Tonight, the text for our consideration is Genesis 37, verses 2 through 11. Genesis 37, verses 2 through 11. I've decided to read also, if you would turn in the New Testament, to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2, as we read the first 11 verses of Philippians 2. Philippians 2 beginning at verse 1 as we give our attention to the reading of God's Holy Word. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God highly exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Once again, the text being Genesis 37, verses 2 through 11. Beloved, before we read that portion of Scripture together, just a few words of introduction. You recall that about six weeks ago we considered together an introduction to this series of sermons taken from Genesis 37 to 50 in the history of Joseph. And you may remember that in that sermon we contrasted the line of Esau, the line we might describe as those walking by sight. We contrasted that with the line of Jacob, which we might describe as the line living by faith. And Scripture, you may recall, lays before us in Genesis chapter 36, the ancestors of Esau. And there we read of land, and we read of kings, and we read of chiefs, which all point to power and success, at least humanly speaking. And of Jacob in chapter 37, verse 1, it says, Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. And then it begins, this is the account of Jacob, and then going into Joseph. In other words, we don't read of any land of His own, no kings and no chiefs, and if we were to have to make a choice between the two, of course, if we were to choose as the world chooses, we might say it would be a no-brainer. I mean, who wouldn't choose for kings and chiefs and increase power, human power? But clearly, God's choice was the family of Jacob. And we know from our own Bible reading and knowledge of God's Word that the hope of salvation for Jacob's family was with Joseph. As Esau's line may have been many, it may have been wealthy with kings and chiefs and land, but Joseph was godly. Now, of course, as we know on a broad scale, there's much that we can say about Joseph because God has given to us so much recorded in four chapters of Scripture. And the last four chapters of Genesis, we might say, is an introduction and a preparation for the history that we find in Exodus as well as a fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham to make of him a great nation and of the hard news of Genesis chapter 15 that Abraham's descendants would be enslaved and mistreated 400 years. But of Joseph himself, broadly speaking, we can say that without a doubt he was a product of God's gracious preserving hand. For all that he would endure, Joseph never seemed to take his eyes off of God. He never seemed to stop trusting in God. Now, of course, we know that Joseph had a sin nature. We know that he himself was a sinner because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But other than Jesus himself, Joseph is one about whom nothing bad is reported in Scripture. And although he is never mentioned in the New Testament as a type of Christ, yet we cannot miss the parallels between Joseph and Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, Joseph was betrayed. He was sold. He was elevated to a high position. He was used to save the lives of many people. He was recognized finally by his brothers and they repented of their sins against him. And these are just a few of the ways that Joseph points to Jesus Christ. But at the same time, beloved, Joseph is a model for Christians who desire to lead a godly life. In him we see the triumph of faith. You see, he never gave in to the temptations that Scripture tells us that he faced, the things recorded in the Bible. He never threw up his hands and said, oh well, when in Egypt, do as the Egyptians do. After all, Dad's not watching. My family's not here. And young people, that's something to remember when you are away from home, whether for an evening or when you go off to college. Be careful not to compromise what you have been taught and what you know God expects of you. Joseph never complained. Again, according to what we have in Scripture, he never complained, he never compromised. Instead, it seems God was always the chief and the determining factor or reality or focus in his life. And then ultimately we might say that Joseph is also a chief example in Scripture and in redemptive history of the providence of God. As through Joseph, God preserved His people. God prepared for the coming of the Messiah. And God gives a picture of the salvation of His church. And it all begins here with this text, Genesis 37, verses 2-11. This text provides the introduction to the Joseph story in that it lays the foundation for the crisis between Joseph and his brothers and through the dreams, it points to the final resolution to that crisis. But it begins with the truth of Joseph, sovereignly set apart for leadership. There's no mistake that he was the clear choice, but also that the choice of him resulted in the threatening response. Let's read together the text, beginning at verse 2. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in his old age, and he had made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him. and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream. And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, Listen to this dream I had. We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheep rose and stood upright while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more. Because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream and he told it to his brothers. Listen, he said, I had another dream and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me. When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the matter. in mind now beloved in the lord we might be tempted to ask what in the world was joseph thinking anyway i mean he could have avoided all of his hatred he could have escaped all of his trouble if he had just kept his mouth shut and not paraded around in the coat but because of where we are in redemptive history and because we have the rest of the story we know that god's thoughts are not our thoughts and that God's ways are not our ways and that he carries out his plan in his way in his time and indeed beloved that is very good and of course this is a story that that could be repeated across the world where favoritism and and tattletailing and holding grudges and murderous hatred bring division and grief to many homes and the truth is at some point in time we're ashamed to say that all of these things could be found in our homes, right? At least to some degree. But then as believers, as we recognize these sins in our lives, we are all the more comforted by the promise of God that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. Now, Joseph did not yet have that promise on paper in Romans 8. He did not yet have that promise on the pages of the Holy Scripture. But it seems clear that he had it written on his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, how much of this he actually understood at the time, we don't know. He was a young man, 17 years old. But no doubt, along with his brothers, he had heard the promises made to great-grandpa Abraham and maybe even heard these things from his grandpa Isaac. You see, Isaac was still alive at this time. And if calculations are correct, he would have died about 13 years after Joseph was sold by his brothers. I never knew that. I never thought about that. And therefore, Joseph may have heard from the very mouth of Grandpa Isaac how great-grandpa Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac on the altar on Mount Moriah and how at the very last second the angel stopped him, stopped the slaughter, and provided a substitute. the sacrificial animal. Joseph was a part of the promised seed of Abraham. And it seems clear that he embraced the teachings of his fathers differently than his brothers had embraced those teachings. You see, they, at least some of them, already had a history of murder. When their sister Dinah was violated by Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, Simeon and Levi got revenge through trickery and murder. And Reuben, we know, as the Bible says, slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah. And the point is that Joseph's older brothers were adopting the ways and the practices of the land as Judah himself, we will see, the Lord willing, in Genesis 38 had also done. But God, in His grace, had spared Joseph from that so far and had a special place for him in fulfilling God's promise to Abraham. Joseph was set apart as the clear choice to lead his family and to be used by God to preserve the line which would lead to the Messiah. Again, Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now, no doubt we read this, and the very first word that comes to mind is tattletale. Tattletale. And boys and girls, nobody likes a tattletale, right? Especially when you are the one who is being tattled on. Most often it's because it's the truth and you know that the tattletale is going to get you into big trouble. Nobody likes a tattletale. Now, we're not told what the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah did, namely Dan and Naphtali and Asher and Gad. We're not told what they did, but I believe that as Joseph was tending the sheep with them, that we can assume that Joseph had the interests of his father in mind when he brought the bad report. You see, beloved, we are called to uphold the truth. We are called to be truth-tellers, And of course, we know that sometimes that gets translated into being a tattle-tailer. But we are called to be truth-tellers. If sin is taking place and you as a Christian know about it, to keep silent about it is to participate in that sin. And when it comes to the truth and when it comes to God's honor, we cannot and we must not ever say, it's none of my business. I have nothing to do with it. That doesn't uphold God's honor. And it does no good for the one who is falling into sin. Now, boys and girls, I'm not saying that one should tell on another just because the first one doesn't agree with the second one or the first one simply doesn't like what the second one is doing. But if the truth, if the truth and what is right is being attacked, Christians have a responsibility clearly outlined in Scripture. Anyway, Jacob, also called Israel, had a special bond with his son Joseph over the other sons. And it became clear, crystal clear, to the other sons that Joseph was Jacob's choice. He was the favorite son. Now, of course, to you and me, this makes some sense because we know how Jacob loved and adored Rachel. And how thrilled he must have been when Rachel gave him a son, this son, and named him Joseph. But what might be hard for us to understand is Jacob's actions. I mean, after all, didn't he remember how the favoritism his parents, Isaac and Rebekah, showed Isaac toward Esau and Rebekah toward Jacob? Didn't he remember how that favoritism ended up tearing the family apart? And Jacob never again saw his mother on this earth? Now, as parents, we try not to show favoritism to one child over another. we say that we love them the same. We do strive to love them the same. And we try to treat them fairly based on their needs and on their personalities. But of course then, because of that, fair does not always mean equal, does it? But for some reason, our children don't always see things that way. In their minds, the one who gets into the least trouble, and I'm saying this in a specific way, In their minds, the one who gets into the least trouble, well, that one certainly must be the favorite. Because they're getting punished less than I am. So they must be the favorite. But as parents, who would think of doing what Jacob did? If you think about it, it's as if he was setting Joseph up to be hated by his brothers. Now, if you grew up in the church, most likely at some young age, Or if you attended vacation Bible school at a young age, you probably colored a picture of Joseph's coat of many colors, his richly ornamented robe. And we had fun doing that because you could use all the bright colors in your Crayola box. Now, we don't know exactly what this robe looked like, what colors it may have been, if at all, or what kind of ornaments may have been on it. But what we do know based on the culture of that day and the same word for this kind of coat or robe used in other parts of Scripture. We know that it was a coat with long sleeves down to the wrists and the length of the coat went down to the ankles. Now the normal coat was sleeveless and it stopped at the knees and was worn by working men. But the kind that Joseph had, the kind that Jacob gave to Joseph was the kind that royalty and leadership wore. And to the brothers, the message of Joseph's coat was loud and clear. It was that their father had chosen their younger brother to receive the inheritance. The double portion of the father's estate, which would prove to be true later on as both of Joseph's sons received a blessing along with Joseph's brothers. But this also meant that Joseph was chosen to be the leader of the family. Well, hey, again, to you and me, this makes some sense because Reuben had forfeited the right of the firstborn when he slept with his father's concubine. And Joseph, well, he was the firstborn of Jacob's favorite wife. And therefore, it makes some sense, humanly speaking. But to top it all off, God himself confirms Jacob's choice of Joseph as God's sovereign choice. Dreams were often considered to be some kind of divine revelation. We know that God had appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in visions and dreams on different occasions, and no doubt as they taught their children and grandchildren about the God who covenanted with them, that the details of the dreams was a part of the teaching. Now, the brothers saw meaning in Joseph's dreams. Of course, only time would confirm that these dreams came from God, revealing his plan for Joseph. But the brothers figured out that the first dream about their sheaves of grain bowing down to Joseph's sheave meant that they, his brothers, would be ruled by Joseph. And the second dream with the sun and the moon and the eleven stars confirmed the first dream and went a little bit further pointing to the truth that Joseph would be exalted over the whole family. Maybe even over the whole earth at that time. The whole family would submit to and honor Joseph. This was clearly a picture of God's providence and His sovereign choice in setting apart Joseph for leadership. But his brothers rejected this picture. Again, we have the rest of the story and we know that Joseph was being set apart for the physical salvation of many, including his family. And we know that his brothers would later plan and scheme to put to death of the very one without whom they cannot be preserved. And their plan is foreshadowed in the text by the threatening response. If the bad report about some of his brothers wasn't enough to make them bitter and angry against Joseph, the ammunition they needed to despise him and to get rid of him kept piling up. Now there's no indication here, beloved, as I see it, that Joseph told his brothers his dreams out of arrogance or to rub it in their face that he was the chosen one. There's no evidence of that. Again, he was young. Who knows? It may have been, wow, I had this dream. It was interesting. They were older and wiser, remember? But as one commentator said in telling his dreams, Joseph was more of a prophet than a politician. He didn't do a very good job of covering his backside, did he? But no doubt he didn't know what all of this meant. He couldn't see 20 years into the future. And even though Jacob rebuked him, we read that Jacob kept the matter in mind, I believe, because he had seen and he had experienced how the Lord works. But because of Jacob's favoritism, the text says in verse 4, when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. And after the first dream, in verse 8, it says, his brothers said to him, do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then after the second dream, verse 11, his brothers were jealous of him. Notice, again, verse 4 says, the brothers could not speak a kind word to him. Some translations say something to the effect they could not speak peaceably to him. And what this means is that they could not give Joseph the normal greeting of that day, which would be, Peace be with you. Peace be with you. And you see, beloved, one who could truly give that greeting to another truly loves his neighbor as himself. It was said in all sincerity. Unlike our greeting today, let's be honest, we say, Hi, how are you? And our backs are turned before we wait for an answer of how they are. We're not very sincere. That greeting was meant to be sincere. And one who could truly give that greeting indeed truly loved his neighbor as himself. He desired blessing and peace and prosperity for the one he greets. But Joseph's brothers didn't want blessing and peace and prosperity for Joseph. Why? Because they were jealous or envious of him. Now boys and girls, envy is the sin of not only wanting what someone else has, but going a step further and wanting it to be taken away from them so that they no longer have it and have it to be given to you. So that you have it and they don't. Now how many of us, because of envy or jealousy against our brothers and sisters in the church for whatever reason, maybe because of money or because of talents and abilities or because of possessions or position, we must confess that at times we have identified more with the brothers than with Joseph. And boys and girls and young people, even best friends sometimes, become envious of each other and they might encourage each other with their words. They might even say that they support each other, but inside, inside they don't. Inside they really want that one to fail. especially if it will help them to look better. Cadets, your code is that a cadet must be reverent, obedient, compassionate, consecrated, trustworthy, pure, grateful, loyal, industrious, and cheerful. See, I kind of remember that too from my years of saying it. Your code is that you desire to be totally opposite of Joseph's brothers. And also, you pledge to serve God, your parents, your neighbor, your country. That one I'm not as clear on. But you make that pledge. But how often do you live up to that in real practice when it comes to others who have more than you do? Or maybe others who have been blessed with more talents and abilities in a certain area than you have or who get better grades than you do. You see, beloved, competition is supposed to be good for us, but not when we allow it to cause us to sin and to hate. We are called to encourage one another, to support each other, to love one another, to desire God's blessings for one another. And the truth is, envy is really an angry resistance to what God has determined, to what God has planned, to what God has given. And whether they realized it or not, the brother's envy and hatred was really against what God had done, what He was doing, and what He would do as put forth in the dreams. His brothers hated Him because of His words and the privileged place He had been given. They, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, had already committed murder even before we're told in Scripture that they had talked about it. They had already murdered Joseph in their hearts because of their hatred. And beloved, not only are we to be challenged so that we might not hate because of envy or any reason, but also we must consider how we are to handle the envy and hatred of others that might come against us. We are called to be faithful. We are not to strike back with the same kind of attitude and actions, but instead turn the other cheek. Joseph is listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, and as we said earlier, as we will be reminded, the Lord willing, as we travel through this history, he never gave in. He never complained or compromised, but his desire as he made known to Potiphar's wife was to keep from sinning against God at all costs. Is that our desire? I don't often think that way to you. When I do things or plan things, I don't often think, well, is this going to allow me to keep from sinning against God? Shame on me. Is that our desire? But you see, as well, Joseph could have the confidence in the Lord. God knew the path of difficulty that he would lead Joseph on, even before Joseph would take one step on that path. God had ordained that path. And God blessed Joseph with a glimpse of the end through those dreams. As Joseph would indeed be sitting in that pit or sitting in that prison, having been forgotten. He could think back to these dreams and have confidence and assurance that God had a plan for him. And as well, congregation, God often prepares us beforehand for the trials that we will face. But we know in practice it's only in the midst of or after those trials have come and gone that it's only then that we often see His hand of blessing, isn't it? Yet even before we face these things, God gives us glimpses of the end in Jesus Christ. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Nothing, nothing shall be able to separate us and the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And Joseph, the one who is set apart by God's grace, not because Joseph deserved it, not because he in and of himself was better than his brothers, he was set apart by God's grace. Joseph also then points to the one who is our great example and our hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. This one, the very Son of God, was set apart by the eternal plan of God. He was spoken of in Genesis 3 to be the victor over Satan, sin, death, and hell. The prophets, especially Isaiah, foretold of this One who would be rejected by men and who would bear the punishment that would bring us peace, yet He would also be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. At His baptism, He was anointed by His Heavenly Father with the Holy Spirit. And again, on the Mount of Transfiguration, His Father spoke of Him as being the clear choice. The only Savior, our only hope under heaven, as we said this morning. Yet the religious leaders of his day hated him. Both because of his claim to be the Son of God and because of his teaching and his healing power. And because of his demonstration of the heart and the love of God. And beloved, there can be only one of two possible responses to the truth of God faithfully preached. to the truth of man's sin and need for a Savior, to the truth of the only Savior, Jesus Christ, only one of two possible responses. Either one will hate Him, reject Him, and instead try to make it on their own and rely on their own self-righteous, filthy rags, or, by the grace of God, they are brought by the Holy Spirit into the light of the truth. And instead of running from the only Savior, they cast themselves at God's throne of grace knowing that they deserve eternal hell, but finding comfort in the person and the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. In Joseph's brothers, we are to see a picture of our own sin and misery and desperate condition. But in Joseph, we are pointed to God's sovereign choice, His Son, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Paul says of him again, as we read in Philippians chapter 2, Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew the joy that was set before Him, and that is Your salvation and my salvation. And what joy for Him. What joy that should keep Him on the course to fulfill His Father's plan. Beloved, there is only one Lord, one Savior, one Christ. And as we said this morning, His name is Jesus. We are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. And as we live together under His care, we are to look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to encourage one another, to build up each other, to care for and love each other, to pray for one another, and to desire blessing and peace for one another. No, the truth is we continue to struggle with selfishness and envy. But indeed, our hope and our comfort is in Jesus Christ, our Savior, by God's design, by God's sovereign choice. And therefore, beloved, may we rejoice together in the vast benefits divine which we, in Christ, possess. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, again tonight, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the history of Your people, of Your church, of us, our history that You have recorded for us on the pages of Holy Scripture. We pray, Father, that as we consider this Your Word in the weeks and months ahead, that You would bless us as we consider this history, redemptive history, Your revelation, as we are reminded of Your covenant promises, Your covenant promises which come to our blessing in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And again, we pray that You would strengthen us and bless us. Father, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake and in His name alone, Amen.