Deliverance
– Part II
Genesis 45:1-15
February 10th, 2013
AM Service
Introduction
Albert Fish appeared to be a very kind man. He was a grandfather, not at all
intimidating, and was generous. He
seemed to care about people. His wife
loved him dearly and believed him to be a great husband. His children looked up to him and respected
him as their dear father. But Mr. Fish
had a secret. Over a period of many
years, he befriended a number of young children. Using false names and false identities, he earned
the trust of their families, ultimately luring these children into his
trap. He abused them. He murdered them. He did unspeakable things to their
bodies. He cooked them and ate
them. He created his own favorite
recipes using the bodies of children. If
his own words are to be believed, Albert Fish had around 100 victims in his
lifetime.
This past Christmas Eve, a church in northern Nigeria gathered
together for a Christmas Eve service.
During the service, gunmen came into the church and killed six people,
including the pastor. The following
Saturday, December 29th, Nigerian gunmen entered the homes of
Christians who had recently moved into a neighborhood and slaughtered 15 of
them. The next day, gunmen entered a
northern Nigeria church and killed another fifteen people. These gunmen are a part of Boko Haram, an
Islamic extremist group.
Friends, we live in a world in which real evil exists. This is a world in which six million Jews
were systematically killed through gas chambers and other means for simply
being born Jewish. This is a world in
which people will strap themselves up with explosives and intentionally seek to
kill as many victims as possible. This is a world in which a young man will
walk into a school and take the lives of 20 first graders.
How do you make sense of this?
If our God is real, and He is good, and He is all-powerful, then how can
evil exist? Surely if He is good, He is
against evil. Surely if He is
all-powerful, He has the power to vanquish evil. So if this good, all-powerful God is real,
why is there evil in this world? Could
it be that our God’s sovereignty is limited?
Could it be that He does not have control over evil? Could it be that
evil exists in this world and in your life because God is incapable of stopping
it?
The glorious truth that we are studying in our passage this
morning gives us clear answers to these questions. Our God is all-powerful and good. He has infinite sovereignty – nothing is
outside of His control. Evil exists
because God has ordained it to exist, and all for the purpose of good.
The key verses of this chapter, and of all of this portion of
Genesis, are verses 5, 7, and 8. Verse
5: “And now do not be distressed or angry
with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to
preserve life.” The brothers sold
Joseph in to slavery. This was an evil
deed. Yet Joseph said that through this
deed, God sent him to Egypt for a good purpose.
Lives are being preserved.
Look at verse 7: “And God
sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive
for you many survivors.” In other
words, the sin of these brothers was used by God to show mercy to these
brothers. This family – the family of Jacob, of Israel – is God’s remnant on
the earth. They are among the very few
who know the true God and worship the true God.
God has been working even through their sin to preserve their lives.
Look at verse 8: “So it was
not you who sent me here, but God.”
Yes, the brothers were the immediate cause of Joseph being sent to
Egypt. But they were not the primary
cause. God’s will was the primary
cause. This is the doctrine of
providence: God works all things according to the counsel of His own will.
Last time we looked at this passage we saw that God’s providence
extends even to the thoughts, words, and actions of human beings. Even the things which we do freely of our own
wills are still ultimately a part of God’s plan, accomplishing His purpose.
This morning, we are going to notice a second truth about
providence taught here. God’s providence
works good from evil. God’s providence
works good from evil.
To unpack that truth, I want us to answer three questions. 1: Is God truly sovereign over evil? 2. Does this make God the Author of
evil? 3. Why would our good God ordain
for evil to exist?
Is God Truly Sovereign Over Evil?
1. Is God truly sovereign over evil?
Our passage seems to indicate that this is indeed the case. The evil actions of these brothers was not
outside of God’s control, but was part of His will. In Genesis 50:20 we will hear Joseph say
this, “As for you, you meant evil against
me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be
kept alive, as they are today.”
If these were the only verses in the Bible that spoke this way, we
might assume that Joseph’s story was a special case. But his was not a special case. Over and over again the Bible shows God’s
control over the evil that happens in this world.
Surely Pharaoh hardening his heart against God, refusing to submit
to God’s will – that was evil. That was
wicked rebellion and pride. And the book
of Exodus tells us that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Yet, listen to what God told Moses ahead of
time in Exodus 4:21: “And the LORD said
to Moses, ‘When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the
miracles that I have put in your power.
But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Pharaoh did – he was the immediate
cause. He committed the sin. But ultimately Pharaoh did only what God
ordained and caused him to do, so that God could get glory over Pharaoh.
We see something very similar in Joshua 11, when kings from Canaan
lead an attack against God’s people.
Listen to verse 20: “For it was
the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in
battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive
no mercy, but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.” It was the LORD’s doing.
In the book of Job, we are told that Satan himself was at work to
destroy Job’s livestock, and to kill Job’s children and servants. Yet when Job, in his misery, reflected on the
evil that had happened to him, he said, “Naked
I came from mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD.” We
might say, “Job, you’ve misunderstood!
It was Satan who did these things.
Don’t charge God with doing wrong!”
But the very next verse says, “In
all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” You see, Job was not being sinful or
misguided – he was acknowledging the truth.
Even the worst that Satan can do can only come to pass with God’s
permission.
Amos 3:6: “Is a trumpet
blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city unless the LORD has done it?
Isaiah 45:7: “I form light
and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who
does all these things.”
The greatest example of God’s providence extending to evil is the
cross itself. The murder of Jesus was
the greatest evil act ever committed.
This was not just the killing of an innocent man – it was the torture
and murder of the very Son of God, the King of glory, the Creator and Sustainer
of us all. Who committed the vilest act
in human history? Was it Pilate? Was it the Roman soldiers? Was it the crowd who yelled, “Crucify
Him! Crucify Him!” Is Judas to be held responsible? Yes – all of these played their part. All of these contributed to the murder of
Jesus. But listen to Peter preaching to
the crowd in Acts 2:23: “this Jesus,
delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you
crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” Did you hear that? According to the definite plan and
foreknowledge of God. Or listen to Acts
4:27-28. Here we have the Christians in
Jerusalem praying, and they say to God, “for
truly in this city were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom
you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the
peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to
take place.” Is that not clear? Yes, Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and
the Jews all had their part. But they
did what God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place.
God is sovereign over evil – even the evil in your life. No
calamity, no evil word spoken to you, no evil deed done to you is outside of
His control. No, it is a part of His
plan for your good. Even your own sins,
though He hates them with true and furious hatred, are still a part of His plan
to cause you to love the mercy and grace given in Jesus Christ. God’s providence extends even to evil.
Is God the Author of Evil?
Now, this creates a problem.
If God’s working of all things according to His plan includes evil
thoughts, words, actions, events – doesn’t this make God the Author of
evil?
If, by Author, we mean
that God actually commits sin, the answer is absolutely not. The Bible is clear that God cannot nor will
not commit evil:
Deuteronomy 32:4: “The Rock,
his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.”
Job 34:10: “Therefore, hear
me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.”
Psalm 5:4: “For you are not
a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.”
James 1:13: “Let no one say
when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempts no one.’”
1 John 1:5: “This is the
message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in
him is no darkness at all.”
To say that God commits sin is to be guilty of blasphemy. He is pure and blameless, and all sin is
disgusting to His eternal soul.
Now, added to this, we know that God rightly holds responsible
those who do commit sin, even though that sin was in His plan. For example, God judged Pharaoh for hardening
his heart against God, though we know that God had ordained this.
Consider Judas. Jesus said
this about Judas in Matthew 26:24: “The
Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of
Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been
born.” What Judas did was not only ordained by God, but was prophesied
centuries before he did it.
Nevertheless, Judas did it willingly, and Jesus says that his punishment
will be so severe that it will have been better for him had he never been born.
In 1 Samuel 24 we are told that God incited David to take a sinful
census of the people of Israel. A few
verses later, we find David grieving over and confessing his sin. God punishes him. God had ordained the sin and worked to bring
it to pass, but He still punishes David, and does so justly. You see, though God ordains and works to
bring sinful things to pass, He is never the direct cause. The wickedness in our hearts is the direct cause. God knows what is in each person’s heart, and
He knows how to arrange circumstances so that we choose willingly to do good or
evil.
Think about our study of Joseph.
God knew He wanted to get Joseph to Egypt. He also knew that Judah’s heart in particular
was prone toward the sin of greed – always looking for a way to make
money. So, just at the time that the
brothers have attacked Joseph, what does God do? He brings a slave caravan by. The timing is perfect. God does not cause Judah to sin. Judah is no robot here. But by arranging circumstances in this way,
Judah will sin, and God’s purpose will be done.
Judah’s wicked heart will be the main mover, but God has orchestrated it
all. And don’t forget, in all of this,
God is working for ultimate good. Judah’s life will be saved because of this.
The Bible is clear that God ordains evil, but does not commit
it. Moreover, evil no more springs forth
from God than darkness springs forth from light. Would we argue that darkness comes from the
sun? No.
Darkness is the absence of the sun’s influence – it’s the absence of
light. So it is with sin in this world. God is pure goodness and light. He overflows with grace and love. But at times, He withholds Himself from the
heart of someone. This is what it means
for God to harden someone’s heart. God
is constantly overflowing in grace on everybody – or we’d all be worse than
Hitler. But at times God chooses to pull
the shades a little lower, let a little less light in. He lessens His influence and grace on a
heart, and wherever God is not, darkness is.
Sin is not so much a thing as the absence of a thing. Sin is the absence of God-ness. Evil does not come from God. Evil is the absence of God in us. And when He lessens His gracious influence on
our lives, we live in un-godliness.
So is God the Author of evil?
No. He is the Author of good. And
for goodness’ sake, He wills that evil be.
Why Would Our Good God Ordain Evil Acts?
But why? This is question
3: Why would our good God ordain that
evil be?
This is where men like John Piper and Jonathan Edwards have been
so helpful in my life. Jonathan Edwards
in particular tackled this question, seeking to bring to us a biblical
answer. What I would like to do is read
you his answer, and then show it to you in the Bible.
It is a proper and excellent
thing for infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper
that the shining forth of God's glory should be complete; that is, that all
parts of his glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionably
effulgent, that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper
that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all. . . .
Thus it is necessary, that God's
awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness,
should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had been
decreed; so that the shining forth of God's glory would be very imperfect, both
because these parts of divine glory would not shine forth as the others do, and
also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them;
nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all.
If it were not right that God
should decree and permit and punish sin, there could be no manifestation of
God's holiness in hatred of sin, or in showing any preference, in his
providence, of godliness before it. There would be no manifestation of God's
grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be
saved from. How much happiness soever he bestowed, his goodness would not be so
much prized and admired. . . .
So evil is necessary, in order to
the highest happiness of the creature, and the completeness of that
communication of God, for which he made the world; because the creature's
happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and the sense of his love. And if
the knowledge of him be imperfect, the happiness of the creature must be
proportionably imperfect.
In other words, God’s purpose in this universe is ultimately to
have for Himself a people, bearing His image, who share in His eternal joy as
they behold His glory. God’s purpose is
to thrill these people with all His glorious character, including His awesome
love. But apart from evil in this world,
there is so much of God’s glory that we would never see. We would not understand His justice or
righteousness. We would have no concept
of grace or mercy. Even His love would
seem not so great, because it did not cost God anything. You see, church, though God hates evil with
an infinite passion, He has ordained that evil be for the purpose of the
greater good. With evil in the world, He
is able to display all of His attributes in wondrous and perfect proportion,
and His people can grasp something of the height, and the width and the
breadth, and the depth of just how awesome God’s love for them really is. Evil exists for the same reason Satan exists
– so that God can get glory over them, and good can be truly known and
celebrated forever and ever.
Where do we see this in the Bible?
Do you even have to ask. I know
we’re being slow in getting there, but we are going to get to Romans 8. And you know that precious verse which means
so much to us. Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all
things work together for good, for
those who are called according to His purpose.” All things for good! For good! Even evil things ordained and worked for good.
This is the message of Joseph and his brothers. This is the message of the Bible to you in
the midst of your suffering and hardship.
God has not brought difficulty in your life for no reason. Trust Him.
He loves you. He has your welfare
in mind. He has your eternal happiness
in mind. He is doing you good.
Close
At the very center of this great plan is the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The cross is the hinge on
which God’s great plan swings. It is at the cross that we see God’s great
hatred of evil, as He pours out hell upon His Son for the guilt of
sinners. Christ cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
as His soul endured an anguish greater than you or I can imagine. But it is also at the cross that we see God’s
great love and mercy, as it is revealed that Christ is standing in the place of
sinners like you and me. Dear friend,
you cannot come to God without coming to the cross. It is through the cross that the glory of God
is most clearly expressed to you. Do you
see it, or are you still blind? Does
your heart melt as you stand in awe of this God, both His power and His great
compassion towards you? Can you now say
with David that the steadfast love of the LORD is better than life?
Friends, do not reject this God.
Do not ignore Him. You won’t be
able to ignore Him forever. I am here as
His ambassador this morning, bringing to you His message. He says to you, “Dear sinner: you have done
much that is wrong. You have done much
that has grieved Me and roused up My righteous anger. But I love you. Through Jesus Christ, I have done everything
necessary for you to be right with Me.
Humble yourself and receive my love.
See that I am good and wise, turn from your sins, follow Me. Trust Me.”
This is what God says to you. He
says, “Trust my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will forgive your sins. I will make you my special child. I will bring your soul safely to heaven, and
I will find My joy in blessing you with the wonder of My own glory.”
Dear friend, to reject this God is to commit spiritual suicide –
don’t do it. Don’t reject a God so
good. He is full of love and tenderness,
but He is not safe. If you spurn Him,
then for the sake of His own glory and for the sake of the happiness of His
people, He will come against you. This
is a God who loves His people with a love deeper than the Pacific Oven, greater
than the expanse of the universe. Will
you not be one of His? Will you not
raise the white flag, surrender yourself to His truth and His teaching, and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ? I pray you
will. Let’s pray.
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