(Joseph) A Chosen Vessel

Please turn with me here this morning to the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, Genesis, and I'm going to read here this morning from Genesis chapter 41, but I'm going to preach from Genesis chapter 37. I want you to be in Genesis 37 and to stay in that chapter, but I do want to read from chapter 41 here this morning. I want to start on a new series here very briefly and I was intended to do this all in one message, but it's going to be three messages. I can't confine it to that and I'll try to be succinct and straight to the point here this morning. I want to bring you into a few messages here. Listen carefully what our series title is. It is Joseph, a Vessel of Recovery. We're going to look at this man, Joseph, and how in the scripture he is depicted as a vessel of recovery to bring God's people back to God's plan, but the message this morning is a chosen vessel from Genesis 37, but read in here this morning just two brief verses from Genesis chapter 41. Genesis chapter 41, read it in verse 56 and listen carefully as we come to this message this morning. A chosen vessel, verse 56, and the famine was over all the face of the earth and Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold on to the Egyptians and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn because that the famine was sore in all lands. Let's pray together here this morning, looking that God will speak to us very timely in this hour as the people of God. Father, we do thank you that we can gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, remembering that we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, remembering that it's by his perfect righteousness that we are justified and made right by God, right with God, not by our own works of righteousness, and Lord God, here this morning I pray that you speak to us as the people of God, even as individuals, as men and women, that you'd open up our eyes to see your divine plan and purpose from generation unto generation, that in every generation you do have a chosen vessel, that you prepare, Lord God, your vessels, though small and insignificant, you prepare them in the fire to accomplish your great work, for it is not of man, but it is of God. Will you bless us as we shut ourself in with the written scriptures this morning, and Lord God, we know that your Holy Spirit bears witness, he anoints, he inspires, he quickens, he enlivens, and he applies the word of God to hearts and the conscience, in Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen. My message here, a chosen vessel, we have read from Genesis chapter 41, but I'm going to take you to Genesis 37, to actually show you the beginning from the end. Before I start at the beginning, I'm taking you to the end. Some of you ladies, when you buy books, you turn to the last chapter or the last couple of pages. I don't understand that. I like to start at the first chapter with the first line, but there are those amongst us, and I'd hate to name names, but who like to go straight to the end. Well, I'm taking you straight to the end. I'm showing you the finale before I take you back and show you the beginning this morning. You see, in Genesis chapter 41, and we are going to get there one of these Sundays, we see a worldwide famine that affected all men, all nations, all families of the earth. There was an hour of crisis. There was a time where the entire population of nations were caught unexpectedly. A crisis came. Trouble came to the nations. A famine actually was sent into all the earth, and yet we know God wasn't taken by surprise. Many of God's people were taken by surprise, even a man like Jacob. Many of the nations, all of the world rulers, were taken by surprise, and yet God himself was not taken by surprise. In Genesis 41, where we read in this hour of famine, there was a man called Joseph in the right place at the right time to do the right thing. He was there at the right second. Listen to me carefully in this message. He was right in the right position to do the right things. What did he do in the hour of famine? He had a position second only to Pharaoh. It was a remarkable position. No one else, not even Pharaoh, could have done this, and yet Joseph is there to open up all the storehouses in the greatest hour of famine. In other words, God had his man placed very specifically to do the will of God at a time where no one else had an answer, and no one else could do anything. That was 20 years before what I'm going to preach on. Sorry, that was 20 years after what I'm going to preach on this morning. You see, 20 years before Joseph, the second highest in Egypt, opens up the storehouses, 20 years before that, God actually sets a plan in motion to make sure that his people will come through this crisis. For 13 years, this young man, Joseph, will not understand with his natural eyes, or his ears, or his natural mind what God is doing. For 13 years, he really doesn't understand that he is actually God's vessel to provide an answer in a crisis hour. He doesn't understand the trials, the troubles, the heartbreakens, the confusions, the desertions, the rejections, the hurts he goes through. He will not fully understand it until the hour of famine, when he is given power and he gets to open up the storehouses. Since I'm bringing you to this hour, we in this world of ours, I mean right across our world, every nation in our world, we are in a crisis hour, and it's going to get worse. There is coming an economic crisis, the like of which our world has never seen before. Our nations are in turmoil. We have never in world history been at the point we are. But do you know what I want to tell you, and I want to show you here this morning? God began working 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago, on individuals right across our world. And do you know what? I believe Joseph is a type, and a picture, and a shadow of these individuals in this hour. I'm fully convinced that God began decades ago to prepare a people for this hour and this time to do the will of God. And you know what they're going to do right now? Amidst the greatest famine spiritually our world has ever encountered, and one of the greatest crises, God is going to have his people in the right place with the wisdom of God to do the will of God, and they're going to start opening up the storehouses. This could not have happened in a year. It could not have been prepared for over months. It could not be engineered by denominations or mega churches, utterly impossible. You see, if you haven't been in the fire, you're not ready at this time. But I know God has, what's our message this morning? A chosen vessel. You see, God already is working 20 years ago for this year, for this hour, for this people, and for this time. When we begin to study the life of Joseph, we see that Joseph, in many aspects, is like the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, one great preacher called WFP Burton, a missionary to Congo, listed more than a hundred likenesses between Joseph and Jesus Christ, more than a hundred. And when he died, he was still looking for more to add to the list. Let me just give you a few. This isn't our message, but I have to deal with this. How like Jesus, Joseph is. Both were shepherds. Both were loved by their fathers. Both were sent to their brethren by their fathers. Both were rejected by their own brethren. Both were destined for thrones of power and glory, and yet they had to go through the pathway of suffering and of rejection. Both of them suffered a conspiracy to have them both killed, though they were utterly innocent. Both were sold for the price of a slave, one for 20 bits of silver, the other for 30 bits of silver. Both were stripped of their garments in order to be mishandled by their own brethren. Both were imprisoned on the basis of false claims. Both were condemned with two other prisoners and criminals, one of which was released and the other one condemned eternally. Both would gain brides in a position of power, not until they reached that throne. And both would later receive their brethren in a great act of restoration. Since I'm only touching on it, but I want to show you primarily, when we look at the life of Joseph, we see a picture, a shadow, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you can preach about Jesus from the life of Joseph. It is remarkable the Holy Spirit done that. It's not accidental. But remember, Christ is the head, we are the body. And there's not only a message here about Christ, the Son of God, and all that he would pass through, but there's also a picture, a shadow, and a type about the body of Christ, or a people chosen by God for an hour and a time of crisis. You see, our world has been plunged into a unusual hour of crisis. The kingdom of Babylon is rising and marching. And don't think that's against God's will. You remember what Jeremiah the prophet said? He said, O king of Israel, of Judah, you know what? This is God's will, God's doing this. Babylon is going to rise. It is going to march against the people of God. They are going to get taken into captivity. And if you don't actually understand God is going to work in this hour, you're going to get very hurt, very confused, and you'll kick against the will of God. I want to assure you, we are right in the midst of a remarkable plan, and we're destined to open up the storehouses in the midst of the greatest famine Spurgey our world has ever known. Here this morning, a chosen vessel. I've got three points for you briefly here, if I can this morning, deal with. I want to look at the chosen vessel, how God chooses that vessel. Secondly, I want to look at understanding God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. And then thirdly, I want to look at the providence of God. Don't be scared off by those terms. I'm going to explain them simply in the life of Joseph. But first of all, what is a chosen vessel? How does God choose his vessel? What do we mean when we say that Joseph was a chosen vessel? You see, God did choose Joseph for a task. God knew what was coming 20 years down the road. God knew what was going to happen, and he knew that Joseph was his man. God chose him before the crisis. God chose him before the need. God chose him before there was any sign of this. And actually in secret and hiding, what does it mean to be chosen? It means that God specifically, deliberately chooses an individual or a church or a group of believers. Since I'm not just talking about a man, neither am I just talking about this church. I am talking about that God has chosen a vessel across our world, from Australia to America to China, even to Ireland. I believe that God many decades ago chose a vessel, and he was going to allow them to walk through the fire. You know why? Because he's got a plan in one hour that he's got to have fulfilled. He can't train a man in the crisis. He's got to start many decades before. So when we talk about a chosen vessel, I'm not talking about salvation. I'm not talking about redemption. I'm talking about God's plan in the events of world history to preserve and to protect his people. And without that plan, they'd be destroyed. You see, when God chooses a vessel, he speaks, it's connected to a certain time. And that vessel needs to be molded in a certain way and prepared for a certain hour, a certain crisis, and a certain task. That's what a chosen vessel is. God chooses a vessel and then begins to work on them. When he chooses them, they're not ready for that. They don't have the character for it. They don't have the message. They don't have all it takes. God is going to spend years preparing them. Look at David, Moses, Esther, all these characters in the Bible, and you see God working very specifically to choose them and prepare them. Let's look at Joseph, this chosen vessel, in Genesis 37 and verse 1. And it says, And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. Here we have Jacob moving into the land of Canaan that was promised to God's people. This man, Jacob, was a man of God. But listen, he had two wives and two concubines that he picked up along the way. And from these four women, he had 12 children born to them. Leah, the one he married first, had six children to him. Billah, the servant, the handmaid, had two children. Zilphah had two children. And lastly, Rachel, his great love, had two children. These were the 12 children of Israel or the 12 children of Jacob, this man of God. From these 12 children, God is going to raise up an entire nation that even today is scattered all across our world. Their seed is without number. And yet we see this is where we find Joseph, a chosen vessel, born into an imperfect family, an imperfect gathering of God's people. And yet he was a chosen vessel, unlike the other 11. He wasn't like the other 11, and God chose him for a very specific choice. He was the firstborn of Rachel. You remember who Rachel was? When Jacob fell in love with Rachel, he said, that's the girl for me. He loved her. He chose her. He desired her. And he said, you know what? I'll work seven years to get her. I mean, that's a chosen bride. That's a chosen bride. I've seen people before get thrown together with someone, or people begin to arrange and manipulate. And the poor guy ended up marrying someone that he wasn't even in love with. But that isn't what happened here. Jacob actually had his eyes full on her. He chose her. He loved her. He desired her. And he said, you know what, little girl? I'll work seven years for you. He said to his uncle, I'll labor. I'll work for you. I'll do anything it takes, but I've got to have her. I want to take her home. Well, we know how Jacob was tricked, and he ended up finding out he'd married that knight was the older sister, who he didn't really want. And here he ends up now having to work another seven years for the one he loves 14 years. I'm telling you, I'm talking about God working in this imperfect situation here. And yet out of this love relationship, this love for Rachel, his first love, his first choice, God is going to raise up a vessel, a chosen vessel called Joseph. And God has a plan for him. You see, that love of Jacob for her is actually reflected in God's love for Joseph. There was a great love and a great plan. God had chosen Joseph. He wasn't just saying, well, what am I left with here? Or I guess I'm going to have to use Joseph. Way before Joseph ever knew anything, God had chosen him and said, I'm going to work on all the little issues of your life. I'm going to take your mother at a young age. Your heart is going to be broken. You're not going to understand everything, but I am going to prepare you. Since I believe that until you begin to see these things, you don't understand God's plan in your life and his ways of dealing with you. Why did God choose Joseph and not choose his 10 brothers? You see, I'm talking about God choosing for a very real reason. He needs the right vessel, the right man. He's not going to spend 20 years preparing you to see you finally go AWOL and make a mess of God's plan. He won't do that. God has to have a vessel in the right place. Listen to me in verse 2 here in chapter 37, we see what set Joseph apart. It says, and Joseph brought on to his father their evil report. Joseph was out in the field working with his brothers, looking after the sheep. He was a shepherd like the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a good shepherd. And while he is out amidst his brothers, his own brothers born to different other mothers, he said he heard their evil report and he brings it back to his father. Underline that term, their evil report. He brings their evil report back to his father. This was not gossip. It was not backbiting. Neither was it slander. You see the previous chapters prove this. Amongst his brothers there's immorality, there is anger, there is cruelty, there is lying, there is conniving. All of these things in the previous chapters, we see what his brothers really were. When he brings an evil report, he's going straight to his father saying there is an evil in the house of God. There is an evil in your house. There are people in your house and they're not what they're meant to be. You see many writers criticize Joseph and I've heard many preachers and I cringe every time. They say this spoiled little brat is gossiping on his big brothers. That is not true. What you have is a chosen vessel, a consecrated vessel. And as he hears the gossip and the lies and the immorality, his heart is grieved and broken. You see, why did God choose a Josephite? Why did God separate him and begin working on him for 20 years in a way that he couldn't with the other 10 older brothers? Why is that? You know why? Because of his attitude towards sin. He could not tolerate the evil report of his brothers. He could not tolerate their attitudes of jealousy and anger and bitterness and strife in their midst. It actually broke his heart. It grieved his heart. And so he comes to the authority of that home. He recognized the authority. It's not for me to deal with it. I'll go to daddy. There is an authority. Do you know what he was doing? He was operating in a brotherly office. He was actually operating in brotherly love. He was actually operating in brotherly discipline. If your brothers sin against you, go to him. I've got no doubt he spoke to them. They probably weren't too happy about that. I believe that he tried to encourage his brothers in a better way, but they had no interest. Who are you? You see, a lot of the church won't recognize you or I, but I assure you when we walk according to scripture, we are putting ourselves in place for being a chosen vessel of God. Those churches with no church discipline are not chosen vessels in this hour. A man or a woman in the church that will not go to his brother and sister, don't tell me God's chosen you for a great task. If you can't operate in brotherly love and care, I care about you, my brother. Just between me and you, brother, I need to speak to you. If we don't operate in that, out of love and care and concern, out of thinking of the glory of God's name, don't tell me we're chosen for a great revival or a great task. Those who do not despise the evil report of our brethren are not a chosen vessel. You see, everyone who doeth evil hateth the light. That's why when you begin sinning, do you realize that's wrong? Do you realize you're breaking scripture? Do you realize that's offensive to God? And you get someone who's claiming to be born again and knows Christ, and they hate you or get angry with you or resent you. There's something wrong. You see, there's something wrong. Only those that do evil hate the light. That's why when I come to you and I say, brother, have you noticed this? And you don't like to hear it, but you go, man, it's truth. I know he loves me. I don't like it. I've even had Candace say things to me before, and I went, oh, I've got to pray this through. She loves me. She cares for me. She's helping me. She's protecting me. I don't like to hear it. But you know what? Because I'm not doing wickedly, I love righteousness. You know what? The light comes in. I don't hate the light. I love the light. And the light sometimes can expose things in your life and my life. In us as a church, the light shines in. We want to turn the light out. But no, let the light shine into your life. If you hate the light, you're in serious trouble this morning. But if the light shines in, you say, oh God, search me, change me, help me. You see, I'm talking about a chosen vessel. Joseph was a chosen vessel. That's the first thing about a chosen vessel. He does walk in the light, lives in the light, speaks according to the light. But also we see something else in verse 3. Now Israel, that is Jacob, loved Joseph more than all of his children. Notice the love of the father was on the son. Just as God the father loved his son and chose him. So Jacob actually loved Joseph more than his other children. I believe because of his character. He'd just come with an evil report. He just actually pointed out what was sin. He is actually coming to his father grieved. Where did the love of his father come from? This wasn't preference. This wasn't thinking little of the others and thinking much of Joseph because he was young. It's not because of that. There was a certain character, a certain wisdom, a certain way of operating. And it caused a greater love. He did love his other children. He loved them all. He loved all of his children. But it says he loved Joseph more. Do you realize those who walk upright before God grieved over things? I tell you, God's love is set upon them. What does it mean to be chosen by God? It means his love is set upon you. He is endeared to you because you hate sin. You hate what is wrong in the church of God. You hate false teaching. Do you know what that does? God the father looks and he says, I love you. But sure you love everyone. Yes, he does. He does. He loves sinners. He loves the lost. He loves the wicked. He loves the rebel against him. He loves Saul of Tarsus as he's killing Christian. But I assure you, someone who walks with God, he loves them. His love is made manifest. Do you know his love isn't made manifest to everyone? I've met even Christians say, I don't feel the love of God. I don't feel it. Do you know this Bible talks about a manifestation of the love of God? All you hear in the church of today, a manifestation. I fell down. I jumped. I ran. I shook. All that's stupid. Where is there a manifestation of the love of God, of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, I'm talking about a chosen vessel. Now Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children because he was a son of his old age. This child, this young boy that grew up in his house, he loved him because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors. Now I'm sorry, you young ones stick your fingers in your ear and some of you older ones stick your fingers in your ear. When it says a coat of many colors and everybody knows that multicolored coat, that is not what it says in the Hebrew. It wasn't a multicolored coat. It wasn't a coat with different colors in it. We're not even told the one color that was in it. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me for telling you that. What the Hebrew word means, it is a garment, seamless, no stitching in it, not pieced together. It is one garment from head to toe. It goes to the end of your arms. It goes down to your ankles. It is a beautiful garment and only princes were given these garments. A person in power or authority, a person with responsibility. Because Jacob loved him, he gave him this garment and you know what? His brothers were not happy about that at all. Do you know at this point, Joseph had a younger brother about four years old called Benjamin. Benjamin, he was very young but do you know what? Jacob loved Joseph because of his character, his conduct, his wisdom. A 17 year old young man. God help us, we've got people in the church and they're meant to be mature. They act like fools. They're still liars, men in the pulpit and they're still liars. They're hypocrites. They're game players. They're very light. You know what? This young man, 17 years old, had something about him that God said he's a chosen vessel. I can use him. I'm going to work with him. You know if you're training anyone for a task, you don't want to teach an unteachable person. Someone who hates to be taught, never listens, isn't going to do it, isn't going to walk with you through this process. You might as well give up at the beginning. God does not waste his time working on individuals. But notice this coat of many colors, this garment that was a manifestation of the love of God. Notice what God's love done. He marked Joseph out for hatred. Do you know what God does with a real chosen vessel? He so loves him and so adorns him with the garment at 17. He doesn't need that garment until 20 years down the road. He's not going to sit on a throne. He'll be in a prison. He won't need to sit and make decisions that affect lives. 20 years it's going to take. But do you know what? At 17, God, through Jacob, gives him a garment and says, I love you more than these. You know what he's doing? He's actually marking him out. He's separating them. Do you think God knew that all of this was going to draw hatred? Do you not think that this blessing of God, this love of God, this gift of God is going to begin marking him out? Yes. Yes. His father gives him this special garment. And listen to what it says right after this in verse 4. It drew hatred. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him. They hated him. He was his father's favorite, but he wasn't his brother's favorite. They're born in the same house by the same father. They grew up together. They have the same covenant in history. They all said, Abraham's my great-grandfather. Isaac, Jacob, this is our family. We've got the promises. We have the covenants. We have the word of God. We have all the blessings. All of it came through Abraham. All of them could say that. All of them knew they were a special people. All of them knew they were redeemed of the Lord. All of them knew that God was going to work through them. All of them knew that God was going to bring a seed through them. But listen, you have brothers in the house of God with all the same blessings, and they hate Joseph. Why did they hate him? Because of that coat. Because of the love. Oh, it's going to get worse. It's going to get worse. You could just say, well, that was the lack of wisdom of Jacob. Why didn't Jacob have more wisdom? Oh, but let's look at God the father. Look at verse five with me. It says, and Joseph dreamed a dream. It gets worse. You know what God is doing? God is putting his plan into operation. He's going to need Joseph in 20 years. He has a chosen vessel. So what does he allow? He allows the love of his father to fall upon him. He allows this reproach to come upon him. He allows him to be hated by his father, but by his brother. Sorry, but he doesn't stop there. God gave him a dream. Where did Joseph's dream come from? Was it himself? Absolutely not. It was from God. Notice already hatred is beginning to be ignited against Joseph. You know why? He's a chosen vessel. It's all part of the plan. You say, I don't like to be hurt. I don't like to be rejected. I don't like to be isolated. Can I inform you here this morning, this could be the very hand of God upon you. This could be the hand of God upon this church. Do you realize when we started this church, there were men, I was one of the only ones standing with them when they started a church with four people or a handful of people. I mean in different countries. And do you know when we started this church, they're the very ones, they go utterly quiet and they separate themselves. I was dumbfounded. Men that I'd opened up doors for, helped, labored with, encouraged, all of a sudden they all disappear. First six months when we start this church, I couldn't understand it. I used to say to Candice, well, what is happening here? We open up a church. There was all these people we've helped them. They were there before. As soon as we started this church, they separated themselves. They canceled to come for preaching. There were men that come preach. And during the first month they canceled out, said, sorry, brother Keith, I can't come. Someone spoke to me. I assure you, I went through six months of this until six months into it. I went, this is the will of God for this church. I am utterly convinced of it. Since I know that six months into it, I went, it is not people separating themselves from us. It is God separating us because there's going to be a message in this church. There's going to be a lifestyle in this church. There's going to be a dream in this church. There's going to be a plan in this church. And you know what? If we're mixed in with those brothers, their speech, their conduct, their attitude, their convictions may get in this church. You know, saints, we have never separated ourselves from the body of Christ. Not once have we done that. Not once have we done that. You know what? It's been many so-called brothers have rejected us, separated. You know what's in it? God's plan and his purpose is actually within it. So God gives Joseph a dream, knowing what's going to come from that. The dreams are perfectly accurate, but the vessel is not fully mature. Do you know that Joseph lacked wisdom? He did. He lacked depth. He lacked experience and he certainly lacked maturity. At 17 years old, God gives you a dream and what? You go to your 10 older brothers who hate you, who get angry with you because of your coat and because of the love of your father. And you're going to tell them, do you know God gave me a dream? And let me explain what the dream actually is. Saints, I assure you, there was no sin. There was no guile in this young man, but there was a naivety. He was free of guile, not realizing the full significance of his dreams, but he was going to sin. God was going to prepare him. At 17 years old, he loved his life. He was secure with his family, living in his home. He was happy. He enjoyed it. No heartbreaks, no sorrows, no separation from anyone. But do you know what? If God is going to make him a chosen vessel, something has to happen here. Do you know when he began to share his dreams? Do you know, you brothers, I had a dream and all of your weight bowed down before mine. What is that going to stir up? God has given him this dream. God knows he's going to share it. God knows he doesn't have the maturity, but it is an accurate word from God. You can have gifting from God without maturity to know how to carry it. You really can. In verse 6 to verse 8, we have that first dream given by God very clearly. You know what his brothers said? Look at them. They gave the interpretation. They said, shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more. Do you see what the dreams of God? God can see everything. Do you know God gave him a dream knowing that they're going to hate him more? God actually revealed something to him. God showed him the future. This dream revealed Joseph's future, his brother's future, his parents' future. All of this was being revealed to a chosen vessel. He doesn't fully understand it, but he knows this is God. God knows the dream is going to get him in trouble. Now, love. Hey, I'm not responsible if someone loves me, but that love is going to get me in trouble. That code of yours is going to get you in trouble. That hatred of sin is going to get you in trouble. And these dreams given by God are going to get you in trouble. But there was a second dream given by God in verse 9 to verse 10. We see his father depicted as the moon, the mother depicted, sorry, the father depicted as the sun, the mother as the moon, and his brothers as stars. Again, the brothers know exactly what this dream means. And he goes and shares it with them. Why does God give two dreams? To make it sure, settled, confirmed, established, so there's no doubt. And one dream interprets the other. You know, Joseph, you're a chosen vessel, but it's going to take me 20 years to get you to that place. There's no way you could carry this now. You speak to the wrong people at the wrong time about the wrong thing. I need to prepare you. You know what his father done when he heard the dream? Three times he shares his dreams. Once to his brothers, the first dream, then a second time to his brothers, and then that second dream a third time in front of his father. Now his brothers are raging. They don't only hate his coat and the love, they now hate these dreams that God are giving them. All of this is a chosen vessel for what God is going to do in 20 years time. Look at this second point with me for a moment. Listen carefully. Understanding God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Do you realize this story? This chapter 37 reveals God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in a chosen vessel. I've met many in the church who say, I know God loves me. I know God's hands upon me. I know God's answer all my prayers, but it doesn't matter how I live. Oh, how wrong you are. Entire churches can be set aside like with Joseph's brothers saying you're unusable. You know what I'm going to have to do with you as a church, as an individual, I'm just going to set you to the side. And for the next 20 years, you're going to enjoy fun together, meetings together for the next 20 years. You're not going to have your heart broken. You're not going to suffer. You're not going to be rejected. You're going to have all the fun together. There is unity. There is provision. There is blessing. There is no confusion. But in 20 years time, you're going to hit a crisis that you're not prepared for. You see, I think our world's there. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is meeting in this chosen vessel. If you only emphasize God's sovereign, He loves me, He chose me. It doesn't matter about me, what I do or my decisions or my attitude or how I live. It doesn't matter if I have hatred in my heart towards my brother. God still loves me and God will still use me. You're utterly confused. And this city is utterly confused. How many born-again Christians that we met in this city of Limerick who says, I can drink and God still loves me. I can sin and fornicate and I'm still born again going to heaven. How many? How many in this city? You know what? They're utterly deceived. At best, God will say, I'll not use you. I had plans. I could have used you, but I'll never use you. There is something in you that is actually unusable. You see, this is where we need to understand with the chosen vessel, where God's sovereignty and man's responsibility join together. God's sovereignty never, ever denies man's responsibility. Don't just emphasize God's sovereign. He chooses, He'll do whatsoever He's going to do. And it doesn't matter about man's responsibility. That is utterly wrong. Do you realize both of these things work together? It's not by our works. It's not. It's not because I am so righteous. It's not. But never separate these things. When God sovereignly chooses a vessel, He still expects a responsibility to live right, to do right. Listen carefully here for a minute, because God looked at the 10 brothers. They believed in the sovereignty of God. We are the chosen seed of Abraham. You are. You are. We have the covenant. You do. We've got all these promises. Yes, you do. We are blessed of God. We can tell you of God's eternal plan. I know. But look at your life. Look at your attitude. Look at your words. Look at the state of your mind and your heart. The 10 had to be set aside. You know what? You 10 guys better hope that Joseph is a chosen vessel, because you know what? He's the only hope you have. You 10, I can't do anything with you. I'll let you have your nice party for 20 years, and I'll catch up with you. But not Joseph. He's a chosen vessel. Because he's chosen, because he's right, I'm going to put him in the fire. I mean, I am going to put him in the fire time after time after time until he doesn't know what's happening, until he's screaming out, oh God, have mercy on me. Who's right here? The 10 or Joseph? You see, if you're careful, if you judge with your eyes, with your natural mind, you'll say, Joseph must have done something terrible. Joseph, we need to have a little talk here. Don't you know it's all blessing and provision and unity like the 10 have? Don't you know God's hand must be on the 10? I mean, look at them. Oh yes, they get angry. Oh yes, they have hatred. Oh yes, they have attitudes. But all of us are sinners. None of us are perfect, are we? Therefore, it doesn't matter. But we are being blessed of God, are you? Do you know some people who are walking through good times, you may think they're blessed of God. They're not. They're not. Sometimes when you see a man broken and his heart tore out of him, and he loves Jesus with all of his heart, you are seeing a chosen vessel and you're seeing the blessing of God. Brother Keith, why does God allow you to go through all these things you've gone through over the past 20 years? I don't know. I don't know. Yes, I do know. Yes, I do know. It was because I followed the will of God. Listen to what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 221. If, and that's the big if. Some people in this city, they don't know what if means. I'm talking about God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. I wish I could take them back to school and teach them what if means. If means you either can or you can't. And if you don't, there's consequence. And if you do, there are also consequence. If a man therefore purge himself from these things. If, that's a big if. We're talking about the responsibility of man. Oh yes, God is sovereign. Yes, God has chosen us. But what about man's responsibility? If a man purge himself from these. What's he speaking about? In the previous verses, he's talking about wood and earth, things of this world. About stubble, dishonor, striving over words, vain babblings, wrong doctrine, cancer or gangrene spiritually in the message you preach. That's what he's speaking about. And so Paul writing here, he says, if any man therefore purge himself from these things. Oh, God loves me. It doesn't matter how I speak. Really? It doesn't matter my attitude towards my brother in church. It doesn't matter. God still loves me. Really? You may find yourself with the ten rather than with the one. We're talking about serious things. If a man purge himself, cleanse himself, get rid of these things out of his life. If, if that's a big F, all of you are faced with that F. Oh, I know God's chosen me to do a great work. If, if you purge yourself from all these things, he shall be a vessel unto honor. You know you could be a vessel unto dishonor. Do you know how you make yourself a vessel, an instrument of dishonor like Joseph's ten brothers? Do you know how? By attitudes, by words, by actions, by things in your heart, you make yourself a vessel. Oh, I'm a vessel, Lord. I know, but what kind? What kind? I've met lots of vessels in the church, but they weren't honorable. They weren't obedient. They weren't holy. Oh, I had a dream. But what about the other part of it? What about the other part? He says he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified. How do you get sanctified? Purge yourself from that attitude. Oh, I just get angry. I can't help myself. Yes, you can. Oh, I can't stop gossiping and lying. Yes, you can. Purge yourself. Get it out of your life. You know why? It'll affect your future. It'll affect what God does in your life. It'll affect this church. It actually will. Listen, sanctified, and this is the part I want you to hear, meet for the master's use. Meet for the master's use. You know what meet for the master's use means? To be easily used, useful, or profitable. In other words, if you purge yourself, you make yourself a vessel that is usable, that is profitable for God, that God says, I can use you. Isn't this a chosen vessel? Where God looks at Joseph and says, I can use you, Joseph. The ten he couldn't use. They are rejected in the purpose of God. They're rejected. Oh, they make it to heaven by the skin of their teeth. By the skin of their teeth. For some people, I don't know how to make it. They barely. You know someone who lives like that, they never know they make it. They're always in condemnation. One day I'm saved, the next day I'm not. Will I get through? I tell you, there's some people are saved as by fire and you won't know until that day. You really won't. But since that's nowhere to live, we can live abundantly in God. I want to be meet for the master's use, easily used, profitable unto God. I want God to say, here's Joseph, a vessel I can use. He has purged himself. He's not like his ten brothers. Look what was in the heart of these brothers. Three times it said they had hatred for their brother Joseph. Three times because of the love, because of the cult, and then because of their dreams. They hated him yet more. It wasn't enough to hate their brother. Now he's getting dreams. I hate him more. Now he's got a nice cult. I hate him more. Now he's living right. I hate him more. I never understood that in the church. How people can hate you when you love them, you serve them, you do what's right, and yet they hate you. You know what it says in the New Testament? He that hateth his brother is in darkness. If you find someone who calls himself a Christian and they say, I hate them. They're in darkness. They're living in darkness. John, the apostle of love, goes further. He says they're walking in darkness. He says they're blind. Oh no, I love God but I hate him. Really. John goes further in chapter 315. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And in chapter 420, if any man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. If you don't love your brother and you say you love God, you're a liar. God says it. If you hate someone, if you hate your brother, especially a Joseph, God help you. God help you. You're in trouble. Like if you hate Joseph, you know what you are? You're a murderer and no murderer goes to heaven. If this hatred doesn't get out of those ten eventually, do you see what God's going to do? God says, I'm going to separate Joseph in 20 years time. I'm going to use him to get that hatred out of their heart because they won't go to heaven with it. You can't, you cannot go to heaven with hatred in your heart. There's no way. You can't be a liar. You can't be a fornicator and go to heaven. It says that his brothers actually couldn't speak peaceably unto him. They couldn't speak any nice words or say, God bless you. I've met people in the church. Man, what have I done to them? Nothing to try to help them. And now they speak roughly and angrily. You know, there's something wrong with that person. There's an attitude in the heart. They're unusable. They're not a chosen vessel. Oh, God's going to use me. I'm called to preach. No, you're not. No, you're not. And it says in verse 11, and his brethren envy them. That means to burn or to with jealousy. I mean, they're burning with jealousy. I want his coat. I want the love that's upon him. I want his partner. I want his house. He's really have problems. You're not usable to God. How could you be? How could you be when you're filled with envy, burning, jealousy for Joseph, you're not willing to live or pay the price like Joseph, but you want what Joseph had. I want his anointing. I want his gifting. I want his open doors. I want his. Just make yourself usable. Why not? Do you know what? It's the fruit. The fruit is not going to be seen for 20 years. See that hatred and envy and jealousy will not be seen for 20 years. Won't be exposed. Won't be dealt with. Won't be publicly brought out 20 years. Would you want God just to leave you, to set you aside and say I'll deal with them in 20 years? Would you want that? Is that where you want to walk through? Don't you realize how in our midst God dealing with the heart? It's the love of God. It's because he says, I've got a plan for you. I love you. I want to use you. That's why God hasn't set you aside. That's why you're not good. That's why you're hearing a message in this church about dealing with these things to become a vessel. You know why? Because there is a vessel here. God put me here and I know there's a vessel here and there's going to be a vessel and others are going to gather. How do I know it? Because God loves you. He's dealing with you. He's not leaving you for 20 years until the crisis hour. Third and finally, let me finish. Give me two minutes. You say that would be a miracle. It would be a miracle. I assure you. But third and finally, listen to this. We've looked at a chosen vessel. We've looked at sovereignty and responsibility but third and finally, the providence of God. What am I speaking about? A chosen vessel. All in this chapter, a chosen vessel. If you don't understand providence, you'll miss an awful lot. If you don't understand, the old preachers used to talk about providence and you know what? I've seen a lot of Christians in this day make jokes about providence. I don't like that. I don't make jokes about providence. It's not funny. It's not funny. Joking about the things of God is not funny. It's serious. What is providence? Listen. What is providence? You say, I don't understand that. Providence is God's hidden hand. His mighty hand. It's God acting and working in the normal things of life to bring about his plan. When you don't see it, you don't hear it and you don't perceive it till much later. Let me give you an example. You go out the door. You could turn left or right and yet by turning right spontaneously this day, you always go left but you go right. You don't even know why and you meet someone and it was a life-saving meeting with that individual. There was no voice from God, no feeling that I'm being led of God. Do you know what that is? Or even someone finding a message on YouTube who's sitting here this morning. Oh, that is just circumstance. Oh, amazing. It is the hidden hand of God working in normal, natural, everyday things and it's only later you begin to understand that God is in this. You see providence, look in this chapter. Providence allowed the dreams to stir up greater hatred. Providence allowed Joseph to speak about his dreams to his brothers. Was it lack of wisdom or was it in God's plan? If he had kept quiet, he wouldn't have been hated and sold in the captivity and ended up in Egypt. If he'd kept his mouth shut, hadn't been naive, had all this mature wisdom, he could have protected himself. Oh God, the past year. I said, Matt, I only made the decisions I knew I would. Keith, if I was back in that situation, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't do that. But you know what? It had to be saints. I acted with a pure heart, with a holy motive and you know what? Looking back now, I go, oh God, what did you do? It was providence. They had to hate me. They had to reject me. They had to separate themselves. They had to plan my demise in order that it would be of God and not of man. Do you realize God hides or works in those hidden things? Look with me as we close to verse 15 and it says, Joseph was sent by his father to check him, to go and see that his brothers, his brother and his 10 brothers are okay. Look at verse 15, what it says, and a certain man, doesn't name him, found him. You know, Joseph went there. They're not there. They've moved. They're gone. And he began to wonder in that open field, wonder. He doesn't know what to do. And yet he's not giving up and going back home. He says, the father sent me to find my brothers. I've got to find them. He had a determination, but they're not there. And he's just wandering around days. Do you realize he's come over a hundred kilometers just to find them over a hundred kilometers walking and he can't find them. But you know what? A certain man finds him. And that certain man who just happened to be there looking upon him and said, can I help you? You look a bit lost. This certain man. And he says, yes, I'm looking for my brothers. They're meant to be here, but they're not. And that certain man just happened previously to be within hearing range of his brothers saying, we're going to Dawson. It just happened. And it just so happens he is now here to tell Joseph and to say, go to Dawson. Since I'm talking about Providence, if any little event didn't happen here, Joseph will not fulfill the plan to open up the store houses in Egypt in the hour of crisis. If just one event didn't happen, if this certain man wasn't there. So he goes on his way to Dawson. And as he goes in verse 18, that says his nine brothers look up and see him and they conspire to kill him. And they say, behold, here cometh the dreamer. And it says, you know what? We're going to make a plan to kill him. They say they don't believe in conspiracies. I do. I do. I believe in worldwide conspiracies. I believe in family conspiracies. Any has had a family conspiracy. I believe in church conspiracy. I've seen it all. Believe me, don't tell me there's no conspiracies. It's within the fallen nature of man. They see him coming and they say, we're going to conspire to murder him. We're making a plan. You know what? We're going to take him and kill him. And we'll say it was a wild beast that done it. That's what we're doing. They begin to conspire his death. And then we'll see what comes of his dreams. And verse 21, we have Reuben overhears the conversation. And he says, I've got to rescue him and take him back to the father. What does he do? He tries to intervene. But you know what? He's working against providence. God has to get him sold into slavery. He's got to go into Egypt. He's got to. But here's Reuben, who's had a change of mind in recent days and began to repent and deal with their sins. And now he said, I need to protect Joseph. So he hatches a plan. Oh, don't don't kill him. I've got a better plan. Just put him in a pit. Don't put blood on your hands. Put him in a hole, one of these pits around here and just leave him to die. And his brothers all went, Amen. We'll do that. We'll do that. You know what? Providence was working to stop them killing him. God is not going to allow them to kill Joseph. You know why? He's a chosen vessel. And here's Reuben trying to get him back to the father's house. God doesn't want him back in the father's house. Isn't Reuben lovely? The big brother trying to save him. He's not in the will of God. He was used by God. But now you're going to see that his plan must not be fulfilled to rescue Joseph. So he hatches a plan, says, let's just put him in a hole. And the nine put him in a hole. And Reuben sneaks off and comes back later. And Joseph's gone. Said, where is he? Oh, we looked up just as we're all sitting here. We sat down to eat a meal as Joseph's in the pit screaming and yelling and pleading. Please have mercy. And they sat down at the top of the hole and had a meal. And just then we looked up and Judas saw these Ishmaelites, these Midianites coming with their camels. And he had a great idea. Let's sell Joseph into captivity. Why waste the opportunity? We can make some money out of it. And it means his blood isn't in our hands. After all, listen to this. After all, he's our brother and we don't want to kill him or shed his blood. How loving of those nine brothers. Judas says, let's not kill him because he's a brother, he's flesh of our flesh, but let's sell him into slavery. Since all of this is providence, all of this, if one of these things hadn't have happened, you would have ended up with a dead Joseph at 17 years old. But we know according to the story, Joseph is a vessel of recovery. He must be rejected, put in a pit, sold into captivity. He must be prepared while his brothers go scot-free and don't suffer any discomfort for 20 years. He is going to go through 11 nightmare, many hellish trials, much rejection, much hurt in order that God can shape him, to make him into a vessel. Please stand with me here this morning. Thank you, Lord God, we praise you.