Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 37? I'd like to read verses 12 and
13 right now of Genesis chapter 37. And his brethren, the brothers
of Joseph, 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 will send thee unto
them. And he said to him, Here am I." Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would be pleased to be our teacher and that you would
speak in power from your word and. Lord, give us a fresh, powerful
view of thy dear son. And Lord, teach us what it means
to trust him. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Now, what strikes me about those
verses that I just read, was Joseph's willingness to go after
his brothers. These men that he is going after
certainly had no love for him at all. And they demonstrated
that. Look in verse 4 of Genesis 37. 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. They hated him. And they didn't
have a kind word to say to him. They lacked the ability to speak
peaceably to him. They couldn't hide it. And it
was an ever-increasing hatred. Look at verse 8, the last phrase. The last sentence of verse 8,
and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and all of his
words. And it was a hatred that was
filled with envy. Look in verse 11 and his brethren envied him.
Look down in verse 18, this was a. Not a temporary hatred, it
just kept growing to where they wanted to kill him. Look at verse
18. These are the men that he expressed such a willingness
to go after. And when they saw him afar off, this is his brothers,
they saw Joseph coming, even before he came near unto him,
they conspired against him to slay him. They wanted to kill
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 will say some
evil beast hath devoured him, and we will see what will become
of his dreams. Now, these fellows hated Joseph. They despised him. They wanted
to kill him. And this is not a temporary hatred. You know,
a lot of times siblings will get mad at each other and say,
I hate you, but they don't mean it. They just get upset. But
when these men said, I hate you, they meant it. Their intention
was to put Joseph to death. Now, these are the ones that
Joseph said, and Joseph knew they felt this way about him.
He couldn't even speak peaceably to him. They didn't have a kind
word to say to him. And these are the ones Joseph
said when his dad said, you go after them in the Shechem. He
said, here, mama. How willing he was to go after
these rebellious men. Now, when we see this, we have
a portrait painted for us of men of you and I, and we have
a portrait painted for us of Jesus Christ the Lord. And it's
a beautiful picture. Now, the first thing I'd like
to point out is this portrait painted for us of men. Here is
the crime of humanity. Here is why God made hell. Here is the sin that is behind
every other sin. Hatred. of Jesus Christ. Now, that's what sin is. That's
what it is in its very essence and nature and root. Sin is hatred
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, understand, sin has more
behind it than being tempted by the pleasure it will bring.
Now, you can understand somebody falling by being tempted for
the pleasure sin might bring them, and they're tempted by
it and they get into that temptation. And we understand that to some
measure, but understand that there's more behind sin than
just being tempted to pleasure. With God, the punishment will
always fit the crime. The reason God made hell is to
put men there who absolutely hate his son. And that's what sin is all about.
It's hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you turn with me
for a moment to Romans chapter eight? Romans chapter 8. Verse 7. Let's read verse 6. For to be carnally minded, and
before I go on, what does it mean to be carnally minded? That's the mind you and I are
born with. It's the fleshly mind. It's the way the flesh naturally
thinks. It's the carnal mind. It's not
some especially fleshly person who's guilty of fleshly sins,
although that certainly can be included. But it's just talking
about what we all are by nature, the fleshly mind. Now, look what
it says. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace because the carnal mind, the fleshly
mind is enmity against God. You know what the word enmity
means? Hatred. The carnal mind, the fleshly
mind is hatred against God. Hatred, pure and simple. Now,
men do not hate the false Jesus that's preached. They're comfortable
with Him. They don't need to be afraid of Him. They're not
hateful and have a hatred of the false Jesus that's being
preached. He's in their hands. They can control Him. They don't
hate that Jesus. But the Jesus of the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus
Christ, Christ, as He's revealed in His Word, the natural man
has been guilty of hating Him. And if it were in their power,
they would kill Him. Now, that's what God holds you
and I guilty of. As a matter of fact, the one
time when men were allowed to do what they wanted to do, God
took away the restraints and let men like me and you do what
we wanted to do. And He delivered us over to our
own free will and let us do what we want and do what we did. We
nailed the Son of God. Now you think how brutish that
is. You think how evil that is. You
think how cruel that is. You think how heartless this
is. The one time we were allowed to do what we wanted to do and
God gave us free reign and said do what you want. We nailed His
Son to a cross. Now that is what you and I are
guilty of. hating the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God has against men.
The fact that they've hated his son and how painful it is to
know that that's what I've been guilty of. That's what you've
been guilty of. You know, when we talk about
the cross, well, that happened 2,000 years ago. If you were
there, if I was there and God left us alone, we would have
been there nailing, driving the nails in his hands and his feet.
plunging the spear in his side and spewing out our venom and
enmity toward him. That's the state we all are in
by nature. That's what God has against you
and I. We've been guilty of hating his son. Now, they hated Joseph
because he was his father's favorite. And you know, the Lord Jesus
Christ is his father's favorite, isn't he? And they were guilty
of hating his sovereignty. You remember his dreams? Look
in verse 8. Or look at verse 5, 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 have dreamed. For, behold,
we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheep arose,
and also stood upright. And, behold, your sheaves stood
round about, and made obeisance to my sheep. They bowed down. And his brethren said to him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? Will you have power and control
over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams. Now. This pictures and typifies why
Christ was crucified. Why was Christ crucified? Do
you remember what the accusation was written against him over
the cross? This was the accusation against
him. Jesus of Nazareth. What? The King. The king of the Jews,
the cry of the natural man is, we will not have this man to
reign over us. Men envy his authority and his
position. And their hatred of Joseph, these
men that Joseph was willing to go after, their hatred of Joseph
was so complete, it rendered them unable to speak peaceably
to him. Look at verse four again. And
when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all
his brethren, they hated him and they could not. That speaks of ability. They
could not. They lack the ability to speak
peacefully to him. Now, this points to our inability. to love God, to love the Lord
Jesus Christ, our inability to save ourselves. And let me say
this about inability. Inability is a crime. Inability is a crime. It's true we're unable to save
ourselves. We're even unable to come to Christ. Scripture
says, John 6, 44 says, no man can come to me. He lacks the
ability to come to me. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him. Now, this inability
that the Scripture points out that you and I have is a crime. Now, if a man said concerning
my family, the Nyberts, If a man says, I said, I hate them so
much that I'm going to kill him. I can't help it. I hate him and
I'm going to kill him. I can't change my attitude. I
can't change my thought pattern. I lack the ability to love them.
I hate him. I want to kill his wife. I want
to kill his daughter. I want to kill him. I hate the
Novick family. Now, if I was, if I was a judge
and I was able to judge that person, would I say, well, you
know, he shouldn't be held responsible since he lacks the ability to,
to, be good to him. We shouldn't hold him responsible.
I mean, after all, God wouldn't hold somebody responsible for
something they lack the ability to do. Would I have that reaction?
No. You know what I'd do? I'd say
lock him up and throw away the key. His inability to love my
family, I would look at as a crime. And the inability to love the
Lord Jesus Christ is the crime of humanity. Would you turn with
me to John chapter 15 for a moment? Beginning in verse 22, these
are the words of the Lord Jesus. And he says. If I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have
no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me. Do you know
people actually hate the Lord Jesus Christ? He that hateth
me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both seen and
hated, both me and my father. But this cometh to pass, that
the world might be fulfilled that is written in their law.
They hated me without the cause. They hated me freely. Now, I
want you to think just for a moment about the beautiful character
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is He beautiful? The perfection of His righteousness,
His obedience to His Father, His mercy, His love, His grace,
His meek and lowly and hard sinners felt comfortable around Him.
You think of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfection
of beauty that's in Him. And every believer sees this.
The believer sees Him as altogether lovely. Every man by nature has
been guilty of hating this one who is so lovely without a cause,
freely. How evil, how ungodly, how wicked
are men that they would freely hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's why God sends men
to hell. Here's the bottom line. This is what God has against
men. They have hated his son without a cause. And that's what God has against
me and you. That's our problem right there. That's what sin
is in its very essence. It's hatred of Jesus Christ as
he really is in his word. Now, these brothers who hated
him so desperately in this story, which illustrates the gospel,
You think about how they hated Joseph. They couldn't speak peaceably
to him. They planned on killing him. They didn't want to have
anything to do with him. And Joseph knew this. How do
you think he felt when they couldn't speak peaceably to him? Everything
that he said, they criticized and made fun of. They hated his
guts. They despised him. He lived around this every day.
And yet, when his father said, go after your brethren, what did he say? You're mine. I'm ready to go. He went after
them so willingly. Look in verse 14 of Genesis 37. Jacob is speaking to Joseph and
he said to him, 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's very significant. The
Vale of Hebron means the place of fellowship, the place of sweet
communion. He sent him out of the place
of sweet communion, and he sent him to Shekelah, the place of
burden. Now, is that not exactly what
happened when our Lord went after us? He left the sweet fellowship
of His Father. He left the praise of angels.
He came down here to this place of burden. I couldn't help but
think of that passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse
9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich. And who could
describe his riches? Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, he became poor. That you through his poverty
might be rich. Now, when Christ came after his
people. He did so. Willingly. He didn't have to be made to
do this. He didn't have to be forced to do this. It's he did
it because he wanted to when he came after you. And this is
what he was doing is when he came here, he came as a representative
of his people and he he came here with me on his heart willingly. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy. That was said before. And can you imagine that him
The joy of saving you? Who for the joy? You know, that's
hard for me to grasp that and get hold of that. That the Lord
actually got joy in coming here to represent me. But that's what
the scripture says. He came willingly after his people. Look in John chapter 10. Hold
your finger there in Genesis 37. Look with me in John chapter
10. When I think of the willingness of the Lord to come after these
people, and we see that illustrated by Joseph's willingness to come
after his brothers. John chapter 10 verse 15. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd
Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. And no man takes it from me.
The Lord wasn't a victim. The Lord was not a victim. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I'm totally
willing in this. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. He did what he did for these
sinful people willingly. Christ came to save sinners willingly. Now, I'm going to talk about
some things for a few moments that I really don't understand, but I believe
and I worship Him for it. It is true that Christ Jesus
never intended to save anybody that is elected. I just read
that passage of Scripture. I laid down my life for the sheep.
He came to save the sheep. The Bible teaches that. The Son
of Man has come to seek and to save. that which was lost. He came for the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. He said that. No doubt, the Lord
never intended to save anybody but the elect. That's just the
truth. But I want to look at a couple
of other scriptures. Would you turn with me to Luke chapter 13? Now, I don't know how to get
all this together in my mind, I believe both of these things.
Okay, Luke chapter 13. Verse 34. Now, let's read this in mind,
knowing that the Lord only came to save His people, but look
at this verse of Scripture. There's no ifs, ands, and buts about
that. That's just the truth. But look at this Scripture. And look at
the character of our Lord. He looks at Jerusalem and He
says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and
stoneth them that are sent unto thee, how often Would I have
gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood
under her wings? And you would not. That's what the Lord says. I
would, he says. I would. How often would I have
gathered you together? And you would not. Turn to Luke
chapter 19. Verse 41. And when he was come near, he
beheld the city. This is the city that he knew
he would soon be crucified in. And what did he do? He wept over
it. He wept over it. Now, this is
what our Lord did. He wept over this city he knew
would soon be crucifying him, saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace, But now they are hid from thine eyes. Now, what I see from these passages
of scripture I just read, I can't get them all together in my mind,
how he came only to save the elect. And that's just the truth.
He only came to save the elect. And yet he looks over Jerusalem
and he weeps over Jerusalem. He says, how often would I have
gathered you together as a hen gathers her brood under wings
and you would not. What I see It's the Lord's willingness to
save. His willingness to show mercy. Now you listen to this very carefully. The Lord Jesus Christ is more
willing to show mercy than you are to receive it. What do you
think about that? He delights in mercy. I think of His words from the
cross, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. He
was praying for His murderers. The very ones who were driving
the nails through His hands and His feet. And I'll tell you this,
everybody He prayed for, the Father forgave. I have no doubt
about that. There wasn't anybody He prayed
for that was not forgiven. But He said concerning His very
murderers, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Did the Lord only come to save
the elect? Yes. Is he willing to save? Yes, he's
willing to save anybody. Anybody who comes for mercy. What a glorious Savior he is. This one who says, Come to Me. Come to Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take My yoke upon
you, and learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you'll find rest for your souls. My burden, My yoke is
easy, and My burden is light. Whosoever will, let him come
and take the water of life freely. You don't have to find a reason
in yourself. Now, that is the words of our Lord. This one,
and yes, he came only for the elect. And it's also true, he
is willing, willing, willing to save. Somebody says, well,
does he mean me when he says that? Was he willing to save
me? I can answer that question for
you. I can tell you right now how you can know whether or not
he's willing to save you. Are you a sinner? Now, you can answer that question.
Are you a sinner? This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world. Can you finish that verse for
me? to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Now, did he do it?
Did he accomplish what he came to do? He said he came in the
world to save sinners. Did he do it? Are you a sinner? Are you? He came to save you. Is he willing
to save you? Don't question his willingness
to save. Let me repeat what I said just
a few moments ago. He is more willing to bestow mercy than
you are to receive it. Isn't that wonderful? What a
wonderful Savior He is. Let's go back to Genesis 37. He's gone into Shechem, verse
15. And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering
in the field. And that word carries with it
the idea of staggering. He was not going to give up on
this. He couldn't find them at first,
but he wasn't going to just quit. That's what I would have done.
Well, I can't find them. I'm coming back. He wouldn't have liked these
fellas, but no, he was going to keep going until he found them.
And that picture is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the man said,
What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren.
Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.' And the man
said, There depart in hence, for, lo, I heard them say, Let
us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren,
and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him, this Joseph,
this wonderful type of Christ, when they saw him afar off, even
before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to
slay him. They hated him so bad they wanted
to kill him. And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer
coming, this master of dreams is what my margin says. This
master of dreams. They remember those dreams he
had, how the sun and the moon and the stars were going to bow
down and bow at his feet. And oh, it made him mad, just
infuriated. He thinks we're going to bow
to him. They didn't have any idea that
sometime in the future, they're all going to be bowing to him.
They're going to be bowing before him. This prophecy is going to
come true. But they're so angry. They said, let's kill him and
see what becomes of this dreamer. Look in verse 23. And it came
to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they
stripped Joseph out 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, and there was no water in it, and they
sat down to eat bread." Now, in their cruelty toward
him, we have a real glimpse of what took place on the cross.
They stripped him. They stripped him. There was
violence. They hated him for this. This
coat of many colors that his father had given him as his father's
favorite. Oh, how they hated him for this.
And they stripped this coat off of him and they cast him down
into a pit where there was no water. And in their cruelty,
we are given an illustration of what took place on the cross.
On the cross, Christ was stripped. He was stripped in a way that
you and I cannot possibly enter into. He who is holy was made
sin, and oh, the shame, the embarrassment he felt before his father, the
shame. He was stripped. All that it
means to be made sin, he was made to be. He was stripped of
his coat of many colors. He was cast into a pit where
there was no water. You remember his words from the
cross, I thirst. Look how heartless and cruel
his brethren were. Look in verse 25. 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 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 and our flesh. And his brethren were
content, they were satisfied with that. 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, and they brought Joseph unto Egypt. Do you remember anyone
else who was sold for silver? The Lord Jesus was sold for silver
just as Joseph was. And how cruel and hypocritical
they appear. Look in verse 20. Let's read
the rest of this chapter. 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,
that coat of many colors, and they killed the kid of the goats,
and dipped the coat in the blood. They got it all bloody, and they
sheathed the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their
father, and said, This have we found, that now know whether
it is thy son's coat or not. Can you imagine how cruel this
was to do to their dad like this? I mean, they were just going
to let him be fooled like this, how deceitful they were. And
he knew it, verse 33, and he said, It's my son's code, an
evil beast that devoured him. Joseph was without doubt written
in pieces, and Jacob ran his clothes and put sackcloth upon
his loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons,
what hypocrites, and all his daughters rose up to comfort
him. But he refused to be comforted. He said, for I'll go down to
my grave to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
And the Midianites sold him into Egypt under Potiphar and the
officer of Pharaohs and the captain of the guard. How horrible these
boys were in doing their dad this way. You know what, though? These
boys didn't know this. This was their salvation. Joseph was sent into Egypt, and
it was through him that they were going to live. They didn't
have any idea that's what was going to take place, but God
was using this to bring them to salvation. Look in Genesis
45. We'll look at this in the weeks
to come, but Genesis 45. This is when Joseph makes himself
known as Brader in some old 17 or 18 years later. All he's gone
through. Verse 1, Then Joseph could not
refrain himself before all them that stood by him. This is down
in Egypt when his brothers have come there for food, and they
don't know who he is. And he cried, Cause every man to go
out for me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made
himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. I am sure they were. They were scared to death. 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 in 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 which there is some neither be hearing nor harvest, and God
sent me before you to preserve you of 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. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh and the Lord of all his house and ruled throughout
all the land of Egypt." Turn over to chapter 50 for a moment.
Now, Jacob has died at this time, and his brothers are scared to
death. They said, now that he's dead, he's going to get us. Now,
that's the way we would think. He's going to get us. But look
what he says to them at this time. Verse 19 of Genesis 50,
And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of
God, but as for you, you thought evil against me. You had every
wicked intention. It's true, but God bent it unto
good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people
alive. What a wonderful type of the
gospel. Now, there's one last thing I want to bring out. Turn
back to Genesis 37. Can you imagine how horrified
Jacob was when they brought him that coat with blood all over
it? Can you imagine how you would
feel if that was with reference to your child? His sons lied
to their father. They lied to him about his favorite
son. They used his favorite son's clothing in that deception, and
they killed a goat to use it in that deception. Does this story sound familiar
to you? Do you remember how Jacob did
the same thing? Do you remember how he lied to
his father about his father's favorite son, Esau? And how he
used Esau's clothing to deceive his father? And how he killed
a goat to deceive his father that it was the venison that
his father loved? You remember how Jacob did the
exact same thing? And here he is going through
this torment in this life. what goes around comes around and in this life we're promised
we will reap what we sow in this life we will reap what
we sow and Jacob is experiencing that oh the grief he felt That
he used this deception himself. What goes around comes around
in this life. You can't sin without consequence
in this life. You know that, don't you? You
found it out to be true yourself. Jacob said, I'm not going to
be comforted. But thank God. He was comforted,
wasn't he? Can you imagine the elation he
felt at finding out that Joseph was alive? And you know, here's what comforts
a believer. This is the only thing that comforts a believer. Christ lives. Yes, he died. But he lives. He accomplished salvation for
everybody he represented, and he's right now at the right hand
of the Father, and that is my comfort. That is my security. That is my hope. It's true in
this life, what goes around comes around, but thank God it's not
that way in the life to come. Aren't you thankful for that? When I start thinking about what
goes around comes around, it scares me to death. How do you like
to think about it? I get very uncomfortable thinking
about it. I mean, what's going to you know, Jacob is suffering
years later over these over his deception. I think of what the
Lord said to David. Remember where he said the sword's
not going to depart out of your house. It's not. I mean, he was
he was that. Well, I don't like thinking about
that. It's true. But, you know. With all those
things realized, May the Lord give us grace to
honor him in our conduct and our attitudes. I don't want this. There's a bad motive probably,
but I don't want this what goes around comes around. I'd rather,
you know, I don't want that to happen to me. You don't either. But we are, we smart for our
sin, don't we? I mean, even the feelings of
abandonment and so on that you feel, it's a terrible feeling.
But thank God, because my Redeemer lives. When I stand before God
in judgment, all this stuff that I'm talking
about is never, it's not even going to be brought up because
it's not there. Christ put away the sins of his
people so effectually, so powerfully, that I am not guilty. And you know, that's the only
thing that relieves my conscience. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm not guilty. I thank God for that. Let's pray.