Truth For Life

Guest (Male): Have you ever stopped to consider what kind of legacy you'll leave? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg teaches us how to leave a lasting legacy that can comfort and encourage loved ones in our absence. We're wrapping up our study of God's providence in the life of Joseph, so let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 50.

Alistair Begg: Are you able to say with Paul later in his life, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've entrusted to him against that day"? I know of a surety. No matter what I've been through, no matter how I've been distressed, no matter how my heart has been broken, still I have learned through the journey with Joseph to affirm again: God is God, and my trust and my hope is in him.

You see, it is not a feeling in our tummies which sustains us on the journey of faith. It is a theology. It is what we know of God. That when the difficult day comes, when we find, as it were, the bone in the fish that we thought was so beautifully prepared, it is in that moment, in the finding of the bone, as it were, in the experience of life, that we must then revert very clearly to what we know of God.

The hymn writer says, as I've told you before, "I thank you, Lord, that all my joys are touched with pain, that shadows fall on the brightest hours, and thorns remain, so that earth's bliss may be my guide and not my chain." If I have learned one thing in the course of my studies in Joseph, it is this amazing truth: that God who fashioned us in our mothers' wombs, Psalm 139, who intricately wove us according to his divine purpose, has ordered all of our days and all of our steps. And our theology is Joseph's theology too.

So then, the frailty that we are called to acknowledge, the theology that we are called to embrace, and the legacy that we must inevitably leave. One of the great questions is simply this: where did Joseph get this certain faith? In all of the reading of the record of Joseph, I didn't find anywhere where it is recorded for us that God appeared to Joseph in any direct way, or ever of Joseph receiving an oracle of God or a particular message from God at the hands of an angel. Indeed, although his father has these encounters, there is no record of Joseph having these encounters.

So where does a boy growing up in that kind of house by the age of 17 get that kind of certain faith? Well, he obviously gets it from God, but he doesn't get it in a vacuum. He gets it as a result of the training and instruction that is given to him through the lips of those who are his forebears. And for 17 years, in whatever else happened, although Jacob was particularly fond of Joseph, and although he erred in some way by creating jealousy in part on his brothers, or his other sons, Joseph's brothers, somehow or another, Jacob must have instilled in Joseph in these early years these great and magnificent truths about God.

And certainly by the time that he is reunited with Joseph, interestingly for another 17 years, he must have affirmed them again and again and again, so that Joseph's certain faith was a result of the legacy in part that his father had left to him. He relied upon the word that his father had taught him. He had no written word from God. He had no recorded audible word from God. He only had the word of his father speaking of the truth of God.

And that was sufficient ground for his faith and his hope and his sure confidence in the promises that he was now in his dying words reiterating to those who had gathered around his bedside. He was saying what Abraham had said and passed to Isaac, what Isaac had heard and passed to Jacob, what Jacob had heard and now passed to a further generation in his son Joseph. It is a reminder to us of the fact that we have in the scriptures, as Peter says in 2 Peter 1:19, we have the words of the prophets made more certain.

We don't have to rely or seek the visitation of angels or dramatic experiences that are beyond the scriptures. But we find ourselves affirming the words of John Calvin when he said, "Unless the hearing of the word of God is sufficient for our faith, we don't deserve that God should condescend to deal with us." Unless the hearing of the word of God is sufficient for our faith... Do you know how many believers are running hither and thither looking for a word from God?

I meet them all the time. Oh, I went there to see if I could hear, and I went there, and I went the next place. And I want to say to them, "Brother or sister, you've got a word from God. You've got all the word from God you'll ever need." Anytime you find yourself running here and there wanting to hear from God, I can guarantee you that you have lost confidence in the scriptures. Joseph had no written word, no audible word. He had the word that his father had spoken, and we have the same, in a sense: the word that our heavenly father has given to us, the words of the prophet made more certain.

Now, the wonder of it is this: that what God pronounces through the voice of a mere man in the preaching of the word of God, he seals on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This is the great mystery of a teaching ministry from the Bible. I say to you enough to know that surely I believe it, that it must be the greatest of futilities simply to engage a period of time in the course of the Lord's Day to let a well-meaning individual, relatively intelligent, to speak to another intelligent group of people with a certain amount of emphasis.

Unless something other than that is taking place, it's a dreadful waste of time. And loved ones, in many cases, nothing other than that is taking place. What passes for preaching is nothing other than a man standing behind a wooden podium voicing his thoughts and opinions, vaguely related, tenuously linked to the Bible or otherwise. And there sits a group of people wondering and hoping that somewhere along the line there may be an intersection between what is passing through his brain and what is engaging their minds at the same time.

But when the word of God is proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, something else happens because the Spirit of God says into the life of a person, "What is being said is true." And inside of the listener is this confirmation. It's not as a result of the emphasis or the vehemence of the speaker. The speaker may be very quiet and gentle in the way he speaks, he may be exuberant. That is all about personality. That should not be confused with reality.

But the reality is that the Spirit of God seals the word of God into the life of the listener, and that's how people are converted through the preaching of the word of God. They're not converted as a result of the ability of a man to articulate truth. They are converted because the word of God itself is powerful, and a voice of a mere man giving testimony to the truth of scripture is backed up by the Spirit of God, and a divine transaction takes place, and thereby the believers are nurtured as well.

They are nurtured because the Spirit of God chooses to seal the spoken word into the life of those who are his own. And that is why, for a genuine preaching event to take place, there has to be an expectant, praying congregation and an expectant, praying preacher. Because then the Spirit of God comes in answer to our prayers and does this great mystery. And in that, we leave a legacy also.

Paul understood that he would leave a legacy to those who had been under his care. All of us will leave a legacy of one kind or another. 1 Corinthians 15, and in verse 3, he says, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve."

He said, "Let this be my legacy to you. What I received and it was passed to me, I also have passed on to you." This is of primary importance: the truth of the death of Jesus Christ for sin, that it was in fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures, and the reality of his burial and his resurrection and the truth of his appearance. So much so that when he writes to Timothy as a young man and he urges upon him the responsibilities of his calling, he says in 1 Timothy 1, and in verse 13.

"Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." And here then he says is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. And all the way through his letters, he leaves to Timothy this rich legacy.

In the same vein in chapter 1 of 2 Timothy, he says, "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." That's the message of Peter to the believers to whom he writes in the scattered regions of his world. He says, "I intend always to remind you of these things, so that after my departure you may be able to bring them back to mind."

So there is a frailty then that we've got to acknowledge: we're all going to die, and we better be ready. There is a theology that all of us embrace, either a theology of truth or a theology of error, but everybody tonight's got a concept of God and a view of the world. It is imperative that our theology is the theology of this book. That's why we need to study it individually, daily, on our own, in small groups, in homes, in colleges, everywhere we get the chance, that we would be men and women of the book. And then there is a legacy that we're going to leave.

Joseph's legacy is really quite wonderful. He left memories of faith in the face of extreme trial. He left a graphic picture of forgiveness in response to bitter jealousy. He left such a wonderful testimony to generosity that was in repayment of cruel neglect. What kind of legacy will we leave? This is the time of year again where we sometimes are tempted to write those Christmas letters, and we certainly all know about getting the letters.

Such is the perversity of our souls that if we write them and receive them, we assume that the ones that we wrote were not full of all the schmaltzy, sentimental, high-falutin nonsense that was true of the ones that we received. I mean, for just once in my life, I'd like to get one Christmas letter that said, "1996 has been a dog. Were it not for the providence of God, there would be no letter. My kids are driving me nuts. I've thought twice about divorce.

I've read my Bible only 50 percent of the time, although I told others I read it 100 percent of the time. I've been a walking contradiction, and I'd like you to pray for me." I'll tell you what, a few more letters like that would be a few more expressions of honesty, and they'd be a real encouragement because most of us who get these other letters that are all about, "And Jeremy is now the leader of the such-and-such, and Fiona is top of her class and straight A's and is designing furniture on the weekends, and Rodney is appearing on Broadway and is having his photographs taken for a modeling agency."

It's like, oh, give me a break. I've met your kids. Don't give me that garbage. And all these letters of unblemished beautiful life that make those of us who are struggling feel a hundred times worse. Don't they? I mean, you get these things, you go, "Goodness gracious, I'm screwing up everywhere. My kids are throwing food around the table and they're teenagers. I kicked the cat into oblivion 14 times in the last three days. And now I've got to read this stuff from my favorite guy I thought was my friend."

Now, this was triggered in my mind because somebody gave to me in the last few days a little piece that actually addressed this issue in relationship to Joseph. And said, what if Jacob had written one of these Christmas letters? There's two ways that he could have done it. One way would have read like this: "Dear friends, I guess our son Joseph tops all. This year he's been promoted to a new high, even for our family. He moved to Egypt some years ago; really likes it there.

Loves the urban life and has always been a sharp dresser and a creative thinker. He now holds the highest political position in the country, second only to the Pharaoh himself. He's never forgotten his roots; he's been really generous to us. In fact, you might pray about this: we may be moving to Egypt ourselves. So come visit us anytime and we'll show you the sights. We really praise God for all his goodness and hope your year has been as fruitful as ours. Blessings, Jacob."

Now, if he'd had a shred of honesty in him, he would never have written a letter like that. He might have said, "This year I had to flee for my life, my kids are totally nuts, they've been butchering people all over the place," and so on. Of Joseph, he might have written instead as follows, says the author: "I've hesitated to write, as life hasn't gone the way I'd hoped it would. My sons have tried me in so many ways, but perhaps the worst is what they did to their brother Joseph.

They've always been jealous of him. I did pamper him a little, but what they did has broken me. My sons sold him into slavery and he was taken down to Egypt. They brought his beautiful coat home stained in blood, claiming he must have been killed by a wild animal. I believed them. Lately, we've suffered from the most severe famine and have lost nearly everything. But with it came the only good news in years. My sons went down to Egypt looking to buy food and learned that Joseph is alive and holding a very influential position there.

I hardly dare hope. They say Joseph wants us to move there and live with him. They say he's forgiven them for what they did. I only pray that this might be so. Pray for us, as I'm old and we're packing for a long journey. May God give me strength and show us mercy." And then the author says, the God of scripture does not spare his people by giving them glittering images. The heroes of the Bible were men and women with feet of clay, and I for one am thankful to know it.

Despite the sadness and sin in their lives, many of them are included in the book of Hebrews as examples of great faith, those who understood God's promises, and those who at the end of their life were still worshipping God. And even more compelling is the love God demonstrated in keeping his covenant with Jacob and never shrinking from this very real man whose personal troubles are written down for all the centuries to see. We look forward to annual reports of joy and good news.

But we're also heartened by those who dare to share appropriately the sorrow and comfort God has given as we live in this fallen and sinful world. For we are a great company of Jacobs: who would want us? Our feet are clay, and yet God has graciously redeemed us and called us his own. And after all, we still worship our Lord as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. So what legacy will we leave? What pictures will our sons and daughters remember of us?

With this, I close. I'm quoting someone else. Says this individual, "In thinking this question out, I have resolved to give fewer lectures, to send fewer platitudes rolling the way of my children, to give less criticism, to offer fewer opinions. From now on, I'll give them pictures they can live by, pictures that can comfort them, encourage them, and keep them warm in my absence. Because when I'm gone, there will only be silence and memories of all I could give to make their lives a little fuller, a little richer, a little more prepared for the journey ahead of them.

Of all that I might give them, nothing compares to the gift of remembrance. Pictures that show that they are loved, pictures that will be there when I am not, pictures of the abiding, unfolding grace and mercy. The grace and mercy of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the rest." In facing my frailty, I need to pay attention to the challenges of believing faith. And in thinking of leaving a legacy, I need to beware of holding others to a standard that I can only talk about but can't live. And maybe you feel kind of similar.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. He'll return shortly to close today's program. Today's message titled "Leaving a Legacy" wraps up our study in the book of Genesis. If you enjoyed learning about God's providential care in the life of Joseph, you can listen to Alistair's teaching through the complete study at your convenience. The series is titled "The Hand of God," and you can stream the messages or download and share them, all for free online at truthforlife.org.

And if you give a donation today, we'd like to say thanks by inviting you to request Alistair's popular booklet, "The Man on the Middle Cross." This comes in a three-book bundle so that you can be intentional about sharing the gospel this Easter. Give a copy to three people who don't yet know about Jesus and about what he accomplished on the cross. Request the three-pack when you donate online at truthforlife.org/donate or call us at 888-588-7884. And of course, you can purchase additional copies if you'd like for only one dollar each. Now, here's Alistair to close with prayer.

Alistair Begg: Let's just take a moment in silence and thank God for his word, particularly for lessons learned in the life of Joseph. Each of us will have hopefully little notations in our Bible or somewhere where the Spirit of God sealed the word of God to our hearts, probably not on every occasion, but hopefully on some occasions. And so let's thank God for his grace in providing for us the Bible and in speaking to us through it.

Let's thank him for the way in which the story begins with great hope and assurance. That what we have at the end of Genesis 50 is the beginning of a whole new chapter of the unfolding grace and goodness of God, so that the people of God would arise in subsequent generations to declare his greatness, to sing out, as it were, "Blessed be the name of the Lord who was and is and is to come," whose strength would be found in the joy of the Lord and whose songs, even sung in a strange land, would speak to the wonder of his providence.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for leaving to us the record of Joseph. And grant that the fragrance of his memory and the legacy which he has left us may cause us to follow hard after on the journey of faith. For we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening this week. Did you know that Jesus has prayed for you? On Monday, we begin a brand-new series where Alistair Begg considers the life-changing prayer Jesus prayed at his final Passover meal. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.