1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,600 It is certainly good to see everybody here this morning to 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,600 worship, and I pray that something that is said this 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,480 morning will be edifying to the body and uplifting to you. 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,920 So if you would please open your Bibles to the first book of the 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,960 Bible, the book of Genesis. If you didn't bring your Bible, 6 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:19,720 we have Bibles in the pews in front of you. 7 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:25,320 We're going to be in the Old Testament kind of in chunks this 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,040 morning. I wanted to start this series of 9 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,280 of the life of Joseph. And in doing so, I wanted to 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:36,720 take the time before we really delve into the events that we 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,760 really understand and maybe really remember in the life of 12 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,640 Joseph is really understand the early years of his life, kind of 13 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,520 his background, his upbringing, what it looked like in his 14 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,400 father's house. And I think it'll be 15 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,200 particularly helpful if you want to follow along in the Bible's 16 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,800 physically this morning. There's, like I said, we have 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,600 those here. But if you don't want to bother 18 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,120 with that, I'm going to have a lot of the verses up here on the 19 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,720 screen as well as we move through the study. 20 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,200 So for those of you who enjoy stories, this is a story of 21 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,240 stories in the Bible. This is a great one. 22 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,560 It's a classic, it's an epic or a saga. 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,160 If you want to say this is about as good as it gets of a story in 24 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:26,400 the Bible, it as it unfolds for us, the whole basically it's one 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:27,920 of the greatest in the Old Testament. 26 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:34,160 The biography of Joseph covers more space than any other given 27 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,680 to any other character in the Old Testament in just in Genesis 28 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,840 more than Adam or to Noah or even Abraham. 29 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,040 And actually it gives more space to him than his father Jacob. 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,360 And even those of us who maybe just know a little bit about 31 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,080 Joseph and or the Old Testament, we probably heard of Joseph. 32 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,440 You probably understand me. We we know who he is or we've 33 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,960 heard of him. You see, the reason that we know 34 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,760 Joseph is the same way that we know of Jonah because of the 35 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,280 whale or because of the great fish or Noah because of the ark. 36 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,720 And we know this guy Joseph because of his multi colored 37 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,000 coat that he was given. And the story of Joseph is 38 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,040 common and popular. Even Broadway has recognized 39 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:20,760 Joseph. They have created a musical 40 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,520 called Joseph in the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 41 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:27,480 And this was all based on Joseph in the Bible. 42 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,200 But we're introduced to Joseph in chapter 37, verse 2 of 43 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:39,120 Genesis, chapter 37, when it says he was 17 years old, a 44 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,120 young man, 17 tending the flocks with his brothers. 45 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:50,520 And between that point and the record of his death, there's 93 46 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:55,280 years where he where there's a span of where we really see his 47 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,720 story. He eventually dies at the age of 48 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,440 110. And that's recorded for us in 49 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,520 chapter 50. And we have all the biographical 50 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,440 details of a life which was really amazing for many, many 51 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,760 reasons, as we'll see. He provides for us probably the 52 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,600 classical Testament illustration of the New Testament truth that 53 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,840 is summarized in Romans 828. All things work together for 54 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,640 good to those who love God, who are called according to His 55 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,600 purpose. There's perhaps no other 56 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,880 character whom to whom we may go in the whole Testament. 57 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,760 In this character Joseph, who quite amazingly provides this 58 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,680 awesome summary of this verse that we see in Romans, a very, 59 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,680 very important verse. The story of Joseph, as we'll 60 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:51,760 see it is a tale of bitter jealousy, of deceit, slavery, 61 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:57,080 misrepresentation, injustice, lust, rivalry, forgiveness, 62 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,080 brothers fighting, brothers resenting parental influence. 63 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,240 It's a story of imprisonment. It's a story of deep trials that 64 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:10,000 do not produce self pity. It's the account of the 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,560 prosperity that comes to 1 without any accompanying pride. 66 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:19,399 By that manner and in and all the overreaching theme that is 67 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,240 the sovereignty of God bring about that which which He has 68 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:27,840 purposed in the affairs the time of this character of Joseph. 69 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,800 In short, it ought to be for us a story of great encouragement, 70 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:38,640 a great reassurance as we as individuals in our different 71 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,920 lives and our families, different backgrounds and places 72 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:43,320 and different positions in our faith. 73 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:48,080 Maybe carrying all with us all the baggage that we have, all of 74 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,160 our past, all of our fears of our present situations, maybe 75 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,000 and maybe the uncertainty of the future in our lives. 76 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,480 And wondering somehow in all these things that are going on 77 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:02,520 in our lives, does God care? Is God in control? 78 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:04,960 And what can we expect from it all? 79 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,280 And before we address these matters that go from age 17 to 80 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:14,240 110 in his life, what I want to do is I want to study what 81 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,600 happened before then. What happened before age 17? 82 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,000 What were the incidents and the influences of the life of Joseph 83 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,000 prior to the age of 17? And that overarching theme is 84 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,880 that the sovereignty of God bringing about which what he has 85 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,320 purposed in the affairs of time and the wonderful truth of His 86 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,640 providential care over those who dearly love him. 87 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:45,960 Now, I know mostly of how my wife's mind works mostly, and 88 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,400 maybe you know yours as well, or maybe yours just works the same 89 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,880 way. But I think if we were to look 90 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,720 at this verse and if Lizzie would read this first and we're 91 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,800 just introduced to Joseph in this manner, says Joseph being 92 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:01,960 17 years old was feeding his flock. 93 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:04,720 Well, seventeen. OK, well, seventeen. 94 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,960 Well what we're just introduced them before the age of 17. 95 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,800 What then? Where did he come from? 96 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,320 What kind of family did he have? What kind of role model did his 97 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,280 dad play? What kind of influence? 98 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:17,440 Where did, what was his family background? 99 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,520 What can we expect? What was his character before 100 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,480 that? And so with maybe me thinking 101 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:25,080 that she might have those questions, I think there's 102 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:26,840 probably others that have those questions as well. 103 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:30,640 How did Joseph get to where he was by the age of 17, and who 104 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,840 was he? What were his family ties, if 105 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:36,320 you want to say? And if Lizzie would ask me that 106 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,120 question, I would just simply say I don't know. 107 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,960 Which prompted me to maybe dive a little deeper into this, as we 108 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,240 should, not just for that reason, but of course for other 109 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,160 reasons. All of us have families. 110 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:56,000 They all mean something and they are sometimes undesirable. 111 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,440 Undesirable. Most of the times are full of 112 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:00,800 joy. They're blessed and sometimes 113 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:05,440 they're troubled. And what we have that There's no 114 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,200 question that Joseph came from quite the background. 115 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,280 Not every 17 year old could boast that his great grandfather 116 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,800 was Abraham, or that one of his grandpas was Isaac, or that his 117 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,920 dad was Jacob, but his mother was Rachel. 118 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:26,200 He had come from quite the context, but what I want to do 119 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,080 is I want to consider it from a point of his father, Jacob, the 120 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,600 man Jacob, as we recall, maybe you know this, I didn't know 121 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,800 this, but he had a name that was the figurative meaning of Jacob 122 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:37,960 is actually called the chiseler or the schemer. 123 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,400 And he had been appropriately named that because almost from 124 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,840 his birth he had been very, very skillful, a very manipulative at 125 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,080 getting the things that he wanted in the way that he wanted 126 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,440 to get them. And when we read the story of 127 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,560 Jacob, which I recommend that you do in this on your own, of 128 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,720 course, and discover that he actually chiseled his his 129 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,600 brother out of his own birthright, we see that in 130 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,920 Genesis 25, he further deceived his father. 131 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,680 He further deceived his father and he conferred upon him the 132 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,680 blessing which ought to be had given to Esau. 133 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,120 We see that in chapter 27. He was also a very focused 134 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,080 individual. When we when he set his mind to 135 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,160 something, he was ready to give it all that he had. 136 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:28,520 And we see this no more on display in Jacob's life than in 137 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,520 the realm of his love life. If you want to say, we're told 138 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:36,000 in Genesis 29 that when his eyes fastened, having gone to live in 139 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,280 the country of of Laban, when his eyes fastened upon this 140 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,760 girl, Rachel, she really, really captivated him. 141 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:50,560 He was enamoured by her and in Genesis 2915 through 18, it says 142 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:53,800 Laban said to him, just because you are a relative of mine, 143 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,800 because Jacob was Laban's nephew. 144 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:57,800 Should you work for me for nothing? 145 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:00,000 Tell me, what should your wages be? 146 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:02,760 Well, Jacob was quick to answer Laban. 147 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,880 He noticed that the fact that his uncle Laban had two girls. 148 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,720 The older girl was Leah, the younger one was Rachel. 149 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,920 And we're told that Leah had weak eyes or she was she was 150 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,160 delicate, if you want to say, or she was kind of frail or she was 151 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:26,160 just not what Rachel was. Whereas Rachel, we're told, was 152 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,880 lovely in form and beautiful. And Jacob had fallen in love 153 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,040 with Rachel. We see that in verse 18 of 29. 154 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,880 And so when his uncle, uncle asks him, what would you like 155 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,520 for your wages? He said, well, how does Rachel 156 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,360 sound? And he said, by the way, he 157 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,560 said, I'll work for seven years for you, for Rachel. 158 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,320 And that's quite a deal. That's quite a deal. 159 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,720 I mean, I just now I'm a father-in-law and, and, and 160 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,040 Justin didn't come to me asking for Kylie's hand in marriage, 161 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,480 but I distinctly don't remember him saying that he'll work for 162 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,120 me for seven years for Kylie's hand in marriage. 163 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:08,000 And that's exactly what Jacob did. 164 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,680 Now, ironically, Jacob's Uncle Laban was a bit of a schemer 165 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:14,440 himself, and he deceives his nephew Jacob by slipping his 166 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,880 older daughter to him of the night of their marriage and 167 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,080 experience. We can read all this in the 168 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,120 record. It's really quite amazing. 169 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,920 It sounds almost like a soap opera, and it really is a soap 170 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,160 opera. It's better than any episode of 171 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:27,760 Days of Our Lives that we'll ever watch. 172 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,200 And it's really amazing. Jacob says. 173 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,920 Lavin, give me my wife. My time is completed and I want 174 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,600 to lie with her. And there's nothing like getting 175 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,640 right to it, right? So Laban brought together all 176 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:44,400 the people of the palace and gave a feast. 177 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,520 And when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her 178 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:49,480 to Jacob. And Jacob lay with her. 179 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,960 And Laban gave his servant girl Zealpa to his daughter as a 180 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,160 maidstream. And there's a ton of stuff in 181 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:57,880 this, this couple of verses here. 182 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,840 And we're not going to understand, you know, we have to 183 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,440 understand the Eastern customs of the Old Testament. 184 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,040 They understand the bridal veils, the purity, the sanctity 185 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,320 of the event, all that comes into play in this manner. 186 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,320 And when you need to understand that, when Label went to his bed 187 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,600 at night, you know, I could imagine him saying to his wife, 188 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,720 you know, you wait till the morning. 189 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,640 This can be quite the event, quite the show, because, you 190 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,520 know, it was quite the conversation and it was 191 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,840 unbelievable. Verses 25 to 27 says when my 192 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:32,480 warning came, there was Leah. So Jacob said to Laban, what's 193 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,600 this you've done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't 194 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,680 I? Why you deceive me then, Laban 195 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,560 and trying to legitimize the whole whole situation says, 196 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:45,960 listen, the custom is that you can't give away your younger 197 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,760 daughter until you give away your older daughter. 198 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:51,680 So I determined that I must first give you my older 199 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:53,760 daughter. And now that I've done that, but 200 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:55,000 here's the deal. If you'll fulfill the 201 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,480 responsibilities of the bridal week, I'll give you Rachel, 202 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,000 provided you work for me for another seven years. 203 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,520 And such was Jacob's passionate longing and commitment for 204 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,720 Rachel. He really, really loved Rachel. 205 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:14,240 And he agreed to that deal. He said fine, That's, that's the 206 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:15,560 deal. I worked for another seven 207 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:17,360 years. So seven years he worked for her 208 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,800 only to get her older sister. Now he gets her in another seven 209 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,960 years of hard labor. And you see the relationship 210 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,160 between uncle and nephew now as we read the story, it's just 211 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:31,600 kind of one guy scheming and and another guy both kind of 212 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,840 scheming each other, outdoing one another and various business 213 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,840 deals or family affiliations all the way through. 214 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,120 And so now the family is starting to grow. 215 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,160 It's starting to take full picture. 216 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,120 Leah produces four children in a row because God favors her, it 217 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,360 tells us. And we're told that in the in 218 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,240 the book of Genesis, Leah was not immediately favored by her 219 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,960 husband Jacob, yet God favored her with children. 220 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,320 Rachel was supremely favored by her husband, but God chose to 221 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:07,800 close her womb. God is sovereign even in the 222 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,200 details of these things, and we don't think in these terms 223 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:13,160 today, but we should because it's right to do so. 224 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,840 God is involved in the details, and so when we read, for 225 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:22,080 example, in verses 2032 through 35 in chapter 29 in the way in 226 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,600 which Leah was giving birth to all these cheating, she's giving 227 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,880 them kind of just one verse at a time, one right after another. 228 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,040 And so we read, we read that we'll notice in verse 32 that 229 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:33,120 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 230 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,920 She called him Reuben. Verse 33, she conceived again, 231 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,720 gave birth to a son, called him Simeon. 232 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,800 Verse 34, she conceived and gave birth to a son, called him Levi. 233 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:46,600 And verse 35 she conceived again and gave birth to his son, and 234 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,880 she called him Judah. And then we have just a really 235 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,880 strange statement at the end of chapter 29. 236 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,200 It says then she stopped having children just like that. 237 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,520 OK, so Genesis 30, verses one through 2. 238 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,560 But Rachel, when she saw she was not bearing Jacob any children, 239 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:07,320 she became jealous of her sister. 240 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:12,040 So she said to Jacob, give me children or I'll die. 241 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,200 Jacob says, come on, give me a break. 242 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:19,200 I'm not God. I don't choose who gives you 243 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,760 children, who doesn't give you children. 244 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,760 I can't make that stuff up. I'm not in charge of that. 245 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,560 Verses 30 and verse 3 it says, or chapter 30, verse three it 246 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:31,720 says. And so she did what was 247 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,520 customary at the time she took the servant made Bilhah, and she 248 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,280 said that she had been given and she gave her to Jacob as a wife 249 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,000 says sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and 250 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,600 that through her I can too build a family. 251 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,960 And as was the custom back then, any children born through that 252 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,360 servant may would be credited to as a child of Rachel. 253 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,560 And no matter and the matters of course take their course. 254 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,760 And Bill Hogg gives birth to Dan in verse 6 and to Napoli in 255 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:05,000 verse 7. Now Leah then, whose 256 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,520 productivity had dwindled, decided to the same strategy 257 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,800 with her maid servant Zilpa. And Zilpa gave Jacob Zilpa and 258 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,800 Jacob got together and Zilpa in turn gives birth to Gad in verse 259 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:22,240 10 and then to Asher in verse 13. 260 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,720 And then we have this unbelievable thing where they 261 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:30,520 start trading favours with Mandrake's currency of 262 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,720 Mandrake's. And in verses 14 and 15 of 263 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,840 chapter 30, this whole Mandrake trade going on during the wheat 264 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,320 harvest. And Rachel and Leah are talking 265 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:41,000 to one another. And Rachel says to the other, 266 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,640 Hey, give me some of your mandrakes. 267 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:45,720 And she said, well, wasn't enough that you took my way, my 268 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:46,760 husband. Now you want to take my 269 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,480 mandrakes too. You know, I think that's kind of 270 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:55,760 a bit over the top or a snap response by by her, you know, 271 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:57,920 can I have a few mandrakes? Hey, man, you just took my 272 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,520 husband too. Now you want my mandrakes? 273 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,360 Give me a break. It's kind of how I pictured in 274 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,000 my mind how the conversation went. 275 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,520 And in 15 and 16, we look at the reaction here, it says, it says 276 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:13,000 very well, Rachel said he can sleep with you tonight in return 277 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,960 for your son's mandrakes. So when Jacob came in from the 278 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,520 fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and she said, 279 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:22,640 you know, you must sleep with me. 280 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,000 She said, I've hired you with my son's mandrakes. 281 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,360 And so that's what that was that I guess. 282 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,320 And, and God listened to Leah. She became pregnant. 283 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,680 She bore a fifth son. And Leah said, God has rewarded 284 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:39,840 me, giving my maidservant to my husband. 285 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:44,480 So she named him Issachar. And then she conceived again and 286 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,280 she bore him a sixth son. And she she said, God is 287 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,040 presenting me with a precious gift. 288 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,920 And this time my husband will treat me with honor because I 289 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,520 have borne him six sons. So she named him Zebulun. 290 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:02,480 And then she pops out a daughter named Dinah in verse 21. 291 00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:06,000 So I mean, this thing is going crazy. 292 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:10,599 All these burst things going hog wild, just child after child 293 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,839 after child, kids all over the place. 294 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,119 You've got six boys and a daughter straight up out of 295 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,760 Leah, 2 by her servant maid. So that's nine. 296 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,920 And there's two by the other servant maid, that's 11. 297 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:27,040 So up to this point, up to this point, we're looking at these 298 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,520 children right here on this family tree. 299 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,600 Up to this point, that's 11. You got 10 boys, one girl, one 300 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:39,160 dad, 4 mothers, 2 concubines. And you think that you've got a 301 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:43,240 complicated family. You know, we don't need to think 302 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,480 in terms that our family is so messed up or so twisted because 303 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,760 when we look at the Old Testament and even just this 304 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,840 picture here, there's a lot going on there. 305 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,880 And then comes Joseph, in the midst of all this, you know, 306 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:01,800 this is not a mythological story. 307 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,760 This is truth. This is history. 308 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:09,040 This is what came from the this is where Jesus came from. 309 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:16,240 He came from this family tree. Verses 22 through 24 of Genesis 310 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:18,600 30, it says, then God remembered Rachel. 311 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,160 He listened to her and he opened her womb and she became pregnant 312 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,400 and gave birth to a son. And she said, God has taken away 313 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,160 my disgrace and she named him Joseph. 314 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,480 And she said, may the Lord add to me another son. 315 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:40,240 And so all in the background of all this family, the growth of 316 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:44,400 this family, comes this little fella named Joseph and they love 317 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,920 him. Now what we need to understand 318 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,120 in this narrative, in this progression, what I'm going to 319 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:56,280 try to do is that while it's not recorded for a step by step and 320 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:00,120 and clear accuracy, it's clear that at points where we have 321 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:04,120 silence, there is actual a progression of time that happens 322 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:07,360 there. So now between verses 24 and 323 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:11,520 chapter 30 and chapter 37, verse 2, what we've got is we've got a 324 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,280 space of 17 years like we talked about already, 17 years. 325 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,040 That's all wrapped up in the formative stages of this little 326 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,680 boy's life, Joseph. And sometime after he was born, 327 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,240 however short or however long, maybe months, maybe years, we're 328 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,360 not told, but Jacob's father or Joseph's father, Jacob 329 00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:32,000 determines that they're going to move. 330 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:35,640 The kind of occurrence that maybe happens in all of our 331 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:36,880 lives. They're going to move from one 332 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,400 place to another. The family moves from the land 333 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,240 of Laban to Canaan. You know, maybe mom and dad are 334 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:44,960 talking. They finally conclude, you know, 335 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:46,920 we're moving, hey, we're going to move back to where we came 336 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:48,640 from. We're leaving this land of 337 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:49,760 layman. We're going to go back to 338 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,680 Canaan. We're going to relocate in 339 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,080 Canaan or where they were at Laban, the land of Laban, which 340 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,760 is Padamaran, all the way to Canaan was about 500, five, 150 341 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,960 miles. That's about from here, from 342 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,440 Bakersfield all the way nearly to the border of Oregon. 343 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,960 That's a long way, 550 miles or so To the kids who are old 344 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:13,360 enough, maybe they would understand. 345 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:14,560 They were shared at the dinner table. 346 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:16,680 If you want to say the parents would tell the older kids say 347 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:17,600 we're going to go ahead and move. 348 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,400 You know, maybe they don't need to make this explanation to the 349 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,080 younger children. We're going to move to Canaan. 350 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,840 We don't know how old Joseph was at this time. 351 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,960 Maybe he was four, 5-6 or seven, but he was the youngest one at 352 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,160 that time. We do know sitting around the 353 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,520 time a table at the time, if he was this age, he was able to 354 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,520 maybe catch on to these conversations that were going on 355 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,960 with his parents. He would know that there's a big 356 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:48,800 change underway, and in that little boy's life, God was 357 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,640 already forming his character. For an exceptional. 358 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,000 Purpose which Joseph nor any others could understand at that 359 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,480 time. God was already moving through 360 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,560 it all. God was working and planning and 361 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,760 putting into this young boy's experience the essential 362 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,920 situations and feelings that would be necessary for him to be 363 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,720 his man in His place at his time. 364 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,200 God is. Sovereign over all these things. 365 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,920 I think it's safe. To estimate that by the time 366 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,560 that they were ready to make the move, maybe Joseph is 6 years 367 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,080 old or so and therefore he would have been aware of the fact that 368 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,920 they were moving they. Would have looked forward. 369 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,160 To it and they would have prepared for the children for 370 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,000 it. And he probably had one of his 371 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,440 earliest memories of the moment that's recorded in verse 17 of 372 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,560 chapter 31. It says then Jacob arose and set 373 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,400 his son and his wives on camels. When they get there, they. 374 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,240 They maybe the kids really didn't know what was going on. 375 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,600 The kids couldn't process the information. 376 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,920 Their tiny lies were just in an in an amazement in the world. 377 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,400 So many things going on, moving from one place to another, 378 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,800 loading up on camels, moving to a different land. 379 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:07,960 You know, his father comes in, says this is it, this is the 380 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,240 time, this is what we're doing. We're going to go ahead and 381 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,080 move. And when all that uncertainty, 382 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,720 you know, dad, Jacob just starts saying, hey, just trust me, 383 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,160 listen to me, we're going to move. 384 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,920 This is what we're doing. Stick with me. 385 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,400 And for Joseph, that experience would have been exactly the 386 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:23,800 same. Maybe you same mom, where are we 387 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,080 going? What are all these camels for? 388 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:27,480 You're going to ride on that camel. 389 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,240 Am I going to ride with you? Am I going to get my own camel? 390 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:31,840 Am I going to ride in front with dad? 391 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,720 Can I ride shotgun on the camel? All these questions that maybe a 392 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,800 kid can ask, you know, when all this stuff is going on. 393 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,160 You know. I, I, I'm saying these things in 394 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,800 order for us to understand like this is a real family. 395 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,520 This was a. Real moment in a real family's 396 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,200 life where these things actually come into play. 397 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:55,840 Making a real. Journey. 398 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,520 And in it all, God is fashioning and forming this young boy for a 399 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:05,200 future unknown to him. So on to the camels they go, 400 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,040 with all the livestock being driven ahead, all the goods 401 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,560 accumulated in pad and a ram. Pad and a RAM. 402 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,320 Some of them legitimates, some of them illegitimately. 403 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,000 To go to his father. Isaac in the land of Canaan. 404 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,640 Well, Jacob? Had not gotten where he was by 405 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,040 that point by putting all this stuff behind him. 406 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,320 You know, we're not going to ride up in front with all of our 407 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:32,800 stuff behind because people who who are interested in this our 408 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:34,320 stuff, they're trying to come after us. 409 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,240 If they want all the stuff that's behind us, they're going 410 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,040 to get that fairly easily. So Jacob decided to put all of 411 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,440 his live stuff, all of his goods in front of him and kind of 412 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,720 drive drive the whole family and all of his goods. 413 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:47,880 He put him in front of me. He. 414 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,920 Was smart to do that because three days after he left the 415 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,800 land of Laban, his uncle Laban, Laban decided that he had 416 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,400 decided that Jacob had left or pulled one over on him. 417 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,160 And so he goes chasing after Jacob and he catches up to him 418 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,680 three days later, which we're we're told in Gilead and verse 419 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,520 23. And Jacob pitched his ten in the 420 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,600 Hill Country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban 421 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,480 and his relatives camp there too. 422 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:21,760 Then it says when Laban. Had gone to shear his sheep. 423 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,600 Rachel stole her father's household. 424 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:31,920 Gods, now maybe we imagine Joseph, little Joseph at this 425 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,360 time saying, hey, mom, why do you have all of this stuff that 426 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:37,280 you took from Grandpa? Why do you have the things? 427 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,440 That maybe when we went over to his house, we would see these 428 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,560 things, maybe in the China cabinet, these things that he 429 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,240 called his gods, things he had over here in the corner. 430 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:45,240 Why do you have all those things? 431 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,560 Why do you take those from him? Why do you take all the grandpa? 432 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,400 Stuff. And maybe we can think of Rachel 433 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,720 saying, oh, Joseph, be quiet. Don't worry about it. 434 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,840 You know your grandpa and I, your grandpa knows me and I know 435 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,800 your grandpa and just you just leave it alone. 436 00:24:57,800 --> 00:24:59,640 Don't bother me with these questions. 437 00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:01,600 Just run along. Go play with your sheep. 438 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:05,560 Maybe then. Joseph goes over to his father 439 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:07,120 or Jacob. It says, hey, dad, why are we 440 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:09,080 running away from your from Laban? 441 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:10,640 Why are we running away from grandpa? 442 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,120 Why can't we just got up and left? 443 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,600 Doesn't grandpa like you? Don't we love grandpa? 444 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,760 I mean, we got all these camels loaded up. 445 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,360 Why do we have to go away and all this stuff? 446 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,560 Hey, mom, why did grandpa show up now? 447 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,120 We've left for three days now. Grandpa's here meeting us. 448 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:28,280 What's going on? What's all what's, how come 449 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,920 everyone's camping over here beside us? 450 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,480 We can kind of imagine these little minds processing these 451 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,760 things, Joseph processing these events in his life. 452 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,120 And what do you think? Do you think he was in the 453 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:41,640 company maybe of what happened in verse 26? 454 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:44,640 Do we think he was kind of Maybe. 455 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,200 Eavesdropping a little bit when these questions were asked. 456 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,240 Around the corner. Listening intently to his 457 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,440 grandpa, looking at his dad, says what did you done? 458 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:56,880 Laban goes to Jacob, says what have you done? 459 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,920 You've deceived me. You've carried off my daughters 460 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:03,800 like captives in war. Joseph, what has been? 461 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:05,680 Saying to himself, maybe So that's right. 462 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,240 That's what I've been saying. Why did we just leave like this? 463 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,080 Why did we take all the things? And now grandpa said that we're 464 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,640 doing exactly what I thought we were doing in verse. 27. 465 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,400 Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? 466 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,560 Why didn't you tell me so we could have a party? 467 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,720 And that's the significance of what Joy and and singing the 468 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,640 music of tambourines and harps and Joseph sings. 469 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,000 Yeah. Why didn't we have a party 470 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,640 before we left? Why didn't we have dinner 471 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,600 together? Why didn't we have a a sending 472 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,720 away party? We just got up and left out of 473 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,600 there. And so maybe Joseph. 474 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,840 Would have been listening and and we think that little boy may 475 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:42,040 have processed the question here in verse 28 says you didn't even 476 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,560 let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughter's goodbye. 477 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,960 You've done a foolish thing. Now I. 478 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,560 Don't know about your relationship with your 479 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,840 grandfather, but we all love our grandfathers. 480 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,520 This is my grandfather, Galen Osborne. 481 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,520 He's known for many, many great works in the church, 482 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,160 establishing and helping the growth of the church in Africa, 483 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,320 all of his preaching and all the things that he did. 484 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,360 But what I remember about him more than anything. 485 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,680 More than anything. Is who he was away from the 486 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,760 pulpit. That's what I remember of him 487 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:26,280 just being an absolute goofball. For his grandchildren. 488 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:32,200 To be entertained by him. This is what he loved. 489 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:37,320 This is who he was. All this formal preaching was 490 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:38,880 great. All the work for the Kingdom was 491 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:43,440 a memorable, was immeasurable. But he was by far a great 492 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,280 grandpa, you know, So I don't want any. 493 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:52,760 That's a great one right there. And grandma sent this. 494 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:57,400 One to me last night. But this is who he was. 495 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,840 This is what I remember most about my grandfather, willing to 496 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,960 goof around and to make his grandchildren or his children 497 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:09,680 laugh. Now, I wouldn't want anybody 498 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,360 tearing me away from my grandpa without saying a proper goodbye, 499 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:14,760 and that's what was happening here. 500 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:18,880 He wasn't. Joseph wasn't going to have, you 501 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,000 know, Joseph was going to have to learn how to cry, learn how 502 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,320 to deal with the pain, learn how to get get gut punched, and even 503 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,560 those early circumstances that we're going to read about in 504 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,360 future studies. God was forming and framing this 505 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:35,320 tiny life in preparation for what would be in the future. 506 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,640 So do you think Joseph kind of leaned in a little bit or maybe 507 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,240 his eyes tightened up a little bit when this when he heard this 508 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,960 question in verse 30. Now you have gone off because 509 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:49,800 you long to return your father's house. 510 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:55,840 But why did you steal my gods? OK, now if. 511 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,200 We had any inkling and all if he'd been hanging around his 512 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,400 mom, you know, maybe his mom's skirt or dress or even you aware 513 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,040 of this. You know, he wants to hear the 514 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:06,600 answer. This Joseph wants to hear the 515 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,800 answer to what his grandpa is asking Jacob at this point. 516 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,440 And look what it says in verse 3132. 517 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,160 And Jacob Asher says, I was afraid I thought you'd take your 518 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,560 daughters away by force. But if you find anyone who has 519 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,320 your gods, he shall not live in the presence of our relatives. 520 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,720 See for yourself whether they're anything of your of yours here 521 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,760 with me. And if so, take it now. 522 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,080 Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. 523 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,520 You see when you're a. Deceiver. 524 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,920 You'll make people around you be deceivering as well at some 525 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,560 point. And I think Jacob May. 526 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,520 Be rubbed up on Rachel a little bit here. 527 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,600 Rachel having. Spent time in the company of 528 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,120 Jacob. It's clear that he rubbed off on 529 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,880 her just a little bit, and we can only imagine as Joseph heard 530 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,160 his mother from the top of her camel and she sat on the 531 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,080 saddlebag and held the gods maybe in that bag that she was 532 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,080 sitting on. For which his dad was looking. 533 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,320 For and now she had sinned by taking those things. 534 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,640 She's sinned just in the. Act by stealing those things. 535 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,360 But she also lied through her teeth. 536 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,040 Then again in her response when she was prompted with this 537 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,160 question. She probably didn't have to lie. 538 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,000 But she did, and deceit will do that. 539 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,000 You see one deceitful. Action sends into the process of 540 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,720 sight a cycle that's almost unstoppable. 541 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:31,080 Listen to her from the. Top of the camel in verse 3035, 542 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,720 she says she said to her father, don't be angry, my Lord, that I 543 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,360 cannot stand up in your presence. 544 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,280 I'm having my period. So he searched, but he could not 545 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,160 find the household gods. And then you'll turn to the end 546 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,280 of the chapter. What? 547 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,400 It's a ton of material tied up in the concluding verse of 548 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,320 chapter 31. They take a. 549 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,160 They make a covenant with one another, that is Jacob and 550 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:56,800 Layman. They make a covenant with one 551 00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:58,640 another. They establish the lines of 552 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:00,920 demarcation. If you want to say they offer 553 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,560 sacrifices together, they sit down, they have a meal, and at 554 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,600 the end of verse 4054 and after they had eaten, they spent the 555 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,480 night there. And I think we've all had those. 556 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,560 Moments, all the gathering of the family together, having 557 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,680 dinner, having all the good times together, just being with 558 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,040 one another. But there's always that 559 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:22,840 anticipation of when everything's going to 560 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,200 everybody's got to go home. There's that on. 561 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,160 Underlying feeling of of maybe anxiety, like, oh, these guys 562 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,160 are going to have to leave now we're going to deal with the 563 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,240 sorrow of a goodbye that's coming. 564 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,600 And that was going to happen the following morning in this story. 565 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,680 The party was over and the separation was inevitable. 566 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,440 So they couldn't have all. The joy of that evening all all 567 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,360 that they did without the prospect of the morning party. 568 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:01,080 And in verse 55. Is the picture, it says. 569 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,400 Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his 570 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,680 granddaughters and he blessed them, and then he left them and 571 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:11,520 went home. You know only one of the. 572 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,080 Hardest hearts can read that and and walk away without any 573 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,160 emotion. Do you think Laban squeezed 574 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:22,640 those boys, held them tight? Do you think he grabbed? 575 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,920 Those teenage kids and the ones that were now in their maybe 576 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,960 early 20s. Do you think he grabbed? 577 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,120 Them tight and held them close. And don't you think that he was? 578 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:38,080 Uncontrollably attracted to his his two daughters, Rachel and 579 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,040 Leah. And wanted to just. 580 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,000 Hug them as long as he could. And then when he turned and. 581 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,760 Walked away to go home. Maybe he chose not to look back 582 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,840 because he couldn't look back for the emotions that was going 583 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:56,640 on in his mind. And what is a small? 584 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,200 Boy like Joseph, make of that. And in that. 585 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,320 All things were working together for the good of this young boy 586 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,200 Joseph, who was called of God according to his purpose. 587 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,480 It's a great story. So far and I'm really excited to 588 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:17,560 get into it further as we go. When Herod. 589 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:19,760 Trembled. Jerusalem trembled. 590 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,920 We read that in Matthew. 2 verses 2 through 3, The arrival 591 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,880 of the wise men brought this question reverberating to the 592 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,080 core of Herod's being. It says, Where is he that is 593 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,480 born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the 594 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,200 east, and we've come to worship him. 595 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,520 And Herod was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him. 596 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,400 Basically in other. Words When he started to freak 597 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,080 out. The entire place started to 598 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,360 freak out. And I'm convinced that. 599 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,000 The fear and distress which gripped the life of Jacob in the 600 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,560 prospect of facing his brother Esau that we see in chapter 32. 601 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,640 I think Jacob started to get really, really anxious of seeing 602 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:00,680 his brother Esau. We can read about all that went 603 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:06,200 on with him. Quite contentious relationship 604 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,480 there. Verse 7 of chapter 32, it says 605 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,920 in great fear and distress, Jacob divided the people who 606 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,199 were with him into two groups. And again, I think Joseph would 607 00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:17,800 have been in on this a little bit. 608 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,800 He would have heard something of the of the stuff going on. 609 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,920 And I bet Joseph would have knew that there was something up with 610 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,239 his dad in the news of 400 men coming with Esau. 611 00:34:28,199 --> 00:34:30,719 Jacob's thinking, 400 men. Why is 400 men coming with your 612 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,280 brother with my Uncle Esau? He kept a little bit. 613 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,760 Of this in his mind why is dad so upset why is he sending 4 men 614 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:43,960 and all the all the fear may be going on in Jacob's in life and 615 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,560 we see they kind of what. The Father's. 616 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,840 Feeling, then, the family feels. If the father's. 617 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,920 Upset that the family starts to get agitated. 618 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:57,920 If the father's happy. Then maybe the family starts to 619 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,320 get happy and I think these feelings that Jacob was having 620 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:07,240 in in confrontation of his brother Esau was definitely seen 621 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:11,040 by his family. And then we have the night. 622 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:14,400 When Jacob left his family, we see this in verse 22. 623 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,560 Verse chapter 32. Jacob gets up. 624 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,360 He takes his wives in the night, and his two maidservants and his 625 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,920 eleven sons, and he crosses the Fort of Javik in the night. 626 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,280 What would you think if you're? In all of a sudden, your family 627 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,000 just uprooted in the middle of the night to go somewhere else 628 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,440 again. They're moving again. 629 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,520 They have torches, very few because they want to move 630 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,720 circumspectly. They don't want to be noticed. 631 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,840 They're walking their children. Maybe they're waking their 632 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:43,880 children from their beds in the middle of the night and said, 633 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,800 come on now, We got to cross the river middle of the night. 634 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:47,720 Kids are kind of groggy and still not awake. 635 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:49,360 But what are we doing this for, dad? 636 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:50,560 Why do we move in the middle of the night? 637 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,800 Well, don't we need to gather? Everything can I get my my 638 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,400 favorite stuffed animal and go with this? 639 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:57,400 We're in the middle of the night. 640 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,240 And you know, all these questions and, and, and maybe 641 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:02,480 Jacob says, look, look, just be quiet. 642 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:04,280 We're moving in the middle of the night. 643 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:06,760 We're going to go. Just listen to your mother. 644 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,160 We're moving. This is the decision that's been 645 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,960 made. And so Jacob ushers his family 646 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:17,080 across the board of Javik. And in verse 23 it says after he 647 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:21,200 had sent them across the stream, he sends over all his 648 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:24,200 possessions. And Jacob was. 649 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:28,440 Left alone. And I don't this and this has. 650 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:29,880 Never happened to me. I don't know what's ever 651 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,120 happened to you. But I know for sure that if if a 652 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,800 father moved his entire family in the middle of night across 653 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,360 the stream and he gets everybody crossed and then he just stays 654 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,680 there, I think all the family could live in. 655 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:42,360 Like, what's dad doing? How come Dad's not coming 656 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,920 across? Why dad stay back there? 657 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,800 What's going on? He wanted us to get all up in 658 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,600 the middle of the night and move us all the way across this 659 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,080 stream. And now he's going to stay back. 660 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:52,240 Give me a break. Come on, Dad. 661 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:54,280 What are you staying back there for? 662 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,720 What's he going on? And the fact of the matter was 663 00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:00,400 that Dad Jacob was meeting with God. 664 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,080 And Jacob didn't know. He was going to meet with God at 665 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,640 that moment. God was going to come and 666 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:08,080 wrestle him all the way to the ground. 667 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,960 And and when God did that, basically it's kind of a wake up 668 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:12,840 call for Jacob. He's going, hey, Chisler, I'm 669 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,840 going to give you a new name. Hey, Deceitful. 670 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,560 I want to turn your life around. I want to make you a brand new 671 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:19,880 dad. I want to make you a brand new 672 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:21,680 husband. I'm going to change your life. 673 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,840 And in the morning, when he. Returned with his staff, which 674 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,120 had become a characteristic of Jacob's life. 675 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,680 He now leans upon his staff and he limps back because as he 676 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,200 limps back and he goes back to his family, and maybe when he 677 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,360 gets back to his family, you know, his family's looking like 678 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:42,640 what in the world happened to you? 679 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,960 What are you limping now for? What do you got a staff for? 680 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,280 What happened to you? What kind of trouble did you get 681 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,960 yourself into? Well, I think it had to have. 682 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:56,560 Some sort of impression upon his children, without a doubt. 683 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,600 And then we have this dreadful experience in chapter 34, 684 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,800 Genesis, the violation of the one daughter's purity. 685 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,040 You have 11. Sons and one daughter at this 686 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,760 point. Don't you think those? 687 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:13,720 11 boys would watch after their sister. 688 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,600 Don't you think they'd be? Watching out for her in all 689 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,600 manners of her life, maybe even if 9 or 10 of them were doing 690 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,600 something else and there was one boy left with her, would be 691 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:27,840 watching over her and making sure that she was taken care of. 692 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:32,160 You better believe it. Don't you think they noticed 693 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,840 when Shechem, the son of Haymore of the Hivites, saw her? 694 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,800 Do you think they care? When they saw him walk away with 695 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:43,480 her, do you think their hearts burn with the deepest passions 696 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:48,640 when he had his way with her? And what about Joseph? 697 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,600 Maybe 10 or 11 years old at this point, maybe not fully 698 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,680 understanding the whole reproductive system of the human 699 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,200 body and all the other secretive conversations and the 700 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:58,840 aggravation of his older brothers. 701 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:00,840 All these things are happening now. 702 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,360 He's noticing these things. Something happened to Dinah. 703 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:06,880 What did this other guy do to Dinah? 704 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,560 And she looks away to her and he looks to his father Jacob and 705 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,040 hear his here's his father Jacob say now let's be careful here. 706 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:17,680 We don't want to become a disgrace of the surrounding 707 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,640 culture. And all the brothers looked. 708 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:22,200 To Jacob and said, are you kidding me? 709 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:28,320 How can a father know what just happened to his daughter act 710 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:34,720 like this or think like this So Dinah's brothers take matters 711 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:36,840 into their own hands. They set up an amazing, 712 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,840 deceitful scheme. They get these guys in the most 713 00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:43,520 compromised and physical positions, and then they drive 714 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,880 under the cover of darkness and they butcher the whole place of 715 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:47,800 Shechem. They bring in the outsiders, 716 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:52,240 they plunder all of Shechem. And in it all, God is working to 717 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:57,440 form the character of Joseph in all these events. 718 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,520 Chapter 35. They then they go to Bethel and 719 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,040 Jacob had been at Bethel before if you read back in chapter 28. 720 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:10,040 In Bethel is where Jacob had a dream of the latter going to 721 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,920 heaven. The heaven where he was. 722 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,120 Fleeing in that dream where he was fleeing from Esau. 723 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:18,600 And here in chapter 35, verses 2 and three, he says to the people 724 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:20,720 of Bethel, he says purify yourselves. 725 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:23,960 He says, let's make sure that we experience God's presence before 726 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,600 we go on from here. And then the following verse is 727 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:32,320 recorded as a story of of deep bereavement that he's going to 728 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,200 experience Jacob and the whole family. 729 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,960 We don't have time to go. Through it all, and I recommend 730 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,840 that you read it on your own, you find the funeral of Deborah. 731 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,280 You know, everybody must have loved Deborah. 732 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,320 Just the verse here it says now Deborah, Rebecca's nurse died 733 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,280 and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. 734 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,400 It was really a solemn time in their lives. 735 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:02,320 And then the tragic loss of his wife, wife Rachel, for whom he 736 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,320 had worked so many years to have. 737 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,960 Verses 16 through. 18 All the expectations and all the 738 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,520 excitement on Joseph's part of becoming maybe a Big Brother, 739 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,520 expecting his mother to give birth and he's going to be a Big 740 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:16,840 Brother now. He's going to have a little 741 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:22,200 little little brother or a yeah brother or daughter to hang out 742 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,120 with now. Maybe he's 12 at this. 743 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,120 Point All the siblings are grown up, maybe in their late teens or 744 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,840 20. Maybe someone can have children 745 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,240 on their own now, and maybe we see Joseph going to his mother. 746 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:34,520 Hey, mom, when are you going to have this kid? 747 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:36,440 When do you have am I going to be Big Brother? 748 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,400 When's that going to happen? Is it going to be a boy? 749 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:40,360 Is it going to be a girl? What do you think, Mom? 750 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,600 Well, that day, finally. Comes and that day, mingled with 751 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:52,560 joy and deep, deep heartache. She goes into the pains. 752 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:55,800 Of childbirth, and as the contractions increase, as the 753 00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,720 sense of terror then grieve grips that mother grips Rachel. 754 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,880 And finally as in. Giving birth, her very life ebbs 755 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:08,240 out from her and again the life of this boy, Tragedy and pain 756 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:11,880 and sorrow and bereavement come crashing into his life once 757 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:16,280 again and into his experience. And then we read the. 758 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,320 Record of the death of his grandfather, Jacob's grandfather 759 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,600 Isaac, and another burial service and all the inevitable 760 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:27,400 thoughts about the frailty of life and the reality of death 761 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,040 and the necessity of faith. Maybe that's coming upon Joseph 762 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:33,040 at this time. In the middle of all. 763 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,520 That then there's the unthinkable that happened in the 764 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:40,360 middle of all this grief, the childbirth of of Benjamin and 765 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:43,040 the death of Rachel, the death of Isaac. 766 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:48,920 In verse 22 we read the following the death of the his 767 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,760 most treasured companion, Rachel, while Israel, that is, 768 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:55,080 Jacob, was living in that region, his oldest boy, Reuben 769 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,920 went in and slept with his father, concubine Bilhah. 770 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,040 And we're told. That all we're told is Jacob 771 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,800 heard of it. No action. 772 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,640 No response. Nothing. 773 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,400 We're told. How callous. 774 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:19,400 Can a person like Reuben be? How hard of a? 775 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,440 Heart. What kind of man is Reuben? 776 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:25,920 You and your father just. Lost his his wife of devotion, 777 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,400 the lady whom for now now he's involved with his father's 778 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,120 concubine. And at the very breath. 779 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,480 Of of the death of Rachel. Now we're involved in an 780 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:38,640 incestuous activity, and when we get to chapter 49, realize that 781 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:40,400 Jacob had actually not forgotten about it. 782 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:42,800 We'll get to there at some point, God willing. 783 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:47,200 In chapter 36 you can read about the lineage of Esau. 784 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,800 And chapter 30. 7 verse 2 where we started here. 785 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,280 We're now back at the. Beginning of our sermon face to 786 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,920 face, looking into the eyes of a young boy named Joseph, 17 years 787 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:07,680 old, who has been through more than most of us in our lives by 788 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:11,480 the age of 17. The grace of God. 789 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:15,080 Is great. Now I have deliberately taking 790 00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:19,360 that time to give just a glimpse of or a touch of the background 791 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,880 of Joseph and his family's life. And I. 792 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:25,240 Really recommend that you read it through on your own multiple 793 00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:28,440 times to understand it more and more. 794 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,160 And I want you to notice that if you think you have a 795 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,120 dysfunctional background, we've got a long way to go. 796 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,120 And indeed, we all came up with dysfunct from a dysfunctional 797 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:42,920 background. Sin makes us dysfunctional. 798 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,280 But when we take my. Sin plus your sin and a few 799 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,640 other people's sins. Then we all have revealed that 800 00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:54,120 we have these implications that we're not all perfect, we're all 801 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,520 out of alignment, so we're all going in different directions 802 00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,800 most of the time. Well, I want to summarize. 803 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,000 With just a couple thoughts. In a less than perfect. 804 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,200 Family Life God was preparing Joseph for the role he planned 805 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,320 for him. You know, if there was ever. 806 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,320 A boy, if there was ever a character by the age of 17 who 807 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:17,120 had enough to blame, had enough basis to blame. 808 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:22,000 Everything on his. Past it was Joseph, but he 809 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,720 didn't do it. He somehow realized that more 810 00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:29,560 spiritual progress is made through failure and tears, then 811 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:33,560 through success and laughter. He realized that God. 812 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,520 'S grace was greater than all the daunting experiences in his 813 00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:41,560 real life, and the only explanation for the existence of 814 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,920 Joseph in the role that he played is found in the wonderful 815 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:48,360 grace of God. There's no human. 816 00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,200 Reason whatsoever as to why it should be that Joseph could ever 817 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,680 emerge out of this mess of his family life, except for the fact 818 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:57,640 that God purposed that it would be so. 819 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:05,600 So I want to say to you, don't allow a bunch of books to try 820 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:10,400 and explain your life for you. About what our. 821 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:14,000 Past expose us to the excuses from our own activities or our 822 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,800 legitimize our own impoverishments or mind or 823 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,520 spirit of service to God. Don't buy those books that try 824 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:20,880 to legitimize those things for you. 825 00:46:22,240 --> 00:46:25,240 Listen, God is greater than all of that. 826 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:29,600 He brings beauty out of ashes. He gives oil of joy for the 827 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:31,440 morning. He gives the garment of praise 828 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:35,240 for his spirit of heaviness. In the clear. 829 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,600 Less than perfect family life, God was preparing Joseph for the 830 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:43,080 role he planned for him. Here in these formative. 831 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,840 Years. These 17 years, there's a 832 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:50,160 striking reminder of the impact that a father's life will have 833 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:54,240 upon a boy or a girl. Jacob was not a. 834 00:46:54,240 --> 00:46:58,800 Good illustration of integrity. He was poor when it. 835 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,520 Came to decisiveness. He was slow when it came to 836 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:04,360 action. He was the master of passivity. 837 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:09,080 He sat when he should have stood and he stood when he should have 838 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:13,760 sat. He was not a perfect dad, but 839 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:16,920 God choose chose to use that imperfect dad to be the dad of 840 00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:20,120 the boy that he had purposed to be his Redeemer of his people. 841 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:22,320 And that experience that we'll read about in Egypt? 842 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,120 And indeed, one of the most. Moving scenes in this story, 843 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:30,040 which we'll get to is when Joseph gets to his dad, gets to 844 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:32,520 his dad, his old age, and he just absolutely smothers his 845 00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:36,960 father with love. I mean the scene that when. 846 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:40,160 We get to it's just, it's full of emotion when they're finally 847 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:43,680 reunited, but there's no hatred on the part of Joseph. 848 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,000 There's no hatred with. His brothers at that point. 849 00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:52,040 And in chapter 40. 5 paraphrasing his brother say, 850 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:53,520 hey Joseph, you know we're sorry. 851 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,120 We put you through the pit. We we sorry, we sold you in the 852 00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:57,200 slave. We're sorry for this. 853 00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:01,600 And Joseph stop, listen, it's OK, God sent me here. 854 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:04,840 And his brother say, you know, no, no, you don't understand 855 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:06,440 Joseph, we were in the wrong. We were doing. 856 00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:08,800 Joseph says, no, you don't understand. 857 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:14,160 God put me here. Joseph's. 858 00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,840 Explaining to his brothers and to his father, he was here for a 859 00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:23,600 purpose. And then maybe he looks at. 860 00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:28,680 His dad says, Dad, I know you're not perfect, but you're my dad. 861 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:33,080 And I love you, man. I love you, Dad. 862 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:38,040 So some of the kids may be older adults. 863 00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:40,760 Back off your old man. A little bit. 864 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:47,560 Some of us dads. Maybe quit wasting our time that 865 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:50,440 comes by reading the latest book that tells us how to do this, 866 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,000 how to do that, how to make this right, how to make this right. 867 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:54,760 You do this, they're going to turn out this way. 868 00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:56,240 You do that, they're going to turn out that way. 869 00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:59,800 Listen, it is not going to be perfect. 870 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:02,680 It's we're not. Going to get it right all the 871 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:04,840 time. We're not going to get it all 872 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:09,280 dialed in. We do our best. 873 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:13,240 We trust God and at the end of the day, we will honor God in 874 00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:16,840 all things that we do. And although we. 875 00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:19,560 We haven't been perfect. All the chaos, all the rubble of 876 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:21,920 background. He will raise up the standard 877 00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:26,800 for His glory now. I know I went, probably a 878 00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:28,440 little. Longer than I intended to, but I 879 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:31,760 think it's necessary for us to understand who Joseph was and 880 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,720 where he came from. Because it really does. 881 00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:37,080 Play an impact on what the things that he does here in the 882 00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:38,560 future as we're going to get into it. 883 00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:43,600 I do pray that I can convene the dramatic story to us all where 884 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:45,560 we can just kind of grab it and take a hold of it. 885 00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,880 I do encourage you to read the story over and over again. 886 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:51,520 You always get little pieces the more each and every time that 887 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:52,960 you read it. It's a great story. 888 00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:57,960 It's an epic story. Maybe there's one here who needs 889 00:49:57,960 --> 00:50:01,640 to follow the Lord. Maybe you need to be baptized 890 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:05,200 for the remission of your sins. Maybe you've made that decision 891 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:07,800 and you want to get get that taken care of today. 892 00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,520 We can, we can facilitate that very quickly. 893 00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:14,480 We hear the word of God, we believe, we believe it. 894 00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:17,040 We believe Jesus. We understand who he is when we 895 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:19,280 change our life because of what He's done for us. 896 00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:22,720 We confess the name of Christ, among others, and we're baptized 897 00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:26,040 for the remission of our sins. Maybe you have done that? 898 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:28,320 But you need the prayers of the church or need to make a public 899 00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:30,600 confession. We ask you, please do that now, 900 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:31,760 while we stand and while we stand.