The Pit Test

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today we're continuing Pastor Robert's series, From Dream to Destiny, where he describes the 10 character-building tests we must pass before God allows us to realize our dreams and step into our destiny.

Well, this is an absolutely incredible message, so let's listen in to Pastor Robert now. We're looking at the life of Joseph. Joseph had a dream from God. Then he stepped into his destiny. He had a dream when he was 17. He stepped into the destiny when he was 30. He actually did not fulfill his destiny until he was in his 40s, but it was a process, but he had to pass 10 character tests.

But I want you to think about, what is it in my character God is trying to help and to shape so that I can reach the destiny God has for me? So turn to Genesis chapter 37, and that's where we'll be. You might want to just read in Genesis the story of Joseph during this time. Two weeks ago, when we began, we talked about the pride test and how Joseph actually failed. Or another way of saying that is got to take again the pride test. And this week we're going to talk about the pit test. All right, we talked about the pride test.

Now we're going to talk about the pit test. So look at Genesis chapter 37 beginning in verse 13. Verse 13. And Israel, that's the same name as Jacob, Joseph's father, said to Joseph, are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem?

Come and I will send you to them. So he said to him, here I am. Then he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem. Now a certain man found him and there he was wandering in the field.

Now I want you to, as you read the Bible, I want you to get in the habit of seeing if things jump off the page. I want you to notice it says a certain man found him and there he was wandering in the field. In other words, he didn't go up to the man and ask, he was just wandering. Now we know he was a dreamer, but I think he was a daydreamer too.

And you have to give him a little grace because he's only 17 years old. So anyway, he's just wandering. He's just wandering in a field. And the man said to him, what are you seeking? So he said to him, I'm seeking my brothers.

I think he also, he meant, thanks for reminding me. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said, they've departed from here for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

That's in Alabama. Verse 18. Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit.

We're going to talk about the pit test. And we shall say, some wild beast has devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. But Reuben, who's the firstborn, by the way, the oldest, heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit. Second time we see the word pit, which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him. And the reason he said it was that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic or his robe, his coat, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty and there was no water in it.

Well, this reminds me of a story I heard about a guy one time that worked the late shift and it was always dark when he got off work. And so he would cut across the cemetery on his way home. And one evening he's cutting across the cemetery and the moon wasn't out and it was very dark and they had dug a fresh grave and so he fell in. And he began to shout and scream and holler and pull up dirt and rocks and grass. And finally he decided he wouldn't be able to get out. So he just sat down and surely someone would come along in the morning and find him and help him. And so he just sat down in the corner of the grave. Later that evening, a drunk was walking across the cemetery and fell in the same open grave. And he began to shout and holler and pull up dirt and rocks and grass and finally when he was just about to give up, a hand out of nowhere touched him on the shoulder and said, hey buddy, you can't get out of here.

But he did. You can get out of the pit if you're properly motivated. So I want to talk to you about getting out of the pit, alright? And three things I want you to notice about the pit test.

Here's number one. The position of the pit. The position of the pit. In other words, what brought you to this position?

How did you get in this position? It is a wise thing when we're in the pit to see if we did something to attribute to our circumstances. I'm not talking about condemning now. I'm talking about soul searching. I'm talking about saying to God, search me oh God and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts. Joseph could have easily said, you know what's not my fault? It's my brothers. It's not the way that I talk about my dreams. It's not the way I present myself. It's not pride in me. It's envy in them.

And that's what many, many people do. When we go through a difficult time, we blame someone else. Listen to me carefully. I'm sorry for what your parents did to you, but get over it. You're 48 years old, man.

Do something for God. Stop blaming people. We live in a blame society. It is amazing to me how many people that I talk to today that say, you know, I didn't understand all the things I'm going through. Now I understand it was my parents' fault. No, it was how you responded. It is not the action that puts us in a pit.

It's our reaction to the action. Please hear me. It is right to do some soul searching and find out why am I in the position that I'm in. For instance, let me just take one, a financial pit. I know people who go from financial pit to financial pit and yet never think about, well, I'm robbing God. I'm not tithing. I'm undergiving and I'm overspending. I'm not stewarding my finances well. And they think it's just something, there's some other reason.

It's the economy. There's some other reason why I'm in this pit. Do some soul searching. His brothers hated him. Why did they hate him? Why didn't he ever think about that?

As a matter of fact, think about this. Why is he not with his brothers tending the flock in the first place? Why is he not there? Most theologians believe it's because there was such animosity between his brothers and him that Jacob had to separate them. And then Jacob says, go check on your brothers.

Now I want you to just think about this for a moment. He didn't really expect Joseph to check on them. He was trying to develop a relationship with them. Joseph was 17 years old. His brothers were older. There are 10 of them that most of them, nine of them were in their 20s and 30s. Reuben and Simeon were probably in their 40s.

They knew how to take care of sheep. They didn't need a 17 year old coming to check on them. But Jacob thought maybe, maybe Joseph will conduct himself a little more maturely and everything will be okay.

Obviously we know that's not the case. But how did they know by the way? When Joseph it says, the Bible verse 13, I mean 18, it says, when he was, they saw him a far off even before he came near they conspired. They saw him a long way off. How did they know it was him? It was because he was wearing that blasted coat. That orange, purple, polka dot, you know, whatever it was that you could see for a mile away. I think he wore it everywhere he went. I think he was proud of it.

I think he wore it in Texas in August. And I want you to now draw some similarities again. Every time we read the Bible, we need to say, God, what are you saying to me through this passage?

I want you to think about this. Joseph had his father's favor on him. Guess what? You're a son or a daughter who has your father's favor on you. And Joseph's father gave him a gift.

Guess what? Your father gave you a gift. But Joseph was proud of his gift and showed it off every chance he got. How many believers are proud of the gift that God's given them?

Here's what I want to say to you. The giver is so much better than the gift. We need to be in love with the giver. But it's amazing to me how many people slip their gift into the conversation.

And the reason is it's because we have our identity in our gift, not in that we're a child, a favorite child. And so I'll be talking to people and they'll just kind of slip it in. They'll just kind of say, you know, I'm a Pastor Robert. I'm a prophet. I feel like saying, I knew that.

I'm a prophet too. You know, it's just, this is crazy though. Why we do that? Why do you have to tell me about your gift? Why do you have to show your coat off? Why can't you just be your father's child? And this, this pride, this insecurity, this inferiority is what got Joseph in trouble.

It's what gets us in trouble. Now listen carefully because this is, this is strong when I'm about to tell you. He got a gift from his father.

We get gifts from our father. But because of his pride, because of his arrogance, listen to me carefully. Listen. He lost his gift. And a lot of people immediately say, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.

No, no, no. God would never take the gift back that he gave me. Matter of fact, Romans 11 29, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Well, it's number one, that's not talking about you.

It's talking about the Jewish nation. Number two, if you want to use it as an analogy, I'm okay with that, that God's not going to take the gift back because I didn't say that the father, Joseph's father took his gift back. I said he lost it. Listen to me very carefully.

We've seen a lot of high profile ministers lose their gift because of lack of integrity, lack of character. Now you say, well, what about me? What if that's me? What if I'd done something? I've lost my gift.

Can I ever get it back? Listen, listen. Joseph had one coat. You remember where he went when he finally fulfilled his destiny?

Governor of Egypt, the second wealthiest man in the world. He had hundreds of coats. Listen, whatever you lose through foolishness, if you'll repent, you can get back, you can get it back a hundred fold. I mean, Joseph had one of those claws that you walk in with a button and the coach just went by. Now you might be thinking, well, yeah, but he didn't get this coat back. I'm not so sure he didn't get it back because remember he was restored to relationship with Jacob. I don't think Jacob ever threw that coat away.

And I'll tell you this, here's the most important thing, whether he got that coat back or not, he got relationship with his father back, which was more important than one gift. So that's the position of the pit. What got me in this position? Here's number two, the perspective of the pit. I want us to take a perspective and say, what am I doing and what's God doing in my life? In other words, when I say, what got me in this position, I'm saying, let's get God's perspective on the pit. But when I talk about the perspective now, I'm saying, let's make sure we don't get Satan's perspective. Every time you're in a pit, listen to me who shows up first, the accuser of the brethren.

He will show up and he will begin to condemn you and accuse you. And there is a tremendous difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is specific. Condemnation is general. Conviction is you did this and this, and that's why you're in this pit. Condemnation is you're a bad person, you're a horrible person, you're worse than everyone else, and you'll never do anything for God, and you'll never accomplish anything.

That's what the enemy does. And God never, please hear this, God never, never condemns you. I can't tell you the burden I carry for correct theology.

I can't tell you. We have the least knowledgeable society, body of Christ we've ever had on the earth when it comes to theology. We have absolutely horrible theology.

We don't have the basics down anymore. We have a new age, a new generation theology about God, and we're so mixed up about the character of God. Listen to me, God never condemns you.

Condemnation is always from the enemy. If you ever get an accusatory or a condemning thought, it is not from God. And I can prove it to you by one verse. I wish everybody in the world would memorize the verse after the most famous verse in the Bible. John 3.16, great verse, not taking anything away from John 3.16. John 3.17 says God did not, did not, did not, did not, did not.

I'm going to keep saying it until you get it. Did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. Listen, here's the whole theological reason why God doesn't condemn. God didn't send Jesus to condemn us. We were already condemned. We were born condemned. One man sinned and the world was condemned. That's Romans 5. We were already condemned.

God did not send Jesus to condemn us, but to save us from our condemnation. So when I say let's get a perspective, I'm saying let's get God's perspective. Let's not, not let the enemy come in.

Here's what the enemy does. He's a liar and He's the Father of all lies. Let me say it another way. If Satan is talking, he's lying. If his lips are moving, he's lying.

I promise you, he's a liar. Let me show you one of the most famous lies in this story so we can learn from it. Look at verse 31, Genesis 37 verse 31. So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors and they brought it to their father and said, notice what the brother said, we have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?

And he recognized it and said, it is my son's tunic. Now watch what Jacob says on his own. A wild beast has devoured him without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.

Let me ask you a very simple question. Had a wild beast devoured Joseph? No, this was a lie.

Now listen, please remember what I'm about to tell you. Satan is such a good liar that he will fabricate evidence to back up his lies. This was fabricated evidence and most people believe that the brothers, because earlier they said, let's tell him this, let's kill him and tell him a wild beast, but they never told their father. They never said a wild beast killed Joseph. They never said that and we found his body and they simply said, is that your son's coat? They ripped it up and put blood on it.

Is that your son's coat? And Jacob on his own came to the conclusion he's been killed by wild beasts. Of course, you know, when you think about it, it really makes you angry at the brothers because Joseph, I mean, Jacob believed this lie for 22 years.

22 years. He didn't know until Joseph was 39 that he wasn't killed by wild beasts. He didn't know he was alive until he was 39 years old. And I think of all the times that he cried himself to sleep in the next room and the brothers listened to their father crying and never walked across the hall to say, it's not true.

Your son's alive. It's not true. That's the hardness of sin. But it was a lie and it was evidence. I'm telling you, God, Satan will do the same thing with you. He'll fabricate it. He'll say, you're not going to be healed. Look at that report. Your life's not going to change. Look at this. You're not going to make it in your business. Look at the Wall Street Journal. Look at this report. Here's his number one, probably the number one lie he's doing today.

Here is probably number one. You're married to the wrong person. And there's evidence of it right there. Let me give you the evidence. Look at how opposite you are.

That's an amazing lie to me that anyone ever believed that. Look how opposite of you. Of course you're opposite. You don't want to marry someone like you.

Think about it. You know you. If you married you, you'd kill yourself.

The whole reason you married her is because she would not like you. And here's what happens. Some guy will start going to the gym and he'll start working out and he kind of enjoys that. That's what he likes doing. His wife, that's not what she enjoys. And pretty soon he'll see a woman there and that's what she enjoys. And Satan will say, see, she has the same value as you.

See, she's your perfect match. Listen to me, man. Listen to me. It's a lie.

It's a lie from the enemy. And he will fabricate evidence. He'll give you evidence at the gym. She's the one for you and he'll give you evidence at home.

She's not the one for you. And you'll say, yeah, but I've had men tell me, Robert, let me tell you the signs God's given me. I said, God didn't give you signs for a divorce. Can I say that again? And I know, I know that I preach to 50% of our society, it's been through divorce and I never, ever, ever want you to feel condemnation, but I will never back off the truth of God's word that he believes in the covenant of marriage.

We can't back off of that. So don't believe a lie. Don't get Satan's perspective. Look at the position you're in and see what God is saying about it, but don't get Satan's perspective. Here's number three, the purpose of the pit. What is the purpose of the pit?

Well, I'm going to tell you what it is and then show it to you right out of scripture. The purpose of every pit is to get us to cry out to God. The purpose of every pit is to get us to cry out to God. Let me say it another way.

What else is there to do in a pit? There's nobody else to talk to. I mean, you could walk around and gripe for a while, but eventually you're going to have to say, I need God. I'm not getting out of this without God. You know, what's amazing to me is we'll get in a pit and we'll say, Lord, we'll pray about it some and then it's not that big of a pit. And so we'll get out. And in essence, our attitude is like, nevermind. Yeah, I don't really need you, God.

It's okay. You can go back to whatever you were doing. And then we get in a big pit and then we say, okay, I really need you this time because I can't do this on my own. Just so you'll know, correct theology again, you can't do anything on your own. Every breath comes from God.

Every breath comes from God. So we get thrown in a pit. What do we do? We have to cry out to God. Let me show you another guy that got thrown in a pit. Jonah, remember God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, so he went to Tarshish, which is the opposite, by the way.

Okay, it's in a different direction. Jonah 2, verse 1, then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly. And he said, I cried out to the Lord. That's the purpose of the pit.

Listen to why he cried out. Because of my affliction. The affliction could be a good thing if it gets you to cry out to God. And he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol, Sheol is an Old Testament Hebrew word that means the pit. And it is translated the pit several times. Out of Sheol, the belly of Sheol, I cried and you heard my voice. Verse 6, you have brought up my life from the pit.

See, I'm wondering if for the first few hours or whatever when Joseph was in the pit, I wonder if he was rehearsing how bad his brothers were and how good he was. You know, God, I just can't believe this and hear these guys have done this to me. And you know, God, I got that dream about these guys bowing down to me, you know. I mean, they're supposed to be bowing down and God, I know you're going to get them for what they did to me. And I'm wondering if his prayers went along those lines and after a while he started thinking, you know, I'm probably going to cause some of this myself.

Maybe just a little God. I just wanted to admit that to you while I was talking to you. Maybe a little bit of this I brought on myself. Probably after a few hours he's down on his knees, oh God, I did it. It's me, I'm the one that's wrong.

It's me. And I think something happened to him in that pit that changed his life. And I think when that happened is when Judah got the idea, pulled him up out of the pit, saw the Midianite traders and said, let's sell him.

Let's not kill him, let's sell him. And so that's when things begin to change for him. Now, let me show you just a couple of things that happened that are types and shadows. Anytime you read the Old Testament, it's true, it happened literally, but it's a type and a shadow of something. To us, it's for our instruction according to 1st Corinthians 2. Genesis 37 verse 22 says, And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him.

Now this is the reason that he said it. That he might deliver him, notice these words deliver him, out of their hands and bring him back to his father. Let me tell you something about Reuben. Reuben's the firstborn. By the way, remember Joseph was the favorite son, everybody knew that. Reuben should have been the favorite son.

And yet here he is looking out for him and protecting him. Now, remember that Reuben was the firstborn. Colossians 1 tells us Jesus is the firstborn of God. The firstborn among many brethren. The firstborn. So, the firstborn wants to deliver Joseph out of this pit. And listen to why he says this. Two reasons. To deliver him and to bring him back to the father.

Okay, so try to remember this. The purpose of every pit is to deliver us and bring us back to the father. That's the purpose of every pit. The purpose of every pit is to set us free from those things that are holding us in bondage and bring us in a closer relationship with the father. If you're in a pit, I can guarantee you that the father will not leave you there.

Do you know how I know? Because he didn't leave his own son in the pit. Psalm 16 10 says, you will not leave my soul in Sheol. Referring to the messianic scripture, referring to Jesus. You will not leave my soul in the pit.

Listen to me. If you're in a pit right now, if you're in a pit, if you'll cry out to God, he'll deliver you and he'll restore your relationship with the father. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. Well, we hope you've enjoyed this message. Next time, Pastor Robert is going to share about the test of stewardship. We hope that you have a great week.