Alright, Genesis 37, we covered the beginning of it last week, verses 1-4. But before you go to Genesis, you can turn to Isaiah. And we made the point last week that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy according to Revelation 19. And so one of the things that God tells us again in Hebrews 11 about faith is faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And the one thing about Christianity, if you wanna call it, the one thing about following Christ is that it's all evidence based. You know, pastor just quoted about the thief on the cross and one doubted, one was agnostic. if you will. You know what an agnostic is, right? An agnostic is someone who prides themselves. It's every college in this country. They produce agnosticism. Because what they say is it's smart to not stake your claim on any one thing. It's smart to be open-minded. And it is, for a while, good to be open-minded, but once you figure out 1 plus 1 equals 2, you close that door, as Pastor says. We know now what that means. We're no more open-minded to theories on what that means, right? And once we get a hold of the Bible, we're no longer agnostic. We don't say, well, the God of the universe, or we don't say, you know, the powers that be, or we don't say, you know, Whatever mother nature or whatever people say to try to create a deity in their minds they oh, I believe in God But you know who is he? And so you don't want to be like that. And so God Almighty, He never just left us with, you know, speculation to wonder who He was. He even told us in 1 John 1.12, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. I may have the reference wrong, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5.13, boy I was off, I knew John. And so he wants us to know that's how God is. And so one of the verses I wanted to read to you last week and we didn't do it is in Isaiah chapter 41. And this is a challenge actually given by God. And we'll look at today, you have a double-sided sheet, because today we're going to go through as much as possible. We're going to go through just in one chapter, just in chapter 37 of Genesis, all of the types, not even all of them, I skipped over many, all the types in that one single chapter of how Jesus Christ and Joseph line up, and that is to do with prophecy. So when Jesus shows up, and we looked at it last week, when Jesus showed up, he declared to them out of the scriptures who he was. But before I get ahead of myself, Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 21. Isaiah 40, now this is the challenge from the Lord. The challenge is from the Lord to everyone here on the earth who thinks they know something, like a PhD, to produce your cause, he says in verse 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord. Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. You know what the Bible says, Jesus said? He said, come, let us reason together, right? That's the kind of God you worship. He's not the kind of God who says, find me if you can. And guess what my name is if you can. He tells you who he is. He shows you his creation. And we turn our backs and we say, well, no, we know better. Evolution started all this. But he says, produce your cause, saith the Lord. Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring forth. Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen. What is he talking about? Show me the future. Let them show the former things what they be. Do you have a history book? Do you have a Bible? Can you document where things were when things were created, and how they were created, and what took place when this happened and that happened as we've been going through the book of Genesis? That we may consider them, and know the latter end of them, or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. You see, that was the sin in the garden, right? That was the temptation of Satan. Chapter 3, he says, ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And so what the indictment is upon mankind is, well, you call yourself gods. You wanted that. You took the fruit. That's what you desire now. Every person, whether you say, well, I didn't do it. Eve did it. Yeah, but you are now a child of hers. And so because of that, you have the same tendency and you want to be a god. You say, not me. Well, maybe look in the mirror a little longer. You want to be right. You want to choose your own way. Americans do that all the time, right? We're in control of our own destiny. No one's going to tell us what to do, right? And so he says, this is God talking now. He knows you. He knows what's in your mind, He knows what's in your heart, that we may know that ye are gods, He says in verse 23. Yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught. An abomination is he that chooseth you. Well, I don't choose God, I choose my professor. I don't choose God, I choose my own intellect. I don't choose God, I choose my own wisdom and the philosophies of mankind. Then he says, and that's your indictment in verse 24. Behold, you're of nothing and your work of naught and abomination is he that chooseth you. So anybody who chooses man over God in God's eyes is an abomination and an abomination has no place in heaven. Abomination will end up in hell. And so that's just something that I failed to read to you last week. But we're going to go on into Joseph now and just see the types of Joseph and show you why it's important that there are types in the Bible. Because as when the Lord showed up, let me just check a reference here real quick. I don't want to make you turn to it until I see it. When the Lord shows up, he refers back and he said, didn't didn't Moses write of me? Well, who wrote the book of Genesis? Anybody know? Moses. So he's talking about back then, well, how did you write, I don't see the name Jesus. Well, we went over it in Institute on Tuesday, you see the name of Jehovah. And if you know your Bible and you're not steeped in religion, you know that Jehovah is Jesus Christ. And you know that because you read your Bible. You don't know that because people tell you because people don't know that. But the Bible makes that very clear. And so the Lord made that very clear. And you know what they did to him? They killed him for it. Look at Luke, just real quick, look at Luke 24, and then we'll get into Genesis. Luke 24. This is what Jesus says. Jesus doesn't talk like most preachers do today. Not only did he get after the Pharisees in a bad way, and he said, you're vipers and you're twofold more child of hell. And he told them that their father is the devil and less of your father you will do. And it goes on and on. He was he didn't mince his words with the religious people. But he's talking now here in Luke chapter 24 in verse 24. No, no, let's see in verse 25. And he just says, These are the people that went to the sepulcher to find him, right? And then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, that's Genesis, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So how is Jesus doing that? He didn't have Paul's writings. He didn't even have the Gospel of Luke. He just had the Old Testament scriptures. So he'd go back to Moses and he'd say, now let's talk about Abraham. And when he brought his son onto the altar there at the, when he was sacrificing Isaac and there was no sacrifice, he put Isaac there. And then he said, gave the prophecy of Jesus Christ. Right? He will provide himself a lamb, he told him. And then let's go to Joseph, one of his offspring, and let's look at Joseph and see all the types. And that's what we'll do this morning. We'll see the types of Jesus Christ in Joseph. But on your sheet, I give you the same notes from last week before we get into the chart there. Genesis 37, verse 5. Let me turn there. It says, And Joseph dreamed a dream. And he told it to his brethren. Now Joseph, by the way, is the youngest brother up until Benjamin shows up. All right. So they're used to having him around as the little brother. And he dreams this dream. And he said, and he told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. They hated him already, right? Why? because his father showed favoritism to him, right? And we talked about that last week, don't do that. And now they hate him even more because he has this dream. And he said, here, I pray you this dream, which I have dreamed, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheave arose, and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheave. They're worshiping him. 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 more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it. Now I would know if I'd have been Joseph, I'd have said it any more. But he dreamed another dream and he 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, and I'll just read verse 10, and he told his father and his brother, 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 down, come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? Now, of course, we know the end of the story, right? And we know that that exactly what happened. They did bow down to worship him. But the types or similarities between Christ and Joseph are abundant in his two dreams alone. So Joseph started out by saying this, now this is one of the types that you'll see, very subtle things, but the characteristics between Joseph and Jesus, one of the things he says here in verse 6, he says, here I pray you. And so one of the favorite sayings of Jesus, if you count up the number of times Jesus said certain things, one of his favorite phrases was, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And Jesus would say that all the time. So this little brother of the 12, he would say, here I pray you, the dream. These dreams foretell of Christ's two comings and his two kingdoms. So the first dream is the sheaves. Now the sheaves represent the first coming, God coming in the flesh. That's what we're doing today. That's what the world is doing today, celebrating Easter, right? And of course, you all should know that Easter is a pagan name. There's nothing to do with Easter. You can go all the way back and you can read that word in the Bible. And that's not a mistranslation. I'm not going to go into that all today. But people say the word Easter should be Passover. No, it should be Easter. Because it's showing you that one time it shows up in the Bible, it's showing you that the pagan world celebrated Easter. It's been around for a long time. But we'll go with that, and we'll go with the word Christmas, and we'll go with certain things, because the world understands it one way, and we're not going to try and debate that with them all the time. We'll just use it. But anyway, you've got Christ coming in the flesh, declaring the earthly kingdom of heaven. Now Matthew 13, just go real quick to Matthew 13. I just want to show you one thing there, just the way the Bible defines things. Sheaves, if you don't know what sheaves are, sheaves are bundles of wheat, basically, and they will gather the sheaves together. And that is something that you do in the earth, right? And so he's got this dream about sheaves. The next dream he has is about heavens. So the sheaves are bundles of wheat and they're in the field. And so Matthew 13 verse 38, I have the reference for you on your paper, what does it tell you right there, the first five words? What is the field? The field is the world. So when you read things like Joseph has a dream, and you know the dream is symbolic, right? I mean, what are sheaves? They represent the brethren, right? And they're bowing down to his sheave, and the sheave is in the field, and that is the world. So this is a dream concerning this world, and that's this kingdom, what we call the kingdom of heaven, all right? Now, I don't have time for it today, but we've studied it here at church many times. There's two kingdoms. Matthew is always telling you about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. And the kingdom of heaven, by the way, is this world. It's the kingdom that the Lord's going to set up in this world. And then there's the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God, we'll look at that in just a minute, but the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is what every one of you have within you today. And so you are the temple of the Lord. But anyway, the field is the world. Look at Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7, this should be very familiar to you. It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Do you realize that one day there won't be any more agnostics? One day the colleges will all be shut down because Jesus will be sitting on the throne and he'll be saying, look, there's no more philosophies anymore. Take a look. I'm right here. In the kingdom of God. That's second dream. Dream number two. But this is what is the heavenly kingdom of heaven come down to this earth. That's what they were looking for when Jesus came. And it says of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Now, do you read your Bible and do you take it literally? Do you realize that one day that, you know, there's time and space and all that that we're used to. The Lord's, the heaven and the earth are going to flee away. If there's time today, I'm going to show you that in the Bible, that the Lord is going to undress Himself. He was undressed on the cross. Do you understand that they stripped Him naked? And they mocked Him and they laughed at Him and they said, if you be the physician, heal thyself. Come down from the cross. As He was laying up there naked and beaten and bloody. But the next time he does that, it's going to be called a Great White Throne Judgment, and everyone's going to come up out of hell, and everyone who ever lived is going to stand before him, and the Bible says the heavens and earth fled away. And when they flee away, you know what you'll be standing on? Nothing. You'll be suspended in animation out there in the universe before God Almighty, totally disrobed. You'll be looking at His glory, and He'll be saying, what do you think of me now? Depart from me. And you will have one last look at Him before you burn forever in hell. That's going to be something. But you know what it says here in verse 7 of Isaiah 9? It says, of the increase of His government there shall be no end. You know what you'll miss out if you go to hell? You'll miss out on seeing what God had in mind the whole time, that it will never, ever end. You know that the people that study the universe, they say that it's expanding? They think it's evolution, right? Because that little pencil dot that exploded out to have everybody here today, that is expanding and expanding and expanding and it's just going and going and they watch it happen. But that's what the Lord's gonna do. It will never end. You don't know, we have no idea the power of God. We have no idea the mind of God. His abilities to keep track of what, maybe eight or nine billion people right now, that's nothing. Wait till there's a hundred billion. Wait till there's a million billion. Wait till there's a billion billion. That'll just be his beginning. So of the increase of his government, there shall be no end in peace. There shall be no, and upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. Boy, what a, what a world. That's going to be a great world. And with justice from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So that's the first dream. The dream that the sheaves are going to bow down, the sheaves in this world. When Jesus came to this world, that's what he came to do. He couldn't do it. I wish I had time to go into all this stuff. He couldn't do it because they wouldn't receive him, but he was intending to do it. He would have done it, but he had a plan because he knew they wouldn't do it. That's foreknowledge. But the Lord gives man, the lesson in that is the Lord gives you and I every opportunity. No one will stand before God and say, I had no opportunity. How was I supposed to know? Well, you didn't tell me what he'll he'll point out every instance that we chose that we chose to ignore God. And that's what we do. So anyway, the first dream is that the second dream, he talks about the sun, moon and the stars, and that represents his second coming as king of kings, bringing the celestial kingdom of God, which is within every believer, by the way, to the earth. when he shall come in his glory. Go to Matthew 25 again. And if we don't get to all these types, because we won't, you have them. And you can read them and look at them yourself. But Matthew 25 and verse 31. This is, the resurrection is of utmost importance to us. We would, I would not, I would not be here today. You could come and you could dress up and be here. I would not be here today. I would be at the beach or I'd be traveling somewhere. I'd be making as much money as I possibly could. That's what I would do. Right. And I'd be living it up. I wouldn't be a fool sitting in a church. The only reason I sit in the church is because he rose again. And because he rose again, I am smart enough. Now, I'm only smart enough because he gave me that ability, but I'm smart enough to take advantage of that. All right? To me, it's not about religion. It's about knowing what you ought to do. The world thinks they're doing what's right today because I'm just doing what I want to do. Well, this is what I want to do. I want to do this because there is more treasure in the future and more to look forward in the future than anything I could do here this morning on a Sunday morning, even though it's a nice day outside. I forget why I said that, but it's true. Matthew 25, verse 31. I'm in the wrong chapter. It says, Matthew 25, verse 31. Now see, He didn't come in His glory the first time. He came as a man. You know, you and I are not. We all fall short of the glory of God, right? And He came like you and I. So we fall short. Look at you. I mean, look at me. I fall way short, right? And so it says, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, that's future, even though He's telling them right here, and the holy angels with Him. You know what the Bible says about you? It says the word equal to the angels when you get your new body. You know, 1 Corinthians 15, you have to get rid of this body and you get a new body. When you get that new body, the Bible says you are as the angels or equal to the angels. And so it says, when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, you know where Jesus is? That's where you will be. You will not be away from Jesus for all of eternity. You are his body. He's not going to put you off to the side and run over here and go do something. So when he comes with all of his only angels, he's talking about you right there. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from the other. We'll get into that in Institute next year. But because we don't have time this year, but that's something that is going to happen in the future. And that's this celestial kingdom of God coming down. He's coming in his glory. Now look at Luke, as long as you're in Matthew, you're right by Luke. Luke, chapter 17, regarding the difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is clearly the Son of Man coming in His glory with His holy angels, setting up the kingdom that you read about in Isaiah 9, an increase of His government, there shall be no end. But here you have Luke, chapter 17, and you look at verse 20. And it says, And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, not the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Well, they're the same thing. Well, let me give you a little clue. They appear to be the same thing when you read the Bible. But that's because if you don't rightly divide the Bible, you're going to think they're the same thing. And the other thing about that is when Jesus was here, he had both kingdoms with him. He was God in the flesh, the greatest mystery of godliness. He brought that. He was celestial. He did come down. He had a body prepared for him of his father. He was given that. And you read about that in the book of Hebrews, a body that has prepared me. So he comes down as God in the flesh. And so he is the kingdom of God. It's within him. And he is the kingdom of heaven, because he would have sat on the throne of his glory if they would have allowed it. But they're different to us because it says, when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered and said to them, the kingdom of God is not, cometh not with observation. You don't see it. I'm looking at you this morning, and frankly, none of you look saved to me, right? You all look like a sin-cursed body, and you all look tired, and you look like, you know, I'm just being kind, you know, I'm being funny. You know what I'm saying? The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, lo, here, or lo, there. Oh, wait a minute, when he sits on the throne of his glory, and we see him, no more walking by faith, we're walking by sight, because we see the Prince of Peace right there. What is he talking about? Neither shall they say, Lo, here or there. For behold, the kingdom of God, he tells you, is within you. It's within you. So they're different. The kingdom of heaven is a physical, literal thing that you can observe and be a part of and actually walk in and live in. But the kingdom of God is within you. Now go over to one more reference. Go to Romans chapter 14. Now the reason I would make a big deal out of this is because it's actually a very basic truth, a very simple truth. But you know what happens when churches get this wrong? They call themselves the Roman Catholic Church. And when they get this wrong, you know what they call themselves? Jehovah's Witnesses. You know, when they get this wrong, they call themselves Mormons. When they get this wrong, they call this kingdom building liberal Christian churches. Let's build the kingdom, the kingdom of God. What are you talking about? The kingdom of God is within me. It's not everywhere the Pope steps his foot that he declares it for Rome. See, they don't understand their Bibles, and because they don't understand their Bibles, they're tyrannical. and they're kingdom builders. And if you don't join my church, you don't get to go to heaven. I wish I had brought it, but somebody put a post up about what the Pope said, Pope Francis, and what he said about something about how that we, as we live our lives on this earth and as we pray for people, we're helping them get out of purgatory. It's like, where's the word purgatory in the Bible, please? I would like to see that, you know, is that in your writings or is that in the Bible? And where is it that it says, as we live my life right, that my dead relative is going to get out of purgatory? And when will that happen, by the way? How long do they have to suffer down there? And how much good do I have to do? But that's what happens when you get your Bible wrong. So these are not insignificant truths. Yes, these are heady factual things that we're looking at maybe this morning, but these things make a big difference when you talk about there's The majority of the world, and I would say probably about six billion of the world, are religious. Six billion people have it wrong. They're religion. Now the rest of them are probably just agnostic or atheist. And the very slight minority of us actually read the Bible. And so the ones of us who read the Bible, it's, you know, it's a privilege to know, but it's very basic. What did I have you at? Romans chapter 14, right? Verse 17. And Paul backs it up and he says, for the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of heaven, but for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the what? In the Holy Ghost. Isn't that what is within you? Isn't that what Jesus said? It's not observation, it's what was within you. Now, the people he was talking to at that time, was the Holy Ghost within them? No. Now it came and left, and they knew what it was. But what did he say? I have to go, because if I don't go, who can't come? The Comforter. Who's the Comforter? The Holy Ghost. What fell on the disciples or the apostles in Acts chapter 1? The Holy Ghost. And then the Bible tells you in Ephesians, it comes and it stays inside of you, and it indwells you and it seals you until the day of redemption, meaning the redemption of your body. Right? That's 1 Corinthians 15 as well. All right, so let's get back to this. That's his dreams. Now, Revelation 12, go back to your Bible, Revelation 12, and you read something interesting in Revelation 12. This celestial kingdom that comes down, the sun, the moon, the stars, and he says, shall my mother and I bow down and worship you too? I mean, what kind of dreams are you having here, Joseph? Well, he's a type of Christ. that there's no doubt about it. He's a type of Christ and Christ can go back and he can also go forward into the future and say, he's not only a type of who I am at this moment, he's a type of what I am going to be when I come up with the first advent, I'm here and I'm telling you this, the second advent, I'm coming back and look what's going on in Revelation 12. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, verse one. a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars. So when you see Mary, the pictures of Mary in the Catholic Church where there are two peace fingers going like this and the stars around her head, they're looking at Revelation 12 and they're saying that's the Holy Mother Church. And the pastor's saying it, I hope you guys are picking up on it whenever he tells you that Mary was not the mother of God. She was the mother of Jesus. Jesus was God, but God, the Holy Spirit, overshadowed her, the Bible says, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. She was not a perpetual virgin. She was not sinless perfection. She had other children, but the Roman Catholic Church misapplies this, and we'll read it again, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman. That's the church. No, it's not. Clothed with the sun, that's that halo behind her. Why do you think they always show that? What is that? That's what they're misapplying the Bible to you. And the moon under her feet and her head, a crown of 12 stars, those are the boys. That's the boys, that's the brothers. All right, that's what back in Genesis 37, and she being with child cry, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold, a great red dragon. having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. And it goes on from there. And then we look at skip down to verse five. And he brought forth a man child or she the woman, the verse one. She brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Now, no doubt in my mind, that's Jesus Christ. But you know what that is? What if you're a Roman Catholic, you know what you think that means, then what's the logical conclusion that if it wasn't for us, Jesus Christ wouldn't have come? Because I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, they say. So you Baptist, you're anti-Christ. You're anti-baptism. You're taking away the church. You're going against the church that produced Jesus Christ. So you need to die. And Allah says you need to die too. And if Jehovah's Witness and even Calvinists, you read the history of Calvinism, they would say you need to die. Every religion except Christianity is they kill to get their way and they force to get their way. Christians are the only ones called to peace. We're the only ones who said live and let live. You know when our government said you have the right to free speech and that is probably the single most strongest liberty you have as an American citizen. Free speech allows me to get up here and talk this morning. Free speech allows the drunk at the bar to cuss me out. I don't beat him up and say, you're wrong for cussing me out. Go have at it, man. That's what God says. You know how God operates? I'm way off track here, but you know how God operates? He says, Charles Manson, you killed all those people. Well, OK. Adolf Hitler, you killed six million of my people. OK, if that's what you want. Now, God does stop people, and people do get consequences, right? There's sowing and there's reaping. But He lets this world go. And you know what people do? They shake their fist at God and say, why? If you're a good God, you say you're a God, why do you let this guy kill all these people? And why did you let my mother die? And why didn't you answer that prayer request? We prayed for it. You answered other people's. You see, that's not how God operates. And a Christian is the same way. If you want to cuss God out, you want to be an atheist, you want to send yourself to hell, and you want to make those choices, fine. We'll try to convince you. We'll preach to you. We'll do what the Bible says about it. We'll give you a gospel tract. But we can't stop you. Alright, we're not going to. But people who get this wrong, they take the other side and it's a demonic side. And the disciples came to Jesus and they said, hey, they're not doing what we're doing. Should we do like Elijah and call down fire from heaven and destroy them? Do you remember reading that in the Bible? And he said, no, you don't know what spirit ye are of. That is the wrong spirit. The kingdom building spirit, basically. So the child of the woman is Jesus who was sent at the first advent. Now look at this, it says in verse 5, and she brought forth a man child, Revelation 12, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her 1,203 score days. Doesn't that sound like it's like one event after the other? Doesn't it sound consecutive? Sounds like, well, she had this child and he was caught up to heaven. And as soon as he was caught up to heaven, they ran out into the wilderness. Well, that's not what happens. What happened is Jesus, we're reading in the book of Matthew, right? We're studying an institute. Jesus is here. He's brought forth of Mary. He's brought forth of basically Israel. It was not Mary that's being talked about here. Mary is not in the passage. Even though she was the mother of Jesus, it was Israel that brought, Israel is what you're looking at, a woman in verse one, clothed with the sun. That's Israel. So she brings forth Jesus and he was supposed to rule with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God. That's what we're actually talking about today at Easter. He rose from the dead and he ascended 40 days later, right? And so he ascended in verse 5, and then you have a period. And then you have verse 6, and basically it's been over 2,000 years between verse 5 and verse 6. Now when you read your Bible, all I'm telling you, Bible study time, when you read your Bible, don't get confused with that. Realize that there is a huge break between verse 5 and verse 6. Verse 6 hasn't even happened yet. it's going to happen. So don't get confused and think these things are consecutive and that's where you get your false doctrines from. So in chapter 37, Joseph was at the mercy of his brethren as Jesus was at the first advent. But in chapter 42, Joseph's brethren are at his mercy. just as Israel will be at the second advent. So those are your two dreams that he has. The first time he's at their mercy, they take him and he said, behold, this dreamer cometh. What should we do with him? Let's kill him. Let's get rid of him. And isn't that what they said about Jesus when he got here? But when they show up to see their brother in chapter 42, you're going to find out that they're begging him. Oh, please don't send us out. Don't get rid of us. And he didn't. But let's get into these comparisons as much as we can. Joseph was feeding the flock in verse 2. You're going to have to just follow along in your Bible if you want, but in Genesis 37-2, his dad sent him out to feed the flock. And Israel were known as shepherds, by the way, by trade. You know Israel's got a big modern city today, but you know that's not what they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be shepherds. They were even known as shepherds if you look at Genesis 46. Go ahead and do it. Genesis 46 verse 32. You know they're better off that way? Do you know you're better off that way? Do you know you're not better off because of technology? You're worse off because of technology. I won't get into that this morning, but I think if you've done any research at all, you might know that you're worse off because, no, I live longer. Well, who cares if you live longer? Really, who cares if you live longer? Yeah, I know, I don't want to have, I want, you know, if I have a toothache, I want a doctor. I've had many of those. I've had, I have a lot of missing teeth in my head. But, you know, those are painful and things can be painful. And I'm glad for medicines and things like that. But, you know, there's always been medicines and there's always been doctors. You can read about Luke, the physician, right in the Bible. And there were always that. And people were you know, we think people in the past were really dumb. They weren't very dumb. They were pretty smart people. And the things that passed down from people living 1,000 years and passed down to the generations, they were pretty smart. Okay, so you just think technology is a good thing to you. But Israelites are worse off today in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is the number one queer capital in the world. Are they better off? They'd be better off as shepherds. And you and I would be better off living simple lives. And that's just a whole other little rant. But Genesis chapter 46 and verse 32. says, And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they brought their flocks and their herds and all that they had. That's what they did. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even till now. This is the beginning of the nation. This is what they started out to be. This is what they always were. You read in the Old Testament throughout the Exodus and all that thing, they dwelt in tents. And the tabernacle was what? It was a tent. Why? Because, and he said, I don't need a building. Right? So I'm just, that's just one of the things they were known as. So Jesus is the good shepherd. I have, I have it all written out for you on your paper. I think you can follow along one with one there. Jesus is the good shepherd. He says that I am the good shepherd. He's a type of that. That's why they were shepherds. so they could look for the Good Shepherd. And all the illustrations about sheep have a lot to do with Israel. Jesus told Peter what? In John 21, 17. It's right there on your paper. Feed my sheep. Be a shepherd. Feed my sheep. That's the most important work you have to do in this world. Not your career. Not your bucket list. Not your next vacation. Not, you know, this or that. All about you, you, you. Be a good shepherd. Be a steward of the Word of God. The second thing is Joseph gave an evil report of his brethren. Now, Jesus did the same thing. Jesus came to his brethren, did he not? He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the Bible says. He said, the world cannot hate you, but it hateth me. Because why? Because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. That's what Joseph did with his brethren. Number three, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Now that was a bad thing, it's a bad thing, we talked about it last week, don't be favorite to your children because your other child will see it for sure and they'll hold it against the other child if nothing else and they'll fight over it. But in this case it's actually a good thing because God said in Matthew 3.17, this is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased. And John 3.35, the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." Now, I don't understand when you talk about Jesus and God and God and Jesus and the statements they make back and forth to one another. I don't understand it, but when I go back to Genesis 1, I read that God said, let us make man in our image. Remember that? God talks to himself. and because he has fellowship with himself. And he wants fellowship with you and I, by the way, and he created us for that reason. And in John, you know, 1 John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. He wants that fellowship. He wants it restored, even if it's broken. He wants that, but God can talk to himself like this. And so he would, he looked down, he said, and he said, while Jesus is on the earth, this is my beloved son. The brothers hated Joseph is the fourth thing. and couldn't speak peaceably to him. And Jesus was hated and spoken against. Luke 23, and the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. That's all they would do is accuse him, accuse him, accuse him. I think it says in the book of Luke, and I had it maybe referenced somewhere on the paper, but they actually sent out people to spy on Jesus. It uses the word spies. And they wanted, in fact, let me see here. Let's jump ahead. Yeah, go to number 11. Joseph's brothers conspired against him to slay him. So the religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus. Look at verse right there, John 11, 53. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Now I have the word envy there. I skipped ahead so I won't explain, but envy is a result of you wanting something that someone else has that you can't get. You know they're right. There's no dispute that Joseph was right about his dream. There's no disputes that Jesus was who he was. But it wasn't the dispute about that. It was that they envied him. They wanted his power. They wanted his worship. And so, but Luke 20, 20 is the one that says that that tells us that they watched him in that verse and sent forth spies. And, you know, it says they're conspired against him also. But so I put the note, if you don't believe in conspiracies, you're crazy. Listen, not every conspiracy on whatever you watch, TikTok or YouTube or Facebook and all the stuff that, did you know about the pyramids? Did you know about the aliens? Did you know what the underground tunnels are for and all the things that they tell you? That's not always true. You understand that, right? I hope you understand that that's not always true. That's to get you to watch and to get you to watch more because they make a lot of money. A friend of mine has a candy store in California, and they make the candy right in front of you. They stir it up, make it raw, cook it, freeze it, and sell it. And the daughter said, well, I'd like to make videos on this. And so she started filming her dad making the candy and herself making the candy. And this is how we make this flavor. And this is what this one tastes like. And this is what everybody reacted when they tried it. And all these little, you know, they call them reels, right? Little short, under one minute videos. You know what that girl did? She put that stuff on YouTube or whatever, TikTok or wherever she put it. Do you know that she got a check for a couple hundred thousand dollars for that? And that it keeps coming in. because people are liking that kind of thing, that kind of entertainment. And you know what people do? They make videos that attract you so that you'll watch so they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars. So don't believe everything. But I'm telling you what, if you don't believe that there's a conspiracy against Jesus Christ, you're crazy. If you don't think that there is a God, you're crazy. If you don't think that this Bible is true and the prophecies that have been given, you're crazy. you need to have a little bit of conspiracy about you because these absolutely documented in the Bible that they conspired against Jesus in so much that they sent forth spies. Go to Acts chapter 20. And it might be 28, but let me just check. Yeah, it's Acts chapter 20, look at verse 28, starting at verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. That's the idea of a shepherd, by the way. That's the idea of Jesus being the good shepherd and having a pastor. A pastor is a word for shepherd. And so your overseers over the flock, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. That makes Jesus on the cross the blood of God. That makes him deity. Verse 29. For I know this, that after my departing, that's Paul leaving, after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. I'm telling you, if you don't believe in conspiracies, you're crazy. The Bible documents it for you, and especially, especially when it has to do with Jesus and the Bible, and undermining the Bible, and undermining your religion, and we studied Yahweh in Tuesday night, and you're saying that, and you're reading other Bibles, and you're listening to rock and roll music in churches. Man, they have you duped. And you like it, and of course we like it. That's our flesh likes it. You don't go by that. And so there's a conspiracy, an underlying, and Paul warned of it in Acts chapter 20. I'll get back to the lesson. Number five, Joseph declared he would rule over his brethren. And Jesus, we read the verse in Matthew 25, when he shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him. And I have the note there for you in case you forget. At the first advent, Jesus presided over the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God at the same time. So when you read those verses and you say, John, you're wrong because I keep reading the Bible and it says kingdom of heaven here and it says kingdom of God there and it means the same thing. No, it doesn't. I gave you the verses. You can reread them. You can see that the kingdom of God is cometh not with observation. It is within you. And Paul told you the same thing. And but when Jesus was here, he presided over them both because he was God in the flesh. Number six, the brothers said, Shalt thou indeed reign? Now, this is all in one chapter. The types are incredible. The brother said, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Does that sound familiar to you? I mean, that is crucifixion now. And so the Jews rejected him and they said in John 19, 15, away with him. We have no king but Caesar. Do you know what they chose over God, their God, the ones who gave them the name of Jews, the ones who told them they were Israel, the ones who said, the one who told them you are my chosen people. You know what they said to him? We'll choose Caesar. We'll choose this world. And that's what every lost person has a choice to make. Every lost person is confronted with the gospel. There isn't one, I'm convinced of it, there isn't one person alive in this world that hasn't been confronted with the knowledge of God. And we make a choice. And you know what their choice was back here? The brother says, shout thou indeed reign over us. You're the little brother. Shout thou indeed reign over us. You're the son of the carpenter. You're Mary's, you're the illegitimate child of Mary. We're not going to choose. No, we choose Caesar. We're doing just fine in this world. We don't need God. And that's what they did. Luke 19, 14 is a parable that Jesus gave. And he said the citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, talking of himself, he said, we will not have this man to reign over us. And that's really what it boils down to, right? Isn't isn't it? Don't you remember the dilemma when you first got saved? If you were older like I was, if you were older and you were conscious of yourself and who you were and how bad you were and the things you wanted out of life, you know what your dilemma was? I really don't know if I want Jesus to reign over me. I really don't know if I want to start going to church every week. I mean, I really don't want to read the Bible. I mean, let alone pray. Do I have to start wearing shirts and ties and suits? I'm not sure, right? That's really what the world's problem is, right? We have a problem with holiness. The pastor brought it out the other day and it was really neat to hear. The Bible says that the beauty of holiness, holiness is beautiful, but to us it's ugly. To us it's reprehensible. To us it's like, oh no, get me away from those people. Yeah, we're all hypocrites and you can point out every fault in this room. We could just go around and confess our faults and we'd all be appalled at one another. But we don't want to do that. We're here this morning, I hope, because you want to be, not because someone forced you to be. But the point is, his own people said, we'll not let this man reign over us. It's sad. Number seven, Joseph was hated for his words, and Jesus is as well. They told him he blasphemed because, and notice this in John 10, 33, we looked at it in an institute. Jesus answered him saying, for a good work we stone thee not, or the Jews answered him, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man makest thyself God. They knew exactly who he was claiming to be. Why doesn't Jehovah's Witness figure that out? They're more stupid than the people who nailed Him to the cross. They knew back then that these people, they realized He was claiming deity. They realized He was speaking blasphemy when He said, I am, and they all fell backwards in the garden. They knew that He was, or they thought He was speaking blasphemy when He said, I am equal with the Father. and I and my Father are one. They figured it out. Paul said, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And absolutely, you will become the enemy of whoever you tell the truth to. Now once in a while you'll be picking a piece of ripe fruit and they will have been watered and they will have some seed and watered and they will be ready and you'll come along and you'll speak the truth and they'll be like, I need to talk to you." And they might get even saved. That's maybe what even happened at the nursing home. All the watering, all the seeding for years that went on there. And then finally pick some fruit there. But you'll become enemy. Just prepare yourself for that. It's okay. Speak the truth anyway. Galatians 4.16, that was where that was. By the way, if the Bible isn't true, why is it banned and destroyed? Why does everybody have to be against me? Right? Why do they kill Jesus? Why? Why do they hate us so much? Don't you recognize that about people and about yourself? That you are naturally the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are what unto him? They are foolishness unto him. It's foolish for you to choose Jesus. It's foolish to be in church this morning. It's foolish to dress up like this. It's foolish to believe that there's a creator to the rest of the world. They laugh at you, they mock you, they call you names just like they did Jesus while he was being tortured on a cross. They have so much cruelty and hatred, they will kill you in the most wicked ways possible, the most painful ways possible to get rid of you. Even little children, they will do that too if you read history. So, if the Bible isn't true, why don't you just leave it alone? Why don't you just say, you're a bunch of idiots, you know, just read your Bible and go away. No, they have to get rid of it, they have to burn it through history, they've tried to take it away, they've tried to kill you for owning one. So, why can't men just leave it alone? Well, because it's true. You might take a clue from that, right? And I think all of you have. So, number eight, Jesus was envied of his brothers, or Joseph was envied of his brothers, It wasn't that they didn't believe Him. You understand the definition of envy is not that you don't believe somebody. It's that you know something to be true about somebody and you envy them. You desire to be them because they have something that you don't have. Rachel, one of the first times the word envy shows up in the Bible, it was Rachel against Leah because Leah had a child and she didn't. It wasn't that she, it was true, right? It had nothing to do with it being true or not. She wanted what someone else, and when you want something that someone else has, it will lead you down a path you don't want to go. You do not want to go down that, you know, don't sign up for, one trainer that I've trained under in business, he always would have this saying, don't sign up for that class. Why is this and why is that? He said, don't worry, don't sign up for that class. Just don't bother with it. Leave it alone. Envy is one of those things. It says in Matthew 27 about Pilate, he said, he knew that for envy they had delivered him. And the note there I put, we are never more like the devil than when we envy. You realize what the devil's problem was? I will be like the most high. He has something that I don't have and I want it. I'm the second in command. I'm the number two. I have everything. None of the other angels have what I have, but I don't have what he has. And I want that. You're never more like the devil when you do that. Number nine, Joseph was sent to his brethren by the Father, so was Jesus. We've talked about that, you have the verses. Joseph was found by a man in the field, or the world, we looked at that, Matthew 13, 38. And he said, what seekest thou? And so Jesus came into this world to seek who? His brethren. That's the same. There's amazing types. I could preach these things and I could preach Jesus from the Old Testament, from Moses. No doubt that's what Jesus was doing. That's why these things matter. Let's see. Let me get to something because we're going to wrap this thing up here about the resurrection and the crucifixion. Let's see all the way down to, look at verse number 13 though first. Joseph was cast into a pit, right? They didn't kill him, they cast him into a pit. This is the first use of the word in Scripture, by the way, the word pit. Normally the term is, now, I don't know if you have an NIV, that wouldn't, see, that thing doesn't work. You have an ESV this morning or an ASV, whatever V you have, that doesn't work. But if you have a King James Bible and you believe every word was ordained by God and every word is perfect and every word of God is pure and they're preserved to every generation, Psalm chapter 12 tells you. then you realize that when that first word pit shows up, it might be significant because it might have a definition or a meaning to it that you might want to learn something from. And especially if I know that Joseph is a type of Christ. And so what this is, is this is a pit, but normally when that term shows up throughout the Bible up until then, it's called a well. You know the difference between a pit and a well? Does anybody know? There's no water in a pit, but there's water in a well. You know the difference? Look at your reference there, number 13. Jesus went down to the pit where there was no water. Didn't the rich man tell you that in Luke chapter 16? I don't have any water. There's one thing that's missing down there in hell that would normally sustain life. It's water. There's no water down there. So Jesus went there. Joseph went into a pit. Jesus went into a pit. It says in Acts 2.27, because thou will not leave my soul in hell. This is the resurrection Sunday, right? Where did Jesus go for three days and three nights? Bible says he went down to the heart of the earth. And so what's down in the heart of the earth? Well, it tells you in the Bible that thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. He went down there. Why did he go down there for? Well, he went down there for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons was He was going to take your sins and leave them there and let them go. And He had the authority to do that. But you know what happens if you don't receive what Jesus did for you on the cross? You will go down there and meet your own sins down there and there is no forgiveness. If there's no forgiveness, guess how long you have to stay? Forever. And so Ephesians 4.9 he talks about him going down to the lower parts of the earth and by the way he took paradise out of there because it was theirs as well. And hell hath enlarged herself and so hell took over the whole vacant spot of where paradise used to be. And so Isaiah 53, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Where does the soul go when it dies? It goes to heaven or hell. Well, Jesus' soul didn't go to heaven because you just read that He went down to the heart of the earth and that He would not leave my soul in hell. So hell, He went to the other place and His soul was made an offering for sin. Um, so now look at number 14. The brother said some evil beast have devoured him. That was their excuse when they didn't find him in the pit or Judah didn't find him in the pit. And they brought back the evil report and they took his coat and they put blood on it. And they said, Hey, look, dad, you know, look, this is your son's coat, right? And he says, yeah, no doubt. Some evil beast hath rent him. Um, and so, uh, Jesus experienced an unseen demonic battle with evil beasts while on that cross. Look at Mark chapter 15. Do I have a few extra minutes? Mark chapter 15. These are the couple of points I want to make sure to get in today. Mark chapter 15 and verse 33. When Jesus was on the cross something really weird happened. It says in Mark 15, 33, and get ready to turn your Bible again after this. And when the sixth hour was come, the sixth hour, the number of man. When the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. Darkness. There were some weird things happened. The earth trembled. and shook, and I mean, the people standing around there, do you think they would think this is no ordinary man, this is no ordinary crucifixion? I've been to crucifixions before and this one is different. And this guy still talks, this guy is still yelling out at the top of his lungs. And darkness for three hours, and I don't know how dark, but darkness. I mean, maybe the sun didn't shine, or not the sun didn't shine, but the moon didn't shine, the stars didn't give her light. I don't know how dark it was. But I imagine it was complete darkness. So what's going on during that time? Well, remember, his dad is saying, some evil beast, and he's a type of Christ, some evil beast rent my son in many pieces. Now go over to Psalm 22. David is also a type of Christ. And when you read the Psalms, a lot of times you read things in Psalms that you're like, what? That sounds like Jesus. And it is. And you're getting prophecy. And if you don't understand that, again, you won't understand what you're reading. Because David didn't necessarily go through these things. He was speaking on behalf of the Lord. But Psalm 22, look at verse 12. He says, Many bulls have compassed me. Many strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. What? There are some representations of some creatures that are coming around Jesus in this time of darkness. A spiritual battle is taking place and such to the point where who knows if the world could have seen it if it wasn't totally dark. And so it says, They gaped upon me with their mouths. That means they opened their mouths. They were ready to eat him up. Who was eaten up in Genesis 37 supposedly? Joseph by some beast. So they gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. Who's the roaring lion in the Bible? It's the devil. And it says, I am poured out like water. All of my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. They didn't give me anything to drink on the cross except vinegar. And thou has brought me into the dust of the earth for dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. You might think that this is what Jesus wasn't looking forward to when he went on that cross. You know, He became sin for us who knew no sin. You know, He became sin. He became a company with these people or with these things. These devils. And they're all around him ready to eat him up like a lion, like a dog, like a bull. I may tell, verse 17, I may tell all my bones that they they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my. There's no doubt this is Jesus Christ. But be not thou far from me, O Lord, my strength haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn." Unicorn? Yeah, you're talking about heavenly things now. I don't know if there was ever unicorns down here, but there may have been, but you know what? They're real. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, all ye the seed of Jacob. The seed of Jacob, that's Joseph. Glorify him and fear him, all ye seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Why? Because he was afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. You know why Israel had a second chance? Do you know why you have a second chance? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Even in the midst of that, he was able to maintain a prayer with the Lord, and the Lord, of course, He was God, but He became sin. So it's amazing there what happened. Go to Psalm 40. What you don't see and what I don't see, thank God for, but what you don't see is the reality of the world. We're little ants on an ant hill. We're on this little tiny earth and I know it's the Lord's footstool and the Lord cares about it and He created it for a reason to be inhabited and all that and He put man on it. But we're like so small and insignificant. Do you know what's really going on out there? It's not about you and me. I'm just happy that I know about it and that I can be a part of it. And I had the ability to pray and he heard me and said, okay, I'll take you, you can be part of me, come on board for the ride. But it's not about me and what I want out of life, it's about what he's got going on and what's going on with him. And I'll tell you what, if you don't understand that now, because I don't, if you don't understand that now, thank God one day when you will, and you'll be saying, oh my God, I'm so happy, I'm so thankful that I took you and I chose you. Because now I see, Anyway, Psalm 40, verse 12. There's one last prophecy of David here. That's him talking on the cross. So the last thing we'll look at real quick here is the last one. And that's number 21. That's Jacob believing. Go to Genesis now and just look at the wording in Genesis 37. And look at the last verse there. Well, that's the last verse. Look at verse 33, Genesis 37, 33. Look at verse 32, and they sent the coat of many colors and they brought it to their father and said, this have we found. Yeah, you guys are liars. Know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. Hey, father, I am Esau. Go ahead, feel me. Take a look. Don't I smell like, don't I feel like your son? I'm your son, decide whether it's me or not." Verse 32, right? Now they're handing him a coat of his favorite son and they're saying, is it your son's coat or not? Verse 33, and he knew it. Well, he didn't know it, he thought he knew it and said, it is my son's coat and evil beasts have devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces, without a doubt. So Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again without a doubt. I'm looking around the room, I don't see any real skeptics in here this morning. I see regular people that have been here and I believe you are saved. But let me just assure you anyway that without a doubt, if you ever doubt your salvation, if you ever doubt what you really believe, if you ever doubt if this is worth it or not, if you ever doubt whether or not you're believing the right religion, let me just tell you it's without a doubt and the phrasing in verse 33 is not, it is intentional, it's on purpose. The Bible tells us that we can know without a doubt that Jesus was God, that we can know that the Bible is His word and that we can know that He created all things. and that we have chosen correctly. Acts 1.3, it tells you, go on over to Acts, and we're going to close here so don't get, I'll just be a few more minutes. Acts 1. It says in verse 3, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs." Infallible proofs. Now, your other Bibles say convincing proofs. Do you know that if I was a magician this morning that I could do some great magic tricks for you and you'd be convinced that I was really doing it? But I'd be tricking you because that's the definition of a magician, right? It's just deception, it's sleight of hand, it's, you know, look this way while I'm doing this over here. You know your other Bible is completely wrong when it says that. Jesus was not just convincing. He didn't just dupe a bunch of his followers like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witness and the Catholics do to their followers and the Muslims do to their followers. He was not just convincing, it was infallible, meaning that there is just no other way, there is no other scientific evidence that you can come up with that he absolutely did raise from the dead historically and every other way you want to look at it and we could spend the next half hour giving you, I could give you evidence after evidence after evidence. It's there if you want to know about it. It says, by his passion after many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So, go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Well, I don't know if I believe that. Well, have your way. That's how God operates. We said it earlier. You don't have to believe it. You can be a skeptic all you want. You can be agnostic all you want. If thou be the Son of God, Yeah, well, you're not going to challenge God. He's not taking your challenge. He challenged you, didn't you read in Isaiah at the beginning of class? Produce your cause. Okay, you want to challenge me? Well, show me the future. Tell me what the past was. Tell me that you can do good or evil on your own. And let me just watch. You're an abomination, he says. You're nothing compared to me. Besides me, there is no God. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 6. He says, After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. They all had the same story, of whom the greater part remaineth unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. So Acts chapter 17, go over there, Acts chapter 17. Verse 31, Acts 17, 31 it says, Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man. That man, I have that underlined in my Bible, that man is Jesus. He will judge the world in righteousness by that man, whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Hey, listen, as far as God is concerned, He has given you assurance. He hasn't left you in a void. He hasn't left you wondering who He is. We don't know who God is. I'm agnostic. You know, the powers that be, the universe, etc., etc. It's not that at all. God has given us full assurance of who He is. And He's given it to you in the Bible so that you would have to go to the Bible to learn about it and that you would have to go and validate the Bible. And that's how He operates. And one last verse, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I should have probably kept you there. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This is what I said earlier and this is what I firmly believe because it's Bible. You know God tells you, He has no problem just telling you, listen if it's not true then do what you want. He tells you that here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 32. Well first look at verse 19, I think the pastor may preach on this today. Paul is talking here, verse 17, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. What are you doing here? What are you doing here for an hour listening to some guy tell you all this stuff out of a Bible that's not even true? If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. Go home. You are yet in your sins. Verse 18, Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, the people who died, are perished. Verse 19, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Hey listen, I'm with you 100%. Religion is miserable. That's why people don't go to church anymore. Who wants to go to Catholic Mass? Come on, it's so boring. I mean, I had one friend of mine tell me that, you know, I'm going to stop going to Mass. I'm going to pick a different church to go to. And I said, why? I mean, of course, I don't want him to go there. But I asked him why. And he says, because the pastor there or the priest there, he used to only speak five minutes. Now he's been speaking like 10. And he can't even take 10 minutes. of Bible reading or liturgy or whatever they do when they do it. And that's people. And you know why they have entertainment centers now for you? That's why the mega churches are doing so well because that entertains us. Because we're miserable going to church if Christ is perished. But if Christ is not perished, everyone should shout, Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I'm happy to be here. I can't wait for the next service. This is really living when I come to church. And then go over to the last verse where I really wanted you was verse 32 and we're done. This is Paul's advice and it's in the Bible so it's God's advice to you. Alright, this is the advice. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage hath it me? If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Hey, when's the NFL starting up again because I want to get a beer and I want to have some pizza and I want to sit and watch a football game. Because tomorrow I die anyway, let's live it up while I can. I'm not going to go to church. And that's the advice of God. God says, choose you this day whom you will serve. If you don't want to serve me, go right ahead on your merry way. I won't stop you and the world will suffer the consequences of your evil deeds and your sin and I will not stop it from happening. So don't shake your fist at me when you make your choice. But you people this morning, you are wise. You chose Jesus Christ, and that's why you're here this morning. And just be assured that He did raise from the dead. He gave us that full assurance. He told us in the Bible. And He says, if it's not true, then you might as well go home and eat, drink, and be married, because you're going to die anyway. So, there is the lesson for you today. You can look at the rest of the things, of course, on your own. We didn't have time to do it all. We went way over time as it is. But, definitely, amazingly, what you can learn also is things about Jesus from the life of Joseph, not just things about Joseph from Jesus. And that's how you can get to know more about who your Savior is.