Our brother's experience is the experience of us all in many, many ways with the hymns. I think some of the need of the hour, and that's been a while back. Go back to some of the old hymns. A little more truth and a little deeper than the shallowness that had become the norm. But anyway, that's a topic in its own different way and day. Turn, if you would, to Genesis 37. Continuing, well, you might say taking up in a sense our studies in the life of Joseph. But continuing our studies in the lives of the patriarchs. And Joseph is, I guess we might say, an honorary member. We speak of the patriarchs. We even hear the refrain, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we've noted already that the rest of Genesis that's so filled with Joseph is still part of Jacob's chapter. Genesis gets back to Jacob. It closes with Israel's blessing of his sons. But Joseph, what a figure in that Jacob section, if you will, of Genesis. And as we've suggested, so full of foreshadowings and pictures of our Lord Jesus. A reading from chapter 37 and verse 12. We read together the first 11 verses last Lord's Day. We may reference a few phrases in that reading, but I want to read today from verse 12 to the end of the chapter. So Genesis 37 and verse 12, And His brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them.' And he said unto him, Here am I. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem." Just pause as we understand the rest of the story. This is Jacob's last words. He thinks. the last time that he will see his beloved son Joseph. Verse 15, And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man said, They are departed hence, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it. And he delivered him out of their hands and said, Let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. And they took him and cast him into a pit, And the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread. Lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there passed by many knights, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned into the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he rent his clothes And he returned unto his brethren and said, The child is not, and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, This have we found. Know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it and said, It is my son's coat. An evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. And the Midianites sold Him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's and captain of the guard." Well, amen. We end our reading and again trust the Lord to add His blessing to the public reading of His inspired Word. Let's bow our heads and our hearts once again together. Our Heavenly Father, we come We're gathered in a familiar place. We're engaged in familiar duties. Lord, we do not speak with shame of their familiarity. That is a good thing. But we also pray that their familiarity would not cause us to take them lightly. But we would each, again, in the privacy of our own hearts, recognize the importance of the means of grace Recognize the importance of our necessary food. Help us to be as the one described in Your Word who esteems the words of Your mouth even more than our necessary earthly food. And so have food for us today as we turn again to Your living Word. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen. Last week as we turned the page from Jacob to Joseph in the book of Genesis, we paused or sought to pause and consider the remarkable place that this story holds in Scripture and in the hearts of the Lord's people. If you're like me, many of the Lord's people as we endeavor to read the Word and perhaps hold that worthy goal of reading the whole of Scripture once at least throughout the year. Well, Genesis comes early in the year. So many of you may have been like myself, even in our private reading, rehearsing afresh this story. And I know you find, as I do, it is ever fresh. It is ever powerful. The story itself with its characters, its drama, its intrigue, its unexpected and almost unbelievable twists and turns, Its displays of treachery only to be answered by unmerited love and goodwill. All of this and of course its powerful and happy resolution. They all serve to warm the heart and to lift the observant mind to a higher and more powerfully affecting story. Commentators unite in finding foreshadowings of Christ in the careful specific incidents that providence has provided for us not only in the life, but in the record of the life of Joseph. Not only did Joseph save his troubled family, but he preserved and saved this troubled world. One commentator has phrased it not merely with reference to Joseph, but certainly in this context that the cross of Christ casts a shadow in Scripture. And very often we think that shadow only reaches forward. But the shadow reaches backward all the way to the opening chapters of the book of Genesis and certainly it includes the closing chapters of Genesis as well. I have often thought of Scripture like a fine musical symphony. A great composer fixes upon a theme. There will be times in which he paints that theme and it's clearly spelled out in prominent and obvious places. But there are going to be other points where the well-trained or even the untrained but familiar ear will pick up that theme in other places. Sometimes it's in the melody. Sometimes it's in the background. Sometimes it's in the harmonies. But nonetheless, it is there. I might just pause. Music is an issue frequently preached on in my youth, and rightly so. My youth was way back, as we've said often, in the days of classic rock. Well, if you use the word classic and add an AL to it, classical music, oh, how can you stand that? Well, listen to it. Maybe even if you have an untrained ear, a familiar ear begins to pick things up and hear things and see beauties there. My ear, untrained as it is and was, well, was constantly provided with it in my father's home. That was his pastime and it resounded through the house. But I leave that all to say, as we come back to the theme, woven throughout the Scriptures. I say so it is with Christ. I love that chapter 24 in Luke's Gospel. On that road to Emmaus, those morning disciples ponder and the Lord comes near them and asks them why they're sad. They say, are you a stranger? Do you know what's happened in Jerusalem in these days? I would love to have heard the tone in His voice. when He said what things? Tell me what you know about what happened. And then He begins where? At Isaiah 53? No, beginning at Moses. Beginning in the books of Moses. He opens unto them the things concerning Himself. He told the Pharisees. In that very famous verse, John 5.39, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me. You know, there's an interesting discussion on that. We often, I know in my youth and early years, it was a memory verse. You look at it as an imperative. Do it. Search the Scriptures. But it may be that it's indicative and the Lord is speaking to these Pharisees who do search the Scriptures, but they haven't found Him there yet. And He tells them, you search the Scriptures. But they testify of Me. They still have that shroud upon their eyes, that veil. They couldn't see and find Christ so evidently set forth in the pages of Scripture. No, the story of Christ is painted everywhere. And so I want us to have that obviously in the back of our minds as we come to this, we might say, opening chapter in the story of Joseph. We know something of the prelude, as it were, that we read last week. His favored status in the father's home, the dreams that he had and shared. I'll underscore that some find cause to rebuke Joseph for sharing the dreams and being a little spoiled brat, as it were, and talking about them, but understand dreams in his lot in life, in his season of revelation in the times of the patriarchs were revelatory. Many suggest, and I think rightly so, Joseph would have had an obligation to share these dreams. And his father Israel ponders that in his heart even as he questions his son about the dreams. But look at the story that has unfolded before us. Consider firstly with me the condition and the need of his brethren. The condition and need of his brethren. The chosen family now again restored to the land of promise after Jacob, after Israel's sojourn in Mesopotamia. It's returned. It's been a decade or more now that they have been there. But the chosen family is corrupting itself. We've seen already in the story of Jacob evidences of that. But remember the selective history that Scripture is for us always and particularly in these pages of Genesis that traverse hundreds and even thousands of years so quickly. But one thing in chapter 35 is singled out almost in a slight and brief reference. We read here, chapter 35 and verse 22, it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben the firstborn, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it." We've read chapter 37. We come to chapter 38 and the whole of that chapter seems to be almost an out-of-place interruption in the life of Joseph because it chronicles much of the story and what has been going on in the life of Judah in these years in Canaan. And that chapter is filled with immorality, unjust treatment of others. It's not a pretty picture. And of course, we've seen and considered what happened in chapter 34. Dinah's desire to see and know something of the daughters of the land and the aftermath of that. Simeon and Levi's sin and cruelty. These are put before us to show us that the chosen family, the children of Israel, are adopting, assuming, and practicing now the lifestyle of those that surround them. Here we see these brothers are turning to ungodliness. And how much more vividly could it be put on display than what we find in the part of the story we've read today. They're not just mildly jealous. They're not just sending forth sarcasm and jokes about Joseph, their younger but favored brother. They're ready to kill him. They're so ready to kill him, they're ready to speak openly about it. It's not an idle thought. Just a hypothetical, fleeting, impossible thought in the mind of one of his brothers. It's something that they feel bold enough to put out there as something they should do. They're agreed. This is where we find the children of Israel. Sin is prevalent. they have embraced the lifestyle of the ungodly. Because at this point, the bulk of his brothers are the ungodly. Thankfully, we see something of redemption in this story as we see these brethren later. But as we speak of the condition, and we said the need of his brethren, Not only is there the presence of great sin, but now there is the presence and prospect of great danger. We see in verse 13, they are shepherding their flocks in the fields. Where? Near Shechem. Israel is now abiding in Hebron. The land near his father. These men go forth with their flocks, their herds, And they're right in the environs of the city where Simeon and Levi, in treachery and cruelty, have manufactured a scheme and slain all the men of the city. Perhaps the remainder of the brothers not engaged in the slaughter were engaged in the gathering of the spoils. The reputation of the Israelites isn't very good in this region. And perhaps Jacob is mindful of the potential danger that his sons are in as they have gone in this direction with the herds. Joseph, as we see him sent, and we'll comment there in a moment, We find in the text that the man of Shechem finds him wandering in the field. You know, we can read that, and I've read it many times and haven't really paused to give it thought. But I mean, there wasn't a lot for Joseph to do with regard to discerning whether his brothers in those massive herds were in the fields there or not. You could just kind of come over the hill. Nobody there. But he's wandering about. He's acting in such a way that somebody observing him says, what are you doing? I'm looking for my brethren and their flocks. He says, oh, yeah, well, they were here, but they've gone off to Dothan. Maybe Joseph is wondering about the field, trying to find evidence of struggle. Maybe a body or two laying here or there. Perhaps these are the concerns that moved Jacob to send his favored son Joseph to find them. To seek and inquire of their welfare. Joseph's brethren are full of sin and surrounded by danger. What a picture of the sinner. Full of sin. and in danger. Not of some handful of remnant or neighbors to the Shechemites, but the danger of the wrath of an all-seeing and all-knowing God. But think with me secondly in the story of the concern and care of the father. It seems that the brothers have been gone longer than expected. We surmise in many comment along the way As they take the story to Dothan and they find this well or this pit that has no water in it, that there's a drought. What would have been a well is at this point just a pit. That's where they throw Joseph. So it seems that the brothers have gone, I say, longer than expected. They've gone as far as Shechem to have the herds to graze in the fields there, but drought perhaps are likely being present. They move on to Dothan. And the father begins to grow concerned. The father pursues and considers something that we might imagine would never have entered his mind. I'm going to send Joseph. Now we read earlier in this chapter that the conflict between Joseph and his brothers with regard to the report of his dreams, with regard to the obvious nature of the father's favoritism toward him, and that elaborate robe that's given to him as the prince among the brothers, this younger of them all, and said they could not speak peaceably unto him." And yet here, we find Jacob sending Joseph not to give report of his brothers as we find earlier in the chapter where Joseph is safely in the father's house and moving in and out among the brethren and the flocks as they are nearby, but sent on a journey alone to find them. Sent to them that have not been able to speak peaceably to Him." Perhaps Jacob thinks, as some suggest, that he is thinking, well, this remarkable gesture This sending of Joseph to a place and a season of danger is going to unite the family and bring them, in a sense, closer together as they would face their common problems and their common enemies. And so Jacob, the beloved father, willingly, Perhaps against common sense, he might think, he willingly sends his son. And of course, that brings the third thought and part of the story. The willingness of the son. We should pause and consider something of what must have been on Joseph's heart and his mind as the prospect of this mission is put before him. It's one thing again to intervene and to speak with regard to the conduct of his brethren when he's inside the safety of the father's house. But what of approaching his men that could not speak peaceably unto him What of approaching them in the wilderness? What of coming near to them at a point where they would almost, as it were, have a temptation, almost too difficult to resist? I mean, how much easier could it be? We can slay them. We can go back and report on our way back home, we found this coat. I just have to pause. I don't know what facial expressions or sounds come from me when I read that portion, but they bring this bloodied coat of many colors to Jacob and they say, we can't tell. Is it your son's coat or not? They saw that coat afar off. And they hated the sight of it. And they hated the sight of the One that was within it. Because one thing that is clear in the story is that Joseph was not a participant in their immoralities and in their sins. One of the men I was reading commented that Dothan would have been near to a major thoroughfare between Mesopotamia and Egypt. And obviously we see that the caravan that they sold Joseph to was passing through. And that part of their side job could have been indeed to be among those dangerous local people that the caravans would have to deal with. Perhaps they levied some pretty severe taxes on people coming through. Perhaps they helped themselves to some of their items as they were coming through. We don't know, but every indication, every part of the story that is recorded, shows that the character of these men was awful. But Joseph is not like them. Joseph, as we considered last time, has been touched by that season of revival in the life of Jacob. As the family was called away from the traditions and the sins and the immoralities and the idolatries of the Canaanites and of the Mesopotamians that had crept in and begun to be practiced among them, He not only had that favored status from his father, he had a godly life that was like a beacon of light shining on the wickedness, the contrast that their lives were. But Joseph willingly goes. He doesn't bring up objection. He doesn't say, Jacob, Dad, I mean, can you send one of the other servants? Maybe a handful or two of them might be a good way to approach this, just sending me. He willingly goes. His love for His Father, and we are compelled to understand from the remaining chapters of His story, His love for His brethren, compels him to go. There's nothing in them. There's nothing in these men that would be, could we say, a logical reason for Joseph to pursue and desire their welfare. He could say, leave them to God. I'm not going. that Joseph willingly, dare we say happily, goes to seek the welfare of his brethren. What a picture of our Lord Jesus. He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Think with me fourthly and finally of the betrayal of His brethren The horrors and the cruelty of this chapter of Joseph's story are only highlighted in later Scriptures. There are later Scriptures that speak to us of fetters of iron that Joseph was placed in. One of the men I was reading a much more modern commentary, as you'll know by the comment in a moment, spoke of the miles and the geography of this journey. He said, I have traversed those miles and taken that journey in an air-conditioned coach bus with a refrigerator, with cold beverages. And I was exhausted at the end of that journey. He said, I can only imagine Joseph in fetters. Tied to a camel. Not riding. No, that's for the Midianites. Tied to the camel. Having to keep pace with the camel. Through mile after mile after mile of the wilderness and the desert. I just marvel as we look ahead in the story. Can you read Joseph's story and be amazed that the root of bitterness never gets a foothold in his life? I mean, I would have been dealing with bitterness about mile two of that journey. the willingness of the Son, and yet I say this, betrayal by His brethren." You think of, yes, the later portions of Scripture that speak of the fetters of iron. The brothers give testimony as they stand before Joseph unknowingly. And they know something of the Scripture that Moses has yet to put to paper. Their conscience smites them. This is all happening because of what we did to Joseph all those years ago. We heard his cries. He tearfully pleaded with us. And what do we do? Joseph, as we'll see, can't bear to hear it. He has to depart and weep himself. And you think of what the brothers remember. And their conscience smites them. Joseph endured. The jealousy that these men have entertained with regard to Joseph much we might say like that of Ishmael and Esau before them. And yet this jealousy could have easily been turned aside if they would have looked beyond their jealousy, if they would have looked beyond something of Joseph's favored status to see the promises of that covenant. That covenant that belonged to them. The promises that they would be able to enjoy through the blessing of those promises in Joseph's role. No, they can't see the covenant. They can't see the promise of Christ. Not thinking about God's purpose in calling Abraham and making of them a nation to honor the promise of Genesis 3. No, these men think of themselves. They think of their own goals. They think of their own earthly desires. They entertain their own bitternesses. What do they have to be bitter over? The prosperous sons of Jacob. No, they cannot be content. So their thoughts now give way to this, we might even say, premeditated murder. Quickly, they openly speak of murder to one another. It's staggering to imagine. Simeon and Judah, or Reuben rather and Judah, sheepishly seek to provide some relief Reuben, for whatever reason, is absent when Judah's plan is suggested and put forward and enacted and he approaches the pit and Joseph is gone and he cries out. Perhaps there's something of a conscience in the conviction of sin already working in Reuben's heart. He has been mentioned earlier for that incestuous immorality that his father knows of. You think of the jealousies of that home. The concubine, what is in her heart? I'm just being used as a baby factory. Well, why not just pursue or respond to the immoral advances of a Reuben? What does it matter anyway? what sins have come in among these people. But instead of confessing, yes, perhaps Reuben's conscience is working on him a little, but not enough. Judah relieves him from their murder. But perhaps only to say, let's sell him. He'll die soon enough anyway in that role of life. The betrayal of his brothers. Joseph sold into slavery. What an awful end, apparently, comes to this story of Joseph. It's got to be over. A slave taken by Midianites to Egypt. He's gone, Dad. But He's not. What of Israel? I think in thought and readings this week of that most famous portion of Isaiah's prophecy, Israel's penitential psalm of confession, we esteemed Him not. We despised Him. We looked on Him as weak, despised, worthless. We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But, He was wounded for our transgression. He was wounded for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes, are healed. There's going to come a point where these weeping brethren stand before an exalted Joseph. They'll be speechless with regard to their sin. And Joseph, forgiving, having already forgiven all. God meant it for good. God sent me here to preserve life. What a precious, powerful, affecting microcosm of the story of the greater than Joseph. I trust the Lord will add His blessing, will add to us meditations upon His Word as we consider that greater Joseph today. Let's bow our heads. Our Heavenly Father, we today ask, help us by Your Spirit to see, Lord, those of us that have been raised in godly homes and churched our whole lives, the scars of such sins as we read of in these chapters have not been near us. And yet the heart that produces all of that is indeed near us. Your love is great, your mercy free, which from the pit delivered me. And so help us today to be lifted above this story, powerful as it is, and to see what it foreshadows of that greater Joseph. Of that greater redemption. Not just redemption and preservation from an earthly famine, but redemption and preservation from an eternal hell. And what a wonder that you were willing You were desirous of sending your beloved Son, that He willingly came unto His own, knowing they would receive Him not. Knowing they would be the instruments of His death, and yet He would turn all of it for eternal good. and that our greater Joseph is risen from the dead. And He is seated at the right hand of the Father today, ever living to make intersection for us His blood-bought people. Give us thoughts of our Jesus today. We ask it in His worthy name. Amen.