The patriarchs moved with envy, sold their brother. That's pretty intense. Turn to
Genesis chapter 37. Why were they so envious? It's
really not hard to see. Number one, they were envious
because they were a wicked bunch of men. read their history. These were very evil men, but
they came out of a very dysfunctional family where their father showed
blatant favoritism toward Joseph. Look in verse three, chapter
37. 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
their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Every time they saw
him, it irritated them. And they were angry with him. And you can see where that comes
from. Verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told
it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And here's
why. He said unto them, Here I pray
you this dream, which I've dreamed. For behold, you are binding sheaves
in the field. And lo, my sheaf arose and also
stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood
round about and made obeisance, worshipped my sheaf, bowed the
knee to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us? I think of that New Testament
scripture, will not have this man reign over us. That was the
feeling of the brothers. And his brethren said to him,
shall thou indeed reign over us or shall 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
and told it his brethren and said, behold, I dream to dream
more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars 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 has dreamed? Shall
I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves
to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him. That's where that word from Acts
chapter seven came from. His brethren envied him. On a human level, we can see
why they were envious. Verse 12, I've entitled this message, Joseph
Sold. Joseph Sold. Verse 12, and his brethren went
to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel, Jacob, Israel said
unto Joseph, and he knew how his brothers felt about Joseph.
He knew how they hated him and couldn't speak peaceably to them. And Israel said unto Joseph,
do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I
will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. Now, the story begins with Jacob
sending Joseph for his brother's welfare. That's where this begins. And he knew what kind of people
these men were. He knew they hated Joseph. And
he knew of many of the wicked deeds of these men. Joseph had told him about some
of them. But here we have the father sending his favored son
to this wicked bunch of boys for their benefit. Verse 14,
and he said, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy
brethren and well with the flocks and bring me word again. So he
sent him out of the vale of Hebron. That word vale means valley.
Hebron means the place of association, the place of fellowship. He left
the fellowship of his father and went after his brethren. Verse 15, now from where he was
to Shechem was a 50 mile journey. It's a long way. And he went
after them. Verse 15, and a certain man found
him and behold, he was wandering in the field. He was looking
for his brethren there in Shechem. And the man asked him, saying,
what seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me,
I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man said,
their departed hens, for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan.
Now that's another 30 miles away. The other time we read of Dothan,
that is where Elisha lived. And that's where his home was.
So he goes to Dothan another 30 miles. Now this is an 80 mile
trip. When's the last time you walked 80 miles? That's a lot
of seeking and a lot of effort he's putting into finding his
brethren. And Joseph went after his brethren
and found them in Dothan. Verse 18. And when they saw him
afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired
against him to slay him. Now they were so angry with their
brother, they wanted to put him to death. They wanted to kill
him. They see him coming and they get together. Let's put
him to death. Now that's serious hatred, verse
19. And they said one to another,
behold, this dreamer cometh. They were thinking about the
dreams he had, about them bowing the knee to him. And they call
him this master of dreams, 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. And we'll see what
will become of his dreams. It shows how offended these boys
were. They hated their brother. Verse 21, and Reuben heard, 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's in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him, that
he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to their
father again. Now, Reuben was unstable as water. Reuben was not a virtuous man.
You could read about the things that he had done, but the Lord
was not going to allow Joseph to be slain. because he had a
purpose for Joseph. Joseph is going to go into Egypt
and all these men are going to be delivered, but they don't
know it. So the Lord uses Reuben to keep them from putting to
death his son. Verse 23, and it came to pass when Joseph
was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his
coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. Now, they were
irritated every time they looked at that coat. It was just a gall
to them. Now they're able to do what they
want to do. And they stripped that coat off of him that his
father had made them. They despised everything that
it stood for. I guess that's how they identified
him when they saw him from a distance. They saw that coat of many colors
and now with violence, they stripped it off of him, perhaps being
placed in a position for the first time when they could really
do what they wanted to do. So they stripped him of this
coat of many colors. They took him, verse 24, and
cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty, there
was no water. Now evidently we learn from chapter
42 that he had pleaded with them not to do this. And they were
acknowledging the fact that we were hard-hearted and wouldn't
listen to his plea. You can read about that in chapter
42, but they put him in this pit where there was no water.
Verse 25, and they sat down to eat bread. Time to eat. That's
how hard-hearted they were. Time to eat. Let's eat supper
together while their brother's in the pit. And they lifted up
their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came
from Gilead." Ishmael representing works religion. We know that
from Galatians chapter four. That's what that represents,
works religion. Ishmaelites came from Gilead
with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh going to carry
it down to Egypt. And Judah said in his brethren,
he comes up with this brilliant idea. What profit is it if we
slay our brother and conceal his blood? We're not going to
make any money out of that. Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,
and let not our hand be upon him, for he's our brother and
our flesh, and his brethren were content. Judah comes up with
this good idea. Sell him as a slave. We'll make
some money out of this, and we won't bring guilt on our head.
What a powerful moral compass he had. You know, let's just
go ahead and sell him as a slave. And that way we won't be guilty
of his death. What moral uprightness and integrity
of character. Verse 28. Then there passed by
Midianites, merchant men, and they drew and lifted up Joseph
out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces
of silver. The price of a common slave. And they, those Ishmaelites,
Midianites, brought Joseph into Egypt. 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 a kid of goats. and
dipped the coat in the blood. It's now a bloody coat. And they soothed the coat of
many colors, and they brought it to their father and said,
this have we found. Now know whether it be thy son's
coat or no. Now, how hard-hearted? Look how
evil these guys are. They come to their dad and they
say, is this your son's coat? Knowing full well it was, but
trying to cover their crime and they cared nothing about their
father, did they? Not a bit. Verse 33, and he knew it and
said, it's my son's coat, an evil beast hath devoured him.
Joseph is without doubt rent into pieces. He didn't know that
he was in Egypt. And Jacob rent his clothes and
put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many
days. And all his sons and all his
daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted
and said, for I'll go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. And the Midianites sold him into
Egypt unto Potiphar. an office of Pharaoh's and captain
of the guard. Now, let me remind you this amazing
story, this true story. This is history. It actually
took place. This amazing story has one purpose. to testify the gospel of Jesus
Christ. That's its only purpose. And
how we see the gospel so clearly in this passage of scripture,
this story begins with the father sending the son for a bunch of
wicked people. I mean, it's That's a gospel, isn't it? The
father sending the son for the welfare of a bunch of wicked
people. I think of the scripture, John
3, 17, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the
world. The world already was condemned.
Why did he send his son? That the world through him might
be saved. John 6, 38, for I came down from
heaven. I wonder what people thought
when he said that. What would you say or what would you think
if I said I came down from heaven? You'd think you're crazy. I'm
sure they thought the same thing of the Lord. He said, for I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he has given me. I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. I love what he said
to the Syro-Phoenician woman when she's begging for mercy. Any answers are not a word, the
scripture says. But she continued, you know, if you ever want mercy,
you'll never stop asking for mercy. Not if you really want
mercy. If you're trying to bargain with
God, you'll end up quitting. But if you really need mercy,
you won't stop. And this woman didn't stop. And then he replied
to her, I'm not sent but for the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." Speaking of every believer, the true Israel. Luke 4, 18,
the Lord said, He, the Father, has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. The Lord said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. He is the sent one. This is the work of God. These
are the words of the Lord Jesus in John 6, 29. This is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. The father sent his son, and
you know, I believe that. I believe the father sent him.
Do you believe that? I believe that. I believe the
father sent him, and I believe that whatever it is the father
sent him to do, he did. Matthew 121, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. First John, chapter 4, verse
10, herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved
us and sent His Son to be the propitiation. That word means
the sin-removing sacrifice. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. And notice once again, in verse
14 of chapter 37, or verse 13, and Israel said unto Joseph,
do not thy brethren feed the flock and shekem? Come and I
will send thee unto them. And he said, here am I. I am willing to go on this glorious
errand. Here am I. voluntary the Lord
was in doing what the Father sent Him to do. I think of that
scripture, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, I wish I could enter
in more into what this means, but it says, looking unto Jesus,
who for the joy, the joy that was set before Him, endured the
cross, despising the shame. He received joy out of doing
His Father's will. He received joy out of saving
His brethren. Now you remember how wicked this
bunch was. They sold Him. They wanted to kill Him, but
they ended up selling Him. Joseph willingly went to these
men who had no love for him. And that is indicative of the
Lord Jesus Christ willingly, willingly taking up his cross. You know, the Lord demonstrated
his willingness to do what he was doing right before when they
went to arrest him. I love that passage of scripture.
Most people think it must have been 500 people that came to
arrest him, men with swords and staves. And the Lord said, Whom
seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And you remember what happened?
Some irresistible force knocked him backwards. You want to know why the Lord
did that? He's letting them know I'm in control, not you. The only reason this is taking
place is because of my will. I try to think of what they must
have felt like when they got back up, scared to death. They
knew something was going on that they didn't have any power over. You know, when the Lord was nailed
to a cross. The only reason he was nailed
to a cross is he willingly went there and while those men were
nailing the nails, they were doing his will and his power
was giving them the ability to do what they did. That's how
much control he had. He is willing. I love that passage
of scripture. No man takes my life from me.
I'm not a victim. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Oh, how willing the Lord was
to go through everything he went through. Joseph said, here I
am. 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, this dreamer cometh. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. And what was it that they were
so irritated about? His dreams, his dreams. Behold, this dreamer cometh.
He thinks we're gonna bow the knee to him. He thinks he has
control over us. Men hate the Lord Jesus Christ
for the very same reason. You know, if you preach a Christ
who you got some control over, who won't violate your free will,
who actually, you control him. Your
will is the deciding factor in salvation. You preach a Christ
like that, men will hate him. But you preach a Christ who has
absolute sovereign control, that your eternal destiny is in his
hands, and it's up to him as to where you're going to spend
eternity. You preach a Christ like that, one who rules and
reigns and all must bow, people are gonna get upset. They saw
him coming and they conspired to slay him. This dreamer is
coming. Now let's go on reading. Verse
20, come now therefore 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. And Reuben heard. Now these men
were planning on killing him, but Reuben stops it from taking
place. Now, it's not because of any
moral virtue in Reuben, but it's because it was God's will for
Joseph to go down to Egypt, because it was God's will for him to
save everybody through what the Lord was going to put him through.
And so Reuben is an example of God's providence. Everything
that happens, happens, so God's will will most assuredly be done. I think of even cross him being
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. That's what happened. You have taken with wicked hands
of crucified and slave, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Joseph must go to Egypt. He must
become the head of Egypt. And if you're going to be saved,
If you're gonna eat, if you're gonna stay alive, it's in his
hands. It's up to him. That must take
place. So Reuben, unbeknownst to him,
is used by God to keep his brothers from slaying him at this time.
They would have done it. But look in verse 23. And it came to pass when Joseph
was coming to his brethren that they stripped Joseph. of his coat. Now that coat of
many colors that his daddy gave him represents the Lord Jesus,
the favored son, and all of his glorious attributes. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. all fullness of sovereignty,
all fullness of justice, all fullness of love and grace, all
fullness of power and wisdom. Christ is called the wisdom of
God. Oh, this coat of many colors that the Father loved Him for.
His brothers hated Him for it, and the same reason men hate
the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate His attributes. Now,
if you preach a Jesus Christ that men can control, you'll
get along okay, but you preach the Son of God as he is, as he's
revealed in the Word of God, the mighty lion of the tribe
of Judah, men will want to put him to death. Now what did they
do? They stripped this coat off of him. Now I'm gonna talk about
something that I feel so unqualified to talk about, but the Son of
God being stripped. You remember in Matthew's account,
it says they stripped him of his robe. And they put upon him
a scarlet robe, mocking his kingship. But to think of him being stripped,
this is the scripture that came to my mind. 2 Corinthians 8,
9. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, Now I want you to think of the
riches of Jesus Christ. Oh, what riches of righteousness. What riches of praise. What riches of fellowship with
His Father. We can't describe the riches
of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ. I like what Paul called
it, the unsearchable. Beyond our knowing. Yet on Calvary's tree, he was
stripped. Do I know what that means? No,
I don't, neither do you, neither does anybody else. But I know
this, he was stripped. He who is rich in righteousness,
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was
rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. I don't have any idea what all
that means. I know that he became guilty before God. He who used
to enjoy perfect communion with God is now forsaken by God. and
feels nothing but His awful frown. He who is altogether lovely is
made to cry out from the cross, I'm a worm and not fit to be
called a man. When He was made sin, I'm still
mystified by what all that means. My sin became His sin so that
He actually became guilty of the commission of it. He never
sinned. You know that, I know that, but what's worse, he was
made sin. All that I am, he was made to
be. He was stripped of his coat. He became poor that you through
his poverty might be rich. They stripped his coat of many
colors, verse 24. And they took him and cast him
into a pit, and the pit was empty. There was no water in it." You
can remember the Lord's cry, I thirst. Verse 25, and they
sat down to eat bread. Remember where it says, setting
down, they watched him there? Talking about the death of Christ,
setting down, they watched him there. So utterly hardhearted.
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, balm, and myrrh, going to carry
it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren,
What profit is it if we slay our brethren 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 in our flesh.
And his brethren were content. Then there passed by the Midianite
merchant men, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit
and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. You
remember somebody else was sold for silver, 30 pieces. That was the price of a common
slave in the Lord's day, that he was sold for 30 pieces of
silver. And they brought Joseph unto Egypt, and Reuben returned
unto the pit. Behold, Joseph was not in the
pit. And he rent his clothes, and he returned unto his brethren,
and said, The child is not. Ay, whither shall I go? And they
took Joseph's coat, and killed the kid of the goat, and dipped
the coat in blood. And they sent the coat of many
collars, and they brought it to their father, and said, This
have we found. Now know ye whether or not this is thy son's coat?
I wanna read about another coat in blood. Turn to Revelation
chapter 19. Revelation 19. Verse 11. And I saw heaven opened. behold a white horse and he that
sat upon him was called faithful and true. What a description
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful. He believed God perfectly
and he can be believed. He can be relied upon. He is
the faithfulness of God. And He's true. I love it in John
18 when He said, I came to bear witness to the truth. Every one
that's of the truth heareth my voice. He is the truth. He's
the truth of who God is. If you want to know God, you're
only going to know Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the truth
of you. If you want to know how sinful
you are, look to Christ and you'll find out. The only reason you
don't see it is you've never seen Him, if you don't see it.
He's the truth of salvation. He is God's salvation. What a name! Faithful and true. In righteousness, He doth judge
and make war. Now, I love thinking about this. If I'm saved, I believe I am. I believe I am. If I'm saved,
it's only in a way that honors his righteousness. If I'm saved,
it's going to honor the righteousness of God. You know what that's
called? Justification. I'm just before
God. Every believer is righteous before
God. How can you say that? Because
of this one who is riding on this white horse. Faithful and
true. In righteousness, he judges and
makes war. In righteousness, he condemns
too. Verse 12, his eyes were as a flame of fire, all seeing,
all piercing. And on his head were many crowns, sovereign. And he had a name
written. that no man knew, but he himself. I love that. He doesn't need
any man's approval, does he? He's the only one who knows this
name. And look in verse 13. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. The coat of the favored son dipped
in blood. It's a bloody coat. And you know,
even the descriptions of the Lord in heaven, remember when
John was looking for the lion of the tribe of Judah, he saw
a lamb as it had been slain, even in heaven. He's going to
be seen in all of his glory and power, yet in his bloody sacrifice
as a lamb that had been slain. He still bears the scars he received
on Calvary's tree. He's always going to be known
as the lamb that was slain. That vesture is dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word
of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth." This
is how that vesture was dipped in blood. Here's how. He treadeth. the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he's the only one who
could do it. And that's what he did. He took my sin and it became his sin. And there's only one thing God
can do with sin, death. But he did what no one else could
do. He satisfied God's justice by what he did. Now, the reason
the death of... I hate talking about hell. It's
scriptural, but I don't like talking about it, but I know
this. Hell is eternal. You know, there are people who
say there is no hell. Yeah, there is. Yeah, there is. And the only
reason that I have a hard time with it or you have a hard time
thinking about it is because we don't really see how infinitely
evil sin is. If we saw how infinitely evil
sin is, we would not have any trouble with thinking about hell,
but I confess I have trouble thinking about it. And let me
tell you why hell is eternal. If you murdered my daughter,
and said, here's a million dollars. Are you satisfied? No. Well, here's a billion. Are you
satisfied now? No. There is no satisfaction. No sinner can ever pay the debt
with which God would be satisfied. That is why hell is eternal. But Christ, by his death, you
see, I love that scripture. It's Christ that died. Christ,
by his death, rendered full satisfaction to God. So that God says regarding
everybody Christ died for, I am infinitely satisfied with that
person. infinitely satisfied. There's
no sin. No sin. Christ put it away and
rendered infinite, complete satisfaction. Verse 14, the armies which were
in heaven followed him and upon white horses clothed in fine
linen, white and clean, clothed in his righteousness. Now turn back to Genesis 37 for
a moment. Verse 31, and they took Joseph's
coat and killed the kid of the 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 have
we found. Know now whether it be thy son's
coat or no. How cruel. And he knew it and
said. It's my son's coat. An evil beast
hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent
into pieces and Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon
his loins and mourn for his son many days. And here's something
else I want to say that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking
about. The father's grief in slaying his son. The father never ceased to love
the son. And what grief you say, well,
how can God experience grief? I don't know. Like I said, I
know, I know, I don't know what I'm talking about, but the grief
the father had in pouring his wrath out upon his only begotten
and well-beloved son. Now, how both of those things
are true, how he, saw him as the object of his wrath, and
he deserved no pity, and he poured his wrath upon him, and yet he
was always the son. And oh, what it cost the father,
how grieved he was in what he had to do. He could not be comforted. He wouldn't be comforted. Verse
35, and all of his sons and all of his daughters rose up to comfort
him. Now that's, wow. They're trying to comfort their
father when they're the ones who sold his son into Egypt and they're
still deceiving him. Now they're trying to comfort
him. This lets you know how bad these boys were. But he refused
to be comforted and said, for I'll go down into the grave and
to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Now, we know from the gospel that God the father has infinite
satisfaction. He's not weeping. He's perfectly
satisfied with the death of his son. He's perfectly satisfied
with me. And you know it's scary for me
to say something like that because I think about how sinful I am. Not how
sinful I was, but how sinful I am. And the Father is perfectly satisfied
with me. infinitely powerful is the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That his blood can make God completely
satisfied with you. And this is not make-believe,
this is real. When he says, well done, thou good and faithful
servant, we almost cringe at thinking of him saying that to
us. And yet when he says it, It's because, well done. You see, whatever Christ did,
every believer did. When he kept the law, we did. When he died as a sin-bearing
substitute, we died. We suffered the penalty. When
he was raised from the dead, we were raised. And even right
now as he's seated at the right hand of the Father, we are too. How infinitely powerful is the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we're amazed at thy gospel. We're amazed that you'd send
your son for the likes of us. We're amazed at the power of
his blood that makes you satisfied with us. We're amazed at what
took place on the cross when your son was stripped Lord, truly, we're amazed by
thy gospel. Lord, deliver us from not being
amazed. Deliver us from being dull in
hearing. Deliver us from our sin, our
sins, our self-righteousness. Lord, how ugly that such sinful
beings can actually be self-righteous before you. Lord, deliver us
from that. Teach us to look to thy son only
and to know that because he was stripped, we're clothed. Bless what's been said this morning for your son's sake. Cause your word to take root
in our hearts. Lord, bless us, bless this church,
bless this assembly. Lord, enable us to preach this
glorious gospel to all men. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen.