BOOK REVIEW:
Joseph: From Dreamer to Deliverer by R.C. Sproul. Ligonier Ministries. 115 pages. 2024
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R.C. Sproul went home to be with the Lord in December, 2017. Fortunately, Ligonier Ministries has continued to release his teaching material in a variety of formats since then. For this book on the life of Joseph, Ligonier Ministries edited and adapted Dr. R.C. Sproul’s original material with the assistance of his wife Vesta Sproul.
Joseph is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Dr. Sproul tells us that so extraordinary is Joseph’s virtue that throughout church history, many interpreters have seen him as a type or forerunner of our Lord Himself. In this short book, Sproul takes us through Joseph’s incredible life in which we see God’s sovereign hand of providence working from the time he was betrayed by his brothers at age seventeen, to serving as second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, and being reunited with his brothers and his dear father Jacob.
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BOOK CLUB ~ Truths We Confess by R.C. Sproul
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Dreams are a key theme in Joseph’s life, from sharing a dream of his brothers bowing down to him to interpreting dreams while he was in prison to eventually interpreting the dreams of Pharoah.
This book serves as an excellent introduction to the life of Joseph and the doctrine of providence. Another book on Joseph’s story and the doctrine of providence that I would recommend to you is Alistair Begg’s book The Hand of God: Finding His Care in All Circumstances.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from this book:
- God does not promise us freedom from pain, persecution, tribulation, or suffering. On the contrary, He promises that these things will happen to us, but in the midst of these circumstances, He also promises His presence.
- Wherever Joseph was, he did his work to the glory of God. No job was too menial or too low for him to apply his energy in this way.
- As Christians, we should be able to absorb a lot of misrepresentation. Yet we also must do so with prudence and wisdom, defending ourselves not simply for the sake of defending ourselves but for the sake of defending the truth.
- If we are willing to endure suffering and humiliation for a season, God has promised a future for His people beyond what the eye has seen, the ear has heard, or the heart has imagined (see 1 Cor. 2:9).
- God allowed Joseph to bear fruit amid his seemingly barren life experience. Out of that affliction came great fruitfulness.
- We must not assume that unbelieving, impenitent sinners, even though they may acquire a hardness of heart or stiffness of neck, are left without any conscience. The conscience is still God’s inner voice by which even unbelievers are accused of their sin.
- After all the years in prison, after all the time in exile, after all the loneliness in Joseph’s life, his greatest dream was fulfilled. After a similar period of mourning and grief in Jacob’s soul, his deepest dream was fulfilled. The father saw his son, and the son saw his father. It was enough.
- God was involved, and God was working His good plan even through their evil plan. That’s hard for us to grasp, but it’s a principle that we find throughout Scripture.
- May we remember this story from sacred Scripture and marvel at the wonder of God’s sovereignty, drawing strength and encouragement despite all the ups and downs of our own lives, trusting that the same God who orchestrated the events of Joseph’s life for good has not changed and that He is working good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
- Alistair Begg signs ‘The Man on the Middle Cross’ book deal with 10Publishing. 10Publishing is pleased to announce that Pastor and Bible teacher at Truth for Life, Alistair Begg, will publish the mass market title The Man on the Middle Cross, releasing Fall 2025.
- Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold. My wife Tammy has published a book about HOW to study the Bible. The book is available on Amazon in both a Kindle and paperback edition. She writes “Maybe you have read the Bible but want to dig deeper and know God and know yourself better. Throughout the book I use the analogy of making a quilt to show how the Bible is telling one big story about what God is doing in the world through Christ. Quilting takes much patience and precision, just like studying the Bible, but the end result is well worth it.”
- Top 5 Commentaries on the Book of Psalms. Keith Mathison shares these helpful commentaries on the Book of Psalms. The first one he lists is by Dr. Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms” in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Mathison writes “It is certainly the most helpful commentary on the Psalms that I have yet read.” Dr. VanGemeren is a dear man who has attended our church for several years.
- How Jesus Really Feels About You. Tim Challies reviews Dane Ortlund’s new book The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels About You, a condensed version of his best-seller Gentle and Lowly. He writes “It describes him as he describes himself—gentle and lowly and always and forever inclined toward us with a heart of love. That’s a message we need to hear again and again and I’m thankful for this new way of communicating it.”
Won’t you read along with us?
We are reading through Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by R.C. Sproul. From the Ligonier description:
“The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most precise and comprehensive statements of biblical Christianity, and it is treasured by believers around the world. R.C. Sproul has called it one of the most important confessions of faith ever penned, and it has helped generations of Christians understand and defend what they believe.
In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone’s a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible—from creation to covenant, sin to salvation—fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and answer the question, What do you believe?”
This week we look at the remainder of WCF 18 Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation. Here are a few helpful quotes from this section of the chapter:
- Probably the most prevalent doctrine of justification in modern culture is the doctrine of justification by works. Most Americans, including those who call themselves evangelicals, believe that people will get into heaven if they live a good life.
- The first and basic reason why people arrive at a false sense of assurance is that they have a false understanding of salvation.
- The Christian life is about believing God, not just believing that there is a God.
- The assurance of faith is infallible because it is founded upon the promises of salvation made by our infallible God.
- The confession goes on to say that our assurance is also based on the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit.
