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Amen. Thank you, Clara. It's fine. If you want to give her a hand, I think she deserves

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it. When we all get to heaven, and that fits beautifully with our text today in Genesis

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chapter 50 where I invite you to turn with me, as we think about faith to live and die,

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faith to live and to die. Today we conclude our biographical study in the life of Joseph,

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but also the biographical series that we have been in since last February actually in the

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book of Genesis. It began with the call of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the

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land that God would show him and where God would make him a great nation and a blessing

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to all the families of the earth. We have learned from the lives of Abraham and his

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descendants that God's pilgrims walk a life of faith. We have witnessed God at work through

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their faith and their obedience as well as in their sin and failures. It is my prayer

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as we bring this series to a close that we will all live with greater understanding and

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obedience as pilgrims of God in our own generation. It is my prayer that we too will be a people

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of faith, that we will trust God in our trials and grow as they did through our failures.

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Perhaps like me you have been encouraged to see in fact that God uses imperfect people

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in his purposes. I am glad that God doesn't wait until we become perfect to use us. He

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desires to use us as we are if we will yield our lives to him. God does not demand faultlessness

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but he does demand of us faith. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For

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he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who

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diligently seek him. Like his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph too was a man who

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believed God. He also is mentioned in that great who's who of the faith in Hebrews 11

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where it says about him, by faith Joseph when he was dying made mention of the exodus of

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the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones. Do you find it interesting that

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after all that we have learned so positive about this man that what the Holy Spirit records

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regarding his faith has to do with his last chapter, the chapter in which he dies and

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gives orders concerning his bones. Joseph's faith blessed his life and gave his life a

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testimony even in his dying experience. His was a life that was well lived to the glory

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of God. He possessed an unswerving trust in the God who makes and keeps covenant with

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his people. It brings me to this which I trust the Spirit of God will write on my heart today

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and upon your heart. It is that God calls us also to live by faith. And so I exhort

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us all today to live by faith in the promises of God. In doing so it will bless our lives

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and bring God's reward to us. That's the lesson we see in Joseph's life and the life

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of all of the patriarchs. Now what was it that Joseph in particular believed that empowered

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him to respond to the tragedies and the triumphs of his life with such grace and personal righteousness?

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What was it that he believed? What was it that Joseph believed that caused him to provide

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so generously for his father and brothers during the famine after the way he had been

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treated? Why did Joseph give the dying words that he did? What was it that he believed

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that caused him to utter those words? I want us to think about that this morning. As we

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think about Joseph being a man of faith and ourselves becoming like him people of faith,

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what was it that Joseph believed? We're going to find out in Genesis chapter 50 at least

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a partial answer to that question. The chapter begins with the death of Jacob, this man that

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we have been tracking now for almost 20 chapters of the book of Genesis.

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Jacob utters his last blessing. He has traveled his last journey as a pilgrim. He pulls his

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feet into the bed, lies down, closes his eyes, and breathes his last, and then opens his

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eyes in the glory of God. Joseph, in response, falls upon his father and weeps. He weeps

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as strongly as he did that occasion some years ago now when his brothers came into the court

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and he recognized them and he had to go out and he wept. Here again, loudly, he laments

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the death of his father. An elaborate funeral is arranged and they trek all the way back

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to Canaan to bury Jacob as he had requested that they do. Then the period of mourning

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for Jacob's death is over. It says in verse 15, when Joseph's brothers saw that their

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father was dead, they said, what if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us

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back in full for the wrong which we did to him? So they sent a message to Joseph saying,

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your father charged before he died saying, now did he really? We don't know for sure.

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It's possible that Jacob may have uttered these words, but more likely because of where

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it falls in the narrative, they are concocting this story and putting the words in Jacob's

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mouth for their own use and benefit, their own advantage. But they say that Jacob said

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this, thus you shall say to Joseph, please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your

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brothers and their sin for they did you wrong. Now please forgive the transgression of the

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servants of God, of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then

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his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants.

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But Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? What do we see about

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Joseph's faith in these words? I believe that what we see here is Joseph's faith, his belief

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that God is a God who forgives failures. God is forgiving of failures. It is interesting

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that the issue of his brothers crimes against him are resurrected after the death of Jacob.

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What this means is that Joseph has already demonstrated his mercy toward his brothers

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for 17 years. And now after that period of time, they still feel guilty and they are

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worried about retaliation for the past. Notice the words that they say Jacob uses, but I

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really think they are using to describe their actions. They speak of it as transgression,

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as sin, as wrong. They are using the right kinds of words to describe what happened,

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no question about that. And based upon this, they request Joseph now to forgive them twice.

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This word forgive is found 650 times in the Old Testament. It has many variations of meaning,

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but basically the idea is to lift, as one would lift a burden from another. It means

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to bear up or to bear away. It is used, for example, in Genesis chapter 18 and verse 24

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where Abraham is talking with God regarding the coming judgment upon Sodom and he asks

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God if he would spare the city, if he could find 50 righteous people. The word spare there

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is the same word as forgive here. It is a lifting of judgment, of a burden. And they

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say to Joseph, lift from us our burden. And Joseph, upon hearing this report from them,

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weeps. This is the last time that it is recorded that he weeps. Joseph was a man who was unafraid

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to show emotion. He was a real man's man. When it was appropriate, he was unashamed

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in public to cry. And here, once more, we see him bursting out in tears. Why does he

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cry at this point? The text doesn't tell us, so we have to use our imagination. But

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it seems to me that the most logical explanation is that Joseph is grieved. That after showing

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kindness to his brothers for these 17 years, they still do not trust him. He is hurt by

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this request to forgive because Joseph had already forgiven them. And he had done his

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dead level best to communicate that. But somehow it just did not get across to their hearts.

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They still felt guilty. And so he reassured them. He tells them that he is not in the

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place of God. Now what does he mean by that? Well, I think he means, particularly in the

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context here, that he recognizes that God is the ruler of all things. That God had arranged

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the circumstances of his life. His brothers should not blame themselves. And to God alone

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would belong any punishment or any judgment because of what had happened. Am I in the

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place of God, he says? He is not in the place, says Joseph, to judge them or to condemn them.

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That suggests to me that Joseph had already determined that God had forgiven his brothers

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for their guilt and their failure. And that he could not do anything less than forgive

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them himself. Am I in the place of God? If there is to be blame, then God will place

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it. If there is to be judgment, then God will give it. But I believe that Joseph saw that

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God had forgiven his brothers for their failures. And so he likewise forgave them.

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There's a powerful lesson here for you and for me, and it's this. If God has forgiven

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us our trespasses, then we ought to forgive the trespasses of others against us. Unforgiveness

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says, I hold you accountable to me. It bears the grudge. It looks for the opportunity to

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get even. That's unforgiveness. And it holds that thing close to the heart until bitterness

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develops. And from that bitterness, there's a root that goes down into the life. And by

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it warns the writer of Hebrews, many are defiled. But forgiveness, forgiveness releases that

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offense to God. He is the only righteous judge. Forgiveness says, I no longer hold you accountable

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to me personally. I leave that to God. I release you from accountability to me. You can't release

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another person from accountability to God if such exists. That's between that person

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and God. But you can release them from accountability to you. And in doing that, you release yourself,

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really, from the defilement that unforgiveness will bring to your life and the destruction

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that will soon follow it. If God has forgiven us our trespasses, we ought to forgive others

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their trespasses against us. Most of us here this morning are citizens of the United States.

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And today we are citizens of a nation where a president has committed grievous offense,

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moral offense, against his office and therefore against us as people. Now we have a choice.

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Are we going to hold him personally accountable to us and thus refuse to forgive him for what

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he has done? Or are we going to release him from accountability to us and not bear that

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grudge against him personally? I believe that as Christians we have no choice but to forgive

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him. Now I hasten to say that that does not mean that he is automatically released from

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the consequences of what he has done. And all that he has done, I presume, will eventually

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be found out whether we want to know it or not. And the consequences for what he has

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done will be determined by those who are in a position under the law to determine those

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consequences. But I want to exhort us today on a personal level to forgive him as a sinner

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and to pray for him. I fear that he has fallen into the web of apostate Christian theology

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which is leading him astray in his thinking about sin and about God and about righteousness

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and responsibility and confession and so on. What we need to pray is that those few people

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who sometimes have access to him who are people of the truth will be able to communicate the

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truth to him so that he can respond in a godly and righteous way and come to the Savior and

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truly find forgiveness with God. Joseph believed that God is a God who forgives failures. And

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because he believed that it tremendously impacted his reaction to those who failed him. He could

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forgive. And I want to say to you today that if we are a people who believe that God is

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a God who forgives failures, then we can forgive. You can forgive. You can forgive if you have

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been forgiven by God. Not just the president, but others in your life who may have offended

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you or affected you negatively in some way and against whom you have feelings or grudge.

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You can forgive. And I would say it even stronger than that, you must forgive. You must forgive

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for your own sake, if not the other person's. Now as we go on through the chapter we see

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that Joseph's faith didn't end there. Joseph believed something else. He believed that God

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is greater than any circumstance. Notice how this conversation goes on in verse 20. And

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as for you, he says to his brothers, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good

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in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. Joseph really

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believed that God is greater than any circumstance. This is perhaps the key verse to the whole

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story of Joseph. It tells us that God overrode the evil intentions of his brothers to achieve

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his divine purpose. You meant it for evil. God meant it for good. The word meant here

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is a word that means to weave together as you would weave fabric. Or it means to scheme

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a plot or to contrive. His brothers had contrived one way, but all of this fit into God's greater

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piece of fabric. And God was weaving it to accomplish his own purpose in the design of

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the story of Genesis. God is greater than any circumstance. Do you believe that? Today

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we are faced with many uncertainties in our world. Some of you are very aware of the Y2K

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problem, the computer problem that some believe will bring the whole world collapsing. It

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may not be that severe, but it undoubtedly will present complications at the least. In

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the last two weeks we have seen the effect of the weakening Asian markets now causing

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Russia literally to collapse. Someone said on television yesterday that Russia has not

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been at so critical a point since 1917 in the Bolshevik Revolution. That is a very serious

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evaluation. It is affecting Latin America and it is affecting the United States. We

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stand on the threshold of what could be a meltdown economically in our world, a worldwide

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depression, not merely recession. I am not predicting that. There are some who are, but

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it is a possibility. There are so many problems in our world today that our leaders cannot

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possibly solve all of them. In fact, Nicholas Kristoff writing in the New York Times a few

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days ago says this, with the Asian meltdown spreading to Russia and undermining Europe,

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China, and Latin America, some experts fret about the risk of a severe global downturn,

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perhaps another depression, with incalculable political and military risks. But just as

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the threats to world order seem unusually grave and complex, leaders in major capitals

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appear unusually enfeebled. He says domestic, social, and economic forces are overwhelming

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political leaders everywhere. If one is a premillennialist, one could argue that the

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world is being set up for the coming of a very strong leader who is going to be able

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to bring some order to things. And that is where I am at. We have the threat of terrorist

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attacks right here in Minneapolis, St. Paul. There are those who are saying that Saddam

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Hussein has already secreted agents across the United States with chemical and bacteriological

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bombs basically in suitcases, waiting his orders for their release. We have this fabulously

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wealthy Ben Laden who has threatened to kill Americans everywhere. The security that we

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have felt as Americans in this world is quickly fading away. I wonder, do we really believe

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that God is greater than any circumstance? Joseph did. And because of that, he was not

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afraid. And you and I need not fear either because God is greater than any circumstance

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that can come against us. Verse 21 says, so therefore do not be afraid. He says, I will

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provide for you and your little ones. You need not fear because God is greater than

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any circumstance that can come against you. You say, well I may be killed. So what? Entrance

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to heaven. If that is the worst that can happen to us, then it only brings the best that can

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happen to us. Isn't that right? If God is greater than any circumstance, you need not

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fear. Finally, Joseph believed this, that God is faithful in each generation. Between

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verses 21 and 22, more than half a century passes. 54 years, Joseph stayed in Egypt,

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he and his father's household. During that time, some of his brothers may have died.

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The family grew. Joseph may have done great things. We are not told that, but for the

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next 50 years he carried out his routine responsibilities in Egypt. He saw his great grandchildren.

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The text may indicate even his great, great grandchildren. And then it says in verse 24,

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Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die. But God will surely take care of you

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and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac,

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and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear saying, God will surely take

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care of you and you shall carry my bones up from here. That is what he wanted them to

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promise. And so Joseph died at the age of 110 years and he was embalmed and placed in

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a coffin in Egypt. The book of Genesis that begins with God's great creation of life ends

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with a coffin in Egypt. But it doesn't end with hopelessness. That is because Joseph

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believed that God is faithful in every generation. The passing of a generation is a sobering

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thing that occurs in one's life. Some of you have lost your last parent in recent years.

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As I have. It is a sobering realization when you understand that your generation is the

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next one. When you have generations that are before you, you think that life is going to

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go on and on and on, but suddenly you are the terminal generation as young as you are.

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It is a sobering thing to realize that you are next. You are next. We have seen a lot

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of emphasis this year on World War II and some of the events connected with it. And

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we realize that that generation that fought World War II, the courage and the devotion

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to country, that generation is quickly passing away and rightfully we should honor them.

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But it is sobering to realize that there are fewer Americans who understand the price that

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one must pay for liberty. Joseph here had seen his father pass away and when he himself,

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Joseph, comes to die, he uses language very similar to his father's. He says, I die,

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but God. You see, he had seen the previous generation. He saw generations before him,

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down perhaps to his great-great-grandchildren. And he himself now says, I am dying, but God

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will take care of you. God is faithful in every generation. That was part of Joseph's

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faith. W. H. Griffith Thomas writes, Like Jacob, he was determined that Egypt should

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not be the final resting place of his body. His heart was already in Canaan and his body

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was to be there too. You see, Joseph by his dying words, which is what Hebrews 11 refers

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to, commands that his body not be left in Egypt because the promises that God had given

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to his great-grandfather Abraham and then to Isaac and to Jacob and to himself and to

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his great-great-grandchildren. That God would faithfully bring his people out of Egyptian

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bondage and one day that God, many generations later, would fulfill his promise to give that

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land to Abraham and his descendants, a promise that not yet has been fulfilled, but will

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be in the millennium. That God is a faithful God, says Joseph, and I want to be buried

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in Canaan so that I can be resurrected to join in the celebration when God gives us

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that land. God is faithful in every generation, therefore his people can trust him. And I

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want to say to you that you can rest in the Lord with complete confidence. Inquietness

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and confidence shall be your strength too. Maybe like me, you are in your family the

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terminal generation. You and I can rest in confidence in the Lord. God is going to take

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care of our children and our grandchildren. Genesis ends, you see, with this coffin, which

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is actually a symbol of hope and a future deliverance. That coffin represents a new

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beginning, a beginning that gets underway in the very next page with the introduction

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of Exodus, as Joseph's body is taken out of Egypt eventually and planted in Canaan.

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But the new beginning that Joseph was really looking toward is a new beginning that God

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is going to give yet when Jesus Christ comes to reign on the earth. God is a God of new

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beginnings and you can rest in confidence in him of his new beginnings in your life.

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What I hope you see in the text today as we bring this to a quick close is that what you

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believe determines how you live. It is Joseph's faith that caused him to be the man that he

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was. And how you and I live measures our faith. It more than any doctrinal statement that

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we sign tells what we believe because what we really believe determines the choices that

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we make in life and how we choose to live. It determines how we live and it determines

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how we die. And if today you reject the Savior or receive the Savior by faith, it makes a

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difference in the end. And if today as a believer you choose to live by faith as God's pilgrim

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or you decide to live by the flesh and for the world, it makes a difference in the end.

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And so today what do you believe and how is that determining your life? I hope you'll

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think about that as we come to the Lord's table because it was what Jesus believed that

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enabled him to go to the cross and dare to die. What he believed determined how he lived

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and how he died. And it will for you too. Let's pray. Father, I pray that our faith

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may be biblical and that what we believe will be right so that then our lives will be guided

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by good decisions. We come to this table today in gratitude for our Lord Jesus Christ, the

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descendant of Jacob, who in the wise and good plan of your providence offered himself for

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our sins, that we might be reconciled to you. And we partake of this bread with gratitude

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for our Savior, embracing Him by faith and choosing to live as He did, believing you

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and being your pilgrim. Amen.