Genesis 37 Life of Joseph, Part 1: Rejection

And Tim, would you open us up in a word of prayer? Sure. Father God, thank you so much that we keep meeting here every

Wednesday for noon Bible study. I pray for the viewers online that they would be encouraged and edified through the

Word today. We pray for Pastor Jeff as he teaches us the life of Joseph, that we would all be learning from his life and your

Word, so we thank you. And we ask a special blessing on those with family that might have rejected them, but they would be encouraged today by the

Word. So thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. When Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth in his early 30s and began his ministry there of healing, how did his hometown receive him?

Rejection. There's actually the word I was looking for. When Stephen went to his own people on the streets of Jerusalem and preached the

Gospel, how did the people receive him? Despised and rejected.

Despised and rejected. Now, how did each of them respond to being rejected?

What did Jesus say from the cross? Forgive them. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.

How did Stephen respond when he was being stoned to death? Same way.

Same way. Father, do not hold this sin against them. And Jesus was rejected. And Jesus, yes.

Jesus rejected in Nazareth and then fully rejected by his own brothers. When he came riding in on a donkey, it looked like it was mostly the

Galileans that had welcomed him on that day. But within a week, everybody was shouting, crucify, crucify.

So is rejection a sign that God does not have favor on you? No, not at all.

The sign of God's favor and the signs of spiritual life and of spiritual gifting are not always welcome, even within a family.

And what we're going to see today, we are starting a new series within a series. So it's a sub -series of the book of Genesis, 14 parts, chapters 37 to 50, the life of Joseph.

And the first thing that we see in the life of Joseph, part one, is rejection.

The signs of spiritual life and of spiritual gifting are early displayed in Joseph's life.

With the dreams, he begins to dream, which are not ordinary dreams. These are given by the

Holy Spirit of God. They're prophetic of things to come. And he is not welcomed by his family.

So turn with me to Genesis 37. Tim, we'll start with you, and we are reading verses one to four.

Sure. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was pastoring the flock with his brothers.

He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age.

And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

His own brothers. Internal hatred and external hostility are to be expected from those who feel judged by those who are not like the godly, even if the godless ones are family.

How many Christians have been surprised to be rejected by their own family?

I wasn't surprised. Were you also rejected by your family when you came to Christ? Not necessarily rejected, but my brother accused me of every word

I said was, it's always about Jesus. He said, you always have the answers.

And I said, well, no, I don't have the answers, but I know the guy that does. And he says, see what

I mean? See what I mean? It's just a natural reflex, because behind that is sin and repentance and forgiveness.

And he's got a ways to go yet. Yeah, and notice in verse 2 at the end it says, Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

He told, but was that wrong of him to tell the truth of what was happening? No, there's nothing in the text indicating that, but they now feel judged by him.

They feel exposed and they begin to rage, not against their own sin.

It's not repentance. Rather, it is rage against Joseph, even from his own family.

1 Peter 4 verses 3 and 4 says, The time has passed that suffices for doing what the

Gentiles want to do. Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry, with respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.

Here, Joseph does not join in with whatever his brothers are doing. We're not told what the bad report is regarding.

It's probably sexual in nature. It's probably drunkenness. These kind of age -old sins.

And it's probably idolatrous because they're living in a pagan land. And the worship of these pagan gods also often involve temple prostitution, all manner of debauchery, and it's very likely that the brothers are somehow engaged in ungodly behavior.

Right? Which is suggested by 1 Peter. Yeah, 1 Peter 4 spells it out, that nothing has changed.

The world that we live in is so debased, isn't it? And we think, wow, here's something really new.

But did you know that Roman culture had so many of the same practices, and even worse, the pederasty and the things that were common in Roman society?

Our culture is rapidly becoming pagan again, but it's nothing new. It's a return to Babel.

It's a return to pre -Babel. It's a return to the fall of man. There is always wickedness in the world, and the godly ones and the wicked are separate.

The problem is, those who are in the world hate the godly because we don't plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation.

So where does this anger towards Joseph come from? Recognition of their own sins.

Yes, nailed it. It's actually their own sin provoking anger against someone who stands like a judge.

That's what was said in Hebrews about Noah, that he condemned the world. How did Noah condemn the world?

Did he go around waving a bony finger? No, he went about obeying God, and he called for repentance.

He begged people to come and be reconciled with God, and instead they hated him, and they maligned him.

And that's what we're told will happen to us. The degree to which we don't do the things of this world are the degree to which we will be maligned by the world.

And so here Joseph is being maligned and hated by his own brothers. Rick, would you read verses 5 to 8?

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them,

Hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, there were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright.

And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.

His brothers said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?

So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. If you, as a

Christian, do not plunge into the same flood of debauchery as those around you, you will be hated by the world and even your own family.

But there's something that will provoke even more, make the world and even your family hate you even more.

And what is that? Speaking the Word of God. Prophetic words. Words that are taught by the

Spirit. Now if you're perfectly silent in your house and you go about your business, people will look down on you in your family, but they'll generally leave you alone.

As soon as you go to that wedding, and at the wedding reception you're sitting around the table, and you begin to talk about Jesus Christ, and you begin to call for repentance and faith, now the rift, just as you demonstrated, goes from this to this.

Notice in verse 5, Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

It was the telling of the dream. Now, should he have kept that dream to himself? Was this immaturity in Joseph that he even told it?

I've heard that often said. I agree with you. Why not? Well, it's instinctive in the

Christian to talk about what's instinctive in all of us, to talk about the people we love.

Very good. And Christ is the epitome of love with regard to the gift he gave us.

Very good. And the brother's charge would be that he's acting holier than thou. Yes. Now, who gave this dream to Joseph?

And we know in hindsight that it comes true. The brothers do bow down to him to get food and to try to be saved from the famine.

So we know the dream came from God. Are we really going to argue that God did not want the dream shared, but that it was only a private matter?

No, it was meant to be spoken. It was a word of the Lord. They didn't know it at the time. They were raging against the word of God.

So he wasn't wrong to speak it. Now, it does come across as a little bit arrogant on his part.

Sure. And I'm sure that's how they perceived him. He's telling his spiritual dreams, and he's interpreting them.

Well, he's not even interpreting it. He's saying what they are. It says at the end of verse 8, they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

You speak the word of God, but the degree to which you tell the truth is the degree that some will regard you as an enemy.

What does Paul say to the Galatians? Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

This speech, prophetic speech even in this case, where Joseph is prophetically declaring what

God has given him to say, deepens the rift. So this is very anti -prosperity gospel.

Okay. The health wealth gospel would tell you if you just do the will of God, everything will go swimmingly in your life.

Yeah, right. Everybody will love you. You'll bless them. They'll bless you. You can put a big golden smile like Joel Osteen and never talk about sin, never say anything, and live in a giant mansion, and you'll never get sick.

Kenneth Copeland recently proclaimed that he knows his death day. Good for him. And it's when he's 120 years old, on his birthday.

That's what he has declared will be his death day. Do you think the Lord will honor that? No. He'll be standing before the

Lord before age 120. Why am I here? It's early. Wait a minute.

You owed me 120. It's early. These demands made upon God. So the bottom line here is that the signs of spiritual gifting, listen, when you want to do the will of God, to step out in faith and do as God tells you to do, don't expect all sunshine and roses.

That's not the path of the Christian life. Ask Paul. The more he stepped out in faith, the more he spoke, the more he was hated.

Ask Stephen, stone to death, the first Christian martyr. Ask any of the apostles except John.

He was not martyred, although he was thrown into a boiling vat of fish oil before being exiled to Patmos.

Rejection. Rejection. For doing righteousness, that's the first part. He had given a bad report that his brothers were doing badly, and he himself was not participating in that, but even more so when you're a truth teller.

The degree to which you speak the truth is the degree to which the rift will deepen, and it will intensify hatred of the one speaking for God.

Genesis 37, 9 to 11, Bob. In my job as a supervisor for Campbell's Soup, I did my job quite well,

I think, and I was accused, surprisingly, of talking about nothing but Jesus all the time, and I really didn't feel that way.

No. It was just apparently there. Yeah. Well, it's that one cafeteria conversation where you share

Jesus with the co -worker, and that's all they remember because they've been harboring bitterness against you for doing that.

They felt convicted, and then when they got together to talk about it, that's all you do is talk. That's the word I was looking for, is convicted, because you can't bring that up to a brother or a friend without that guilt and conviction, because it's true,

I'm sorry, 9 through 11. Sometimes no one will fully understand a prophetic word, but the righteous will keep the saying in mind.

Okay. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers.

He does talk a lot, doesn't he? He's kind of like me. Listen, he said, I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me.

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said,

What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in his mind. Now notice the initial reaction of the father.

Is Jacob a righteous man who loves God? Yeah. Absolutely, he is, but it says here he rebuked his son.

Was his son's dream of God or not? Well, sure. It was. And was the reporting of this prophetic dream meant by God to be written and recorded and spoken?

Well, it's here. Sure. It was his intention, in order that God would be glorified when it comes to pass.

That's why it's a prophetic word, right? So Joseph actually did not do wrong, but even a godly father rebukes him, but notice that conjunction in verse 11.

His brothers, they're basically nothing but jealous, right? They have vitriol.

They hate him, and the hatred runs even deeper the more he talks. But his father kept the saying in mind.

What does that indicate about Jacob? Well, he's a man of God.

He does what he's told. He can't dismiss it. He can't dismiss it.

Yes, because he is a man of God. Sheep have ears for the voice of the shepherd.

It may not always sound like his voice at first, and it might rub the wrong way to hear the voice of the shepherd, but they keep it in mind.

And time and truth walk hand in hand. In time, will Jacob recognize the legitimacy of this prophetic word?

You better believe it. You better believe it. But at the moment, he was not able to receive it.

He did, however, in time, receive that word. He kept the saying in mind.

So, Sue, if you would read verses 12 to 17. Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.

So he said to him, Here I am. Then he said to him, Please go and see if it is well with your brothers' flocks, and bring back word to me.

So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Then a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field.

And the man asked him, saying, What are you seeking? So he said, I am seeking my brothers.

Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said, They have departed from here, for I heard them say,

Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.

Okay, what a fateful trip this is. It says in verse 12, His brothers went to pasture their flocks near where?

Shechem, Shechem, the place of the slaughter, where the firstborn, well the second and third born,

Simeon and Levi, had slaughtered the people of Shechem. Now that's just an empty pasture land, it appears, a lot of good grass for grazing, and there they are, kind of in a picture of the sin of the sons.

They're in their mess. But they move on from there, and what is

Joseph doing? He is obeying. He is obeying.

Israel said to Joseph, verse 13, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.

Now mark this reaction, and he said to him, Here I am. That is the posture of obedience.

Isaiah couldn't even say that when he first encountered the glory of God, but once the fiery coal from the furnace touched his lips, he was able to say,

Here I am. Send me. Isaiah was made obedient, having been purified. Here Joseph is in an obedient place.

His father giving the direction, that's the rightful authority structure, and he obeys.

Now, the great irony here is, in a path of obedience, he's heading like a sheep to the slaughter.

The brothers are the very ones who hate him, and he's seeking them for their good, because the father is sending, to check on them, to see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word, does he have any hatred towards his brothers?

No. He's desiring to bless them. He's very fierce with them. He is desiring to bless them.

He's sent to bless them, and what happens? He's walking in the path of obedience, right into danger.

I have a note that says, Favoritism leads to violence. Yeah. That was the paragraph there that struck me.

I think too, the here I am, is a motif throughout the scriptures, which suggests one's availability to do what

God wants them to do. Here I am. That's it. That's a motif for obedience.

Yeah. Very good. So here, he's in the path of obedience, and it's going to lead directly into suffering.

Church, again, the prosperity gospel is a lie. The path of obedience includes suffering.

It's not all suffering. Very often, it's joyful exuberance in the good gifts of God.

How many of you woke up this morning and saw the sun, and got outside a little bit, and delighted in what a beautiful day it was?

I was praising God, and the good manifold gifts are everywhere all the time.

That's why we have joy. But suffering is also part of the plan. It's not the whole plan.

It's a part of the plan. It's the valley of the shadow of death. Do you live in the valley? You come through.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Here, he's going to have to go through a path of suffering, and it's not different than the path of obedience.

It is the path of obedience. Is it easier to sometimes disobey? Is it easier on the flesh to sometimes disobey, or to constantly obey?

Say that again. Easier to not follow. Correct. It is very often easier in life to shade the edges, to cut corners, to take a path that makes your life easier, whether it be, you know, like fudging your taxes.

You might have a little extra spending money. Who told you? Oh, you might be telling on yourself here.

In life, there are ways to please the flesh that actually reduce the outward sense of suffering.

Especially true with truth telling. Had Joseph not spoken the truth, how would his relationship with his brothers be?

A lot smoother. Strained because they're jealous of his coat of many colors. You're right about the favoritism.

It was clear in the story that Jacob wasn't helping Joseph out because of the favoritism, but that doesn't mean that Joseph was wrong to take a gift from his father and to wear it proudly.

He didn't do wrong by that. It just provoked. Okay. So that, that was probably error in the father because favoritism is forbidden in the book of James, right?

The path of obedience often leads directly into suffering. Second Timothy three 12.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

This is part of Christianity. Okay. Barbara, are you up here? Genesis 37, 18 to 24.

Okay. Verses 18 through 24. But they saw him in the distance that before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

He comes. Here comes the dreamer. They said to each other, come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of the systems and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.

Then we'll see what comes of his dreams. When Ruben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands.

Let's not take his life. He said, don't shed any blood, throw him into the cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him.

Ruben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when

Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe and richly ornamented the robe he was wearing.

And they, they took him and threw him in the cistern. Now the cistern was empty and there was no water in it.

All right. Was the original plan to sell Joseph into slavery? No, no guys, the plots of the wicked against the church, the things that people have had in mind to do to the church of Jesus Christ, whether it's a

Muslim terrorist who has intended to blow up churches in this country, whether it's, um, activists,

BLM activists or Antifa, the designs of the enemy, the shooters that have at times come into churches.

The number of plots against the church of Jesus Christ are far greater than we know, but the restraint that God has put upon the wickedness of men is also greater than we know.

Do you know how many times people have designed evil for you?

You don't know. But you can know from this example that it's more than you know. You see,

Joseph here doesn't know what his brothers are plotting. He's happily doing his father's will. He's going to check on them, probably has some provisions, maybe some, you know, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

He's coming with blessing in his heart and they are literally talking about slaying him right there.

But one brother speaks up. How powerful is the voice of truth?

Reuben. Now, he probably isn't fully there in his own mind. It just doesn't ring true to him.

We don't have to kill our brother. And so he, he says, Reuben heard it and he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life.

We don't have to go that far. We don't have to go that far. And now evidently he's not going to be in the picture when, when they go to sell him.

But it seems in his heart, he's trying to buy time. Like, well, we got to calm this thing down. He's trying to talk them down.

And he has some level of common sense. Some, you know, modicum of, of decency.

He was the firstborn, probably the wiser. Maybe a little more maturity. Yeah. Yeah.

Being the firstborn. Yeah. Now, if you remember what he did a couple of chapters earlier, he slept with his father's concubine.

Yeah. So we're talking about a pretty unlikely help to come to his rescue.

Right? Here is not a righteous and godly man. And yet God causes him to think rightly and to at least restrain the evil.

This is also true in our lives. How many times has God sent a guardian angel to rescue you from being destroyed?

I don't know. You don't know. Yeah. But are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal life?

No. They are. They're around us all the time. All angels. Well, there's other kinds of angels, but in Hebrews 1, 14,

I was quoting angels are, are by definition given to man to serve their flames of fire.

They're also Sarah, you know, cherubim and seraphim that worship night and day. But as far as the ones given to us, they guard us.

They protect us. They serve us, which is why later we'll judge how they did as part of God's judgment.

First Corinthians six. Yeah. Point out too, in this chapter, it's very interesting. Verse four, but when his brother saw and verse 10, but when he told it to his father and his brothers, verse 11, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Yes. And here in verse 21, but when Reuben heard it. So there's always a but God.

Yes. You see the wickedness, but God is going to. I underline that in my scripture everywhere.

I see a but God. Yeah. Who's in control. Yeah. I don't know if I don't want to see your thunder.

If you're going to touch on this, but also in verse 22, it says that like shed no blood, throw him into the pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.

Reuben says that, but it says that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

Yes. So he might want to just look good in front of his dad saying, oh, I rescued him. Yeah. Yeah.

So maybe he's has a mixed. Maybe he's trying to get back in his good graces. Maybe he wants to be, you know, maybe get the next coat of many colors or something.

Yeah. Look, I rescued him. Yeah. But it's certainly like somebody reasonable here. And he's trying to, he's trying to rescue him so that his blood is not shed.

And he actually does want to get him, not sell them into slavery. His plan was to come back, you know, let this thing calm down, get him home to dad where things are safe.

Cause out here in this wilderness, man, it is getting violent and crazy. And Ruben is, is actually a force for good.

He he's the instrument that God is using to restrain the murder. That's the idea. So you have the plots of the wicked and the restraints that God places upon them.

They're both far greater than the righteous know at the time. There's Joseph just happily going about his business.

He doesn't know the path of obedience is leading him right into the lion's den. But he's obeying, he's trusting.

And that's how we have to live. Yes. The dangers around us are many are the foes and the snares of this world around us are more than we know.

But God, he will restrain evil. And listen, not a hair of your head can fall to the ground apart from the father's plan.

You know, nothing to fear. Yeah. Our, our, our internal attitudes, not necessarily ours, but God's.

It's just, it's the way we are. If we're professing, um, the way we know

God would have us profess, it doesn't, it doesn't lay well with the people that we're witnessing to.

We don't even know we're witnessing by, by what we say and what we do and who we are.

That's right. But we will get, you know. It's a point of this lesson, rejection. We'll get hammered for it.

Rejection. Tim, could you do 25 to 28? Sure. Then they sat down to eat and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum, bone and murder on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Then Judah said to his brothers, what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother, our own flesh.

And his brothers listened to him. Then Medianite traders passed by and they drew

Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

They took Joseph to Egypt. Rejected by his own brothers.

Here's where it actually happens that he's sold out. Now imagine how deep a wound that would be. It's one thing to be rejected by your enemies, your neighbors or somebody who doesn't like you and maybe you don't even like them.

But somebody that you have loved, your own brothers, Psalm 55 is about this.

The one that we used to eat with, who I dipped bread with, has raised his hand against.

His words were smooth as butter, yet in his heart was a drawn sword.

There is a deep wound inflicted by a brother. Enemies can't inflict wounds like brothers.

Because these are the ones we love. And here you have a brother who should be caring for his brother to be his keeper.

And there's some sense of that left in Judah. Now interestingly Judah will become a central character in Joseph's story.

And seeing his progression from who he is in chapter 38, which is a very vile man.

Now we're on to the fourth born. Reuben with Leah, the two,

Simeon and Levi with the shechem slaughter and the sin with the high hand against circumcision. Then next week we're going to learn about Judah and his sexual sin and then his daughter -in -law tricks him into prostitution and all this incredible horrible stuff happening in his life.

But at the end of the story of Joseph, it's Judah who's willing to substitute himself for his brother.

And the lion of the tribe of Judah will come from Judah. So Judah is a picture then of one who comes to saving faith and redemption.

And an ancestor of Jesus. Yes. Yep. So that's

Genesis 50. I think it's verse 10. Could be 20. Somewhere in there.

Yeah, somewhere in Genesis 50, the lion of the tribe of Judah. But here's the thing though.

What you're seeing is typology of Christ. And here it's Joseph that is the type of Christ.

Moses later will be an incredible type of Christ, but we are going to see incredible things. Who was sold out by his own brothers?

Jesus. Judas was one of his closest friends and part of that inner circle.

And yet he was sold out for 30 pieces of silver. Did you know that Zechariah prophesied in chapter 11 verses 12 and 13?

The valuing, he says, that handsome price at which they valued me. And the handsome price means, is that what you think

I'm worth? It's like tongue in cheek. 30 pieces of silver for the life of the creator of the entire universe.

Well, here, how much is Joseph valued at? 20. 20 pieces of silver.

For this righteous man, beloved of the father, made in the image of God, who's just trying to do

God's will and do well, and speaks prophetic words, he has a prophetic gift. To be devalued by one's own brothers is a very deep wound.

To be sold out by a brother feels like a knife in the back. This is betrayal.

Betrayal by Judah and all the brothers. He is sold to the Ishmaelites. Made a slave of a traveling caravan.

Now, interestingly, the Ishmaelites were also distant relatives of the Israelites through Abraham.

So Isaac was the son of promise, but Ishmael was still a son of Abraham. And here they are instrumental in the betrayal as well.

Not a brother's keeper, but they bring him down to Egypt and sell him to Potiphar.

Last section, verses 29 to 36, if you would, Rick. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said,

The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go? Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said,

This we have found. Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.

And he identified it and said, It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him.

Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said,

No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

They bandage his wounds lightly. What regard did they have for the heart of the father when they carried on in their sin?

He was out of their minds. A faint, distant thought that they pushed away when they plotted to kill the son.

They thought, Yeah, I'm sure dad will grieve and he loves him more than anybody. Maybe they thought he needs to grieve because of how he's favored

Joseph. But they had no regard for the heart of the father. How much pain was in Jacob's heart when he learned about the tearing apart of his son as he thought happened?

Devastated, immeasurable, and look how lightly they try to comfort him. It says in verse 35, all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.

They thought it was OK what they had done. They had justified it in their own mind. They thought they could come in and comfort him and bandage that wound lightly.

But it says, No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.

This is a broken heart. They did not calculate rightly what this would do to their father.

They did not love their father. They thought that their father lacked love for them.

The truth was, they lacked love for the father. They broke his heart.

What does it mean, I will go down to Sheol? Does that mean he'll die? Yeah, Sheol kind of had two compartments in the idea of it that the righteous would be kind of held in Sheol until a final glorification.

He's not saying, I'm going to go to hell. He's saying, I'm going to die and be buried, put into the grave, into the heart of the earth like this.

And when he says, I'm going down in mourning, it's like, as I am now, this is not going to be healed.

A place of wickedness. No, he doesn't think he's going to a place of wickedness. I think he trusts in God's justification that he would make it to heaven.

But he's saying, the rest of my days are going to be mourning until they put me in Sheol, until they put me in the grave, that holding place, which ultimately

Christ brings and redeems all those who belong to him that whole time.

Yeah, so what he's saying here is, No, I'm not going to be comforted. This mourning cannot be lightly bandaged.

Thus his father wept for him. This is the nature of our sin, guys.

Whenever we sin, we misunderstand the heart of the father and we disregard the heart of the father.

People know not what they do. When Jesus says, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. That's how sin always is.

We break the father's heart. His loving heart of compassion wants better for us, and he wants to be honored, and it breaks his heart when we sin.

Despair unlimited. Yeah. This is the pain that hatred of the brother causes the father's heart.

Think about that. Parents in the room, how important was it to you when your children were young and even now, if you have grown children, that your children would love each other?

How important is that? I just feel so blessed that my kids and even our pseudo -adopted kid just love each other so much.

They don't bicker and fight and hate each other and slam doors. They just love to be around each other, and they're happier when they're together.

You know what that does to my heart as a father? We named our daughter

Abigail, and that means joy of the father. Fathers have a special joy in their children, and the father, the father, is that way towards us.

We're his children. So love of the brother matters to our God. If somebody's offended you, how much does it matter to God that you love them?

So if you're offended by somebody, you've been hurt by somebody, don't carry a grudge. Have the heart of the father.

Forgive them. Love them anyway. I've been wounded at times by people even in this church.

I forgive everybody who's wounded me. I love them. I want good for them. I want to bless them.

I don't want to see any harm come to them. I don't want them to be thrown into a pit and sold into slavery. I want good things for them, and that's how all

Christians ought to be. Because of our father, we're modeling his heart. His heart towards us is love all the time.

So love of the brother, brotherly love. What's that word? Phileo. Phileo, yes.

Where we get the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, but Phileo, brotherly love. This love is so important to our

God. This is what was lacking in the brothers, but look at the heart of the father. This is what he wants for us.

So, application. See in the rejection of Joseph by his own brothers a prophetic prefiguring of the rejection of Jesus Christ by his own blood brothers.

Do you see the typology there? His blood brothers are shouting crucify.

It's his own people. He came into his own, but his own did not receive him. John chapter 1.

It's the nation of Israel rejecting the Christ. That's the typology. Also, see in Judah's compassion for his brothers.

Something in him that said, he is our brother, our own flesh. This is when they decided not to kill him.

There was still some sign of that in Judah, but it's a sign of future spiritual life.

The early signs that God does have a plan for this Judah, and Judah will be, as Rick pointed out, an ancestor of Christ.

But notice how he and all the brothers devalued him. In this life you will have trouble, but take heart,

I have overcome the world. We will suffer the deepest wounds, will not come from outside the church, they'll come from in the church, because the love of brother, when that breaks, when you feel rejected by your own, that's a much deeper wound than when you feel rejected by the world that you know hates you.

But do not be surprised, 1 Peter 4 .12, by the rejection of family and friends.

Should not be. You know our family, and I'm so blessed that I have a family that has always only been accepting, right?

But rejection by your own family member, a son, a grandson, a granddaughter.

These wounds are the deepest of wounds, but it's not unexpected. What we ought to do is continue to trust

God, because in the end, does this all work out together for good? It does. We have 14 parts in the study of the life of Joseph.

It starts with rejection, but it ends with family reunion. Beautiful, eternal, a picture of eternal glory for the sons of Israel.

So God is good. He's going to work it all together for good. Tim, would you mind closing us in a word of prayer? Yeah, sure.

Father God, thank you so much for this word in Genesis chapter 37.

Thank you for the encouragement that it gives to our souls, knowing that eventually you are going to work all things out for our good, and eventually you're going to come back and make a new heaven and a new earth where there is no sin, no pain, no betrayal, and no hatred, no jealousy, and we look forward to that day, and we trust that you will come back and show us that.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Did the camera make it or no?