now can you look back and see how God was working even through the horrid events of your life to bring you to the place where you recognized that you needed a Savior?

What happens when you don see the end of the story Do you still believe that God is at work Some time ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was experiencing incredible hardship. He had stood faithfully for God's truth in a church that did not want to hear it. and I can remember saying to him we'll call him Sam I can remember saying to him Sam it's time to resign it's time to quit and he wouldn't he said I need to minister the word of God here and they would have not have it until finally he was forced out so he became involved in another ministry that ended up floundering not because of his lack of commitment. He was committed to it.

And I remember talking to him, and he said to me, Tim, I feel completely alone. And I said to him, look, don't lose heart. God is not done writing your story. Where are you? Where are you? What are the events that are going on in your life?

What's going on that just seems absolutely hopeless what seems like what good can come of this always remember this God is still writing the story and by the way for all of us who are God's people all of us who've entrusted our everything we have to Jesus you know what every one of those stories has a good ending right he's still writing the story no matter what happens to you or in this world you can be assured that God through his providence is accomplishing his gracious purposes for you who belong to Jesus and you can have confidence that's the case because of Jesus consider would you please just as Jacob sent his son to hostile men what did God do? He sent his son into the midst of a wicked world and when Jacob sent his son God restrained his brothers from killing him but when God sent his son he didn't do that he didn't restrain the sin of those who hated Jesus and he surrendered his son into the hands of wicked men who stripped him, not of a royal robe, but of a peasant garment, and then brutally beat him and executed him. The Heavenly Father's response to his son's death was different from Jacob's response.

Jacob believed that his eyes told him the whole story. Joseph was dead, and so were his dreams. but the divine father knew that his son's death was not evidence that god's purpose had failed it was evidence that god's purpose had triumphed can you think that thought in the very worst thing that could ever happen god's purposes were not defeated but his purpose is triumph how do i know that everything that god brings into my life is for a good purpose because I look at what happened to Jesus Because of Jesus I know that true of me. The very actions of these men, of Joseph's brothers were intended to destroy the dreamer and kill the dream.

But those very actions brought about the fulfillment of the dream. Think that for a moment. Let's kill him. Let's kill him because they're that dreamer. And what happened? What they did to get rid of him actually accomplished the dream.

It looks to many that the cross frustrated the purposes of God in producing a following, a holy people for him, and instead the cross actually accomplished that purpose. Now we can say this with confidence if we are in Christ, if we have trusted in Christ. But I say to you, listen, when someone says to you, well, look, we all know it's all going to work out good anyway.

That's only for God's people. If you've never entrusted yourself to Christ, there is no promise for you that everything's going to work out fine. You know what? You've got to entrust yourself to the one who, in defeat, accomplished the purpose of God, which was to save people. the most heinous act of sin was intended to accomplish the salvation of sinners and you need to come to Jesus and when you do you can grasp that promise that God's purposes for you God's story for you will have a good ending we heard it today what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him give us all things Father thank you for your word thank you for the narrative that you give us that doesn't just show us great stories doesn't just show us these incredible pieces of literature with protagonists and antagonists but what we see here instead is a God who through His most unlikely means, the most incredible, the most unbelievable, the things we'd never dreamed of, accomplish His gracious purposes for His people in order to accomplish His promise, to fulfill His promise.

Thank you. That was the story of real people who reveal that truth to us. Now God, help us not to just look at them, Help us to look at our own lives now and to remember that no matter how horrendous it may seem right now, you're still writing the story. Help us to remember that. And with that, help us to endure. Help us to grow in our trust of you.

Help us to grow in our joy. Because we know that for your children, the ending of the story will always be good thank you in Jesus name Amen