- Good evening, everyone.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you can all find your seats,
we'll go ahead and get started.
Start this evening off in song number 257,
Look and Live.
Song number 257, Look and Live.
Five, seven, Look and Live.
Message from the Lord, seven, a second.
Let's go ahead and open up in a word and prayer.
Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for your Steadfast Baptist Church
and all the brother Dylan Oz with your Holy Spirits.
We can preach an edifying sermon unto us.
And Father, please bless this service
and everyone here again.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Song number 174, my Jesus, I love thee.
174, Jesus, I love thee.
- To Steadfast Baptist Church.
This time we'll go through our announcements real quick.
If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
I'll have an usher come and bring you one.
On the front, our Bible memory passage of the week
is Proverbs 31, 19.
If you're 18 or younger,
and you can quote this to myself or an usher tonight,
you will get an ice cream right after the service.
On the left side, on the inside there,
we have our service times.
Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m.,
our Spanish service every Sunday at 4.30 p.m.,
Sunday evenings at 5.30,
and then, of course, tonight at 7.00.
Our church-wide soul winning times are listed there
that all meet at the building,
and all of our regional soul winning times
are listed there.
Is Brother Matt Ily here tonight?
Okay, he said he might change his time pretty soon,
so be on the lookout for that,
for his Saturday evening time,
but it looks like not yet.
Make sure, as a reminder,
to turn in your soul winning maps to the bin,
as well as to report your salvation totals to your captain.
And like I've said last week,
if you don't have a captain yet,
please let me know after the service
and I could help you with that.
On the right, we have our expecting ladies.
Make sure to continue praying for them,
as well as for our prayer list.
And as always, make sure to send in those prayer requests
to our email address, and I update that weekly,
and we'll keep you in prayer for that.
On the back, our baby shower is listed for this Saturday.
It's coming up for Katherine Kraker and her baby girl
on Saturday, February 3rd, from 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.
at the church, nurselings only preferred.
Please RSVP to Lauren Milstead and bring a side dish
or dessert to share, and that's coming up this Saturday.
So be ready for that, and then the next time
that we'll have the preaching class will be February 17th.
So we have this Saturday off and next Saturday off.
So February 17th, we will resume that again,
and I'm looking forward to that.
But before we go to our next song,
let's go ahead and let's pray as a church
through our prayer lists here.
Let's all have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this evening.
Thank you for Setfast Baptist Church.
Thank you for a pastor.
Pray that you bless him and his family,
and pray also for Cameron Hall,
that you would continue to heal his leg fully.
And thank you for the great healing
that he has had so far, Lord.
Pray for Mrs. Noguera,
that you would continue to bless her health, Lord.
And we pray also for Karen Cooley
for her stepdad's cancer surgery coming up pretty soon.
Pray that all would go well,
and that the people treating him
would have wisdom and would take good care of him, Lord.
And pray also for my brother while he's on his deployment.
Pray that he'd be safe.
Pray for Miss Alicia's grandmother's vision and health,
Lord, and that she would soften her heart to the gospel.
We also pray for Miss Tinica's mother's health, Lord,
that she would recover.
Also, we pray for Cassandra's uncle, Larry,
that he would have a good surgery recovery.
Pray for Illy's daughter, Matt Illy's daughter, Valerie,
that she would be healthy, Lord.
And also for Faith Miller's friend, Tamra,
that she would just bless her cancer treatment,
that she'd be healed of that disease, Lord.
And pray for all those that couldn't make it tonight,
that they'd feel better, and that you'd watch over them.
And we love you, Jesus, and we pray, amen.
All right, at this time,
we'll go ahead and go to our Psalm of the Week,
Psalm 126, Psalm 126.
Psalm 126, we need everybody to sing out real loud
on this one, just because it's a little bit lower
than my range, so I need you to help me out.
First.
♪ When the Lord turned again the captive ♪
♪ He said they among the heathen ♪
As the offering plates pass around,
you can turn your Bibles to Acts chapter number 10.
Acts chapter 10.
- Chapter 10, the Bible reads,
"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius,
a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
a devout man and one that feared God with all his house,
which gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God all the way.
He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour
of the day an angel of God coming into him
and saying unto him, Cornelius.
And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said,
what is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, thy prayers and thine alms
are come up for a memorial before God.
And now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon,
whose surname is Peter.
He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner,
whose house is by the seaside.
He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed,
he called two of his household servants
and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually.
And when he had declared all these things unto them,
he sent them to Joppa.
On the morrow, as they went on their journey
and drew nigh unto the city,
Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.
And he became very hungry, and would have eaten,
but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him,
as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners,
and let down to the earth,
wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth,
and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, "Rise, Peter, kill, and eat."
But Peter said, "Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything
that is common or unclean."
Then the voice spake unto him again the second time, "What God hath cleansed, that call
not thou common."
This was done thrice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
Now, while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold,
the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood
before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, which was surname Peter, were lodged
there.
But when he thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee;
arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent
them.
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold,
I am he whom ye seek; what is the cause wherefore ye are come?
And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of
good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel, to send
for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
Then called he them in, and lodged them; and on the morrow Peter went away with them, and
certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius waited for them, and had called
together his kinsmen and near friends.
And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshiped
him.
But Peter took him up, saying, "Stand up, I myself also am a man."
And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.
And he said unto them, "Ye know how that is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew
to keep company, or come unto one of another nation.
But God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for.
I ask therefore, for what intent ye have sent for me?
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed
in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius,
thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter.
He is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the seaside, who, when he cometh,
shall speak unto thee.
Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come.
Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded
thee of God.
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted
with him.
The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ,
he is Lord of all.
That word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree.
Then God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of quick and dead.
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have
received the Holy Ghost as well as we, and He commanded them to be baptized in the name
of the Lord, then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for Acts chapter number 10 and for the opportunity that we
have here to listen to the Word of God being preached and expounded upon.
And I pray that you would fill brother Oz with the Holy Spirit now and just bless him
Lord as he preaches the sermon to us and I pray Lord that this message would sink down
into our hearts and that we would pay close attention to the preaching.
We love you and in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.
Well thank you Pastor Shelley for giving me the opportunity to preach this evening and
we are here in Acts chapter number 10 and the part of the chapter that I want to focus
on this evening is starting in verse number 43.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 43, it says to him, speaking of Jesus, give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of
sins.
This is a great verse, this is a great verse to know out soul winning, you know there's
some people that believe in a doctrine called dispensationalism and there's different varying
degrees of this but some of them will say that Jesus is kind of a plan B, that he wasn't
necessarily the first plan of salvation and in the Old Testament you were saved by works
and someday in the millennial reign or after that you'll be saved by works again but notice
how it says to him, to Jesus, gave all the prophets witness, meaning all the prophets,
all the men of the Old Testament, they were pointing to, they were giving witness to the
Lord Jesus Christ, right?
And what specifically were they witnessing about him?
That through his name, Jesus, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
So notice salvation has always been by Jesus Christ, and every single prophet that exists
has always pointed to that fact.
Now sometimes prophets point to that with their words, with their preaching, but sometimes
their very lives are giving witness of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes just their life itself is a picture of the Messiah.
And when I think of a prophet in the Old Testament, a man of God whose life pictures Jesus Christ,
there's no one that pictures Jesus Christ more than Joseph, the man Joseph, okay?
The title of my sermon tonight is "Joseph Pictures Jesus," "Joseph Pictures Jesus."
And tonight, I want to do like a Bible study type sermon on the person Joseph and just
show you all the different ways that he pictures the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I don't know about you, but I think the Bible is pretty cool.
And I just think sometimes studying the Bible is pretty cool.
Even if not every sermon is as application driven, sometimes it's just cool to dig
into the Bible and see the pictures that it has.
So I've identified 16 different pictures that Joseph has of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm going to try to hit them all.
I'm going to try not to spend too much time on each one so we're not here too late.
OK, I've got my stopwatch tonight.
I'm going to be watching it.
All right.
But I want I want to go through these.
And if you think of more, I want to know because I feel like 16 is a lot.
But maybe there's even more.
OK, so go to Genesis, chapter 37, and you're going to want to keep a place in the book
of Genesis throughout the whole sermon.
Because we're going to be coming back to Genesis a lot.
There's a lot of real estate given to Joseph in Genesis.
There's a lot of chapters that talk about him.
He's a very important character.
He's a very interesting character.
And the first picture that I see in the life of Joseph is this.
Both Joseph and Jesus were the favorite son of their father.
Joseph and Jesus both were the favorite son of their father.
Look at verse three in Genesis, chapter number 37.
It says, "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."
A lot of parents, you know, they wouldn't really want to be open about that, who their
favorite kid is.
And you probably shouldn't say that, okay?
But the narrator of the Bible is telling us straight up who Jacob's favorite son was,
and it was Joseph.
And of course, Jacob is Israel, so don't get confused by that.
But it's the same thing with Jesus Christ.
Keep your place there.
Let's go to John chapter 17, John 17.
And I want to read for you Romans 829.
It says, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Think about this.
God the Father has a lot of kids.
Try billions, maybe trillions, right?
Because whoever is saved is the Son of God.
So he has a lot of children, but you know who his favorite child is?
You know who his favorite son is?
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is God the Father's favorite son.
Look at John 17 verse 1, Jesus is praying to the Father and it says, "These words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come.
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to
do.'"
Notice verse 5, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was."
Notice that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father shared glory together before the
creation of the world.
That sounds like He's a special son, because all of us are saved in here.
Did anyone else get to do that?
No.
Because why?
Jesus is His favorite son.
Jesus is His special son.
Just like for Israel, for Jacob, His special son was Joseph.
Let's look later on in this chapter at verse number 24 of John 17.
It says, "Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me."
For notice, "For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world."
Notice, God the Father had a relationship with His Son before the creation of the world.
You know, that's pretty amazing to think about how much Jesus loves us, that He was willing
to become sin for us, that He was willing to become a curse and to be cut off from God
the Father, to have that relationship severed when before the foundation of the world, God
the Father loved Jesus Christ.
You know, and so I think that picture of Joseph being the favorite son shows us, hey, that
Jesus Christ is God's favorite son and the fact that God was willing to sacrifice his
favorite son for us should make us love and appreciate God even more.
Here's another one, go to Genesis chapter 37, both prophesied the future of their lives.
Both prophesied the future of their lives.
Both Jesus and Joseph, look at Genesis chapter number 37, Genesis 37 and let's look at verse
number five, it says, "And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told 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 sheaf arose and also stood
upright and behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf.'
His brethren said to him, 'Shout thou indeed reign over us or shout thou indeed have dominion
over us?'
And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words."
Notice Joseph's literally prophesying that he's going to be boss someday, he's going
to be king someday.
And Jesus Christ did the same thing, you know, he let people know who he was and what his
future is going to look like.
And what is that?
It's a picture of Jesus Christ in the life of Joseph.
Go to John chapter number 2, John chapter number 2.
And of course, you know, if you keep reading in the book of Genesis, Joseph's prophecy
comes true.
Why?
Because he becomes second in command in Egypt and so he is exalted to power.
He is over his brethren like his dream said, John chapter 2, look at verse 18, "Then answered
the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these
things?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.
Then therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said
this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
Notice, just like Joseph prophesied of his future and said, "Hey, someday I'm going
to be exalted, someday I'm going to be above all of you," Jesus did the same thing.
He said, "Someday this temple is going to be lifted up, and of course, praise God that
Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead."
Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, and his prophecy of his own life in the future
came true, Genesis 37, Genesis 37.
Here's another one.
"Both were conspired against by their brethren for what they said."
Both were conspired against by their brethren for what they said.
Genesis 37, let's read verse 4.
Notice it says, "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.
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it 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 sheaf arose, and also stood
upright; and behold, your sheaf stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.'
And his brethren said unto him, 'Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed
have dominion over us?'
And notice, and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words."
That phrase is not there by accident.
Joseph was hated by his brethren because of what he said.
Now, Jesus Christ, physically speaking, who is his brethren?
The Jews, the children of Israel, right?
The descendants of Judah.
Yet they hated him, why?
Because he was sinning?
Because he was stealing?
Because he was a criminal?
No.
For what he said.
For his dreams.
That is a very, very clear connection there.
Go to Genesis 37, let's keep reading in this chapter, and verse number 18 says, "And when
they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him
to slay him."
So what happened?
They want to kill him for what he said.
Verse 19, "And they said one to another, 'Behold, this dreamer cometh.
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit.
We will say some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of
his dreams.'"
Notice, they hate him for what he said, they want to kill him, and they're even kind of
mocking him, right?
"Oh, we'll see what comes of your dreams."
Reminds me of Jesus on the cross being mocked, right?
"Oh, you know, King of the Jews, come down from the cross."
"Oh, they hit Jesus Christ."
Who's hitting you right now, Jesus?
Making fun of him, mocking him, which is the same thing that his brethren did to him.
Let's look at this in the New Testament, John chapter number 8, John chapter number 8, John
8.
Let's look at verse number 41, John 8, 41.
It says, "This is Jesus speaking to the Jews, his brethren according to the flesh, 'Ye do
the deeds of your Father.
Then said they to him, 'We be not born of fornication.
We have one Father, even God.'
Jesus said unto them, 'If God were your Father, ye would love me.
Where I proceed, and came forth from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech?
Notice, even because ye cannot hear my word.
Ye are of your Father the devil, and the lust of your Father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Each of you convinceeth me of sin; and if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?
He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not
of God."
So notice, just like Joseph's brethren rejected him, they didn't believe his word, they wanted
to kill him for his words, the Jews did the same thing to Jesus Christ.
They literally hated him because he told them the truth.
You know, Joseph's brothers didn't really like the message of Joseph being exalted above
them.
Why?
Well, because they're selfish and the Jews had the same attitude.
They didn't like Jesus showing up on the scene, especially the Pharisees and Jesus getting
the followers, Jesus getting the attention, Jesus getting the glory.
And so even though Jesus was telling them the truth, they hated him and wanted to kill
him.
Why?
Just for his words, just for what he said.
And think about St. Fast Baptist Church.
Why do people hate us?
Because of our words and not even because of our words, because of God's words.
They don't even hate us because of something that we specifically said.
They hate us.
And guess what?
Many people want to kill us.
I've had thousands and thousands of death threats, our church has had thousands and
thousands of emails and voicemails that want to kill us for saying the truth, for saying
God's word.
So I think that's a pretty interesting parallel there.
I'll read for you while you turn to Genesis 37.
John 1-11, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
Even Joseph's brother, brothers didn't believe him.
Same thing with Jesus Christ, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
Genesis 37, here's another picture in the life of Joseph.
Both Joseph and Jesus went into a pit.
Genesis 37, look at verse 24, it says, "And they took him and cast him into a pit, and
the pit was empty."
Notice this phrase, "There was no water in it."
Hmm, I wonder what this could be representing.
The old IFB would have a very hard time telling you what this represents, but let me tell
you what this represents.
It pictures Jesus Christ going to hell.
Go to Acts chapter number 2, Acts 2.
I'm going to read for you this prophecy that Jesus gave in Matthew 12, 40.
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
What is that talking about?
It's talking about hell, and Joseph, after he was hated by his brethren and they tried
to kill him unsuccessfully, where was he placed?
In a pit, okay?
After Jesus Christ died on the cross, where did he go?
He went into the pit.
Acts chapter 2, here's your clear statement, "He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses."
You know, I've noticed people do not have a hard time understanding this verse.
Not everyone does this.
I personally do this.
Every single time I go soul winning, I mention this verse to people, I explain to them that
Jesus Christ went to hell, and they always, always, always receive it.
I've never had a person not receive it.
The only people that don't receive it seem to be like Baptist pastors, like old IFB preachers
that for some reason have just been brainwashed into thinking that this is somehow bad.
But the reason why is because they have a weird view of hell oftentimes anyways.
A lot of times they have like a Abraham's bosom view of hell or a paradise view of hell.
They call it paradise, but it's in hell supposedly is what they believe, but look, that's garbage.
The Bible says hell.
His soul was not left in hell.
And for me, it makes me just appreciate the Savior even more.
It makes me love Jesus even more because where do I deserve to go for my sins?
Hell.
But He loved me so much that He went there for me so that I don't have to go there.
And when I say that to someone at the door, they're always just like, "Yeah, wow.
That's awesome.
That's great.
Praise God."
Never have a problem with it, but for some reason so many preachers have a problem with
it.
But look, Jesus Christ went to hell, and that's why Joseph pictures that by going down into
the pit.
Go back to Genesis 37.
Genesis 37, I'll read for you, Revelation 2-7, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches.
And to him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst
of the paradise of God."
Notice what the Bible says is paradise, heaven.
Being with God where the tree of life is, that's what paradise is.
But a lot of preachers want to tell you, "Well, paradise is actually hell."
There's no nice part of hell.
There is no nice part of the pit that Joseph was thrown into.
It's not like Joseph's thrown into a pit and half of it's like spiky and dirty.
And there's like a McDonald's on the other side or something like that.
There's some fast food thrown in there, there's some blankets or something.
No, it was just a pit.
It was just bad.
It was just suffering.
It was just terrible.
And when Jesus went to hell, he wasn't having a good time, he wasn't preaching to the spirits
in prison.
No, he was in hell suffering.
Why?
Because we deserve to suffer.
And he took our sin upon him.
He became a curse for us.
He went to hell for us.
Here's another correlation.
Both Jesus and Joseph were sold for pieces of silver.
Genesis 37, look at verse 28, I'm sorry, 26.
"And Judah said unto his brethren, 'What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal
his blood?
Come, and 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.'
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 twenty pieces of silver."
The Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
What a messed up story.
Notice what's going through Judah's mind in verse 26.
What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?
He's saying, "Hey, how are we supposed to make money off of murdering our brother if
we just hide him?"
That's literally what's going through his mind.
What a terrible thing to think.
But you know, that's what the Jews were thinking when they were killing Jesus Christ.
That's what Judas Iscariot was thinking.
Because who is Judah?
Judah here, obviously foreshadowing, he's foreshadowing Judas in this instance.
Because what did Judas do?
He sold the Lord out for 30 pieces of silver.
He cares about money more than anything else.
Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him.
Notice, he doesn't want to do the dirty work himself.
Just like the Jews didn't want to do the dirty work themselves.
They didn't want to kill the Lord Jesus Christ with their own physical hand.
They wanted the Romans to do it for them, right?
And so same thing with his brethren here.
Oh, they don't want to kill Joseph.
They just want to sell him to the Ishmaelites and let them do it.
What a wicked attitude.
Let not our hand be upon him.
Go to Matthew chapter 26, and today the Jews will even mock and scoff and get mad at Christians
that say that Jews killed the Lord Jesus.
This moron, Adam King, who's kind of big on rumble and stuff like that right now, he's
like saying, "Oh yeah, Christians think that we killed their God," which I'm not even sure
how you kill God anyways, just blaspheming Jesus Christ.
But you know what?
The Jews did kill God.
The Jews did kill the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is what the Bible records.
You're in Matthew 26.
Let me read for you 1 Thessalonians 2.15.
Speaking of the Jews, it says, "who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and
have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men."
That's pretty harsh condemnation right there.
And you know, if I were to just tell you the story of Joseph and his brethren selling him
and trying to kill him, it would be kind of hard to believe because it's such a wicked
thing to do.
It's like it's kind of hard to believe that the Jews would kill Jesus Christ, the perfect
Son of God, but it's actually what happened.
They are the ones that are responsible for killing Jesus Christ.
Look at Matthew 26 verse 14, it says, "Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went
unto the chief priests and said unto them, 'What will ye give me?'"
Sounds exactly like what Judah was saying, right?
"And I will deliver him unto you.
And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him."
Look, it's not a coincidence that Joseph was sold out by his brethren for silver.
You know, his own brother, the people that he loved, the people that he trusted, just
like Jesus was sold out by his own disciple, someone that was close to him, someone that
was in his group, literally sold him out for money.
And so, of course, the lesson there is that we need to watch out for false brethren creeping
in.
And realize that just because someone attends our church, just because someone's around
us, or someone's close to the pastor or whatever, doesn't necessarily mean they're a good person.
They could be an infiltrator.
You have to watch out for signs, and we've preached about that before.
But you know, if it's happened to Joseph, if it happened to Christ, it could happen
to us too.
Here's another parallel between them.
Go to Genesis 39, Genesis 39, both Jesus and Joseph went down into Egypt.
Both Jesus and Joseph went down into Egypt.
This is another parallel between them, Genesis 39 verse 1, it says, "And Joseph was brought
down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither."
So he ends up going to Egypt.
Now go to Matthew chapter number 2, Matthew chapter number 2, and we see that Jesus Christ
also will go down into Egypt.
Matthew chapter number 2, Matthew 2 verse 12, it says, "And being warned of God in
a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another
way.
When they departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appearth to Joseph in a dream, saying,
'Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and, notice, flee into Egypt.
And be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
him.'"
Of course, we know that Herod sent out a proclamation that every single child that was two years
old or younger would be destroyed, and so the only way to keep baby Jesus alive was
for him to flee that persecution and to go down into Egypt.
And it's pretty interesting because by Joseph going into Egypt, what happens later?
He ends up later bringing salvation to his brethren.
So also the Lord Jesus Christ, by going down to Egypt, escaping the sword of Herod, what
does he do later in his life?
He brings salvation to the world.
So that's pretty interesting parallel between those two.
And also, you know, think about just something to think about in this story is Herod literally
willing to kill children to fight against Christ and realize that when people are fighting
against Christ, you don't realize how far they will go.
And you have to be careful.
These people are very, very dangerous individuals that would fight against the Lord.
Go back to Genesis 39, Genesis 39.
Here's another parallel between Joseph and Jesus.
Both Joseph and Jesus were tempted.
Now, Joseph was a great worker.
He was really well liked by his boss.
He was put in care of a lot of things.
He had a lot of responsibility.
He had a lot of autonomy.
And so that's kind of the context of the story.
We're about to read, but if you look at Genesis 39 verse 6, it says, "And he left all that
he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not ought he had saved the bread which he did eat.
And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored, and it came to pass after these things that
his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, 'Lie with me.'"
Man, this is a terrible, terrible situation for any man to be in.
I mean, he's been given so much trust and autonomy and authority, and his boss's wife
is coming on to him and just saying, like, "Hey, lie with me."
This is a rough situation for a man to be in, and a lot of men would just fall in this situation.
A lot of men, even a lot of godly men, when a woman's coming on to you that strong and
just saying, "Lie with me," a lot of guys would just take that opportunity.
Even saved men, even guys that love the Bible, this is just a bad, bad situation for Joseph to be in.
But notice what it says in verse 8. It says, "But he refused."
Thank God for that. "But he refused and said unto his master's wife,
'Behold, my master, what if not what is with me in the house?
He hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I.
Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
So Joseph's trying to reason with this woman, but you're not going to reason with a whore.
You're not going to reason with an adulterous woman. You read Proverbs 5, Proverbs 7.
The adulterous woman, the Bible says, hunts for the precious life.
She wipes her mouth and acts like she's done no wickedness.
There's no reasoning with a woman like this.
You know, the Bible often describes sexual predators as women.
In our culture, we always think that the men are the sexual predators and they're out there.
They exist. You got to be careful of them.
But a lot of time, women are predators as well.
And this is one of them, just hunting for the precious life.
Joseph's a righteous person.
Joseph's not trying to go out and commit adultery with his boss's wife.
But yet, this woman is hunting for the precious life.
Look at verse 10, "And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day," notice,
she's doing this every day, "that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business."
He's working and there was none of the men of the house there within.
That's a bad sign, being alone with a woman, no man around.
That's a really bad situation.
And she caught him by his garment.
She literally grabs his clothing saying, "Lie with me."
And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out.
So she's such a predator that just day after day after day,
she's coming on to this guy, he's not interested.
He's saying, "No, I'm not going to sin against God.
I'm not going to sin against my boss like this."
And foolishly, Joseph kept being around her.
He should have just never been within sight of this woman.
He should have just ran away before.
But he ends up getting close to her, close enough physically
to where she could literally grab onto his clothing
and he runs away so fast that the clothing is left in her hand.
I mean, like I said, most men would not be able to withstand
this level of temptation just being asked every single day.
That's pretty intense.
But thankfully he always refused.
And the fact that he always refused makes me think that it's a picture of Christ.
Why?
Because Joseph was tempted, but he never sinned in this instance.
Obviously, Joseph was a sinner.
Not saying that, but in this instant, Joseph didn't sin.
He didn't sleep with her.
He didn't commit adultery.
Go to Matthew chapter four.
Or while I read for you, Hebrews 4.15 says, "For we have not in high priest, which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin."
So Jesus Christ was tempted.
Joseph was tempted.
He didn't sin in this instance.
Jesus Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
Go to Matthew chapter four.
And there's a famous story where Jesus is tempted of the devil.
Let's read that quickly.
Verse one, it says, "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be,"
notice, "tempted of the devil.
When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered."
Think about the human feeling of being hungry.
It's not fun, right?
And what's the only thing you could think of when you're hungry?
Food, right?
So Jesus Christ, he was fully man.
He was fully God, but he was fully man.
And he was hungry.
Could you imagine not eating for 40 days and 40 nights?
But notice in verse three, "And when the tempter came to him,
he said, 'If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.'"
Notice one of the plots, one of the ploys,
one of the tactics of the devil is to attack you when you're weak, right?
Jesus here, he's physically weak at this moment.
He hasn't eaten in 40 days and 40 nights.
And that's when the devil comes to him, right?
That's why we have to be making sure that we're walking in the spirit,
that we're putting on the full armor of God,
that we're strong spiritually every day.
Because when you're weak, that's when the devil's going to come after you.
Verse four, "But he answered and said, 'It is written,
'Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'"
The devil's not going to get Jesus here.
Even if he's physically weak in this moment,
he's not going to get him to sin.
Verse five, "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city,
and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
and saith unto him, 'If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down, for it is written,
'He shall give his angels charge concerning thee.'
And in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.'"
Notice, the devil, if he was just talking to a normal man,
he'd be trying to play on the pride of man, right?
It's like going up to a really big guy and be like,
"I bet you can't bench 225."
What's that guy going to think of his mind?
"Yes, I can. Let me do it right now," right?
That's kind of what he's trying to do with Jesus Christ.
He's trying to say, "Oh yeah, you're the Son of God?
Well, cast thyself down then.
Let's see if the angels bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."
But of course, did Jesus fall into this temptation?
Nope, He was without sin, never sinned.
Look at verse 7, or verse 8.
"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and then showeth him all the kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them."
And again, if this was a normal man the devil was dealing with,
and he showed him, "Look at all the money,
look at all the power, look at all the accolades.
I'm going to give all these things to you.
The pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh."
A lot of men would give into this, right?
But of course, Jesus doesn't.
Look in verse 9, "And saith unto him,
All these things will I give thee, that will fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence Satan, for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
So again, Jesus Christ, even though he's weak physically, he never sinned,
he never gave into the temptation.
Just like Joseph, tempted with something that men struggle with a lot,
that men are very weak in a lot of times, yet he didn't sin.
Just like Jesus Christ, never sin.
Go to Genesis 39, I'll read for you 1 Corinthians 10.13, it says,
"There is no temptation taken you, but such is as common to man.
But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted.
Above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that you may be able to bear it."
So notice, every time we sin, it's always our fault.
Always our choice at the end of the day, no matter how strong a temptation that it is,
we make the choice to sin. Because Joseph, he could have given all the excuses in the world.
"We were alone. She came on to me every single day." Right? And I don't even think Joseph was
married at this time. I could be mistaken. But he could make all these carnal excuses in his mind.
But guess what? He fled, right? Because God gives us a way to escape the temptation.
Just like Jesus Christ, being hungry for 40 days and 40 nights, that sounds like a pretty good
excuse to just give in. But he didn't. He quoted scripture and that was able to give him strength
spiritually to resist the temptation. Genesis 39, here's another parallel between the two,
is that both Joseph and Jesus were falsely accused. Both Joseph and Jesus were falsely
accused. Genesis 39, look at verse 12, "And she caught him by his garment, saying, 'Lie with me!'
And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. And it came to pass when she saw that
he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house
and spake unto them, saying, 'See, he hath brought in in Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto
me to lie with me. And I cried with a loud voice. And it came to pass when he heard that I lifted
up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out.'" What a wicked
woman. She's the one that's the predator. She's the one that's been coming on to Joseph, trying
to commit adultery against her husband. And when Joseph, the righteous man, flees, but he, she has
his garment, what does she do? Falsely accuses him, rails against him and says, "Hey, this guy
tried to rape me, but I screamed. And so that's why he ran." What a lie. And, you know, the Bible
teaches that if you were to falsely accuse someone of a sin that is worthy of death, that you
yourself are now worthy to be put to death. And so you know what? Right now we have like the Me Too
movement in the U.S. where there's tons and tons of women that it's being proven that they're just
falsely accusing men of rape. Look, if you falsely accuse a man of rape, you should be tried and put
to death. And if a man falsely accuses a woman of that, it's the same thing, obviously. But let's
be honest, who's doing the most false accusations of rape today? It's women. It's women. And look,
man, you just got to realize that our criminal justice system isn't going to do that. A lot of
times the criminal justice system is just going to default believe the woman. So you must arrange
safeguards in your life. You must make not provision for the flesh and just avoid the
appearance of evil. Because even just being alone with a woman, you could be falsely accused. By
the way, this is part of why you should go soul winning two by two. You don't want to be at
someone's door and get falsely accused. You know how many phone calls and emails I've gotten
from people out soul winning that have falsely accused our church members. They just come up
with the craziest stories that is just blatantly obvious that it's false. It happens all the time,
but it's a good thing when you have your soul winning partner there with you as another witness
that you can't be falsely accused. But look, Joseph was falsely accused. Who else was falsely
accused? Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew 26, Matthew 26, Matthew 26 verse 59. "Now the chief priests
and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death. But
found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet foundly none. At the last came two false
witnesses and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in
three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, Answers thou nothing? What is it which
these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto
him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tellest whether thou be the Christ the Son of God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of
man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. And then the high priest
rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold,
now ye have heard his blasphemy. So what are they falsely accusing Jesus of? Saying that he's going
to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, the physical temple. And then at the very end,
they falsely accuse him of blasphemy, which is a huge accusation, a huge deal in the Bible.
Blaspheming God is a wicked sin, yet they accuse Jesus of that. Throughout the New Testament,
you see Jesus being accused of wanting to overthrow the government. You see Jesus being accused of
healing people by the power of Satan. Jesus being falsely accused that he himself is demon possessed,
which is what the Bible calls blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. So Jesus was constantly being falsely
accused. And what do we see today? God's servants constantly being falsely accused. Hasn't our
church been falsely accused a lot? Have you seen the signs that say, "Steadfast thinks all video
gamers should be stoned." It's like, what are you talking about? Like, oh, Steadfast Baptist Church
thinks that infants should be beaten. It's like, what? What are you talking about? Like, Dylan
pointed an AR-15 at me. What? Never happened. What are you talking about, right? Or like I'd
mentioned before, that one guy that was talking to a black guy at the Hearst building and said,
"Yeah, they let black people go to their church only if they promise to be slaves in heaven."
It's like, where are you getting this? It's like, never happened. Just tons of false accusations.
Pastor Shelley's been falsely accused that he teaches work salvation. Wow. We've been falsely
accused that we teach that we should physically go hurt homosexuals and that we should go
put them to death, that we should kill them. That's a false accusation. We believe in law
and order. We believe in a lawful capital punishment system by trial, by witnesses,
okay? But yet we see these things all the time. And is it any surprise Joseph was falsely accused?
The Lord Jesus Christ was falsely accused. Go to Matthew chapter number 10. Matthew chapter number
10. So hey, don't believe everything you hear. Some video comes online of some troll that hates
the new IFB, that hates pastor Shelley, that hates pastor so-and-so and just wants to talk garbage on
them and sling a bunch of mud and a bunch of stories where there's no witnesses, where there's
no evidence. Don't receive that junk. Don't believe, don't even let that stuff go into your
heart. Don't even allow yourself to start thinking differently about someone when someone is just
spewing junk about someone with no evidence, no witnesses. Look, Jesus was falsely accused. Joseph
was falsely accused. I'm not going to listen to anyone falsely accuse a Christian without evidence,
without witnesses. I'm not even going to listen to it. Matthew chapter number 10 verse 22. Jesus
said, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall
be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another. For verily I say unto you,
ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. The disciple is not
above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master
and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more shall they call them of his household? What's he saying? Jesus is saying,
look, if they've called me Satan, if they've falsely accused me of blasphemy, me of wanting
to overthrow the government, if they've said that I'm demon possessed and that I'm healing people by
the power of Satan, what do you think they're going to say about you? Way worse things. They're
going to falsely accuse us way more. Why? Here's why. Because when you falsely accuse Jesus,
there's literally zero things you could even twist to make Jesus look bad because he's the
son of God, because he's perfect. But you know what we are? We're sinners. And sometimes we do
say things that are stupid. Sometimes we do things that are wrong. And sometimes we don't even do
things that are necessarily sinful, but maybe someone can twist what we're saying and try to
falsely accuse us. So of course we're going to get falsely accused way more than Jesus Christ was.
And so hey, just be ready for that. How should you respond when that happens? Well, flip back to
Matthew five, just a few pages, Matthew chapter number five, you say someone falsely accused me.
Someone lied to me. How should I feel? Go to verse 11. It says, blessed are you when men shall revile
you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you. Notice falsely for my sake,
rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you. Hey, anytime someone falsely accuses you, it's not true,
and it's for the name of Jesus Christ, you're just earning rewards in heaven. Jesus says,
just rejoice, right? So, you know, being falsely accused, yeah, it sucks, but honestly, in the
long run, we're going to be rewarded for it in heaven anyways. So don't let that stuff bother
you. Don't let it blow your mind. Don't be shocked when you hear that we think that black people are
slaves in heaven because they're just going to falsely accuse us of everything. I mean, there's
just tons of false accusations. Don't let it shock you. Don't let it surprise you. Just rejoice
anyways. Be like awesome. Just keep lying about us. Just making us rich in heaven. Genesis 40.
Genesis chapter number 40. Here's another picture of Christ. Both Jesus and Joseph were wrongfully
imprisoned. Genesis 40. Look at verse 15. Genesis 40 15. "For indeed I was stolen away out of the
land of the Hebrews and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon."
So Joseph is literally cast into prison for doing what? Nothing. For being a good worker,
for being faithful to his boss, for not committing adultery with his boss's wife,
but because she lied, because she falsely accused him. What happened? He was thrown into the dungeon.
He was thrown into prison. And of course, what happened to Jesus Christ? He was arrested. He
was lied about. He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. They took him with swords and with staves and they
took him on to Pilate. Him basically being in prison. And so what did we learn from that? Hey,
not every person that is in jail is a bad guy or a bad girl, right? Sometimes people are in there
for wrongful convictions, for false accusations. That does happen. And so we shouldn't just write
someone off like, oh, you're in jail, you're a reprobate. Oh, you're in jail. We just never want
to minister to you. No, you know, there's jail ministries. And if we could do a jail ministry,
I think that'd be a great thing to do to be able to preach to people in jail. Because number one,
a lot of those people can get saved. Number two, some of those people might not even deserve to be
there to begin with. Can you imagine how hard it would be to be in prison when you did nothing
wrong? I mean, maybe if you did something really bad, you can at least tell yourself like, "Yeah,
I deserve this. You know, I really did something terrible." But like doing nothing wrong and going
to jail, that would be so hard mentally to get through, right? And so we don't want to just
automatically look down on someone because they go to jail because realize that someday the legal
system is going to be weaponized on a worldwide scale against Christians. So the legal system
already we see is a joke. The Department of Justice of the United States is a complete joke.
It's totally corrupt. The FBI is totally corrupt. District attorneys are totally corrupt in a lot
of these places. Judges are totally corrupt in a lot of these places. It already is like that
in a huge part of the United States of America. But someday just realize the whole world's going
to be like that. And so, man, Christians someday are going to be the victim of false imprisonment.
Here's another one. Both Jesus and Joseph preached negative sermons. Go to Genesis 40, Genesis 40.
So here, Joseph, he had just interpreted the dream of the chief butler who was in prison.
This butler and this baker is in prison with Joseph. They both have a dream. And Joseph,
he interprets the butler's dream and says, "Hey, you're going to be restored to your job. You're
going to serve Pharaoh again." But let's start reading in verse 40, or I'm sorry, in Genesis 40,
verse number 16. The Bible says, "When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good,
he said unto Joseph, 'I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head.
And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh, and the birds
did eat them out of the basket upon my head.' Joseph answered and said, 'This is the interpretation
thereof. The three baskets are three days, yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head
from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.'
Well that's not a very positive message. He just got done telling the butler, he's like, 'Yeah,
you're going to be restored. That dream you got was from God. You're going to serve Pharaoh again.'
And the other guy's like, 'Oh, sweet. Well, what did my dream mean?' It's like, 'Oh, you're going
to be decapitated, hung on a tree, and birds are going to eat your flesh.' Wow, sounds like he's
preaching a negative message. But you know, people of integrity and people with character,
they just preach the truth no matter how hard it hurts. I'm sure Joseph wasn't excited about
this. He's not like, 'Yeah, this guy's going to be flesh eaten by birds.' He's like, 'I got to tell
you the truth, buddy. I got bad news for you. You're about to be decapitated.' Oh, that's a tough
message to deliver. But you know what? Jesus Christ delivered hard truths too. Jesus Christ
preached hard as well. Jesus Christ preached a negative message very often. Go to Matthew 23.
When I think of Jesus preaching a negative message, I immediately think Matthew chapter 23, right?
This is one of the most negative messages that Jesus gives in the whole New Testament.
And let's see what he says here. And let's start reading in verse number 13. He says, "But woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. Ye
neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." He's saying, "Woe."
He's saying he's giving them a curse. He's saying, "You don't realize how bad God's going to mess you
up." He said, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees." Why? Because you're not even going to heaven.
First of all, he's saying you guys are going to hell and you're stopping people that want to go
to heaven from entering in. "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows
houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."
Put yourself in this story. The Pharisees, what do they do? They love to put on a show. They care
so much about how they are perceived by people. Their whole life is wrapped up in them getting
value by being liked, adored, worshiped by people as being holy men of God, so holy, so sanctified.
But he's saying, you know what? No, you guys aren't holy. You guys are actually devouring
widows houses. Ouch. Because no one likes someone that would do that. If the public knew that about
the Pharisees, what would they do? They would hate the Pharisees. Jesus is saying, you guys are
literally devouring widows houses. And not only that, you're putting on a show. He says for a
pretense. He says you're putting on a show, making long prayer. You're not actually praying to the
Lord. You're not actually sincere in what you're asking God. All you're doing when you're praying
is putting on a big show. Therefore, ye shall receive the greater damnation. What is he telling
these people to their face? You're going to burn in hell worse than the average person. The average
person that's unsaved is not going to have as hard of a time in hell as you Pharisees are for being
as wicked as you are, for being false prophets, for devouring widows' houses, for making a show
about prayer, for being a hypocrite. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass
sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves. When you're out soul winning, these false prophets that go out evangelizing,
they're not even getting them saved, they're making them twofold more the children of hell.
What does this make me think of? Makes me think of the Mormons. Makes me think of the Jehovah's
Witnesses. These guys compass sea and land. I remember one time I was preaching in Spokane,
Washington and I was driving back from Spokane to Vancouver, Washington, which I want to say
it's like a five hour drive. It's been a while, five and a half hour drive and I got lost. I made
a wrong turn and I ended up going through this tiny little country town and I'm telling you there
there was like maybe five houses in this little town, just a tiny town in the middle of nowhere
in Washington. But you know what I saw? Mormons on their bicycles. I was just like what? Out in the
middle of nowhere these guys are compassing land and sea to make people two-fold more the children
of hell than themselves. Woe unto you people! Wicked false prophets. You look up the American
Samoa islands which Samoans are some of the most receptive human beings I've ever run into. Whenever
I run into a Samoan they almost always get saved but you go on google maps and you look at the
island Samoa there's just Mormon churches everywhere. Everywhere. And you know what? The
only Mormon I've ever gotten saved in my life was a Samoan. Because they're just all Mormon.
Because why? The Mormons have compassed sea and land to make those people twofold more the children
of hell often cases. Oftentimes. And so Jesus what's he doing? He's preaching them a negative
message. He's telling them you guys are going to burn in hell it's going to be rough for you guys.
Look at verse 25. Verse 25 he says, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess."
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse that first which is within the cup and platter
that the outside of them may be clean also. "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like unto whited sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto
men but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepals of the righteous
and say if we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the
blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them
which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers." He's saying hey you
Jews, you Pharisees, you hypocrites, you're just like your fathers that killed all the prophets.
You're just like the brothers of Joseph that tried to murder an innocent man for no reason.
All of those people in the Old Testament, the Jews that rejected those people,
Jesus is rebuking their descendants, saying hey fill up, fill me up in the measure of your fathers.
You're going to burn in hell anyways. Your punishment is going to be terrible in hell
anyways. So we see they both preached a negative message. Go to Genesis 41, Genesis 41,
Genesis 41. Here's another parallel. They both spoke the words that God gave them. They both
spoke the words that God gave them. Look at Genesis 41, verse 15. It says, "And Pharaoh said unto
Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it. And I have heard say of
thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying,
It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." So notice Joseph's very humble and he's
saying, Hey, when I interpret this dream, it's not me that's doing it. It's God that's doing it.
I'm going to go ahead and give you the words of God. And of course, Jesus did the same thing. Go
to John chapter number 12, John chapter number 12. I'll try to power through these last ones here.
John 12. Let's read in verse 47. Jesus said, If any man hear my words and believe not,
I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth
me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall
judge him in the last day. Notice, for I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me,
he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. So was Jesus doing
his own thing? Was Jesus self-will, just preaching whatever he wanted? No, he was getting the words
from God, the Father. By the way, explain this to me, oneness heretics. Jesus is saying, I'm
not speaking my words, but I'm actually speaking my words. Oh, I'm not doing my will, but I'm
actually doing my will. It's like, hey guys, we're going to go to a restaurant, we're going to take
my car. Just kidding, we're taking your car. It's like, wait, do words just not mean anything
anymore? Right? No, he's getting the words from the Father. And I think a picture of that is how
Joseph was saying, "Hey, this interpretation is coming from God. It's not of me." And of course,
Jesus is rebuking these Jews for being fools for not listening to his word. And you know,
I'm not really interested in following someone that doesn't even believe the words of Christ.
Someone like Ben Shapiro that people like to lift up is, "Look at how smart this guy is. Watch him
debate these college atheists. He's so intelligent. I don't want to listen to someone that's a fool
that doesn't even believe the words of God." So look, if you don't even believe the words of Jesus,
not interested in listening to you. Real quick, here's another one. Both Jesus and Joseph are
rulers. Both Jesus and Joseph are rulers. Go to Genesis 41. Look at verse 38. "And Pharaoh said
unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Pharaoh said
unto Joseph, For as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as
thou art. Thou shalt be noticed over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be
ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. So notice Pharaoh set up Joseph over the
whole land of Egypt and he was so high in authority that he was just number two in command. What does
that make you think of? Well, who's number two in command in the Trinity? The Lord Jesus Christ is.
Jesus Christ is a ruler. Jesus Christ is the second in command. Go to 1 Corinthians 15,
I'll read for you. Revelation 19 verse 16 says, And he hath on his vesture and on his name,
on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. What does that mean? Hey,
Jesus is in charge. Jesus is a ruler. He was placed in authority by God the Father.
And just like Joseph was second in command, the Lord Jesus Christ is second in command.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse 24. Then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things
are put under his feet, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him."
He's saying, I'm putting Jesus in authority, but it's obvious that the caveat to this is that he's
still under God the Father. Verse 28, "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son also himself be noticed subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all." So, there's a lot of weird teachings about the Trinity, but the clear teaching of the
Bible is that there is a command structure in the Trinity, there is an authority structure,
and the highest top of the authority is God the Father, and under him is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and under him is everything else in creation. Jesus Christ is number two. Real quickly,
here's another one. Both Jesus and Joseph wept. Both Jesus and Joseph wept. Go to Genesis 43,
Genesis 43, Genesis 43, and look at verse number 30. Genesis 43 verse 30, when he's presented to
his brethren after a long time of not seeing them, it says, "And Joseph made haste, for his bowels
did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept
there." Notice even after being hated by his brethren, even after being lied about, even after
being sold, even after being put into a pit, when he sees his brethren, he loves them so much that
he has to go find somewhere to weep. And weeping is just intense, emotional crying. It's not just
like something barely hits you emotionally, you got a little tear in your eye. Weeping is just like,
you're just losing it, right? And that's how Joseph, that's how much Joseph loved his brethren. And,
of course, John 11.35 says, "Jesus wept." When? "When his friends were in pain, when Lazarus was
dead and Mary was sad and everyone sad, Jesus Christ himself was moved to weeping for his friends
because he loves them." And, you know, that should move us, that God loves us so much that
even when he was on this earth, he was willing to weep for humanity. That God was willing to weep
for a speck of dust, human beings, compared to the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that's pretty moving
that the Lord Jesus Christ wept. Genesis 45, here's another one. "Both Joseph and Jesus are
saviors who forgave sinners." Both Joseph and Jesus are saviors who forgave sinners. Genesis 45,
verse 1. "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before them that stood by him. And he cried,
'Cause every man to go out from 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.
Joseph said unto his brethren, 'I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live?' And his brethren could
not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. 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
ye sold into slavery. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye
sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life.'" What a spiritual
response by Joseph. You know, in the flesh, you'd want to just unleash on your brothers
that tried to kill you, that put you in a pit, that sold you into slavery. And when
he says, "Hey, I'm Joseph," he notices that his brothers are scared. Like, oh man, the
second in command of all of Egypt is about to kill us all, and we deserve it, right?
But he's saying, "Hey, hey, don't be grieved. Don't be angry with yourselves that you sold
me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life." Notice, Joseph forgave
them and he explained to them that what they did, Jesus, or Joseph was there to bring salvation
to them. Look at Genesis 50. Look, flip over Genesis 50 verse 15, "And when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, 'Joseph will peradventure hate us and will
certainly requite us all this evil,' which we did unto him." Verse 16, "And they sent
a messenger unto Joseph, saying, 'Thy father did command before he died, saying, 'So shall
you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin,
for they did unto thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father.' And Joseph wept when he spake unto them." Notice Joseph's
brethren, they still don't really believe that he's going to forgive them. Now that
Israel has died, they're like, "Well, now that dad's dead, he's really going to let
us have it. He's really going to kill us for all of our sins." And Joseph, what is
he doing? He's still weeping. He still loves them. And notice what it says in verse 18,
"And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, 'Behold,
we be thy servants.' And Joseph said unto them, 'Fear not, for am I in the place of
God. But as for you, ye thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good, to bring to
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.'" You know what? That's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. Think about this. This is what we did to Jesus. Why did
Jesus have to die? Because I sinned, that's why. Because you sinned, that's why. Why did
he have to go to the cross? Why did he have to be spit on? Why did he have to be mocked?
Why did he have to be lied about? Why did he have to have nails pierced through his
hands and through his feet? Why did he have to get a crown of thorns plunged down on his
head, breaking the skin of his face and bleeding everything? Why did he have to do that? Because
you lied, that's why. Because I sinned, that's why. But does Jesus destroy us for that? You
know what? He loves us anyways. And he died to save much people alive. And think about
what they did to Joseph by selling him away. They totally alienated Joseph from his family.
Just like when Jesus Christ became sin for us, when he became a curse, he was alienated
from his father. Just like Joseph was alienated from Jacob from his father. He had to live
a huge portion of his life away from his father. And Jesus had to be cut off from his father.
Why? Because of us. We did absolutely nothing to deserve his forgiveness. He gave it to
us anyways. I'll read for you. Go to Genesis 45. I'll read for you Romans 5-6. "For when
ye were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us." You know, sometimes you see great heroic acts and warfare where someone does
something really heroic to die for their friend that they think is a good man. But who just
dies for an unrighteous person? Not really anyone, very rarely. But yet Jesus Christ
loved us so much that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. While we didn't deserve it,
while we put Him on the cross, while we alienated Him from His Father, He loved us, He died
for us anyways. Two more real quick. Here's another parallel between Joseph and Jesus
is that both caused the children of Israel to live in a new land. Both caused the children
of Israel to live in a new land. Genesis 45 verse 9 says, "Haste ye and go up to my Father
and say unto Him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me Lord of all Egypt, come down
unto me, Terry, not." And notice, "And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou
shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children and thy children's children and thy flocks
and thy herds, and all that thou hast." Doesn't that remind you of heaven? How someday we're
going to be in a new land where we're going to be close to Jesus and, Lord willing, our
children and our children's children, if we get them saved? Hey, Jesus someday, if you're
saved, He's going to cause you to dwell in a new land. Just like Joseph, he put his family
in a new land, in the land of Goshen. Revelation 21, I'll read for you. It says, "And I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And someday, hey,
if you're saved, God's going to bring down the heavenly city from heaven, plant it on
this earth, and you're going to be given a new land to live in. Praise God for that.
And it's going to be a land without sin, without blasphemy, without false accusations, without
whores trying to accuse you of things you didn't do. You know, it's just going to be
perfect. It's going to be wonderful. It's going to be heaven. I cannot wait. It is going
to be awesome.
Go to Genesis 47, Genesis 47. Last one here is that both Joseph and Jesus feed their brethren.
Both Joseph and Jesus feed their brethren. Genesis 47.12 says, "And Joseph nourished
his father and his brethren in all his father's household with bread, according to their families."
Go to John chapter number 6. So we see Joseph here. You know, he rescues his family. And
what does he do? He feeds them. Feeds his father. He feeds his brethren. Now, Jesus
Christ, He feeds us too. And He feeds us in many different ways. One of the ways Jesus
feeds us is just by salvation itself. What do I mean? John 6.51, Jesus said, "I am the
living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of
the world." So, hey, if you're saved, Jesus has already fed you, because you've already
eaten of the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ. So just like Joseph fed his brethren,
hey, Jesus has fed us too. Another way, go to Revelation 7. I'll read for you 1 Peter
2.2. It says, "As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby." You know another way Jesus has fed us? By giving us this right here. Hey, he
gave us his flesh, he died on the cross for us, he's the bread of life. But hey, he also
gave us some good milk right here, some good meat right here, where if you open it up and
you read it, Jesus Christ feeds you every day of your life. Hey, more important than
the meat of this world, more important than eating food, is the Word of God. And the Word
of God is often referred to as food. Thank God that He feeds us in that way. And here's
the last thing, Jesus Christ will feed us in heaven. He'll feed us in heaven. Revelation
7 16 says, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sun light
on them nor any heat." Praise God for that. Verse 17, "For the lamb which is in the midst
of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Man, what a blessing that the God of heaven,
the creator of the universe, the all-powerful Lord Jesus Christ would feed us. What are
we? What do we deserve? Nothing. Yet in heaven, the Bible says that the Lamb of God will feed
us. What a blessing that is. I'm looking forward to that someday. I bet you the food in heaven
is awesome. It's going to be better than anything we've ever tasted in our life. And hey, I
love food. There's some great food here in Texas, but I bet you the food in heaven is
going to be better. Way better. And I'm looking forward to when Jesus Christ will feed us.
So just in conclusion here, think about this. Joseph pictures Jesus, right? We looked at
16 different things. Let me tell you something. That's too many correlations to be a coincidence.
This book right here is written by God. People that say, "Oh, it's a bunch of stories made
by man, no man can write that.
No man can write something so deep that has just such difficulty to understand even shadows,
even pictures of things to come.
That's incredible.
Let me just rattle them off again for you real quick, okay?
Both were the favorite son of their father.
Both prophesied the future of their lives.
Both were conspired against by their brethren for what they preached.
Both went into a pit.
Both were sold for pieces of silver.
Both went down into Egypt.
Both were tempted.
Both were falsely accused.
Both were wrongfully imprisoned.
Both preached negative sermons.
Both spoke the words that God gave them.
Both are rulers.
Both wept.
Both are saviors who forgave sinners.
Both caused the children of Israel to live in a new land.
And both feed their brethren.
That's too many coincidences.
Look, this is written by God.
And you know what else we can learn from this is that when you're reading the Bible, realize
that the whole thing is about Jesus.
From Genesis to Revelation, the whole thing is about Jesus.
That Jesus was not plan B. He was not the backup plan after God realized that man couldn't
work themselves to heaven.
No, it's always been Jesus.
And to Him give all the prophets witness of Jesus Christ, right?
And sometimes it's by what they say, and sometimes it's by their very life.
Just by Joseph existing, he's giving witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because Joseph pictures Jesus.
And when you're reading the Bible, look for the Savior.
You say, "Oh, I don't understand this chapter.
This chapter is kind of boring, in my opinion."
Well, look for the Savior.
I bet you there's some pictures there.
Joseph pictures Jesus.
A lot of people picture Jesus.
But when you're reading the Bible, look for the Savior.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for your Word.
Thank you that no matter how many times we read it, we can always learn so much.
And thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the great sacrifice that you made and that He made to purchase our salvation.
Let's pray that every single person here will not take it for granted, that they live
their lives to please you, Lord.
We all look forward to the day in heaven where we get a new land and where we can be fed
by our Savior.
We love you in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
All right, for our last song, we're going to go to song number 162, "To God Be the
Glory."
162, "To God Be the Glory."
Song number 162, "To God Be the Glory."
Everybody you are all dismissed.