Joseph is here in Genesis 37. We're going to be looking at
Joseph for a while. He's, as we've mentioned earlier,
one of the clearest types of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
of Scripture. Again, we're going to look at
that central theme, and we're going to look at verses 18-28
in Genesis 37. As we kind of recap where the lesson has been, Jacob, Joseph's daddy, or his name is
also Israel, told Joseph in verse 13, he said, go to Shechem and
see how it is with your brethren. see how they're doing, check
on them, check on their welfare. And so Joseph immediately obeyed
his father as we saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a mission
to go find and seek the welfare of his brethren and he did it
without hesitation as Joseph did. in verse 13, and he said,
I will send you to them. And Joseph said to him, Here
am I. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to
go. Do the son was ready to do the father's bidding. And so
he said, Go, go find them and see if it be well with your brethren.
Verse 14. And so he went after them. And
as he was looking for where they were at, a man found them and
said, who are you looking for? And he told them he sought his
brethren. And he said, well, they left here and they went
to another place called Dothan, verse 17. And then we closed
last week with that Joseph went after his brethren and found
them in Dothan and we saw how the Lord Jesus Christ was going
to be, always going to be successful. When he sought his brethren,
he was going to find them. He would not rest. until he sought
and found his brethren. So we pick up in verse 18, the
first thing we see here is Joseph is plotted against. The first
thing we see here in verse 18, and when they saw him, that is
his brethren, those according to his flesh, bone of his bone,
flesh of his flesh, when they saw him afar off, even before
he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay
him." So, A.W. Pink, Arthur Pink noted well,
in this particular verse, he said, the hatred of his brethren
found opportunity in the love that sought them." Joseph, as
a type of Christ, was seeking the welfare of his brothers,
seeking the welfare of his kindred, and they, in Christ's love and
the opportunity that He afforded in His love for them, they couldn't
see that, and neither could we. Before the Lord opened our eyes,
for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
we didn't have a clue as to what that meant, and we could have
cared less about it. But his brethren here, the hatred of
his brethren found opportunity in the love that sought them
out. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to
do good, to do great things for fallen man. Yet, he was conspired
against from the beginning. He was conspired against from
the beginning. Turn to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. In chapter 12, Christ is... Verse 8, "...for the Son of Man
is Lord." Even on the Sabbath day, He was quarreling with the
debate or reproving the Pharisees because of their blindness, and
they didn't understand that He was the Son of God incarnate
in the flesh. He was standing there before
them, and they didn't understand that. So, as He's speaking to
them, when He finishes speaking to them, Verse 13, then saith
he to the man that stretched forth, he said, stretch forth
your hand. And this man that had the withered hand stretched
it forth, and it was restored whole, like as the other. So
here's Christ doing good, doing all His Father commands
Him to do. The Scripture says He went about
doing good. There was never a cross or mean
or hateful thing out of his mouth. Even to those who despised him,
if he reproved him and rebuked him, there was not that anger
or that hatred towards them. He was just, he was without sin. And look at verse 14. He just
gets in healing somebody, helping them. And look at verse 14. Then
the Pharisees went out held a counsel against him, how they might destroy
him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew
Himself from thence, and great multitudes followed Him, and
He healed them all." He healed them all. Now, that doesn't mean
that they all were saved or they all were redeemed, but He's going
about doing good. He goes about and heals them.
And yet, the Pharisees went out They held a council against him,
how they might destroy him. Just like Joseph, he's going
out, he's doing his father's command, he's going to seek his
brethren's welfare, and before he even gets by him, gets near
him, When they saw Him afar off, even before He came near, they
conspired against Him to kill Him, to slay Him. The great Healer
of men's souls stands before them, doing wonders and acts
of tender mercy, and yet they conspire to kill Him." And Joseph
here is just exactly like our Lord Jesus Christ. And I know
you talk to, like the Pharisees, you talk to religious people,
and they, I've always loved God, I've always loved Jesus, but
then they never have. They don't understand the gospel,
because the gospel will show us what we are, and show us,
you know what, yes, I'm guilty. I'm guilty of the blood and the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer owns up to that,
because we know that in us dwells no good thing. Well secondly,
look at verses 19 and 20. Joseph, his eventual reign, His
dream, remember earlier in the chapter he dreamed that he would be sovereign or
reign over his mom and dad and he would reign over his brethren. He said, my sheaves stood up
straight and yours bowed down before me. That was his dream.
And we see that his reign in that dream or what he said to
them, his brethren, they didn't believe it. They absolutely did
not believe it. Verse 1920, and they said one
to another, behold, this dreamer comes. So they remembered that
dream. They remembered what he said.
He was just telling them the truth. And they said, come now,
therefore, and let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And
we will say some evil beast has devoured him, and we shall see
what will become of his dreams. We don't believe what he's going
to say. We're going to take matters into our own hands. We're going
to slay him. And his dream that he was going to reign over us,
we don't believe it anyway. But we'll see what will become
of his dreams. They would not believe him. They
could not believe him. Turn to Matthew 27. In the case
of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, it is the same thing. His sovereignty
and reign was disbelieved. They would not believe what he
said. They could not believe what he said. To believe Christ
is to submit to His rule, His reign, and His way. But we, by
nature, will not believe His way or gospel, but rather will
mock and ridicule what we don't understand." You know, I got
thinking about this as I was going through these things, and
as I was growing up, and growing up religious, you know, or religious
in my own mind. The thought of Christ reigning
and ruling and the thought of God being absolutely God on the
throne, there's no way. We had control, we had power,
we had the authority, that is, me, our people. But look at what
it says, Joseph's antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 27,
and look at verses 62, through the end of the chapter.
Now the next day, that followed the day of preparation, the chief
priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, now this was Christ's
death, burial, and resurrection, so it's after that, saying, Sir,
we remember, Christ is already, they've buried Him, or He's in
the tomb, and they said, Sir, we remember that this, that that
deceiver, speaking of Christ, said, while He was yet alive,
after three days, I will Rise again Command therefore that
the sepulcher be made sure until the third day Lest his disciples
come by night steal him away and say to the people he is risen
from the dead So the last heir shall be worse than the first
and Pilate said unto them you have a watch Go your way make
it as sure as you can so they went and made the sepulcher sure
sealing the stone and setting a watch they did not believe
and what Christ said. Joseph's brethren did not, would
not, could not believe what he said. We'll have our own way.
We won't have this man to reign over us. It's what Joseph's brethren
said. That's exactly what they said
here. The antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ. We heard this deceiver
say he was going to raise again because he rules over the grave. Death, where is your sting? He
controls not only the seas, the air, the wind, but he's over
death. And he said he was going to raise again. They knew what
he said. And people who gripe and don't believe what we preach,
they know what we're saying. They know what's being said.
They don't believe. They refuse to believe it. We heard him say, we know what
he said. But just in case somebody comes and steals a body, and
he said, go ahead. We'll look at also, turn back
in the same chapter, verses 39 of Matthew 27. 39, Christ is over His head in verse 37,
they write, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews, verse 39, and
they that passed by reviled Christ, wagging their heads, and this
is what they said. Based on what they knew and they
heard, this is what they said. Thou that destroys the temple
and builds it in three days save yourself if you be the Son of
God see they knew he said he was a son of God they knew what
he was preaching they knew what he was saying come down from
the cross likewise also the chief priests again the religious people
who have all their everything dotted in the T's cross they
mocked him with the scribes and the elders and they said he saved
others they saw it they witnessed it Himself he cannot save if
he be the king of Israel Let him now come down from the
cross and we will believe him You know what they're saying
there We will believe him what they're saying is we don't believe
you Can you see that in the statement if you come down from the cross?
Then we'll believe so if you don't come down from the cross
where they saying we don't believe you We know you said you're the
king of Israel. We know you said these all these
different things We're not gonna believe you he trusted in God.
They understood that Let him deliver him now if he
will have him for he said I am the Son of God Just like Joseph
his reign his eventual reign was disbelieved and People will
let you I use those words carefully Talk about a God who controls
the wind and nature and everything, but when you start getting close
to the heart, close to home, they won't have it. They will
not have this man to reign over him. Verse 23, Joseph is humiliated
and insulted. Verse 23, We'll go forward. And Reuben, they said, let's
get him over, put him in a pit, say some evil beast devoured
him. And Reuben, one of the brothers heard it, and he delivered him
out of their hands and said, Let us not kill him. 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 him to his father later
or again. Verse 23, And it came to pass,
When Joseph was come unto his brethren, see, he still wasn't
right there, yet they were talking among themselves, that they stripped
Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors, that was on him. They stripped him, they took
him, cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty and there was
no water in it. So Joseph was humiliated and insulted. Turn to Matthew, back to Matthew
27. Matthew 27, then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered
unto Him the whole band of soldiers, I don't know how many a band
is, but it's more than a couple, surrounded Him, verse 28, and
they stripped Him and put on Him a scarlet robe. And then they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put on his head and a reed in his hand, and they
bowed the knee before him, mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the
Jews. They spit on him. They took the
reed and smote him on the head. Christ, more so than Joseph,
was humiliated and insulted by those whom he created. And again, I remember reading
this in my self-righteousness and religiousness and saying,
if I was there, I would have protected, I would have cast
my body between them and Christ. And then that really horrible,
but humanly speaking horrible day, But that gracious, glorious
day when I realized that I would not have done that, I would rather
have grabbed that reed and would have smitten him and kicked him
and spit upon him. That's a day of reckoning. I
realized that I was not on his side, but I was on their side. Joseph is humiliated and insulted,
and Christ was also laughed at and made a laughing stock. Such
treatment is too vile for dogs, let alone the lovely Son of God. Yet He must endure such agony
and insult for our sin. and so the Father's purpose could
be upheld. That's what's amazing. He had
to endure this for your sin and mine, if you know Him, if you
trust Him, and to fulfill His Father's purpose. Absolutely
incredible. And you think about Joseph. His
dad says, go find him. Okay. Ah, it's going to be good
to see my brother. It's going to be good to see
him again. And he sees them, and they're far off, and he's
thinking, ah, you know, you can almost, you know, just excitement
or encouragement, and yet they're sitting there, you know, how
people, how we get, you know, they're like this, oh, I guess
we're going to punch them. Yeah, you know, we're going to
kill them, you know. And the deception, the deception
of sin, it's just all about us. And lastly, This, I think, is
tremendous. Verse 24 and 25, we can see Joseph's
brethren's hypocrisy. This is amazing, because you
know you've been there, and I've been there, and except for the
grace of God, we'll be there again. Verses 24 and 25, look
at the hypocrisy. Okay, they take him, they throw
him, they want to kill him, but Reuben steps in and says, let's
just throw him in the pit. Okay, so they do that. Came to
pass, he comes to his brethren, they strip him of his coat. They
take him and they cast him into a pit. It's empty. There's no
water. Some writers say that is a good
analogy of Hades. Christ, you know, He ascended,
or descended and then ascended. But then verse 25, so they throw
him in there. Picture in your mind what they're
doing. They're humiliating, insulting this boy, their brother. They throw him in a pit. And
don't you think you'd be a little upset about that? Somebody gets
in my face and you get kind of confrontational. There have been
some situations, not real recently, where you think you're going
to start going toe to toe. You start getting, some people get
nervous, some people shake a lot, some people just can take it.
Verse 25, they sit down and eat bread. There's nothing to us. We know what we're going to do,
we thought it, we premeditated. And they just sit down to eat.
And they lifted up their eyes and they looked and behold, a
company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead to their camels. bearing
spicery and balm and myrrh and going to carry it down to Egypt.
And Judah said to his brethren, what profit is if we slay our
brother or conceal his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites,
so our hand won't be upon him, like that's any better, for he's
our brother in our flesh. And his brethren were content.
So then the Midianites, merchantmen, they lift him up, Joseph, out
of the pit. They sell him. And then Reuben returns and he's
like, he thinks that they killed him. They haven't. He rents his
clothes. He returns to his brethren and
says, the child is not and whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat,
killed a kid of 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 we have found, we know now whether it
be thy son's coat or no. So they make the whole thing
up, and they act like it's no big deal. They were at ease with
their evil deeds and then acted as though it was no great sin. They took them and stripped them
and threw them in the pit, and then they sat down to eat, like
it was no big deal. Religion does so in like manner. Turn to Matthew, again, 27. Verse
35 and 36. And they gave Christ vinegar
to drink and mingle with gall. And when he had tasted thereof,
he would not drink. And they crucified him and parted
his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down,
they watched him." Just like Joseph's brethren. It's no big deal. We've seen
this before. They say they're religious people,
but they could sit down there and watch Christ die. Just like Joseph's brethren.
Did you see that in verse 36? And they sat down. I've never
seen it before. They sat down and watched Him. Let's go to church today and
let's play religion. Then we can go and do some deeds
of rebellion and mingle with the world. Let's go to church
and listen to a false gospel and think everything is okay.
And then, when they are confronted with sovereign mercy, sovereign
grace, total depravity of mankind, total justification and redemption
in and through the blood of Jesus Christ, They hate it, they despise
it, they will not listen to such news. What they want is salvation
their way, on their own terms, and by their own works. And we
say, God will not accept them that way, but by the only way,
Jesus Christ. And people go on. That's just
your opinion. And they go on and go to church,
and they go on and do communion, and they go on and do all these
things in the name of God, in the name of religion, just like
Joseph's brethren did. We can do these things to them
and still sit down and eat and surely... And people can go hear
a false gospel and never think anything about it. And yet when
the gospel comes to them, get their back up, So full of hypocrisy. And we say it is wholly by God's
way and by the blood of His beloved Son, satisfying all of God's
demands. He does all things for His chosen
people and thereby delivers them totally and forgives us freely. So my last thought when I see
this in Genesis, is that they could still play the hypocrite in front of their
dad. So we found this coat. Is this your son's? They knew
it was his son. Dipped a little blood in there.
Acted like nothing's wrong. Woe be to us if we are caught
playing with God's gospel. But may we bow to Him, may we
believe Him, and may we listen to His gospel and submit to the
commands thereof. May we not be like Joseph's brethren. The Gospel has no effect. We
can go on and play religion and it not bother us. I know the
flesh is still in us. I know we still sin. But may
we ask God to keep coming, keep worshiping, and grace to bow
to Him and to love the Son. Nathan, would you close us please?