Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for the good, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
A perfect demonstration of God working all things for the good over and over again can be seen in the good and bad things that occurred in the life of Joseph. This story, which is true history, is one of the most interesting and compelling in all of the Bible. I highly recommend that you read the full story which is contained in Genesis chapters 37-50. Jacob was Joseph’s father who had 4 wives and 13 children; 12 sons and one daughter. His first born was Reuben, the last born was Benjamin. Jacob loved Rachel who was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin were favorites of Jacob. The family tree is found in Genesis 29, 30, 35.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
1. Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph: Coat of many colors. Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 37:3
2. Joseph is hated by his brothers: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 37:4
3. Joseph’s brethren plotted to kill him: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 37:18
4. Reuben’s intervention for Joseph: Good, and works together for good. Gen. 37:22
5. Arrival of the slave trading caravan: Good and bad but works together for good. Gen. 37:25
6. Judah recommends selling Joseph: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 37:26-27
7. Joseph is sold into human trafficking to the Ishmaelites and Midianites: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 37:28
8. Joseph arrives in Egypt as a slave: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 39:1
9. Joseph is sold into the house of Potiphar: Bad that he is a human commodity but it works together for good. Gen. 37:36
10. Potiphar’s wife lied, and caused Joseph’s imprisonment: Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 39: 17-18
11. Joseph Is put in charge of the prison: Good and works together for good. Gen.39:22
12. Joseph trusts in man: You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
Human viewpoint! Bad, but works together for good. Gen. 40:14
13. Magicians and wise men could not interpret Pharaoh’s dream but Joseph could: Bad for them, but works together for Joseph’s good. Gen. 41:8
Throughout these chapters, Joseph did nothing wrong; He was innocent and God was with him (Genesis 39: 2,21,23). All of the good and bad in Joseph’s life was woven into a beautiful tapestry of GRACE. God’s grace turns cursing (bad) into (good) i.e., blessings and more blessings. God in His Omniscience, righteousness and justice, works all things (bad and good) together for the good of those who are in His royal family! If you are a child of God, His converter will transform bad to good for you too. Lean on Him and you will see. Joseph was the 11th of 12 boys in Jacob’s family but was favored because he was the first child of his beautiful wife Rachael and was born in Jacob’s old age. The meaning of his name is, (he will add)! Yes, this name is perfect because he added to many, but it was God who first added to him. Joseph added many blessings to many people, to Jacob and Rachael, to his undeserving brothers, to all of Jacob’s family in starvation many miles away, to Potiphar’s household, to the baker and butler in prison, to Pharaoh, to a nation in famine, and to many starving nations surrounding Egypt. Joseph was very handsome, well-built, extremely intelligent but fair minded and forgiving to those who were not so generous to him! Therefore, he was oriented to the Grace of God and realized the operation of the Grace of God in his own life… time after time, and time again! How can God be so gracious to Joseph’s brothers since they were so mean and vicious to him? Want to see a beautiful demonstration of God’s amazing grace and forgiveness? In Revelation 21:12 the wall surrounding the Holy City in eternity is 200 ft. high with 12 gates of solid pearls. Three on the north, south, west and east. On the gates are the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. Yes, the names of the traitors of Joseph are imprinted on the gates of pearl and will be seen throughout eternity! This is grace and more grace and serves as a memorial to the super surpassing grace of our infinite and loving God. Perhaps this can serve as a lesson to those who may think their sins are greater than the infallible and perfect plan of God! Joseph’s brothers sinned greatly and but their names are inscribed on the gates of pearl forever.
The Apostle Paul wished he could control the influence of his old sin nature more effectively than he did and was distressed that his sins were such a hindrance to his beautiful and servant filled life but, in spite of every failure, his name is forever inscribed on one of the foundation walls, in the Holy City, as the 12th Apostle. Revelation 21:14, The names of all apostles are inscribed here! Peter failed miserably and his name is also inscribed on the foundation walls as one of the twelve apostles. Thomas sinned by doubting that Jesus did what he said he would do ( i.e., rise from the dead and take on a resurrection body that will not age, wear or depreciate). Thomas’s name is imprinted on one of the foundation walls too and his name will shine forth forever in the Holy City! Have you lived long enough to realize that you fail every day, either overtly or covertly, by commission or omission? Sorry to surprise you but you are not perfect and as long as you live with an old sin nature inside of you. You will never be perfect! Surely you realize that you are not perfect because of your imperfect behavior pattern! Why? Because your life is imperfect. There is no such thing as sinless perfection because you are perpetually imperfect, BUT there is good news!! The Good News is GOD, has done something for you that you could never do for yourself. That is, you have been MADE perfect forever because you have appropriated by faith in Jesus Christ, HIS PERFECT and imputed righteousness. When you believed in Christ, you embraced perfection and He immediately imputed His perfection to you!
Hebrews 10:14, 17, “For by one sacrifice HE HAS MADE PERFECT FOREVER those who are being made HOLY” (i.e., Hagios (set apart for His Glory)!
Make no mistake…you have not arrived and you are not without sin. Neither are you as consistent as you would like to be! The absolute truth is you will continue in your short comings and failures until you depart from this life. You are a human being with an eternal soul and you are marching rapidly toward eternity, but you have a problem. You have a sinful nature, and from that nature multiple sins emanate, and that nature is not going to be eradicated or polished away while you live on planet Earth. You cannot improve the old sin nature, you can only transfer from its power of darkness to God’s glorious light by walking by means of the power of God the Holy Spirit. Please tell me what you do to recover when you sin willfully or unwittingly? Do you have great remorse? Do you work hard to compensate for the sins? Do you go forward down an aisle to dedicate, compensate, or rededicate your entire life? Do you confess your sins to an elder, pastor or priest? Don’t! Where do you go and what do you do to recover from grieving or quenching God the Holy Spirit when you sin? If you have offended someone, by all means, go to them and seek their forgiveness and you will be glad you did because it is the right thing to do. But first and foremost, that sin and all sins are an offense against the holy character of God! Go to the person you have offended, humble yourself and seek to be forgiven. However, you may or may not be successful because human beings are not God and are limited by their own weaknesses. But GOD and only God, has made provision for your darkest sins and with open arms will forgive and restore you every time you come to Him and confess, and forsake the sins you have committed against His holy character. At this very moment, you are either in fellowship and without sin and filled with the Holy Spirit or you are out of fellowship because of sin and have grieved the Holy Spirit and are controlled by the old sin nature! This is what you are to do when you sin (confess) but HOW are you to do it? Let’s think about this for a moment. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all and if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we are not doing the truth.
“If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son (keeps on) cleansing us from ALL sin” (1 John 1:7).
We are given two commands regarding the controlling ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Commands from God’s word are not options; they are imperatives!
1) “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but BE Filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:18).
2) “This I say then, walk by means of the Holy Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
How would you like to walk on this Earth without obeying the lusts of the flesh? You may live a good life but you will always stumble. When you stumble do not stay down. (Story of Soldier wounded in battle said, “Lay me down and bleed awhile. I am wounded, but I am not slain. I shall rise to fight again.” Having fallen we must rise and begin walking! It is accomplished by walking by means of the Holy Spirit and not by means of the old sin nature! What are the mechanics or what is the HOW of being restored to fellowship and walking in the Spirit when we sin? What happens when we CONFESS the SINS we have committed and look to Him to forgive when we confess the wrong we have done? LOOK CLOSELY AT WHAT HE DOES and what you must do in response to His forgiveness of your sins. He is faithful (you are not, and you will not be faithful every day for the rest of your life) but He is faithful and JUST to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us (Keep on cleansing us) from all unrighteousness. The good news is, full restoration to fellowship places you in a position to serve Him. Upon confession to Him, you can now serve Him with clean hands because you are no longer controlled by this damnable old sin nature but by the super surpassing power of GOD the Holy Spirit! It’s not you, it is Him and His super surpassing grace. It is not who you are… it is who He is and what He is. It is not what you do. It is who controls you when you do what you do! If you have confessed your sins, you are controlled by the Holy Spirit and are spiritual and what you do during the time of His controlling ministry is spiritual production. This is spirituality. If you have not confessed your sins, you have grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit and are controlled 100% by the old sin nature, and you are carnal. What you do during the time of being controlled by the old sin nature is human good and is classified as wood, hay and stubble. All of this combustible material (HG) will be rejected by GOD and burned.
ILLUSTRATION: AIRPLANE
My brother Harold taught me how to fly and recover from a deadly stall. It was life giving. The only way for a believer out of fellowship to recover is 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful (we are not) and just. He is justified to forgive us… (because of the justice and righteousness of Jesus Christ). He is justified to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” When you come to Him, believe His word, and cast all of your care on Him, He will immediately restore and use you as a vessel of honor.
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the masters use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
