1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,320 We're so thankful for each and everyone who is here this 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,520 morning, thankful for your presence. 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:08,360 It has been mentioned, if you're consider yourself a visitor, 4 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,440 please come back each and every time that we have the 5 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,760 opportunity to worship God at this place. 6 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:19,320 We're continuing, like I said, the study of the life of Joseph, 7 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,320 a huge topic, a huge story in the Old Testament that we can 8 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,600 gain so much from in so many ways. 9 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:36,000 Genesis 37, verse 2 tells us that Joseph was 17 years old and 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,320 involved with his brothers in the task of Shepardy. 11 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,840 And as we noted last time, by the time Joseph reached the age 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,560 of 17, he'd seen so many things in his life. 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:47,800 So many. The ugly side of life, the ugly 14 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,360 side of family, all the hardships that come along with 15 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,680 it, more than most any people experienced in their entire 16 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,240 lifetime. And the events that unfolded 17 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,560 since the day of his birth involving his brothers and the 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,520 cruelty of all manners and the chaos within the family that he 19 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,320 experienced of within the family structure. 20 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,440 It's really quite remarkable who this young man is. 21 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,760 By the time he's 17, his background was prosperous. 22 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,080 His family was huge. He was already living with an 23 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,320 increasing sense that maybe somehow in some way, God had 24 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,240 really had a plan for him and his future. 25 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,240 And you can see that little snippets throughout the story of 26 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,480 his life as we go through our study. 27 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,840 And So what I strive to do this morning is to look at the life 28 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,400 of Joseph in the terms of God's dealings with him, and 29 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,920 particularly having identified him as a classic Old Testament 30 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,760 illustration of the truth that we find in Romans 8 verses 28. 31 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,920 Namely, all things work together for the good of those who love 32 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,680 God, who are called according to his purpose. 33 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,880 Some translation say what I want to do is I would like to 34 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,720 consider this from three prospects and priests for 35 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:07,480 perspectives this morning in our study to view Joseph first of 36 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,200 all, as he has revealed to us, being the object of his Father's 37 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,880 special interest, then the object of his brother's jealous 38 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,000 hatred, and then thirdly, the object of God's providential 39 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,840 care. OK, first of all, when we see 40 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,920 Joseph here in these verses before us as the object of his 41 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:31,960 father's special interest. Now this is clearly stated in 42 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,520 verse 3. It says now, now Israel, which 43 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,040 is the new name that was given to Jacob. 44 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,440 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons. 45 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,040 That's the fact. The fact is he loved Joseph more 46 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,280 than his other sons. Was it right? 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,920 No, but it's the fact nonetheless. 48 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,400 We're immediately given the explanation of this. 49 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,800 Why is it that Joseph loved? Was Joseph was loved more than 50 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,920 his other sons? And the answer is because he was 51 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:02,040 the son of his old age. Now in one sense, there's really 52 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:06,040 no surprise to this. Joseph's brothers were older. 53 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,680 They were actually much, much older than Joseph and all they, 54 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,480 they didn't clearly share their father's love with Joseph for 55 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,320 their brother. Maybe there was somewhat 56 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,960 understanding to why Joseph or why their father loved Joseph 57 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,840 more because after all, everybody loves a puppy, right? 58 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:26,880 Everybody loves a cute little small puppy. 59 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,560 You know, no matter if you got a big dog that you've had for 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:31,640 years and years and years, you're walking your dog, you 61 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:35,840 walk by, you know, a puppy, you stop to give the puppy love. 62 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,480 You stop to to show that love. And in the same way, going 63 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,320 through your life, you reach a significant age, as Jacob had 64 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,280 already done. And then to discover that the 65 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,120 object of your affection, this child is born to the woman who 66 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,560 you have really loved your entire life, which is namely 67 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:57,440 Rachel has a baby boy. So it's not surprising that 68 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,080 there would be a unique sense of affection tied up with Joseph 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,200 from his father. Once the kids grow up a little 70 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,920 bit, you know, maybe like the older boys are able to make 71 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,360 their own decisions, move out on their own, start their own 72 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,920 family lives. And then Joseph, Oregon or 73 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:18,720 Jacob, Isaac or Israel is left with this young boy, Joseph. 74 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,320 So then when it's time to go to Home Depot, you take Joseph. 75 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:25,000 When it's time to go help out a neighbor, you take Joseph. 76 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:26,360 The boy just comes along with you. 77 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,160 And naturally, there's a certain kind of affection just by the 78 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,480 ebb and flow of life that these two experience. 79 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:38,360 And he's given this boy, however, there is wrong with it 80 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,800 in this story, as we will see. And the explanation of this 81 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,600 special interest is that he was taking Joseph is in is then 82 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,560 expressed in a gift which he gave him and we're told of this 83 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,880 richly ornamated Rd. which he had made for him and for and 84 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,080 which Joseph obviously enjoyed wearing. 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:06,440 Now, how could a nice, well made, beautiful coat create such 86 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,480 hostility between others, between his brothers? 87 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:13,800 You know, what kind of think of it you take when you're when 88 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,920 you're raising children, You know, maybe you want to reward, 89 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,720 reward your kid when they're older or take them to get new 90 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,200 clothing or hey, you got good grades on your report card. 91 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:23,600 We're going to go buy you a new code. 92 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:25,520 We're going to get you some new shoes, whatever it may be. 93 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,240 And when you come back to the siblings, maybe they're 94 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,040 irritated or annoyed he got this and I didn't get it, you know, 95 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,640 kind of an idea. But they learn to deal with it. 96 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:39,120 Children get over it. Children work with it, siblings 97 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,520 work it out together and they soon forget about it. 98 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,120 So be of great of no surprise if somebody showed up with 99 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:52,560 something and then it created. It's really a great surprise, I 100 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,000 should say, that when he showed up with this coat, that there 101 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,520 was such hostility, such venom, such hatred that was going on 102 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:02,880 from his brothers to himself because of it. 103 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,160 And certainly if a coat can do that to somebody, then there's a 104 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:11,120 much bigger problem going on much deeper than just a coat, of 105 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,840 course. And if somebody can get enraged 106 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,280 in their response to something which is a gift to another, then 107 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,680 they're dealing with something that is far, far deeper than 108 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,880 just what's on the surface. And of course, the brothers were 109 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,040 enraged. As we see now, it wasn't much 110 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,080 that the coat was very valuable. I'm sure it was a nice coat, but 111 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,320 it wasn't something valuable, wasn't piece of gold. 112 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,640 It wasn't ornate valuable piece, if you want to say. 113 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,560 Nor was it specifically that the coat alone was a display of 114 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,240 their father's affection because there was other ways where their 115 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,600 father was showing affection to Joseph. 116 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:51,240 And I think the other brothers were picking up on that. 117 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,080 But it was that the coat was set on Joseph. 118 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,640 It set him in a class apart. If you want to say there was 119 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,520 something about wearing that coat that spoke of leadership. 120 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,080 And that leadership would naturally fall to the oldest 121 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:10,560 child, which would have been Reuben at this point, the son of 122 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,920 Leah. And yet Reuben had violated his 123 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,440 father's confidence in the terrible, sickening events that 124 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:23,560 happened in back in chapter 35 where he was involved with one 125 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,760 of his father's wives. And so it would naturally be in 126 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,360 the mind of Jacob that he ought to translate, transition this 127 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,560 leadership within his home. And then it would go to his son 128 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,320 born of his, his affection of his wife's affection, Rachel's 129 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:42,200 son, and that being Joseph. And then although that Joseph 130 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,400 was 17, he was already establishing himself as an 131 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:52,840 individual of character and who was able to be trusted by his 132 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:58,040 father. And when he gave him this coat, 133 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,520 Joseph's father set Joseph apart. 134 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,960 He exempt him in once in in a sense, from the mundane tasks 135 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,960 that the other brothers were doing and that they had to face. 136 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:11,200 And Joseph didn't have to do that. 137 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,640 At some points will notice. And obviously it really ticked 138 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,280 off the brothers. It upset them. 139 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:22,560 It was really kind of unavoidable from those brothers. 140 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:24,640 I mean, every time that Joseph put on that coat, they would 141 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,280 look at his Joseph and say, man, I hate that coat. 142 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,080 I hate that coat on him. I hate the way he wears it. 143 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,960 I hate the way he fits on him. I hate the way it looks. 144 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:40,120 We hate that coat. The favouritism within the 145 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,960 family life is foolish and it leads to fury. 146 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,320 Now before we move on, let's stop and recognize that there 147 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,600 are there were unwise actions that Jacob did. 148 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,240 We can see those poor judgement as a father to display such 149 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:02,160 obvious favouritism to a child. No matter how we try to might 150 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,600 want to justify Jacob's reasons to favour him, it was really, 151 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,440 really stupid of Jacob to display favouritism to him. 152 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:15,680 Bad decision in that fashion. And Jacob himself, if we will 153 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,720 remember, Jacob was actually the object of favoritism as well 154 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,640 with his mother. Jacob's mother favored him over 155 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:24,840 his brother. And that led to conflict for 156 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,360 years and years and years with Jacob between Jacob and his 157 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,400 brother Esau. And, and you would have thought 158 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:37,320 that that alone, Jacob would have taken the opposite action 159 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,320 that his mother took to him. Maybe that would have taught him 160 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,040 the lesson, Hey, we're not going to show favoritism. 161 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,240 Because now I see what my mother did and our brothers, myself and 162 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,640 my brother, you know, we were at conflict for years. 163 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,440 He said, maybe this happened to me, but I'll never let it happen 164 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,120 to Joseph. And we need to be careful about 165 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,920 having that much pride and confidence within ourselves when 166 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,440 we think in those terms. So let us notice, especially 167 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:08,880 fathers here, beware the folly or the foolishness of favoritism 168 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,360 and the fear which will often accompany it. 169 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,680 All of our children, each one of them individually, are uniquely 170 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:19,440 gifts from God, and we need to learn to cherish them in their 171 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:25,120 own way, with love, their personalities, their 172 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,040 capabilities, their special needs, whatever it may be. 173 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,120 Each one of them has their own need, and we love them in their 174 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,120 each and every own way. And it's imperative, especially 175 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,040 on those who are born a little later, to make sure that we 176 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,200 don't cherish the older over the younger or the younger over the 177 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,000 older. And we have to work at it. 178 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,600 It's a job. You have to do it. 179 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:51,360 It takes effort to do so. And to have this young man, 180 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,920 Joseph, as his favorite might have been a means of lighting up 181 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,080 Jacob's life, but it's simply just cast a dark, deep, 182 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,440 destructive shadow over the life of Joseph and those that were 183 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,280 around him. Favoritism within the family 184 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,800 life is foolish. That leads to fury. 185 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:14,640 And we can see it clearly here. So here then is the object of 186 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,200 his father's special interests. And secondly, we want to notice 187 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:22,280 that Joseph is the object of his brother's jealous hatred and 188 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,200 hatred it is. And we see a progression here. 189 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:27,400 We're told that they hated him in verse 4. 190 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,080 They could not speak peaceably to him. 191 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,560 In verse 5 it says they hated him even more. 192 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:33,480 Verse 8, they hated him all the more. 193 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:36,680 All the more. And and in verse 11, they envied 194 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:41,160 or were jealous of him. It wasn't that they just didn't 195 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,720 like him. It was more than that. 196 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,920 It wasn't that they just keep saying to the dad, what do we 197 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:50,400 have to take Joseph with us? You know, you guys, we see it 198 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,960 when we make times when we were kids, you know, we would go play 199 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,440 at the field and you do we have to take our little brother with 200 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:57,960 us? Does he have to come along? 201 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:00,480 And then when we get to the field and we're playing 202 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,200 football, our son, well, you're just or soccer. 203 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:03,680 Hey, you're just going to catch the ball. 204 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:05,800 You're just going to go. If we overthrow it, you're just 205 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,800 going to be Rover for us. And you kind of know that your 206 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:14,800 little siblings are with you. And do we have to take him 207 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:15,720 again? Come on, Dad. 208 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,320 He's such a pain in the neck. No, it wasn't anything 209 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,320 superficial like that by any means. 210 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,520 The hatred that they had with him was such a passion. 211 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,640 It was. And it was capable of expressing 212 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,120 itself in in a really, really poor way. 213 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:36,560 Their hatred of Joseph was provoked first of all by the bad 214 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:41,640 report mentioned in verse 2. Now, there's little doubt that 215 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,280 the close relationship that Joseph had was dead with was in 216 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,720 one sense encourage this kind of report. 217 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,720 But there's nothing that says that Joseph here was motivated 218 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,520 by ill will or by Vadnais or unkindness to his brothers. 219 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,040 It doesn't say anything about that. 220 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,680 There's nothing inferred. It simply says he brought their 221 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,960 father a bad report. Another fact. 222 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:05,040 That's a fact. He brought him a bad report. 223 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,000 Now, if there was a reason to bring a bad report, well, then 224 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,320 there was. If there wasn't, of course, and 225 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:12,840 he was, and he was willing to make it up. 226 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,080 That was wrong on Joseph's part. But the fact was that he brought 227 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,720 a bad report. But the little bit that we read 228 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,240 about in with these brothers in the past few chapters, if you 229 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,120 just read before, there was many poor things that they did, many 230 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,680 bad things that they did, that it makes me think that there was 231 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:34,600 plenty of reports to be brought. And indeed, if he'd only brought 232 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,520 one bad report about them, that was really quite nice for Joseph 233 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:44,880 to only bring one report. You think Joseph was a little 234 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:50,400 tabletail? You think he kind of told on his 235 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,440 brothers every now and then? I don't know, maybe maybe he 236 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,720 was. Everyone has a kid brother or 237 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,480 sister or doesn't like their siblings telling their parents 238 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:01,960 of everything that they've done. You know. 239 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:04,480 Hey, dad, you know what? He did this yesterday. 240 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:07,880 You know what I saw him doing? You know who I saw him hanging 241 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,920 out with? Dad, You know, kind of a thing. 242 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,520 Dad, guess what your oldest did while driving your car? 243 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,720 Kind of an attitude, we get the point. 244 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:21,800 Secondly, they hated him because of his coat. 245 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,560 Because of his coat. We mentioned that already in 246 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,320 that's there in verse four. He had this tunic of many 247 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,080 colors, but the reaction to the coat was absolutely 248 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:35,880 disproportionate and unnecessary. 249 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,640 They hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. 250 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,200 Some other translations say they could not speak a word to him. 251 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,800 They hated him so much. So in other words, we can 252 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:50,960 imagine, you know, maybe they're sitting together at the 253 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,440 breakfast table in the morning. Jacob and all his brothers or 254 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,240 all his sons were sitting together, you know, and, and 255 00:14:58,240 --> 00:14:59,960 Joseph's there, too. And one of the brothers says, 256 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:03,840 hey, can can you ask? Can you ask Joseph to pass me 257 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,680 the bacon? Can you ask Joseph to pass me 258 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,600 the salt? And Joseph sitting right next to 259 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:10,440 him. You know, they did absolutely 260 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,640 everything they could. They hated him so much that they 261 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,760 just didn't even acknowledge his presence at some points. 262 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,480 They could not speak peaceably to him. 263 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,840 They never looked at at him as any type of with any type of 264 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:30,920 value at all at any moment. Now the root of this is given to 265 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,640 us in verse 11, a simple phrase. His brothers envy him. 266 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,600 That's it. It's a flat out jealousy. 267 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,920 That's what the root of the problem was. 268 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,440 And that's the problem in many families since then, right up 269 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,560 until today, you know, there's so many families that can be 270 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,480 fractured and friendships that, that get dissolved. 271 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,640 And the root of this, of all that is jealousy. 272 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,080 No matter how we try to disguise it, how we try to explain it, no 273 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,440 matter what we try to do, the problem is flat out jealousy. 274 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,040 It is a huge, huge problem. There are many people who have 275 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,760 not written to the brothers or sisters or called their brothers 276 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,640 and sisters because they're jealous of the brothers and 277 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,760 sisters, whatever the case may be, for years and years and 278 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,040 years on end because of jealousy. 279 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,800 Jealousy is a monster. It is huge, it is so 280 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:27,840 problematic. It is a giant that'll eat us 281 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,280 alive and it is everybody's problem. 282 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,200 The happiness of a success of other men and other men, women 283 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,720 is poison really to us, to the jealous. 284 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,560 That's why it's easier, you know, sometimes to get demoted 285 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:47,400 in our work than get promoted, because when we get promoted, it 286 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,120 reveals the character of those that are around us, our fellow 287 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:55,440 workers, Co workers. You know, it's very, very hard 288 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,520 for people to say, you know, if if somebody was to get promoted 289 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,760 and your Co worker comes to you and you say, you know, I'm glad 290 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,640 you got promoted, you deserve it. 291 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,880 I've been passed over for years. I've been here longer than you, 292 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:07,839 but you got promoted. You know, I'm happy for you. 293 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:12,560 That's hard to do. It's hard to be happy about 294 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:19,319 somebody else being showed a little bit of favouritism or 295 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:24,440 blessing, if you want to say So before we get up on our 296 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,920 spiritual high horse condemning Joseph's brothers here, let's 297 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,400 just not be too quick to notice. Maybe that jealousy shoe fits 298 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:34,560 pretty good on us as well. Football players, you know, 299 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,400 aren't jealous of doctors, and doctors aren't jealous of 300 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,360 athletes. Painters aren't jealous of 301 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:43,400 florists. If you want to say, people tend 302 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,160 to be jealous within their own rights, within their own world, 303 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,160 if you want to, if you understand what I'm saying. 304 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,880 So it'd be like myself or Dad or Frank going, owning our, we 305 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,680 have, you know, owning the painting business. 306 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,240 You know, we would have the tendency to say to each other, 307 00:17:57,480 --> 00:17:59,120 well, hey, how many jobs you have going on? 308 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:01,920 Well, how many painters you have going on right now. 309 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:04,560 You see, we try to compare and compete a little bit. 310 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,960 I don't care what you know, the Olympics are going on right now. 311 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,920 There's Figure skaters. I don't care how good a figure 312 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,160 skater is. I don't get jealous about how 313 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,560 good somebody can do a triple. Let's if you want to say good 314 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:24,360 for them, good for you. But within our own world, within 315 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:28,320 our own things, we get jealous of other people We have a 316 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,200 tendency to. So we need to be careful of 317 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,320 that. Listen to this quote I found. 318 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,480 It says the odious passion of jealousy torments and destroys 319 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:49,120 oneself while it seeks to ruin, seeks the ruin of its objects. 320 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:55,680 Jealousy destroys the jealous person, not the object of envy. 321 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,120 It's like self pity. It eats you up but it doesn't do 322 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:05,000 anything to the other person. The Greeks have in their history 323 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,040 the story of a statue that was erected in honour of a famous 324 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,880 athlete and took his position of the prominence of the Greek 325 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,120 city. A rival athlete so jealous of 326 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,080 the success and triumph of this colleague, determined that he 327 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,720 would try to destroy this statue, jealous of this athlete 328 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:24,760 who had a statue made-up after him. 329 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:27,640 And the story goes that under the cover of night, the rival of 330 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:31,120 the jealous athlete would come at night and chisel away at the 331 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:34,920 base of that thing, trying to knock that that statue down 332 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:37,920 night after night. He would work. 333 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,640 And his purpose was clear, to weaken it and to bring it down. 334 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,080 And he finally weakened it enough and he brought it down 335 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:45,600 and it fell on him and killed him. 336 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,920 You see, his jealousy of that other athlete of that statue 337 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,880 that was erected ended up killing him at the end of the 338 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,560 day. And if we're going to make sure 339 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,360 that we avoid, we want to make sure that we avoid the folly of 340 00:19:57,360 --> 00:19:59,840 favoritism, we need to ensure that we don't end up in the 341 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:05,520 grips of jealousy. And I think if Joseph's brothers 342 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,280 would have understood or were prepared to understand the 343 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:12,160 principle of jealousy, then maybe they would have saved, 344 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,360 been saved from this horrible, envious hatred. 345 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:18,920 Maybe if they would have understood it a little more, if 346 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,160 they really had understand that God had a plan for Joseph, maybe 347 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:27,800 they would have embraced Joseph a little better than what they 348 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,280 did. But they didn't. 349 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,640 They refused to see it that way. Maybe they would would have been 350 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,480 prepared to accept their less significant position, even 351 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,360 though they might have been hard for them to accept that less 352 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:41,080 significant position than Joseph. 353 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,960 You see, everything is special about God. 354 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,080 Everything that God does, everything that God sustains, 355 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:52,720 everything is special about God. God sets people up. 356 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,400 God brings people down and therefore the people that God 357 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,960 sets up that he chooses to get to set up mustn't get the 358 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:07,040 fatheads and, and just be prideful about it. 359 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,400 And also at the same time, those who are blessed mustn't get 360 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,200 discouraged. And if the brothers had only 361 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,280 understood this and they wouldn't have been saving 362 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,400 themself a lot, a lot of heartache. 363 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,080 Someone put in a little found another quote. 364 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:26,160 It says it takes more grace than I can tell to play the second 365 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,640 fiddle. Well, that's the hardest spot on 366 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,720 the team, the backup, the number two position. 367 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,440 It's hard to play second chair if you want to say, but we're 368 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,240 given an example of John the Baptist who played the second 369 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,600 fiddle very, very well and he was happy to do so. 370 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,280 We read of him in the opening chapters of John and how God had 371 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,480 given him a, a ministry as a forerunner. 372 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,800 He was there to proclaim the repentance that was there and 373 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,640 baptizing lots of people and he was doing it very, very well and 374 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,120 he understood what he was doing. His disciples seemed like maybe 375 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,120 didn't appreciate it or understand it fully. 376 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,040 And on one occasion he says to the disciples that are with him, 377 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,320 he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the 378 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,880 world. And then in John 326, we read 379 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,520 that the disciples came to John the Baptist and they said to 380 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:21,600 him, Rabbi, he, he who was with him, he was with you beyond the 381 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,120 Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is 382 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:26,480 baptizing and all are coming to him. 383 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,040 You know, they're saying, hey, John, you're losing your crowd 384 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,920 here, man. All these people are now going 385 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,400 over to Jesus and getting back and following him. 386 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:42,880 John, you're losing your appeal. And see, it's in that experience 387 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:47,360 of the reality that the hearts of people begin to open up, at 388 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:49,680 least to us and God, even if we can conceal it to our own 389 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,800 selves. But look how John the Baptist 390 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,160 replies. He says a man can receive only 391 00:22:55,160 --> 00:23:01,080 what is given him from heaven. You see, John knew that God had 392 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,840 made him a voice, but he hadn't made him the Word. 393 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:06,560 He knew that God had made him a forerunner, but he hadn't made 394 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,080 him the Messiah. And he knew that God had made 395 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:10,760 him a herald, but he hadn't made him the King. 396 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,480 But he was very happy to be a voice crying, a finger pointing, 397 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:19,000 a light shining, a herald speaking, and a forerunner 398 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,080 running proceeding. And he understood he wasn't the 399 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,680 king. He understood that he was not 400 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,080 the Messiah, Messiah, and he was not the word. 401 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:30,960 These are very, very biblical terms here. 402 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,600 But the fact of the matter is we can all translate this into 403 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,120 whatever arena life that we are are living in. 404 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,320 Academics, craftsmanship, art, journalism, business, home 405 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,280 making, decorating, whatever it might be. 406 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,760 God is the one who sets up and brings down everything it says 407 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,120 in First Corinthians. What do you have that you did 408 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:56,680 not receive Then? If you received it, why do you 409 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,280 glory as if you didn't receive it? 410 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:05,680 Thirdly, the reason that he was the object of his brother's 411 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,880 cruel and jealous hatred was on the account of his dreams. 412 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:17,360 We see that in verse 5, they hated him jealously because of 413 00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:19,600 the bad report he brought, and they hated him because of the 414 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,240 richly ornamented rogue he wore, and they hated him because of 415 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,840 his dreams that he had. Now these dreams were not 416 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,240 ordinary dreams, of course, because if you think about it, 417 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,440 everybody dreams. We all have dreams, whether they 418 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,720 be good or bad. The good ones, we can maybe wake 419 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,280 up in the morning and tell somebody, get this, this is what 420 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,360 I had dreamed about. And we can laugh it off and joke 421 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:42,640 about it. There are other dreams that kind 422 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,240 of nightmares you can consider that we remember or care to 423 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,400 forget if you want to say. But we all have dreams. 424 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,200 And it would be perfectly possible for his brothers to 425 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,480 maybe laugh it off when Joseph told him his dreams, thinking, 426 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,840 oh, man, this guy, Joe, our brother Joseph, he's telling us 427 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,120 he's dream. This guy's crazy. 428 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,000 Give me a break. Thanks, Joseph. 429 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,440 You know, we'll move on to the next one. 430 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:08,800 But it didn't. And the reason that it didn't 431 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:10,920 reason, they didn't have that reaction. 432 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,760 It is is obvious in significant ways that God was involved in 433 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,080 these dreams. God was involved in the dreams 434 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:22,360 of Joseph. These were not ordinary dreams. 435 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:25,120 These were the plans of what God would do in the future. 436 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:27,800 And that God was speaking by means of dreams in order that 437 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:33,080 when the events unfolded as they would do that, that these things 438 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,560 were not done by, these things didn't happen in Joseph's life 439 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:41,640 by just luck or or good fortune. This was the plan of God. 440 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,680 And this plan of God was going to unfold in Joseph's life. 441 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,080 And so it is that Joseph tells his brother about these dreams. 442 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:51,840 We see that in verses 6 through 11. 443 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,040 Should he have told him that, told him these dreams? 444 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,800 Well, maybe not, but he did nonetheless. 445 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,320 Maybe they would excuse the first one and probably the 446 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,840 second one that Joseph told him was a bad judgement call. 447 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,200 You know, you say saying, you know, I had a dream and I was 448 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:10,880 standing up and you were bowing down. 449 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,680 His brother would say, thanks, Joseph, thanks for that dream 450 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,120 telling us, you know, they forgot about it. 451 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:17,640 And Joseph's wait, wait, wait. I got another one. 452 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,320 I got to tell you. And he tells them about the next 453 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,680 dream that he had and how the sun and the moon, the 11 star 454 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,760 were blowing, bowing down and worshipping them. 455 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,920 And Joseph says, and then they say, Joseph, we hate you because 456 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,720 of those dreams. We hate you because of that. 457 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,080 Did you tell Jad Dad about that dream? 458 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:36,520 Said, yeah, I told Dad about that. 459 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,280 And he rebuked me a little bit about it. 460 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:39,600 He said something like, you know what? 461 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,840 Your mother and I bow down to you as well, and your brothers 462 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,760 as well. You see, something was involved 463 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,680 here. There was within these dreams a 464 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,000 strong hint that Joseph was the object of God's special favor. 465 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,240 That's what it boils down to and the servant of a special 466 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,480 purpose. And that of course was exactly 467 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,200 the case. And that is why there is this 468 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,640 increasingly intensity hatred of his brothers. 469 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:12,040 Now God's favor, favor upon Joseph was no gravy train for 470 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,920 Joseph. It was not a good and easy path 471 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,160 for Joseph. 17 year old and nobody likes him. 472 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,720 His father who was putting putting up with him had has had 473 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,120 affection for him. He's beginning to cool it a 474 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:29,960 little bit on it as well it would seem. 475 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,960 And his brothers, they just want nothing to do with him. 476 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:40,280 Do you remember when you were 17 years old how you wanted 477 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:42,640 approval? It's all you're looking for was 478 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:47,920 just approval At 17. It was very important. 479 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,480 You know how long you would stand in front of the the mirror 480 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,640 and do your hair. Use just the right amount of 481 00:27:53,640 --> 00:28:00,200 Aqua Net. Spending all the time to make 482 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,240 sure you look the way that you think you ought to look at 17, 483 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:09,160 wearing all the right clothes, putting on the right Cologne. 484 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:15,720 If you want to say couldn't be wrong, We could not walk out of 485 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,040 the house without looking just right that we thought looking 486 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,640 for approval had to be right. So the last thing in the world 487 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,080 that we want to be a some kind of isolated person wandering 488 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,760 through the halls or the courtyard of high school and and 489 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,520 being by ourselves, being not having friends, not hanging out 490 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:37,640 with the cool kids, with with the crowd, you know, we wanted 491 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:43,360 that approval. His brothers had no time for 492 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,840 him. And Joseph was 17 years old. 493 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,000 And we would not be surprised that if Joseph that that emerges 494 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,960 from this context is really drawn to itself, into a shell or 495 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,000 into his plain life, if you want to say, and maybe become a weird 496 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,480 inward looking guy just kind of by himself. 497 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:01,720 You know, we wouldn't be surprised if Joseph turned out 498 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,080 that way, maybe full of fearful of resentment. 499 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,400 And if we want to bring it into the 21st century, you know, in 500 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,880 other words, he just went to his room, close the door and listen 501 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,080 to really weird music for hours on end. 502 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,880 Because when he went out the door, it was into a world that 503 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,520 hated him. The world hated Joseph the way 504 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,080 he saw it, A world that was alien from him, a world that was 505 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,880 caused him confusion and discord and fracturing of his personal 506 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,600 relationships he had around him. And so we might have anticipated 507 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,960 that he would have become this introspective weirdo, But no, he 508 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,040 was not. He was focused. 509 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:47,680 He was resilient, he was clear in mind, he was ready to obey 510 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,640 and he had a future that he was ready to execute. 511 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:57,240 Sound in his belief of God, sound in his his purpose in 512 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:03,080 life. The resiliency that he really of 513 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,040 his personality is really, really impressive to me. 514 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,120 Everything that Joseph had been through, his resiliency showed 515 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:16,600 his character and it was really, really amazing because in human 516 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,560 terms, you know, Joseph shouldn't be like this, right? 517 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,600 Joseph shouldn't be so focused. He shouldn't be so resilient. 17 518 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,880 years of chaos, incest, confusion, destruction, and 519 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,200 murder and intrigue, all these things, and he's coming out of 520 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,920 the most dramatic soap opera that we could ever think of. 521 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,800 And yet look at him. He is the object of God's 522 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,640 providential care. And why is that? 523 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,880 Why was that? Why did that happen like that? 524 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,200 And that brings me to my third and final point. 525 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,560 It's not only because Joseph was the object of his father's 526 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,000 special interest in the object of his brother's jealous hatred, 527 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,120 but it was in and through it all, the object of God's 528 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,320 providential care. God's providential care. 529 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,640 There's a definition that I found of God's providential 530 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,760 care. It says God's providential care 531 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,840 refers to the divine guidance and governance by which God 532 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,240 directs all things in the universe, ensuring that His 533 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:13,560 purposes are fulfilled. The. 534 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,720 This concept encompasses God's preservation, provision, and 535 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,120 governance of creation, as well as his intimate involvement in 536 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:25,200 the lives of the individuals. It is a A testament to God's 537 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,560 sovereignty, wisdom and love, demonstrating that nothing 538 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:34,880 occurs outside of His will or his knowledge and God was 539 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,560 providentially involved in these events in Joseph's life. 540 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,840 We look at verse twelve of our chapter there. 541 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:49,360 It says it says, and Israel said to Joseph, are you are you are 542 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,920 not your brothers feeding the flock and Shechem come, I will 543 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,520 send you to them. And if we were reading this, 544 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,880 maybe without knowing the full story, maybe we would expect 545 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,680 Joseph to to respond and and say, you know what can I just 546 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,160 can I not go to Shechem to find my brothers? 547 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,200 These guys hate me. Dad, can you really not send me 548 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,360 there? Do you realize they hate me? 549 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:11,960 Do you know they never talked to me, Dad? 550 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,080 And when I get there, it's terrible, it's miles away and so 551 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,520 on. But what does he respond with? 552 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,280 He says yes, Dad, I'll do what you ask. 553 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,640 He says here I am. He says very well, I'll go ahead 554 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,320 and go. Now, how do you explain that? 555 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,320 How do you explain that reaction or that obedience from Joseph? 556 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,480 The only way that I can think of is, is Joseph maybe had a little 557 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,520 bit of awareness that God had greater things for him. 558 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:45,360 That God had greater things for him. 559 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,440 That his father was in providential control of his 560 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,800 life. And that somehow or another 561 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,560 these dreams and the code and the chaos all in the background, 562 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,720 that God the Father was master and sovereign over it all. 563 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,800 And so he says, I will go in obedience and seek out those who 564 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,400 hate me and will not speak a word to me. 565 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,040 I don't know how you how tuned into Jacob was even to this to 566 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,160 this journey. You know, did he really realize 567 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:12,520 that he was putting his boy into grave danger or into that kind 568 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,160 of danger? Do you think, do we think that 569 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,640 Jacob had an inkling of knowing how much the brothers hated 570 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:23,680 Joseph? Did you realize the anger that 571 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,320 was there or did he just kind of tune out at this time of pay no 572 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,240 attention to what was going on in his family? 573 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,440 Was he superficially aware of maybe the hatred that his 574 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,520 brothers were showing toward his sons were showing towards 575 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,360 Joseph? I think it's possible for 576 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,360 parents to kind of explain it away sometimes and lose touch 577 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:48,800 with the family at times. I think it's possible, maybe 578 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:50,560 Jacob said to himself, you know what? 579 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,400 It's not as bad as you think it is. 580 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,680 It's not that bad. Your brothers really don't hate 581 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:56,800 you. They're just teen, you know, 582 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,680 they're older boys picking on a younger boy. 583 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,800 No go, Joe Joseph, you go on. You'll be fine. 584 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,640 Go on now, find your brothers. And I think if Jacob had 585 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,679 realized that when his boy turned back to him and began to 586 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:17,639 walk off towards Shechem, that I don't think Jacob realized what 587 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:21,840 was going on here. I think if Jacob realized that 588 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,159 this was the last time he was going to see his boy, Joseph's 589 00:34:24,159 --> 00:34:29,719 son for 20 years, he would had a little different thought about 590 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,600 the things and and sending him off there. 591 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,280 I'm sure he wouldn't have dispatched him on this journey. 592 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,760 Because when Joseph walked out that day, neither he nor Jacob 593 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,159 realized that it'd be 20 years before they saw each other 594 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:45,239 again. And God was providentially in 595 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,520 control of these circumstances. It was actually better for 596 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:55,040 Joseph to be sent from his home in the center of God's plan than 597 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,800 to be isolated in his home, to be living in his home in 598 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:05,760 isolation from God's purpose. And you see, that is that is the 599 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:07,440 mistake. When we try to determine God's 600 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,280 guidance on our own basis of what is most comfortable for us, 601 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:13,080 we try to determine what God's plan is. 602 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:18,000 This because we need to be comfortable what's most 603 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,560 acceptable to us, what's most most rational and obvious to us. 604 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,480 Well, God surely doesn't want me to do that. 605 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,320 God surely doesn't want me to talk to that person about him. 606 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,520 There's no way God is wanting me to go to all the nations and and 607 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,320 preach and go live on in the dirt and the huts out in Africa 608 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,120 or go to the Philippines. God doesn't want that for me. 609 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,040 Really. We got enough work here to do. 610 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,160 But God's plan is God's plan and we need to follow God's plan. 611 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:58,920 So it's an amazing picture of him arriving now in this region, 612 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,840 having gone some 50 plus miles to Hebron and from Hebron to 613 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,720 Shechem asking people in that area, hey, have you seen my 614 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:08,960 brothers discovering that they moved on another 15 miles or so 615 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,800 to the region of Dothan. And so, yeah, he's gone about 616 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,200 6568 miles, travelling through hilly and terrain and difficult 617 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,520 land looking for his brothers. And he finally gets to his 618 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:23,840 within his brother's eyesight and they get within. 619 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:29,600 He gets within their sights. And so we read in verse 18, this 620 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,880 is now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to 621 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,400 them, they conspired against him to kill him. 622 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,800 And they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. 623 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,160 Basically, here comes this guy Joseph with his coat. 624 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:49,080 And together they conspire to do away with his life in a really 625 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,840 despicable way. Now we don't want to miss the 626 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:56,080 irony of this. As they sit watch and watching 627 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,840 the appearance of Joseph, they are plotting to kill the very 628 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,920 person without whom they will be be unable to live in the future. 629 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:10,120 God is purposing to take Joseph into Egypt so that in the time 630 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,080 of famine, Joseph family will not die in famine, but will be 631 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:18,280 recipients of God's providential care and through the life of the 632 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:19,920 very one that they're trying to kill. 633 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,480 And so he comes into the horizon, his brothers see him, 634 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,920 and they plan to kill Joseph. Keep that in your mind. 635 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:32,800 We'll come to that back in a moment. 636 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,560 I want to make a couple points of observation and application 637 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:42,640 as we draw this to a close. First of all, I want to 638 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:47,800 recognize that as in Joseph's circumstances, so is so in ours. 639 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:52,080 God is as much in control of the trauma and the hardships of life 640 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,040 and the pits of life and the hatred and the difficulty as he 641 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:01,080 is in the fulfillment of raising Joseph into a position of of 642 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,840 usefulness. And we when we can't understand 643 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:08,920 why is that would be going such all the hatred we're getting all 644 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:13,440 this hatred we're getting all this difficulty in our life when 645 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,400 we just don't don't understand we're why we keep facing more 646 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:17,880 and more and more. Why do these things keep 647 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,760 happening to me? If you want to say we're in a 648 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,800 lousy hole in the ground with no prospect of escape and at the 649 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,880 point, we need to recognize that God is on the throne, God is in 650 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:35,400 control, and He's personally interested and providentially in 651 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,040 our lives in every single affair that we are going on through. 652 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,800 It's not easy, but it's necessary for us to understand 653 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,520 that. And there's some here who have 654 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,560 walked those that road in the months past or just recent past, 655 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:55,000 dealing with trauma, grieving with loss, watching loved ones 656 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,080 suffer with nothing of our own that can fix it. 657 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:03,240 And we have to emerge to deal with these traumas and these 658 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:06,240 emptiness and these pains of life and the temptation we have 659 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:09,280 a temptation to say, where is God and all this? 660 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,720 Isn't God supposed to be here helping us with this? 661 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:16,760 Where is he at? I've been praying for weeks and 662 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:21,160 months and days, night and day, and he is not answering me. 663 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:27,600 Where is God in all this? We're tempted to say that, and 664 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,320 the answer is God is as much sovereignly in control of all of 665 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:36,000 this as He ever is in the blessing as well. 666 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:40,640 He's involved in it all. God is on the throne and is 667 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,040 providentially interested in the affairs of our lives. 668 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:47,680 Secondly, we need to learn that with Joseph not to be burdened 669 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:49,440 when God determines the props for us. 670 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:52,200 And in doing so, others become jealous. 671 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:54,720 That's a hard lesson for many of us. 672 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,480 It can be hard to try to explain success. 673 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,280 You know, if we are successful, sometimes it's hard to say, 674 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,240 well, you know, I'm really, I really had nothing to do with 675 00:40:04,240 --> 00:40:08,120 that. You know, I'm not really good at 676 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:09,400 that. I'm not really that bright and I 677 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:12,120 don't play the. Piano way well, or whatever it 678 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,160 may be. Or I, I, I'm not successful in 679 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,640 this business and so on. Listen, it's OK to be 680 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,200 successful. It's OK. 681 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:27,160 It's OK to be phenomenal, phenomenally successful. 682 00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:29,000 And that's why people get jealous. 683 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:33,160 People are naturally jealous of success, but we don't want to 684 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:34,920 bury ourselves. We don't want to have the guilt 685 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:40,600 or the weight of success on us because honestly, we're not the 686 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,960 ones who are the smart ones. If, if we're successful, it's 687 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,440 not by our own doing. It's by others that are around 688 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,400 us. It's by we can even make the own 689 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,400 business deals or business decisions. 690 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,040 You know, it's those that we have brought alongside us to 691 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:55,880 make help us make those decisions. 692 00:40:56,720 --> 00:41:00,880 Or maybe it's something God just chose for us that helped us be 693 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:05,280 successful. Whatever the case may be, if 694 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,600 Joseph's brothers had a problem with Joseph's success, then they 695 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:10,560 ultimately had a problem with God the Father. 696 00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:13,000 See, they didn't have a beef with Joseph. 697 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:19,600 Joseph never asked for the coat. Joseph never produced the 698 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,160 dreams. We think about it, and that's 699 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,000 the case. You know, Joseph never asked for 700 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,240 this stuff, but it was given to him. 701 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:30,440 And so let's recognize that God's providential care 702 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,440 expresses itself in wonderful and unusual ways. 703 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:36,920 So out of the dark cistern, Joseph is about to shine in the 704 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:38,640 light of victory and power and provision. 705 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,880 And so let us not see the dark times and the disappointing 706 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:48,920 times, that which all of God's unfolding purposes. 707 00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,160 Let's make sure we trust in Him, no matter what our situation may 708 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:56,360 be. And finally, I want to note, I 709 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,520 hope that you noticed something. Maybe you've already been 710 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,120 brought to your mind. Maybe it's already kind of 711 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:03,960 flashing before your mind, maybe it hasn't. 712 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:08,120 Do you find yourself thinking forward about somebody else? 713 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,280 Do you feel Joseph's story kind of pushing you towards somebody 714 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:18,240 else, namely Jesus? In this story, do you see how 715 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:21,600 the experience of Joseph there is a foreshadow of a far greater 716 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:26,400 one who is to come? You see it was on the account of 717 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,840 envy and jealousy that Joseph ended up in the pit. 718 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,080 It was on the account and envy of jealous see that put he was 719 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,480 put into slavery and face the prospect of death. 720 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:43,120 And when Pilate in Matthew 27, when Pilate asked the crowds who 721 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:45,120 would have who would you have me to release to you? 722 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,000 Would you like me to have Barabbas released to you or 723 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000 would you like me to have Jesus released to you? 724 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:52,680 And the crowd says we would rather have Barabbas and then 725 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:56,000 magic records in verse 18 of Matthew 27, he says, you see, 726 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:01,560 Pilate understood that it was on the account of envy that Jesus 727 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:06,520 had been delivered unto them. It was flat out jealousy on the 728 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:08,400 part of the religious religious leaders. 729 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,000 They did not like the fact that God had sovereignty purpose to 730 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:15,320 do so in that person Jesus Christ to unfold the reality of 731 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,800 who he was. And the envy of his brothers 732 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:21,800 that threw Joseph into a pit. And the envy of those who had 733 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,440 all the benefits of the prophets of the Old Testament, all the 734 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,760 wisdom of the Old Testament, all the expectations of the Messiah 735 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:30,600 who was to come. It was the ending of those same 736 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,880 people who put Jesus on the cross. 737 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,320 And we have that picture of Jesus in so far as we find 738 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,480 Joseph travelling across the country in search of his 739 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:41,880 brothers, looking diligently for those who will reject him. 740 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,680 Isn't that what Jesus did? Jesus has come diligently across 741 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:52,240 the terrain of our lives looking earnestly for those who seek 742 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:56,560 him, saying let's kill him. Who like the brothers in 743 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,760 response to Joseph's are saying, do you think they're going to 744 00:43:58,760 --> 00:43:59,960 reign? Do you think you're going to 745 00:43:59,960 --> 00:44:02,240 reign over me? You know, Jesus is looking for 746 00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:03,760 us to make him load of our lives. 747 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:06,960 Are we going to reject him in doing so? 748 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,680 And Jesus comes into his word and he comes in a human 749 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,680 friendship and he comes Jesus the Good Shepherd, John 1011 and 750 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:17,600 14. He goes over the Hill Country 751 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:20,240 looking for one individual, looking for you, searching for 752 00:44:20,240 --> 00:44:22,080 you, drawing for you, wanting you. 753 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:27,760 Are we going to respond like Joseph's brothers? 754 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,480 I don't want him to rule over me. 755 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,040 I don't want to Jesus in the back seat or in the trunk of the 756 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,160 car. I don't mind Jesus as an 757 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,560 insurance policy for something or maybe something we just tack 758 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,440 on on Sunday. But I don't want to Jesus who 759 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,920 I'm going to bow down to. Are we going to react that way? 760 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:52,920 See, Joseph was despised and he was rejected by those who he 761 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:57,120 would one day rescue. What a wonderful picture. 762 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:01,360 We see it on Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3, paraphrase, I say he 763 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:02,960 was despised and rejected by men. 764 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,640 He was a man of sorrows. He was a familiar with suffering 765 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,440 and like one from from whom men hide their faces, he was 766 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:14,440 despised. The prophet Isaiah speaks of him 767 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,000 who took up their infirmities and carried out sorrows. 768 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:20,480 And we consider him stricken by God, smitten by him, and 769 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:24,040 afflicted, he says. And he was pierced for our 770 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,160 transgressions. He was crushed for our 771 00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:31,000 iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace upon him. 772 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:37,360 And his wounds are healed. Isaiah 5, four through 5, when 773 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,720 we get to the scene where he's reunited with his brothers. 774 00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:42,440 And when they come, they speak to him. 775 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,720 He speaks to Joseph, speaks to his brothers through an 776 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:47,040 interpreter, because Joseph at this point was very fluent in 777 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:51,040 the Egyptian language at that point, Egyptian dialect. 778 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:54,240 And so he speaks to an Egyptian and they can't recognize him 779 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:56,760 after all these years and in his position. 780 00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,960 Last time they saw Joseph, he was carried away. 781 00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:03,400 He was 17 years old, throw down a hole, then strapped to a Bale 782 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:05,840 of hay on the back of a camel and carried him to the unknown. 783 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:08,480 That's the last time his brother saw him. 784 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:12,760 And as he speaks through this interpreter to them, and as they 785 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:15,160 explained the poverty of their condition, of the great need of 786 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,120 provisions, Moses tells us that Joseph went into the room on the 787 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:23,120 side and he wept. Joseph wept for his brothers, 788 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:28,960 and he wept for a great sobbing tears. 789 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,960 And when they had had, he had to compose himself and come back 790 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,600 out to them. And that's Jesus when he was 791 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,160 waiting for Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who 792 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,480 stone the prophets, how often would you have gathered as you 793 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,200 His hands to get as a hen gathers her chicks? 794 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:49,440 But you would not come to me. A coat the dreams and a dark 795 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:52,800 pit. Joseph was the object of his 796 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,600 father's special interests, the object of his brother's cruel 797 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,800 hatred, and the object of God's providential care and the shadow 798 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:06,200 of Christ who was to come. Today, as we hear God's voice in 799 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,400 whatever era that we're in our lives, as we hear God's voice 800 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:14,520 through this word, he's telling us to step away from jealousy, 801 00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:16,640 to get away from favoritism in our family. 802 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:19,680 If that's the case, quit our belly aching and complaining 803 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,200 sometimes of the positions that we're in and understand that God 804 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:30,880 is in control no matter what area of our life, whatever it 805 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,760 is. Have you surrendered to the only 806 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:39,920 one who has what you need? Have you surrendered to Jesus? 807 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:44,920 If not, why not? Why not do that today? 808 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:52,560 Hear the word, believe, repent, confess of our sins, confess 809 00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:56,480 that we are wanting to live a new life living for Jesus, 810 00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:00,600 living for him, confess the name of that he is the Son of God, 811 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:02,920 and then be baptized for the remission of our sins. 812 00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:07,120 If you've done that today, but you need to make a confession in 813 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,800 some way, public confession have brought approach upon the church 814 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,040 or a public sin that needs to be dealt with in that way or just 815 00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:15,320 need the pressure the congregation. 816 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,440 We actually come while we stand, while we see.