Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. The Lord Jesus said concerning
the scriptures, and he was speaking of the Old Testament scriptures,
they are they which testify of me. Now, every scripture is given
to testify concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, what
he did and where he is now. Now we're going to consider Joseph
this morning and his betrayal. And the Lord tells us ahead of
time that this scripture is given to testify of him. And Joseph is perhaps the greatest
type of Christ in all the Old Testament. And this is such a
wonderful story, but I want to consider his betrayal this morning. In Genesis chapter 37, verse
18, and when they, speaking of his brethren, and when they saw
him afar off, they saw Joseph coming toward them. Even before
he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay
him." Now, at this time, we have premeditated, cold-blooded murder
planned out. They were going to murder their
brother. They hated him completely. 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. Now what precipitated this? Why
did they have such a strong reaction against Joseph and against his
dreams? Well, let me read some more scripture.
It would be helpful if you could get a Bible and follow along
with me in Genesis chapter 37. We read beginning in verse three
of Genesis chapter 37, now Israel loved Joseph more than all his
children. He had 12 sons and Joseph was
his favorite. He demonstrated blatant favoritism
toward Joseph. The others were, relatively unimportant
to Jacob compared with Joseph. Now you can see where this would
create hostility with his brothers and jealousy and envy. Was Jacob
right in making this distinction? Well, humanly speaking, no. He
should have loved them all the same. But this is given to picture
the Father's love to the Son. Don't forget that. Oh, the Son
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Father's favorite. Now Israel loved Joseph more
than all of his children because he was the son of his old age.
And he made him a coat of many colors. And this coat represented
the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every time his brothers
saw that coat, they were reminded, our father loved Joseph more
than us. He is the favored son. And I
will assure you that every time they saw him in that coat, it
got to him. Verse four, and when his brethren
saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they
hated him. And they could not speak peaceably
to him. They didn't have one good thing
to say to Joseph because of the resentment they bore him. And
you can remember when they said in the passage I read initially,
behold, this dreamer comes, and then they'll end up saying, well,
now we'll see what will become of his dreams. Here are his dreams.
Verse 5, And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brethren,
and they hated him yet the more. 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
round about and made obeisance to my sheave." That means your
sheaves worshipped, bowed down into the ground to my sheave. And his brethren said, shalt
thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion
over us? They knew what this dream signified
and what Joseph meant by that. And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream
and told it his brethren and said, behold, I've dreamed a
dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars
made obeisance to me. The whole created universe worships
me. And when he referred to the sun
and the moon and the 11 stars, that's talking about his mom,
his dad, and his 11 brothers represented by those numbers.
All will do obeisance to me. All will worship 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 and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come down to bow ourselves
down to thee on the earth? And his brethren envied him,
but his father observed all that was said. Now we read of his
father sending Joseph to look for his brethren while they were
out tending the flocks. Now, Joseph knew that they hated
him, and yet his father sends him on this errand, and he does
this willingly. And his brethren went to feed
their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph,
Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I'll
send thee unto them. And he said, Here am I. He expresses
his willingness to do this, even knowing that his brethren hated
him. He was still quick to obey his
father's will. And he said, Go, I pray thee,
and see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the
flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him down out of the
vale of Hebron, which means fellowship, communion, and he came to Shechem,
which means shoulder, bearing the burden. And 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 the flocks. And the man said, there departed
hence, for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. And Joseph
went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And this is when
this conspiracy takes place. They're speaking of their hatred
of him and their desire to put him to death. 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. They no doubt had spent much
time discussing his dreams. Can you believe he dreamed that
we're going to bow down before him? They hated him for this. They thought, you arrogant little
jerk. How can you dream dreams like
this? And probably if I was in their
position, I would be thinking the same thing. And they said,
verse 20, now come now therefore and let us slay him and cast
him into some pit. And we'll say, they even come
up with their alibi. We'll say some evil beast hath
devoured him. And we shall see what will become
of his dreams as they see him coming. Their plan is getting
ready to be put into action. And Reuben, he was the firstborn.
And Reuben heard and he delivered him out of their hands and said,
let us not kill him. They were going to kill him right
there on the spot. But Reuben didn't want that to take place.
And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this
pit that's in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that
he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him again to
his father. Reuben planned somehow to get him back to his father
and deliver him from his murderous brethren. Verse 23, And it came
to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, they stripped
Joseph, out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was
on him. I'm sure they did so with taunts
and mocking. You think you're something with
that coat? We're going to get rid of that coat. And who's going
to help you now? You're away from our father's presence. You're
in our hands now. And they took him and cast him
into a pit and the pit was empty. There was no water in it. And
they sat down to eat bread. Now this gives us some idea of
the cruelty of his brethren. We know from Genesis 42, he was
crying out in anguish from that pit. And what were they doing
while he was crying out in anguish, perhaps very thirsty? eating
dinner together. They were utterly unmoved by
the plight of their brother, and they sat down to eat bread,
and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company
of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery
and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah
comes up with a plan. What Prophet is it, if we slay
our brother and conceal his blood? We're not getting any money out
of this. Let's make us a little cash. Here's what we'll do. We will
sell him as a slave to these Midianites. Come, let us sell
him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for
he's our brother in our flesh, and his brethren were content.
This way we won't be guilty of killing him. All we've done is
sold him as a slave, and we'll never see him again. He's out
of our hands. Then there passed by Midianites,
merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit
and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and
they brought Joseph unto Egypt." Now, 200 years before this, God
appeared to Abraham in a vision and said, your descendants are
going to be evil and treated in a distant land. And he was
talking about Egypt, and they're going to be there 400 years.
This is how Abraham's descendant went down to Egypt. This was
all a part of God's purpose. Verse 29, And Reuben returned
unto the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he rent
his clothes, and he returned unto his brethren, and said,
The child is not, and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's
coat, and killed the kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in
the blood. I'm sure they were doing so with relish, thinking,
we'll see what his coat does for him now. And they sent the
coat of many colors and they brought it to their father and
said, this have we found, now whether it be thy coat's son
or not. And he knew. Jacob knew. And he said, it's
my son's coat. An evil beast hath devoured him.
Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his
clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his
son many days. And all of his sons and all of
his daughters rose up to comfort him, these same people who sold
him into slavery. This is very sinister and hypocritical. They rose up to comfort him,
but he refused to be comforted and said, for I'll go down into
my grave and to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. You see, the only thing that
could satisfy him would be for Joseph to be returned to him. Little did he know that 15 years
later, Joseph would be returned to him. And then Midianites sold
him into Egypt and to Potiphar, the captain of the guard. Now this story is a beautiful
beautiful type of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
happened, this is a historical event, but it's such a beautiful
picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to save
His brethren from their sins and what He went through. Now
the first thing that I would notice As Joseph was sent by
his father about the welfare of his brethren, Christ was sent
by his father for the welfare of his brethren. And notice,
Joseph went after his brethren. Christ came for his brethren. This is very important. Listen
carefully. The intention of Jesus Christ
when he came into this earth was not to save all men. If that was his intention, he
would have done it. It was not to make men savable. He didn't come in a generic sense. Christ Jesus came for his brethren. His brethren are those who were
eternally united to him before time began. Listen to this scripture. For whom he did foreknow, them
he also did predestinate. that they might be conformed
to His image, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. All of the elect, all those given
to Christ before time began, are His brethren. And He came to save them. Now
somebody says, why would you make a point like this? Well,
first of all, because the Bible does. And secondly, this reminds
us that Christ is salvation. If he came to save you, you must
be saved. None of his brethren will be
in hell. Whoever he came to save, whoever he intended to save,
that is who he saved. And we can't help but be struck
with the fact that Joseph did all of this willingly. Christ
did this willingly. Here am I, send me. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it's written of me, I delight to do thy will. Oh God, he came
willingly to save his brethren who hated him. Now, Joseph left
Hebron, the place of communion and fellowship, and came to the
place of burden. And isn't that exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ did when he left heaven, as to come and save
his brethren. Now, when they saw him, he's
coming after them. And when they saw him afar off,
even before he came near unto them, they conspired against
him to slay him. Now, when Christ came for his
people, his brethren, he came for people that actually hated
him and desired his death. Now, I want you to understand
this. This is what you and I are guilty of, the death of Christ. Now, somebody says, I've never
hated Christ. Well, maybe you haven't hated the conception
of Christ you had that you felt comfortable with, that you could
manipulate and you could move and you could get him to do this
or stop him from doing that. You don't hate that Christ, but
the Christ of the Bible, the Christ of absolute sovereign
rule. Back in verse 8 again, "...and
his brethren said, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt
thou indeed have dominion over us?" Now the Christ reigns over
you. He has dominion over you. Whether you know it or not, you
are in His hand, and your eternal destiny is up to Him. You don't
have any control. Your salvation is up to Him. Somebody says, well, I thought
my salvation was up to me if I decided to make it happen by
accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. That's foolishness.
Your salvation is in His hand. It's up to Him as to whether
or not you'll be saved. And my dear friends, the only
hope you have is that salvation is up to Him. Because if it's
up to you, you won't be saved. But if it's up to him, he can
be pleased to have mercy. But this is the one they hated,
and they hated him so bad, they wanted him put to death. Now
when he was put in this pit, this represents his death. They put him in a pit, a deep
pit with no water, and this represents his death. Verse 23, And it came
to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped
Joseph of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him.
And they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty,
there was no water in it, when Christ was nailed to the cross. And I say this with fear, with
reverence, with awe, He was stripped of His coat. He was stripped
of His righteousness when He was made sin as the sinner's
substitute. He was stripped. And they took him and cast him
into that pit, representing his death, and the pit was empty.
There was no water. And that's when they sat down
to eat bread. This shows how unfeeling they
were. And this shows how, if left to
ourselves, how unfeeling we are about the death of Christ, unless
God is pleased to make himself known to us and give us a heart
to see and receive and believe. Now you'll remember that Christ
was sold for 30 pieces of silver. Well, Joseph was sold. And Judah
said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother,
and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the
Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon him, for he is our
brother, and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Joseph was sold for the price
of a common slave. Christ was sold for 30 pieces
of silver. And they took Joseph's coat and
killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood. We also read in Revelation 19
of this John's vision of Christ when he said, one with a vesture dipped in
blood, speaking of seeing the Son of God. And he had a name
written on the vesture and on his thigh, Lord of Lords and
King of Kings. He's the one also who wore his
own vesture dipped in blood, his own blood sacrificed for
his people. And they sent the coat of many
colors and they brought it to their father and said, this have
we found. Know now whether or not this
is our son's coat or no. Scripture says, and he knew.
Now, I don't even know how to enter into this, but when Christ
was nailed to a cross, God the Father never stopped loving him.
He was still his only begotten and well-beloved son, and he
knew. He knew exactly who he was. God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He knew, and he said, it's my
son's coat. An evil beast hath devoured him.
Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his
clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his
son many days. And all sons and daughters rose
up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, for
I'll go down into my grave mourning for my son. The only thing that would satisfy
Jacob is if Joseph was returned. Now, he didn't know that that
would take place in 15 years. But the only thing that would
satisfy God the Father is if His Son is raised from the dead. And that's exactly what Christ
did when He was on Calvary's tree. And He was bearing the
sins of His brethren and putting away their sins and working out
for them a perfect righteousness. He was raised from the dead and
the Father found complete satisfaction in the resurrection of His Son
and complete satisfaction with all of His people. And the Midianites
sold him into Egypt under Potiphar, an officer and captain of the
guard. Now I want you to, as you can,
try to listen to these statements, these closing statements, real
carefully. Now this is covering the whole
story of Joseph, but this demonstrates God's adorable providence. He is in control of everybody
and everything. If Joseph's family, was not so
messed up, they wouldn't have sold him to the Midianites. If they didn't sell him, he would
have never reached Egypt. If he didn't go down to Egypt,
he would never have been sold unto Potiphar. If he had never
been sold to Potiphar, he would never have been unjustly accused
of rape, raping Potiphar's wife when he didn't do it. If he had
not been accused of rape, he would have never been thrown
into prison. If he had never been thrown into prison, he would
have never met the butler and the baker. If he would have never
met the butler and the baker, he would have never interpreted
their dreams. If he did not interpret their
dreams, they couldn't have told Pharaoh about this one who could
interpret dreams. If he had not interpreted Pharaoh's
dreams, he would never have become prime minister of Egypt. If he would have never become
prime minister of Egypt, he could not wisely prepare for the famine
to come. If he had not prepared for the
famine to come, his family would die. They'd starve to death. You see, these fellows didn't
realize that what they were doing was for their good. They didn't
realize it and they didn't mean it that way, but it was for their
salvation. If his family would have died,
Judah would have died. Judah, the one through whom the
Christ came, but everything took place according to God's perfect
providence. Now, I would like to read a passage
in closing from Genesis chapter 45 when Joseph makes himself
known to his brethren years later when he's the head of all of
Egypt. And if you were going to have food, you had to come
to him for it. And Joseph could not refrain himself before all
them that stood by. And he cried, cause every man
to go out from me. And there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren." They find
out that the most powerful man in the world is Joseph. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. Uh-oh, we're in trouble. We know what we did
to him. What goes around comes around,
and it's coming around to us. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and he said,
I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore
be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five
years in the which there shall be neither earing nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the
earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now
it was not you that sent me hither, but God. Everything we did is our fault,
but God sent Christ to preserve life, to save a people. What a beautiful picture we have
of this in the story of this man, Joseph, this great type
of Christ. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write.
or look at our website, you can get a copy. This is Todd Niebuhr
praying that God will be pleased to make himself known to you.
That's our prayer. Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.niebuhr at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.