Joseph's Life and Ministry

Series	Location	Subjects	Takeaways	Sermon Link
Allison on the Psalms	Emmaus Orthodox Presbyterian Church	-	-	-

💡Big Idea

Takeaways and Next Steps

📖Bible Passage

Psalm 105:16-22

He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies. He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons, until the time that his word happened, and Yahweh’s word proved him true. The king sent and freed him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions, to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. [[Ps-105#v17|]][[Ps-105#v18|]][[Ps-105#v19|]][[Ps-105#v20|]][[Ps-105#v21|]][[Ps-105#v22|]]

Points

Joseph’s Life and Ministry is Part of the History of Redemption

• We find here in Psalm 105, God summarizing the life and ministry of Joseph.
• Joseph’s life is also part of the history of redemption.
  • Before this is the story of Joseph, it is the story of God and how He deals with creation and His people
    • Joseph’s life teaches us this: Romans 8.28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
• The role of pain and hardship in the story of redemption
  • Why would God allow this
  • Psalm 105.16 He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.
    • It is God who called for the famine to come.
  • Joseph was sold as a slave. Yet God did this so that Joseph could save the peoples from the great famine. God provided a savior in Joseph.
    • Furthermore Joseph points toward a future Savior, that is Christ.
      • This is why this story is relevant to us today. Because it is the story of how God provided a savior for His people.

Joseph’s Life and Ministry is a Picture of Great Faith

• Joseph is one of the most beautiful and admirable characters in the whole Old Testament
  • Like all men, Joseph was a sinner who needed a savior.
  • But in Jesus we see a man who followed God, and believed in Him, who fled from sin. Joseph spoke with kindness and compassion toward those who tried to kill him, his own brothers. Joseph was a man of great wisdom.
  • Therefore Joseph is a great example to us today.
  • God spoke to Joseph. Joseph had no Bible to read. It wasn’t written yet.
    • God spoke to Joseph in dreams.
    • The Word of the LORD was testing Joseph.
      • Joseph received a great promise from God and yet did not see them fulfilled for several years. Yet Joseph did not love faith in God’s promises.
• Perhaps today, you feel like God is so far away.
  • You want to be faithful to God but you can’t help but wonder, Did God forget me? Will He break His promise?
  • Psalm 77:10-14 Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings. Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God? You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. [[Ps-77#v11|]][[Ps-77#v12|]][[Ps-77#v13|]][[Ps-77#v14|]]
  • God deals with His people in ways that are mysterious to us. To us it often seems to not make sense. We don’t understand.
    • But God does understand. He knows His will and His plan.
      • Jeremiah 29.11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
      • Habakkuk 2.3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.

Joseph’s Life and Ministry is a Picture of the Life and Ministry of Christ

• Joseph is clearly a type of Christ.
  • A type of Christ is someone or something that shows forth aspects of the Christ who was yet to come.
  • Joseph was certainly an imperfect sinner like all others, but the Bible does not record any of Joseph’s sins.
    • His brothers are marred in so many scandalous sins. But Joseph stands alone. He flees temptation, and is compassionate toward enemies.
      • Like Christ, when Joseph suffered and was reviled, he did not revile in return.
      • 1 Peter 2.21 For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
  • People came from all over the world because Joseph was the only one who had food during the famine.
    • Just as people came from all over Israel to be fed food by Jesus.
    • This is the message of the Gospel: go to the savior for He has the food that you need to live.
    • By creating a physical famine in the world, God showed the people the spiritual famine that they already were in.
      • But not only that God provided food in the famine. Thus God showed the people their need for spiritual food.
      • ❓: Why is there famine in your soul?
        • It is God who called this famine over your soul.
          • But long before God called this famine, God provided a man, a Savior for your soul, so that you would seek Him and find Him, when you seek Him with all your heart.
        • Go to Jesus who is the only one who can feed your soul.
  • Like Christ, Joseph was falsely imprisoned though he was innocent. And Joseph was placed with two other criminals.

Application

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Further Study

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💬Discussion Questions