WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:02.330 Father God, thank you so much for this morning, 00:00:02.470 --> 00:00:07.549 God. God, we are just so thankful, Lord, just 00:00:07.549 --> 00:00:10.529 for this chance to gather together, God. For 00:00:10.529 --> 00:00:13.669 this chance to lift your name high and to learn 00:00:13.669 --> 00:00:16.089 from your word, God. And Lord, I just ask that 00:00:16.089 --> 00:00:18.730 this morning, would you give me your words and 00:00:18.730 --> 00:00:22.850 nothing but your word, God. Lord, would you quiet 00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:25.170 our hearts of any distractions and help us to 00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:28.750 learn from this passage, God. Lord, as we look 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:31.609 at it, help us learn more about you, more about 00:00:31.609 --> 00:00:35.049 our Savior, more about how we should live. But 00:00:35.049 --> 00:00:36.469 God, help it not just to say as head knowledge, 00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:38.329 would you change our hearts with it, Father? 00:00:39.649 --> 00:00:43.189 Be at work in this room now, God. As we gather 00:00:43.189 --> 00:00:46.149 today and celebrate Joel being baptized, God, 00:00:46.270 --> 00:00:48.469 would you just work in our hearts, God, if there's 00:00:48.469 --> 00:00:51.049 anyone here who doesn't know you, would you be 00:00:51.049 --> 00:00:54.030 at work right now in bringing them into a personal 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:57.039 relationship with you? Lord, we just thank you 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.280 so much. We lift all this up in your name. Amen. 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:04.859 Here at Cornerstone, we like to do something. 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:06.340 We're going to start off by reading the passage 00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:07.700 we'll be looking at today. Let me ask that you 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.049 would just stand with us. You know, we do this, 00:01:10.049 --> 00:01:11.670 and it might sound a little different at first, 00:01:11.750 --> 00:01:12.950 but we do it actually because this is what the 00:01:12.950 --> 00:01:14.650 Israelites were told to do by God in the book 00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:16.469 of Ezra. They gathered together, they stood, 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:19.090 and they heard the word of the Lord taught. And 00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:20.370 so we're not going to stand the entire time, 00:01:20.409 --> 00:01:21.969 but I'm going to ask you just to stand with us 00:01:21.969 --> 00:01:25.930 as we read Genesis 37 verses 1 through 11. This 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:28.269 is the word of God. It says, Jacob lived in the 00:01:28.269 --> 00:01:30.030 land where his father had stayed, the land of 00:01:30.030 --> 00:01:32.650 Canaan. These are the family records of Jacob. 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:35.370 At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with 00:01:35.370 --> 00:01:37.650 his brothers. And the young man was working with 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:39.769 the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:42.049 and he brought a bad report about them to their 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:45.189 father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than his 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:47.709 other sons because Joseph was a son born to him 00:01:47.709 --> 00:01:50.090 in his old age, and he made a long -sleeved robe 00:01:50.090 --> 00:01:52.650 for him. When his brothers saw that their father 00:01:52.650 --> 00:01:55.209 loved him more than all his brothers, they hated 00:01:55.209 --> 00:01:57.930 him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably 00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:01.769 to him. And then Joseph had a dream. When he 00:02:01.769 --> 00:02:03.269 told it to his brothers, they hated him even 00:02:03.269 --> 00:02:05.409 more. He said to them, listen to the dream that 00:02:05.409 --> 00:02:09.110 I had. There we were, binding sheaves of grain 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:10.870 in the field, and suddenly my sheaf stood up, 00:02:10.969 --> 00:02:13.030 and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:16.169 down to my sheaf. Are you really going to reign 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:18.590 over us, his brothers asked him. Are you really 00:02:18.590 --> 00:02:21.330 going to rule us? And so they hated him even 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:23.650 more because of his dream and what he had said. 00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:25.530 And then he had another dream and told it to 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:28.490 his brothers. Look, he said, I had another dream, 00:02:28.490 --> 00:02:30.330 and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:33.050 were bowing down to me. And he told his brothers, 00:02:33.210 --> 00:02:36.280 or his father and brothers, His father rebuked 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:38.360 him. What kind of a dream is this that you've 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:40.680 had, he said? Am I and your mother and your brothers 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:42.560 really going to come and bow down to the ground 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:44.860 before you? And his brothers were jealous of 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:47.960 him. But look at this last line, but his father 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:51.460 kept the matter in mind. That's the word of God. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:56.979 You may be seated. Friends, here at Cornerstone, 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.699 we believe that preaching should come directly 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:01.099 from the Word of God. And so that's what we're 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:02.219 going to do today. We're going to look at this 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:04.439 passage and see what we can learn about a couple 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:06.240 different things. But there's kind of five questions 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.139 I like to ask when I'm studying the Old Testament 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:12.520 for myself. First, what is the big idea of this 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.219 passage? What is the stuff that happens in this? 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:18.180 Secondly, what's the main point or the main theme 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:20.680 of this passage? What is really going on here? 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:22.639 You know, sometimes you might read a passage 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:25.620 and you're like, okay. I get it. So for instance, 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:27.099 if you go into like the prophet Isaiah, there's 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:29.800 some crazy stuff that God asks Isaiah to do. 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:31.379 And he says, you know, go do this and show my 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:34.560 people this by doing this, by eating this type 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.439 of bread or by laying like this for this length 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:39.919 of time. We were like, wow, okay. That's cool. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.099 That's definitely what happened. But we need 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:42.460 to ask ourselves a deeper question. What's the 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:45.180 big idea here? What's the main point that is 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:46.639 going on? What's the main theme that God is getting 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.139 at? Then I have to ask three more questions. 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:51.259 What does this passage teach us about God? What 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:53.819 does this passage teach us about Jesus? And what 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:57.180 does this passage teach us about man, about ourselves, 00:03:57.340 --> 00:03:59.580 about how we should live? And so today we're 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.240 going to see those five different questions answered, 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.539 and we're going to jump right to that first big 00:04:03.539 --> 00:04:05.659 theme, that main theme, that main idea. Here's 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:07.659 what we're going to get at today. Our main point 00:04:07.659 --> 00:04:10.699 is this. Joseph is a foreshadowing of our true 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:13.849 and better Savior. Joseph is a foreshadowing 00:04:13.849 --> 00:04:15.669 of our true and better Savior. This fall, as 00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:17.370 we go through the life of Joseph, we are going 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:19.790 to see this over and over again, that Joseph 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:22.290 is both an incredible man of faith who we should 00:04:22.290 --> 00:04:24.949 probably live a little more like, but also that 00:04:24.949 --> 00:04:27.569 Joseph foreshadows the greatest Savior we could 00:04:27.569 --> 00:04:30.949 ever have, our true and better Savior, Jesus. 00:04:32.029 --> 00:04:33.310 So there's going to be a lot of highs that we 00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:35.430 see throughout the life of Joseph. There's some 00:04:35.430 --> 00:04:37.569 lows that we see. We'll see a lot of lows next 00:04:37.569 --> 00:04:40.189 week, actually. But then we'll see also some 00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:43.350 highs. Some highs as he's able to save the lives 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:47.029 of his family from a famine. Some highs as we 00:04:47.029 --> 00:04:50.050 see God providing for him and for his family 00:04:50.050 --> 00:04:54.449 as a whole. But really, the climax of the entire 00:04:54.449 --> 00:04:57.209 life of Joseph comes at the very end of the book 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:03.029 of Genesis. If you're kind of in my generation, 00:05:03.189 --> 00:05:04.949 you might be thinking, oh, Daniel's about to 00:05:04.949 --> 00:05:07.850 say Genesis 50 -20, and then Joseph looks at 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:08.970 them and says, hey, you planned evil against 00:05:08.970 --> 00:05:11.310 me, but don't worry, God used it for good. That's 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:13.810 not actually the climax. I would argue that the 00:05:13.810 --> 00:05:15.990 climax verse, the climactic verse of this entire 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:19.189 section of the book of Genesis actually comes 00:05:19.189 --> 00:05:22.550 in Genesis 49. So when Jacob is talking to his 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:25.110 sons and he's talking specifically to Judah, 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:27.730 this is what he says to his son Judah. He says, 00:05:27.829 --> 00:05:29.970 the scepter will not depart from Judah or the 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:32.529 staff from between his feet until he who's right 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.029 it is comes and the obedience of the people belongs 00:05:35.029 --> 00:05:38.269 to him. Then he says this, he ties his donkey 00:05:38.269 --> 00:05:41.529 to a vine and the colt of his donkey to the choice 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:43.810 vine. He washes his clothes and wine and his 00:05:43.810 --> 00:05:47.170 robes in the blood of grapes. Now, friends, you 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:49.089 might hear that and kind of like, okay, weird 00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:50.490 choice there, Daniel. That's a lot about grape 00:05:50.490 --> 00:05:53.509 juice. Friends, that's a messianic prophecy. 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:56.990 I want us to understand from the start of our 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:00.209 series today in Genesis chapter 37 that the life 00:06:00.209 --> 00:06:02.870 of Joseph points us directly and straight to 00:06:02.870 --> 00:06:05.759 the cross and to what Jesus did. Listen, we're 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:07.160 not just reading a fairy tale. We're not just 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:08.660 reading a collection of good things that some 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:12.240 guy did thousands of years ago. This is all pointing 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.540 us directly to Jesus. To Jesus who came into 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:18.879 Jerusalem, right in the cult of the donkey, who 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.620 washed his clothes, not in wine, but in blood, 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.800 his own blood, so that you and I could be saved. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.519 And so as we look through this series on Joseph, 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.560 I want you to keep that verse in mind. Chapter 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:34.759 49, verses 10 through 12. Keep that promise in 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:36.980 mind. Because that's where we're headed. And 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:38.180 everything we're going to see is going to point 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.560 us to how we need that greater Savior. That greater 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:45.000 Savior promised in Genesis chapter 49. There's 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:45.980 another thing we're going to see throughout this 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.079 series. There's a big contrast throughout the 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.639 life of Joseph. Here's kind of the contrast. 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:52.759 There's Joseph on one hand who's going to live 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:55.360 righteously and a faithful life even when bad 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:58.160 things happen. And then there's his brothers. 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:01.920 I hate to say it so somberly. His brothers live 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:05.540 a sinful life at all times. His brothers' lives 00:07:05.540 --> 00:07:08.040 are marked probably most predominantly by hatred, 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:13.120 by jealousy, by bitterness, by general wickedness, 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:16.980 by selfishness. Pretty much any sin under the 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:19.860 sun is going to accurately describe his brothers. 00:07:21.459 --> 00:07:22.959 So maybe you're sitting here today, maybe you're 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:24.800 brand new to the Bible, you have no idea what 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.839 the book of Genesis is, and that's okay. We're 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:29.420 going to talk about that for a minute. See, throughout 00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:31.720 Genesis, we see the Bible focus on a group of 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:33.279 people and tell the story of their lives. We 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.000 start off with creation, where God creates the 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:36.579 heavens and the earth and everything in the earth, 00:07:36.660 --> 00:07:38.839 and then we start to see these people that are 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.060 focused in on the first one being Adam, the first 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:43.600 man ever created, followed by Noah, then Abraham, 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:46.500 Isaac, Jacob, and finally Joseph. And so Genesis 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:48.980 37, in many ways, is really a transitional chapter 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:52.100 as we move from a study of the life of Jacob 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.220 previously, which I would highly recommend you 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:56.579 go back and read through, now into the life of 00:07:56.579 --> 00:07:59.670 Joseph, his son. As we start this transition, 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.209 look at verse 1 again with me. Genesis 37, 1, 00:08:02.250 --> 00:08:04.829 it says this, Jacob lived in the land where his 00:08:04.829 --> 00:08:08.129 father had stayed, the land of Canaan. So here's 00:08:08.129 --> 00:08:09.529 the setting of this transition, the setting of 00:08:09.529 --> 00:08:11.389 the start of the life of Joseph. It happens in 00:08:11.389 --> 00:08:13.550 the land of Canaan, what is now known today as 00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:16.290 Israel. The land of Canaan first becomes prominent 00:08:16.290 --> 00:08:17.910 during actually Abraham's life. You might remember 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:20.829 I just said there's Adam, Noah, and then Abraham. 00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:23.769 Well, in Genesis 12, 1 through 3, God speaks 00:08:23.769 --> 00:08:26.459 to Abraham, called Abram at the time. Listen 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:46.720 to what God says. It says, So God promises Abram, 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.759 or Abraham, that he will be a great nation. But 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:51.320 there's an act of obedience that Abraham needs 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:53.720 to do. He needs to leave his home, obey God, 00:08:53.779 --> 00:08:56.519 and move to this new land of Canaan. And Abraham 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:58.399 does that. He obeys God, but his story doesn't 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:00.039 end there. There's another prophecy we need to 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:03.419 understand. See, in Genesis 15, 13 through 16, 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:05.559 God makes this next promise. It says this, then 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:07.899 the Lord said to Abram, know this for certain, 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.080 your offspring, that'll be your descendants, 00:09:10.379 --> 00:09:13.519 will be resident aliens for 400 years in a land 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.519 that does not belong to them, will be enslaved 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:19.320 and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.059 they serve, and afterward they will go out with 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:24.500 many possessions. But you, Abram, you will go 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:26.139 to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:28.259 good old age. And the fourth generation, they 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:30.419 will return here 400 years later, for the iniquity 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:32.440 of the Amorites has not yet reached its full 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:34.480 measure. There's a whole lot going on in there. 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:37.120 Here's the important part to take away. God's 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.720 made this promise to Abraham that he will be 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.200 a great nation. God then promises Abraham that 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.500 his nation, his descendants, his offspring, will 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:46.899 be taken away into exile for 400 years, into 00:09:46.899 --> 00:09:49.519 a land they are not from, but that God will then 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.100 set them free. Friends, that is the story of 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:54.559 the Exodus right there, summarized in Genesis 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:58.860 chapter 15, promised in Genesis chapter 15. But 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:01.879 part of why I bring that up is because the story 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:03.919 of Joseph is going to be also the story of how 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:06.700 Israel ends up in Egypt, how God is going to 00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:09.659 then work all of this out, how all of these early 00:10:09.659 --> 00:10:12.039 promises in Genesis, all these early prophecies 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.059 about the Israelite people, which will ultimately 00:10:14.059 --> 00:10:17.080 point us to our need for a Savior, Jesus, all 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:19.600 start right here in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:25.059 and Genesis 37 here in the land of Canaan. And 00:10:25.059 --> 00:10:26.379 so let me try to do something a little crazy 00:10:26.379 --> 00:10:28.320 here. Let me try to summarize 36 chapters of 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.779 Genesis in two minutes for you, okay? I thought 00:10:31.779 --> 00:10:33.460 a lot about this. I practiced this a lot. I got 00:10:33.460 --> 00:10:34.580 it done in about five minutes. We'll see if we 00:10:34.580 --> 00:10:36.879 can go shorter, okay? We started there with Genesis 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.139 12. God speaks to Abram and he says, listen, 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:40.779 I'm going to make you into a great nation, but 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:42.159 you need to trust me and obey me. You need to 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:43.759 move from your homeland, from the land of Ur. 00:10:43.820 --> 00:10:45.799 You need to move to Canaan. And so that's exactly 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:49.580 what happens. You might be thinking, great, so 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:51.120 Abraham has a lot of kids, and this is super 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.940 easy for him, but it's not easy for him. Listen, 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:55.580 maybe the most significant part about Abraham, 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:57.419 the most significant unstated thing, if you've 00:10:57.419 --> 00:10:59.559 never heard of this man before, is that Abraham 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.919 is 100 years old before he has a child. At 100 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:04.120 years old, God comes to him and says, you're 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.279 going to have a child now. His wife's 90, and 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.080 they start laughing at God, because that's impossible. 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:12.080 But with God, nothing is impossible. So they 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.259 have a son, that son is named Isaac, and Abraham 00:11:14.259 --> 00:11:16.159 has some other sons, including Ishmael, who we'll 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:18.019 actually see mentioned again next week, later 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:20.519 on in Genesis chapter 37. But after the life 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:21.860 of Abraham, after the start of the Israelite 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:23.700 people, then we see the Bible shift its focus 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:27.399 to Isaac. And Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob. 00:11:27.620 --> 00:11:29.600 And Esau and Jacob fight, they don't get along 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.419 at all. Esau is a big hunter, he's an outdoorsman, 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:34.720 okay? To use an example from my own life, I went 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:36.860 to the University of Wyoming, and we had a lot 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:39.009 of what we would call ag boys there. And you 00:11:39.009 --> 00:11:40.210 always could tell an ag boy because they were 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:41.649 walking around in their big cowboy boots and, 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:44.210 you know, they just, there was a type, right? 00:11:44.549 --> 00:11:45.950 You know, they would show up at 8 a .m., they'd 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:49.309 be chewing already. Okay, that was Esau. Esau's 00:11:49.309 --> 00:11:50.889 a big hunter, he's an outdoorsman, he's tough, 00:11:51.049 --> 00:11:53.950 he's physical, he's that macho man. Jacob's really 00:11:53.950 --> 00:11:56.809 not. Okay, Jacob, it says, likes to kind of hang 00:11:56.809 --> 00:11:58.309 out around the camp, he likes to stay home, he 00:11:58.309 --> 00:12:00.529 learns to cook and he makes stew, stuff like 00:12:00.529 --> 00:12:03.220 that. And Jacob ends up actually tricking Esau 00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:05.460 out of his birthright, also known as his inheritance, 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:07.799 and taking basically everything that Esau should 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:10.799 have gotten as the firstborn son. Well, Jacob 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:12.899 realizes all of a sudden that his older brother, 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.639 Mr. Tough Guy, is not going to be super happy 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:17.700 with him. And he finds out that Esau plans to 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:20.419 kill him. And so Jacob flees, and then he eventually 00:12:20.419 --> 00:12:22.899 returns in very dramatic fashion, followed by 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.600 all of his wives and kids and livestock and servants 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.120 and everything else. And he goes, and then he 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.889 wrestles with the pre -incarnate Jesus. He has 00:12:29.889 --> 00:12:31.389 something called a Christophany, or literally 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:34.070 where Jesus appears to him before Jesus is incarnate. 00:12:34.710 --> 00:12:36.730 And then Jacob has his name changed in that. 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:38.889 So if you ever hear the name of Israel in the 00:12:38.889 --> 00:12:40.409 story of Joseph, which you will in these next 00:12:40.409 --> 00:12:44.269 13 chapters, that is referring to Jacob. The 00:12:44.269 --> 00:12:46.009 other major thing you need to know about Jacob 00:12:46.009 --> 00:12:49.669 is this. He has two wives, Leah and Rachel. They're 00:12:49.669 --> 00:12:52.049 sisters, and Jacob, it's very explicit, loves 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:55.610 Rachel more than Leah. We need to be very clear 00:12:55.610 --> 00:12:58.320 on something. I don't recommend that. I don't 00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:59.700 recommend having two wives, and neither does 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:02.460 the Bible. Sometimes the Bible is prescriptive 00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:04.600 and tells us exactly what we need to do. Sometimes 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:06.700 the Bible is descriptive or tells us what happened. 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:09.100 The Bible is descriptive when it talks about 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:12.080 Jacob. It's not a recommendation from God. In 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.480 addition to Leah and Rachel, Jacob also has some 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.179 sons with their servants, which is a cultural 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:18.840 thing, and it totals 12 sons and one daughter 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.159 in all. And let me be... really clear on this. 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:26.700 These sons actually really matter. So let me 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:27.960 go ahead and give you the names of the 12 sons. 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:29.320 I'm not expecting you to remember this. I'm not 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:30.700 going to test you on this, but I do think it 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.000 matters that we know who these sons are as we 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:34.799 prepare to go through the life of Joseph. So 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:36.799 we start off with this, the oldest son. I want 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.240 you to listen to the moms also, because you're 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.639 going to notice something about the order that 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:42.279 these kids are born in. His oldest is Reuben, 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:44.539 son of Leah, followed by Simeon, son of Leah, 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:46.659 followed by Levi, son of Leah, followed by Judah, 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:49.820 son of Leah, followed by Dan, son of Bilhah. 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:51.940 That's one of the servants. Followed by Naphtali, 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:53.600 son of Bilhah, one of the servants. Followed 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:55.799 by Gad, son of Zilpah, another one of the servants. 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:58.840 Followed by Asher, son of Zilpah. Followed by 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:02.279 Issachar, son of Leah. Followed by Zebulun, son 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.919 of Leah. Followed by Dinah, daughter of Leah, 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:08.120 the only recorded daughter of Jacob. I think 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:09.399 we can all be sympathetic for a second. Growing 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.259 up with 12 brothers that hate each other must 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:14.279 have been really hard for her. But in all seriousness, 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:16.720 have you noticed something yet? Three of the 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:18.820 women have had kids, but there's one who has 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:22.169 not. And that was Jacob's favorite wife, pretty 00:14:22.169 --> 00:14:28.370 explicitly Rachel. And then son 11 is born. Joseph, 00:14:28.450 --> 00:14:33.590 son of Rachel. Joseph, the favorite son, the 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:36.370 son of his favorite wife, followed by Benjamin, 00:14:36.490 --> 00:14:38.970 son of Rachel, who dies while she gives birth 00:14:38.970 --> 00:14:42.529 to him. That is the family of Jacob that we're 00:14:42.529 --> 00:14:46.370 introduced to here in Genesis chapter 37. It's 00:14:46.370 --> 00:14:47.750 Jacob's family in a nutshell, and they live in 00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:49.470 the land of Canaan at this time, the land where 00:14:49.470 --> 00:14:51.750 their forefather had moved them to. And so in 00:14:51.750 --> 00:14:53.690 verse 1, we learned where they are, and we summarize 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:55.769 about 25 chapters of Genesis. And now in verse 00:14:55.769 --> 00:14:57.289 2, we're going to see more of this transition 00:14:57.289 --> 00:14:59.690 of Scripture talking about Jacob moving over 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.149 to Joseph. So look at verses 2 through 4 with 00:15:02.149 --> 00:15:03.309 me. This is what it says. It says, these are 00:15:03.309 --> 00:15:06.789 the family records of Jacob. At 17 years of age, 00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:09.690 Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young 00:15:09.690 --> 00:15:11.789 man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:13.590 his father's wives, and he brought a bad report 00:15:13.590 --> 00:15:16.299 about them to their father. Now Israel loved 00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:19.000 Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.419 was a son born to him in his old age. We could 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:23.940 also add this part in, because Joseph was the 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:27.259 oldest of his favorite wife. And so he made a 00:15:27.259 --> 00:15:28.919 long -sleeved robe for him. You might have heard 00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.299 that translated before as a coat of many colors. 00:15:31.700 --> 00:15:33.759 The more accurate translation is a long -sleeved 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.639 robe, but it is literally a sign of royalty. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:38.980 When his brothers saw their father loved him 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.679 more than all of his brothers, They hated him 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.019 and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:47.899 to him. So when we meet Joseph, we meet a 17 00:15:47.899 --> 00:15:50.039 -year -old who's working as a shepherd. Now that's 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:51.600 a pretty common job at this time. It's actually 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.440 the job of his father. It's pretty common that 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.039 the youngest son in particular would be a shepherd, 00:15:55.059 --> 00:15:57.320 that the younger sons would be. But it was also 00:15:57.320 --> 00:15:59.000 where Jacob's wealth would come from, Isaac's 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:00.360 wealth, and Abraham's wealth. It would all come 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.059 from their time as shepherds and taking care 00:16:02.059 --> 00:16:05.490 of sheep and livestock. And so Joseph and his 00:16:05.490 --> 00:16:06.830 brothers are continuing on in this business, 00:16:06.909 --> 00:16:09.690 and so we see him in verse 2 out there working 00:16:09.690 --> 00:16:11.629 with his brothers. We actually know which brothers 00:16:11.629 --> 00:16:13.009 they are. He's working with his half -brothers, 00:16:13.049 --> 00:16:17.090 specifically Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:19.330 after working with them, he brings back a negative 00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:22.649 report to his father. It doesn't say explicitly 00:16:22.649 --> 00:16:24.389 why it's negative, but he brings back a negative 00:16:24.389 --> 00:16:30.000 report to his father. But there's something bigger 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.120 going on here than just a negative report. There's 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:33.620 something more than just Joseph being a little 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:36.679 bit maybe of a tattle. There's a trigger to this 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:39.159 tension between the brothers that we see. We 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:42.659 see it in verse 3. It's one thing to know or 00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:44.860 to think, I think that Joseph is the favorite 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:46.919 brother. It is another thing to have visible 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:49.820 confirmation of that. And that is exactly what 00:16:49.820 --> 00:16:52.740 happens in verse 3. If we can go ahead and put 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:54.419 verse 3 up on the screen. That's exactly what 00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:59.259 happens in verse 3. The favorite is Joseph. In 00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:01.360 fact, Jacob loves Joseph so much that he makes 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:04.599 him a long -sleeved robe. It's a thing that's 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.059 reserved for kings. And Jacob's a really wealthy 00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:08.619 guy. Understand that he's got a lot of livestock. 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:10.140 He's got all of the means to be able to create 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:12.900 this long -sleeved robe. But culture would dictate 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:14.380 that you would give it to your oldest son or 00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:16.759 to Reuben. That it would be his sign of his inheritance. 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:18.519 That it would be a promise to Reuben, a sign 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:23.430 of his pride. It was a big gift. And you might 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:25.170 have gotten a really nice gift before. When I 00:17:25.170 --> 00:17:26.990 graduated college and began seminary, my parents 00:17:26.990 --> 00:17:30.650 bought me a really nice study Bible. I keep it 00:17:30.650 --> 00:17:32.410 in my office basically all the time, so it was 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:33.950 a really thoughtful gift. It meant a ton to me. 00:17:35.509 --> 00:17:38.109 It just meant so much to me for a lot of reasons. 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:41.829 But this gift of this long -sleeved coat would 00:17:41.829 --> 00:17:44.049 have been a little bit more like this. It would 00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:45.089 have been like if my dad had come over to my 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:47.509 college apartment, which was a total dump. It 00:17:47.509 --> 00:17:49.890 was awful. Hope refused to come there, actually, 00:17:49.910 --> 00:17:53.839 because it was so gross. it would have been like 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:55.380 my dad looked at me and said, do you see the 00:17:55.380 --> 00:17:57.339 brand new McLaren that's sitting in the street? 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:00.720 That is yours now, Daniel. That's yours because 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.599 you're my favorite son. I'm his only son. But 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.140 that would have been my dad saying, instead of 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:07.539 just a Bible, I gave you a McLaren, have fun. 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.319 I'm also covering the insurance for it. Okay, 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:12.859 that's what Jacob's just done. He's taken his 00:18:12.859 --> 00:18:14.380 insurance. There's already tension. There's already 00:18:14.380 --> 00:18:16.380 this perceived Joseph's the favorite because 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.799 Joseph is the son of the favorite wife. And now 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:20.640 he's poured gas on it. He's taken a match and 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.069 he's lit it. This robe is the top -of -the -line 00:18:23.069 --> 00:18:25.349 gift, and everyone would have expected to go 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:27.470 to Reuben, but it doesn't. It goes to Joseph. 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:29.329 It goes to the golden child who can do no wrong, 00:18:29.369 --> 00:18:31.910 the perfect son who's never in the wrong. And 00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:33.950 when the brothers see this, they are jealous 00:18:33.950 --> 00:18:36.190 of him, and they start to hate him even more. 00:18:37.069 --> 00:18:38.950 I think it can be easy for us to look at this 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:41.150 and be like, well, I would never hate somebody 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.609 for getting a gift. But we do. We get jealous 00:18:43.609 --> 00:18:46.630 of people all the time. That person that's a 00:18:46.630 --> 00:18:47.630 little bit cooler than us, that's a little bit 00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:49.430 smarter than us, that's got a little more money 00:18:49.430 --> 00:18:51.309 than us, that's a little prettier than us, that's 00:18:51.309 --> 00:18:52.569 a little more athletic than we are, that's a 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:55.029 little more popular than we are. We look at that 00:18:55.029 --> 00:18:56.789 person, we get jealous of them. Well, if only 00:18:56.789 --> 00:18:57.890 I could be like that person. If only I could 00:18:57.890 --> 00:19:00.289 be like this or like that. And over time, that 00:19:00.289 --> 00:19:02.569 jealousy starts to grow in our hearts, and if 00:19:02.569 --> 00:19:05.569 we let it grow, it becomes bitterness. And as 00:19:05.569 --> 00:19:07.230 we become bitter, we start to change the way 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:08.650 that we look at that person. We start trying 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:10.890 to intentionally find faults and weaknesses. 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:12.670 And eventually, that just turns into straight 00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:16.059 -up hatred, where we hate that person. We don't 00:19:16.059 --> 00:19:17.200 hate them necessarily because they've done anything 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:19.279 to us. We hate them because we hate the idea 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:21.579 of them, because we see what they are and what 00:19:21.579 --> 00:19:24.000 we think we're not. And that's what's happening 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.440 here with the brothers. The brothers hate each 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:28.140 other. They've been jealous of Joseph for being 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:30.279 the favorite. They've let bitterness grow in 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:32.500 their hearts, and now they just hate him. They 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:34.200 can barely even be in the same room as one another. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:38.579 The tension is thick. I cannot imagine what a 00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:40.440 family dinner must have been like with this group 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:42.579 of brothers, because they can't talk to each 00:19:42.579 --> 00:19:46.619 other peaceably. They just can't. There's a show 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:49.140 that just ended actually last year called Yellowstone, 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:51.339 and I would not recommend watching it, but there 00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:53.980 is one theme throughout it, which is family dinner. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:56.400 And at family dinner, it always devolves into 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.339 the sister yelling at the brother and the dad 00:19:58.339 --> 00:20:00.539 about how terrible they are. And every family 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:02.440 dinner ends up with somebody yelling and screaming 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:03.960 and usually something getting thrown across the 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:06.759 room. I think that's a pretty good insight into 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:08.400 what this would have looked like for these brothers. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:12.140 They hate Joseph. Yeah, they're good to go eat 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:14.990 with Jacob, as long as Joseph isn't there. They're 00:20:14.990 --> 00:20:17.430 good to go be together as long as Joseph isn't 00:20:17.430 --> 00:20:22.789 there. They absolutely hate each other over a 00:20:22.789 --> 00:20:24.990 gift because they've grown jealous and they've 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:28.109 grown bitter. And something happens in verse 00:20:28.109 --> 00:20:30.970 5 through 8. It's really going to take this situation, 00:20:31.069 --> 00:20:33.470 this tension, from a 10 to about a 15 out of 00:20:33.470 --> 00:20:35.660 10. Look at verses 5 through 8 with me. It says 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:37.839 this, Then Joseph had a dream. We told it to 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.039 his brothers. They hated him even more. He said 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.299 to them, Listen to this dream that I had. There 00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:45.160 we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field, 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:47.259 and suddenly my sheaf stood up. That's going 00:20:47.259 --> 00:20:50.299 to represent Joseph. And your sheaves, that represents 00:20:50.299 --> 00:20:54.039 the brothers, gathered around it and bowed down 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:58.599 to my sheaf. Okay, before I read verse 8, let 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:00.779 me just be very clear what's going on here. Joseph 00:21:00.779 --> 00:21:02.500 has had a dream that his brothers are bowing 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:05.680 down to him like he is their king. Okay? They 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.119 already think he's got an ego problem. They already 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:08.920 think he's got issues. And then this happens. 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.000 And that's exactly what verse 8 says. Are you 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.420 really going to reign over us, his brothers asked 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:15.559 him? Are you really going to rule us? Now, we 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:17.579 already knew they hated him. But look at this 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:20.720 sentence. So they hated him even more because 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.119 of his dream and what he had said. What did I 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:25.279 talk about? Jealousy becomes bitterness. Bitterness 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.339 leads to hatred. They already hate him. They 00:21:27.339 --> 00:21:30.000 can hate him even more and more and more and 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.220 more. This entire thing is a process. That's 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:34.900 where the magic word then comes from in verse 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:37.059 5. There's been a bad report. There's been this 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:38.480 coat. They're jealous. They're bitter. They're 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.940 angry. And then Joseph has a dream. And as Joseph 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:44.140 tells them his dream, they hate him even more. 00:21:44.420 --> 00:21:46.900 This dream that they're all bowing down to him 00:21:46.900 --> 00:21:51.420 and praising him as their king. It's humiliating. 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:54.680 In this culture where everything is built off 00:21:54.680 --> 00:21:57.980 of honor and respect, and avoiding shame. He's 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:00.039 saying that he will rule over his older brothers 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:02.799 who should have that authority over him. He's 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.740 already got the robe of a king, and now he's 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:07.740 saying that he will rule them as a king. And 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:10.480 the brothers get angrier and angrier and angrier, 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:13.420 and we're still not done yet. We're just not. 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:15.779 Look at verses 9 through 11 with me. It says 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:18.000 this, then he had another dream, and he told 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.480 it to his brothers. Look, he said, I had another 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:23.440 dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.089 were bowing down to me. Let's stop right there 00:22:27.089 --> 00:22:32.089 for a second. It's not just the 11 brothers now. 00:22:32.150 --> 00:22:35.170 There's something a little different. There's 00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:37.069 11 stars. Those 11 stars are clearly going to 00:22:37.069 --> 00:22:39.289 be his brothers. But then there's also the sun 00:22:39.289 --> 00:22:43.369 and the moon. The sun represents Jacob. The moon 00:22:43.369 --> 00:22:47.289 represents his wife, Leah. So Jacob hears this 00:22:47.289 --> 00:22:49.609 in verse 10. Let me keep reading. And in verse 00:22:49.609 --> 00:22:51.890 10, it says this. He told his father and his 00:22:51.890 --> 00:22:54.089 brothers, and his father rebuked him. What kind 00:22:54.089 --> 00:22:55.410 of a dream is this that you've had, he said? 00:22:55.490 --> 00:22:57.710 Am I and your mother and your brothers really 00:22:57.710 --> 00:22:59.230 going to come and bow down to the ground before 00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:01.410 you? And his brothers, look at that word again, 00:23:01.569 --> 00:23:05.490 were jealous of him. But his father kept the 00:23:05.490 --> 00:23:10.710 matter in mind. So Jacob hears this dream, and 00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:13.490 even though Joseph is his favorite son, Jacob 00:23:13.490 --> 00:23:15.950 calls him out on him. He rebukes him. He gets 00:23:15.950 --> 00:23:17.309 on him about this. That's not the right thing 00:23:17.309 --> 00:23:19.279 to say. It tells him to be quiet because he sounds 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.599 absolutely crazy because after all, why would 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:25.259 a father bow down to a son? He's probably a part 00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:27.200 of Jacob here who's kind of thinking, I've already 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.960 given you this great honor. I've already given 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.279 you this great robe. You already know that you're 00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:31.359 my favorite. You already know you're going to 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:34.180 get everything that I have when I die. What more 00:23:34.180 --> 00:23:36.519 do you need from me? Why is it now that you're 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:37.900 telling me that I'm going to come bow down before 00:23:37.900 --> 00:23:40.660 you? Like, why would you come up with this? Why 00:23:40.660 --> 00:23:42.200 would you start telling people this? That doesn't 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:46.259 make any sense at all. The only reason that Jacob 00:23:46.259 --> 00:23:50.930 would ever have to bow down before his son is 00:23:50.930 --> 00:23:53.730 if the son has complete power and authority over 00:23:53.730 --> 00:23:57.150 the situation. And I promise that there is a 00:23:57.150 --> 00:24:00.910 tie -in to our main point, to the fact that all 00:24:00.910 --> 00:24:04.809 of this foreshadows Jesus. Understand something, 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:06.549 there is another son in the Bible who has complete 00:24:06.549 --> 00:24:11.230 authority, and that is Jesus. Verses 10 and 11 00:24:11.230 --> 00:24:12.750 are not just a statement of fact, although they 00:24:12.750 --> 00:24:15.009 are. They also show us a similarity and a link 00:24:15.009 --> 00:24:20.009 between Joseph and our true Savior. See, we've 00:24:20.009 --> 00:24:22.990 seen already this contrast, Joseph, the hardworking, 00:24:23.029 --> 00:24:26.230 honest, humble, truthful son, right? Because 00:24:26.230 --> 00:24:27.710 he could have lied for his brothers when they 00:24:27.710 --> 00:24:29.410 were in the field. He could have chosen not to 00:24:29.410 --> 00:24:32.950 bring a bad report to his father. He could have 00:24:32.950 --> 00:24:36.170 said, well, you know, Dad, things happened, and 00:24:36.170 --> 00:24:38.650 it was hard, and we, you know, didn't get as 00:24:38.650 --> 00:24:41.349 much done as you asked us to, but we did our 00:24:41.349 --> 00:24:44.269 best. But he doesn't. He brings a bad report. 00:24:45.769 --> 00:24:48.349 He brings a bad report about his brothers. And 00:24:48.349 --> 00:24:49.829 on the other hand, like we saw today, his brothers 00:24:49.829 --> 00:24:53.349 are lazy. They're jealous. And really, jealousy 00:24:53.349 --> 00:24:54.970 shows something else about them. Jealousy shows 00:24:54.970 --> 00:24:58.069 that they are prideful people. They're filled 00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:00.089 with pride. They think too highly of themselves. 00:25:00.349 --> 00:25:03.130 They hate Joseph. They're filled with hatred. 00:25:03.250 --> 00:25:06.309 They want Joseph dead. I don't know about you, 00:25:06.349 --> 00:25:08.369 at least when I was in a youth group, when I 00:25:08.369 --> 00:25:09.710 was younger, a lot of times I'd hear people be 00:25:09.710 --> 00:25:11.589 like, don't say that you hate somebody because... 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:14.539 Hatred is a really strong word, and hatred is 00:25:14.539 --> 00:25:17.500 the equivalent of wanting someone to die. Don't 00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:18.920 miss this. That's how his brothers feel about 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:23.559 him. His brothers want him to die. The Bible 00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:25.539 uses that word very intentionally. It doesn't 00:25:25.539 --> 00:25:27.180 just say they strongly dislike him, they have 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.779 strong displeasure with Joseph. His brothers 00:25:29.779 --> 00:25:36.220 hate him. They're the opposite of peaceful, as 00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:37.700 you see if you back up a little bit in Genesis. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:41.380 They're immoral, as we'll see in a couple weeks. 00:25:41.900 --> 00:25:43.599 They're rebellious, and as we'll see next week, 00:25:43.619 --> 00:25:47.960 they are dishonest. This contrast matters a ton. 00:25:49.380 --> 00:25:52.819 See, this contrast, it's not just about a bunch 00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:55.200 of brothers back in the day. This contrast shows 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.799 us the difference between sinful living and righteous 00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:00.640 living. But it's also furthering this link between 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:03.220 Joseph and Jesus, something that continues on 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:05.339 in verse 11. We see that Jacob keeps the matter 00:26:05.339 --> 00:26:07.700 in mind. That's actually parallel wording to 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.319 something that happens in Luke 1 and 2. Throughout 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:12.839 Luke 1 and 2, as Mary is visited by an angel, 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.400 as Mary is visited by the shepherds, Mary continually 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:18.099 talks about treasuring things in her heart and 00:26:18.099 --> 00:26:20.319 her mind. She's remembering things. She's meditating 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:22.839 on them. She's considering what's going on all 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.539 around her friends. That is purposeful wording. 00:26:26.410 --> 00:26:28.069 I don't want you to think that's just an accident 00:26:28.069 --> 00:26:30.190 or that's just some coincidence. It's not. That 00:26:30.190 --> 00:26:33.069 is purposeful wording throughout the Bible. That 00:26:33.069 --> 00:26:35.690 Jacob is treasuring in his mind what Joseph says. 00:26:36.289 --> 00:26:38.029 Notice, he might rebuke him publicly and say, 00:26:38.109 --> 00:26:39.829 hey, Joseph, stop saying that to your brothers 00:26:39.829 --> 00:26:42.250 and me. But he also keeps it in mind. He considers 00:26:42.250 --> 00:26:45.710 it. He says, maybe this is God talking. Maybe 00:26:45.710 --> 00:26:48.829 God's doing something here. In the same way, 00:26:48.970 --> 00:26:51.269 Mary's going to do the same thing when an angel 00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:52.490 visits her and tells her she's going to have 00:26:52.490 --> 00:26:56.140 a son. when the shepherds come and praise her 00:26:56.140 --> 00:27:00.220 son, her new baby. I've never had a child. I'm 00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:01.940 also not a woman, so I can't ever be a mom. But 00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:04.279 I would imagine that most moms don't expect to 00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:06.319 have a bunch of random strangers just show up 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.299 and start bowing down and worshiping their sons. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.839 I think most moms would probably be a little 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.359 on edge if that happened. But Mary isn't on edge. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:18.980 Instead, Mary treasures it in her heart. She 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:21.640 keeps it in her mind. She considers it and she 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:23.640 remembers that something is different about her 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:25.579 son, much the same way that Jacob is remembering 00:27:25.579 --> 00:27:28.480 that something is different about Joseph. See, 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:29.839 there's some similarities beyond this just to 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:32.160 the context. Jesus and Joseph are both in an 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.900 evil place. They both come in peace. Notice, 00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:37.079 although that you could make an argument, I guess 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:38.619 in theory, that Joseph shouldn't have shared 00:27:38.619 --> 00:27:41.579 his dreams, Joseph doesn't do anything wrong 00:27:41.579 --> 00:27:45.819 in this chapter to deserve being hated. He brings 00:27:45.819 --> 00:27:48.519 a truthful report, although not positive, a truthful 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:50.890 report about his brothers. honoring his father. 00:27:51.970 --> 00:27:54.150 He tells the truth about what his dreams were. 00:27:56.410 --> 00:28:00.410 Comes in peace. Jesus comes in peace. Jesus comes 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:02.589 proclaiming in Mark 1 15, the kingdom of God 00:28:02.589 --> 00:28:05.450 is at hand, repent. Neither one of them is doing 00:28:05.450 --> 00:28:07.910 anything wrong, but at the same time, both are 00:28:07.910 --> 00:28:10.329 being hated and despised by the people around 00:28:10.329 --> 00:28:14.029 them. They also both will have the chance to 00:28:14.029 --> 00:28:16.869 save those same people who tried to hurt them. 00:28:17.800 --> 00:28:19.640 Joseph, just a little bit of foreshadowing here, 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:21.220 is going to have the chance to provide food and 00:28:21.220 --> 00:28:24.180 a new life to his family. Jesus gives us a new 00:28:24.180 --> 00:28:28.359 eternal life, a life that lasts forever. A life 00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:29.619 that's not just here on earth, but a life that 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:34.039 will last forever in heaven. Understand something. 00:28:34.099 --> 00:28:35.880 There's three things I want us to take away this 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:38.400 morning. And I promise we'll kind of answer these 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.799 five questions, right? First, what is it that 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:44.559 happens here? What's the big action? What really 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:48.529 is the big idea of what happened here? Well, 00:28:48.549 --> 00:28:50.930 what happened here is that Joseph had two dreams. 00:28:51.549 --> 00:28:53.390 They received a coat from his father that his 00:28:53.390 --> 00:28:55.150 brothers were filled with jealousy, bitterness, 00:28:55.450 --> 00:28:59.589 and hated him. It might seem like a weird place 00:28:59.589 --> 00:29:00.869 to stop for today, but I think it really matters 00:29:00.869 --> 00:29:03.490 that we stop there. We've got to understand something 00:29:03.490 --> 00:29:04.890 from that, and we'll talk about it in a minute. 00:29:05.609 --> 00:29:08.349 Secondly, what is the main theme or the main 00:29:08.349 --> 00:29:12.230 idea that's really getting pushed here? Well, 00:29:12.269 --> 00:29:14.750 the theme here is really about how Joseph is 00:29:14.750 --> 00:29:16.809 coming foreshadowing something so much greater. 00:29:17.800 --> 00:29:19.380 Third, what does this passage teach me about 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:21.299 God? Well, we're going to answer that here in 00:29:21.299 --> 00:29:24.839 a second. Fourth, what does this passage teach 00:29:24.839 --> 00:29:26.940 me about Jesus? It's another one of our applications 00:29:26.940 --> 00:29:30.039 today. And then fifth, what does this passage 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:32.220 teach me about man? So today, as we move into 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:33.339 a time where we're going to have three applications, 00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:35.519 three ways we can take this passage and practically 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.619 apply it to our lives today, let me encourage 00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:39.700 you to keep those questions in mind, especially 00:29:39.700 --> 00:29:41.920 those last three. What does this passage teach 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:44.039 me about God? What does this passage teach me 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:45.720 about Jesus? And what does this passage teach 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:48.579 me about mankind? Here's our first point of application. 00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:51.579 Joseph is a foreshadowing of our Savior, Jesus. 00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:54.799 I'm just going to spoil it here. This application 00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:56.880 is directly, what does this passage teach me 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:59.519 about Jesus? Joseph is a foreshadowing of our 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:03.740 Savior, Jesus. See, throughout the Bible, one 00:30:03.740 --> 00:30:05.099 of the things that we see in the Old Testament 00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:08.200 is our need for a Savior. It all starts in Genesis 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:09.680 chapter 1, where God creates the heavens and 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.279 the earth and everything in it, and God creates 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:14.220 it perfectly. In Genesis 1, 26 and 27, it actually 00:30:14.220 --> 00:30:16.440 says that God created man and was, God said that 00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:19.319 man was very good indeed. Man wasn't just good, 00:30:19.380 --> 00:30:21.960 man wasn't just okay, man was very good indeed. 00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:24.460 It's the creator of everything saying that. But 00:30:24.460 --> 00:30:26.400 in Genesis 3, things start to change, because 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:28.660 in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve decide they 00:30:28.660 --> 00:30:30.220 don't need to do things God's way, they can do 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:32.420 things their own way. And something called sin 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:34.839 enters the world. Sin is everything that we do 00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:37.720 that is wrong and is not perfectly holy in God's 00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:40.940 eyes. We could look at it like this. Sin is the 00:30:40.940 --> 00:30:43.660 sickness that all of mankind in our world has. 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:47.400 And there's a symptom of sin, and that is brokenness. 00:30:47.859 --> 00:30:51.779 Broken relationships, hatred, jealousy, bitterness. 00:30:54.039 --> 00:30:56.579 That emotional strife that we deal with, those 00:30:56.579 --> 00:30:58.619 hard times that we go through, that all is a 00:30:58.619 --> 00:31:04.609 part of brokenness. It can be really easy for 00:31:04.609 --> 00:31:08.269 us to try to treat that symptom, right? I feel 00:31:08.269 --> 00:31:10.890 broken, I'm hurting, I'm struggling. You know, 00:31:10.890 --> 00:31:12.289 today we might look at Joseph's brothers and 00:31:12.289 --> 00:31:13.490 be like, we're going to recommend some family 00:31:13.490 --> 00:31:15.789 counseling to you guys, and you guys can go sit 00:31:15.789 --> 00:31:17.369 down and talk through this stuff a little bit. 00:31:18.509 --> 00:31:19.970 But ultimately, that's not going to be the fix 00:31:19.970 --> 00:31:22.269 or the solution they need, because that's just 00:31:22.269 --> 00:31:24.329 treating the symptom. And sometimes when we get 00:31:24.329 --> 00:31:26.589 sick, a doctor might give us medicine that lessens 00:31:26.589 --> 00:31:29.650 the symptoms, but it doesn't fix the root cause. 00:31:31.470 --> 00:31:33.630 And in Joseph's case, he can treat some of the 00:31:33.630 --> 00:31:35.650 symptoms by providing some food for his brothers 00:31:35.650 --> 00:31:37.630 later on. He can treat some of the symptoms maybe 00:31:37.630 --> 00:31:39.329 by having a little more tact here in Genesis 00:31:39.329 --> 00:31:42.130 chapter 37 and knowing when to say what and when 00:31:42.130 --> 00:31:45.589 not to speak to his brothers. But this greater 00:31:45.589 --> 00:31:48.789 Savior, Jesus, he didn't come to treat a symptom. 00:31:48.890 --> 00:31:51.750 Jesus came to fix the sickness. Jesus came to 00:31:51.750 --> 00:31:53.450 treat the sickness. And this is what we read 00:31:53.450 --> 00:31:56.269 in 1 Corinthians 15. three and four. It says 00:31:56.269 --> 00:31:58.769 this, for I passed on to you is most important. 00:31:58.829 --> 00:32:00.349 This is what is most important. Please hear this. 00:32:00.369 --> 00:32:01.750 This is the most important thing you can hear 00:32:01.750 --> 00:32:04.069 all morning. What I also receive, that Christ 00:32:04.069 --> 00:32:06.369 died for our sins according to the scriptures, 00:32:06.609 --> 00:32:08.869 that he was buried, that he was raised on the 00:32:08.869 --> 00:32:10.910 third day according to the scriptures or the 00:32:10.910 --> 00:32:13.130 word of God, the Bible that we've been in all 00:32:13.130 --> 00:32:16.289 day. And because of that, because of what Jesus 00:32:16.289 --> 00:32:18.710 did, because he came to earth, because he lived 00:32:18.710 --> 00:32:21.990 a perfect life, a life with no sin, because he 00:32:21.990 --> 00:32:25.049 died on the cross, because he was buried, because 00:32:25.049 --> 00:32:27.750 he was raised on the third day, we can be saved. 00:32:28.650 --> 00:32:30.589 And here's the deal. All it takes, it's really 00:32:30.589 --> 00:32:33.250 simple, is just putting your faith in Jesus, 00:32:33.509 --> 00:32:38.029 confessing Jesus is Lord. And in our salvation, 00:32:38.210 --> 00:32:40.369 it's not just over. We're not just sitting there 00:32:40.369 --> 00:32:42.250 like, oh cool, that was great. Great, I've got 00:32:42.250 --> 00:32:44.349 my get out of jail free card. That's not what 00:32:44.349 --> 00:32:47.410 it is. In our salvation, we are given a new identity. 00:32:47.509 --> 00:32:50.369 We are made new. We're restored to God's design. 00:32:51.069 --> 00:32:53.690 And then we are given a mission. We are given 00:32:53.690 --> 00:32:56.069 a mission to bring this message to the world. 00:32:56.710 --> 00:32:58.769 And friends, that's what we are here doing every 00:32:58.769 --> 00:33:01.349 Sunday. We are reminded of the truth of what 00:33:01.349 --> 00:33:02.990 Jesus did, and then we go out and we live our 00:33:02.990 --> 00:33:05.470 lives each week bringing the message of salvation 00:33:05.470 --> 00:33:08.430 through Jesus and Jesus alone to the world all 00:33:08.430 --> 00:33:12.410 around us. And so today, let me call on you. 00:33:12.470 --> 00:33:15.990 If you've never placed your faith in Jesus, today, 00:33:16.089 --> 00:33:19.130 give up your bitterness, give up jealousy, give 00:33:19.130 --> 00:33:21.500 up that hurt. Stop trying to just fix a symptom. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:25.299 Go to the doctor who can truly fix the sickness. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:29.460 Our Savior who loves you so much that he gave 00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:32.599 his life for you and died for you. Put your faith 00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:37.279 in Jesus today. If you already know Jesus, then 00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.019 let me encourage you to reflect on this passage 00:33:39.019 --> 00:33:43.559 a little bit differently. Great. We know that 00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:47.299 Jesus is being foreshadowed by Joseph. But let 00:33:47.299 --> 00:33:51.190 me ask you. Does your life reflect the way that 00:33:51.190 --> 00:33:54.109 Jesus lived? Does your life scream dependence 00:33:54.109 --> 00:33:57.069 on God and faith in Jesus? Or if we're honest, 00:33:57.109 --> 00:33:58.609 is our life a little more like the brothers, 00:33:58.849 --> 00:34:04.609 full of jealousy, bitterness, and hatred? Friends, 00:34:04.690 --> 00:34:09.050 let me encourage you to be faithful, to be faithful 00:34:09.050 --> 00:34:12.449 in hard times and in good times. Even though 00:34:12.449 --> 00:34:13.809 it's not explicitly said in these 11 verses, 00:34:13.889 --> 00:34:15.309 I can promise you this, I don't think Joseph's 00:34:15.309 --> 00:34:16.650 a stupid guy. I think we see that throughout 00:34:16.650 --> 00:34:20.889 these next 13 chapters. He had to know there 00:34:20.889 --> 00:34:24.590 was tension in his family. He had to. It wasn't 00:34:24.590 --> 00:34:26.469 like they were hiding it, right? It says explicitly 00:34:26.469 --> 00:34:30.289 they can't speak peaceably to him. He knows something's 00:34:30.289 --> 00:34:34.230 wrong, but every day he's still faithful. He's 00:34:34.230 --> 00:34:35.969 faithful to bring the bad report about his brothers, 00:34:36.070 --> 00:34:39.010 even when a falsified good report might have 00:34:39.010 --> 00:34:41.070 made them like him a little bit more. He's faithful 00:34:41.070 --> 00:34:43.510 to bring that bad report. And so let me challenge 00:34:43.510 --> 00:34:46.969 us. Let's be faithful. Let's live not worried 00:34:46.969 --> 00:34:49.530 about other people's approval, but let's be faithful 00:34:49.530 --> 00:34:52.349 to rely on our true and better Savior and to 00:34:52.349 --> 00:34:54.289 live a life that is glorifying and honoring to 00:34:54.289 --> 00:34:56.449 him. Here's our second application for the day. 00:34:57.090 --> 00:34:59.360 I'm going to call this the sin snowball. This 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:02.019 teaches us about man in this passage. What are 00:35:02.019 --> 00:35:03.760 we taught about man in this passage? The sin 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:07.139 snowball. If we back all the way up even into 00:35:07.139 --> 00:35:10.440 Jacob's life, we see a whole lot of lies that 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:13.239 start to kind of snowball out of control. It 00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:15.039 starts all the way back with how does Jacob end 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.760 up with two wives, and it starts with his father 00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:18.840 -in -law tricking him into marrying Rachel's 00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:24.199 older sister. And that starts, which then causes 00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:26.659 Jacob to have a favorite wife, which then leads 00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:28.949 to a favorite child. which then leads to the 00:35:28.949 --> 00:35:31.190 other children becoming jealous, which leads 00:35:31.190 --> 00:35:33.769 to them becoming bitter and angry, which then 00:35:33.769 --> 00:35:37.789 leads to them hating their own brother. Friends, 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:41.150 sin snowballs. Even just from something as simple 00:35:41.150 --> 00:35:44.670 as this long -sleeved coat, we see Jacob's brothers 00:35:44.670 --> 00:35:48.190 begin to hate him even more. And let's be clear, 00:35:48.230 --> 00:35:49.530 there's nothing wrong with getting given a nice 00:35:49.530 --> 00:35:51.769 gift by your parents, but favoritism is wrong. 00:35:54.010 --> 00:35:55.829 Sin snowballs. And I want to address that today. 00:35:55.869 --> 00:35:58.550 Just head on. Do you have sin in your life that 00:35:58.550 --> 00:36:02.469 you need to address? Don't wait. Don't delay. 00:36:02.590 --> 00:36:03.969 Don't say, I'll handle that in six months. I'll 00:36:03.969 --> 00:36:05.070 handle that in a year. I'll handle that once 00:36:05.070 --> 00:36:07.030 I'm settled into my dorm, once I've settled into 00:36:07.030 --> 00:36:09.849 my class schedule. Address it today. Don't let 00:36:09.849 --> 00:36:12.869 sin snowball. Let me give you some examples of 00:36:12.869 --> 00:36:15.230 what that might look like. Maybe it's that little 00:36:15.230 --> 00:36:18.230 lie that keeps becoming bigger and bigger and 00:36:18.230 --> 00:36:22.030 bigger and bigger and bigger. I told this story 00:36:22.030 --> 00:36:24.510 before that I... I don't even know why I did 00:36:24.510 --> 00:36:25.949 this. I started this rumor on my floor that Michael 00:36:25.949 --> 00:36:27.869 Jordan died when I was a freshman in college. 00:36:29.030 --> 00:36:31.929 And it started so small and clearly outrageous. 00:36:32.369 --> 00:36:34.869 Like, it clearly made no sense. A Google search 00:36:34.869 --> 00:36:38.570 completely debunks this. But no one Googled it. 00:36:39.309 --> 00:36:41.230 And so I left for a couple hours, and I came 00:36:41.230 --> 00:36:43.730 back to a full -on vigil with candles being lit. 00:36:43.750 --> 00:36:45.369 Candles were not allowed in our dorms. They were 00:36:45.369 --> 00:36:47.630 lighting candles in our study room for this Michael 00:36:47.630 --> 00:36:50.530 Jordan vigil. And it goes on from there. And 00:36:50.530 --> 00:36:52.550 then somebody logs into Wikipedia to edit it 00:36:52.550 --> 00:36:54.050 to put on that he's died. I'm like, oh my gosh, 00:36:54.090 --> 00:36:56.469 this is getting out of control. Friends, sin 00:36:56.469 --> 00:36:59.489 snowballs. What starts as, honestly, a really 00:36:59.489 --> 00:37:02.309 stupid joke with a friend turns into something 00:37:02.309 --> 00:37:05.010 much bigger. And we do the same thing, whether 00:37:05.010 --> 00:37:06.989 it's a little lie or something bigger. Parents, 00:37:07.150 --> 00:37:09.230 maybe you've got a favorite child. Maybe you 00:37:09.230 --> 00:37:10.550 don't even want to admit that you've got a favorite 00:37:10.550 --> 00:37:14.380 child. Maybe it's not a lie. Maybe it's that 00:37:14.380 --> 00:37:15.800 day that you're upset in the morning. You just 00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:17.360 wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:20.219 know it for minute one. And you get upset when 00:37:20.219 --> 00:37:22.280 you get cut off at the interstate and you get 00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:24.099 upset at this next thing and this next thing 00:37:24.099 --> 00:37:25.199 and this next thing and this next thing and it 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:28.500 grows and it grows and it grows. And by the end 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:30.360 of the day, instead of it just being like, I'm 00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:32.480 just not in a great mood, you're just screaming 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:35.559 at people. Friends, sin snowballs. Cut sin out. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:39.559 There's this example from a TV show. called the 00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:42.019 circle of screaming. It's this idea that if your 00:37:42.019 --> 00:37:45.099 boss has a bad day, he yells it, like if the 00:37:45.099 --> 00:37:46.980 senior boss yells at your boss then because he's 00:37:46.980 --> 00:37:49.000 had a bad day, then your boss is upset because 00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:51.519 he got yelled at, so he yells at you. And so 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:53.420 you get mad because you've just been yelled at, 00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:55.360 so you go and you take it out on a family member 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:57.179 or someone around you. Then your family member 00:37:57.179 --> 00:37:58.840 takes it out at somebody else. For instance, 00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:00.440 maybe you're married to a teacher and they yell 00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:03.340 at a student the next day at school. And that 00:38:03.340 --> 00:38:06.179 student, as it turns out, is the child of your 00:38:06.179 --> 00:38:08.889 boss's boss. And this whole cycle repeats over 00:38:08.889 --> 00:38:11.130 and over and over again. And it's a humorous 00:38:11.130 --> 00:38:12.929 example, it really is, but the truth of the matter 00:38:12.929 --> 00:38:14.690 is that we do that type of stuff all the time. 00:38:15.469 --> 00:38:18.030 Where somebody else hurts us, and we say, you 00:38:18.030 --> 00:38:19.769 know what, I'm hurt and I have a right now to 00:38:19.769 --> 00:38:21.869 continue on in sin and to let this affect me 00:38:21.869 --> 00:38:23.690 for the rest of my day and the rest of my week 00:38:23.690 --> 00:38:26.010 and the rest of the month, I'm entitled to this. 00:38:26.389 --> 00:38:29.610 Friends, sin is not an entitlement. So let me 00:38:29.610 --> 00:38:33.730 call on you really simply, cut sin out. When 00:38:33.730 --> 00:38:35.389 you notice yourself starting to go down this 00:38:35.389 --> 00:38:37.309 road, when you find yourself being jealous of 00:38:37.309 --> 00:38:40.409 that person next to you, stop it there. Don't 00:38:40.409 --> 00:38:42.250 let it turn into that bitterness and hatred. 00:38:42.670 --> 00:38:46.929 Stop it there and go back to God. Sin snowballs. 00:38:47.010 --> 00:38:49.309 Don't let it. Here's the final application for 00:38:49.309 --> 00:38:52.250 today. Righteous living in an unrighteous time. 00:38:53.150 --> 00:38:55.869 This teaches us about God because it tells us 00:38:55.869 --> 00:38:58.070 what it is that God wants us to do and also about 00:38:58.070 --> 00:39:00.730 man because faith leads us to live differently. 00:39:02.889 --> 00:39:05.409 Let me just summarize this simply. Just because 00:39:05.409 --> 00:39:07.110 everyone else does something does not mean that 00:39:07.110 --> 00:39:09.889 you have to do it too. That sounds like a peer 00:39:09.889 --> 00:39:12.170 pressure conversation from like fifth grade. 00:39:12.210 --> 00:39:14.150 It's probably because I did work at a fifth grade 00:39:14.150 --> 00:39:17.949 daycare for a while. But it's also true. We live 00:39:17.949 --> 00:39:20.329 in a world that is naturally and in a sinful 00:39:20.329 --> 00:39:23.750 nature hostile to God. We live in a time that 00:39:23.750 --> 00:39:26.469 is hostile to God, that does not know God, does 00:39:26.469 --> 00:39:30.250 not understand God, does not follow God. And 00:39:30.250 --> 00:39:31.730 it's all around us if we're honest. I remember 00:39:31.730 --> 00:39:33.889 something as simple as this. When I was in college 00:39:33.889 --> 00:39:36.389 as a senior, I was in a class called Educational 00:39:36.389 --> 00:39:40.130 Methods for History. And it was great up until 00:39:40.130 --> 00:39:41.989 one day when our professor said, look around 00:39:41.989 --> 00:39:43.570 the room, this is who you're competing for jobs 00:39:43.570 --> 00:39:46.730 with. And I'll tell you what, we all went from 00:39:46.730 --> 00:39:48.230 friends to all of a sudden a lot of people started 00:39:48.230 --> 00:39:51.389 to hate each other really quick because jealousy 00:39:51.389 --> 00:39:54.250 had entered the conversation. No longer was it 00:39:54.250 --> 00:39:55.670 enough to cheer each other on and be like, I'll 00:39:55.670 --> 00:39:57.920 proofread your paper for you. Now it became, 00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:59.500 I need to do better on this so that you don't 00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:02.519 get that job that I want. Friends, that's a minor 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:05.059 thing. Maybe it's competing for a job or a promotion. 00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:07.500 Maybe it's having more than somebody else. I 00:40:07.500 --> 00:40:09.500 want to have the biggest 401k in my department. 00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:11.000 I want the biggest this or the biggest that. 00:40:12.980 --> 00:40:14.400 That's really what the brothers are getting after, 00:40:14.519 --> 00:40:17.099 right? I want to have the coat. I want to be 00:40:17.099 --> 00:40:19.619 the favorite son. I'm jealous that Joseph is 00:40:19.619 --> 00:40:22.039 and I'm not. Let me just encourage you with this. 00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:26.000 It's just not worth playing that game. It is 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.400 an exhausting game and it leads you straight 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:32.400 into a pit of death spiritually. Instead of playing 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:34.760 that game, instead of chasing after unrighteous 00:40:34.760 --> 00:40:37.019 living and getting ahead through other people's 00:40:37.019 --> 00:40:38.639 opinions of you, which by the way, other people's 00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:42.039 opinions of you change on a daily basis. Rather 00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:45.119 than chasing after that, run to Jesus. Find your 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:47.440 identity and your worth in Jesus, not in somebody 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:52.599 else's thoughts about you or about me. And understand, 00:40:52.679 --> 00:40:53.960 I'm not just preaching this to you, I'm reminding 00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:56.179 myself of this also at this exact same moment. 00:40:57.940 --> 00:40:59.760 Rather than being jealous, rather than being 00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:02.659 caught up in this cycle of jealousy and bitterness 00:41:02.659 --> 00:41:06.440 and hatred, let's stop that and let's focus on 00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:08.960 what God has done. Let's learn from Joseph and 00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:11.360 his brothers and let's be like Joseph, not like 00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:13.059 his brothers who live lives that are dictated 00:41:13.059 --> 00:41:17.079 by anger, jealousy, hatred, and bitterness. So 00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:18.559 friends, if you're finding yourself starting 00:41:18.559 --> 00:41:22.900 that cycle, starting that jealousy, Let me encourage 00:41:22.900 --> 00:41:26.400 you, take a step back this morning, put your 00:41:26.400 --> 00:41:28.920 eyes on the cross of Jesus, and remember the 00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:32.159 price that was paid for your redemption, because 00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:35.840 Jesus did pay that wonderful price for us. Let's 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:39.019 pray. God, thank you so much for today. God, 00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:42.840 we are just so thankful for this passage, God, 00:41:42.940 --> 00:41:45.340 and just for the chance to see what it looks 00:41:45.340 --> 00:41:52.019 like to follow you, God. God, thank you so much 00:41:52.019 --> 00:41:56.260 for the way that you love us, that you've set 00:41:56.260 --> 00:42:00.599 us free. God, thank you for the fact that we're 00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:02.980 no longer caught up in the sin snowball. God, 00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:04.559 we're chasing after the next sin or the next 00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:06.559 thing or the next bit of jealousy or the next 00:42:06.559 --> 00:42:08.760 bit of bitterness, God. But instead that we have 00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:13.320 been set free from that, God. Lord, I just ask 00:42:13.320 --> 00:42:16.369 that you would just be with us now, God. Lord, 00:42:16.409 --> 00:42:18.349 if there are places of jealousy and bitterness 00:42:18.349 --> 00:42:21.110 in our hearts, God, or of anger, of hatred even 00:42:21.110 --> 00:42:24.309 in our hearts, God, Lord, would you remove those 00:42:24.309 --> 00:42:29.130 now, God? God, soften our hearts to that God 00:42:29.130 --> 00:42:33.369 and to our need for you in that Father. Lord, 00:42:33.409 --> 00:42:35.590 thank you so much for today. Thank you for giving 00:42:35.590 --> 00:42:38.849 us Joseph as a foreshadowing of our true and 00:42:38.849 --> 00:42:41.190 better Savior, Jesus. And thank you for giving 00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:48.570 us Jesus. I call this in your name. Amen. Please 00:42:48.570 --> 00:42:48.829 stand.