The Sovereignty & Love of God

As it is my duty to introduce our first speaker tonight, I can't help but remember an occasion in Old Testament introduction class many, many years ago in Bible college when, after reading through a significant portion of the first chapter of First Chronicles, my Old Testament professor paused, looked up from his reading and asked the class, students, how do you pronounce Old Testament names? We nervously glanced at one another with baffled looks, I'm sure, on our faces. And he smiled a knowing smile and answered his own question with confidence. Now, what does this anecdote have anything to do with tonight's proceedings? Well, it's my delightful duty to introduce Mr. Conrad Mbewe. who hails from Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia. Notice I pronounced all of that with confidence. I learned my lesson. All kidding aside, it's indeed a joy to have this brother with us. If you've spent any time on the internet, on YouTube, you've probably encountered his preaching via video recording. And this brother has certainly made an impact not only at home, but abroad as well. Pastor Mbewe, earlier in life, studied for a career in the mining industry. But much to the blessing of Christ's church, the Lord called him into gospel ministry. And he's not only been a faithful pastor in his own congregation, but has been mightily used by the Lord to plant churches throughout his homeland of Africa. So with no further ado, Pastor Conrad, come preach to us. We receive you gladly. Thank you very much. Well, it's a real joy for me to be here with you this weekend. I arrived yesterday and so I'm still at this stage going through the whole process of time adjustment. I know what time you think this is. My body clock is arguing against that, but we trust that in the next day or two we will have synced. As has already been said, I come from Caboada Baptist Church, where I am pastor, and the congregation there, as I travel around, reminds me to take greetings to the people of God, and consequently I do that this evening. And it's my first time, at least in this city, but one or two faces will probably have met in different places and I therefore look forward to renewing fellowship with you tonight and the Lord willing tomorrow. If you've got your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Genesis and chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50. You will notice from your programs that I am dealing in this session with the subject of the sovereignty of God and the love of God. The sovereignty of God and the love of God. We'll read verse 15 to verse 21, Genesis and chapter 50. The Bible reads there, When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, They said, perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him. So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now please forgive the trespass of the servants of God, of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we are your servants. Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. We'll end our reading there. The theme for us is that of God's decree and Although in Christian circles it tends to be a fairly contentious one, those of you who have acquainted yourselves with its content from a biblical perspective will appreciate that its effect upon you spiritually is very positive. It enables you to worship God as God. In a number of 17th century confessions of faith, you will discover that the doctrine of God's decree, God's creation, and indeed providence follow one after the other. And that's not an accident, it is meant to help us to have a systematized understanding of the God whom we worship. And therefore when we think in terms of the person and work of God, the moment we move to the work of God, we think in terms of God planning, God-making, and then God carrying out His purposes through that which He has made. And essentially, therefore, that's what the three are all about. In God's decree, we are thinking in terms of God-making, and rather God-planning. In God's creation, we're thinking in terms of God-making the vehicle through which in God's Providence will see him carrying out that which he has planned. Inevitably, therefore, you cannot think biblically about God creating and working out his purpose in history without first of all posing to us the question, what is this purpose? How did God arrive at this purpose? What is its content? Questions to that effect. And indeed, what does the entire purpose finally lead to? And really, when we are wrestling with the subject of God's decree, those are some of the issues we are dealing with. And that should be fairly simple to us all, because we all plan. Those of you who've come out this evening, you must have sat back at some point and worked out your plans for this day and for this evening, so that it all worked out into one complete whole. And even when this meeting is over, by the time you finally sleep in between your bedsheets, you'll be coming to the end of that plan, hoping that everything worked according to plan. It was mentioned earlier on that my background is that of mining and it's a perfect place to try and illustrate something of this. Because in mining, you follow after a geologist, and the geologist basically gives you some idea about the ore. If it was in Zambia, it's largely copper ore that is underground, and its value, and things to that effect. What you do as a mining engineer, first of all, is to plan. You spend a lot of time working out how best to arrive at that ore to get it out in such a way that you will have meaningful profit once it's gone through the hands of the metallurgist and it's been purified and sent out to whoever it is who wants to use the copper for copper wires and so on. But to begin with is the planning. And then all those tunnels you make into the ground, put in your crushers down there, your conveyor belts all the way to the surface, that's your work of creation. And then finally, There is that great day when you bring everyone to come and see what you've done and the first amount of copper comes out from underground making its way to the metallurgist and there you are finally carrying out that third stage. So what we're thinking about this weekend is really the planning and we're thinking in terms of God in whose image we are made, doing what you and I do literally every day. There will be some differences, and I'm sure we'll deal with those as we proceed. However, even before we look into our text, there are difficulties with respect to this subject. And it's primarily because of the kind of God who is there and the realities of the carrying out of his decree in history. Issues, for instance, of sin, the fall of man, the details of the atrocities related to sin. All of us at one time or the other deal with the outworking of our fallenness. And consequently, we ask ourselves the question, how can a God who is holy, a God who is just, a God who is loving, have anything to do with what I am presently going through, or what our world is indeed going through? It is those day-to-day negative realities that often make people want to revise the clear biblical teaching concerning God's decrees. Then of course there are issues to do with election and predestination which make people really wrestle with issues of fairness issues of justice, and so on and so forth. Thankfully, those who organized this conference had enough wisdom, brains to take all those difficult things and put them on the shoulders of my fellow preacher here. So I'm grateful to God for that. I'm looking forward as much as you are to landing at his feet. Very well then, let's look together at the wider issue, the sovereignty of God and the love of God as we see it in God's decree. And in order to do so, I'd like us to look at a perfect example of this glorious truth in the passage that we have just read together. And more specifically in the words of Joseph in verse 20 of Genesis and chapter 50. Joseph says there, But as for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. You see, the story of Joseph teaches us one fundamental lesson. And it's the fact that human history is a product of two planets. two wheels, two persons, so to speak, working out their purposes. On the one hand, you have the human planner, the individual sitting down and wanting to achieve something. And then you have the other, and that is the divine planner, God himself. You have the creature on the one hand and the creator on the other. You see it very clearly here. Joseph says, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. In other words, whatever this issue is that we are dealing with, we had two minds planning the same event. We all know the story of Joseph. He was the younger of many other brothers who were older than him. He was however the favorite of his dad. And there was a lot that happened there that made them to become jealous of him. We know about the court of many colors. We know of the time that Joseph had his dreams and came to his brothers and told them that a time would come when they would bow down to him and that now upset them even all the more. Until they resolved they need to bring these dreams to an end, before they drive them mad and consequently wanted to kill him. Thankfully, in the process of their doing so, one of the brothers suggested, instead of killing him, let's just get rid of him some other way. Finally, they sold him off as a slave to Egypt, which began a very difficult time for Joseph. And that difficult period went on for years, often just when he thought there was some opening, some positive act of God. In fact, the next moment, he sank even deeper into difficulties. An obvious example was the time he finally found his way into the home of Potiphar. And while he was there, Potiphar saw him as a distinguished worker, gave him to be in charge of everything in his home. And because Potiphar was a high official before Pharaoh, obviously it meant quite some high living for Joseph. However, Potiphar's wife had some illegitimate intentions on the life of Joseph and the result of that we know he, rather she claimed he tried to rape her and Joseph found himself in prison. Well again in prison he distinguished himself but he was nonetheless in prison. And there, for many years, you will recall on one occasion when Pharaoh's butler and Pharaoh's baker stood before Joseph and shared with him their anxieties, their dreams, and Joseph explained them to these two men. He asked for a favor. from the butler, whom he said was going to survive the situation and be restored, that please, when you are restored, remember me before Pharaoh. He didn't. And consequently, to borrow an expression, Joseph lay rotting away in prison. Many, many years later, Pharaoh now had a dream. And out of that dream, all his seers failed to help the situation until the butler said, I remember my sin. There's a young man who told me my fate in prison. I promised to help him, but I forgot about it completely. He will help you, Pharaoh. That is what finally led Joseph to become the second highest person in the United States of America of that day. To put everything into perspective. The highest, second highest position in the whole of Egypt. Our text, however, is found after a number of other events. It is the fact that word finally got to the place where Joseph's brothers were and the father sent them because of famine to Egypt for rescue. And upon getting there, in the midst of all the providences of God, Joseph recognized who they were, revealed himself to them. It was an emotional moment in many ways. Partly meeting his brothers, and later on the father. After so many years, anyone would be emotional about that. But obviously it was also meeting those that once tried to destroy him. Who out of malice had endangered his life. In fact, they had literally gotten rid of him. And here they were now at his mercy. Imagine the chemistry that was taking place within his own soul at this time. His father has now died. Perhaps the major link that he had with his men was gone. They were very clever. They realized that this will mean our end. And hence the story they came up with to try and link Joseph with the father by saying, your dad sinned, forgive your brothers, spare us. Joseph's answer is very educated. And that's why I want us to think about our sin from his words. He told them that in everything that happens to us as humans, It's not simply the human element involved. Yes, you planned this. You planned that bit of history that caused me to suffer. But my brothers, you were not the only planners. There was another one with a capital A who planned. And that is God. He says there, you meant evil against me. In other words, when you came up with this plan, what motivated you was something wrong, evil, sinful, as you planned this. But my mind has been concentrating on another planner, and that is God. And that's the reason why I have not reacted against you the way you expected me to. It says there, do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? God meant it for good. Let me ask you, you've obviously gone and perhaps are going through some difficult period. Perhaps at the hands of someone more powerful than you are in the home, in your education or institution, in your workplace, in your community, And it's caused you immense suffering. And many times you think in terms of this human face, how can he do this to me? How can she do this to me? I wonder, do you think about this other planet, God? as a very real planner. That whatever this event is that has hurt you so much is not merely the human being who planned it and meant it and intended it to be. But God also planned it. and intended it to be. It is important for us to do that. What's impressive about Joseph is that he was thinking like this when he was powerful enough to revenge. That may be slightly different from the rest of us. We probably have to wrestle with this issue when we are still on the disadvantaged side. However, we still do need to process this if we're going to be healthy Christians. We need to recognize that life is not simply about human beings and what they want to do. It's also about God and what he has planned will happen. Very quickly, when Joseph speaks in terms of these two planners, He doesn't speak of them as equals. Although he simply speaks in terms of you meant evil against me, God meant it for good. They are two planners for the same event. We are not to think of them as equals. The reason is simple. With human beings, There is no ultimate sovereignty. With God there is. God planned in absolute sovereignty. In fact, as Louis Bacov has rightly observed, we are better off calling this not God's decrees, but God's decree. in that it's not so much as though God plans in succession the way we plan. You and I plan perhaps one year in advance, maybe a month in advance. perhaps a week in advance or a day in advance and we review our plans and consequently change quite some detail as we go ahead. Not so with God. God planned all things at the beginning of time, so that it is but one entire plan that covers the whole of human history. And in that sense, therefore, it is God's decree. Human beings plan, but you see, because we are not all knowing, And because we mature in our planning with time, we have to do a lot of revision work. God is all-knowing. He is infinitely wise. I mean, just look at the whole of creation. Well, you can't see the whole of it, but the little that you are able to see. and see the perfection with which it has been made. Such a God doesn't need to get back to the drawing board. It's all perfect from the very beginning. Another reason why as human beings we have to to review our plans is because we are not all powerful. It's very easy for other people to frustrate our plans and consequently we talk in terms of plan B when plan A has failed. Again, God is not like that. God is all powerful. Nothing whatsoever can thwart His purposes. Let's quickly look at those two thoughts together from Scripture. The very first one is easily seen in Romans 11 verse 34, which is basically an Old Testament quotation. Romans chapter 11. Verse 34 The Bible says there, For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counsellor? Or who has faith given to God, and it shall be repaid to him? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen." The point of the Apostle Paul there is to bring out the reality that at the point at which God planned salvation, which is what is dealing with in this chapter, at least the previous few chapters, wrestling with the issue of the place of Israel with respect to God's salvation plan, The Apostle Paul brings it to this glorious end and pauses and asks the question, who would have thought of such a glorious plan? And so this point that he brings in this quotation saying, who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who's been his counselor? In other words, when God was planning all this, Who was sitting there next to him, among us? Who? Who was whispering into his ears, saying to him, no, no, no, no, no, if you go that way, you know, things may just blow up, you see. Instead, do this. And God thinking there, saying, yeah, you're right. You know what we go through when we are in our homes and discussing issues, husband, wife, and sometimes even our teenage children tend to be giving us better ideas from their more recent acquisition of knowledge through the internet and so on. God didn't need that. First of all, we were not even there to advise him. And see, when we're thinking in terms of sovereignty, we think of sovereignty in two senses. One sense is in terms of independence, complete independence. And in that sense, we speak about sovereign nations. A nation is sovereign. in terms of its independence. And strictly speaking, only God is absolutely independent. Independent in this sense as well, in his plans concerning the whole of history. He came up with the entire plan alone. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We were not there. The second sense in which we think of sovereignty is in terms of power. And we see this clearly from Isaiah and chapter 46. Isaiah 46. I begin reading from verse 8. The Bible says there, remember this and show yourselves men. Record to mind, all you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Now listen to this. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. calling a bird of prayer from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it, in other words, I have planned it, I have decreed it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, there it is again, I have planned it, I will also do it. And in that sense, the word decree is appropriate. Because, you see, the plan of a king is not simply a product of his mind. It is a statement that changes the way in which his kingdom operates henceforth. It's not simply his opinion. It is his opinion, yes, but it will change your life from that point onwards. It has the force of law. There is absolute power in that which he has stated, in that which is his purpose, in that which is his plan. A king in his kingdom doesn't just share opinions. They are powerful. Well, an earthly king is not with absolute power. God is. And that's what he is saying here. What he has purposed, he is going to carry out. Therefore, When you think in terms of these two planners, think this way, that one planner simply carries out the purpose of another. The human planner, the creature who plans in complete independence. He's not being forced to do something. You and I make plans about our lives, our days, and so on. We don't sense any magnetism pulling us in a certain direction in our thinking. But what we are being told in this statement here in Genesis 50 and verse 20 is that in fact our planning is simply the fulfillment of a plan already made by God. So when Joseph stood before his brothers, he wasn't thinking in terms of two wheels that are fighting each other. He is looking at these men and saying, you know what? You may have intended to harm me. The only reason why your plan was fulfilled was because it was in line with another plan. It was fulfilling the plan of the sovereign God of the universe. He planned it as well. The two are not equal. Putting it a little differently, human plans that are not according to the plan of God will inevitably fail. They are the ones that get thwarted. And that's the reason why in the book of Daniel, the children of God could look at this potentate with all his powers and say to him, well, look, you plan to do with us as you please. We will not bow down to you. If God wills what you will, yes, we will be in that fire before long. We may even get burnt and die, but we will not worship you. Because ultimately we know which will matters. It's the will of God and we are his worshippers. The same thing with the Lord Jesus Christ standing before Pilate. He could also look at Pilate with all the earthly power that he had to himself. and say to him, look, you can only do that which my father in heaven allows you to. Don't let that power get to your head. It's nothing. There's one who is infinitely more powerful than you. He's the one who's allowing me to go through this. Again, it's important for us to recognize this. that ultimately, whatever we are going through, however painful it might be, however engineered it may be by the malice of men and women, ultimately, it is because God purposed it, God allowed it in His absolute sovereignty. It's not the demons or Satan that have frustrated God's purpose. Not at all. He is the Sovereign One who has decreed all things and those plans are being carried out across history. in what we will be learning or as you will be going through in a year or two under the subject of God's providence. I wonder whether you have, in your Christian life, risen above human beings. Whether in the details of your life home, at work, in the church, in the community, whether you see the outworking of the details of your life, negative or positive, in the light that God wielded. That's the reason why, ultimately, this has happened to you, to your brothers and sisters, to those whom you love. That is true spirituality. But let's go on. Because what we see in this account is that the purpose of God is a good one. It is to lead to a good end. He acts in love. Let's go back to our text. Joseph looks at his brothers and says, but as for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. You see, God is not a potentate sitting on a throne and acting capriciously, with no sense of ultimate purpose, just making plans. In one moment the plans are meaningful, in another moment they are completely meaningless, but he is simply satisfying himself. That's not the God of the universe. The God whom we worship is a God of love. More specifically, love for His elect people. And consequently, as He works out these purposes, He is working out purposes of love, intended to do them good, ultimately. That does not put aside the fact that they will suffer. Joseph suffered. I took quite a bit of time to take you through his history. So that we're not thinking that here is an armchair theologian who has known absolutely nothing of the life in the trenches of suffering, shedding tears, doubting the love of God who is there. He went through all that. However, his knowledge of God enabled him at this point to say, When I was going through all this, as bitter as it may have been at some point, God meant it for good. He is a loving God. The heart that sits on the throne of the entire universe is a heart of love. You will agree that Joseph is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the statement, God intended it for good, for the saving of many lives. As Joseph was handpicked by God to save his people from starvation and death, so Jesus was handpicked by the Father to save his people from sin. As it was not God's plan to save everyone from starvation, hence many people died because of this drought, this famine. But only His elect people, so also it is not God's plan to save everyone from sin, but only His elect people by His grace alone. He planned perfectly what he did in Joseph's life, the suffering and final exaltation of Joseph, just as he also planned perfectly the suffering of his son and his final exaltation. Therefore, as the apostles once prayed in the book of Acts, you will that the people of Israel, their leaders, Pilate and others only did what your will had already purposed beforehand should happen. To save your people from sin. That's the way in which God works. So even as you go through perhaps the most difficult of circumstances, you must never doubt the fact that God acts in His plan because He has chosen a people for Himself. And in that same plan, He has determined to bring them to heaven. In the midst of all the details, some of them looking as though life is going backwards. Sometimes you're asking the question, what on earth would be the purpose of this? What good can come out of this? Never forget, God has revealed himself to be a God of love. And when all of life is over and his people have arrived on the other side, that will be unmistakable. You will recall the glorious promise of Romans chapter 8 verse 28 speaking about the outworking of this in providence and we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God who are the called according to his purpose. We often forget that last part, according to his purpose. In other words, there was a plan. There was a purpose. And we are told about that in the following verse, aren't we? That for those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. From eternity, they were foreknown, in other words, foreloved, forelected, for a purpose, predetermined end. And what is that? Conforming to the image of God's own Son. From eternity to eternity, that's the purpose of God, that's the plan of God, in love. and the details in between. That's the journey you and I are going through. Like Joseph, sometimes painful. Sometimes excruciatingly painful. Sometimes the night lasting too long. We can't wait for the first rays of the sun to come up. But he has acted in love. He has planned all things in love. And that's why the Apostle Paul could ask the question, what shall we say in response to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? If the planner of history had us in mind, our welfare in mind, as he decreed all things, Why should you and I lose sleep? It obviously doesn't make sense. Why is this teaching so important? It prevents us, first of all, from anxiety and its energy-sapping effect upon us. It saves us from sitting in pity parties, feeling sorry for ourselves, and therefore failing to serve the Lord Today, in the midst of all the negative and frowning providences that come our way. And, and this is important, it also prevents us from holding grudges against people. Look at Joseph. Verse 21. Now therefore, he says, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. Now, you and I know that this man had to be spiritual. That he should be thinking like that. that he should have enough energy to be concerned about these people who were the very archenemies of his soul. But you see, it is the recognition of the fact that the ultimate will that brought about the negative experiences I had, my suffering, the dark night of my life is gone. in sovereignty, and much more than that, in love. He is my Heavenly Father. He didn't mean to destroy me. He had a purpose for my life. And I need to continue being responsible. as he continues to bring challenges before me. And one of them is this, I have needy brothers and their families. I need to look after them." And look at this, and he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. And if I was Joseph, I probably would have said to them, Better count yourselves lucky now. Sit in that corner and I don't want to hear a single person coughing there. But he was a godly man. He recognized these spiritual realities we're talking about tonight. He knew it would be a wrong thing to do. Vengeance is God's. He knows what he's doing. Mine is to bless these people, to love them, to pour my life into their lives, to draw them to God. That's my responsibility. That's our responsibility, too. that we may worship the sovereign God who has planned all our lives, and that we may be His servants in the present, serving Him in the responsibilities that brings our way, which He planned as well. If you have come to believe God's decree, I trust something of that is already true of you as a living reality. Let's pray. Eternal and gracious God in heaven, we thank you for the challenge of Joseph. And though an Old Testament believer, we sense that in many ways his level of spirituality is higher than ours, if not deeper than ours. And we pray, O God, that you help us to rise to that challenge. because the frowning providences did not end with Joseph. But each one of us will testify that we don't only have mountaintop experiences, but oftentimes we find ourselves in the depth of the valleys, often because of the malice of men and women round about us. Father, help us to see the practical nature of the truths we are meditating on this weekend. That Lord, we may be godly in the midst of our own trials. That like Job, we may worship you. Because you, the God who gives, you also the God who takes away, even though you use human instrumentality. And help us also to rest in the fact that you are a God who truly loves us. As the hymn writer says, Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest. Pillowed on the loving breast, we may truly lie in your loving arms. Oh, to lie forever here, doubt and care and self-resign, hearing you whispering into our ears. that we are yours and you are ours, that you have loved us with an everlasting love, that you don't intend to destroy us. Your purpose, your plan is to do us good. Help us to live out that theology and consequently be a witness in our world today. In Jesus' name, Amen.