I am Pastor Nathan, and today we are going to
begin the final section of the book of Genesis.
We're going to be starting the story of Joseph.
Now, you know, at the very beginning of Genesis,
when we opened this book, we saw how God summarized
the entirety of creation in ten words. He said,
in the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth. Pretty short to summarize something
so magnificent, so huge, so big, right? Everything
in the universe, every planet, every star, every
atom, every molecule, every nebula, 10 verses.
I made that. And that's really all God has to
say, right? But what's interesting is 25 % of
the entire book of Genesis is given over to the
story of Joseph. More than the story of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob. And, you know, as important as
the origin of all things is, God is ultimately
more concerned with people than he is with origins.
We all have an origin story. And, you know, some
of us before Christ, our origin story led to
us becoming superheroes or supervillains, right?
But none of that matters because for those of
us that know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,
there was a point in time where he entered in
and changed our lives forever. And God doesn't
care about where you were, who you were, what
you did. What he cares about is you as a person.
And if you know him as your Lord and Savior,
man, he loves you with an everlasting love that
you'll never understand. And that's beautiful.
Now, in all of Scripture, there are only two
men in which nothing evil is recorded about them.
These two men are Joseph and Daniel. And incidentally,
both of these men are images, pictures of Jesus
Christ. But the story of Joseph, as we begin
here, this will take us all the way through the
end of this book. It is an absolute masterpiece
of God's hidden hand in the everyday and the
ordinary. You see, as we go through the story
of Joseph, we're not going to see any miracles
in his story. And what I mean by that is we're
not going to see any any stories of God suspending
the natural laws of the universe to do something
mighty and awe -inspiring. God is simply going
to work through the everyday events of human
life. He's going to work through jealousy, favoritism,
dreams, betrayal, just people. He's going to
work through people and their everyday lives
all to achieve his will, his plan, which is redemption.
Now, we've seen God's providence in prior events
in Genesis back when we were studying Jacob when
he met his wife Rachel. And we talked about how
it was just her happening to be showing up at
the well that day and Jacob happening to get
there at the right time and having one of those
circumstances that we would call coincidental.
And we talked about at that time how God's providence
was working through those details. To remind
us all, providence is simply God sovereignly
arranging ordinary events for his predetermined
outcome. And so when we think of a miracle, I
want to define it this way. God acting supernaturally,
unnaturally. That's a miracle, right? If God
suspended the law of gravity right now and we
all floated to the roof, that would be pretty
unnatural, you would think, right? Can God do
that? Absolutely, if he chose to. But providence
is God acting supernaturally, Through the natural,
through the everyday, through those things that
we think are just results of our own decisions.
And we're going to talk about what all that means
today. So many of those moments that we might
call coincidence, chance meetings, those things
that just happen to happen or what are the odds
of that coming to happen, we all experience these
types of things in our lives. But the reality
with the child of God is what is coincidental
to us, what seems accidental to us is providential
with God. And this includes even the hard and
difficult stuff we go with, the sufferings, the
traumas, the challenges, the difficulties. Through
that lens, we are coming to Genesis 37 today
to meet a 17 -year -old boy named Joseph, a very
naive, sincere, favored, destined young man whose
story begins in the midst of a deeply, deeply
flawed family. So that's what we'll be studying
this morning, but first we're going to spend
time worshiping God because he's worth it. Is
he worth it? Does he deserve all the worship?
Right. He deserves all the worship all the time.
And that's what we get to do here today. And
so I just encourage all of us, you know, just
let go of whatever's on your mind, work, family
issues, challenges. Even let go of that thing
that maybe is on your mind today that you said,
I need to come and get prayer and seek the Lord
on this. Because all of that is addressed from
the altar of the Lord. And we want to start by
praising his name in worship. So if you'll pray
with me. Father God, we thank you so much for
today. We thank you so much for this opportunity
to gather together in your name and Lord, to
worship you, to study your word. God, Lord, your
word is life for us. Your word is the answer
to everything. God, you gave us this that we
would know you and who you are and what you want
of us and how to get there. All of it, God. And
so, Lord, I pray today as we begin this last
part of Genesis, Lord, the beginning, and we
start to study the life of this man, Joseph,
Lord, that you would encourage us as you have
been through this entire book, that you would
speak to our hearts as you have been through
this entire book. God, that you would draw us
closer to you, Lord, especially as we learn really
what it means to understand your sovereignty
as it is expressed in the Bible. and its existence
with our free will and our own decision -making,
God, and how those things might reconcile together.
Because, God, we do have a free will, and we
make choices every day, and, God, we have things
happen, Lord, that we simply look at and go,
there's no way I could have planned that, and
yet at the same time, God, we do know that you
are sovereign and that you take a glance at all
of eternity, every thought, every decision, every
life in one snapshot, and you know. And through
all of it, God, you work your will that we would
know you and that when we leave this life, we
would be with you in eternity. So God, we want
to glorify your name today. We want to lift your
name on high. We want to praise you for everything
you've done in our lives, everything you're doing
in our lives, and God, by faith, everything you're
going to do in our lives. We love you. We thank
you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are in Genesis chapter 37. We're gonna be
looking at the first 11 verses this morning as
we kind of lay the foundation for the beginning
of this life of Joseph. But this chapter 37 comes
in contrast to Genesis 36 that we studied last
week, which was the family line of Esau. I remember
when I had mentioned to somebody that we're gonna
be looking at the family line of Esau, they went,
Esau. Why are we looking at his family line?
Isn't he kind of out of the story? And that's
kind of what that chapter was all about. It was
a picture of a man who had material success,
political success, secular success, but it ultimately
meant nothing in the big picture of eternity
because you could have all the success in the
world and you could be well -known in the world,
but if your name is not in the Lamb's Book of
Life, you die and it's judgment, right? The only...
thing that matters is a relationship with Jesus
Christ in this world. And that's what Esau showed
us. He was the one who walked out of God's promise.
He was the one that left the promised land. And
he was the one that had a great life here on
earth, but ultimately did not have that relationship
with the Lord. And so Genesis 37 is now the contrast
to that as we open with really the same line
that we opened with in Genesis 36, where these
are the family records of, but now it's telling
us the family records of Jacob. and really the
line that God's promise of redemption is going
to come through. And so if you read with me in
Genesis 37 .1, it says, Jacob lived in the land
where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
And these are the family records of Jacob. So
right up front, we are told that Jacob did the
opposite of what Esau did. If you remember in
chapter 36, Jacob got home, got to his father's
house. Esau was there with all his flocks and
family, and Jacob got there with all his flocks
and family. And Esau said, whoa, this is, there's
too much. There's not enough land. The land can't
support the both of us. And so Esau voluntarily
said, I will leave. And he actually exited the
land of Here, in contrast, we're told right up
front that Jacob did the opposite. He stayed
in the land that his father had stayed in. His
father Isaac, who is told of the promises by
his father Abraham that this is a land that God
has covenanted to our people, that he's going
to give it to us one day, although at the time
the land was still full of pagans and Canaanites
and Amorites and all the other ites. But Jacob
stayed. He stayed where God had told him to stay.
And it was him and his family that really is
doing something that we all do here on this earth,
right? When we come to know Jesus Christ, we
know that we're not of this world. We don't belong
to this world. But we're in this world, right?
We're in this land that is currently right now
belongs to other people. It tells us that Satan
is the prince of the power of the air and that
he has a title deed to the earth. And so we're
sojourning here right now to make a difference
on this place. But we know ultimately in Revelation
that everything's going to belong to God, that
he's going to redeem it all. And so Jacob is
living that in the world but not fully part of
it. Problem is, is he's kind of a little bit
a part of it still. And that's another problem
we all deal with. That as he was living here
in this world, we talked about this with Esau,
that the closer we get to the world in behavior
and all that, we start to adopt the values of
the world. And that's one of the dangers of being
in the world, right? We have to fight and we
have to... to be very intentional about being
separate people, of being holy and separated
and sanctified as God's people. That's why we
gather together weekly to worship together to
get in the word. That's why we have community
groups throughout the week. That's why we encourage
the body to be and behave as a family because
we need strength to resist the world. The temptation
of the world can be very, very difficult or very,
very strong. At this point in time, as we're
going to see through the rest of Genesis, that
Jacob's values are just not fully the way God
wants them to be, that he's starting to resemble
those that are in the land of Canaan more than
those that... more than the values that he's
supposed to have as a godly man. And for that
reason, this story with Joseph is telling us
how God is going to deal with that, how God is
going to deal with insulating this family, how
God is going to deal with protecting these people
that he has called out to be his chosen people,
as well as a story of how God is going to give
the pagans in the land time and opportunity to
repent. And so, verse 2, it starts with, these
are the family records of Jacob. At 17 years
of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers.
The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah
and Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought
a bad report about them to their father. Now
Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons
because Joseph was a son born to him in his old
age. And he made a long -sleeved robe for him.
When his brothers saw that their father loved
him more than all of his brothers, they hated
him. and could not bring themselves to speak
peaceably to him. So it's very interesting. These
are the family records of Jacob. Let's talk about
Joseph, right? Because again, God, from the very
beginning of Genesis, has been narrowing down
the focus of the narrative down to the people
in the line that he's going to bring his promise
of redemption through. Now sadly here in the
family of Jacob, we're told that favoritism is
still a big issue. You remember Jacob, he had
four wives, but only one of them was his favorite.
And way back in the day when that favorite wife
couldn't bear children, she hatched a plan to
make sure that she could have kids that were
a part of her line, so she gave her maidservant
to Jacob. We know that Leah was the first one
to bear children, but she was the least favored
wife, and so they had this big battle of babies.
And at the time, the only son that had been born
to his favorite wife, Rachel, was Joseph. Now,
the family had endured his favoritism through
years as he treated Rachel with the favoritism.
It was very obvious he loved her and didn't love
Leah. And so her son obviously got more attention
than all the other ones. And this favoritism
was a big problem in the family and it had caused
a lot of problems in the family and would continue
to cause problems in the family. It's interesting
that Jacob should have known better because he
had been a victim of favoritism himself. If you
guys remember back with his story with his father
Isaac, right? Esau was born, Jacob was grabbing
the heel, Jacob was born. And Isaac very clearly
favored Esau as the firstborn in the heir of
the family. And we could just imagine how Jacob
felt about that, being treated as lesser because
the father favored the other one. So he should
have known better. than to play favorites within
his own family because he knew how it would impact
a child, and yet he still did it anyways. You
know, it's just a picture as can often happen
that the sins of the parents can echo down through
the generations. Now, I don't believe in generational
curses. I don't believe that's a biblical thing.
But I do believe that the way parents treat their
kids can often affect how those kids then treat
their kids. And there's all kinds of stuff when
it comes to abuse and patterns of abuse. And,
you know, it's just, it's sad. And, you know,
no parent is perfect. But parents, you got to
be very careful the way you treat your children.
You know, because, again, some of that can affect
and influence how they are going to treat their
children. And here it is with Jacob, who had
been affected by favoritism, now becomes the
one exercising favoritism. And we're going to
see the fruit of this. Now, we do know that,
you know, God's grace can intervene in any of
that. God's grace enters in and changes people
completely. And that's always the point and the
goal that we point people to. But still, we have
issues here. Now, it tells us right off the bat
that Joseph is 17 years of age. Now, if you go
back in the math, that will tell us, you know,
pretty closely what the ages of the rest of his
brothers are. If you go back to the other chapters
when they were born and which wife gave birth
to who and all of that, we can speculate on the
ages. And essentially, the four children that
were born to Leah, Reuben, the firstborn, Simeon,
Levi, and Judah, they're between the ages of
21 to possibly 26 at this point. Bilhah, who
gave birth to the next two, Dan and Naphtali,
they're between 18 and 21. Zilpah, who gave birth
to Gad and Asher, her children are between 17
and 20. Leah, who then again gave birth to Issachar
and Zebulun, they're between 17 to 19. And then
you have Joseph here, who it tells us very concretely
at this point is 17 years old. Benjamin, the
final son, had been born on their way into the
land, so it's speculative that he's between the
ages of nine and 12 right now, but what you have
is a story where you have one of the youngest
brothers in the family out working with all his
other brothers, and they're either late teenagers
or all young adults. Now, all the boys are working
in the family business, tending the sheep, and
as little brothers do, Joseph tattles. You ever
been tattled on? It's pretty infuriating, right?
I got tattled on a lot. I was the older brother,
and my younger brother liked to tattle on me.
And then when he would see me after the tattling,
he was like, oh, no, I tattled, right? And I
just, you know, I met him with warmth and hugs.
That's always how it went that way, right? Joseph
tattles. It doesn't tell us why. It just says
he brought a bad report to their father. So he's
working with some of his brothers out in the
field. Whatever happened, it doesn't tell us
whether he lied or whether it was a true report.
But the idea here is that Joseph is kind of a
young, naive, sincere, honest kid, right? And
so he went back to his dad and he said, you know,
this happened, this bad report. And then the
dad responds with just lavish love and more favoritism,
right? He loved Joseph more than his other sons
because Joseph was a son born to him in his old
age. The idea there is he's one of his babies.
right? He's one of his babies, and so he just
loves him. And then, of course, he was born of
Rachel, his favorite wife, and so, of course,
he was favored. And then, so what he does in
response to this report is make him this long
-sleeved robe. If you have an older translation
or you remember from older stories, it might
be the coat of many colors, right? Joseph's coat
of many colors. The idea here is that it wasn't
a, like, work robe. It was a royal robe. It was
a type of clothing you would give to like a prince
in the court of his father, the king, right?
What it did is it set up Joseph as not only special,
but like authority -wise, he was special. Later
on, when we get to the next part of this chapter
next week, it's gonna tell us that Jacob says,
hey, Joseph, can you go out and keep an eye on
your brothers for me? And so this robe was really
setting him up as like, you are now the supervisor
of your brothers. And, you know, not only does
everybody know you're my favorite, but now you're
carrying a sign of my favoritism. And so this
was a big deal. Now, dad may have thought I'm
just rewarding my son's loyalty and honesty,
which is very possible. But the result is it
made Joseph a target. The favoritism that had
plagued this family for years and years and years,
and now Joseph going and tattling on his brothers,
and now his brothers hating him, and now Joseph
giving him this robe and setting him as supervisor
over his brothers, even though he's the second
youngest, that just put a target on Joseph's
back. Now, parents, you know, again, you just
understand favoritism is very dangerous. You
know, I know we like to, you know, say, oh, we
have a favorite. You know, like since my grandson
James was born, I've called him my favorite.
I said, you know, you're my favorite. And then
when Annalyn was born, I was like, I need to
change that. And so now I say, you are my favorite
boy in the house. Because Annalyn is a girl.
And I say, Annalyn, you're my favorite girl in
the house, right? And, you know, we all like
to think we're favorites. You know, I mean, I'm
the favorite of my mom. I know that. because
my brother's not here to refute that. So, you
know, but this favoritism, it can breed resentment.
It can breed insecurity, right? If you grew up
under this type of situation, if you were a victim
of favoritism, and you carry hurt from that still,
because a lot of adults do, just know that God
could redeem that. God wants to redeem that,
and we're talking about that today, and so listen
up. God wants to know that he's aware, but you
don't have to carry the hurt and the anger and
the frustration over these things. But we can't
forget that God's hidden hand is always moving.
And parents, this is a hope for you, that God's
hidden hand is moving even when you make mistakes.
Every parent wants to do their best. Every parent
wants to raise their kids in the best possible
way. But you're all human. We're all human. We
all make mistakes, even in our parenting situations.
But know that God's hidden hand is still working
sovereignly through every situation in your life.
So yeah, learn from your mistakes, pray that
you do better, and then move on. Don't let the
devil beat you up over those things. Just figure
out how to do things better and keep going. But
Jacob's blindness to the effects of his favoritism,
they couldn't block God's larger plan. They didn't
interfere with what God wanted to do. God works
through all of these just happenings to his ultimate
purpose, as we're going to see. That even though
it was Jacob's choice to show favoritism and
it was the brother's choice to hate Joseph and
it was Joseph's choice to tattle on his brothers,
what we see through Joseph's life and his story
is that God was working through all of it and
it was ultimately all according to God's plan.
And when we say, how is that possible? We'll
deal with that when we get there. But from the
earthly perspective, the damage was done, right?
The older brothers, it says, couldn't even speak
peaceably to him. That means they couldn't even
say, good morning. They couldn't say, hey, brother.
They were so angry. They were so frustrated with
him that they couldn't even say anything good
to him, let alone anything bad. They just, they
hated him. They hated him. And this is a fruit
of what Jacob had seeded in his family through
the favoritism. Now, verse five. It tells us
Joseph had a dream. And when he told his brothers,
they hated him even more. He said to them, listen
to the dream I had. There we were, binding sheaves
of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf
stood up, and your sheaves gather around it and
bowed down to my sheaf. Are you really going
to reign over us, his brothers asked him? Are
you really going to rule us? So they hated him
even more because of his dream and what he had
said. Then he had another dream and told it to
his brothers. Look, he said, I had another dream,
and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were
bowing down to me. He told his father and brothers,
and his father rebuked him. What kind of dream
is this that you have had, he said? Am I and
your mother and your brothers really going to
come and bow down to the ground before you? His
brothers were jealous of him, but his father
kept the matter in mind. So young Joseph, naive
Joseph, sincere Joseph, already on thin ice with
his brothers, has these two dreams. And in his
young naivete thinks, they hate me. I think it's
a good idea to share this dream with them. And
it didn't go very well. He had another dream.
They hate me even more. It's a great idea for
me to share this second dream. And they hated
him even more, and his father rebuked him. And
so the first dream here, it's interesting. Your
sheaves of grain are going to bow down to mine.
I mean, obviously the dream, it's not hard to
interpret that it's... The idea is that the brothers
are going to bow down to Joseph somehow, right?
That he's going to be exalted. Now, it is very
interesting considering how much grain is going
to factor into Joseph's future and his destiny
when he gets to Egypt. But at this point, it
told us that they couldn't even stand hearing
him talk, right? They couldn't even speak peaceably
to him. In fact, it says, then Joseph had a dream,
and when he told his brothers, they hated him
even more. He hadn't even told them what the
dream was about yet. Brothers, I had a dream.
Shut up, Joseph. We hate you. Get out of here.
No, no, I wanted to. You know, right? That kind
of level of frustration. But he goes on and he
tells them the dream. And then they just kind
of lose it, right? Are you kidding us? Like,
you're the least of us. You're the second youngest
brother. And we're going to bow down to you,
right? They say two things here that's interesting.
They say, are you going to rule over us or reign
over us, sorry, and are you going to reign over
us and rule over us? Those are two different
words there. And the word reign means to rule
as a king over a nation. It means to have ultimate
political authority. Say, really, you think you're
going to become president and tell us what to
do, right? And then the word rule means to exercise
absolute authority or dominion. The idea there
is to have the power of life and death over somebody.
Now, very interesting considering what happens
with Joseph. So they're like, the least of us,
really? You arrogant little punk. You're trying
to tell us that you're going to become king of
the nation and have the power of life and death
over us, your older brothers. Are you kidding
me? Now, not the wisest thing for him to do.
And it says they hated him even more. And then
he has the second dream, right? Hey, guys, I
know that first dream wasn't your favorite, but
I had another one. The whole family's going to
bow down to me. And the idea in that dream is
that the sun is like the greater ruler, it tells
us, and the moon is the lesser ruler, and then
the stars are the lesser lights of the sky. And
so symbolically, it's dad and mom. And so he
shares this other dream. I mean, obviously, Joseph
is not picking up the social cues, right? You
know how sometimes you could feel somebody is
not good with you, there's a vibe? Right? That's
a discernment of the Lord that for us as family
allows us to say, hey, are we okay? Did I do
something to offend you? Joseph, oblivious. Oblivious,
right? Maybe if I share my second dream, they'll
talk to me, right? Who knows what he was thinking?
But he shares it with him, and everything gets
worse. Now, there's no indication here in the
verses that Joseph thought, oh, these are from
God, right? Because you think, why was he so
bold? What would lead him to, to make a bad situation
worse, you know. And there's no indication here
that he thought they were from God. There's no
indication here that they were from God. But
later on, as we see things pan out, it's obvious
to us we know they were from God. But we can't
attribute that to his boldness. We can't attribute
that to him just standing before his father with
a straight face and essentially saying, hey,
here's his dream, Dad. You and Mom and the whole
family is going to bow down to me. Dad flips
out too. Whoa, whoa. I know you're my favorite
son. I know I gave you a fancy coat, but I'm
still dad, right? What are you talking about?
He rebukes him. That word rebuke, it's a harsh,
stern, like you are wrong. How dare you say something
like that? But then we have this interesting
phrase at the end of verse 11, but his father
kept the matter in mind. You know, despite...
The fact that his brothers hated him despite
the audacity of having this dream that suggests
I'm going to bow down to you. Despite all of
that, Joseph went, hmm. Why? Joseph, Jacob. I
said first service that I think I'm going to
mix up these two names all the way to the end
of Genesis. So bear with me. Jacob, he keeps
it in mind. The reason was is in Jacob's life,
God had spoken to him through dreams twice. Right?
He had already experienced the Lord speaking
to him through dreams as he had the dream at
Bethel. He knew God can do that. And so even
if Joseph didn't believe or know or even consider
that it was from God, he's just excited to share
these dreams he had. Dad is going, hmm, maybe
there is something to this. He rebuked him still,
but maybe there's something to this. And, you
know, youthful naivete can be both refreshing.
and challenging. All of us were brand new baby
Christians at one time. And I will take the chance
to say that we irritated some seasoned Christians
in our youthful Christianity. I've heard people
grumble, grumble, you know, because that new
baby Christian, they're just this and that. And
it's like, you know, sometimes it's just a rebuke
to the older Christian, right? Man, they just
don't understand why everybody's not out passing
out tracts. And I'm like, well, do you pass out
any tracts? Well, no. Well, that's a good rebuke
from the youthful baby Christian there. But sometimes
in our youth, and just like in our youth in our
life, our lack of maturity, our lack of experience,
our naiveness. can be a problem. And I think
some of that is what's happening here with Joseph.
You see, his youthful inexperience and naivety
crashes up against what we know is revelation
from God. And it leads him to share these dreams
in a very excited, exuberant way, but kind of
without discernment, kind of without tact, and
you might say without wisdom here. He's 17. He's
sincere. But that inexperience is creating problems
in the family here. Now, you'd think he'd pick
up on the first hate. The brothers hated him.
Nope. Doesn't tell us any indication that he
was like, oh, man, they hate me. Maybe I should
be careful. Nope. Maybe the second hate. All
I said was, brothers, I had a dream. Let me share
it with you. Shut up, Joseph. Maybe that was
the clue, but he didn't pick up on that either.
And then the third hate still didn't pick up
on it. And then his rush to share his dreams,
his rush to share in his excitement without picking
up on the clues of his family, it's now separated
him and his father and created solidarity between
his father and the brothers. And so their collective
objection to his dreams, it's creating division
in the family is the picture. There's a division
that's happening here in the family. And like
I said, we know that these were dreams. These
were prophetic dreams because it's exactly what
happens in Joseph's life. But Joseph in his youthful
exuberance didn't really hold them in a mature
way at this point. And what I mean by that is,
you know, God's timing, it's important in the
disclosure and fulfillment of his promises. Sometimes
God might give us a dream, a vision, a revelation
of something. And it's for us. It's for us. It's
a word to us. And maybe it's a word of blessing,
something God's going to do. And we're not to
share it with anybody, but in our excitement,
our whatever, we want to go tell everybody all
about it. You know, you get a vision that you're
going to get the promotion at work that you and
your buddy are up for. And you go in and you
go, bro, I had a dream last night. I got that
promotion and you didn't. Not very edifying for
the other person, right? Sometimes we get real
excited about sharing. We think we have to tell
everybody everything and that's not always true.
Sometimes we don't yet have the character to.
to express it with wisdom intact yet. Sometimes
those around us aren't ready for the details
of the revelation. We just have to be careful
here that zeal without wisdom can hurt. Zeal
without wisdom could hurt people. Now, am I saying
that God doesn't give you dreams or visions or
whatever that are for other people? No, he does
that too. Am I saying if God gives you a vision
and you're like, I know for a fact I'm supposed
to share this with somebody that you should hold
back? No, if God told you to share it, share
it. What I'm saying is on the flip side of the
coin, just take a beat to say, God, what is this
for? When you believe you're having a revelation
from the Lord through dream, vision, whatever,
just pray about it. Pray, God, what's the meaning?
God, should I share it with anybody? Is this
for me or is this for someone else? God, if it's
for someone else, Who and when do you want me
to share it with them and how? Because God, I
want it to be a blessing. I don't want the devil
to take what is intended by you as a blessing
and use it as something to cause division and
separation and hurt. And then whatever the Lord
tells you to do, follow the Lord's leading. But
be careful not to get ahead of the Lord is kind
of what I'm saying here. You know, sometimes
in our excitement to share, we jump the gun and
people can get hurt. People could get offended,
mad, and the devil uses all of that to divide
the body of Christ, right? You know, it's really
the idea of learning how to discern the Spirit
and learning how to do all that. That's what
the Bible calls discipleship. And for those of
us that are here in the church with more experience
walking with the Lord, guess what? It is your
job, your duty. It is not optional, biblically.
It is your job to disciple those who are newer
in the faith so that they could learn and grow
and mature. It's not optional. That's what the
body is supposed to be doing with the body. And
so if you don't have anybody in your life as
an older, more mature Christian who you're actively
discipling and walking with to teach them the
ropes, if you will, and how to understand the
gifts of the Spirit and to hear the Lord and
how to discern all these things, if you're not
doing that, I encourage you, admonish you really
to say, God, who do you want me to have this
discipleship relationship with here in my church?
Because that's how it's supposed to work. Now,
The glorious thing is that God's hidden hand
is moving even when we step too early in our
naivete. God's hand is still working in all of
that. You see, Genesis 37, it never directly
mentions God, but his fingerprints are all over
the story. We see through every sin, every failure,
every error, we see God is working his plan if
we zoom out and look at the big picture. You
see, Joseph's bad report of his brother, that
was Joseph's decision. But God works through
that to bring about his plan. Jacob's favoritism,
that was Jacob's decision. And it caused bad
fruit, but God still worked through it to bring
his plan to be. His brother's hatred. God works
through all of this stuff. All of it, God works
in and through to sovereignly accomplish his
plan of getting Israel. Why? Because in Genesis
15, we read that God told Abraham, your descendants
will sojourn in a foreign land for 400 years.
And there he told him specifically, you're going
to be there until the sin of the Amorites is
complete. So Jacob is in Israel or in the promised
land with his family. They still have their issues.
They still have all these rough edges God has
to work off. God has made a covenant. This land
is going to you and your family. But not right
now. You're still amongst all these people. And
you know what? They're having a negative influence
on you. So I need to get you out of the promised
land to Egypt so that I could protect, so that
I could sanctify, so that I could preserve. These
people that are in the land of Canaan, I created
them too. I'm going to give them 400 years to
repent of their sins. And if they do, I'll save
them. God had a plan. Now, when we look at it
from the earthly side, do we say, okay, so God
said, Jacob, I'm going to make you play favorites
with your kids. And Joseph, I'm going to make
you tattle on your brothers. That's the big argument
that people have, one of the big arguments people
have in the church today, right? Calvinism versus
Arminianism. God's sovereignty versus man's free
will. And we as people, we get caught up thinking
these things can't reconcile together. I mean,
if God is sovereign and God directs and guides,
then God makes everything happen. And so every
bad thing and every evil, it's designed by God.
And that is not what the Bible teaches. But then
over here on the free will side, people get caught
up in like, no, God can't make man do anything.
God is subject to man's decisions, and man can
thwart all of God's plans, and that's not what
the Bible teaches either. And people want to
argue over these things, and here's the problem.
The Bible leans into both in its teachings. Do
I believe the Bible teaches that we are so sinful
there is nothing we can do in ourselves to be
saved? Absolutely. The Bible is very clear on
that. But does the Bible say that even if we
say, God, I want to be saved, that if God chose
us to go to hell, we're going to hell anyways?
No, that is not what the Bible teaches. Over
here, I have free will. So I'm going to make
decisions today that are going to have outcomes
and ripple effects. And did God make me make
those decisions? No, because the Bible says God
gave me the free will, the ability to choose
and to make decisions. And so my decisions I
make on this earth, they have effects. And that's
not God forcing me to make those decisions. When
I choose to sin, that's not God making me sin.
And people are like, well, how does all this
work together? I don't know. But God does. Well,
I can't accept that, right? I have to understand
the intricacies of how this works together or
I have to take sides. You know, I mean, if you're
that intelligent that you know all things, then,
I mean, wow, more power be to you, you know?
How does nuclear fission work? I don't know.
You don't know everything? And yet we're going
to draw these lines and say, I demand to know
how God's sovereignty works with man's free will.
What's wrong with both of them working at the
same time? What's wrong with looking at a story
like this and say, we look at Joseph's experience
here and we see just the happenings of life,
the result of human decisions. And at the same
time, we see that God who is outside of time
is working providentially through what we see
as random. Why can't both of those be true at
the same time? Because we don't understand it.
Like, we're so limited. God's ways are so much
higher than our ways. I see both. Like, I don't
look at... and random happenings of life and
go, nope, none of that is a coincidence. God
made all that happen. From my perspective here
on earth, I'm stuck within time, linear time,
cause and effect, right? If I go outside and
smash your windshield with a bat, God didn't
make me do that. I chose to do that. But, Did
an almighty transcendent God who looked at all
of eternity in one momentary snapshot and see
everything and every decision happening everywhere
all in one moment, did he foreknow that that
was going to happen? Yes, he did. So through
his foreknowledge of seeing every decision ever
made, can he work his will and weave that through
the impossible complexities of everybody's decisions
that have ever lived for all time? Can he do
that? In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth. Why is that hard for us to believe?
Why is it hard for us to go, the Bible teaches
God's absolute sovereignty, and it also teaches
our man's absolute free will. Why is it so hard
for us to say, with God, all things are possible?
So these reconcile in a perfectly, absolutely
understandable way. We just don't understand
it right now. And I think this is one of the
things God's trying to get us to understand through
his Bible. God needed to move Israel out of Canaan
because they were slowly becoming Canaanized.
God needed to give those in the land 400 years
to repent. How did he do it? Well, as we read
the story, we go, wow. If Joseph didn't tattle,
he wouldn't have gotten the coat. If he didn't
get the coat, the brothers wouldn't have continued
to hate him. If he didn't share his dreams, the
brothers wouldn't have hated him more and more
and more to the point where we're going to see
next week that they want to kill him. And then
because Reuben didn't want to kill him, they
threw him in a pit. And because he was thrown
in a pit, the traitors came by. And because they
wanted to make dad think he was dead, and oh,
Joseph ends up in Egypt in Potiphar's house.
And then Potiphar, he gets thrown in jail. And
then he becomes number two in the land of Pharaoh,
having the absolute political authority of a
king to the point where he is going to enact
a plan to save the whole world wherein his brothers,
his family come to bow to him and he literally
has the power of life and death over them in
that moment. Right? We look at that and we go,
how could anybody plan that? And yet the Bible
tells us God did. Through what we would see as
coincidence and random happenings and choice
and cause and effect. So the hatred of Joseph,
it's the road to Israel's preservation and salvation.
The opening to the life of Joseph shows us that
coexistence of God's sovereignty and human free
will. Simultaneously, it shows us that we make
choices on our own free will and they have consequences.
They have results and they have actions. It also
shows us that God's will, his promises, his covenants
are going to come to pass no matter what we do.
But that doesn't mean we then work backwards
and go, oh, God made that sin happen and God
created that evil. Because the Bible speaks very
clearly against that. Did God know what was going
to happen? Yeah. Did he move through it and use
it providentially? Yes, he did. I heard this
quote from somebody a while ago, and I can't
remember who to attribute it to, but it says,
when it comes to God's will and purpose in our
lives, he already accounted for our stupidity.
I love that. Right? God accounted for our stupidity.
Like, God, I messed up your plan. And he's like,
no, you didn't, but that was dumb. God, did I
wreck your promises for me? No, I made the promises.
They're based on my character. You can't wreck
them. Right? It's just this beautiful relationship
we have. And so, you know, move and live and
trust and decide and live life. As a human being
that God created and do your best, right? We
strive to obey and live our life based upon the
right and wrong that God tells us and right and
good and all of that, but we can't then lean
one way or the other and say, oh, it doesn't
matter if I make decisions because God has already
foreordained everything. No, it does matter.
Well, my decisions are gonna change God's will.
No, God can still work his promises through your
decisions. In Genesis chapter 50, the same Joseph,
verse 20 says this to his brothers who are now
bound before him. You planned evil against me.
God planned it for good to bring about the present
result, the survival of many people. That is
a point of view that Joseph, this godly man who
suffered so many things, came to understand in
his life. That God isn't the author of sin. He
doesn't make any of us do the wrong thing. But
he can and does overrule it to accomplish his
plan and fulfill his purposes. Back before anything
existed, in the snapshot where he saw every decision
everybody was going to ever make, in his almighty,
transcendent foreknowledge, did he go, okay,
weave his plan through all of it? Yes, he did.
If anybody could ask why me, it was Joseph. Right?
I just wanted to share my dream with my brothers.
I just wanted to share my dream with my dad.
I just wanted to be honest. They did bad things
out in the field. Dad, they didn't do what you
told them to do. Why do they want to kill me?
Why am I in a pit? Why am I sold into slavery?
Why am I cast into prison? None of this is my
fault. His family was terrible. He did nothing
inherently wrong, maybe unwise, but despised
and hated. And yet, at the end of his life, he
was able to step back and you say, you know what?
I could see God's hidden hand through all of
it. I could look at my tragedies. I could look
at the difficulties. I could look at the worst
traumatic moments of my life. And be able to
say, the God I trust, the God I believe in, who
is sovereign, I believe it because his word teaches
that. Through all of that, his hand was working.
Through everything that I thought was just random
coincidence, which very likely was random coincidence
from our perspective here on earth, God knew
and worked his will through. And so those terrible
things that happen in my life, they're not things
that I have to hold on to and be mad at God with.
They're things I could heal from and say, God,
did you know all this was going to happen? Like
you allowed it all to happen. You knew and there
was a plan here so that good can come from it.
Is that what you did, God? That's where Joseph's
perspective landed. You guys planned evil, but
God planned it for good to bring about the present
result. And what was the present result? The
survival of many people. Joseph's story reminds
us that God doesn't only work through the miraculous,
but through the mundane. He works through the
everyday happenings, the coincidences, the what
are the odds moments. This includes all the good
stuff that happens to us and the wonderful blessings.
but it also includes the terrible, difficult
things as well. Being able to see God's hidden
hand in our lives is one of the greatest tools
we have to endure suffering. It's one of the
greatest tools we have to persevere with faith.
In the midst of a terrible situation, God's hidden
hand is always working. He knows because he's
sovereign. He's aware. He's all -knowing. I don't
understand why this is happening. I don't understand.
This hurts. This is terrible. I'm scared. But
if it's happening, and I am God's child, and
I believe he is sovereign, my suffering is a
time where I could say, God's hidden hand is
doing something here. If you've had trauma in
your past, there's so many people that have had
abuse and so many people that have had suffering
in their lives and sexual abuse or violent abuse
or murders in their families, all these really
terrible, horrible crimes that Satan rots in
our world. Today, you have an opportunity to
look back at it and go, I'm mad at God and why
did he allow that to happen? Or to say, it happened.
What good are you trying to bring about from
that, Lord? There's so many stories that I've
had over the years of ministry of people who
suffered terrible sexual abuse. And they've come
to this place where God's brought them to this
place where they say, that's terrible, it's horrible,
it's evil. But it happened. But God has healed
me. And then they're able to share that testimony
with another person who's just experienced it.
And to give them hope. And to introduce them
to the Lord that saved their life. And guess
what happens in that moment? Where God enters
into that person's life and survival comes to
them. That they will get through it. That they
will be healed. That they will continue to live.
That's what our testimonies are for. If none
of us ever went through anything bad, how could
we ever tell anybody that God could get you through
bad stuff? And that's why it happens. But if
we're not sharing those testimonies, we're missing
that opportunity. We're missing kind of the point.
We're not asking the question, God, what good
do you want to bring through this for today?
It's about the survival of many people. It's
about introducing people to the one who could
save their souls and heal their heart and change
everything. The one who's going to give them
eternal life. Now, Joseph's story, right? It's
symbolic of the future of the nation of Israel,
right? He's hated by all others, all his brothers.
Israel's hated by everybody. He ends up in Egypt,
just like Israel ends up in Egypt. He is exalted
and delivered. Same thing happens to Israel as
they are set free. You see God's faithfulness
in both places, but Joseph is ultimately, he
foreshadows Jesus Christ himself. The beloved
of the father favored son sent to his brothers
who hate him. Jesus was sent to the nation of
Israel. And overall, they hated him. He was rejected
and betrayed by them, just like Joseph was. And
then Joseph was killed in their minds. Jesus
was killed by the rulership of Israel of the
time. But then he was exalted to save the very
ones who rejected him. Beautiful picture of Jesus.
Now, small side note. One of the things that's...
gaining a lot of traction recently, especially
with younger people, is this thing called replacement
theology. It's been around forever, but it's
kind of becoming a big thing again. And, you
know, replacement theology is the idea that God
is absolutely done with Israel, and all the prophecies
we see and things in Revelation are not about
Israel, but about the church. So when it says
that he was going to raise up 12 ,000 from each
of the 12 tribes, that's symbolic of the church
and stuff. I don't take that stance personally
and one of the reasons here is this dream that
Joseph has here in Genesis 37 interprets the
vision that John has in Revelation 12 for us.
Revelation 12, we see a woman who is clothed
with the sun. The moon are under her feet and
she is crowned with 12 stars. And I believe that
is speaking of the nation of Israel that is going
to be restored in the end times. that God is
not done with his chosen people. The fact that
Israel is chosen doesn't mean they're automatically
saved. It means they are the people, the vehicle
that he chose in the beginning, and then it got
to this point where he said, okay, I'm gonna
create this other entity called the church, and
I'm dealing with them through this age. But during
tribulation, I believe Revelation very clearly
talks about that when the church is gone, that
God is gonna deal with the people, the nation
Israel again, and I believe that this dream that
Joseph had, who is, The dream of his father,
his mother, his brothers, who literally become
the actual nation of Israel, interprets what
we see in Revelation chapter 12. So it's speaking
of Israel, not the church. That's just a little
side note for those of you that may be having
questions about that, but it's just a beautiful
picture to see that what God begins here in Genesis
37 regarding the people of Israel. We find the
fulfillment of that in Revelation 12 during the
tribulation period. Anyways, you may come from
a broken home or a childhood of favoritism, but
God's hidden hand works even when your parents
make mistakes. So forgive your parents. God's
hidden hand was there. Forgive them. Forgive
them of the favoritism. Forgive them of whatever
it was that has hurt you. Forgive them. You may
have made unwise stumbles and blunders in your
youth. Maybe you hurt some people in your spiritual
youth because of just overzealousness and maybe
a lack of maturity when you first got saved,
but God's hidden hand works even through our
naive lack of wisdom and discernment. So learn
and grow. Just learn and grow. You may be hated
by those who should be closest to you, your family.
You may have endured abuse, betrayal, envy, injustice,
but Consider, maybe, consider the possibility
that God's hidden hand knew it was gonna happen
and allowed it, and in that way planned it for
good, for blessing in this present moment. Consider
that. And ask him, okay, God, what is the good?
How does my experience lead to the survival of
many? How can my experience lead to salvation
in someone's life. You let me go through it and
I've seen or I'm seeing what you can do in the
life of a broken person. How can I use that,
Lord? Be glorified in it. It's often that when
we find that place and say, God, use me to help
someone going through the same thing, that's
often the very thing that brings us the healing
that we've been seeking for so long. Now, most
of us don't get to see the burning bush or the
parted sea, as cool as that would be, but as
God's children, just ordinary people with messed
up families, messed up lives, messed up friends,
we can trust fully that in every circumstance
we have a faithful God. Amen? Let's pray. Father,
we love you. We ask, God, that you would just...
Bless us, Lord. We are broken people. We're messed
up people. We're sinners. Lord, we are so far
and fallen so short of the glory of God. You
already knew that. Lord, because you're sovereign,
you're transcendent, you're almighty. You see
all things. You know all things. And you've worked
through all of it, Lord. God, so many of these
stories we have in your word are you working
through the just everyday lives and decisions
that we make as people to bring your promises
to fulfillment in these amazing ways that, yeah,
Lord, we call them miraculous. Even though many
times they're just natural, but it doesn't mean
it's any less supernatural because your hand
knew all of it. And so, God, we thank you for
that. Lord, I pray especially for those, Lord,
that may be like Joseph, just in a sincere simplicity
to just do right. They're hated, they're despised,
they're rebuked. Lord, I pray, God, that as Joseph
ended up knowing that your hidden hand works
through all of it, Lord, and I pray, God, that
you would heal, that you would help them to understand.
to have this perspective that your hand is, did,
and will work through all of that. Lord, that
they would find a place of healing in being able
to not necessarily understand why, but just knowing
that things happened to allow you to use those
things that they would be used for the survival
of many. that their testimony would lead others
who are broken to the hope and the peace that
is found in Jesus Christ. Lord, we all have things
like that. Bring us to the people that need to
hear our testimony, that we could share with
them, that they would know that in the midst
of their suffering, that there's a light at the
end of that tunnel, and that light is God Almighty.
Lord, we love you. We thank you. We praise you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.