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Marvin Stalnaker

The Dreams of Joseph

Genesis 37:5-17
Marvin Stalnaker October, 25 2023 Video & Audio
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In the sermon "The Dreams of Joseph," Marvin Stalnaker addresses the themes of animosity, prophetic revelation, and the typology of Joseph as a foreshadowing of Christ. Central to his argument is the hatred Joseph’s brothers had for him due to their father Jacob’s favoritism and the significance of Joseph's dreams, which foretold his future authority over them. Stalnaker draws parallels between Joseph's experience and the disdain exhibited toward Jesus, citing John 8:56-59 and highlighting how both figures faced rejection from their own due to their divinely ordained roles. The sermon emphasizes that such hatred reflects the natural enmity of humanity against Christ and His message, asserting that understanding Joseph’s trials enriches the believer's grasp of God’s sovereignty and the redemptive work of Christ, who came to seek and save the lost.

Key Quotes

“The hatred of Joseph's brothers toward him... reveals the hatred that carnal man has toward the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Joseph's frankness and his truthfulness to tell his dream marked a spirit within him, a spirit of honesty... a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth.”

“God the Father, through the prophet Isaiah... has given command, concerning the reverence that is due unto the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Joseph was sent of Jacob... a beautiful picture of God's mercy to send the glorious Lord Jesus Christ into this world to see how it fares with us.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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All right, Genesis 37. Last time we viewed the animosity of Joseph's brothers toward him
for two reasons. Number one, Jacob's love for
Joseph. He loved Joseph more than all
of his brethren. And for the gifts, the gift of
that coat of many colors that Jacob made evident that he loved
Joseph, to gift him that beautiful coat. And the hatred of Joseph's
brothers to even speak peaceably unto him, had escalated to a
point that they wanted to kill him. I mean, this is not just
a little spat. These brothers, they want to
kill him. It says that in verses 18 to
20, and when they saw him afar off, even before he came near
unto them, They conspired against him to slay him. And they said
one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore and let us
slay him and cast him into some pit. And we will say some evil
beast hath devoured him and we shall see what will become of
his dreams. I mean, they were mad. They're willing to kill him.
and then hide him, and then lie about it, just to get rid of
him. Was this not the attitude? Turn
with me to John chapter eight. Was this not the attitude of
the Jews toward the Lord Jesus Christ? John chapter eight, verse
56 to 59. said unto the Jews, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus
said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham
was, I am. Now they knew exactly what he
said. They knew what he said. When
he said that, he said, I'm God. That's what he said. I'm God.
Then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself
and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and
so passed by. Now this man, Joseph, remember,
we're getting ready, as I said last time, to go through the
rest of this book. And the rest of this book primarily
is going to be dealing with the life of Joseph, the life of the
generations of Jacob, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph
is as clear a picture of Christ as we'll find in all of the scriptures,
Joseph. So here the scripture starts
off tonight in Genesis 37, And it says that his brothers,
they hated him. They hated him. His father loved
him more, but the father himself said concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. You
hear him. They hated him. Man by nature
hates the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you think that they don't,
you know, it's easy for somebody to say, well, I really don't
think I'm that, I'm hated. The scripture says that God's
people are hated. They're hated for the God that
they love. Because the God that God's people
love, regenerated by the grace of God, the God that they love
is the distinguishing God. He's the, he's the God that has
a people that he's chosen. people that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for. This theory that men have that
the Lord loves everybody, whenever you tell them that Almighty God
has got a people chosen before the foundation of the world,
that Christ died only for the elect, and that everyone that
the Father has given the Son, they're coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when you tell them that man doesn't have a free
will, And whenever you expose the little G-God that they're
serving, that little G-God that accepts the best that a man can
do, will accept a man's efforts, will accept a man's works, whatever
they are. For when you tell them that he
won't, you're gonna find out what they think. You're gonna
find out exactly what they believe. The brethren of Joseph hated
him because he was beloved of the Father. They hated him. And then the scripture tells
us why they hated him, how it was escalated. What aroused that
hatred? Well, let's look at verses five
to eight. I'm gonna try to look at verses five to 17 tonight.
Let's look at what verses five to eight says. And Joseph dreamed
a dream, and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet more. And he said unto them, here I
pray you this dream which I've dreamed. For behold, we were
binding sheaves in the field. And lo, my sheaf arose and also
stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood
round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren
said to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou
indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. Joseph dreamed this dream and
he related it to his brothers. He said, we were all out there
working in the field and we were binding sheaves, whatever it
was, grain, corn. And he said, in my dream, my
sheaf stood upright and all of your sheaves prostrated themselves
before mine. Your sheaves gave reverence unto
me. And as a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, do we not see the same effect that it had upon these
brothers? They hated him more. They hated him already. They
hated him because daddy loved him. And now he told them this
dream, and now it's just escalated into a state of just absolute
frenzy. Whenever the Lord turned to Luke
19, whenever the Lord had just finished Luke chapter 19, verse
12 to 14, he just finished calling Zacchaeus down from out of the
sycamore tree. The Lord's teaching, and he relates
this parable to the people. Right after that calling of Zacchaeus,
Zacchaeus come down, Luke 19, and verse 12 to 14. He's teaching now, and the Lord
says, he said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country
to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return he called his 10
servants and delivered them 10 pounds, and said to them, occupy
till I come. But the citizens hated him and
sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man rule
over us. So he tells them, he said, I
had a dream. My sheave stood up, all of your
sheaves were around, they gave obeisance, they made obeisance
to me. And they said, are you saying
that we're going to give obeisance to you, that you're gonna have
reign over us, here's Joseph. Beautiful picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God moving upon Joseph, giving him
a dream, set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Joseph's frankness and his truthfulness to tell his dream marked a spirit
within him, a spirit of honesty. More so it spoke of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the truth. Now think about that dream. That's
a picture of the glory of Christ. One worthy. That all obeisance,
all honor would be given unto him. And if that dream wasn't
offensive enough, Joseph dreamed another dream. And he told his
brothers the same dream, that dream again, back in Genesis
37, now in verses 9 to 11. He dreamed yet another dream
and told it his brethren and said, behold, I've dreamed a
dream more. Can you just imagine? Now look,
they're already at this point. They hate his guts. He told them
a story. My sheep stood up, and yours
bowed down to me, and I have dreamed another dream. Behold,
I have dreamed more, and behold, the sun and the moon and the
eleven stars made obeisance to me." And he told it to his father
and to his brethren. His father rebuked him. and said
unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall
I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves
to thee, to the earth? And his brethren envied him.
His father observed the saying. Jacob, when he heard the dream,
he heard that second dream that Joseph had told. And the Spirit
of God moved upon Jacob, Joseph's daddy, all these boys' daddy.
He revealed to him the meaning of that second dream. He said,
concerning the sun and the moon, the 11 stars, he observed that
saying after he heard it, but he understood that when he said,
when Jacob, Joseph said, he said, In verse 9, he said, I've dreamed
a dream, behold the sun. Jacob understood that to mean
him. And the moon, his mother, Joseph's
mother. And the 11 stars made obeisance. And the reason I know that, because
the next passage of Scripture tells us that that's what he
meant. He told his father to his brethren, and his father
rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou
hast dreamed? Shall I? and thy mother and thy brethren
indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth. And his brothers envied him. But it says that Jacob observed
the saying. He kept it. He rebuked him. He rebuked him. But then he retained
it. He retained that saying. And
he treasured it. He said, he realized something. God had spoken to him in a dream.
Remember when he went and he dreamed a dream, he laid his
head on stone and he dreamed a dream and there was a ladder
and he went from the earth all the way to heaven. He saw the
angels ascending and descending and God spoke to Jacob in a dream
and when Joseph comes and says, I dreamed a dream, that's what
I dreamed, Jacob gave note to that. He observed it, contemplated
it. These dreams, given by the inspiration
of Almighty God, would absolutely come to pass, humanly speaking. Joseph was going to be elevated
to a place of prominence in Egypt. He's going to be given a responsibility
of handling all the distribution of the corn from that country.
And all these dreams would set forth actually what was going
to be. Hold your place and turn to Genesis
42, just a few pages over. Genesis 42, verses five to nine. Now, Lord willing, it'll take
us a few weeks to get to this point, but I'm gonna show you
something. Joseph said, my sheaves stood
up, and your sheaves gave obeisance to me. I know that that's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm gonna bring that out in just
a second. I'm gonna show you that, you know that. But humanly
speaking, Look what happened, Genesis 42, verse nine, about
five, I'm sorry. And the sons of Israel came to
buy corn among those that came. The famine was in the land of
Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over
the land. And he, it was that sold to all
the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and
bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
And Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them He made himself
strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said
unto them, Whence come ye? They said, From the land of Canaan,
to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren,
but they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams
which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies,
to see the nakedness of the land. Ye are come. So Joseph, he would
in time, reveal himself. to his brethren, setting forth
the mercy that Almighty God has reserved for his people. But in the fullness of this passage,
not only do we behold the mercy of God toward a people of his
choosing, we also behold the surety of the respect and the
honor that everyone born into this world going to render unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. In this world or the next, turn
to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. This world or the
next, whenever Joseph came and told that second dream, he dreamed, I dreamed
another dream. He said the sun, the moon, 11
stars. He was, he was talking, he was
talking under the inspiration of God. He was talking about
his daddy and his mama and all of his brethren. But as Joseph
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 45 verse
22, 23. The scripture says, look unto
me and be you saved all the ends of the earth for I'm God. and there is none else. I have
sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return, that under me every knee shall bow. Every tongue will swear. Now just hold your hand right
there in Isaiah, because we're going to look at scripture or
two more, but every knee is going to bow. In this life right now, until
the Lord is pleased to call a sinner, a hell-deserving sinner, until
he's pleased to call them out, they don't care. They don't care. You can sit here and tell them
all day long, but until God gives them a new heart to bow to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to honor Him, to reverence Him, as the Lord
of glory. They don't care. But they're not without excuse. Nobody is without excuse. God the Father, through the prophet
Isaiah, look at Isaiah, just look there, Isaiah, turn back
to page two, to Isaiah 42. God the Father has declared,
given command, concerning the reverence that is due unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this, Isaiah 42,
1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. So the Father
has commanded everybody, you behold my servant, behold him. And then God the Son, in Isaiah
65, verses 1 and 2, has given command. The Lord Jesus Himself,
Isaiah 65, verse 1 and 2, I am sought of them that ask not for
me. I am found to them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold
me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread
out my hand all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh
in a way that was not good after their own thoughts. So God the Father has said, behold
my servant. The Lord Jesus Christ says, Behold
me, behold me. And then the Spirit of God, turn
over to John, Gospel of John chapter one. The Spirit of God
revealed to John the Baptist who he was, John the Baptist,
the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. John one, verse 29 to
32. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him and saith, behold the Lamb of God. which taketh
away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after
me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to
Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing
with water, and John bear record saying, I saw the spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. So God the
Father has commanded us. God the Son has commanded us.
God the Spirit has commanded and pointed out the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to be bowed to. He's going to be honored. Every
knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess.
Like I said, in this life or the next. But he's going to be
bowed unto. Well, the resentment and hatred
toward Joseph because of his father's love, because of the
Lord's message that was delivered through Joseph in these dreams,
clearly reveals the hatred that carnal man has toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because of his oneness with the
Father, and because of the message of the gospel, he's hated because
of the Father's love for him and because of the gospel that
we preach. Turn to John 6, John chapter
6. The hatred that we see toward
Joseph is a picture, it's a picture of man's resentment toward Christ. Look at John chapter 6, verse
57 to 66. 6, verse 57. As the living father
has sent me, and I live by the father. So he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things
said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. And he is
declaring, again, he's declaring himself to be God. The Father's
concerned with miracles, signs, and wonders, and he's telling
them. He said, I'm telling you, this is what Joseph did. He told
them the truth, and they hated him for it. They hated him when
he told them the truth. He dreamed a dream. We have no
control over our dreams, nonetheless. I was reading, Robert Hawker,
Hawker had got a little dictionary, and if you've got the privilege
to have one, it's a real blessing, but he wrote a little article
on dreams, and he said, he was talking about how the Lord did
speak through his people at times, and he said, in these dreams,
he said, just humanly speaking, he said, we have no power over
our dreams. We have no power over our dreams.
He said, dreams are unexplainable. You're asleep and your conscience is awake. He said, you can, you hear, you
can hear the voices of those that have passed on. And they,
they sound like themselves. And you can have conversations
with them and the dream may make no sense whatsoever. And I'll just, I'll just tell
you this. It just happened to me. I told
Glenda yesterday, this happened to me. I've read that day before
yesterday. and I was contemplating, I wanted to see what Hawker had
to say on these dreams. And he did go on to say that
he said the Lord had spoken before in dreams, but then he warned
us. He said, if somebody comes saying,
I dreamed this, and if it's not consistent with these scriptures,
he says it's not from the Lord. But anyway, after I had read
that, that night, I was, I don't know what time it was, middle
of the night, and so help me, I heard my mother scream out. And I thought, when I woke up,
immediately, I thought she was in the next bedroom. And then
I remembered, no, my mom's not here anymore. But buddy, my heart
was going a million miles an hour. It was real, it was real,
it was real. This is what Hawker said, these
dreams, you can't control them. You cannot control a dream. It
goes the way it goes. You're asleep, but your conscience
is awake. And he said, you can, these dreams,
you know that, they're just strange. But here the Lord, he's declaring
himself to be God. This is the bread, I just said,
in my mind's eye, he's talking to me, this is the bread which
came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and
are dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore disciples, when
they heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew it himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up
where he was before? It is the spirit that quickneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak Unto you
they are spirit, they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him of my father. From that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Joseph related the truthfulness
of the dreams. And they hated him. They hated
him for his father's love and for the truthfulness that he
spoke. Is that not a picture of Christ? Is that not a picture
of our blessed Lord? Joseph's brothers knew when he
was telling them of these dreams and the obeisance that was going
to be given unto him, His brothers knew. Turn to Mark
6. His brothers knew. He's 17 years
old. Mark chapter 6. He's 17 years
old. And here he is. He's the next
to the youngest. Benjamin was the youngest. Joseph
was the next to the youngest. And here's all these others.
They're all older, all bigger. And here's this young 17-year-old
brother. He's telling them what is to
be. You're going to bow down to me.
You're going to bow down to me. They hate him. It's just compounding. But that lack of respect, was
that not a picture, again, of the Jews toward the Lord Jesus
Christ? Look at Mark chapter 6, verses
2 and 3. When the Sabbath day was come,
he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him, were astonished,
saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom
is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are
wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Judah, and Simon? And are not his sisters here
with us?" They were offended at him. 17-year-old, telling them, you're
gonna bow down to me. You're gonna do obeisance to
me. Mom and dad too, all of you, you're gonna bow down. And they hated him. Back in Genesis
37, verse 12 to 14, his brethren went to feed their father's flock
in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph,
do not thy brethren feed the flock? And Shechem, come, and
I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, here am I.
And he said to him, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well
with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word
again. So he went, no, yeah, so he sent
him out of the vale of Hebron. and he came to Shechel. Now,
the first thing I noticed in that passage we just read, how
sweetly does the Spirit of God, even in the state of hatred,
now you remember this, they hate him. They hate him. They hate
him enough, they want to kill him. They want to. But listen
how sweetly the Spirit of God moved upon Jacob. Joseph's dad,
to say in verse 12, And his brethren went to meet their father's flock
in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph,
Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem. They were his
earthly brothers. There's no doubt about that. They hated him. But again, as
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, Consider the hatred that we have,
turn to Ephesians 2, the hatred that we have, born in Adam, sons
of Adam, fallen creatures of the dust. And we, by nature,
the carnal mind is enmity against him and hates him, but we're
his brethren. All of the sheep, the chosen,
the elect, the remnant, the bride, we're his brethren. We're his
brethren. And here's Jacob telling him, he said, I want you to go
search out your brethren, see how they're doing. Ephesians
chapter two, verses one to seven. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation, our manner of life, manner of walk, in times past
in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ by grace,
you're saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. They hated his guts. Jacob told him, he said, I want
you to go and find your brethren. Find those that are of this family. These brothers that's out there
in Shechem, they had no idea what was to come. They had no
idea the famine that would soon arise in Canaan. That famine that pictured the
spiritual famine of our soul, they had no idea We don't either. We didn't either until the Lord
revealed to us. We didn't know that our soul was in famine.
We didn't know that. We didn't know that we were dead
in trespasses and sins. But that's here again, that famine
that was to come. Here's the Lord preparing to
protect His people. That spiritual family from which
the Lord of glory must redeem us and save us and deliver us
from only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom Joseph
is the type. Joseph is that picture. Before
we had any idea of our need, God had provided a lamb. Jacob
tells him, he said, now listen, your brother's gone out there. They're out there. Go feed their
father's flock. I want you to go. I'm gonna send
you. I will send you, verse 13. Send thee unto them. And I want
you to listen whenever Jacob sent Joseph. to find his brethren. Here's what he said. He said,
I want you to go and see whether it be well with thy brethren,
with thy flocks, and bring me word again. Go, I want you to
go and see, the marginal reading says, see the peace of thy brethren. And Joseph, the son that was
loved more than all of his other brethren, as he was sent by his
father, Jacob, to see about the welfare of Jacob's family, oh,
what a beautiful picture we have of God's mercy to send the glorious
Lord Jesus Christ into this world to see how it fares with us.
I mean, he had always loved us, chosen us in him, but he was
gonna have to come into this world and see how it fared, see
if it's well, see how it goes with them. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter two. I'm going to start to wrap this
up. Hebrews chapter two. He was going to have to go out
there and find them, make sure they're doing okay. What a beautiful
picture of God's mercy to send the Lord Jesus Christ and to
have the report. His finished work brought to
him. Now you go out there and you
find them, see how they're doing, and you come back and tell me.
You come back and tell me. That's what he said. What he
said, I'll read it for you. You're over in Hebrews chapter
two. Hold your place right there. Israel said unto Joseph, do not
thy brethren feed the flock of Shechem? Come, I will send thee
unto them. And he said to him, here am I.
He said unto him, go, I pray thee, see whether it's well with
thy brethren, well with the flocks, and bring me word again. Now I want you to look in Hebrews
chapter two, verses 10 to 13. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. for both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. I just, when I read that, just
that moment, I think, you know, humanly speaking, can you only
imagine that Joseph, now just humanly speaking, if I know that
somebody hates my guts, especially if I knew they wanted to kill
me, but you know, My attitude would be, I don't want to be
around you. I'll just avoid you. I just don't want to be there.
I'm not comfortable around you. I know what you think about me.
I get it. If you have that much animosity
toward me, think of the animosity that we have by nature toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. I hated him without a cause.
Verse 11 again, for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified
are all one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in
the midst of the church, while I sing praise unto thee. And
again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and
the children which God hath given me. Joseph was sent of Jacob. He said, you go, go find your,
go find your brethren. See if it's well with them. Come
back and tell me how they're doing. Tell me. You know, there's
one mediator. It was Jacob, the father. Here's the 11 sons. One of them
is Joseph. I'm sorry, there's 11 sons. Joseph
was the 12th one. There was 11 sons that hated
Joseph. But Joseph was gonna go and find
his brethren. But before I look at those final
verses, I want you to notice one other thing concerning Joseph's
attitude. He said, in verse 13, Israel
said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock, and
sheek them come, and I will send thee unto them. And listen to
Joseph's answer. And he said to him, Here am I. Here am I. I want you to go find
your brother. Here am I right here. And concerning
the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning the father's commission
to send him into this world. This is the work that was given
the Lord Jesus Christ. And of all that the father had
given him, he should lose nothing. And this was the Lord Jesus Christ
attitude. Toward the father's will, John
434, my meat. is to do the will of him that
sent me and to finish the work. I want you to go, Joseph, find
your brethren. Find them over and seek them.
Tell me how they're doing. Here I am. I'm ready to go right now.
Well, in verses 15 to 17, after this we'll close, a certain man
found him. And behold, he was wandering
in the field. And the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they
feed their flocks. And the man said, they are departed
hence, for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. And Joseph
went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. Joseph's path
was crossed. Turn with me to Ezekiel 34. Joseph's
path was crossed by, scripture says, a certain man. And as I
read that passage of scripture concerning that certain man that
knew where Joseph's brethren were, he knew where they were.
He said, I heard him say that they were going to Dothan. I
could not help but think of the spirit of God that knows where
the people of God are. And he blows as the wind. And
he seeks them out. And when it pleases God, that's
what Paul said, when it pleased God. Separated me from my mother's
womb, called me by his grace. Whenever the Spirit of God is
pleased to draw one of God's people to his own, he knows where
they are. He knows where they are. They're
like the one that lost, left the 99, that needed no help. Being cared for. In fact, there
was one, though, that was lost. He had to go find him. He was
gonna go search him out. Ezekiel 34, verses 11 to 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. What was Joseph doing there?
His daddy had sent him to go find the brethren. Go find your
brethren. Check on them, see how they're
doing. bring me word back concerning me. And the Lord Jesus Christ
said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
the work. And this is the will of him that sent me that all
which he's given me, I should lose nothing. Ezekiel 34, 11,
for thus saith the Lord God, behold, even I will both search
my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeketh out his flock
in the day, that he's among his sheep that are scattered. So
will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from
the people and gather them from the countries, will bring them
to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the rivers and all the inhabited places of the country. I will
feed them in a good pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel
shall their foe be. There shall they lie in a good
fold, in a fat pasture, shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock. I will cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord God. Here was a beautiful picture
of our precious Savior, beloved of the Father. And he sent him
into this world with a message of redemption. And he was hated
for it. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God. And here was
Joseph, the submissive servant. Daddy sent him, said, go out
there and find your brother and tell him, here am I. Whatever
you want, that's what I want to do. My meat's to do the will
of you that sent me. And he found him. He's going
to find him. He's going to find him. Well, Lord willing, next
week we're going to find out he did find them. And when he
found them, they didn't give him a very good reception. But
here we see again the suffering of our precious Savior in his
work to come get what he suffered in this life that we might have
life. I pray God bless this time.
Marvin Stalnaker
About Marvin Stalnaker
Marvin Stalnaker is pastor of Katy Baptist Church of Fairmont, WV. He can be contacted by mail at P.O. Box 185, Farmington, WV 26571, by church telephone: (681) 758-4021 by cell phone: (615) 405-7069 or by email at marvindstalnaker@gmail.com.
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