Joseph: Honorable Son, Hated Brother, Part 3

Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Genesis chapter 37. We will finish the rest of chapter 37 this morning. As we study the life of Joseph, my prayer for you and for me, is that we would see this man use of God in a mighty way. But so many times as we go through a narrative in the Old Testament, we forget that it's more than just a story. It's the revelation of God, and it's the transforming work of God operating in the life of an individual, and that God wants that same transforming work to take place in our lives.

And that happens because of the Word of God and its power to transform lives, the mighty power of God's Holy Word. And I'm reminded of the lady, the old lady who went into her house, and she was being burglarized, and she ran into this man, and she turned the lights on, and she said, Stop! Acts 2.38! Stop! Acts 2.38! And of course, Acts 2.38 says, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. And so the burglar stopped, didn't move. She calmly went over, picked up the phone, made a telephone call to the police.

The police came over, handcuffed the man. And as they were handcuffing the man, they said, Why did you just stay here? Why did you stop what you were doing? Why didn't you kill the lady? Why didn't you run? He says, I couldn't. They said, Well, why? All she did was yell Scripture at you. He says, Scripture? She came in and she said that she had an axe, and she had 2.38. See, Drew, I told you they hadn't heard that before. See, I told you they hadn't heard that, Drew. But the issue is that the Word of God is powerful.

And God's going to use His Word in supernatural kind of ways. And that's what we need to remember about the life of Joseph. And that's where we are today. Verse number 5, Genesis chapter 37. Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, Please listen to this dream which I have had. And, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And, lo, my sheave rose up, and also stood erect. And, behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheave.

Then his brothers said to him, Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Now he had still another dream, and he related it to his brothers, and said, Lo, I have had still another dream. And, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. And he related it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?

And his brothers were jealous of him. And his father kept the saying in mind. Then his brothers went to pasture the father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, I will go. Then he said to him, Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. And he came to Shechem. And a man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field.

And the man asked him, What are you looking for? And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock. Then the man said, They have moved from here. For I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. When they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. And they said to one another, Here comes this dreamer. Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.

And we will say, A wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams. But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, Let us not take his life. Reuben further said to them, Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness. But do not lay hands on him, that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father. So it came about when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the very colored tunic that was on him.

And they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh and on their way to bring them down to Egypt. And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him.

For he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by. So they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. Now Reuben returned to the pit. And behold, Joseph was not in the pit, so he tore his garments. And he returned to his brothers and said, The boy is not there. As for me, where am I to go? So they took Joseph's tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood.

And they sent the very colored tunic and brought it to their father and said, We found this. Please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not. Then he examined it and said, It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces. So Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Then all the sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted. He said, Surely I will go down to Sheol and mourn for my son.

So his father went for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of the bodyguard. This morning we pick up our fifth point, the prophecy about Joseph. And then we're going to move to the persecution of Joseph. And then conclude with the parallels of Joseph with Jesus as found in Genesis chapter 37. First of all, the prophecy about Joseph.

Joseph has two dreams. You will note there are three occasions in Joseph's life where he interprets dreams. God will speak to Joseph through the dreams that he has. And two things I want you to notice about these dreams.

One is the revelation. Number two is the reaction. First of all is the revelation. Note that Joseph is already hated by his brothers. So now he has this dream. He has two dreams. He goes to his brothers and talks to them about the one and they hate him even more. He has another dream. He goes to his father and to his brothers and tells them of that dream. And that causes them to hate him even more than that. Now listen.

Joseph, to some degree, understood the dreams. He didn't take a Phi Beta Kappa to figure out what was going on here. Even his brothers understood that they were going to be bound before him. And they would say, what is this? You're going to rule over us? You're going to reign over us, Joseph? You're 17 years of age. What do you know as a teenage boy? It will be 20 years before this ever takes place. That is very significant. Why? Because God has revealed many things to you, hasn't he? That won't take place until many years from today.

A lot of promises won't even be seen until we get to glory. But, Elvira, Genesis chapter 42, listen to what it says. This is his first encounter with his brothers.

Now, Joseph was a ruler, verse number 6, over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And they would come and they would bow before him. And all of a sudden, the lights go on. Just like he dreamed 20 years ago, it happened just as God planned it. But this revelation that Joseph received in Genesis 37 would help them understand that they would bow before him in submission.

And so, you see, when the revelation is given to Joseph in the dream and he explains to his brothers what the dream was about, their initial reaction is, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to bow to you, Joseph. That's just like the nation of Israel with Jesus. We're not going to bow to you. Luke's account says, we will not have this king rule over us. You see, Jesus says, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

Have you bowed your knee to the Lordship of Christ? Have you confessed Jesus as Lord? If not, don't think that you have free will to do anything. There is no such thing as free will. Why? Because you're held captive by Satan to do his will. You're doing Satan's will. That's not free. You're in bondage to Satan. And therefore, you're fulfilling Satan's objectives by not bowing your knee. See, Satan doesn't want you to bow to the Lordship of Christ. He wants you to bow to his rulership. Well, Jesus is pointing them to the reaction.

You see, their reaction was, hey, this is not going to happen. You see, when revelation is given, you either reject it or you rejoice because of it. And the unbeliever rejects it and the believer rejoices because the believer knows that it's all about the truth of God that he submits himself to. The unbeliever says, that's truth. I don't want anything to do with truth. So, that leads us to the persecution of Joseph. The persecution. Four things I want you to see. Number one, the context.

Number two, the conspiracy. Three, the conclusion. And four, the cover-up. First of all, the context.

Note very carefully, the Bible says, that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer what?

Execution. Joseph was a godly man. He wanted to guard the truth. He wanted to make sure his life was guided by the truth. He wanted to make sure that he gave the truth. So, the context is very simple. The boys go off to Shechem. And so, Joseph's dad comes and says, listen, go to Shechem. Find the boys. Figure out what they're doing because he knew Joseph would speak truth. He gets to Shechem. He's in the field. He's looking around, wandering around the field. And somebody sees him and says, hey, what are you doing?

He goes, I'm looking for my brothers. And the guy says, well, they're not here. Well, where are they? Well, they're in Dothan. Well, that's another 15, 20 miles away. So, he goes to Dothan. That's the context, okay? He's a humble servant. So, you go from the context to the conspiracy. So, as he goes on his route to Dothan, the brothers see him coming. Here he comes. We can't even get 60 miles away from home without Joseph showing up. Here he comes. What are we going to do? Somebody pies up and says, let's kill him.

All in favor say aye. They wanted to murder. That was their aim. They wanted to get rid of him. Why? Listen, if he's dead, we don't have to submit to him. That's the conspiracy. You see, if you are guided by truth, because you're committed to guarding truth and giving truth, because you're clothed in the garments of truth, people will ridicule you. They'll hate you. That's why all those who live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's inevitable. And Joseph, knowing that he'd faced ridicule from his brothers, went to them to find out what they were doing.

He shows up. They've conspired to kill him, and they strip him from his tuning. Now, Reuben speaks up, and Reuben says, hey, wait a minute. You're not going to kill him. You've got to understand why Reuben speaks up. He's the firstborn. He's lost the birthright. He's lost authority in the family. Why? Because he committed immorality with his stepmother, Bilhah, his father's wife. So, he's lost that right. So, what's he going to do? Well, if all the brothers want to kill him, what I can do is stand up and say not to kill him.

We'll throw him into a pit. I'll rescue him. The text says this. And I'll take him back to Dad, and I'll gain favor in Dad's eyes again. That's Reuben's thought. So, Reuben says, you're not going to kill him. He's the oldest one. He's the one with authority. This is what we're going to do. We're just going to put him in the pit. Reuben goes off. This leads us to the conclusion. Judah speaks up. But Judah says, hey, I got an idea. Let's sell him. Let's get some money for him. I mean, if we're going to go to all this trouble, let's at least make it worth our efforts.

Let's get some money for him. And I want you to know what it says here. It says in verse number 24, they took him. They threw him into the pit. Now, the pit was empty without any water. And then what it says in verse number 25, then they sat down to eat a meal. Can you imagine? These guys are cruel, man. They're brutal. He's in there screaming in the pit, hey, guys, let me out of here.

Hey, pass the, you know, whatever it is, whatever they ate back in those days, man. You know, pass whatever it is you're eating, man. I want a drink too. And he's over here screaming in the pit, and they're out here having a meal. And he was screaming, hey, guys, let me out.

What are you guys doing? I'm your brother. I'm just following what dad asked me to do, to come check up on you. Can't you guys let me out of here now?

And what are they doing? They're over here having a meal, having a grand old time. So what do they do? They bring him up out of the pit. He's, and Joseph says, oh, gee, thanks, guys. Oh, you're sold. Bye, Joseph. Strap him on the back of the caravan. And Joseph says, hey, guys, wait. See you, Joe. Good to see you, man. Have a good time in Egypt. Bye-bye. We never have to bow to that guy again. It's over. It's done. He's gone. That's great. But they forgot about something. They forgot about God. See?

Think about Joseph strapped down on the back of a caravan as a slave. What's going through his mind? Where am I going? What is going on here? You see, all this plays a major role in Joseph's life because, you see, God is working the events in his life just like he wants to work them in your life, you see, because there are many promises God's given to you. And you say, wait a minute, God, didn't you promise this? Why are things in my life so bad? Why are things around me crumbling? Why are things falling apart, Lord?

This doesn't seem right. What happened? And God is working out His perfect plan in your life. And Joseph will see that. And God wants you to see it as you understand this boy's life. We'll see this at the cover-up. Settlement and slavery. Judah comes up with this great idea. Reuben comes back. And Reuben's all upset. Why is Reuben upset? Reuben's upset because he had a great plan. Where did he go? We don't know. But he left. He came back. And Joseph's gone. His brother said, come on, Reuben, relax.

Have a few shekels. Buy a new outfit. Go buy a new chariot. What are we going to do? Well, let's dip his coat in some blood here, the blood of a goat, and take it back to dad and let dad figure out what happened. So they do that. Take it back and say, is this your son's tunic? And Jacob gathers that stained garment into his hands and said, yes, it is. And Jacob comes to the conclusion that his sons wanted him to come to. A wild beast has torn my son from limb to limb. He's dead. He's gone forever.

And he began to mourn and to weep. What a sad story. Only at this point, though, because it just gets better and better. And, you know, for us, we can read ahead and we know the whole narrative. For Jacob, he didn't know the narrative. For the boys, they didn't know the narrative. For Joseph, he couldn't read about his life. He didn't know. But we do. And we can praise God for that. Go back ten chapters in your mind to Genesis 27. And what do you have? Jacob lying to his father about his father's favorite son, Esau.

You have Jacob killing a goat, taking the goat's skin to put it on himself so that he's hairy to deceive his father. Now, ten chapters later, what do you have? You have Jacob's not son, but ten sons lying and deceiving him. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap. That's why we tell you, do what God says.

Obey the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow Him. Don't take things into your own hands. Live for Him. Serve Him. Because God will not be mocked at all. You see, all throughout the story of Joseph, you're going to see this. We've seen it all throughout the story of Genesis, haven't we? Whether it's Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Noah, Adam, Eve. It's all there. The consequences of sin affect more than you'll ever imagine. But you know, we want to be deceived about that. We want to think, that's not going to happen.

Jesus forgave me of my sins. Oh, He does. He does forgive you. Forgiveness, though, never negates consequences. Never. And so you must realize that. Oh, God will forgive you. God will restore you. And God forgave these boys. And they're restored back to a relationship with their father and with their brother. But even in the blessing of Jacob to his boys, they reap the negative consequences of their sin. Our last point are the parallels of Joseph with Jesus. There are six of them in this chapter.

I want to give them to you because all throughout the book of Genesis, we're going to point them out to you. And when we're all done, all done with Genesis chapter 50, we will go back and review 37 to 50 to show you once again how Joseph and Jesus are saviors. One of a nation and a family, one of the world. But let me give you six of them this morning.

The first one is this, the devotion of Jacob to his son. Jacob loved his son Joseph. It reminds us of our Heavenly Father's love for His son, Jesus Christ. And the world hated him because of his father's love, because Jesus Christ was a pure, sinless, blameless, spotless individual. Number two is the dreams of Joseph.

The dreams of Joseph would depict for us how his brothers would submit to his authority. And they picture for us how the world one day will submit to the authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord. While a nation and a family will bow, the whole world will bow its objection to Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, there was the decision to get rid of Joseph.

Even in this decision to get rid of Joseph, we see how the nation of Israel made a decision to get rid of Jesus Christ. They conspired against Him all through the Gospel of John. John chapter 7, John chapter 10, John chapter 11. It talks about how they conspired against Him to get rid of Christ. John 1 11, He came to His own, His own received Him not. They wanted nothing to do with this man called Jesus of Nazarene. And so in their decision to get rid of Joseph, because they would not bow to His authority, you see the same thing in the Gospels.

That they wanted to get rid of Jesus because they would not have that king rule over them. And then there is a deal made with the Israelites. As Joseph was sold for 20 shekels of silver, so Christ would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. Both of them the exact cost of a slave during that time. And then you have the dipping of the tunic in blood. This is important because they dipped the tunic, the coat, in goat's blood. And if you read Leviticus 16, you'll realize that there are two goats the high priest takes.

One is slaughtered and one will be released. He will take his finger and he will dip it in the blood and put that blood on the mercy seat there in the tabernacle for the propitiation of the sins of the nation of Israel. He would then take his hands and put them on the head of the other goat that is alive. And upon putting his hands on that goat, he would confess the iniquities of that nation over that year. And then that goat would then be released into the wilderness to picture how the nation of Israel would be released from their sins.

And Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, would come and make atonement just once. Not every year, just once. That sacrifice would atone for the sins of man forever because he was the perfect sacrificial lamb. And then lastly, the distress of Jacob over Joseph. How he mourned for his son. How he wept for his only son. And in John chapter 16, Christ says at my crucifixion, when I die, you will mourn.

You will mourn severely, but that mourning will be turned into joy. Listen, for the believer, the mourning we have over the death of Christ is turned into joy because of the resurrection of Christ and because of the return of Christ. But for the unbeliever, that mourning will remain weeping and gnashing of teeth. As Jacob would mourn over the life of Joseph, the Bible says every eye will see him.

That's everybody. Everybody who is alive at the second coming will see the arrival of Jesus Christ. He's going to come with a cloud. Even those who pierced him, who's that? That's the Jewish people. And they will mourn for him. Who will? Everybody will mourn. The believer will mourn. The Jewish people will mourn because they will see the Messiah and they will look upon the one that they pierced and realize they crucified the Messiah. A third of Israel, the Bible says, will be saved and will go into the kingdom with Christ in the tribulation.

And when they look upon the Messiah, they will see the one whom they pierced and they will mourn for him as an only child. But that mourning will be turned into joy, will it not? Because they will be saved from the Antichrist, his armies, and they will go forever to the kingdom of God. But the unbeliever, they're going to mourn, but they will not submit to Christ. And they will continue to mourn on into eternity. Christ says the road is very narrow, the gate is very small.

Don't think for one moment that there are many people entering the kingdom. There are just a few, just a few. Strive, he says, that you may enter. And then he gives the illustration that says, listen, there's going to be a day when the owner of the household is going to shut the door and the people are going to be on the outside saying, well, Lord, let us in. He says, I don't know who you are, but Lord, we ate with you, we drank with you, we sat under your teaching. Those are words that express intimacy with God.

Think about that. We went to church and we sat under your teaching. We lived in households with those who knew you as Lord and Savior. We were there with them. We fellowship with the believers. We fellowship with you. We are a part of the church of Jesus Christ. He says, depart from me, I never knew you. You practice iniquity, you who are evildoers. You see, Satan's ploy is to deceive you. And his ploy is to get you to bow in subjection to him, thinking you're bowing in subjection to who? Christ.

That's why he's called the Antichrist. That's why he comes in tribulation as the Messiah. They laud him as Messiah. He's king. He's ruler. And he gets them to bow in subjection to him, but he's Satan. And Satan has deceived many people in the 21st century into thinking they are truly born again. But they have yet to bow in subjection to his Lordship. And they will say one day, but Lord, we did all these things with you, for you, and to you. And he will say, depart from me. Now, when is that going to happen?

It's going to happen at the great white throne of judgment. That's when it's going to happen. And I want you to notice, all that to say, I want you to notice the next verse.

Listen to what it says. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When? When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. The very last thing the unbeliever will see before they are cast out into the lake of fire at the great white throne of judgment are the prophets of the kingdom of God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be the husband who is married to the wife who is a believer. And will say, well, Lord, I went to church with her.

I sang songs with her. I even knelt in prayer beside her at our bed. And now you're telling me I can't enter in. And Christ says, sorry, depart from me.

You practice iniquity. You're an evildoer. And as he cast that husband into out of darkness, the very last thing he will see is the face of his wife. That's why. Listen, that's why the Bible says in hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Know what gnashing of teeth is? Gnashing of teeth is that gritting of the teeth where you are so angry and so bitter and so resentful. And so angry and who you have to be angry at? Yourself. Coupled with the weeping, that will never end. Never end. Why? Because you refused to bow today. That's why. You refused to bow today. How about you? Where do you stand with Jesus Christ? Where do you stand? Or should I say, where do you bow? Do you bow before him and recognize him as Lord and Savior? Or are you continued to be taken captive by Satan to do his will?