All right, let's go to Genesis
37 again, and I've read these verses to you, but this evening
I just want to deal with the first four verses, and I certainly
make no apology for going rather, I'm going to kind of slow down
a little bit as I study the life of Joseph, because this is, I
expect more so than any other man in the Old Testament. He
typifies our Lord Jesus in so many, many ways. And you can't
read this story of Joseph and study this without learning something
new that God did for him and brought him through. And so we
ask the Lord to continue to teach us from this. But let me read
the first four verses and then I'm going to speak on this subject.
Joseph loved and hated. Joseph loved and hated. All right, here we go. Genesis
37. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein
his father was a stranger, that is, in the land of Canaan. These
are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 18 years old, was
feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons
of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, literally
his father's concubines. And Joseph brought unto his father
their evil report. That is, he spoke very truthful
things about the evil of his half-brothers. Now Israel loved
Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his
old age. And he made him a coat of many
colors. And when his brethren saw that
their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him and could not speak peaceably unto him. These are the four
verses that I want to deal with this evening. Now, most of the
rest of the book of Genesis deals with the history of Joseph. As I said, he stands out among
all Old Testament figures as being a beautiful type in many
ways of our Lord Jesus. And in the list of the many ways
he prefigured our Lord Jesus has to start with his name, his
name. Actually, Joseph's name has two
meanings. If you'll go back to chapter
30, let's go back to his birth. Go back to chapter 30 and look
at verse 22. Of course, Jacob, he worked seven
years to marry Rachel and then he was tricked and so he wound
up marrying Leah and then he married Rachel but he had to
work seven more years for her and she was barren. And at last, God remembered her
barrenness And she gave birth to a son and she called him Joseph. And then in her last few days,
she went into labor and she gave birth to Benjamin and she died
giving birth to Benjamin. So she just had two sons. Look
at verse 22, and God remembered Rachel. I'll just stop right
there. I wrote a song for you for this
last Lord's Day. God remembers me. He remembered
me in the covenant of grace. He remembered me when Christ
died for me. And He remembers me to quicken
me from spiritual death. And He remembers me every day
of my life. And the Lord remembers all of
His people. And He remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to her and
opened her womb. And He did so at just exactly
the right time. Because though she was very much
disheartened by being barren, and not having a son earlier,
having to give her handmaid to Jacob and saying, you know, here,
take her and have children by her. She would have wanted to
have a child many years before this, but that wasn't in the
purpose of God. But she couldn't see that. You
see, God had ordained that Joseph, would rise above his family and
then wind up in Egypt. And he would have charge of all
of the land of Egypt and all of the greeneries of Egypt. And
everything was really working out for the good of Rachel, but
she couldn't see it. And you know, she didn't live
to see it. She didn't live to see him go
on. And of course, he's got many,
he's got many a crooked road that he's got to travel before
he gets to Egypt. And then he sits at the right
hand of Pharaoh. She didn't live to see that.
But as we view this, and we can view it now from hundreds and
hundreds of years later, we see the wisdom of God, and we see
the purpose of God in Joseph being born to her at the time
that he was. And once again we see that all
things were working together for her good, and for the good
of Joseph, for the good of Jacob, and for the good of all of the
house of Israel. And may God give us grace to
embrace that glorious truth. Whether we can see, whether we
can perceive, and most of the time we cannot see how these
things are working together for our good. But we do believe the
very Word of God. that they're working together
for our benefit. Later, Jacob, he will say concerning
what he thinks is the death of Joseph, that Joseph is dead and
Simeon is being held in captivity in Egypt and he's got to send
Benjamin in order for the safety of Simeon. Jacob says, all of
these things are against me. You say, well, I wonder why Jacob
would talk like that. Well, that's often our attitude. We may not say those words. Those words don't come literally
out of our mouths. But things happen that disgruntle
us, and we're not happy about them, and we wish it had gone
a different direction, and we murmur about it, and yet, yet,
We know all things that work together for our good. We know
that. And we may live to see them work
together for our good, and we may not. But it's not necessary
for us to observe how they work together for our good. All that's
necessary is for us to believe our God who is ever faithful. I look back over my ministry
and my ministry has taken several turns that thoroughly confused
me. But I can look back now and see
that those dark corridors that I had to
go down were necessary to teach me. to make me who I am today. Let me tell you something. It's
this way with all of God's people. He will lead you down a dark
hallway, and then you'll come into a room filled with light. And that's nice. And then you
know what? Before you know it, you're in another dark corridor.
You're in another dark hallway. That's the lives of God's people. And this is the life of Joseph.
and he was born at exactly the time God would have him to enter
into this world, and all of the things that happened to Joseph,
every difficulty, every heartbreaking event in his life, they were
all necessary to make Joseph who he would come out to be. and for God to put him where
God ordained him to be. So the Lord remembered Rachel,
verse 23, and she conceived and bear a son. And here's a part
of the meaning of the name of Joseph. She said, God had taken
away my reproach. That's the first meaning. God
hath taken away my reproach, my shame, my disgrace. And this is a picture of our
Lord Jesus. In Psalm 22 and verse 6, He said,
but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. But God took away that reproach.
because God exalted him based upon his faithfulness to live
and then lay down his life, give his life a ransom for many. God took away that reproach.
Men hated him as we shall see that Joseph's brethren hated
him. Our Lord Jesus, He was a reproach
to so many. And yet, God took that reproach
away. And our Lord, He took something
else away. He took away our sins. He was
manifested to do just that. So all of this is indicated in
the naming of Joseph. And then she said this, verse
24, and she called his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add
to me another son. And she was right. Benjamin. And you know, our Lord Jesus,
He came on the scene and honored God in every possible way. and then perform the mission
for which he came into the world to save his people from their
sins, which he did by his bloody sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. And as a result, there are going
to be many sons going to glory. Many sons. God's going to add. God is adding. Acts chapter 2. He's adding to the church daily,
such as should be saved. So, Joseph's name in being a reproach
that's been taken away, that pictures our Lord Jesus. And that He is the one, His coming,
meant there's another on the way. And I think of our Lord when
He went to home to glory. He went back to heaven. Right
behind Him, there's another one on the way. That's a believing
thief. And another one on the way, and
another, and another. A multitude which no man can
numbers what John said, and soon will be on our way. all because
of one man, the God-man, who he is, and what he did for his
people. Well, go back here to chapter
37. Notice verse one. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein
his father, he was a stranger in the land of Canaan. He dwelt
as a stranger, which means he sojourned among a people who
did not know the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Joseph sojourned. Jacob sojourned in this land. When it says, a land in which
his father was a stranger, just a traveling person. He lived
in Hebrews 11 says they lived in tents, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. They lived in tents. And they
didn't sink their roots down too deep because it won't be
too many years from now, Jacob will have to move. He's gonna
be moving to the land of Egypt. So he must be a sojourner. This
is altogether different from his brother Esau. Esau and his
family, they sunk their roots down in a place called Mount
Seir. And they became nobles, dukes,
and kings. They established government. They were there sinking their
roots down deep into the earth. And that's the way it is with
the people of the world. But it's not the way it is with
the people of God. We're just sojourners. And we don't figure on being
here very long. Of Abraham, it says, he looked
for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Just a sojourner. That's all we are. I've told
you before, a dear brother I visited many years ago, and he was in
a nursing home, and he was very weak, and he had spent all, spent
all to provide for his wife, and went, and were then on Medicaid, had
nothing. She passed away, and then they
moved him to another facility, and I went to see him. It was
just a linoleum floor. No rugs on the floor. No pictures
on the wall. Just got his three meals a day. He said, I'll tell you, preacher,
I've worked all my life He says, this is all I got to show for
it. He said, I own nothing. I said, well, you have the Savior,
don't you? He said, yes, I do. I said, well,
you see, when you leave, you're really leaving nothing behind.
You don't own anything. Other people own Maybe have vast
sums of money, own great property. You have nothing. Everybody's
going to leave everything behind. Doesn't matter whether you're
a renter or an owner. Going to leave everything behind.
I said all that to say this. Hold very lightly to the things
of this world. Even to your family. Hold lightly. I remember Brother Scott Richardson
one time preaching, and he said, along this same line, he said,
just hold them with a light grip, lest God have to break your fingers
when He snatches something away from you. Just a light grip. You see, Jacob, he understood. He's in a land of strangers.
We're just sojourners. in a land of strangers, because
our gospel is very strange to them. They don't understand.
People of the world don't understand how the God of the Bible saved
sinners. They don't understand our fascination with, our, for
lack of a better word, our addiction to this gospel. They don't understand
why. Oh, you mean you go to church
three times a week? I remember one of the teachers
that Nancy taught with asked her about that, and she said,
well, I go three times a week. And he said, do you have to? She said, I want to. He said,
well, does he preach the same thing, all three sermons? He
said, well, it's not the same sermon, but it is the same message. People can't comprehend that.
They don't understand. That's because we dwell in a
land of strangers. They don't have the same values
we have, and they don't love the same gospel we love. But thank God we do love the
gospel. And we pray for them, that God
would reveal the truth to them as well. All right, look at the
second verse. These are the generations of
Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was
feeding the flock with his brethren. Now, he's feeding the flock with
his half-brothers. See, the lad was with the sons
of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's
concubines. He's 17 years old. You know, the Scripture says,
and we'll find this out as we get deeper into the story of
Joseph, when he finally gets to Egypt, to Pharaoh, and he
is the revealer of the secrets of Pharaoh's dreams, he's 30
years old. So 13 years has got to go by. And I'll tell you, with Joseph,
those 13 years, they really were down one dark corridor after
another. One dark hallway. Going around
curves in the road of life, and he didn't have any idea what
was on the other side. Every once in a while, he'd get
into the sunlight a little bit. And you know, you and I, as the
children of God, we give thanks that every once in a while we
have some sunlight. In fact, a good bit of the time. And in reality, we're always
in the light of the Son of God, the Son of righteousness. Isn't that true? We're always
before Him. We're always in His presence.
And He leads us. Thy Word is a light. It's a lamp
to my feet. A light to my pathway. And so
we keep on going. And I don't know how long my
journey will be. And I may not be able to see
the road that is in front of me, but I'm going to a glorious
place where the Lamb is all the light in the city of God." That's
where we're going. And we'll leave this veil of
tears behind. He'll spend 13 more years, this winding pathway, and then he will labor on the
behalf of Pharaoh for seven years, going around the land, collecting
grain to fill the granaries of Egypt. Yes, behold the wise and good
providence of God in every facet of the life of Joseph. And I say it's easy for us to
see the providence of God in the life of Joseph because of
our vantage point. We have all of these chapters
and we say, oh yes, I see that. Hey, don't be discouraged, Joseph.
Man, you're gonna wind up, you'll be in charge. And you should never be discouraged
either. Look at things from the vantage
of the faithfulness of God and the certainty of His purpose
of grace. It'll all turn out just fine. And all of us who are the people
of God, we know that. We just have a little difficulty
remembering it sometimes, don't we? That's our problem. When the apostle Paul was an
Iconium, they stoned him for preaching
the gospel. In fact, everybody thought he
was dead. Drug his seemingly lifeless body outside the gates
of the city. And by the way, I suspect that's
when his soul went to paradise, went to the third heaven, when
he saw things that were unlawful for him to utter. That's my opinion. They drug his body outside the
city, and then he just got up, dusted himself off, went on preaching
the gospel. He and Barnabas finally made
it back to Antioch, and he said in Acts 14 and verse 22, he told
the people, we must, through much, much tribulation, enter
into the kingdom of God. And that's true with all of God's
people. Now, some more than others. That's
up to the Lord. But we must go through tribulation,
sickness, grief, just the difficulties of life. In Revelation chapter seven,
John saw this massive group of people. He said, it's too many
to number. And he heard an elder and the
words were exchanged between him and an elder. Who are these? The elder said, you know who
they are. All robed in white. Robed in the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus. You know who they are. He said,
these are they, all of them, a multitude which no man can
number. These are they which came out
of great tribulation. Whatever you're in right now
that you may consider great tribulation, here's the Word of God to you.
You'll come out of it. You'll come out of it. I don't
know when, definitely and ultimately come
out of it when you see the Lord Jesus face to face. These are
they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the lamb. Well, Joseph then is 17 years
old. He's feeding the flock with his
brethren. He's a shepherd. And we talked
about that. We dealt with that last week.
He's a shepherd. And the land is with these half
brothers. The half brothers being Dan and
Naphtaliah, the sons of Bilhah, and Gad and Asher, the sons of
Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph goes home and he brought
unto his father their evil report. That is, he was absolutely truthful
about their evil ways. No doubt, like many young men,
because these men are not much older than Joseph, and perhaps
the reason he was with them, because he was closer to their
age. But while they're around Jacob,
they kind of behaved themselves. They're good boys. Fine sons. But they got away from the house,
got away from Jacob's influence. And their attitude, their conduct,
no doubt their language betrayed that they were evil men. I remember when I was a kid,
I'd be going somewhere and my mom and dad would say, remember
whose you are and what you are. Whose you are and what you are.
These boys got away and they didn't behave themselves. Scripture
doesn't tell us what the evil was. But Joseph, he is now, remember,
Reuben. Reuben has forfeited the birthright. And the birthright is Joseph's.
He has a responsibility to his father. And he gives an accurate
report. He speaks the truth. And our Lord Jesus, He is the
truth speaker. And He speaks of the evil of
man. He said it's not what people
put into themselves that's the problem. It's what's coming out.
Coming out of an evil heart. He spoke the truth. There in John chapter 8, He spoke
the truth to the Pharisees. They hated Him for it. They despised
Him for it. What did He do? He spoke the
truth. Read in Matthew 23 of the woes that he pronounced against
these self-righteous religionists who thought that by their own
lifestyle they were establishing a righteousness and they would
not submit to the righteousness of God which is in Christ Jesus.
And I'll tell you what, he was truthful with them. After all,
He is the truth. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. He told his disciples in John
7 in verse 7, The world hateth me, because I testify of it,
that its works are evil. He told the Pharisees, John 8,
40. But now you seek to kill me, a man who hath told you the
truth. You seek to kill me. He was the
truth speaker. And Joseph told the truth to
his dad, and his half-brothers hated him for it. Look at verse three. Now, Israel
loved Joseph. Notice the change in names. Back up here in verse one, it's
Jacob. He's the deceiver. He's the supplicator. But now in verse three, it's
Israel. This is a man who's a prince with God. And this prince with
God, according to the purpose of God, he loved Joseph more
than all his children. Because he was the son of his
old age. Israel now, I believe his name
is used because Israel is a type of God the Father. Who loves
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. from all eternity, and then loved us in Him. And He is the Son of His old
age. You say, what are you talking
about there? He's the only begotten Son of
God from all eternity. That's old age. From all eternity, He's the beloved
Son of God. This is my beloved Son. At His transfiguration on the
Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John, they saw Moses
and Elijah talking with Him, talking about the redemption
that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. And Peter said, Lord, Lord, let's
build three tents. One for you, one for Elijah,
one for Moses. And then the voice of God split
the sky. This is my beloved son, came
down in a cloud. This is my beloved son. Don't
you put those other two on the same level as my Son, in whom
I'm well pleased. My beloved Son, the Son that
I love." And the cloud went away. They saw no man but Jesus. Oh God, give us grace to see
nobody but the Lord Jesus. Nobody is on an equal plane with
Him. He's infinitely higher than all
of us. Well, in verse 4, they hated
Him. They hated Him. The passage of
Scripture over in Psalm, the Savior said, they hated Me without
a cause. There's no reason for, really
no reason for Joseph to be hated. He was an honest young man, very
responsible, led his family in worship because he's got the
birthright, he's got the blessing. You think about it, he led his
father in worship. He killed an animal. He would
say to the family, it's time to worship God. He killed the
sacrifice because you can't worship God without a lamb. Our Lord Jesus, He leads His
family in worship. And there is the sacrifice that's
offered, but it's not an animal. He sacrificed Himself for us. And how How revealing of the
awful wretchedness of man. When he walked on this earth,
he was despised and rejected of men. The one of whom Solomon wrote,
he's altogether lovely. But from his birth, Herod hated
him. To his death, Judas hated him,
and millions of people in between. And we'd hate him too, were it
not for that overwhelming grace of God that broke us. And now
we say, like Peter, Lord, you know all things. You know I love
you. I love you. I love you being the sovereign.
I love you being the king. I love you being the savior. I love you who is leading me
as a shepherd leads his sheep through my pilgrimage through
this world. And someday, the shepherd will
take home every one of his sheep. And you know what? When He takes
us home to glory, He will be rejoicing. We'll rejoice, but
be rejoicing by the Lord Jesus Himself, our Shepherd. Joseph. Loved. Hated. The way it is with our Lord.