All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Genesis chapter 37. While you're turning, I'll
get me a drink of water. Genesis chapter 37. We have come through the book
of Genesis, not chapter by chapter, I realize that, but we've come
from Genesis chapter one, and we are now at Genesis chapter
37, and we now begin the history of Joseph's life. If we look
at it strictly as a history thing, this is what we're going to see
now. The history of Joseph's life. And it actually begins
in Genesis chapter 37. So let me just read the first
11 verses. And I'll make a comment or two
as I read, and then we'll go back and look at some things.
And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in
the land of Canaan. And always remember that phrase. It was the land that God had
given. And yet, he was, they were strangers. These are the generations of
Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old. I want you to think about
that. Joseph being 17 years old, he was a teenager. A teenager. How many of us older folk don't
like it when a teenager expresses their opinion about how they
think things ought to be. You know what I'm saying? Think
of it, here's Joseph, he's 17 years old. Was feeding the flock
with his brethren. The lad was with the sons of
Bilhah and with the sons of Zilphah, his father's wives. And Joseph
brought unto his father their evil report. Now think about
this. Now Israel, that is Jacob, him
whose name had been changed by God Almighty, now Israel loved
Joseph more than all his children. And what is sad is that there
are men who will preach from pulpits similar to this one that
will then begin to preach on whether it's right or wrong to
love one of your kids, love one child more than another, and
that has nothing to do with what this is talking about. What we're reading here is a
type, an illustration, a shadow of the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 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 I'm not gonna be
able to get to that today, but I hope to. Jesus Christ truly
wears the coat of many colors. Roy Jr., there are so many colors
in his coat that a whole lifespan of a man, three score and 10
years, would not give us time to cover all of the glorious
colors in the coat of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Israel had
made Joseph a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that
their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him. This is why this world hates
Jesus Christ. Is because the Father loves Jesus
Christ more than anything or anyone else. As a matter of fact,
God's love for the fallen human race is only found in Jesus Christ. Outside of Jesus Christ, God
is nothing but a wrathful vengeance God. And he saw, when his brethren
saw that the father loved him more than all the brethren, they
hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. But it didn't end there. Joseph
dreamed a dream. And he told it his brethren,
and they hated him yet the more. They hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, and this
is not the end yet, because now we're going to hear what this
dream was about. And he said unto them, here I pray you this
dream which I have dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves
in the field. And lo, my sheaf arose and also
stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood
around about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him,
shalt thou indeed reign over us? Yes, he would. They just didn't know it yet.
And this is about the actual history. Mason, this really took
place. And I can see him, here's this 17-year-old, said, I got
a dream. They don't like him anyway. Can't
even speak peaceably towards their half-brother. They hate
him so much. And yet, then he says, it says,
your chief, you are going to bow to me one day. You know what
he says? This This, men say, well, I don't
like election. No, you don't like Jesus Christ.
That's your problem. That's your problem. Because
election declares to us that you will bow before Jesus Christ
or you have no salvation at all. People say, I don't understand
election. That's a lie. You understand it clearly. You
just don't love the God who elected. Somebody says, I don't like,
I don't understand predestination. That's a lie. You understand
the word clearly, and you understand the concept clearly. You just
hate the Christ that is at the center of predestination. Because
God predestinated a people to be conformed to what? The image
of his son, and that's what we do not like by nature. 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, what is dreams
significant of in the scripture? Prophecy. When men or women had
dreams, that is this kind of dream, it was often to explain
something that had happened. or to prophesy ahead of time
of something that was going to happen. A dream in this sense
is indicative of God Almighty's sovereign word. His word, his
holy inspired word that is unbreakable. Paul put it this way, not as
though the word of God has taken none effect. because God's word
comes to pass exactly as God ordained it to come to pass even
before the foundation of the world. And they hated him for
his dreams and for his words. You remember what they said about
our Lord Jesus Christ? He said, for what good work do
you stone me? Oh, we don't stone you for a good work. But thou
being a man, make us thyself God. They understood what he
was saying. And yet our depravity by nature
is so deep that we want to blame God, we do just like, by nature,
we do just like the Jews did. If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly, how long makest thou us to doubt? They tried to blame
Jesus Christ for their unbelief. That's the same thing we do.
And he dreamed yet another dream. It's not over yet. You see, God
will pour salt into the wound. Whatever is your or my greatest
rebellion against God, that's where God will pour the salt
into the wound. For instance, some say I'll never
walk an aisle. You don't have to walk an aisle
to be saved. But you make that an issue with God and God Almighty's
gonna make you walk an aisle. You understand what I'm saying?
Well, I'll never be baptized. You don't have to be baptized
to be justified in God's sight. But you make that an issue, God
Almighty gonna put you in the water. You see what I'm saying? And he dreamed yet another dream
and told it his brethren and said, behold, I have dreamed
a dream more. Behold, the sun and the moon
and the 11 stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his
father. and to his brethren, and his
father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that
thou hast dreamed? Shall I thy mother and thy brethren
indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? Yes, they
would. This man eventually stood with
no one on the earth at that time in this area greater than him
other than a man named Pharaoh himself. You know what it says, and his
brethren, I'm sorry, and his brethren envied him, but his
father observed the same, he said. Now Joseph. is probably
one of the most exhaustive pictures of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Maybe not the most detailed when
it comes to his actual redemptive work by blood and sacrifice,
but overall, Joseph's life is one of the most exhaustive pictures
of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. I think I mentioned this last
time, but it just amazed me when I began to read through this
that we're never shown not one of Joseph's faults. Did you know
that? Not one fault is ever brought
up concerning Joseph. Why? Because he didn't have any.
He was just as fallen as his brothers were. But God's proving
to us a point here. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty manifest in the flesh and he has no fault. Now, Joseph's history provides
moral lessons. There are good moral lessons.
Mason, there are good moral lessons provided in the history of Joseph.
And we will touch on some of these things as we go through.
But the history of Joseph is not there simply to teach us
moral lessons. There are many rebukes we can
find here throughout the life of Joseph toward his brethren.
And we will probably touch on many of these things. But that's
not the reason for the history of Joseph. There are many encouragements
in obedience, many encouragements in service, et cetera, et cetera,
go on down the line, but that's not the reason for the history
of Joseph. You see, if I miss, and I'm making
this personal this morning, because this is not me preaching down
to you or down to anybody else, we're all sinners by nature. All of us are not only typified,
Joseph's brothers don't typify us, Joseph's brothers are us
by nature. They're not types of us, they
are us. They're our ancient brothers
and sisters as well. We all came out of the same gene
pool. That's the gene pool of fallen humanity in Adam. There
are many encouragements, but that's not it. If I miss in this
history of Joseph. If I miss Christ's glory in Joseph's
history, then all I have is history. And history is a cold bedfellow
when it comes to union with God Almighty. You can be exactly
exact concerning history, but if you miss the person and work
of Jesus Christ, you've missed it all. You know the passage,
John 5, 39 and 40. I'm not gonna turn back and read
it. Our Lord said to some folks one time, he said, search the
scripture. And some say it's actually in a form of a statement
with a question. You do search the scripture.
For in them you think you have eternal life. And there are thousands
who shall look at the history of Joseph and then say, if only
I could be like Joseph. You can't be. You can't be. You have to be predestinated
to be like God's Joseph. God predestinated the people
to be conformed, not to conform themselves, but to be conformed
to the image of your son. You see, if I miss Christ's glory,
all I have is history. And our Lord said, ye do search
the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and
they are they which testify of me. There are people who get
upset because all we preach is Jesus Christ. There was one woman
told a preacher who used to be in North Carolina, pastor of
the church there, she said to him, one day, there's more to
the Bible than Jesus Christ. And he said, no, there's not,
because it says Christ is all and in all. And that settles
the issue right away. The reason we don't like hearing
Christ preached all the time is why. We're just like Joseph's
brothers. We hate him, we envy him, and
we can't speak well of him. And somebody says, I don't hate
Jesus. You don't hate your idea of a Jesus. You don't hate the
Jesus that you've concocted in your own mind and heart. But
the Jesus who says this, you will bow down and do obeisance
to me, that Jesus we do not love by nature. Earl used to say it
about this time of year. And I'm with Joe, I'm not against
this time of year, the Christmas season. I'm not even against
people mentioning the birth of Christ during the Christmas season.
Now, we don't know whether he was born on December the 25th.
There's ample evidence that he probably was not, but that's
not the point. As Earl used to say, people love
the baby Jesus. They don't love the Christ on
the throne. They don't love the Christ on
the throne. You see, if all I have is history,
then that's dangerous ground to stand upon. Because it's to
miss the whole meaning of this whole book. My title's this,
Joseph's Preeminence, His Brother's Hatred. Isn't that the context
of what we read? Joseph's Preeminence. his brother's
hatred. And here is the New Testament
application of this to all men today. And this is the condemnation. Here's the condemnation. Most
preachers are saying the condemnation's out there in the brothels. Well,
there is condemnation there. There is condemnation. The condemnation's
out there in the beer joints. Well, there is condemnation there.
But why do men love those things so much? Here's the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and that light is clearly, in
that context, the person of Jesus Christ. That light is come into
the world, and men love darkness rather than light. They hate the light, neither
come to the light. Why? Because the light will expose
your evil. And now what happens in our context?
You see, Joseph was the one who exposed his brothers. Well, I
don't like that, he's a tattletale. Let me tell you something about
Jesus Christ. He has exposed you and I to God the Father.
His hanging on that tree exposes how heinous we are by nature. Joe, if it, and it did, if it
took that to satisfy God's divine justice, how evil and corrupt
must we be? That's the New Testament application,
but contextually, it's more than that. Even the elect, by nature,
hate God. You hear me? Even the, I know
of an individual I'm thinking of now, right now at this moment,
I'm not going to mention their name because I don't mean to,
I wouldn't want to embarrass anybody, but the constant question
this person asks is, I want to know if I'm one of the elect
or not. That's not the question. The question is, are you doing
obeisance to Jesus Christ? Are you bowing down to him? That's the question. That's the
question. But that's what we don't want
to deal with. We want to find a loophole that we claim to be
one of the elect by coming in the back way and not bowing down
to Jesus Christ. And it does not happen. It does
not happen. contextually, we're talking here
about the, this is his brothers. Who hated him. Isn't it? These
were his brothers who hated him and yet look throughout the whole
account and look at how despiteful and hatefully his brethren treated
him. But Mason Lilley, he never treated
them despitefully or hatefully. Oh thank God for a Joseph like
that. Oh, thank God for a Joseph like
that. Paul puts it this way, even concerning
folks Ephesians 2, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Now, he's quickened you. You're
not dead in trespasses and sins any longer. But look, wherein,
in time past, ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. The same spirit
that's in all disobedient men was in you as well. That's a
paraphrase, but that's what he's saying there. the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we, and the apostle even includes himself. Among whom also we all
had our way of life, that is our conversation in time 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. The wrath there was our wrath
toward God. our wrath toward God. Paul the Apostle says that the
flesh is enmity against God. Isn't it amazing? It is amazing
to me that thousands of people claim to be reconciled to God
but never claimed there was ever an enemy of God. Now that's the
height of depravity. There's the height of depravity.
We have thousands today who've claimed salvation who've never
been lost. We have thousands that claim
to have had their souls healed before God, but they've never
been smitten with the disease of sin. They think themselves
to really, really, when it comes down to it, I'm not all that
bad. I've been there. I've been there. But take note of Joseph's first
recorded associations with his brethren. who even hated him. You see that? Joe, he didn't
run off to Egypt. They were going to kill him.
There's some good ole elect boys from downtown, ain't it? Yeah. You see, that's the way even
the elect conduct themselves by nature. We hate Christ so
much we're just like the devil himself. And you remember the
account of the fall of Satan given by Isaiah? Satan never
did anything physically. He just said, I will. And he sought his will to be
above God's will. And that's exactly the main rebellion
of humankind today. Even the Lord of Glory Himself
said these words, not my will, speaking to God the Father, but
thy will be done. Now, Lydda Pendleton, if he would
say that about himself, how much more must I cry it out about
myself? Satan said, I will ascend into
the heavens. I will be like the Most High God, and that's what
we are by nature today. You see, let me give you just
three of Christ's associations. He had eternal associations.
We were chosen, a people were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And men talk about, well, God
looked down into time, and God seeing who would repent, or God
seeing who would believe. He certainly knew who would repent.
He certainly knew who would believe. But you know what God says He's
seen? Concerning us when he looked down upon the sons of men. This
is what God said his own word There's not one good No, not
one That's what God sees in us when he looks into time, if you
wanna put it that way. Here's what he said about us
when God seen the sons of men. There is none righteous, no,
not one. Roy Jr., that's talking about
me standing right here preaching to you the gospel, still yet
this morning, in and of myself, I have no righteousness. The
prophet Isaiah is so strong, he said that even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. And yet Jesus Christ, Joe, loved
the people. Knowing how much we would still
hate him. And yet we're loved of God. Can
you fathom a love like that? Now this religious world lies
to men and women. and tells them that God looks
in the time or looked down into the future and seen some good
here of this or that. The only thing God sees in us
is our hatred for his son. Aren't you glad that election's
by grace? Aren't you glad that it's not,
the children having done neither, have not been born, neither having
done any good or evil. Because Mason, if God would have
chose me based upon me, God would have cast me out forever. Because
by nature, I will not bow to his son. Think of his messianic
associations. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous. And let me tell you, there are some men who think
they are righteous. And he said, I didn't come to
call the righteous, but sinners, but sinners, to repentance. You know what repentance is?
You could go into the Greek, you could go into the Hebrew.
You know what repentance is? It's bowing down to Jesus Christ.
That's what repentance is. It's bowing down to Jesus Christ.
Think of his headship associations. Who is the head of the church?
Who's the head of this church? It's not me. It's not Joe. It's not me and Joe together.
The head of every local assembly and the head of the church as
a whole is none other than Jesus Christ the Lord. We bow down
to him. All the glory of Christ towards
such as me. Such as me. Think of it. This is the way Paul put it in
Romans chapter five. These words just excite my soul. Romans chapter five, and let
me just, I wanna get the right verses here. Look at this. For
when we were yet without strength. What's it mean there? It's talking
about spiritual strength. Roy Jr., I had no ability to
love God. Oh, I loved who I thought God
was. But when God sent someone to
me with the truth of the gospel, and I began to hear who Jesus
Christ really was, I said, just like the Jews of old, I will
not have this man reign over me. My will is far too important
to me. I don't care if you believe in
election, predestination, and all scriptural facts. If you
haven't been bowed to Jesus Christ, you know nothing but scriptural
facts. One songwriter put it this way,
this is certainly not an exact quote, and I know most people
don't understand this. A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. And most people hear me, someone
like me, say that and they say, that's blasphemy. No, that's
the truth of God. Because by nature we all think
we got at least some little, I'm not as bad as so and so.
You ever seen that guy walking down the street with his poke
in his hand, and he got the lid off, and he's taking him a swig
every once in a while, and you see him laying over there. Come
on now, we all think we're a little bit better than him. Don't we? Don't we? Oh, but let me tell
you something. Inside this heart right here,
by nature, inside all those hearts there by nature, inside all those
hearts of people listening to me on the TV, inside that heart
is the most evil, despicable, corrupt thing that ever walked
on the face of God's green earth. And the only reason, now you
listen to me, the only reason every one of us are not murderous
child molesters is because God Almighty has restrained us from
such. The only reason we're not killing each other and conducting
ourselves toward one another as wild beasts of the field and
devouring one another is because God Almighty is restraining our
old, evil, wicked corruption. And just every once in a while,
God'll lift his finger off someone for a moment and look what happens.
Watch the TV, you'll see what happens. That's you. You see
them people on the TV? Just pull out guns and start
shooting people? At random, just for the sake of shooting people.
That's your heart and my heart by nature. And the only reason
you don't see me on that TV doing that is because God Almighty
restrains me, not because I'm any better than anybody else.
Oh, the glory of Christ to such as me. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, who did Christ die for? He died for ungodly
people. Now you have to find your place
there first before you ever have a right to think Jesus Christ
died for you. Isn't that who it says he died
for? See, he said, I died for ungodly people. I didn't come
to call the righteous. So if you think you're godly,
or if you think you're righteous, then you have nothing to do with
Jesus Christ. But most people are like Joseph's
brothers still yet today. We will not bow to you. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Righteous how? Righteous amongst
one another. You see, there are some of us
that are better folk than other folk. But that don't mean squat
before God. That's two maggots trying to
brag on who's the best maggot. God says we're maggots. Isn't
that the way the book puts it? We're maggots, that's what he
put. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet what? Sinners. Sinners. Has God ever convinced you that
you're a sinner? That's where it starts. That's
where it starts. God shows you what you are, he
shows you who Christ is, and when those two things meet in
the truth of the gospel, you'll find yourself doing obeisance
to Jesus Christ. That's what'll happen. Somebody
said, not me, oh yeah. That's right, you. God Almighty
ordained that those 11 boys bow down to Joseph. God Almighty
ordained that his mom and daddy bow down to Joseph. Guess what?
They bowed down to Joseph. It may have been a long road
to get them there, but get there they would. And when it first began to take
place, they were scared to death. You remember those 10, it wasn't
11, it was 10 of them, because Benjamin was still at home. Once
they realized who Joseph was, they thought, oh no, it's all
over for us. But you know what? Joseph never
had any ill will toward them. He just knew that there was some
lessons they had to learn the right way. You see, God toward
his elect, He'll bring them, Joe, into the dirt, but the dirt's
a good place to be. Oh, the glory of Christ towards
such a sinner. What about you? What about you? Have you ever been lost? That's
what I'm asking you. I'm not asking you, do you believe
in election? I'm not asking you, do you believe in predestination?
I'm not asking you, have you given your heart to Jesus? I'm
not asking you, I'm saying, have you ever been lost? Because God
only saves lost people. There is a true sense in which
there's not one good person in heaven other than God Almighty. Because everybody in heaven,
even in the end, will still be praising the Lamb who was slain. And though we will be sinners
no more, Joe, we'll still recognize there's the Redeemer. There's
the Redeemer. Now let's consider ourselves.
This is considered, then maybe, if we look at ourselves, if we're
able to see ourselves a little bit, then maybe we might be able
to start, start fathoming the love of God Almighty. You see,
God's love, folks, is prostituted, and I mean to use that word,
it is prostituted in our day, but God's love is not God's emotion. God is love. Whatever that love is, Joe, God
defines it. Love does not define God. God defines true love. Somebody told Penny one time,
said, I deserve to be loved. No, you don't deserve to be loved.
That's your whole problem. You think you deserve anything
and everything but the wrath of God. Oh, if God ever begins
to show you what you really are, you'll begin to say, I ought
to be cast off from God forever. Three things. Since I am what
I am by nature, then God's love for Christ and only me in Christ
is not offensive to me. You understand that? You see,
men think, this is the prostitution of God's love today, men think
and teach one another that they deserve God's love. That God
owes them his love. Here's what God said. Listen
to John chapter three, and you remember John chapter three?
Isn't that the love chapter for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son? Yes it is, and that is true.
But listen to what it also says. Verse 35, for the father loveth
the son. For the Father loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into his hand. Therefore, anything
you get from God that has to do with love must come by Jesus
Christ. You see that? So much so that
the Apostle Paul put it this way. He called the love of God,
and he puts it this way, which is in Christ Jesus. The only
place any sinner ever sees the love of God is in Christ Jesus. Matthew chapter three, listen
to what it says. Matthew chapter three, just one
verse. Matthew chapter three. And verse
17, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased. And by nature, we hate that.
We hate that. Oh, we like to, we don't say
it with our mouths, but it's down in here. It's down in here. My problem, like Joseph's brothers,
was my hatred for Christ's preeminence. That's what it was all about.
That's what it all boils down to. Men hate things like justification
by grace because they hate Christ. Because justification by grace
gives Christ all the glory. Men hate reconciliation before
God by his blood because they hate reconciliation by Jesus
Christ. You remember, Okay, give me a
mental block here. Bruce Crabtree, he said, you
know why people hate creation? You know why they're clamoring
after evolution? Because they hate Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is creator
God and they hate Jesus Christ. My problem like Joseph's brothers
is my hatred for his preeminence. And let's read it one more time.
Oh, what did they do? What do we do? 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 the father loved him more than all the brethren,
they hated him. By nature we hate God. It says,
for if when we were enemies, You see, until God brings you
to be able to confess, I am an enemy of God, you will not know
the salvation of God. By nature, we are enemies. By
deeds, we are enemies. According to Paul in Colossians
1 verse 21, he says, yet now by wicked works hath he reconciled.
Now the point there is the reconciliation, but by wicked works. And again, most people think
Wicked Works is a bottle of beer and a cigarette. No, don't they? Has nothing to do with it, whatsoever. Wicked Works is this, we will
not bow down to your sheep. That's what it is, that's Wicked
Work. There's one time a work is called a good work in the
scripture. I mean, an actual person has said they did a good
work. You know what it was? When a
woman bowed down to the feet of Jesus Christ and wiped his
feet with the hairs of her head and washed them with the tears
of her eyes. Anointing him for his what? His
death. Neal Cochran, she was bowing
down to Jesus Christ as her Lord. And you know what? She was an
old sinner woman. She'd probably be what we call
a street walker today. Worked the red light district.
And that's the kind of folks God came to save. And I said
this, we think that a divorce paper with a judge's signature
on it makes it all right with God. And I'm talking about me
and you both. It's just the way it is. Let's
call it what it is, let's quit trying to justify it. It's sin,
Roy Jr., and I'm guilty of sin, and you're guilty of sin, and
we are sin. Our problem is our nature. Our
problem is our deeds. Our problem's even our perception.
Listen to John chapter eight. It's even our perception. John
chapter eight and verse 43. Our Lord said these words to
some people, and this is all of us by nature. Why do you not
understand my speech? Now they understood what he was
saying. They understood the Aramaic or whatever it was, Mason, that
he was using. They understood the words. They
didn't love the words. They wouldn't have the, why do
you not understand my speech even because ye cannot hear my
word? Because his word says you will
bow to me. That's what it says. You see,
all of the doctrine of Scripture, all the doctrine of Scripture
ultimately says this, you will bow to Jesus Christ. Isn't that
what it says? Whether it's reconciliation,
redemption, justification, election, predestination, all of those
things, you will bow to Jesus Christ. And you know what? One
day, all men will bow to Jesus Christ. But thank God in this
life and in time, there are some people that God Almighty is bowing
to Jesus Christ now. So it's by nature, by deeds,
by perception. It's also by nature and by persona. You know what persona is, don't
you? It's a put on. And you make it a show. That's what it is. And we love to make a show. We
make great shows before other great show makers. And we end
up in these battles. I remember Tim James talking
about when he used to have, years ago now, when he was in religion,
they'd have prayer meetings, and he said, they'd start praying,
and he said, you know, cause everybody, by all your heads,
let's all pray. He said, you'd watch, and they'd
start watching, see who's praying. And they'd get in a praying match,
and one would try to out-pray the other. I've seen men, when
they get ready to pass around the collection plate, pull out
a $100 bill, wave it in the air. What's that doing? That's blowing
your horn, just like a Pharisee does. Blowing your horn. But you know what? We're all
by nature like this. This is what our Lord gave it
in a story, in an example. But here's what it said. We will
not have this man to reign over us. But you know what? He does nonetheless. He reigns
over you even in the midst of your rebellion. He controls even
that. He controls even that. According
to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses one through four,
he says the only message is this, it's not us, it's Jesus Christ. He said the only place you'll
ever see the glory of God is where? In the face of Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you this, you don't
begin to see the face of Jesus Christ until you've first seen
the feet of Jesus Christ. because he will bow you first
before he ever shows you his smiling face. You remember what
happened to Joseph's brothers? They bowed to him and didn't
even realize they was bowing to Joseph. And then later he
showed himself to them. I don't know whether all the
men, but Joe, I think he showed them the sign of the covenant.
Now you go figure out what I'm talking about right there. And
then all of a sudden they realized, uh-oh, this is Joseph. You see, when God Almighty brings
you face to face with the one that you've hated for all your
life, it will frighten you out of your wits. And if you ain't
ever been there, you ain't been saved. Thank God, here's number
three, thank God there are some who are able to what? Observe
these things. You know, folks, it's not only
hard, It's impossible apart from the grace of God to bow to Jesus
Christ. Because even yet today, there
is within me this flesh that says, I will not bow. But aren't you glad that God
Almighty makes men and women to bow. Acts chapter 16 verses
14 and 15 tells us this. So our text just leaves us hanging.
Doesn't it? You read that chapter 37, verses
one through 11, and it just leaves you hanging there. They're mad
at him. They hate him. They will not
speak peaceably to him. They don't like his dreams or
his words. That's what we are by nature. But God's working
all of this out for their spiritual benefit. Wasn't it? For their
spiritual benefit. And I have to say it. Oh God,
listen to me. Oh God, make me to realize that
I'm one of Joseph's brothers. Because Mason, that's a bad place
to be, but it's a blessed place to be at the same time. You see, all of this, now while
there were many, there were many thousands of people that were
spared because Joseph was down there in Egypt taking care of
the grain. You know what it was all about?
It was all about this dream he'd had. where the moon and the sun
and the stars would bow down to him. That ain't about Joseph,
folks. That's about Jesus Christ. And
what did you preach, Joe? My ending text is this, Matthew
121. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now either he did, or it will
never be done. Either, it's already done. You
see, being saved is not you do something for God, it is bowing
down to what God has said about his son. It is confessing his
son as Lord. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall, and Joe, that's good news to me. That's good
news to this sinner. For he shall save his people
from their sins. All right, let's stand in scene
number 99.