Genesis chapter 37. We'll go to the Lord in prayer
and ask His blessing on the service today. Heavenly Father, again,
we are so thankful. So thankful for your continuous
mercy and grace and your supply through all our times of trial
and tribulation and need. And Lord, it's when we go through
things that we that we know that we need you more and more, and
we rely upon Thee, O Lord. You are our strength, You are
our shield, You are our defense. You are everything, as Paul said
to us. We pray You be glorified today and magnified. We pray
that You be lifted up high and mighty. O Lord, that we might
see Thee through the scriptures today, in Jesus' name, amen. We'll continue our study in Genesis
chapter 37, on the life of Joseph. I was
talking to dear brother Norm this week about this portion
of Scripture and how wonderful the life of Joseph is and how
there's so many different pictures of Christ all through it. It'll
take us a little while to get through his whole life, but I
think we'll be amazed at just how many pictures of Christ there
are in the life of Joseph. And we will see continuously
through it that God's eternal purpose will never be thwarted
by man. Never. No matter what men plan,
no matter what men scheme, no matter what men say, God's eternal
plan still marches forth. Because our God is sovereign.
He's almighty. Let's read Genesis chapter 37
verses 23 to 36 today. And it came to pass when Joseph
was come unto his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his
coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. And they took
him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty. There was
no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread,
and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company
of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery
and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah
said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother
and conceal his blood? Now, again, keep in mind too,
this is the second time that the restraining hand of God has
kept his brothers from killing him. I noticed that again this
week when I was going through this study myself. The first
time is when Reuben said, there's a pit over there. That's the
restraining hand of God at work. Here's another time with Judah
now, where the restraining hand of God, they still want to kill
him. And Judah says, no, let's sell him off to the Ishmaelites. So again, we see the restraining
hand of God at work again. And his brethren were content. Look at verse 27. Come and let
us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon
him, for he is our brother in our flesh. And his brethren were
content. Then there passed by the Midianites
merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit,
and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and
they bought Joseph unto Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the
pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he rent his clothes.
And he returned unto his brethren and said, The child is not, and
I, whither shall I go? Now Reuben's the firstborn. He's the one in charge. And they took Joseph's coat and
killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood.
And they sent the coat of many colors. And they brought it to
their father and said, this have we found. Know now whether it
be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it. and said, It is my son's code,
an evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rant
in pieces. And Jacob rant his clothes, and
put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many
days. And all his sons and all his
daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.
And he said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
And the Midianites sold him into Egypt under Potiphar, an officer
of pharaohs and captain of the guard. Now last week we saw that
Joseph was sent by his father to go to his brethren, to go
to his brethren in Shechem. We see that in verse 14. And
he said to him, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy
brethren and well with thy flocks and bring me word again. So he
sent him out of the vale of Hebron and he came to Shechem. We also saw how they weren't
in the field, where they were supposed to be. But a man working
in the field saw Joseph wandering around and told him that his
brethren were in Dathron. We see that in verse 17, and
the man said, they are departed. Hence, for I've heard them say,
let us go to Dathron. And Joseph went after his brethren
and found them in Dathron. And we saw that Joseph came to
his brethren and they saw him far off. They saw him coming
and they conspired to kill him. But again, Reuben convinced them
not to kill him, but to throw him in a pit. And again, that's
all the restraining hand of God at work. Then they sold him into
slavery to some Midianite merchantmen who were passing by the field
in Dathron. Again, all according to God's
providence. Now, when his brother sold him
into slavery, Reuben was not with them. We know that his plan
was to deliver Joseph back to his father. Look at verse 22,
that's very clear. And Reuben said unto them, shed
no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness,
and lay no hand upon him, that he might rid him out of their
hands to deliver them to his father again. So his whole plan
was to have them throw him in the pit, and for him to be able
to take him back to his father again. So Reuben wasn't with them. when
they sold him into slavery. And some commentators say that
it was probably at night that he was going to come and pull
him out of the pit so his other brothers didn't see him, what
he was doing, and take him back to his dad or send him back on
his way to his dad. We don't know that. It doesn't
tell us if it was night or day in the text. But that's just
some speculation by John Gill that I wanted to bring out. And
as we go through this study, never ever lose sight as we go
through this whole life of Joseph, never lose sight of this truth.
Our God is orchestrating all these events that we see. He's
orchestrating all these events to accomplish his eternal purpose,
to accomplish his eternal purpose. Our great sovereign God is the
one who did not let Joseph's brethren kill him, and we know
that he used Reuben, and we also saw that he used Judah, that
God's restraining hand was at work, protecting Joseph from
his brethren. And again, we're gonna see how
God's restraining hand, as we go further into the life of Joseph,
we will see that restraining hand at work. And you know that's
at work in every believer's life. Don't think this is just a special
situation for Joseph. God's restraining hand is at
work in every single believer's life. Sometimes we see it, and
sometimes we don't. Most of the time, we don't. We
don't. How many times would we have
outright destroyed ourselves in recklessness and sin? And
we've been protected, we've been kept by the power of God. By the power of God. How many
times have we seen friends go headlong into things and the
Lord's protected us from that? And we know, we know that if
it wasn't for the grace of God, we'd be just like them. I have friends from high school
that I still see through Facebook and see what's going on. And
you know what? They're still doing the same things we did
in high school. And I'd have been doing the same thing right
now if it wasn't for the grace of God. And so would you. We'd
all would have been in the same pit of sin if God hadn't pulled
us out of it. And my, it's incredible. When
we see how much he protects us, when we see how he restrains
us, it's evident in our lives. And all we can say is praise
his mighty name. That's all we can say. That's
all we can say. So let us again never lose sight
that all this was part of God's eternal purpose, what was happening
to Joseph, because God must deliver his people from Egypt, right?
So his people must go down to Egypt. And we'll see all that
occur. Beloved, we'll see all that occur
from Joseph being taken down to Egypt. It's absolutely incredible. It was God's eternal purpose
that Joseph would be exalted to prime minister over all of
Egypt. Again, a picture of Christ. to save the Israelites, to save
His people, to save His people. And Christ saved His people from
their sins. And He's the giver of all blessings. He's the giver of all blessings.
Oh. Our great sovereign God sent
a caravan of Israelites to carry Joseph down into Egypt, and Joseph
was sold into slavery, but all the time, beloved, all the time,
even when it doesn't appear that God's protecting hand is at work,
his protecting hand is at work in his people's lives. His protecting hand is on our
dear brother Joseph's life, and he will take him home, just like
you'll take us home, And we know that Joseph's brethren
didn't treat him with kindness. They stripped him of the coat.
They were very rough with him. They stripped him of the coat
and they threw him into a pit that Reuben had told them about.
And no doubt the Ishmaelites were not gentle with him. He's
a slave now. How did they treat slaves back
then? Like they were a piece of merchandise? So you can imagine the mental
and the physical anguish that Joseph's going through. He's experienced this in a very
short time, but let us never forget our great God is ever
watching over the situation, ever controlling all the events,
all the events. And do not forget who the Ishmaelites
were. Turn, if you would, to Genesis chapter 16. Don't forget
who they were. They were the descendants of
Ishmael, who was Abraham's first son by Sarah's handmaid, Hagar. We know that Ishmael was not
the child of promise. He's the child of the flesh.
And we know that the law and the gospel cannot exist together. Grace and law cannot live together. The child of the promise can't
live with the child of the flesh. And look in Genesis chapter 16,
verses 2 and 3, look what happens here. Sarah decides she's going
to speed up things. Sarah and Abraham must have talked
and thought, well, we're going to speed things up. God's told us
we'll have a child of promise. See, but they're doing it in
the flesh. Look at this. And Sarah said unto Abraham,
Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bear, and I pray thee,
go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abraham hearkened unto the
voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abraham's wife, took
Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abraham had dwelt twelve
years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband to
be his wife. Now turn over to Genesis chapter
21. We see that God told Abraham, what? To cast out Hagar and Ishmael. To cast them out. Look at this in Genesis chapter
21, because Ishmael's not the child of promise. Look at verses
10 to 13. Wherefore she said unto Abraham,
cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing
was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son." So
Sarah says, this child of flesh is not going to be heir with
my son. And God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy
sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman, in
all that Sarah hath said, unto thee hearken unto her, for in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. Now this is who it was that Joseph's
brethren sold him to. Hagar's kin. The descendants of Ishmael, they
grew to be a mighty nation according to God's promise to Hagar. But they were not ignorant of
what Abraham had done to Ishmael. They weren't ignorant of that.
And they hated all the descendants of Isaac. God's promised son
to Abraham and Sarah, the heir. the heir, which again pictures
Christ, God's beloved son, Messiah. So we see then that Joseph is
on his way to Egypt as a slave, as a slave. He'd not be treated
with any special favors. He'd be cast in the same Whatever
they used to transport all the slaves, he'd be cast in the same
place. There'd be no special treatment
for Joseph. He's just merchandise to these
traders now. That's what he is. But we're
seeing that all this was falling out according to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Joseph didn't know what was waiting
for him, did he? He had no idea what was waiting
for him. And he probably, all of a sudden
he goes down to see his brethren, and they strip him of the coat
that he had, they throw him in a pit. He could probably hear
them talking. They want to kill him. But God's restraining hands at
work, He sold off to these Israelites and now he's heading down to
Egypt. He has no idea what's laying before him. Again, like
I said last week, he probably thinks, I'm never going to see
my dad again. I'm never going to see my brother, Benjamin.
At that point, he probably didn't care if he saw his other brother,
but he's not going to see Benjamin anymore. He's not going to see his dad.
His mom has already died. So he'd be in anguish. Didn't
even know if he was going to survive the trip down there. But we know that he was a righteous
man. We know he was made righteous by Christ, don't we? Just like
every believer, we know that. He's mentioned in the Hall of
Faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 21 and 22. By faith, Jacob, when
he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, which we'll see
later on in our study, and worshiped leaning upon the top of the staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and
gave commandment concerning his bones. Joseph was a man made
righteous by Christ. Joseph was a man who looked to
Christ. But he was just like us, too.
He suffers the same things we do. He struggled with sin just
like we do. He struggled with the trials
of life just like we do. This must have been an extreme
trial for him. I couldn't even imagine what
it would be like to have 11 brothers or 10 brothers turn on you. I
couldn't even imagine what that's like. We love our family and all of
a sudden to have them turn on you and you don't even see it
coming. My. Be like getting hit with
a two by four right across the head because you didn't know
what's coming. You didn't even, you're blindsided. Let us never forget that God's
children, we go through things, and these trials and tribulations
we go through, they're real and they're painful. They're painful. They hurt. And they're tough. But let us glean strength from
what we see here. What we're seeing in the life
of Joseph. Because just as our sovereign Lord purposed all that
we see Joseph going through, He does the same for us, beloved.
So in the midst of what we're going through, we can find strength
in Christ. Because he's purposed this for
us. Sister Nancy and I were talking about that. Different things
we go through. He's purposed those things for us. And a lot
of times these things we go through draw us real close to the Lord,
don't they? They really do. It's in our weakness that we
see he's so strong. He's so strong. And we see our
frailty and we see our weakness, don't we? Constantly. Constantly. And just remember this too, that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. I know it seems,
it's hard, but that which is coming for us as believers doesn't
even compare to what we're going through down here. Oh my, to
be with Christ, to see Christ face to face, Oh, it gives us
strength. But even in these narratives,
these stories that we go through, and we look, they're real. They're
real. They really happen. And we see God's hand at work. And we can draw strength that
he does the same in our lives. So let we, who are the born-again,
blood-washed saints of God, remember that we have the same spirit
in us as Joseph had. He's born again, just like we
are. Same Spirit guiding him and directing him, beloved. Remember,
God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He doesn't change. He's unchanging. He's unchanging. And here and
there, just let us never forget that God knows what he's doing,
even when we have no idea what's going on. Even when we throw our hands
up sometimes. Right? Because we all have at
some points in our lives. I don't understand, Lord. He's in full control. He's never
made a mistake, beloved. He has never made a mistake,
and He never will, and the trial and the suffering that we go
through teaches us this truth. As we go through these situations,
it teaches us to rely upon Him more and more. It teaches us,
as Paul wrote, in our weakness He is strong. It teaches us this. Now let's look at verses 29 and
30, and we'll see how Reuben, he's returned, and we know that
his intent is in having them throw Joseph in the pit was to
return him to his father, but we see that Reuben again, who's
the oldest, has a big surprise waiting for him, doesn't he?
And we'll see that he's grieved over what's came to pass. Look
at verses 29 and 30. And Reuben returned into the
pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he rent his clothes.
And he returned unto his brethren and said, the child is not. and
I wither, shall I go? So we see that Reuben returns
to the pit and finds that Joseph's gone, and he rents his clothes,
which in those times was a gesture of grief and sorrow, because
he thought his brothers had killed Joseph. And when we see the words
in verse 30, when he returns to his brothers saying the child
is not, and I wither, shall I go? He proclaimed these words because
he thought Joseph was dead. Reuben was so grieved when he
returned to his brethren that his reaction is that the child
is not, which means he's gone. Not in the pit, not in the land
of the living, but he's dead. Turn if you would to Jeremiah
chapter 31. This same phrase, not the exact same phrase, but
is not or not is used over here. when talking about Herod killing
the infants in Bethlehem. Listen to the verbiage that's
used here in Jeremiah 31 and verse 15. Same verbiage. Jeremiah 31, 15, thus saith the
Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comfort for her
children because they were not. So again, he thinks his brother's
dead. He thinks he's gone. Reuben's fears is that Joseph
is killed. And then he says, whither shall
I go? Some commentators said either
to look for Joseph or to flee from the face of his father.
He's in a dilemma. He couldn't even think of standing
before his father. He already highly offended his
father in the case of Bilhah, and now his anger would be set
upon him even more, because he's the child, he's the oldest child.
He's the oldest child, and he's responsible for his brethren. It had been expected that he
would take special care of his brethren, and now he's in turmoil,
he's at his wits' end, beloved. Imagine what he was thinking.
We can see in the text that he didn't desire to go along with
what his brothers schemed, But let us remember this is all falling
out according to God's eternal purpose. God's purpose is at
work. Now, we are fully responsible
for our own actions. We are fully responsible for
our own actions and our own deeds. Man is fully responsible. And
let us remember, though, that God's will cannot and never will
be thwarted. he rules and reigns by a sovereign
hand. Think of how God sent his only
begotten son to this world to die for sinners, to die for a
people of his choosing. The Pharisees sought to kill
the Lord before his time, but it was never allowed. He would
die according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. because it was for this very
reason that Christ came into this world to save his people
from their sins. And his blood must be shed to
pay the price that God has demanded for the eternal ransom of the
souls of God's elect. God's law must be honored, his
justice must be satisfied, and it can only be satisfied by the
substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. But wicked
men took him, didn't they? Wicked man took him and crucified
him, all according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. God's plan and God's will will never be thwarted by anything
visible or invisible, never. He will do that which he has
purposed in spite of us, but he will never justify our wicked
deeds. He will never justify our wicked
deeds. We know that the unregenerate mind cannot receive these truths. But we as preachers don't have
to satisfy the carnal minds of men, do we? Not at all. No. We preach what the Word says,
and we know that the Word of God declares God's absolute sovereignty
and man's responsibility. It teaches that. God's absolute
sovereignty and man's response, but man is fully accountable
for their sin. We preach both truths. So could
you imagine the relief that Reuben had when he found out that they'd
not killed Joseph? But despite this, he goes along
with what his wicked brothers have schemed to deceive his father.
Look at verses 31 to 35. And they took Joseph's coat and
killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood
and they sent the coat of many colors and they bought it to
their father and said, this have we found. Now whether it be thy
son's coat or no, And he knew it and said, it is my son's code,
an evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent
in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes and
put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many
days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort
him. But he refused to be comforted. And he said, for I will go down
into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Now remember, they didn't have DNA testing like we have today.
They didn't have that. And these wicked brothers of
Joseph, in order to hide their sin, they slay a kid of the goats
and dip the coat in blood and they devise a scheme to lie to
their father, saying, we found this coat. We don't know if it's
Joseph's. Could you imagine that? Oh, the depravity of man. The
wickedness of man's heart. Now, if this had been today's
time, they'd have taken the coat, tested the blood, and said, well,
this is animal's blood. He's still alive. But they didn't
have that technology that we have today, back then. So this
deception worked, beloved. This deception worked. They make
Israel believe that a wild beast has utterly ripped the life out
of Joseph. They knew it was Joseph's coat,
even when they said they knew it. We don't know whose coat
this is. And yet they knew whose coat
it was. They knew full well. Look at
verse 33. They knew full well it was his
coat. It's there before them and their
father covered in blood. Covered in blood. And again,
he has no way to know if it's animal blood. No way at all. He believes that his favorite
son, Joseph, has been devoured by a wild animal. Look at verse
33. And he knew it and said, it is
my son's code. An evil beast hath devoured him.
Joseph is without. doubt, rent, and pieces. Could
you imagine the pain and anguish that he's going through at this
time? And his brothers, Joseph's brothers,
know what's really going on. And here their father is just
full of anguish. at the thought of his son's death
at the hand of a wild lamb, thinking, my son's been tore to pieces,
and thinking probably the pain that Joseph went through. It's hard enough when our loved
ones die, but to find out that he died in this manner? He'd just be full of anguish. at Joseph's death. And then think
of how much he would blame himself because he sent Joseph to his
brethren. So think of the guilt or the
anguish that Israel would have knowing, I sent him there. See, we don't think of that often
when we read these texts, but there's different perspectives
going on here, isn't there? Different emotions that are at
play. And look at verses 34 and 35
in Jacob and Renna's clothes. which again is a sign of grief
in those times, and put sackcloth upon his loins, again, and mourned
for his son many days, many days. And then look at this, and all
the sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused
to be comforted, and he said, for I will go down into the grave
unto my son, mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Now we see that even Israel's
sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but Israel couldn't be comforted.
Now think of this, his daughters are sincere, right? They're sincere,
they don't know what happened, they're sincere. No doubt the
brothers wouldn't have told the daughters what had happened,
because one of them might have ran to dad and said, hey, this
is what happened. But as far as we know, they had
no ill feelings against Joseph, as far as we know. But look at
the hypocrisy of his brothers. They know full well what they've
done. They know full well how to ease their father's pain,
just to say, he's alive. He's in Egypt. He wasn't torn to pieces, dad. But do they do that? No. And Israel is cut to the bone,
beloved. He's full of sorrow. And we see in the text that no
one could alleviate his sorrow. He was mourning the death of
his favorite son and he wept. And he was weeping and the wicked
brethren were glad. In their minds they were glad
they got rid of him. We got rid of that dreamer. My. Doesn't it just show you
the depravity of man and how far we can go? Oh my. Now we know the rest of the story.
But our dear brother Jacob did not. Israel did not. He had no
idea that he'd ever see Joseph again. Oh, but we'll see. He
does, down the road. We'll see it. But he had no idea. And we knew he'd see his son
again. We know that. We know the rest of the story.
But during this time of great sorrow, you know that Joseph
and Jacob's only comfort was God, our Savior. our great God. That was their only comfort during
all this time. No human could comfort them,
but our great, sovereign, majestic God could. And he does, doesn't
he? He comforts his people. He comforts his people. This
is something for us to glean from, beloved. Something to remember,
that our Lord is ever watchful over us and ever takes care of
us. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for These pictures that we see, we thank you for how we see your
sovereign care, your providence at work, O Lord. And we also
see, Lord, your great majestic hand at work, restraining, allowing
things to happen, but ever caring and ever watching over us as
a shepherd. We love you and we praise you. We thank you again
for your goodness, mercy, and grace to us. In Jesus' name,
amen.