dreams. Verse 18, And when they
saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they
conspired against him to slay him. This was not a conspiracy
theory. This was the real thing. 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, to call that a strong reaction
would be an understatement, wouldn't it? His brothers hated him. Brothers, at this time, plan
cold-blooded, premeditated murder. We're going to kill our brother,
and then we'll see what will become of all these dreams he
has dreamed. Put yourself in their place. He says, you guys are gonna bow
down at my feet in the dirt and worship. How would you respond
if your brother said that to you? If your sister said that
to you? We'll see what'll become of his
dreams. Verse three. Now Israel LOVED Joseph. Israel's Jacob. Remember God
changed His name to Israel, and throughout the Scriptures one
time He's called Israel, the other time He's called Jacob.
Here He's called Israel. Now Israel LOVED Joseph MORE
than all his children. Now what I think is interesting
is Jacob was raised in a home where his father loved his brother
more than he did him. And one would think that he had
learned from that. Instead of learning from it,
he became worse. And humanly speaking, he was
to blame for this toxic environment that was in this highly dysfunctional
home. He showed extreme favoritism
to Joseph over the rest of his brothers. No wonder they hated
him for his dreams. 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. This was a long tunic,
I read, that covered him made of many colors that signified
him being the father's favorite. And every time these brothers
saw him, they were reminded he's the father's favorite. My father
loves Joseph more than he loves me. Now you can bet that this
created some hostility and we're gonna see why wouldn't it? Verse four. And when his brothers
saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, what? They hated him. They despised
him. Not only did they hate him, they
could not speak peaceably to him. They lacked the ability
to have anything but hostile language toward him. They hated
him. Now, think of their feelings
toward him before he tells them these dreams. How are they gonna
feel after he tells them these dreams? Verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream, and
he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.
However bad they hated him before this dream, which was pretty
bad, they hated him even more after he told them this dream. Now let's look at the contents
of this dream. 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 sheaf. Your sheaf bowed
down in the dirt and worshipped my sheaf." Now that's exactly
what he's saying. And you can imagine how this
went over. Verse eight, 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 and for his words. But he didn't stop. Verse nine,
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 created universe, the sun,
the stars bow down before me. And I love the numbers he uses.
The two, the sun and the moon represent his mom and dad. The
11 stars represent his 11 brothers. Everybody is going to bow down
before me. Now you can imagine the outrage
that this brought on by his brothers, but what I love to remember is
this is the Lord Jesus speaking. Yes, it's Joseph, but this is
given to picture the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we think of
just Joseph saying this, I would have got mad too. Who do you
think you are? You think I'm gonna bow before
you? What makes you think you're so great? We'd say that to anybody
who did that. But if the Lord says this, yeah. He could say without arrogance,
I don't know that Joseph was saying this totally without arrogance.
I mean, maybe he was kind of digging it into his brothers.
I don't know. But when the Lord says this, he says without arrogance,
yes, everyone will bow before me. Verse 10, 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? Yeah, you will. Now in this story,
we see the response of every natural man to the dominion of
Christ. Look in verse 18 again. And when
they saw him afar off, this one who had given these dreams, even
before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to
slay him. 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'll say some evil
beast hath devoured him. This is our alibi, and we shall
see what will become of his dreams. This is the same thing that men
said with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not have
this man to reign over us. We'll not have it. For what office did they condemn
the Lord Jesus Christ? Was it for being a prophet? Was
it for being a priest? Was it for being a miracle worker?
Healing the sick? Feeding the hungry? Raising the
dead? No, that's not why they crucified
him. What was his accusation that was written over his head
as he hung from the cross. Jesus of Nazareth, the king, the king of the Jews, the absolute
monarch who rules and reigns. Now look back up in Verse 1,
or verse 2 rather, these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph
being 17 years old, a teenager, was feeding the flock with his
brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Billah and with the
sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. They were the two concubines.
And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now we don't
know what these four brothers were doing, but it was something
bad. It was something bad. And Joseph tells his father Jacob
about what they were doing. Now, I do not suggest us becoming
tattletales and rats and so on, and that's what people would
think of this, but what this is doing is showing the distinction
between Joseph and his brothers. Joseph's good. They're bad. It's that simple. If Joseph brings
an evil report with regard to you, how accurate would it be? Anything he said with regard
to you, if he brought the evil report concerning you, how accurate
would it be? It'd be accurate. Whether you know it or not, it'd
be accurate. Verse three, now Israel loved
Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his
old age. Now this speaks of Christ being
the eternal son of God. He is the son of God's old age. Now when we talk about the old
age of God, Age doesn't describe His age
because He never began to be. He's eternal. He's the eternal
God. He's always been. And Christ
Jesus is the Son of His eternity. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, as a distinct
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word was with God, the Word
was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. He is the eternal, I am that
I am. He's the eternal Son of the Father,
and oh, how the Father loves the Son. This is my beloved son. This is what God has to say about
his son. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. The coat of many collars that
Joseph wore represents the many perfections of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now in this coat, We have all
the perfections of the Godhead. The scripture says in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. Fullness of holiness, fullness
of absolute justice, fullness of grace, fullness of love, fullness
of sovereignty, fullness of power, omnipotence, fullness of independence,
whatever attribute God has, dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a glorious person in his
coat of many colors. Listen to how the writer to the
Hebrews described his excellency and glory. He is the one whom
God hath appointed heir of all things. That means he owns everything. I love thinking about this. That
breath you just breathed, that's his air. He allowed you to breathe
it. And the only reason you're alive
right now is his will. He's the air of all things. By
whom also he made the world. He's the creator. Who being the
brightness of God's glory, and the express image of his person
upholding all things by the word of his power. When he by himself
purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high. Verse four, and this is the natural man's
reaction to Jesus Christ, God's Son. And when his brethren saw
that their father loved him more than all his brethren, two things
are said about him. They hated him. And they could not speak peaceably
to him. They hated him. Now is anyone
thinking, I don't hate Jesus Christ. I can't say that I positively
hate him. Well, to not love, adore, and
worship him is to hate him. Let me repeat that. To not love,
and I mean he's the object of your greatest love. To not adore
and worship him is to hate him. Now it's true that men don't
hate a Christ over whom they have some control. Nobody hates
that Christ. That Christ who can't do anything
unless you of your free will allow him to do something. Nobody
hates that Christ. Nobody's scared of that Christ.
Nobody really has any respect for that Christ. He can't do
anything without me. The only problem with that is
that Christ doesn't exist. The Christ of the Bible is the
one in whose hands you are, and he can do with you whatever he
is pleased to do. That is the Christ who is. You're in his hands right now. You're eternal destiny. Listen
to this. Your eternal destiny, whether you'll spend eternity
in heaven worshiping him or in hell, is up to him. Now that's the Christ you and
I are to deal with. And this is the Christ the brothers
hated so badly, so he's the father's favorite. And the scripture says
they hated him. Now, let me tell you this about
me and you. You're not going to look within
to find out about your hatred of Christ. The only way you can
find out what you're really like, how God sees you, is the cross. The one time men were allowed
to do what they wanted to do, what did they do? They nailed
Jesus Christ to a cross. And my dear friend, that's you.
No, it's not. Somebody thinks, yeah, it is.
God says it is. That's me. If you want to find
out how you really feel by nature about the Lord Jesus Christ,
look to the cross and this is what God holds every one of us
responsible for. We've killed the Son. That's
hatred. Not only is this hatred for him,
it says they could not. It doesn't say they would not,
it says they could not. They hated him so bad, they lacked
the ability to speak peaceably into him. They couldn't do it. And this speaks of man's depravity,
my depravity, your depravity, actually hating him who was altogether
lovely. And inability. This hatred is
such that we're unable to even speak peaceably unto Him. Total depravity. You and I are,
by nature, totally under the dominion of sin. Total depravity
and complete inability. We cannot speak peaceably to
Him. We can't. Not by nature. God's
gonna have to do something for us. If He leaves us to ourself,
we can't speak peaceably to Him. You know, the Lord said no man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him.
The carnal mind, that's the mind you were born with, is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now that's the condition of these
brothers. Somebody says, well, How could
it be fair for God to judge me if I'm unable to love him? It's not my fault if I'm unable.
That's kind of like somebody saying, well, I hate your son
so much, I'm unable to do anything but murder him, therefore I ought
to get off the hook. Doesn't work that way, does it? Doesn't
work that way at all. They could not speak peaceably
unto him. Verse five. Now they hated him
before he told this dream. Now look. 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 dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves
in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaf stood
round about, and made obeisance to my 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. Now what is being taught is the
absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Ironically, When they say, shalt
thou indeed reign over us, and shalt thou indeed have dominion
over us? Turn to a moment to Genesis 42. This happened some
years later. Verse five, and the sons of Israel
came to buy corn among those that came, for the famine was
in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over
the land. And he it was that sold to all
the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and
bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. Joseph's dream came true, didn't
it? And Joseph saw his brethren and he knew them. made himself
strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. They didn't
know who he was. And said unto him, whence come ye? And they
said, from the land of Canaan, to buy food. And Joseph knew
his brethren, but they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the
dreams, which he dreamed of them. You remember that dream that
they hated him for? And there they are bowing before
him. Now, everybody in this room and
everybody outside of this room is going to bow the knee to the
Lord Jesus Christ. 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,
things in the earth, and things under the earth. And every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. Now you will bow now or later,
willingly now, unwillingly later, but bow you shall. God's determined
it. Everybody is going to bow the
knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these dreams that Joseph
have teach us of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now hold your finger there in
Genesis 37 and turn with me to John chapter 5. Verse 21. For as the Father raises up the
dead, this is Christ speaking, He's speaking of His Father.
For as the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even
so, in the same manner, the Son quickens, the Son gives life
to whom He will. The Father gives life to whom
He will, the Son gives life to whom He will. Look in verse 18,
therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not
only had broken the Sabbath, but he said also that God was
his father making himself equal with God. Now here was their
issue. You're saying that you are equal
with God. Then answered Jesus and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the father do for whatsoever things, so
ever he doeth, he's also doeth the son. Likewise, I do exactly
what the father does. I and my father are one. For
the father loveth the son and showeth him all things that himself
doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that you may
marvel. For as the father raises up the dead and gives them life,
even so the son gives life to whom he will. For the father
judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the son, that
all men should honor the son, even as they honor the father.
He that honoreth not the son honoreth not the father which
hath sent him. Yes, Reuben. Levi, Simeon, Judah,
Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, he's your
king. He does rule and reign over you. And you are in his hand for him
to do with you whatever he's pleased to do. That is who Jesus
Christ is. Question. Is that good news to you? Or
is that bad news? The fact that you're in Christ's
hand right now. And he can do with you whatever
he's pleased to do. Is that good news? Or is that
bad news? It's good news if you cannot
save yourself. He can will your salvation. He
can do that. That's kind of who he is. You
know, that leper understood that very clearly when he came up
and worshiped the Lord and said, Lord, if you will, You can make
me clean. I am utterly and completely in
your hand as to whether or not I'll be clean. It's 100% up to
you. If you will, you can make me
clean. I can't make myself clean. I'm
overall defiled and sinful, but if you will, you can make me
clean. Now, if you think you can save
yourself, You don't like this, because your hope is found in
something you can do. And if your hope is found in
something you can do, and you find out that that can't save
you, your salvation's up to Him, you don't like that. You're like
the brothers. Shall fowl indeed reign over
us? Yeah. He will. Christ's reign. His absolute
sovereign reign over creation, providence, and salvation. Jesus
Christ created the universe. Jesus Christ is Lord over every
event. There's nothing that happens
that He is not in absolute control of. Christ is Lord of salvation. If you're saved, it will be because
He willed your salvation. I'm going to read in closing
some scriptures with regard to the Lord reigning. Shalt thou indeed reign over
us? Shalt thou have dominion over us? Now you can understand
why these big brothers were so disgusted by the little brother's
claim. But remember, we're talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ now. This is given to picture the
glory, the absolute sovereignty of the man, Christ Jesus, God's
darling son. Psalm 93 one says the Lord reigneth. He's clothed with majesty and
strength. Daniel. 4 verses 34 and 35 says
His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom from
generation to generation. He was reigning in that generation.
He's reigning in this generation right now. He'll always reign. And all, listen to this, and
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. 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?
Give an account for yourself. He doesn't answer to you. He
doesn't answer to me. He answers to himself. He's God. All his works are truth, and
his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able
to abase. If in your heart you rebel against
this, he's able to abase you and make you rejoice in this. Psalm 47 verse eight says, God
reigneth over the heathen. Those who do not believe, he
reigns over them. Romans 14, nine says he's The
Lord, both of the dead and the living. That man who's dead and
sins, he's their Lord. That man who lives, oh, he's
their Lord. By me, he said, kings reign.
He is a complete sovereign. He is completely sovereign. God
reigneth over the heathen. He's completely sovereign over
all of the free and uncoerced actions of men and devils. That's how much he reigns. Psalm
9610 says, say ye among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. This
is what the unbeliever needs to hear. A God who really is
God. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? David replies, our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Psalm 97, one says the Lord reigneth,
let the earth rejoice. I love his reign. I love his reign. I think of the fearful implications. of this not being so. I don't
want to be anywhere where he doesn't reign, do you? There's no safety in that place.
He reigns. Psalm 99.1 says, the Lord reigneth,
let the people tremble. And listen to me. You will only
worship a sovereign God over whom you have no control. If you can control him, if you
can manipulate him in any way, you won't worship him. You only
worship an absolute sovereign over whom you have no control. You know what you do? You bow. I want you to turn to this one,
Isaiah 52. Verse 7, Isaiah 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. One last scripture, turn to Romans
5. With this concept of reign, absolute
control. Verse 20, Romans chapter 5, verse
20. The law entered that the offense
might abound. Now, if you can look at any commandment
of God and say, well, I've tolerably kept that one, you don't know
what the law of God means in any way. The law entered that
your offense, my offense, might abound and overflow so that when
you see what the law says, you see that you're a place where
sin just bubbles up and abounds over and that's all you are. Do you see that? The law entered
that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, Before
I finish reading that, are you a place where sin abounds? Where sin abounded, grace, saving
grace, the grace of God did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death. Now there's that word reign.
Remember they said, will you reign over us? Reign, that means
absolute control. How much ability or power do
you have to prevent death? None. If you, there's nothing you can do to
prevent death. You're gonna die. Maybe today, maybe 50 years from
now, but you're gonna die. and there's nothing you can do
to prevent it. Death has reign over you. That's just so. That as sin has
reigned unto death, in the same manner might grace reign. Now,
you don't have any choice. You're gonna die. But if God
gives you his grace, there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Just like you can't stop death, you can't stop grace. Isn't that
great? Grace reigns. You can't stop
it. If God purposes your salvation,
saved you must be. And notice it says His grace
reigns through righteousness. It's righteous grace. It's a
grace that glorifies the righteousness of God through that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so by grace reign through righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ being yours unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now, yes, he will reign over you. Hate it or say, Lord, have mercy
on me. I'm in your hands, save me for
Christ's sake. May I be found in him. May the Lord give us
each the grace to cry out to this sovereign one who does reign,
Lord, save me. Now listen to me. There's never
been anybody in the history of the universe that asked for mercy
that he turned down. This one who's sovereign, he's
gracious, he delights in mercy, he delights in saving sinners. If you come as a sinner seeking
his grace, you have it. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in the high and
holy name of your son. That you would bless this message
and Lord cause us to. Rejoice. In the reign of thy
son. And find our salvation. In him
who cannot fail. Lord, we know because of who
he is. There's power in his blood to
wash away all sin, and we ask that we might be enabled to be
just like that leper, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean, and that we would hear those words in our heart, I will,
be thou clean. In Christ's name we pray, amen.