Gen 45:5, And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 
	In this morning’s reading, we have the account of Joseph finally revealing his identity to his brothers. When he did so, his brothers were dismayed because they thought that Joseph would now exact revenge for the fact that they had threatened to kill him and then sold him into slavery out of their hatred and jealousy of Jacob’s love for him. In order to calm their fears, Joseph reassured them with the truth of what God had done in sending Joseph into Egypt, even in bondage, to provide safety and shelter for his whole family during those years of drought that were scorching the land.
	This is the central theme of the Joseph narrative. God will provide for His Chosen Ones. God is the One in charge, and no matter what man may do or try to accomplish, The Lord is the One Who rules and overrules to fulfill His plan and purpose at all times. There is no one who can thwart His Hand in action and everyone will do that which He ordains to be done. The brothers were trying to rid themselves of their bothersome brother with his dreams of grandeur. In the final analysis, because of God’s intervention, they and their entire family were saved from starvation. 
Joseph further reassured them, in Gen 50:19+20, after the death of Jacob, when the brothers again feared that the time of reckoning was at hand, But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 
In this reassurance, Joseph once again declared that God overruled their actions for the sake of preserving many people’s lives. This referred directly to the family of Israel, at this point, but it also serves to foreshadow all the generations after generations of people who will be saved by the Promised Messiah, the Christ. It was from the lineage of Judah that the Son of God would be born into the world. That lineage was saved by the direct hand of God in operation to bring the Children of Israel into the safety provided by Joseph in the Land of Egypt.
This is something that we can never cease to consider in the manifest working of God’s grace. We try to understand and to anticipate the activity of the Lord to the best of our comprehension. But the fact remains that God has His divine plan in place that will be accomplished through whatever means He determines to use. The brothers had no idea that they were working to fulfill what was necessary for the survival of their entire family. They simply did what they felt was expedient. God, however, in His Sovereignty, turned that evil plot completely around to the obvious blessing of His provision being consummated. 
We, too, often try to make our plans and our desires to have priority in our lives. We think that we can accomplish great things for our own purposes and goals. However, all that we do is under the governing Hand of the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Lord God Almighty. As much as we may try to have our own way, we will find that He always brings our best laid plans under the evident operation of His Sovereignty. We can never make ourselves superior to His will. He always carries out exactly what He has purposed despite our scheming and conspiracies. 
In line with this, let us consider what Job declared with regard to all that we purpose to gain as we strive after the things of this world. This eminent observation ties directly into the fact that no matter what we try to get and to achieve, God will have His way. At the end of our earthly lives, no matter what we have gathered to ourselves, we will still leave this physical world in the same manner as we were born into it. Job 1:20+21, Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 
It matters not what earthly riches we store up for ourselves. It makes no difference how famous we ever become, or how respected we are or even how loathed. All earthly glory and acclaim and possessions will be left behind as we come before the Throne of the Almighty and Majestic One. No matter how well we conducted ourselves on this earth and how popular we might have been, when we see God face-to-face, we will be seen in only one of two ways. It will be either in the covering of the righteousness and the holiness of His Only Begotten Son. Or it will be in the filthy nakedness of our sinful nature which refused to accept the freely offered gift of Christ’s redemptive work. We will not have our parents there to plead our case. We will not have the power of riches or friends to sway any judgment. It will not matter how much earthly good we tried to accomplish. All that will matter is if Christ Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man declares that He knows us! 
This brings us to the most defining moment in the history of mankind when the Jewish Council tried to enforce their will upon the events of God’s plan of salvation. They truly thought that they were doing the work of God in dealing with this one man who was stirring up such trouble among the people. They feared the consequences from the Roman authorities who were occupying the Promised Land at that time. They feared for the safety of their people and for the sanctity of their so honored and exalted religious beliefs and sacraments. Everything was on the line and in peril as those council members debated what to do with this so called prophet from Nazareth. 
As recounted in John 11:47-52, these well meaning men decided that this Jesus of Nazareth must die in order to provide safety and security and stability for the Chosen people of God. Little did they realize that their decision would, in fact and in most glorious reality, make the perfect way of the salvation for everyone who will choose to believe. 
Let us read this momentous decision together, John 11:47-52, as it details how the plans of men were so absolutely used to accomplish the ultimate heart of God’s Love for you and for me. John 11:47-52, Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 
When the plans of the council were fulfilled upon the body of Jesus, they thought that they had eliminated the greatest threat to their power and their nation at that time. They felt that the death of one man would accomplish much in the preservation of their religious and social order. What they failed to realize was that the death of this One Man would change the whole course of the history of mankind in instituting eternal righteousness in the very presence of God Almighty. 
Little did they understand that what they did was truly the greatest achievement of the Love of God on earth. In that crucifixion of this one man for the sake of the nation of Israel, the Jewish leadership brought to fruition the exact salvation that had been in the heart of God from before the eternal ages ever began. His Son became the perfect sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of any and all who would but believe upon Him. 
The Apostle Paul so fully proclaims this in his letter to the Romans, Rom 5:12-19. Please read along with me. Rom 5:12-19, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
It was the Apostle Peter who early on highlighted this reality as he declared the risen Lord Jesus Christ on the streets of Jerusalem. He preached the glory of the Son of God crucified and resurrected and struck at the heart of those who were responsible. 
We have this recorded for us in Acts 2:22-24. "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 
Those who heard this were pierced to the core as they realized the truth of what Peter was preaching and they desired to know what to do to be saved. Over three thousand received salvation on that single day as the life of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected flowed forth by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Once again, the religious leaders tried to put an end to the preaching of Jesus Christ as they threatened and scourged Peter and John for preaching and healing the lame man in the Name of Our Lord. The priests and members of the council again thought that they were doing the right thing in trying to stop what they perceived as heresy and blasphemy. They were caught up in trying to maintain their grip upon the members of the Jewish faith. 
And, once again, God overruled their threats and their actions by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in boldness and in power. Please turn to Acts 4:24-31 as we read the response of the early believers to the report of the council’s threats against the preaching of the Good News about the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 4:24-31, And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, 'Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things? 'The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord, and against His Christ.' "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur. "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all confidence, while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness. 
	Rather than being filled with fear and trembling at the threats and the intimidations of the religious and political leaders, the members of the early church received the boldness to declare, ever more fully, the reality of the salvation which God had accomplished in the giving of His Only Begotten Son. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spread the gospel message with greater emphasis and purpose. Again, man’s plans were thwarted and used by God to complete His forever predestined purpose. 
	We end, this morning, with the great encouragement that is ours in all that we do and say. In everything, we know that God can and does rule and overrule for the sake of His glory. It must be our heart’s desire that we are brought into complete line and longing after the exact purposes of God in our lives. No yearning for anything of our own accord, but only that which pleases Him to the uttermost! Rom 8:28-31, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? So be it!
	And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Deut 32:3+4. "For I proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God! "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. Amen.