Joseph, the Master of Dreams:
[0:00] Morning. A warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see all of you. It's good to see some visitors with us as well this morning and you're especially welcome. There's tea and there's coffee after the service that are served in here and if you're able to stay behind please do so. It would be good to get the chance to meet and enjoy fellowship together.
[0:19] The notices have been on the screen for the last few minutes as you've been waiting for the service to begin so I'm not going to go through all the notices. I'll just highlight two things. The first is to say that there's no evening service here tonight as was intimated last week. We join with the Scalpe congregation for the Thanksgiving service tonight. I think it was intimated at six o'clock last week. It was in the notices wrongly.
[0:49] Not us being passed through the press book there wrongly. But the service is actually 6.30. So 6.30 in Scalpe tonight and please be encouraged to go along there.
[1:01] The last thing is to say that the Blytheswood shoebox campaign has began and if you're able to make donations of new items there is a box out there for you. Just a reminder to do that.
[1:21] It's good to have Scott and Fiona and the girls with us. Scott for those who are visiting is our minister in training and Scott is going to take the service this morning so I will hand over to him but I'll pray just before I do.
[1:36] Heavenly Father we thank you. Heavenly Father we thank you for the blessing of being able to come together in your house as your people and we thank you that you have given us a gospel to meditate upon, to proclaim, to respond to.
[1:52] We thank you that as we gather we gather in the name of Jesus and we pray that you would fix our eyes on Jesus and all that we do is we sing, as we read, as Scott preaches.
[2:04] We ask that the Lord Jesus be lifted up and that we would be drawn to him. So we pray that you would bless Scott and that you would speak through him. We ask that he would know the help of the Holy Spirit and we pray that we would know that we are in the presence of God as we gather together.
[2:22] In Jesus' name, Amen. Thanks Scott. Thank you David. Good morning. It's good to be with you all again this morning and we pray that our time together we know the Lord's blessing over us.
[2:39] We'll begin our worship by singing to God's praise in Psalm 25. That's the first version of the Psalm and we'll sing from verse Mark 15 to the end of that Psalm.
[2:55] And the words there the Psalmist says, That my eyes upon the Lord continually are set, for he it is that shall bring forth my feet out of the net.
[3:07] Turn unto me thy face and to me mercy show, because that I am desolate and am brought very low. My heart's griefs are increased, me from distress relief.
[3:21] See mine affliction and my pain and all my sins forgive. Consider thou my foes, because they many are, and it is a cruel hatred is, which they against me bear.
[3:34] O do thou keep my soul, do thou deliver me, and let me never be ashamed, because I trust in thee. Let uprightness and truth keep me who thee attend.
[3:47] Redemption, Lord, to Israel from all his troubles ascend. The Psalmist's reliance upon God and trust in God, who is the Redeemer of all people.
[4:01] Let us sing to God's praise these verses there from verse Mark 15. Mine eyes upon the Lord continually are set. I will stand to sing.
[4:11] My eyes upon the Lord continually are set.
[4:28] For he in death that shall bring forth my feet out of the net.
[4:45] Turn unto me thy face, and to me mercy show, because that I am desolate and am brought dead.
[5:15] My heart's griefs are in peace. Meet from distress relief.
[5:33] See my heart's grief. See my affliction and my pain, and all my sins for you.
[5:51] Consider thou my foes, because they many are.
[6:07] And it's a cruel, the nature is, which lay against me there.
[6:24] Oh, do thou keep my soul to love, deliver me?
[6:41] And let me never be ashamed, because I trust in thee.
[6:59] Let all rightness and truth keep me who thee attend.
[7:14] Redemption, Lord, to Israel, from all his troubles say.
[7:32] Amen. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, as we draw near to you in worship and praise, we give thanks that we can sing psalms like we have sung.
[7:50] And although it may not be ones that we initially come to pick that would rejoice our hearts, we give thanks and rejoice because it speaks right into the depths of our hearts and asks of who we truly are.
[8:08] For often we have to admit that life is difficult and hard. And so many times it is true that we must come before you and turn our face towards you.
[8:20] We feel the weight of life. We feel the griefs of life. We feel the distresses of life. But you are a God that knows us.
[8:31] You know the hairs on our heads. You know how we feel this morning. You know the worries and anxieties that we have within our hearts. And you are a God that can help us and show us that fatherly care to us and give us exactly what we need and when we need it.
[8:53] If only we would come and fall before you and trust ourselves to your care. And that we would not try and resolve all life's issues on our own strength.
[9:07] For often we admit that they are too big for us. So we come before you this morning asking for your help in all things. Asking for your help as we draw near to your word.
[9:21] Asking for your help that we would be given an understanding of who you are. Asking for your help as we aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire to aspire aspire aspire to aspire aspire aspire to aspire aspire aspire to aspire aspire clothed with the garments of Christ Jesus, that we would be pure in the sight of God because of all that Christ has done for each and every one of us.
[10:08] So give us understanding of these things. Help us to see and hear the wondrous works of Jesus Christ, how he has redeemed his people and set all those who trust in him free from that great burden that weighs upon us so heavily.
[10:30] We pray that you'd be with us. Help us to have our eyes continually upon you as we draw near to you. We pray for our young ones that will come and sit with us. We ask that you too would give them understanding.
[10:43] All these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. I'll just say a wee word to the young ones that are with us, so boys and girls, you could come along here.
[10:55] I'm going to take a wee seat here beside me. We'll gather together. I've got something to show you here.
[11:08] Come along. All right. Two things in this bag that I want to show you. We all know what this is, don't we?
[11:21] Apple. Apple. Apple. Yep. You roll that one. What's your name? Callum. Callum. Okay, Callum, you roll that one. Hold it up. Okay. Put something else here as well.
[11:33] Apple. Apple, yep. It's the same thing, isn't it? Apple. Do they look the same? No. No. That one's orange.
[11:44] That one's red. That one's orange and that one's red. Now, if you were to go into our shop, let me just show the grown-ups of the goat here. We've got two apples. One's nice and red. That one looks a bit...
[11:56] Orange. A wee bit. Looks like an orange. Quite an orange. That one looks like an orange. If you went into our shop to buy an apple, which one would you buy? This one.
[12:07] Why? Why would you buy that one? Because it's a little bit. Yeah. It's got a few batteries on it. But this one might have a few batteries on it.
[12:19] It looks quite a good one. Thanks, you. That one. Well, which one looks better? Yeah? Which one do you think's juicier? The red one, isn't it?
[12:30] Yeah. Looks better. That one's not juicy. You don't think that one's not juicy? Why not? Because it doesn't look juicy, does it? No, it doesn't look very tasty.
[12:41] This looks brighter. Let me tell you a wee story. I was in Italy. I was in Italy and they've got lemons and oranges in Italy that grow on it.
[12:55] They've got loads of other things. Really good place for growing fruit. And I was seeing all the lemons and apples and oranges on the trees. And they all looked kind of dull.
[13:06] They didn't look very shiny. They didn't look very tasty. And I was wondering why. And I realised that they put wax on the apples and fruit in this country to make them look shiny.
[13:24] And to make them look really tasty. So I looked up on the internet. I wonder if I could take the wax off an orange. That's what I tried to do it on first. And to show the difference.
[13:36] And I said put it in some boiling water. So I tried it with an orange and it didn't work. So I thought I'll try it with an apple and see if there's any difference.
[13:47] And this is what came out after I put it in the boiling water. I don't know if I removed the wax of it or if I poached it. It just looks a bit. But let's just say this is an apple without any wax.
[14:01] And do you know. Can you believe that these two apples came out of the same packet. Totally different, don't they? I took the wax off. They're probably just the same.
[14:12] They're probably just as juicy. They're just as good as each other. Well there's lots of reasons why they put wax on. But one of the things is just to make it look better.
[14:24] To make it look juicy. To make it look like you want to buy it. To make it look good to us. To their eyes. So that we see that red apple and we go. Wow that looks good.
[14:36] That looks good. There's a lesson in that. Okay. They're just the same. One looks far better than the other.
[14:47] And this one looks. This one looks red. Nice and juicy. This is the one that we'd buy isn't it? This is the one that we'd go for. Well let me tell you another story.
[14:59] I was talking to someone. And they said. About that person. They were talking. We were talking about someone else. They said. That person's really nice. And he's really genuine.
[15:10] Now. Does anyone know what that means? We say someone's really genuine. Do we know what that means? Anything? Quite a hard word.
[15:22] Yeah. No ideas? Yes. If we say someone's really genuine. It means. They're just. They are what they are. And they say what they say. And they don't. Tell anyone.
[15:33] They don't try. To look better than they really are. They're just. Exactly what they are. Just like the apple that comes off the tree. It's not shiny. Doesn't look any better.
[15:43] It's just. That's the way it should be. And really genuine. Now. So they don't. There's no lies. There's no. Stories of it. It's just the way it is. That's what you get.
[15:55] And I want you. As boys and girls. You when you grow up. I want people to say. That you. Are genuine. That you. Are just.
[16:08] The way you are. The way you are. Just the way you are. You don't try and make yourself look better. Don't try and. Polish your life up. To make yourself look better than others. Because you know what.
[16:19] When you grow up. People will try and do that. People will try and. Tell you that you need to look better than everyone else. Tell you that you need to polish your life up.
[16:31] To look good. But you know what the best thing. Is to be genuine. Just to be. Who you are. And in the world.
[16:41] There's lots of things. And the world will tell you. To go after all the things. That look good. They don't taste. Good. There's lots of things in this world.
[16:55] That look nice to us. They look. Polished. That I want you. To grow up.
[17:08] And to be genuine. And to look at the world. Without all the wax in it. And see exactly. What it is. Under the skin.
[17:21] When people tell you. When people tell you. You should be looking for something. Make sure you see. What it's really like. And the person that we must be genuine before.
[17:32] Most of all. Is God. Like the psalmist there. He was saying. How hard life is. And sometimes. We need to just come to God. And be genuine.
[17:44] With God. And tell him. Everything that's hard. And pray to him. And ask him to help us. Okay. So sometimes things look really good. But there's no difference in them.
[17:57] But I want you to grow up. To be boys and girls. That are. Just who you are. And just who you are with God. Genuine with God.
[18:09] And learn. Learn. Learn how this world. Learn what is true and good in this world. And what tastes. Truly tastes good.
[18:22] Okay. To be genuine. Okay. Let us pray together. Father in heaven. We thank you. For this morning. We thank you. That we can come.
[18:33] And join together. In your house. We thank you. That you are. True to us. And we pray. That we would be people.
[18:44] Who are genuine. Right. That we are people. That would. Come to you. And pray to you. Truthfully. And ask. That you would help us. When we need help.
[18:55] And that we would be genuine. With one another. And help. And love. One another. So be with us. We pray. As we go to Sunday school. Forgive us our sins. In Jesus name. Amen.
[19:07] Okay. Thank you boys and girls. How new. Remember. When you see an apple. And that. It's coated with wax.
[19:18] To make it look shiny. But the tree apple. It's just as it is. Okay. Thank you very much for this. Okay.
[19:29] So we'll continue. And our praise to God. By singing in the hymn. Mission praise 755. When I surveyed. The wondrous cross.
[19:40] When I surveyed. The wondrous cross. On which the prince of glory died. My riches gained. I count but loss.
[19:50] And poor contempt. On all my pride. I will stand to sing. These words. When I surveyed.
[20:01] When I surveyed. The wondrous cross. On which the prince of glory died.
[20:16] My riches gained. I count but loss. And poor contempt.
[20:30] On all my pride. ForbNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNING Sacrifice them to his blood.
[21:13] He brought his head, his hands, his feet. Sorrow and love roaming the night.
[21:31] Did there such love and sorrow meet? Our forms compose so rich a crown.
[21:50] Where the whole realm of nature might. But where an offering far too small.
[22:09] Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul.
[22:23] My life, my all. Well done. Well done. Well done.
[22:34] Well done. Well done. we will turn now to our bibles to the book of genesis chapter 37 genesis chapter 37 this is a beginning of the account of joseph it's the first account in the joseph narrative and the account of joseph's dreams that he has himself so let us read god's word genesis chapter 37 from the beginning jacob lived in the land of his father's sojourners in the land of canaan these are the generations of jacob joseph being 17 years old was pasturing the flock with his brother he was a boy with the sons of billah and zilpha his father's wives and joseph brought a bad report of them to their father now israel loved joseph more than any other of his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a robe of many colors but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him now joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more he said to them hear this dream that i have dreamed behold we were binding sheaves in the field and behold my sheaf arose and stood upright and behold your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf his brothers said to him are you indeed to reign over us or are you indeed to rule over us so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said behold i have dreamed another dream behold the sun the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me but when he told it to his father and to his brothers his father rebuked him and said to him what is this dream that you have dreamed shall i and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you and his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the same in his mind now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near shechem and israel said to joseph are not your brothers pasting the flock near shechem come i will send you to them and he said to him here i am so he said to him go now and see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word so he sent him from the valley of hebron and he came to shechem and a man found him wandering in the fields and the man asked him what are you seeking i am seeking my brother she said tell me please where they are pasturing the flock and the man said they have gone away for i have heard them say let us go to dothan so joseph went after his brothers and frowned them at dothan they saw him from afar and behold he came near to them before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him they said to one another here comes this dreamer come now let us kill him and throw him into one of
[26:35] the pits then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams but when reuben heard it he he rescued him out of their hands saying let us not take his life and reuben said to them shed no blood throw him into the pit here in the wilderness but do not lay a hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to their father so when joseph came to his brothers they stripped him of his robe the robe of many colors that he wore and they took him and threw him into the pit the pit was empty there was no water in it then they sat down to eat and looking up they saw a caravan of ishmaelites coming from gilead with their camels bearing gum balm and myrrh on their way to carry it down to egypt then judah said to his brother what profit is it if we kill 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 our own flesh and his brothers listened to him then midianite traders passed by and they drew joseph up and lifted him out out of the pit and sold him to the ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver they took joseph to egypt when reuben returned to the pit he saw that joseph was not in the pit he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said the boy is gone and i where shall i go then they took joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood and they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said this we have found please identify whether it is your son's robe or not and he identified it and said it is my son's robe a fierce animal has devoured him joseph is without doubt torn to pieces then jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and said no i shall go down to shul with my son mourning thus his father wept for him meanwhile the midianites had sold him in egypt to potiphar an officer of pharaoh the captain of the guard amen may the reading of god's word be a blessing to all those who have heard it we're continuing our praise by singing in gaelic and sam one two verses of psalm one the words in english are that man has perfect blessedness who walketh not astray in counsel of ungodly men nor stands in sinner's way nor sitteth in the scornish chair but places his delight upon god's law and meditates on his law day and night these words will sing to god's praise in gaelic and we'll remain seated for our singing i'm finishing up the voice in the morning and day
[30:09] NINGNING Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[31:39] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[33:09] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[34:41] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[35:47] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji SNINGNING by the fruit of this world.
[36:25] Lord, we pray, help us to come humbly before you just as we are, acknowledging the sinfulness of our hearts and the deceit that often lies within.
[36:36] Lord, cleanse us and purify. Sanctify us each and every day, we ask. In the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of his spirit, be with us, Lord, we pray.
[36:49] In Jesus' name we ask these things. Amen. I just want to turn back to this passage together in Genesis chapter 37, the first dream of, as it's recorded in the Joseph narrative, and to hang our thoughts on our verse, just want to hang it off verse 19 and 20, where the brothers see Joseph coming and they say to one another, here comes this dreamer.
[37:20] Come now, let us kill him. and throw him into one of the pits. Dreams shake the Joseph story. Dreams are funny things.
[37:32] You can have a dream that could vaguely fit into what you were thinking that day and the work you were doing maybe that day. You can have a dream and you can wake up the next morning and you can think, where on earth did that come from?
[37:48] It can be so strange, so out of this world and you wonder, well, what was that all about? And they're so strange because they're right in you.
[38:00] They're right in the depths of your mind and we have absolutely no control over the dreams that we dream. But in the narrative here we have, in the Joseph story, we have dreams that come true and dreams that shape his life.
[38:20] We read of Joseph, he are a young 17-year-old man who has 11 brothers alongside him, all sons of Jacob, all sons of the promised line.
[38:38] He had two dreams, dreams that would come true in God's time. And over the next few times that I preach with you, I want to take a wee snapshot of Joseph and that kind.
[38:52] I don't have the ability to, of the time to look into the whole story with you. So what I want to do is just look at the dreams that we encounter in the Joseph story.
[39:08] There's three big dream scenes, I'm calling them. Three big dream scenes that occur in his life. And they shape his life in a significant way.
[39:20] And hopefully we'll come to each of them, God willing, in the weeks ahead and see how much of an impact they had on Joseph's life. I pray that it'll be a blessing as we do so together.
[39:34] But as we come to this passage, we are told a little bit of details about this family dynamics and the context of this story. In verse 2, it tells us that Joseph is 17 and he's been pasturing the flock with his brothers and he's reported back to his father a bad report about the brothers.
[40:00] Joseph seems like a bit of a grass to his father. He's telling them, my brothers aren't behaving well. They're up to all sorts of mischief.
[40:10] And we see then that Jacob himself favours this child. He's a bit of a daddy's boy.
[40:24] He gets this coat of many colours, which we can assume that none of the other boys received. This special coat or tunic is a symbol of his love to Joseph.
[40:39] And it's a symbol that the boys latch onto. Something that instills within them a hatred towards this brother.
[40:52] Such that it says that they hated him in verse 4 and they would not speak peaceably to him. There's no normal conversation going on here with Joseph because they hate him.
[41:10] They're uncivil. They're rude. They're probably difficult with one another. Maybe Jacob's seen this go on and he wonders what to do. And maybe we know what this is like in our lives.
[41:23] Do we know what it's like to not speak peaceably with someone? To hate someone? If we know it, it's a very difficult thing to come back out of.
[41:40] It's very, very hard to come back from that place. To reverse and restore that relationship can almost seem impossible at times because it's deeply rooted within our hearts.
[41:53] But Jacob, the father, he's kind of caused this. He hasn't helped the situation.
[42:06] This deep-rooted anger between the siblings has been caused because the father favoured that child. And that is something, as parents, we must be wise to.
[42:21] And notice, if it does appear in us, that we are not the root of any divisions within our families. But this is the family we have in the story.
[42:34] This is the dynamics we enter into. And strangely enough, this is the family God uses. This is Israel. This is the family God will bless in the years to come.
[42:46] So, in this account, we have a dream. We have a divide made between the brothers. And we have a divide that leads to death.
[43:01] A dream, a division, and a death. That's three points to hang our thoughts on this morning. So, this first dream scene here, I'm calling them dream scenes because we have more than one dream.
[43:17] There's two dreams in this passage. And as we go on, you'll see that there's actually two dreams in all the dream scenes. Something that Joseph learns is of significance as he grows.
[43:32] This first dream we have here, you can see it there in verse 5. He woke up, he told his brothers, I've had this dream that we were binding sheaves in the field.
[43:43] And my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered round it and bowed down to my sheaf. And then you have the second dream in verse 9.
[43:55] He dreamed another dream. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. And behold, the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. And really the same thing is going on there.
[44:09] His family is bowing down to him. The brothers are bowing down to him. The second dream makes it so clear that it is the brothers, eleven of them. So there's no confusion about what's going on, about who it means.
[44:25] And the commentators say that the sun and moon refer to his mother and father also bowing down to him. But the second dream always has like a another level to it.
[44:38] The first dream is in the field with the family. The second dream almost has this cosmic, its world authority about it.
[44:49] And he's in charge of all things. And when it says bowing down in the passage here, it means in the Hebrew that they're bowing before a royal figure.
[45:01] They're not just bowing before anyone. They're bowing before a king and a prince. And the brothers are saying, you, Joseph, are you going to be our king?
[45:14] Are you going to be our, are we going to bow down before you? Not a chance. And you might wonder, well, the brothers hated Joseph in the beginning, before these dreams.
[45:31] Why is he, why did he bother telling them? Is he not provoking their own anger against him? Did he just mention the dreams out of innocence?
[45:45] Did he wake up and just say, listen to these things? He says, behold, and behold is repeated all the time through. And I just wonder were these dreams so vivid to him that he could not say anything?
[46:03] You wake up after having such a vivid dream. It's almost like you want to tell someone, I had a strange dream last night. And if it's really, really vivid, you'll want to tell someone about it.
[46:17] And I think, I don't think he's provoking the anger of his brother. I think he's just trying to reason these dreams in his mind. What do these dreams mean? I believe they were so vivid to him that he sought someone else's opinion.
[46:36] And the brothers realized what was meant by these dreams. There seems to be no confusion about what they mean, that they will all bow down.
[46:48] The brothers ask him in verse 8, are you going to reign over us? They're bang on the money that would turn out.
[47:00] That's exactly what would happen in years to come though they could never ever see it themselves. even his father doubts if it could be possible.
[47:14] Yet he never forgot it. He clung on to that in his heart. So these dreams that Joseph had, they're not at all well received.
[47:25] They did not go down well, they did not help the family dynamics. In fact, they cause further division. So we have the dream. And the dream causes further division within this family.
[47:39] It's our second point. And it's interesting that we're not actually told what Joseph thought about the dreams. But it doesn't do any favours for the relationships.
[47:52] After the first dream, we are told in verse 8 that they hated him even more than they already did. And after the second dream, we're told further that they were jealous of him.
[48:10] That's not, it's almost, it doesn't translate as it being a new emotion, but rather it's an increased hatred towards Joseph. It's gone up a level again.
[48:24] It's kneeling on violent hatred, what this word means. it's deep within their hearts, and their hearts are turned against their brother.
[48:39] And we see this come to light when they're off in Dothan. And Joseph comes seeking their welfare to see how things are.
[48:51] They see him coming, and they plan how to kill him. you can imagine these brothers away on their own, weighing up all these things, discussing with each other, expressing to one another how they feel.
[49:09] And it's scary how our feelings can lead us into holes of sin, almost. When we feel something within us, and then you have someone else to talk to about it, and they're on the same page, and you maybe feel like it's not quite right, but they're saying the same thing, and they're saying the same thing, and it's very easy to wind yourselves up, and to go down this alternative path that leads you straight into sin.
[49:42] Things that can grow and brew in our hearts, deceitful roots, that we feed ourselves. They've been away and Joseph comes.
[50:00] See him coming over the hill. Here comes the dreamer. And what they're really saying there is here comes the lord of dreams.
[50:11] Here comes the master of dreams. That's what some translations write at us. The ESV just calls it a dreamer.
[50:24] The master of dreams is what it says. And that is exactly again more true than they could ever have realised. Because Joseph would become a master of interpreting dreams as he grew.
[50:37] He would be the one that would receive the God given ability to interpret dreams of others. Joseph's coming over the hill seeking the welfare of his brother just doing what his father had told him to do and all they wanted to do was kill him.
[51:01] To throw him in the pit. To get rid of him. To silence him. And we'll make up this story that an animal is diverting. the sinful passions in their hearts was consuming them.
[51:17] And now they had an opportunity in Dothan away from the family home to sort this out once and for all.
[51:30] And that's often how sin develops in us. Or how sin comes out in us. It starts in our hearts. maybe we have desires towards something.
[51:46] They can grow and take root. The danger comes when there's opportunity.
[51:58] When the devil puts opportunity before us to go through with that sinful desire in our hearts. evil is real.
[52:12] And we must be wise to the schemes of the devil. The way he will try and make us fall. The temptations he puts before us and then the opportunities that are there.
[52:26] it's very hard to turn around from these paths. And often we need the Lord to help us to do it. We need to sift out these roots and be rid of them as soon as we can.
[52:44] This family Israel was twisted by the evil of their own hearts and their sins. it looks like a mess doesn't it?
[52:59] This family. It looks like it's completely upside down. Why would the Lord use this family? Why would he pick these people?
[53:12] We can't answer. But he does. And this is the people that the Lord uses today. And we can see in ourselves the mess, the sin, the temptations that we've fallen to.
[53:32] But the Lord will use us. We can have confidence in that. That he does not abandon his people. We can be guilty of the worst of sins.
[53:46] But the Lord will not forget us or leave us. If we confess our sins before him, he is gracious to forgive us. The opportunity was there.
[53:59] The brothers took it. But after a while, they thought maybe killing him was too far to go. A better chance came when the Ishmaelites arrived.
[54:16] They would sell him for a few coins. And that was in fact a better outcome for them. They would receive something for it. This family, it's so divided, so broken, and it hints at a return to the Cain and Abel story.
[54:38] Brothers that hate each other. Brothers that are set to kill each other. Sin that rules in our hearts. we must be careful to stump these sins whenever they arise, pluck up these roots, and ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts because it leads to death.
[55:11] And that's what we see in this passage. They didn't kill him physically. But they wanted to erase Joseph out of their lives, get rid of him, essentially kill him.
[55:24] And they deceived their father, Jacob, who himself was a deceiver. The wheel had turned on him. You can go back and read about that. And you'll notice that they deceived him with the coat, the symbol of his love.
[55:42] and you'll see in verse 32 that it says that it was sent and then it was brought. Which kind of makes it confusing for us to understand what's going on here.
[55:59] The brothership, did they send it or did they bring it? Because you can reason it either way. If they were guilty of killing their brother and they wanted to break the news to their father who they knew loved this boy, could they face it?
[56:19] Could they be the ones to bring the message? I don't know if they could. Maybe they had someone bring the coat to soften the blow for themselves. Or were they that hardened by the sinfulness of their hearts that they brought it coldly before the father.
[56:42] And not only that, it says that they sought to comfort him in his grief. How deceitful this is. How hard these brothers were.
[56:55] That they would lie to their father about losing their son and then try and comfort him in his loss. Did Joseph deserve to die?
[57:07] What do you think? Should he have told the dreams? I don't know. I think I lean on the side of his innocence. I think the dreams are so vivid that he had to tell someone.
[57:21] She didn't deserve to die for it. But they sought to kill him because he was loved by his father.
[57:32] father. And you take the bones of this Joseph story. A son loved by the father. A son that would be a king.
[57:44] A son that the world hated. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Sounds just like the story of Jesus. Jesus, the son of God, a son like no other.
[57:56] a son that would be a king and have a kingdom. And what did the world do with him? He hated him. He hated him to the extent that they would kill him.
[58:14] They wanted to silence him. They wanted to be rid of him. We will not have Jesus to reign over us. Will you?
[58:26] this morning have Jesus to reign over you. Jesus is a king. A king whom every knee shall bow and confess as Lord.
[58:43] Will you bow before him this morning? In Joseph we have a pattern of how God works.
[58:56] there's a pattern there of taking the despised and rejected one to be the very one that would save those who rejected him.
[59:09] The one they hated is the one that would save them. And that is true in the Joseph story. I encourage you all to read through this Joseph narrative and see just how despised this man was but how Joseph provided for them all.
[59:34] Joseph could have turned his back on them but he didn't. Joseph received them. Joseph forgave them.
[59:46] Joseph loved them. And maybe we've rejected Jesus many times in our lives. Maybe we've hated the words that he has spoken to us.
[59:57] Maybe we've tried to silence him because he is saying that he wants to be your king. And maybe you're saying no no I'm my own king.
[60:12] I want to live my life the way I want to live it. who are you to reign over me? The brothers came in time to fall humbly before Joseph because they needed him.
[60:34] They saw their need of him. And I pray that the Lord will speak into our lives this morning so that we may see just how much we need him.
[60:50] And maybe we've despised the Lord Jesus. Maybe we've rejected him. But he is gracious to forgive you all your sins.
[61:01] in that measure Joseph restored what was dysfunctional in that family because he showed grace and love to his brother.
[61:22] And Jesus Christ can restore everything that is dysfunctional in our lives because of what sin has done because he loves you as our brother.
[61:34] He loves you as our brother. And if you come and have Jesus as your king to reign over you it means that we must die.
[61:51] The death is ours but we put aside all the desires of flesh as what Paul wrote to the Colossians put to death all these things of our earthly nature put to death the things like we were saying to the children things that look appealing things that tempt us sins that lead us astray put these things to death die to self take ourselves off the throne and put Christ on it so the peace of Christ would rule in our hearts Christ would be our king Christ would be our savior you follow through the Joseph narrative Joseph provided for his brother in a way that was so unbelievable when we put
[62:58] Christ as our king he'll provide for you in an unbelievable way maybe not in this world maybe you won't see it to a full extent here but if you have him as your king you can be confident that he will receive you into his kingdom and that he will provide a place for you what a king what a brother what a brother we have in Jesus and we will be loved equally as Christ is we will be loved just as Christ is by God we can read a bit that in John 17 as the father has loved me so I have loved you what a king we have what a saviour we have how have you treated this man what is your reaction to
[64:03] Jesus this morning I pray that we have him as our king and that we see the riches of his grace and love towards us and that we bow before him and worship him I pray these thoughts would be blessed to us all we will conclude by singing in mission praise 251 how sweet the name of Jesus sounds how sweet the name of Jesus sound in a believer's ear it soothes his sorrows heals his wounds and drives away his fear it makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled breast tis manna to the hungry soul and to the weary rest we'll sing to the end of that hymn to
[65:05] God's praise and we'll stand to sing how sweet the name of Jesus sound in a believer's year how sweet the name of Jesus sound in a believer's year it soothes his sorrows heals his wounds and drives away his fear it makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled bread tis manna to the hungry soul and to the weary rest dear name the rock on which
[66:10] I built my shield and hiding place my never failing treasure built with boundless scores of grace Jesus my shepherd brother friend my prophet priest and king my lord my life my way my end accept the praise I bring Weak is the effort of my heart and cold my warmest thought but when
[67:15] I see thee as thou art I'll praise thee as I ought till then I would thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath and may the music of thy name refresh my soul in death conclude with a word of prayer our father in heaven we thank you for this time we pray that as we park we would know your blessing over us and your spirit remaining with us and guide us pluck up any roots of deceitfulness that are within our hearts and let us see ourselves truly as we are before you confessing our sins and acknowledging that our need of you be with us
[68:23] Lord we pray be our prophet priest and king and our saviour we ask these in your name Amen