If you turn with me to Genesis chapter 37, I'm going to have to give Kevin our Daily Prophets Award. He asked me coming in the door if there was something going on with my voice. I said no. And it seems that maybe there is. It shows you that I don't talk to my wife on Sunday mornings. It's not because we are on bad terms, it's just Well, she leaves me alone and I save the voice for you guys. But anyway, Genesis 37. I want to read briefly the opening 11 verses of this chapter. So let us again give attention to the Word. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream. And he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said unto him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren, And his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? And his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying." Linda reading, and again we trust the Lord to add His blessing to the public reading of His Word. Let's bow our heads again together and unite our hearts before we consider the Lord's Word today. Our Heavenly Father, we are grateful today to sing praises to a God who's worthy. Lord, there are songs that fill this land. There are objects of worship that men blindfully give their allegiance, give themselves, give their souls to. And Lord, we are happy to be among those at least this day who profess to worship the one true God. To come and approach You through the means You've appointed through the blessed Gospel of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. And we ask again that You will in these moments superintend the Word by Your Spirit. Lord, convince us Or just the smallness of these moments in these busy weeks of our lives. Yet to be reminded that we pause this Lord's Day to consider eternal things. Things that are far more important than the things that occupy our time and our attention. Sadly, so often receive something of our affections. Lord, we pray that again you will convince us of truth today, that your Spirit will prevail in the opening of the Word. And so do these things for us, we ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. Last Lord's Day as we were together, we reached ahead a little bit in the chapters and in the story of Genesis to come, as it were, to the last chapter, or at least a closing chapter in the life of Jacob. Genesis, I remind you as I did last week, closes with the story of Jacob. It closes with the children of Israel, who is Jacob, in Egypt. And so obviously Jacob is going to come to prominence even as the book draws to a close. But here in Genesis 37, and again I remind you chapter 37 and a book of 50 chapters, attention is brought to one of Israel's sons, Joseph. Joseph comes into play and he is given a prominent role. He's given as much or more attention in the book of Genesis than any of the other patriarchs and the Hebrews that are put before us in the book. His story is powerfully affecting story. I know if you spend any time in the Word at all, you will know something of how powerful and affecting the story of Joseph is. and all the interplay, can we say all the drama between him and his brethren and his father. And yet here, what an example for us in the Scriptures. I am reminded of a debate that was kind of a humorous ongoing debate back in my years of seminary between Dr. Alan Cairns, who was the preeminent theology professor in what we called Theological Hall of the day, and Dr. Michael Barrett, really a world-class Old Testament scholar. biblical theologian. They had a little bit of a running debate as to whether Joseph qualifies as a true type in Scripture, as a type of Christ. Dr. Cairns arguing powerfully for the affirmative. Dr. Barrett suggesting some thoughts with regard to the negative on the technicalities. He wasn't a prophet or a priest or a king according to the offices we see later in Israel. Although my message today might bring out a little bit of all three of those offices in the life of Joseph. But Dr. Cairns even boasted at one time that he thought he could prove and establish Joseph as a type of Christ, even using Dr. Barrett's criteria. But the debate never reached that level in public, so we didn't hear that evidence. And our brother Cairns is with the Lord, so I guess we'll never know till we get the glory who was right. But anyway, some of my thoughts on that might become evident as we go through the story itself. But just looking at the broad outline of the story and the life of Joseph can I at least say contains many remarkable foreshadowings of Christ of whom he may or may not be an official technical type. Consider, I say, the rough outline of his story. Here's one who is peculiarly beloved of the Father. He is sent to and yet despised and hated and rejected of His brethren. And yet, one who prevails through His sufferings to be singularly exalted and to become not merely the Savior of His brethren, but in many ways, the Savior of the world. Certainly, at least something of Christ is to be seen in this character of Joseph. And we've followed the story in Genesis. We've been looking at the lives of all the patriarchs of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. And thus far, we've followed the story through the life and the lens of Jacob. But let us review the story and try to consider it for a moment through the eyes of Joseph. 17 years before our reading for today, a son is finally born to Jacob's favored wife, Rachel. Many other sons have already been born and we see the sad chapter in Israel's history of those wives and concubines and the feuding and the competition and all that goes on between them. But it's when Joseph is born to Rachel that Jacob now at this point, leave of his father-in-law Laban, that he might return to the land of promise, that he might engage in and be part of the fulfillment of the promises that were given to his fathers. Of course, we read the story that Laban begins to bargain with him. Convinces him to remain at least for a season. And Jacob there spends more time. He bargains with Laban for the speckled cattle as we read and we see in the Lord's providence. Jacob becomes enriched. Joseph is a little boy when his whole world is hurriedly turned upside down. He's uprooted in a flight from Padan Aram. He is coming with perhaps trepidation to that day following, or few days following, when in an uncomfortable pursuit and overtaking the caravan, he finds and sees his enraged grandfather. And of course, we see all that transpires there. The Lord meeting with Laban. giving him, in no uncertain terms, no leave to touch his chosen Jacob. They press on, and little Joseph with his father in this caravan are once again encamped and something's going on. Why is everybody so nervous? Why are we being tucked away in these sequence of little encampments? Where's Dad? He's been gone all night. Why is he limping? Who is this uncle that we're afraid of? It's a little commentary as the little boy Joseph has to figure out why his grandfather's enraged, why the uncle that he's never met is wanting to kill his dad. It seems his father, in his seasons of unbelief and worldliness, had not endeared himself to very many people at all. These are some of the memories of the little boy Joseph. He's been in the land now for about a decade. And you think of the questions that he asked his father. What are the answers that his father gave? Perhaps the older brothers were unimpressed with these stories, but not young Joseph. We might even say that Joseph dreamed of the covenant. Before our story opens, there have been some seasons of sorrow. We think of the incident with Dinah and Simeon and Levi slaying the Shechemites. We will learn in chapter 38, in a little interlude in the story, something of Judah's history, of his immorality, of his ungodliness. And if we can anticipate a little bit, the chosen families being corrupted by the morals and the lifestyle of the Canaanites. We see here that also revival has been part of Joseph's life. What we see in chapter 35 is his dad, in a season of refreshing, tells his family to put away their idols and their strange gods, to wash themselves, to put away the earrings and the accoutrements of the idolatries of the land that they have adopted. Three deaths have been part of the story that are significant. Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, Think of the age of this servant in the household at this point that passes away. Something of the links with the past falling away. There's been the death also of Isaac. Isaac is buried in Machpelah. and there's been the death of his own mother, Rachel, at the birth of the little baby, Benjamin. All of these pieces of young Joseph's story, these are the events that at 17 years old have molded him. Many of these are the sad results of sin within the family and in the life of his father. But nonetheless, Joseph has his eyes on the promise still. He is affected by the season of refreshing in chapter 35. He shows, even as a very young man, remarkable faith and remarkable character. And I just pause here before we come to the body of our message today and ask for your attention for a moment, you young people. You don't have to be 17 or thereabouts. You don't even really have to be young. But think of the example of Joseph. There hasn't been a lot of help that has been afforded him with regard to the promise, with regard to the advancement of the kingdom. He's seen a lot of problems. He's seen a lot of unbelief. He's seen a lot of sin. He hasn't seen very much at all of a good example. The best has been that of His Father. And that has been in spurts. Spurts of revival and a genuine heart and pursuit for the promises. But also so many long seasons of selfishness and scheming and relying on the things of the world and being interested in the things of the world. And yet, here's Joseph. Faithful. looking for that promise of exemplary godly character as we know and we'll see in his story. So I say to you young people, faithfulness and godliness is not something that depends on everything and everybody that surrounds you. You can trust God and be faithful when others aren't. As you think of the many people, can we say even the institutions that failed Joseph, that were very poor examples for him, and yet he's faithful and godly and trusting and seeking. You think of your situation. I'll lump myself in with the 17-year-olds right now as I preach to you and preach to myself. Think of the perversions of this world. Think of how far ungodliness has gone. I can't think of myself as a 17-year-old with the next comment. But stuff that is on billboards as you drive down the interstate is stuff that used to be reserved for some seedy establishment on the other side of town that somebody else had to go buy something from and you somehow got your hands on. It's on a billboard now. The world and its ungodliness is rampant. We turn our attention to the church, the apostasy of mainline churches. I don't think it's very biblical. I don't think it's eschatology is intact, but the phrase might carry a little grain of truth or thoughtfulness in it. There are many people that founded a lot of churches and church buildings in this nation that would turn over in their graves. If they knew what was transpiring. In the places where they used to faithfully worship and serve God. I mean the promotion of wickedness. in the houses of worship. I might just add a little thought here. If you look biblically and historically, seasons when immorality and worship have been brought together as if they are the best place for people to be. That they can coexist. We've descended to such times today. Well, we can talk about the apostasy of the mainline churches, but what about the compromise in evangelical circles? I won't chronicle and catalog all of that, but it's a long list of compromises that even Bible-believing churches, denominations that came out from liberal denominations, have engaged in compromise. Now, well perhaps we can take comfort as we look to the truly conservative, separatist witnesses that have been raised up. And how often yet do pride and ignorance and infighting prevail in these circles? It wouldn't be hard for, say, a 17-year-old today to become a little discouraged and disillusioned about the Kingdom of God. Be as Joseph. The success and advancement of God's Kingdom thankfully isn't dependent upon the visible church. It isn't even dependent on the faithfulness of His believing people. It's dependent on Him and Him alone. And He is able to bring it to pass and He is even able to honor His promises, bless His Word, bring the Gospel's successes to fruition in most unexpected and remarkable ways. Like He did in the story of Joseph. I thought of him and his character and the life and the place he takes in the book of Genesis. You think of that little survey of his life that I gave a moment ago and think of what we know and will see in the rest of his life that's been in Egypt. This boy that's so concerned with the things of God and the promises of God that figure prominently in that promised land and in that chosen people. He barely spent ten years of his life in that promised land. Maybe just his teenage years were spent in Israel. His childhood in Petah Nerom, Mesopotamia. His whole adult life in Egypt, which became a land of oppression for his people. He, like Abraham, had to be looking a little farther down the road. He had to be looking at the day of resurrection. He had to be dwelling on the gospel and on all the attending circumstances of his life. And I encourage you as young people, I encourage us as not so young people to have something of that spirit of Joseph, to trust in God, when it seems everything and everybody else is letting you down. He's the only one worthy to have that kind of trust. And so let us come to consider something of Joseph. As Joseph, one of the sons of Israel, is introduced so prominently into this story. I'll just give you some rough thoughts this morning as we open our studies in this precious life. The first is just to consider some historical realities. There are three thoughts underneath each of the three headings that I'll give you today that I trust to make roughly parallel together. In these realities of his history, we see that he is the trusted shepherd of his father's sheep. As he's introduced very quickly into the story and very remarkably, as we say, these are the generations of Jacob. We could go back and look at the different intervals in Genesis where that phrase is used. These are the generations of. In the generations of Jacob, the next word is Joseph. And Joseph's story begins. And as we see him in the story, he's sent of his father to oversee and see to the work of his brethren as they tend the flocks. Many suggest, and I think rightly understand, that he is sent not as this little boy that's just sent out of curiosity, maybe like David is sent to the armies of Israel and camped against the Philistines and Goliath's threatenings, but as the overseer of his older brethren. He's to come and bring report to his father of how these herdsmen, his sons, are doing with the flocks as they traverse different areas for the herds to graze. He's the trusted one among these other brethren. As we know something of the story, Reuben, the eldest, and his incest with his father's concubine, The story of Judah that is outlined in chapter 38 yet to be seen. His sins. And as we said before, perhaps evidence of the sins of others and of the holy family being corrupted now by the lifestyle and morals of the land of Canaan from which the Lord will providentially, through Joseph, remove them for 400 years. That's an interesting part of the story itself as the Holy Family comes to begin to be corrupted and just become like the nations of Canaan. God removes them to Egypt, puts them in their own separated and settled encampment because their occupation as shepherds is an abomination to the Egyptians. Just you guys all live over there together. God sets His people alone that they might become a nation without being corrupted by the Canaanites. And yet, ultimately, we see they corrupt themselves even there. But here, Joseph is trusted. Yes, we perhaps need to understand that there is favoritism. Something of that that plagued Jacob's own youth and his family. That of Isaac and Rebekah found its way into his home. Perhaps he justifies that with the deception of Laban. And, of course, we know the story of his finally coming to obtain the wife that he had bargained for and asked for and chosen. But he is, I say, the trusted shepherd of his father's sheep. He is one that is given responsibility. Of course, this brings us to another thought. He's not only trusted to oversee the work of his older brothers, he's given this coat of many colors. I can't read the story without seeing, is it Betty Lucan's flannel graph figures and the striped multicolored robe that Joseph supposedly had. I don't want to erase that. Very fond memory of childhood, but it probably wasn't something of that rainbow of colors. My grandmother, who lived a century, is with the Lord now, a farmer's wife that liked to quilt. They had very good friends that worked in the textile mills in Burlington. And I remember as a little boy them bringing boxes of remnants and fabrics to my grandmother. A lot of the quilts were beautiful. We still have one that's getting a little bit worn from our first bed cover as a newlywed couple. white with blue accents and trim. It's been through the washer a few times. The blue is very light right now. But some of the quilts that she made back in the 70s, colors were getting pretty bright. Polyester was coming in. Some of those quilts that still lay around predominantly in my sister's home, well, they looked a little bit like what I imagine Joseph's coat of many colors did. A lot of little pieces of very bright colors all mingled in together. Probably not exactly what this coat or this tunic looked like. The description means a long robe which would have had embroideries. Colored embroideries perhaps to be sure, but a tunic that marked him as considered noble. Perhaps in Jacob's eyes taking the status of the firstborn. That which couldn't in his eyes belong to Reuben or to Judah. But this sign of how Joseph is viewed. He is noble and exalted among his brethren. Not given merely a trusted position in his labor, but an exalted position in his title. We also read in this introduction to Joseph in the story that he brings report to his father Perhaps in the days where screens, whether large or small, took so much attention from the family, there were discourses between father and son regularly. And he, we read here, brings report. He brings report from two directions. He brings the evil report of his brothers. What they're occupied with as their way and outside the discerning gaze of the father. Joseph faithfully reports their evil to his father. What a sad report that must have constantly been. Obviously, the reasons for his brethren's hatred of him become multiplied. He's daddy's favorite. He's been exalted above us even though He's not the oldest. And then He goes and tattles on us and the things that we find ourselves pursuing that wouldn't be the things that an Israel would want us to pursue. He also brings report of His dreams. And we see these, and I remember those figuring so prominently in the Sunday school stories. It's easy to imagine Joseph here as a prideful young boy, very eager to tell these dreams and to pump himself up and to make something of himself in reporting these dreams. Perhaps he labored with struggling with some of those sins. But I dare say we don't have any warrant, we don't have any indication in Scripture that his report of these things was wrong, just that it wasn't well received. We do have that little window of encouragement in the last phrase really that we read, that Jacob his father, excuse me I'm going to borrow from the New Testament instead of remembering our particular reading, but Jacob like Mary pondered these things in his heart. Jacob had known God giving revelation. His mother had asked of God, why do these two sons in my womb struggle and fight with each other? And it was revealed, the elder will serve the younger. God had revealed himself as we're reminded in Hebrews in various ways to the patriarchs. Perhaps Jacob is mindful that God might indeed be giving revelation through Joseph of something that's yet to be. And so Joseph gives report of his dreams. He perhaps doesn't understand exactly what they mean and how they'll be fulfilled, but he knows there's some significance to these. And he brings report So his reports are those negative aspects of prophecy, as it were, against his brethren, and revelation with regard to the dreams that God has given him. And so in so many ways we see in Joseph those roles of prophet, priest, and king. As priest, he labors and oversees the labor of his brethren and his father's household. As prophet, he brings the ill report and the good report. And as a king, he would wear this royal apparel in their midst." Perhaps just echoes here. Not full, clear typology as our brother Barrett would call us to. These are, I say, the historical realities. But are there not, secondly today, prophetic reflections that we see in these? Joseph here foreshadows a greater than Joseph. Who has been given of the Father to be the servant to oversee, to indeed in some ways perform the work that has been given Him to do. And as Joseph was the trusted chief shepherd among his brethren, so Jesus so clearly in Scripture the shepherd of His sheep. And how many times did our Lord utter words such as these from John 10, My Father gave them Me. No man can pluck them out of My hand. No man can pluck them out of My Father's hand." Here indeed, the greater Joseph works and labors and secures His people. And His role as King. We're told that He in Colossians is to have preeminence. It is the Father that in Him all fullness would dwell. How much more is this just lifted above the story of Joseph and any parental favoritism, warranted or unwarranted, above his brethren? It is entirely, eternally warranted in the person of Jesus. And it pleases the Father that fullness dwells in Him. You think of that even in our worship. Those words in Colossians 1 I think so evidently applicable to the New Testament church as well as the Old. In all things, He, Jesus, is to have preeminence. Everything we do here should draw us out after Him. Why would we balk at all at His being preeminent, at His being exalted. He's our forerunner. He's our surety. He has taken a seat that He has merited at the right hand of the Father. He brings us with Him. There will be a day in the life of Joseph's brothers. They'll be very happy. that Joseph has been exalted above them. Because it's going to be through Him that their lives, that their families are spared. Our Savior also, with respect to that prophetic work, He brings report. He is the Word. Jesus said in John 15, if I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. You think of the evil report of Joseph regarding his brethren. And yet, what a gracious thing. God doesn't hide their sin. He exposes it that they might acknowledge it and repent of it. and be cleansed from it. I say to you young people, I say to us old as well, what a mercy it is. The Lord will only let His children go so far in their sin without arresting them and bringing them back. And what a mercy at times it is to get caught. Because so often, that's the final point of the prodigal. Everything else is the return. And the joyous feast at home. Jesus reflected in Joseph what report He brings. Not only of our sin, but of His work to forgive our sins. of His bringing us to the Father, of us being accepted in the Beloved, of us being joint heirs. I say they're prophetic reflections in Joseph's story, but if I could just share with you quickly and thirdly, that I think also they're personal reminders for us here. Yes, Joseph would foreshadow Christ. We see Christ obviously infinitely excelling Him in these duties and in these glories and in these offices. But something of it belongs to us as believers and followers of Jesus. Are we not called to be laborers? To be faithful laborers among the Father's sheep? Are we not called to work and do the work that He has sent us forth to do faithfully? You think, well, what of Jacob or Joseph's royal status and his reflection of the preeminence of Christ? Well, of course, we will not be preeminent. Preeminence can't be given multiple parties, but yet as we've said already, we're joined to Him. He bestows these benefits. He bestows these exalted positions, this inheritance, these titles to us as His purchased people. And then are we not as Joseph, to be faithful witnesses. When we have to bring sadly evil report against sin, whether it be the sin of Canaan or the sins of the church inside of Canaan, we can be those bringing the report of the Good News. Not just the evil report. You know, that's something, if I can pause, seen over the years. My father-in-law and I spoke of it more than once. We don't want to be among faithful people that all we speak of is the bad news. I mean, you see that politically, ecclesiastically. We have to faithfully point out the bad news, the sin, the compromise. But if something dwells in us that that's all we want to look at, that our whole ministry becomes exposing the sin of others and not exposing, not lifting up the work, the glorious, victorious, powerful gospel work of Jesus, we're missing something. You might say we're missing everything. Let us be witnesses. Let us be as Joseph and those remarkably supernaturally granted dreams foreshadowing the deliverance of his family and their preservation, their salvation from the famine that would encompass the world. So our Jesus is truly the Savior of the world. Joseph will only foreshadow We have good news to speak of. Let us share that. Even as we speak with others, you think of the Canaanites that dwell around us. to come alongside them and say, I was cut off from Christ. I was a prodigal and a rebel. I have no claims to glory in God's presence in me any more than you have in yourself. But God's provided a ransom. He's provided a Savior for the likes of you and the likes of me. Let us report the good news as we with Joseph would stand against the evil tidings of our day as well. These thoughts to introduce this final character in Genesis, if you will. Joseph, beloved and despised. What a picture of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Let's bow our heads together. Our Heavenly Father, we today are grateful as we open the Word You have chosen to preserve and record to inspire the record and the lives of these men that have gone before. And Joseph will indeed shine as a bright light and hero for us in this story. We see blemishes. We've seen them in Abraham. We've seen them in Isaac. We've seen them multiplied in Jacob. But here's one who shines throughout the story. There's no blemish seen at all. We look to Him. See and rejoice in something of our Savior. We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.