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Let's sing one more song. All right. All right. Could you please open up your handles for song number 113. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 48, 48, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 59, 60, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 65, 66, 67, 68, 68, 69, 69, 70, Thank you. May the Lord bless you thus, and my soul will fall. For once at this great speed, the Lord will love us now. May Jesus' name be known. And continue. At this time, the offering plate will go around. As the offering plate goes around, please open up your Bibles to Genesis 37. Fall over to Gabriel as he reaches for us in Genesis, chapter 37. Genesis, chapter 37. Verse 1, the Bible reads, and Jacob who on the land are in the spot of a stranger, the land of eight. These are the generations, Jacob, Joseph, who is 17 years old, and the spirit key in the cloth of his brother. And the lad who has a son to build on, who has a son to build on. His father's wife, Joseph, brought him to the earth with his father, for he will report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, but he was a son of a lady, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brother saw it, his father loved him more than all his brothers. They hated him, and could not speak peace of the answer. And Joseph dreamed he dreamed, and he told his brothers, and they hated him yet more. And he said unto them, here, I pray this dream which I have dreamed. For behold, when we were buying you a sheaf, you would heal. 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 to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us? Shall thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet more for his dreams, for his work. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told his brother, and he said, behold, I have dreamed. Dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars, made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren. And his father rebuked, and said unto him, what is this dream, thou had dreamed? Shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren and thee, come to bow down yourselves to thee from the earth? And his brethren envied, but his father occurred the same. And his brethren went to feed their flock, the father's flock and sheikah. And Israel said unto Joseph, do not thy brethren feed the flock and sheikah? Come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, hear mine. And he said to him, go, I have prayed thee, to see whether it be well with thy brethren, nor with the flock. And a dreamy word agreed. So he sent without it the veil of Hebrews. And he came sheikah. And a certain man found him. Behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, what seeketh thou? And he said, seek my brethren, tell me I have prayed thee, for they feed their flock. And the man said, they are departed hence. For I heard them say, and they go to Joseph. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found him to go for him. And when he saw him afar off, even before he came here unto them, he took a spire against him and slayed him. And he said one to another, behold, it is a dream again. Come now, let us slay thee, and cast him into some pit. And we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of the dream. And Reuben heard it, and delivered it out of their hands. He said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit within the wilderness. And lay no hand upon them, that he might bring it out of their hands, and deliver it unto his father. And it came to pass that Joseph would come unto his brethren, and they stripped Joseph out of his coat, and his coat of many coats, and was on him. And they took him, and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty, and there was no water on it. And they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes, and looked, and behold, the company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, to his account, very spicier, and bald, and murk, going to carry him down into Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it to slay our brothers, and steal his blood, and pump, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites? And let not our pantry be haunted, for he is our brother, our flesh, and his brothers are content. And there passed by many these merchants. And Judah lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites with twenty pieces of silver. And he brought Joseph to Egypt. And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he read his clothes. And he returned to his brethren, and said, The child is not, but I, and whither shall I go? And he took Joseph's coat, and the hill of the pit of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood. And he sent the coat, and many coats. And he brought it to his father, and said, This have we found, and know now, whether it be thy son's coat or not. And he knew it, and he said, With my son's coat, an evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph was without a doubt, and he ran peacefully. And Jacob rent his coat, and put a sack upon his loin, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons, and all his daughters, rose up to comfort him, and he refused to comfort him. And he said, For I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning, lest his father weep for it. And in the meeting I had sold him, to the legion, was Potiphar, the officer of Pharise, and the captain of the guard. But Adam prayed for us. And as his father, she thanked him for his goodness, and mercy on God, and for our church, and for his farming, and for his blood, and for his blessed service, and for his kingdom, and for his spirit, and for his understanding of the word of God. For he drew him from the home of the prayer, and then met him. Amen. This is chapter number 37. Of course, this is a pretty well-known story, where you have Joseph being betrayed by his brethren. And you know, there's a lot of parallels here with the Lord Jesus Christ that can be made. There's also a lot of parallels just with, we could make with the New Testament believers, the Gentiles, versus, you know, the Old Testament nation of Israel. And while those things are kind of there, you know, I feel like those are things I've touched on a little bit. I'll kind of make applications as we go. But there is one thing that I want to kind of make application with tonight, a little bit later on. But let's just kind of move through the story here together for a minute. And of course, Jacob, it says in verse 37, dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger. I'm sure everyone remembers. He's just come back into the land. Esau has departed. And now Jacob is dwelling in the land after Isaac's death. And he gives the generations of Jacob, Joseph being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto their father their evil report. So get a couple things here. One, that this is happening to a very young man. This is happening to someone that even by today's standards would be considered a minor, right? Someone who's 17 years of age. That's the age at which all these things befell Joseph. Joseph went through great hardships as a very young man, right? Obviously back then maybe people sometimes will say things like, well, people grew up faster back then. And there's probably some truth to that. But nonetheless, you know, this is somebody that in a lot of ways might still be naive. There's a lot of ways might kind of be ignorant to the way that the world works. And certainly somebody that was not expecting to be betrayed by his own family members. This is something that's befalling him at a very young age. And what we'll see with the life of Joseph is that he goes through a lot of very low points, okay? Tonight's really perhaps maybe the lowest, but we'll see in his life that there's a couple of these low points in his life, but that God is with him. And I believe in the beginning here, we see that God makes himself known unto Joseph that he gives him this vision, and that's really what carried Joseph through and allowed him to be able to maintain his integrity and be able to continue to be faithful to the Lord through all the highs and lows that we're going to see him go through. Tonight really is just the beginning of lows for Joseph here. And probably, I would imagine, probably the most hurtful because it is coming from those that are his own kin. It's coming from those that are his own blood, right? Now if you notice there, it says that he, Joseph, at the end of verse two, brought unto his father their evil report. We don't know exactly what this report was, but it's the report that they were giving. It seems like the way it reads that these other sons of Jacob are saying something wrong. They're saying something evil. They're up to no good. There's something going on that's not right, okay? There's something that's not up to the standard, and that is being reported back to their father by Joseph, okay? And it just kind of reminds us that there's a time and place in which we ought to report wrongdoing, right? When people have certain authorities, it's kind of expected of us that we would report that wrongdoing. And here's the thing. A lot of times today, people, they don't want to do that because they don't want to be called a snitch. They don't want to be someone who rats out. They want to be loyal to their friends. And I get that, and I understand that, and I'm all for loyalty and all of that, but wrong is wrong, and when people do wrong, they need to be held accountable, right? If there's an evil report that needs to be reported, then it needs to be reported, right? That's what Joseph is doing here. He's going and saying, hey, this is what's wrong. This is what's taking place. I thought you should know, Dad. And of course, people who are up to no good don't like being told on, right? They don't like it when an evil report is brought back. They want you to just kind of go along. It's kind of like, well, I guess I don't want to just paint with a broad brush here and just say that this is the case in every instance, but a lot of times, certain institutions will become very corrupted, right? Well, it's just kind of, hey, there's a code here. We're all on the same payroll. We don't rat each other out, you know? And I'm referring to the police department. Okay, let's just admit it, all right? There's a lot of corruption sometimes in police departments. You know, the blue code, the code of silence, right? It's a thing, and look, I'm not, again, I don't want to just say that every police officer is evil and wicked. You know, I, in my day job, you know, I interact with police officers on a semi-regular basis. You know, they're, you know, going back to that illustration I used a few weeks ago, they're often taking my parking spot. No, I'm just kidding. Maybe I'm taking theirs. It's really nobody's, right? But me and this one detective are kind of, you know, going back and forth with this parking spot, kind of giving each other the eye in the parking lot. But my point being is, like, I know that not all cops are bad, right? And I really don't want to get into all that. But it is, you know, kind of an illustration that when people are up to no good, they just want you to get in on it, or at the very least, just be quiet, right? And again, we don't want to always be a tattle-tale over every little thing, but when somebody's doing something that you know others would not approve of, it's kind of incumbent upon you, it's kind of your duty to report that. It's kind of your job to, you know, let them know that, hey, this is what's going on. This is what they did. And I believe because of that, that's part of the reason why, perhaps, his brethren began to hate him, right? Now, it doesn't say that that's the reason why explicitly. It says explicitly the reason why they hate him is that because his father loved him the most, right? He's playing favorites. But, you know, nonetheless, this could have been a contributing factor. You know, here comes Joseph, the snitch, right? You know, be careful what you tell Joseph, you know, so on and so forth. Look at verse 3, 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. So he's his second to last born. Of course, Rachel gave him his last two children, and it was Rachel whom he loved. And she bore Joseph and Benjamin, right? And she died, as we saw, when she was giving birth to Benjamin. So, you know, Joseph's kind of endeared because, again, you know, we could kind of criticize Israel, you know, here a little bit for playing favorites. I don't think it's a good idea, right? My kids are, you know, often, not often, but from time to time, they ask me, you know, Dad, who's your favorite, right? And I don't do to them what my dad did to me and my sisters, which he just went to each of us individually and told us that we were each his favorite. And then when I went and told them, hey, Dad said I'm his favorite, I said, well, he told me the same thing, right? So I don't do that. I honestly don't have favorites. We love different things about our children for different reasons. I've never taken the time to kind of measure how much I love one more than the other. I don't know that we could honestly do that. At least I couldn't, you know. But, you know, apparently Joseph, you know, loved, or excuse me, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Like, it was just, and we could say, well, what's the deal with that? You know, why is he doing? Well, again, the thing is, well, again, I believe it's because of the sentimentality, right, because of the fact that, as it says, because he was the son of his old age, meaning, you know, he was one of his last sons and he was the son of Rachel, right, whom he loved, okay? So, you know, and it might be, there might be something there as far as just, you know, when you kind of know you had your last kid, you're not sure if you had anymore, kind of cherish those moments maybe a little bit more than you might otherwise. Maybe it's something like that, I don't know. I really can't pick apart the dynamics here. The Bible just tells us, you know, that that was the case. I can't really sit here and tell you exactly why. But we know what the result was because of the fact that that favoritism was pretty obvious. It says there, because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors, right, so he's giving him a special garment, he's kind of making it real apparent, real obvious that he's, you know, showing some favoritism here, okay? And the verse four, it says that when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him. And, you know, you can't really hold it against Jacob, or Israel too much, Jacob too much because of the fact that, you know, Reuben and Simeon just got done making his nose, making him distinct in the nose of the people in that land by slaughtering all the Shechemites, right? They've done some pretty wicked things. You know, as children grow older and do things, you know, they can, by their actions, you know, they could perhaps diminish the love that their parents have towards them. You know, by doing wicked and evil things. You know, maybe the reason why Joseph loved, was loved more of Jacob than the others is because he hasn't done some of the wicked things that these other sons have done. There's no evil report to be made of Joseph, okay? While on the other hand, it appears like these guys are up to something, we know the cruelty of Reuben and Simeon from previous chapters, and we'll see even some of the iniquity that Judah himself has. So, you know, maybe that was it. Maybe it wasn't a matter of him loving one more than another. Maybe it was that the love for others had kind of come down, right? And I understand that a parent's love is unconditional. Like, we'll always, of course, never want harm to befall our children. We always want our children to do what is right, and so on and so forth. But, you know, take it as a warning, children, that, you know, if you mistreat your parents, you know, they're not going to be the same towards you as they might have been in times past. They might not treat you the way that they're going to treat, you know, other children in your family, if you're being a wicked person, okay? The Bible doesn't explicitly say it, that's why. But it does say that, you know, he did love him more. We are left to kind of speculate, well, why would he love him more? Well, he's the child of his old age, right? Maybe there's just, it's just the aspect of sentimentality. Another application might be because, you know, these other guys have been around long enough to kind of give him some reasons to not love him as much. But either way, he makes it obvious. You know, he puts that coat upon him. You know, and I don't want to develop these points too much, but, you know, that's kind of, I believe, maybe kind of symbolic of Christ, right? He was anointed of God, so he kind of stood out, right? He was the Lamb of God. And in a similar way, Joseph is being anointed here as well. And it says there in verse 5, 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 though my sheaf arose, and though stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. Now that's probably not the kind of thing you want to go tell a bunch of people that already, you know, have it out for you, that kind of despise you and hate you and envy you, right? And they do envy him, right? And that's verse 11. And they envied his brethren, envied him the more, but his father observed the saying. So he has these two dreams, right, verse 9. He dreams another dream. I have dreamed a dream more, and behold, the sun and moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him. Right? So these dreams are a source of envy, because basically he's saying, I'm going to rule over you, right? There's, the interpretation is not really a mystery, right? You have the right numbers there, right? You have the number of sheaves. You have the stars, the moon and the sun, all making representation of the father, the mother, the children. And they're all bowing down to this one sheave, which is representative of the children, right? So it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's being said here, okay? And this is something that they envied him over, right? But this is really just kind of salt in the wound, right? They're just kind of adding, Joseph here is just adding to the hatred that they already have for him, right? Because what originally spurned them, perhaps it was the evil report, the Bible doesn't say that, but, you know, it seems like at least in their eyes it's one transgression after another. You know, what we do see is that, what kind of got it all going is the fact that because his father loved him more than the rest, they envied him. Rather it says they hated him, right? It says, then all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. So, I wanted to kind of mention this because this is a strange thing about human nature, right? When people see other people succeeding or being rewarded, we have a tendency rather than being happy for them or praising them or congratulating them, a lot of times people have the opposite reaction where they become envious, bitter, spiteful, and maybe even as it's in the story here, malicious to a certain extent, where they're actually going to take actions to express that hatred that they had for that person. This is a strange thing. I mean, it'd be different if they hated him because Joseph was a wicked person. But he's not a wicked person. He's a good young man, right? He's doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's standing for truth. He's reporting the evil report. He's being loved on by his father. How can he help it? I mean, is it really Joseph's fault that his father loved him? Of course, there's a parallel here with the Jews and the Gentiles, right? Old Testament Israel and the New Testament believer, where they despise the Gentiles because of the fact that God went to them. This is something that they persecuted Paul and others for preaching, that they would turn to the Gentiles, that God has gone unto the Gentiles, that he has opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles. I really don't want to develop all that tonight, but that parallel is there. I've mentioned this before in other sermons. That's a parallel you'll see often in Scripture where the elder despises the younger. It's a picture of the Jews and the Gentiles. But here, in the story we're at tonight, what fault is it of Joseph's that he's loved him? Should he have tried harder to not be loved? It's always kind of struck me as odd. Well, what's the problem here? And it's hard to explain why anyone would feel that way. Why, when we see other people being shown favor, when we see other people perhaps benefiting and just being blessed, essentially, why we look at that and get envious, rather than saying, hey, good for you. That would be the appropriate response. Maybe it would have been better for them to examine themselves and say, well, what is it about Joseph that causes Dad to love him more than us? What is it about him that causes his father to love them more? Rather than hating him and despising and envying him, they could have taken a tip, maybe taken notes. Well, here's what Joseph does, and here's what we do. Here's the difference. This is obviously a very extreme example where they're literally selling him into slavery as a result of their envy and their hatred for him. But this is something that lurks even in our own hearts, if we're honest. Maybe I'm confessing a little too much tonight, I don't know, but I'm sure everyone's probably felt a tinge of this, where we see somebody else at work get the promotion or the attaboy or whatever it is. And if that person has done no wrong to us, all they've done is just done right and been recognized or done a good job, whatever it is. And we look at that and we become envious at it. It's the strangest thing. But I'm telling you, if you haven't felt it in your own heart, be on the lookout because it's out there. And you might be the object of someone's scorn simply because you succeeded, simply because you've done a good job. I remember years ago when I was working doing poured walls, because in Michigan we had these things called basements where we would pour eight-foot walls. We'd dig a hole in the ground because you could actually dig out there, and we would pour eight-foot concrete walls, and then we'd build a house on top of that. But anyway, enough of that. When I was on this job, I remember my foreman said, hey, if you want to work through the break, you can get paid. And I just kept right on working. So I was like, yeah, get me paid. I don't need to sit around and drink Mountain Dew and smoke cigarettes. That's what everybody else wants to do. They just want to hang out and jabber-jaw. And I remember one of the guys saying, hey, knock that off. And he said it in front of the whole crew. You're making us look bad. That's what he said. And what was I doing? Working. And I wasn't trying to impress him. I just said, hey, if I can work, I'll work. Now, I didn't make a habit out of that, I'll admit. I eventually just calmed down a little bit. But I was trying to make an impression. I was trying to make sure that I kept my job. I wasn't trying to make anybody else look bad. And I remember my foreman said, don't get after him about if he wants to work. He said, if you want to work, you can work, too. And he didn't tell him to work, but he said, hey, you could do the same thing he's doing. And it kind of reminds me of that. When we go above and beyond, when we do extra, when we go that extra mile with somebody, or we put in the extra effort, other people will look at that, and their own insecurities will start to kick in. And it's not like these guys are slackers. They're just taking a break. And it's not necessarily that all of Joseph's sons are just these horrible people. Obviously, there was some wickedness and there was some sin. They weren't maybe the most ideal people, but there was nothing preventing them from doing right. So it's a very strange thing. When we do well, people envy us for that sake. It's out there, so be on guard against that. And certainly, search your own heart. If you ever find yourself feeling that way towards somebody, you need to do some soul searching and figure that out and get that right. But let's move along here through the story. And it says, he tells the dreams there that he has in verse 12. And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. Which is interesting that they're going back there. And Israel said unto Joseph, do not, thy brethren, feed the flock in Shechem. Come, I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, here am I. So he's being hailed and being sent to go and carry out this task. And I just really like this passage because we start to get a glimpse of the character of Joseph. And Joseph is a great example of somebody in the scripture who has a strong character. Somebody who has integrity. There's not a lot of characters that you can look at in the scripture where you don't see some kind of glaring fault or glaring sin. Simply because we all have sin. I'm not saying Joseph is perfect by any means. But the Bible is careful. Whatever sins there are, it's kind of left out. Joseph's one of those rare characters where you really don't see anything that you can point to and say, yeah, but. Yeah, he was this, but. And I think that he serves as a good example, of course for everyone, but in particular young men and young people in general. And there's several lessons you can learn from his life. This is just one of them here tonight. And I just like how when his father gave him a task and he said, here am I. He didn't say, in a minute. Right. You know what, you know, wait till a commercial. You know, once I beat this level, you know what, just a second. Right. Or or the classic, you know, you call for your kid and it's just crickets. Right. And they're just they're just feigning deafness. Right. They all this. They have they have selective hearing. Right. They've learned to just go deaf to the sound of mom's voice. Right. But that's what I like about Joseph, is that when God or not God, but his father rather says to him, go. He said, I'm going to send you. He said, well, here, where do you need me to go? When am I headed out? What do you want me to do? So his immediate obedience, his immediate just reply to go and carry out this task that his father is giving him. OK. And it says there in verse 14, and he said to him, go, I pray they see whether be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks and bring the word again. So he sent him out of the veil of Hebron and he came to Shechem and a certain man found him. And behold, he was wandering in the field and the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? So notice the details here. He came to Shechem. Right. Now, what were the explicit orders of his father? Go to Shechem. With the assumption that that's where they were, that they're going to be somewhere in that region. You just need to go to Shechem and find them. That's where they're supposed to be. Right. So he he's fulfilled his father's command, hasn't he? By going to Shechem, you know, he's and they're not there. Is that his fault? He's like, well, you know, I feel that's command. They're just not here. Right. I showed up. They're not to be found. You know, technically, he could have turned around and gone back and said, you know, Dad, I went just like you told me. And I didn't see him there. I don't know. I don't have a report because they weren't there. You know, and that would have I would have said, hey, that's him being obedient. He's fulfilled the command. But what I love about Joseph is not just his his obedience to the command, but, you know, he goes beyond the command. He goes beyond the command. He goes beyond what's expected of him. He goes beyond just obedience here. A certain man found him, it says in verse 15, and behold, he was wandering in the field. So kind of, you know, just like maybe they're under this bush or maybe they're under this rock. You know, it's just like what like what he's just kind of like, you know, hey, where are you guys at? You know, I mean, how long do you wander in the field before you kind of figure out they're not here? Right. How do you miss all your your 10 other brothers and all their sheep and goats and things? Right. It's kind of a funny detail. He found him wandering in the field, just kind of like drifting along. Right. But, you know, again, it shows you that he wasn't just didn't show up. Oh, they're not here. Just go right back. You know, he's kind of lingering. Maybe I'll find them. Maybe they'll show up. Right. And the man finds them. And he said, and he asked them, what seekest thou? Verse 16. And he said, I seek my brother and tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. Have you seen them? Where are they at? And the man said, they are departed hence. I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. I love that about Joseph, that, you know, he doesn't just he kept the commandment, but then he went beyond. He lingered. You know, he wandered when he found out where they were. He went the extra mile. This is how you succeed in so many areas in life is going beyond what's expected of you. You know, so so many times we're kind of we plateau. We don't get to the next level because we just are just checking a box. And we're just saying, well, I've done the standard. I've done the minimum requirements. Look, that's great. But, you know, that's not what's going to get us, you know, to succeed in life. I mean, think about that at work. Right. If you're the type of person who just checks the box, you know, you're just you punch in, you know, exactly at the right moment. You punch out exactly at the right moment. You know, and I'm not saying we all have to like give up a bunch of our time to our employers. But, you know, when they ask of us things that maybe are outside of our scope of work, maybe take on a responsibility or offer some training or something like that, you know, we should take people up on that. You know, that shows initiative. That shows that we're somebody that's interested in succeeding and being more profitable to someone. Right. By going beyond just what's expected of you. And rather than just saying, well, you know, I'm doing everything that was listed in my duties. I'm doing everything here and I was here at these exact hours and I've, you know, I've done enough just not to get fired. Look, you can do enough at work to just not get fired. And that's but you know what? That's all you're ever going to do. And that's probably, you know, you're probably not going to succeed and go very far with that. And look, when things get lean. Right. Who are they going to let go? The guy that just does the bare minimum or the guy who goes a little bit beyond or maybe even a great deal beyond? They're going to keep one and get rid of the other. You know, that was some great advice. We should always endeavor to make ourselves valuable to our employers and never forget that, you know, we're there to serve them and not vice versa. Right. And if you have that mentality, you will succeed. You will go far and, you know, you'll you know, you'll move up the ranks and things like that. And when things are lean, you're going to be the last guy they want to let go. You know, if you want your parents' children to maybe give you some more freedom or treat you more nicely or whatever it is or show you more favor, you know, maybe you could try going beyond the minimum. You know, I'll take the trash out when I'm asked. I'll clean up when I'm asked. You know, is that obeying? Yes, it is. You know, if you wait to be asked to do something that's your duty to do, you're right. You've checked the box. You did. Even if it's just like a here am I. Right. You got that first part like Joseph and the story. His dad calls for him. Here am I. What do you need? Right. That's obedience. But you can go beyond obedience where you actually become a blessing. Right. You're not just a good. It's a look. It's always a blessing to have an obedient child. You know, the opposite is can be a total nightmare. You know, it's not fun to deal with. But, you know, if you want to have more freedom, more favor with your parents, if you want to have be treated more like an adult, act like one. Right. I know that's hard to do when you are in so many ways a child. But, you know, obviously no one's expecting people to make these changes overnight. But this is the mentality that you have to develop as a person, as you mature. It's a sign of maturity. An adult is. You know, are you coming to work? You know, you're supposed to be the right. I'm like, they didn't have to do that. Right. And when I got there, you know, I looked at all the work orders and the requests that came through and I made a schedule, told them where I'm going. And when I got there, I told them. And when I left there, I told them. You know what I mean? And none of that. That's all stuff you just take upon yourself without being prompted. Right. Same way with children. You know, if you want more freedom and liberty to be treated like an adult, act like one. That's what adults do. They do things without being asked. They do things without being told. They already know what's expected of them. They don't sit around and wait for somebody to tell them to do it. I mean, how many times do we have to be told to do something before we'll just start doing it? How many times do we have to be told that this is your responsibility before we'll just start doing it? You know, it's a great example that Joseph gives us. He's a great character. Right. In the Bible. What made Joseph so great? And you'll see this. You know, he succeeds everywhere he goes. Every position he's put in, as we look at his life over the next couple weeks, he succeeds. Why? Because I believe this is part of his character. You know, he could have gone to Shechem, heard that they went to Dothan, gone back. Well, good for you. Yeah, you technically obeyed Joseph, but you know what our intent was? You know where they were. Why didn't you just go? Look, he didn't go back and say, Dad, they went to Dothan. Should I go to Dothan? Yes! Because he already knows what the answer is. Go to Dothan. Right? And he went. No one had to watch his every move and make sure he did what was the right thing to do. He just took it upon himself. Now it all starts with obedience. His father sent for him. Here am I. Right? Immediately, he's ready to obey whatever the command is. That's great, but you know what? That's just the beginning. That's like the first rung of succeeding. That's one of the just first runs of maturing and doing what is right, of being a responsible person. You know, yeah, oh, you obeyed. You did what was expected of you. Great. You know, welcome to the real world. That's how society functions, right? Because we all obey these rules without people having to tell us. For the most part, right? We all agree that we're going to stop on red and go on green. Don't listen to me. We all agree, for the most part, right, on these rules. And that's why a thin line of paint can keep us from killing each other on the road. Right? Because that's what's expected of us. Like, here's the rules, do what's expected, and everyone will get along. That's great. That's how society functions. You want to succeed, you want to be somebody who has some character, you have to go beyond. You have to take the next level. You can't just sit around and wait to be told to do something. Okay? And he went after his brethren, it says, and found them in Dothan. And then, of course, you know, there's some parallels here with Jesus, right? Him coming unto his brother. The Bible says he came unto his own, and his own received him not. Right? In verse 18, and when they, his brethren, saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. So they already have him. This is premeditated murder. This isn't a crime of passion. This isn't, you know, they got there, he mouthed off, they said something he didn't like, or, you know, did something that they disapproved of, and tempers flared, and things got carried away. They're seeing him afar off and saying, here he comes. Let's kill him. I mean, imagine how wicked a thought that is. To sit there and conspire to slay your own kin. And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, let us slay him and cast him into some pit, and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what shall become of his dreams. So you can kind of see that they're just holding a grudge, they're upset that Joseph has had these visions, these dreams. It's these visions that God gave him that are causing him to be at odds with his brethren. Obviously, it's because his brethren are envious, and hateful, and spiteful, but these, you know, it's, and then we'll see what will become of his dreams. Well, where did those dreams come from? They came from God. You know, all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, the Bible says. You know, God, in a sense, has, you know, given us, you know, not a dream or a vision, necessarily, but he's given us a picture of what our lives should be like in Christ. To live in godliness and holiness, right, and to walk in newness of life. And if we do that, and tell others that, you know, about the Bible, and be a good testimony to others, there's going to be people that wish us evil as a result. They're going to say, well, let's see what becomes of, you know, your Christianity. And it can get pretty carried away. I mean, here, they're conspiring to literally slay him. Why? Because of a vision, because of a dream that God gave him. He didn't make that up. You know, God, you know, in a sense, kind of put us in a tough spot, and we're going to be faithful to the Lord. It could put us at odds with people. You know, a verse that comes to mind is that, you know, a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Right, he's, Joseph's just got a dream, he's got a vision that God gave him, came to him, you know, he shared it. And they took it one way, and this is what it led to. You know, it didn't help that they were already envious of the fact that, you know, he was loved of his father more than them. But rather than examining their own hearts, and seeing their own wickedness, and seeing how they can improve, they just, you know, were angry at him. And then they hear this dream that has come from God, whether they recognize it's from God or not, that's where it came from. And now they're conspiring to slay him, it just gets worse and worse. And look, if we live for the Lord, we will have enemies. We will have people that wish us ill. And it could even be your own kin. It shouldn't surprise us. I mean, here's a story of that taking place in the Bible. And yet people see sometimes, you know, family turning on family, and they're surprised by that. Well, you know, the Bible said that's exactly what would happen. That's what Jesus said would happen. You know, he said he came to send not a piece but a sword, and to put a man at variance with his father. And he goes through each one of those dynamics in that relationship, those different relationships. But, you know, notice verse 21, it says there, And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill him. Now, I don't know that Joseph is aware of this fact until later, when they come down into Egypt, and Joseph, when they're still under the impression that he is an Egyptian, and does not understand their speech, he hears Reuben reiterate the story, retell the story, saying, said I not to slay the young man, and now God has visited this evil upon us. I'm paraphrasing, but Joseph overhears that then, and to me, and I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I think that's really what broke Joseph in that moment later on. And again, it's such an interesting story, you know, when you start to examine what Joseph's motives were, and that whole thing with his brethren coming and going during the famine. And I have to, you know, I'll end up preaching another sermon tonight. But nonetheless, Reuben hears this, and he says, I'm going to deliver him. I don't know that Joseph was aware of that fact until later on in his life. And it says, Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that he might rid him out of the hands, to deliver him out of the father again. Now, this kind of goes back to what I said in the beginning. Reuben's trying to do the right thing here, but notice he didn't say, Let's just let him go. You know what I mean? The right thing would have been, Let him go back to Dad. You want to kill him because of a coat? You want to kill him because of a couple of dreams he had? What's wrong with you? But notice Reuben here, in a way, doesn't want to be a snitch. Well, let's not kill him. Because for all we know, if he had suggested that they just let him go, you know, you'd have been like, Well, you're next, buddy. And it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier. You know, when people are up to no good, they just expect you to get on board. And if you aren't willing to do that, you know, then there's going to be consequences. So I think maybe that's kind of what's taking place here. Reuben's just like, Well, you know, I don't want this guy killed. And maybe he even thought the right thing would be to let him go, but I've got to save my own skin, too. So there's a lack of integrity there. But he says he might rid them out of his hand and deliver them to his father again. So he's planning to rid them out. He's conspiring, right? But he's not just going to outright say it. Let's just let him go. Let's put him in the pit, and then he's thinking, At some point, I'm going to find a way to get him out of there and deliver him to his father. Okay, so give Reuben a little bit of credit here. And it says in verse 23, And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. And they took him and cast him into the pit, and the pit was empty, and there was no water in it. You know, and just as I'm reading this again, it's such an interesting thing. They hate him because of the visions. They're hating him from the coat. These things that came one from God and one from his father, things that other people blessed him with, became a curse unto him in a sense. How do they know it was Joseph afar off? Because of the coat. Now where did the coat come from? Oh, he sat down and weaved it himself and said, Do you like my coat? No, somebody else put that coat on him. Somebody else blessed him and showed him favoritism, and that got him into hot water with other people. You know, sometimes the things that are put upon us that are good are going to make enemies out of others. Us being blessed, you know, might cause others to hate us. And it says, And they took him and cast him into the pit, and the pit was empty, and there was no water in it. You know, this is a picture, perhaps you could say of Jesus going down into hell, right? Where the thirst is not quenched, the fire is not quenched. And they said, And they sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes, and beholden looked, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. I mean, we just read over the story, we've heard it preached so many times, but imagine putting your younger brother in a pit. Now I know some of you, that's really easy to do, but some of you might have actually done it, I'm just kidding. And then just sitting down and casually eating a lunch. And I can't imagine, I mean maybe Joseph, you know, just kind of took it. But I wonder if there weren't tears, I mean imagine how caught off guard he was by all this. I mean imagine him just showing up, Hey guys, what's going on? And they're just violently taking him, stripping his coat off him, and kick him in a pit. And there's no water down there. And then just casually sitting down and eating lunch and then eventually selling him to some traders that are going by. I'd have to imagine this is a pretty, as I said in the beginning, this is a very, if not the lowest moment in Joseph's life, in my opinion. And you know, he's just a young man, he's 17 years old, I mean I'd imagine he's probably having a strong emotional reaction to this. The Bible doesn't say it, but I can't imagine he's just like, Oh, okay, you know, another day in the office, you know. It probably took him off guard, it was probably a heartbreaking moment to be betrayed by his own kin. That's, I mean that's got to be a special kind of hurt. I mean when people that we don't know or people that aren't related to do us evil, you know, it's never fun, but it's like a whole other level when it's somebody that you would expect to just do right by you. And at the very least, not do you evil. Right? And that person's related to you. They cast from the pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water, and they sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, the company of the Ishmaelites came from Gilead, and with their camels bearing spices, with bawl and myrrh going down to carry down to Egypt. And Judah sent his brethren and went profited, if we shall slay our brother and conceal his blood. Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let no hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh, and his brethren were content. So Joseph's just like, hey, let's make some money out of this, or excuse me, Judah. And they were passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph down to Egypt. Now this is a very obvious parallel with Christ here. Being sold by his brethren, betrayed for a certain amount of silver, as was prophesied in, I believe it was Jeremiah, and is mentioned in Matthew 27. That Judah sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. It's not a perfect parallel, but it's still a parallel nonetheless, being sold for a certain amount of silver. I'm sure there's a lot more that can be preached out of that one thing right there, and has been preached. Now, the point I want to make, and I think we kind of all understand the rest of the story, you know, Reuben comes back under the pit and he finds him not, so he's kind of, you know, upset about this. And he returned on his bread and said, the child is not, and whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat and killed the kid of goats and dipped in the coat of blood. And they had this whole ruse that they're going to put on Joseph, excuse me, on Jacob, Israel. And he buys it, right? Obviously, hey, is this your son's coat? Tell us whether it be or not. And, you know, he refuses to be comfort, and he says, I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning, thus his father wet for him. So that's kind of the story there. But what I want to point out here in closing, because this is the beginning of Joseph's life as we see it, from our perspective. This is where really we kind of transitioned from Isaac, you know, Israel, rather, into Joseph's life. We're now beginning to focus the spotlight on a different character. And as I mentioned, what we're going to see with Joseph are these low points, right? And this is a very low point. But the point that I want to make here, in closing, is that I believe what carried Joseph through obviously was the Lord, his faith, and all that, but it was the vision that he had. Before all this happens, before all this takes place, Joseph's given two very clear dreams, two very clear visions, and I believe he understands these things, right? And it's explained to him. I mean, it's not like, look, I have no idea what this means, because everyone he tells gets it. And even his father, when he told it to his father and to his brother, his father rebuked him and said, what is this dream that thou has dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brother indeed come down and bow ourselves to thee, to the earth? So everyone understands the picture. My sheaf is lifted up, your sheaves bowed down. The sun, moon, and stars made obeisance to me, right? So they all understand the interpretation, meaning Joseph understood the interpretation. Joseph understood, and I believe he even understood, this was a vision that was probably, that he probably understood that it was a vision given to him by God. And I believe it's this vision that allowed him to go through these low points with such dignity and such grace and succeed through all of it and be able to face these trials that he faced. I mean, very hard things that he went through when you really think about it. Later, he's cast into prison, falsely accused. But he could call back when he was a young man at 17 years of age, before all this began to take place, I had a vision. I remember that dream that I dreamt. I remember that other dream. I remember these dreams that were given to me that one day, these same people that have betrayed me will be bowing down to me. So it's an act of faith, right? He has faith. He's believing and trusting the vision. And I just want to make this application that that's the same thing we need to have in the Christian life. If we're going to make it through the high points and the low points in the Christian life, if we're going to weather the storms that come, you must have faith. And that faith comes from having a vision of what God has prepared for them that love him. Understanding that God will reward us in the long run. Now, I'm not saying that anyone's going to come bow down to us, that we're going to rule over anyone, although in a sense we will. In the kingdom, we will rule and reign with Christ. And that can be something that motivates us to continue to serve Christ in this life through the ups and downs, through the upheavals, through the trials, through the temptations that we go through. If we do, as Paul said in Hebrews, if we are looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and despised the shame, for the joy that was set before him, if we had that same mentality of being able to look unto Jesus, even as Jesus was able to look past the cross, we will be able to endure things that would otherwise wipe us out. And without a vision, and without faith, there will come a storm, there will come a trial, there will come a temptation that will take you out of the Christian life. We must have a vision. We must look beyond just this life, beyond tomorrow. You have to see the big picture, as it were. I believe that's what got Joseph through all these things. I believe that's why God gave him this vision in the beginning, before all these things began to befall him. He's already hated of his brethren because of the coat. Already hated because he's a good young man with integrity, who cares about truth, who cares about, you know, honesty. He's already going to be despised and hated for those things. God gave him a vision, and that vision is what carried him through. Through being sold into slavery, through nearly being killed, violently apprehended by his own brethren, cast into a pit, and then drug out and sold into the hands of strangers. I mean, what's a parent's worst nightmare? Your children being abducted. I mean, that's basically what happened. He got sold into human trafficking. This is a story about human trafficking. I mean, it would be heart-wrenching for us to ever experience anything like that in our own lives to have our young children, our people that we love, just scooped up one day and carried off to who knows where. We never see or hear from them again. That's exactly what happened to Joseph. I mean, he's the victim. But we'll see that he maintains his integrity through all this. Why? Because he had a vision. The Bible says, where no vision is, the people perish. We need to have a vision, or we will perish. And it's not just the vision that keeps us from perishing just because it's just something that we're striving for, just something we're going towards. It's because it's a promise, often. The vision that we have is the vision that, behold, my reward is with me to render under every man according to his works. Behold, I come quickly. That should be our vision that Christ is coming and that he is going to reward those that serve him. And that will keep us from falling out of the way. That will keep us from falling into sin. That will keep us from failing and falling when we go through these things. And we will go through these things. We're all guaranteed to suffer to some degree if we serve Christ. What did Joseph do? What did he do that was so wrong? Nothing. He was simply loved. He had a dream. He had a vision. And he was despised for it. He was envied over it. Because he had a better character. Should he have lowered his character? No, he did nothing wrong. And look, we will suffer. If we do right, if we do what's right, we will. I mean, that's the promise that's in the scripture. I say it all the time. I've said it already tonight. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Paul said we, through much tribulation, must enter into the kingdom of God. It's a guarantee in the Christian life. And if you're going to make it through those persecutions, you have to have the vision. You have to see beyond just this life like Joseph did. Let's go ahead and close the Word of Prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the Word of God. Lord, thank you for the promises that are given to us, Lord, in this book that, Lord, if we're faithful and if we can look beyond or just to hear now and look unto you, Lord, that there will be a reward to the righteous, Lord. I pray you help us to have a vision or help us to have a vision for our lives as individuals, help us to have a vision for this church as a whole. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.