Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. 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. I'm reading from Genesis chapter
37. I'm going to be preaching on this subject, the dreams of
Joseph. Now, these are the words of Joseph's
brethren when he came toward them after that he had told them
of his dreams. Verse 18, and when they saw him
afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired
against him to slay him. They saw their brother coming
toward them, and they make a plan. We are going to kill him. Premeditated, cold-blooded murder. That is how they felt about their
brother. Verse 19, 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." They even came up with
their alibi. And we shall see what will become
of his dreams, the dreams of Joseph. Now I want you to remember
that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Every word God breathed. And these stories in the Old
Testament are not just given to us to tell us of historical
events. This is something that literally
took place but it's given to teach us concerning the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said with regard to the scriptures,
they are they which testify of me. And this passage of scripture
regarding the dreams of Joseph given to testify concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's pick up in the first
part of Genesis chapter 37 to find out why it was that his
brothers hated him so much that they wanted to kill him. Verse
2 of Genesis chapter 37, these are the generations of Jacob,
Joseph, being 17 years old, and Joseph was Jacob's favorite son,
the son of his old age, the son of Rachel, his favorite wife,
and Jacob demonstrated great favoritism toward Joseph, as
we shall see. Joseph, being 17 years old, was
feeding the flock with his brethren, And the lad was with the sons
of Billa, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, the
two concubines, and their four sons. And the scripture says
Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now they were doing something
evil. We're not told what it was they were doing, but Joseph
let his father know about what they were doing. Somebody may
be thinking, should Joseph be a tattletale? Should he be a
rat? Well, normally speaking, I would say, no, you shouldn't
do something like that. But this is Joseph being a type
of Christ. And we see exactly why he acted
this way. He's showing the difference between
him and his brethren. Now we read in verse three, now
Israel or Jacob, remember Jacob's name had been changed to Israel
and you find throughout the scriptures him called sometimes Jacob and
sometimes Israel. Now Israel loved Jacob more than
all his children. Jacob was raised with his father,
Isaac, loving his brother more than he did Jacob. You would
think Jacob would have learned his lesson by that, but he didn't. As a matter of fact, he was worse
than his father was. He showed such blatant favoritism
toward his son, Joseph. He put him above his brothers. And you can imagine what a dynamic
that would make. If your parents gave your little
brother or little sister extreme favoritism over you, you would
probably be jealous as well. His brothers were jealous and
envious of him. 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. Now this coat always
demonstrated to the brothers, Joseph is the favorite. He's
favored over you. He has a higher place with his
father than you do. And I'm sure that every time
they saw him wearing that coat that his father gave him, they
would become irritated to say the least. We read in 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. Every word that came out with
regard to Joseph were words of hostility. They resented him
so much they hated him. And this was before he gave his
dreams. Now keep this in mind, they're
already angry with Joseph. They already hate him. They already
are unable to speak any good of him. That's how complete this
hatred was. And then Joseph gives them these
dreams. And Joseph dreamed a dream and
he 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've dreamed, for behold, we were
binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also
stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about and
made obeisance to my sheep. Sheep, that word means you hit
the ground and worshiped. your sheaves fell in the dirt
at the feet of my sheep and worshipped." Now can you imagine how this
enraged his brothers? Verse 8, and his brethren said,
shall thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream,
verse nine. Here's the second dream. And he told his brother
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 fell
down and worshiped me. And there's significance to those
numbers. The sun and the moon represent his mother and his
father. The 11 stars, his 11 brethren. And he said, everything
and everybody, you and the whole created universe fell down and
worshiped 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 to bow down ourselves to
thee in the earth? Yes, they will. You can read
some years later when he's the governor of Egypt, and they don't
know who he is. And they come to get food. They
could not have any food unless he gave it to them. And they
came and bowed themselves down on the earth before him, just
as his dream said they would. Verse 11, and his brethren envied
him. But his father observed that
saying. Now you can see after these dreams,
verse 18, 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, the dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let
us slay him and cast him into some pit. We will say some evil
beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become
of his dreams. Now in this story, and it literally
took place. This is a historical narrative. In this story, we see the response
of every natural man to the reign and the dominion of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Son of God, God's Christ. And his brethren said
to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed
have dominion over us? This is what they became so angry
over. This is what made them hate their
brother Joseph because of his claims to reigning over them
and having dominion over them. Now, Jesus Christ is the well-beloved
Son of the Father. He's the son of the father's
old age. Now I realize God doesn't have
age. He's eternal. He never began
to be. He will never end. And Christ
Jesus is the eternal son. We read in John chapter one,
verse one, in the beginning, before there was any creation,
in the beginning was the word. And the Word was with God, as
a distinct person from God, and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. And Christ has his coat of many
colors. As Joseph was given this coat
showing the Father's favoritism toward him, Christ is the Father's
favorite, and that coat of many colors represents all the divine
perfections, all the divine attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture
says in Colossians 2.9, in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. There's fullness of omnipotence,
there's fullness of wisdom, there's fullness of holiness, there's
fullness of sovereignty, there's fullness of independence, there's
fullness of omnipresence in his body. Oh, this coat of many colors
represents all the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
in verse 4 of Genesis chapter 37, And when his brethren saw
that their father loved him more than all his brethren, two things
were said of them. They hated him, and they could
not speak peaceably to him. Now this represents you and I
by nature. By nature, we hate the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we lack the ability to speak well from our hearts
of Him. Now, somebody is thinking, I
don't hate Christ. Well, there's a problem with
that. The Bible says we do. Now that's
enough to make us reconsider our position. And the fact of
the matter is, we don't hate the Jesus Christ that we can
manipulate. We don't hate the Jesus Christ that we can control.
We hate the Christ over which we have no control. Men's hatred
of Christ is seen when they hear who he really is. Nobody hates
a Christ they can control and manipulate. But a Christ who's
absolutely sovereign, who rules and reigns over me, The natural
response is we will not have this man reign over us and violate
our rights and violate our free will. We got to have some control
in this thing. And when we hear of the Christ
who has utter reign, We hate Him. Now, the proof of this is
the cross. I'm not asking you to look within
your own thoughts as to how you feel about the Lord Jesus Christ,
but here's the facts. The cross. The one-time men were
allowed to do what they wanted to do with Jesus Christ. They
nailed Him to a cross. They murdered Him. Now, they
were only doing what God had appointed to be done. This was
all a part of God's purpose to save men. But when men were left
to do what they wanted to do, and you and I would do the same
thing, we're lying to ourselves if we say that's not the case.
If left to ourselves, we would nail Jesus Christ to a tree when
we find out of his claims over us. And not only that, we learned
something of total inability. They could not. They lacked the
ability to speak peaceably to Him. It doesn't say they would
not, but they could not. The natural man cannot love Christ. John 6.44 says, No man can come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. Romans
8.7 says, The carnal mind, the mind you and I were born with.
is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can be. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, The
natural man, that's the way we're born, receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither
indeed can He know them. He lacks the ability to know
them because they're spiritually discerned. For me to have any
understanding of anything spiritual, I'm going to have to be born
again. I'm going to have to be born from above. God is going
to have to do something for me. These men were opposed to their
brother. Totally depraved, totally unable. That's why they say after hearing
this first dream, shall thou indeed reign over us? Shall thou
indeed have dominion over us? They were opposed to this, but
the answer to that question is yes, he does reign over you. Yes, he does have dominion over
you. Listen to this scripture from
Philippians chapter two. Wherefore, God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name, which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. of things in heaven
and things in earth, and that every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now you and I will bow, either
now in our hearts or later in judgment when we're forced to,
to acknowledge his lordship. Either now willingly or then
unwillingly, but bow we shall. The Lord has promised that. Now, the teaching of these dreams
is the teaching of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what does that mean? The
absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to read
a passage from John chapter five that speaks of his absolute sovereignty. He says, beginning in verse 21,
For as the Father raises the dead and quickens them. Now, picture this in your mind. Somebody dead in sins, God raises
that person. He doesn't ask them if they want
to be raised. He raises them. He quickens them,
gives them life. As the Father raises the dead
and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. Salvation is up to His will. You being given life, me being
given life, is totally up to His will. That's what is meant
by the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. His will is always done. There's nothing that happens
apart from His will. When the universe was created,
it's because He willed it. Everything that happens in time
happens because he wills it. He's in control of every event. There's nothing that falls outside
the umbrella of his sovereignty. It covers everything. Salvation
is up to him. The leper understood this when
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't say, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. What? Rebellion, that would be. You
don't come into God's presence telling him what to do. He said,
if you will, you can make me clean. This speaks of the absolute
sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Reuben. Yes, Levi. Yes, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali,
Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, you're all going to
bow the knee to your brother. Everybody is going to bow the
knee to the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to
ask you a question. You're in his hands. Your destiny,
whether or not you're going to be in heaven or in hell, is up
to him. It's not up to you. It's up to
him. He's going to determine where
you will spend eternity. What's your response to that? Is it good news? Or is it bad news? Now it's good
news if you can't save yourself. There's hope for your salvation.
He can will your salvation if he's pleased to do it. The only
hope you have is if he's pleased to do it, but the fact that he
may, if he is pleased, that's good news. Now it's bad news
to you. If you hope that you can be saved
by something you do that can obligate God to save you, because
this takes away all your hope. It tells you the things that
you're hoping in don't count. It's bad news then. Now, which
is this? Good news or bad news? Christ reigns in absolute authority. He reigns over the free and uncoerced
actions of men and demons. He controls everybody. He reigns
in salvation, your salvation. is in His hands, whether you're
saved or not. Now, what is your response? Now, I'd like to close by giving
you some scriptures with regard to the reign of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This brother said, shalt thou
indeed reign over us? Shalt thou have dominion over
us? Well, listen to these scriptures. Psalm 93, one, the Lord reigneth. And this is just the facts. Somebody
says, I don't agree with that. Well, it doesn't matter whether
you agree with it or not. It's the facts. The Lord reigneth. He's absolutely sovereign in
creation, in providence, and in salvation. The Lord reigneth. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.
It was back that way then, it's that way now. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. and he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? All his works are truth and his
ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Psalm 47.8 says, God reigneth
over the heathen. Those who do not believe, He
reigns over them. He still reigns over them. Romans 14.9 says,
He's Lord both, Jesus Christ is Lord both of the dead and
the living. The man dead in sins, they belong to Him. The man who
lives, he's their Lord. He's most especially the Lord
of the sheep, but he's the goat's Lord too, because he's Lord of
all. Psalm 96, 10 says, say ye among the heathen that the Lord
reigneth. This is what the unbeliever needs to hear. You're in God's
hand. He reigns over you. That last
breath of air you took is His air, and He can cut it off anytime
He's pleased. He reigns in absolute sovereignty
over everybody. Psalm 99.1 says, The Lord reigneth,
let the people tremble. Now, you will only worship an
absolute sovereign God, a God that you can manipulate, a God
you can control. You won't worship that God. You'll
only worship a God in whose hands you are. Psalm 97 1 says, The
Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice. I love his reign. what fearful implications there
are if he doesn't rain everywhere. I don't want to be anywhere where
he doesn't rain because somebody else is raining, but here the
glorious good God rains. And then we read in Isaiah chapter
52 verse 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion,
thy God reigneth." That's good news. Now let me show you why. I want to end with this passage
in Romans chapter 5. We read, moreover, the law entered
that sin might, that offense might abound. Now if you ever
see what God's law says, you're going to see that sin just bubbles
out of you and abounds over you and that all you are is sin. Now, if you can see God's law
and see something else, you haven't seen God's law. If you see what
God's law really says, you're gonna see that you're a place
where sin abounds. But, where sin abounded, would
that be you? Listen to this, grace did much
more abound. Every place where sin abounds,
grace always abounds much more. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, you can't prevent death. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, in the same manner even so might grace reign, you can't
prevent grace. His grace is saving grace. It's not just thrown out there
and offered to you. Wherever there's someone where
sin abounds, grace abounds, grace reigns through righteousness.
Here's what His grace does. His grace makes you righteous. Christ Jesus, dying on the cross,
put away your sin. His righteousness is given to
you so that you are righteous. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. This is what grace does. It makes
you righteous. It reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, shall he reign? Yes, he
shall. Yes, he shall. But listen to
this, everyone who's ever come to him for mercy, he's received. Somebody says, well, I came to
him for mercy. He didn't receive me. No, you didn't. You tried
to strike a deal with him. You tried to bargain with him.
You said, I'll do this. If you do that, that won't work.
But if you come with a rope around your neck for pure, free mercy
and grace, you will be received. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. This is Todd Nybert, 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 your request to todd.nybert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. Mm.