Genesis chapter 37, I'll begin in verse 12 and read down through verse 28. And his brothers went to pastor the father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, are not your brothers pastoring the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said to him, I will go. And he said to him, go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock and bring word back to me. And so he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem. A man found him and behold, he was wandering in the field and the man asked him, what are you looking for? He said, I'm looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pastoring the flock. And the man said, they have moved from here for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. And they saw him from a distance. And before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer. Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. And we will say a wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams. But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, let us not take his life. Reuben further said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him, that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father. And so it came about when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the very colored tunic that was on him. And they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty without any water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, what profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. and his brothers listened to him. And some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. Well, tonight we continue our study on the life of Joseph by looking at the plot against Joseph as his brothers see him coming and have thoughts of evil towards him. And if you were here last time, we had talked about the early life of Joseph. We've talked a couple of times on Joseph's life on Sunday nights. We talked a couple of weeks ago about some of the types that you see where Joseph is described as being a typological picture of Christ. You see a lot of similarities between them in terms of character, in terms of life events. And last time we talked about the early life of Joseph, just some character traits that he had in terms of being hardworking and righteous, the fact that he was beloved of his father, that he was honored, he was given a special tunic, that he was hated by his brothers, and that he was prophetic. And that's where we kind of ended it last time. with Joseph and his dreams. Of course, this is what he's well known for. This is what his brothers still remembered about him when he came to check on them this time, the fact that he'd had these dreams. And that's what we talked about last time, that he'd had these dreams where he had envisioned his brothers bowing down to him. And he had even envisioned his brothers and his mother and father bowing down to him. And whether or not it was wise on Joseph's part, he shared these dreams with them. And clearly, of course we know the end of the story, clearly these were prophetic dreams. This really was going to happen and it's amazing to consider how this came about. And so that's where we ended it last time. These dreams, they didn't really set all that well with anyone in the family, not surprisingly. His brothers despised him because of these dreams. Shall we indeed bow down to you? And even his father, and of course Joseph is the most beloved, he's the favored son, but even his father sharply rebuked him. If you were here last time you probably remember that part of the sermon, because I yelled really loud. You remember that? Because what the word literally means in Hebrew when it says that Jacob rebuked him was that Jacob yelled loudly at him. I'm not going to do it again, I don't have the voice for it tonight. Jacob rebuked him. Jacob was not happy about Joseph's dream and this suggestion that even Jacob would one day bow down to him. I mean, that's unthinkable. In that culture, that's unthinkable. And so Jacob, it seems, fears that there's a little bit of arrogance in his son that needs to be corrected. And yet, you remember this? And yet, and this is what we ended with last time, And Jacob kept these things in mind. And so there was some part of Jacob apparently that thought, I wonder if there's something to that dream in terms of us bowing down to him. Now, I'd suggested last time that maybe The fact that he'd had these dreams, and it tells us that Jacob kept them in mind. Maybe that's what sustained Jacob in some sense over all those years when he suspected Joseph to be dead. This is what had been told. The tunic was brought to him, covered in blood, and so it appeared that Joseph had been devoured. This is how Jacob is living. I mean, he's in tremendous mourning when he finds out about this. And so perhaps these dreams stayed in his mind. He remembered this. He kept it in mind. I wonder if Joseph is maybe alive. Because there's never a body found, obviously. And so when you tie that in with these dreams, what did Jacob think of that? Well, tonight we look at this plot against Joseph and a couple of things I want to look at at the beginning here as we look in verse 12. It says, Then his brothers went to pastor the father's flock in Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pastoring the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said, I will go. And so just a preliminary thought as we look at this, first of all, that Joseph was sent Joseph was sent. Well, one of the first things we see here is that Jacob does have an actual concern for his other children. I think sometimes Jacob gets a little bit of a bad rap for playing favorites with the children there, but it's not as though he has no love at all for his other sons. There is concern there. And so he sends Joseph to check on the welfare of his other sons. And it's interesting when we see that Joseph is sent, we see this tremendous willingness to go on Joseph's part. It tells us here at the end of verse 13, are not your brothers pastoring the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said to them, I will go. Now that phrase, I will go. What it literally means in Hebrew is behold me. And so behold is. is exclamatory. And so when Jacob says, I'm going to send you to go check on your brothers, there's excitement. It seems on Joseph's part, he says, behold me. In other words, I'll be glad to do it here. I am. It sounds very familiar to another passage in the scripture, by the way, that I'm fixing the sites here. I am send me. And so that's what you see with Joseph. You see a willingness to go on his part. And I think you can see a little bit of a typological picture of Christ in this, that the father sends him to do something and he wants to do his father's will. And when you think of that in terms of Christ, that the father sent the son As we're told first John chapter four, verse 14, we've seen and testify that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world. And so Jesus is described as being since. That he sent to earth that he sent to the cross, but we're also told in the scriptures that Jesus went willingly. And so behold me. I mean, when you consider what Jesus. did in terms of coming to earth, in terms of going to the cross, in terms of dying for our sins, you don't see reluctance on his part. You see the same type of mentality that you see here in Joseph, behold me. Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 17, For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I receive from my Father. And so, in Jesus, you see the same type of mentality that you see in Joseph here. The father gives him a mission, tells him to do something, and you see complete and total willingness on the part of the son. Now, when you think of the mission that Joseph is sent on, this might be a pleasant mission, this might not be such a pleasant mission. That's tension there, obviously, between him and his brothers. And, I mean, you could speculate as to what Joseph had in mind. Maybe he's thinking, Yeah, I'd love to go check on him because I'm probably going to catch them in evil and I can't wait to come back and tell you. Maybe that's what he's thinking. Maybe he has a concern for his brothers. Maybe he has a concern for the flock. With Joseph, we're not sure in terms of motivation, but we do see a tremendous willingness on his part to do his father's will. Now with Christ, when you think of Christ and his father giving him a mission, And you think of what Christ was called to come and do. I mean, obviously there's a tremendous good in what Jesus came to do in terms of his perfect life, in terms of his sacrificial death. We benefit greatly from that, don't we? We benefit eternally from that. And so Jesus came to do something good, but he did not come to do something easy. And so when you think of Jesus and what He does, this willingness on His part, we should, on some level, marvel at Christ and His willingness to go to the cross as He did. Hebrews 12, verse 2, for example, tells us this, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. Now, there's two words in that passage. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. There's two words that I want to point out. Joy, which you don't typically equate with a cross, do you? And endured. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. And so there was a joy that Jesus had in mind as He endured the cross. It says He endured the cross. Why? Because crosses are not fun. Crucifixion is not fun, is it? Jesus went through tremendous agony and anguish upon the cross, and yet there was a superior joy that he had in mind as he did it. And so for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And so we see in Joseph a willingness to do his father's will very much like Christ. And when you think of Christ coming and doing his father's will, what you see in Christ is an absolute and perfect willingness to do it. When you think of Jesus going to the cross, was he sent or did he volunteer? Both, because he tells us, the scriptures tell us that he was sent by the Father and it also tells us that no one takes my life. I give it of my own accord. I give it of my own initiative. I give it willingly. And so this is what we see in Jesus in terms of Father and Son and what's to be done in terms of the mission. We see absolute and perfect union in God the Father and Jesus the Son. You might not have seen perfect union between Jacob and Joseph, but you do see agreements. You see Jacob sending his son Joseph and you see Joseph saying, Behold me. Now, the passage I had in mind when I said it reminds me of another passage is probably one perhaps some of you had in mind as well from Isaiah. Where, uh, Isaiah is sent on a mission as well. Isaiah chapter six, verse eight. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here am I send me. And he said, go and tell this people, keep on listening, but do not perceive. Keep on looking, but do not understand render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, their eyes dim. Otherwise they might see with their eyes here with their ears, understand what their hearts and return and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, until cities are devastated and without inhabitants, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate. Now, when you think of the message that Isaiah is given to take, that he's sent with, who am I going to send, the Lord says. And you see this tremendous willingness on the part of Isaiah, here I am, send me. And then the message he gets is not a pleasant message. Now, with Jesus, I said, you know, some of the things Jesus did was called to do with pleasant. Some was not so pleasant. Going to the cross was not pleasant. That was hard. Now, with Isaiah, this message that he's called to take is not a pleasant message at all. It's a message of judgment. It's a message that God is going to destroy these people. And so when you see this, you see this message that's not so pleasant, and yet there is still a willingness on Isaiah's part to do it. Why? Because it's God's message. And so he's going to fulfill what the Father tells him to do. You see that in Joseph, you see it in Jesus, you see it in Isaiah, and you should see it in yourself. We should have the same type of willingness to do what our Lord calls us to do. And we have a mission too, don't we? I mean, we're called to go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples. and so we see this in our own lives as well and we also go, it's kind of like Isaiah, we go with the message of is the news we share good news or is it bad news? What does gospel mean? It means good news, right? So we have good news for sinners, but it's not always taken as good news, is it? In fact, sometimes people are quite hostile when they receive message of the gospel. And Jesus said that was going to happen as well. You will be hated by all on account of my name. If the world hates you, don't be surprised that it hates you. It hated me before it hated you. And so a lot of times what we encounter in this world and in this life is that we are to be willing to go just as the father, Joseph's father sent him and God the father sent Jesus. sent Isaiah and so it is we are sent out into the world with a message that is good news and yet it's not always received as such and yet we're still to have this willingness to go I came across this I wanted to share I don't know if you're familiar or if you've been following the story of the Christian in Iran who's in prison you've seen I've seen several accounts on the news about it Saeed Abedini Saeed Abedini, S-A-E-E-D. And I've seen several calls by various churches to be in prayer for him. If you don't know the story on him, he's of Iranian descent, but he's an American, and he's been in prison for two years because he was planting house churches in Iran. He got caught doing that, and Iran was not too happy about that. They put him in prison. He's been in prison for two years. And this past weekend, his wife, who's been very much in prayer for him to be released, met with the President. And so there have been a lot of calls, a lot of pressure, diplomatic pressure people have placed on Obama to do something about this. And as of yet, there hasn't been a whole lot done. But this past weekend, Saeed Abedini's wife, and her name is Nagamane Abedini, She met with Obama, and I read this account on Baptist Press News where she talked about this meeting. This is what she said. She said, God had me in that room with the president, not only to go before the king as Esther did and plead for a cause, but also, I believe, to touch the president's heart. I know I was sent as God's ambassador to touch his heart with God's love, the love of Jesus, and those were accomplished. So I have hope for the next step because I know that God is in control. He will show me, she said of God, he will take me through the next steps. I know there are great things to come and I can't wait to have Saeed home with our family. Naghamain Abedini has been advocating more than two years for the release of her husband, Saeed, from an Iranian prison where he's been held since September 26, 2012, because of his Christian faith. He was sentenced January 27, 2013, to eight years in prison. On charges, he threatened national security by planting house churches in Iran. been under house arrest since July of 2012. She met with Obama on the two-year anniversary of the opening day of Abedini's trial. She said, quote, I just looked at Obama and I told him that the kids and I love you and we pray for you. And as soon as I said that, I felt like a wall came down. He grabbed my hand, And I'd said to him, I don't know if it's a professional thing to say or not. And he smiled and said, yes, I need your prayers. It was very personal, and I just felt like sharing God's love with him. So as I was reading that, I was thinking, if I had a few minutes to sit with the president, I probably wouldn't have such pleasant things to say. And as I read that, I thought, That's a good testimony on her part because she had 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it was, who knows what the motivation on his part was political, probably maybe pressure. This is going to look good. I don't know, but she has 10 minutes with the king, as she says, as Esther did. And what does she do? She tells him, well, I want you to know that we love you and we're praying for you. I was blown away by that because I'm not sure I would have told him that. And yet. What we see there is a tremendous example of what I think was something very gracious on her part. I mean, her husband is being held in prison, someone who might have the power to do something about it as of yet hasn't done anything in two years. And she meets with him and she shows tremendous grace on her part. And so as I read that, I thought, you know, I'd like to share that with the church if you're not already in prayer for the situation that perhaps you would be. And I was reminded as I read the story of Proverbs chapter 21 verse 1, the king's heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. And so is it possible that God might do something? No, it's very possible. Is God able? You say, Obama, I don't think much of him. Well, I got news for you. I don't think much of him either. But then I read passages in the scriptures that tell me to be in prayer for those in authority over me. And sometimes I'm convicted by that. And then I read a testimony like this of this woman, her husband, suffering tremendously. Why? Because he took a message that was not well received in Iran. He had a willingness on his part to do what the father told him to do and what the son tells him to do and us to do, and to take the gospel to all the nations and make disciples, and now he's suffering in prison for it. Who knows what's going to happen, but I'm praying that not only God would be tremendously glorified through this witness, that maybe God might do something in terms of our president as well. He might do something in his heart as well. And so we see this in Joseph, that Joseph begins in terms of being sent. Secondly, Joseph seeks. Joseph seeks. Look at verse 15. It says, a man found him and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, what are you looking for? And he said, I'm looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they're pastoring the flock. And the man said, they've moved from here for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. and so joseph went after his brothers and found them adult and and so we see here joseph seeking his brothers again i'm reminded of a passage of scripture that has to do with jesus luke chapter nineteen verse ten for the son of man has come to seek in the say that which was lost and so we see this in terms of joseph seeking his brothers looking for his brothers and as i read to this account One of the first things I think of is, why is this even in here? I mean, this little section about him going where his brothers are supposed to be, and he doesn't find them, and he's wandering around looking for them, and this man shows up and says, what are you looking for? Well, I can tell you where they're at. And I go, well, why is that in there? How is that important to the story? Is it important to the story, or is this just a detail? And so when you think of that, you say, why did God include that in the scriptures? Now, what is the significance here? And sometimes, sometimes I think we can fall prey to reading too much significance into something that's not meant to be significant. In other words, sometimes the Bible's just giving you details about what happened, and you say, oh, well, I believe this is supposed to mean this, and it's supposed to mean that, and you can build entire castles on something that You know, the Bible doesn't say. And so why does he encounter this man? Well, it could just be a normal detail. It could just be part of the story, something that happened. Or another thing it could do, it could show Joseph's persistence and his concern that he seeks out his brothers and he doesn't find them. Now, he could have been at this point, he could have just gone back home. He could have said, well, dad, I looked for them where you told me to look and they weren't there. So, you know, I tried. but you see persistence on his part and this was something i mentioned last time i i think a character trait you see in joseph is that he was hard-working wasn't lazy he wasn't a spoiled brat he may have been the favored son but he wasn't a spoiled brat he did work hard he was out pastoring the flock with his brothers he might have even had some authority over his brothers which we know wouldn't have set well what we see here is persistence on his part he doesn't just give up He goes to where they're supposed to be. They're not there. When he finds out where they are, he continues on. He continues on after them. There's some theories as to this man. This is what I'm talking about when I say sometimes we build too much out of something that's not in the scripture. Many of the Jewish rabbis, it appears, around the time of Christ and earlier, they believed that this man who appears to Joseph and tells him where his brothers are was an angel. In fact, some say it was the angel Gabriel, that he appeared and he showed Joseph where his brothers were. Now, here's the point that I'm going to make. What, first of all, does that add to the story? Second of all, where do you see that in the text? you don't see it in the text, what does it add to the story? Why would rabbis come up with a theory that this was actually an angel that appeared to Joseph? I can't see any reason why they would add that except for the fact that maybe it puts a cool twist on the story. It makes it interesting. It's like something supernatural when the text doesn't say anything about anything supernatural here. And so Joseph seeks his brothers. He was sent. He seeks. Next, Joseph is seen. Joseph is seen, look at verse 18. It says, when they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. And they said to one another, here comes this dreamer. And so it's interesting when you consider this, that Joseph is seen from a distance. He's coming to check on his brothers, to see how things are going. The father has sent him. to check out what's going on, to check on their well-being, to check on the well-being of the flock, and they see him from a distance. And again, I'm reminded of another passage of scripture, except in this case it's a complete and total contrast. It's a complete and total opposite. Do you remember someone else who was watching and sees someone coming from a distance? The prodigal son. And I see this as a complete opposite because what you have in this case is evil watching from a distance and they see the righteous coming. And what do they do? They plot evil against the righteous. Now, in the case of the prodigal son, Luke chapter 15, what do you have there? You have a loving father, right, who's looking for the prodigal. And you have the prodigal who's been wicked. I mean, there's been wickedness on his part, but now he's repentant and he's coming back. And what does the father plot against the prodigal son? good things, doesn't he? Goodness, tremendous things. He's going to kill the fattened calf and he's going to have a party for the return of his son. And so I think you see a tremendous contrast here between Joseph and his brothers and the prodigal son. The evil brothers have plans to do evil to Joseph. They see him coming from a distance and they don't have good thoughts about him. And it's interesting, one of the things to consider in terms of what they say in verse 19, they said to one another, here comes this dreamer. That dream, or more specifically those dreams that Joseph had, they didn't set well and they didn't go away in terms of how his brothers viewed him. I mean, all the reasons they might've hated him being the favored son, having the multicolored coat, all of these things, it's those dreams that really stuck in them. And as they see him coming, they say, here comes this dreamer. Verse 20, now then come and let us kill him. and throw him into one of the pits. And we will say a wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams. And so we not only see the reason, what is it that motivates them? What is it they hate about him? There are a lot of things they hate about him, but specifically it mentions these dreams. And so they have plans for him. They're gonna kill him. And they're gonna cover it up. We will say that wild beast devoured him. Now why are you gonna say that? I mean, why would you make up a story regarding what happened to Joseph unless because you know what you're doing to Joseph is wrong? I mean, we can't just go back and tell our father, well, we killed him because, you know, we think he's arrogant. We killed him because of those dreams that he talked about. And so they have a cover-up. We'll say that wild beasts devoured him. And it's very interesting in verse 20 what they say. At the end of verse 20, we'll say that a wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams. Indeed, let us see what will become of those dreams. I already know how the story ends. So to me, it's interesting that they say, let us see what will become of these dreams. because we know what did become of those dreams, right? God's providence overrules their evil. Their motivation is to thwart those dreams of Joseph, right? Now, in that day, it was not uncommon to believe that dreams were messages from God. And even Jacob keeps it in mind after he rebukes Joseph, he keeps it in mind that Joseph had had these dreams about all of them bowing down to him. And so maybe on some level, there was a fear that these really were dreams from God. And maybe this really is going to happen. Maybe this really is ordained of God to happen, but we're going to keep it from happening. That's dangerous, isn't it? come to the conclusion in your mind that you're going to thwart God's plan. I got news for you, you won't be successful in that. I'm reminded of Gamaliel when he told, you remember the Sanhedrin when they're going to stamp out Christianity right from the get-go. I mean, they're going to wipe it off the map. They're going to take care of this little problem with the disciples. And you remember Gamaliel says to them, and he gives them several examples of other uprisings that had happened and the leader had gotten slain and then it came to nothing. And Gamaliel, I believe it's in Acts chapter 5, where he tells the Sanhedrin, he tells the Jewish leaders regarding the disciples, regarding Christ, his followers, the disciples, if this is really nothing, then it'll come to nothing, it'll fizzle out. But, What they say is true, you're gonna find yourself fighting against God. And if you fight against God, you're gonna lose. And so that's what we see with the brothers. God's providence overrules their evil, or more specifically, God's providence ordains their evil. That's what we're told in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. Remember at the end of the story? I mean, if you have any question as to whether or not God is sovereign over everything, right? It's not just the good things. He's sovereign over everything. At the end of the story, Genesis chapter 50 verse 20, this is Joseph. You remember he's talking to his brothers when it's all said and done, and guess what? It was fulfilled. They did bow down to him. He did save their life. And Jacob comes as well. I mean, everything that Joseph said was going to happen happens. Genesis chapter 50 verse 20, as for you, he says to his brothers, as for you, you meant evil against me in what? In what they did, in their acts. They wanted to kill him, they threw him in a pit, they end up selling him into slavery, and they did not have good intentions. You meant evil against me in that act. But God meant good. In what? God meant good in what? In that act. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. And so while his brothers meant evil, God not only overruled their plans of evil. God ordained their plans of evil for a greater good that the brothers knew nothing about. And at that time, Joseph knew nothing about in terms of how this was all going to happen. Why would they end up bowing down to him? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. How's this all going to come about? Who could have ever in a million years guessed that years down the road there's going to be a famine and they all would have starved to death had it not been for what God did through Joseph and God used these evil wicked brothers to bring that about. There's great comfort in the sovereignty of God over all things, including evil. Now, I mean, if you just believe in the sovereignty of God over the good things, there's some comfort in that. But there's tremendous comfort in the sovereignty of God over all things, so that whatever happens to me, I can rest securely that God has ordained that it come to pass. And even if I can't explain it, because let's be honest, there's a lot of things in your life that you can't explain. There's a lot of things that happen in your life that you don't have a good reason for. And yet if you rest secure that God really is in control, that He's bringing something about, who knows what you might know 30 years from now? Who knows what God might reveal to you in eternity about why such and such happened to you way back when? And so there's tremendous comfort in this that God is at work, even when we don't see it, even when we don't realize it. And Joseph, certainly by the end of the story, he and even his brothers see that God had something planned, that God was doing something. And so we see Joseph is sent, Joseph seeks, Joseph is seen forth, Joseph is saved. Look at verse 21. It says, but Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, let us not take his life, And Reuben further said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father. And so Joseph is saved. And the way it's worded here, it talks about Reuben hearing this, and it's kind of written in a passive sense whereby Reuben is not necessarily in on the plan. Reuben's not always in the know. If you notice this when you read the story with him and his brothers, he's not always in the know. Just like when he comes back to the pit a little bit later and Joseph's not there and Reuben seems baffled as to what happened. So he's not always kind of in the know as to what's going on. It says that he heard this, he heard what their plans were, and so he goes to them And he says, verse 21, it says specifically, Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, let us not take his life. But instead, it's interesting to consider Reuben. I'd like to do a whole case study here on Reuben and try to figure out what his motivation was. We know what part of it was. We'll get to that in a minute. But Reuben's not someone who's really righteous. I mean, you look at what he's already done. He's the one that slept with his father's concubine. He was the oldest son, and Joseph is now the favored son. Joseph is the one with the coat of many colors. Reuben, as the oldest son, was the one that had rights to that, so to speak. As the firstborn, he was in a privileged position, so if there were any of these brothers who you would expect to hate Joseph more than anyone, it would have been Reuben. And yet you see him plotting to save Joseph's life. Now, you don't want to give Reuben too much credit because he doesn't stand up to him and say, you boys are wicked. We will not take his life. We will restore him to our father. That's not what he says. He says, why don't you throw him in the pit instead? And so he's not really that brave, but he does at least stand up for Joseph. Let's not kill him. Let's throw him in the pit. So he has a counteroffer for them and they go along with it. And when you think about it, which one of these is a better scenario? He's going to instantly die or he's going to starve to death in a pit over the course of weeks. The brothers may have thought, hey, that'll be more torture for him. Let's do that. That's not what Reuben had in mind. Reuben had plans of saving him. verse 22, Reuben further said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him, that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father. So what's Reuben's motivation? To restore him to his father. Now why is that his motivation? I'm not so sure about that, but we know what Reuben wanted to do was restore him to his father. Now why would Reuben have any notion of saving Joseph and restoring him to his father There are many suggestions on this. Some have suggested that Reuben, you can see as you read through Genesis that Reuben doesn't seem to be as violent as some of his brothers. I mean, you remember the situation with Shechem where they wiped out the whole city because of what had happened to Dinah? The ones who led that whole charge was Simeon and Levi. They're violent men. I mean, they're clearly violent men. Reuben has his own vices, right? I mean, he's mentioned for another sin. It's not violence. He's mentioned for a different type of wickedness. And so some have suggested that Reuben doesn't seem to be as violent as some of his brothers. Some have suggested that as the oldest brother, he felt a certain amount of responsibility for Joseph. And some have suggested that as the oldest brother, he probably had a closer relationship with the father than the others. He knew, undoubtedly, that Joseph being killed would destroy Jacob. And so he has plans to restore him. There's one other theory on that, by the way. Some believe that Reuben's fallen out of Jacob's good graces by this point, right? And this would be a way to get back in the father's good graces. If he brings Joseph and says, well, all the other boys wanted to kill him, dad, but I saved him. So we don't know what the motivation was, other than the fact that it tells us that he wanted to restore him to his father. At the end of the day, what do you take of this in terms of Reuben saving Joseph's life, at least getting a stay of execution so that he can try to go and save him later and restore him to the father? This is one thing I think clearly we can take away from this is that God can use whoever God wants to use to fulfill his purpose. It doesn't matter if it's a wicked person or a righteous person, God can use whoever God wants to use to fulfill his purpose. Incidentally, God can even use Barack Obama to fulfill his purpose, which is why I think that's a genuine prayer concern. And so we see here that Joseph is sent, that he seeks, that he's seen, that he's saved, and finally we conclude with this, Joseph is sold Look at verse 25, then they sat down to eat a meal. That's kind of shocking, isn't it? They took Joseph. They were going to kill him. Instead, they throw him into a pit. Verse 24, by the way, says there's no water in the pit. So if he stays in that pit, he's going to die. Agonizing, painful death. In the New Testament, There's a place, I can't think of where it is, where it records this and it says that, or maybe it's later in Genesis, where it speaks of his brothers hearing his cries for help. It speaks of this wickedness whereby they heard his cries for help and they ignored it. You know what they did? They had dinner. They sat down to eat. You talk about a hard heart. Verse 25, they sat down to eat a meal and as they raised their eyes and look, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gumball myrrh on their way to bring them down to Egypt. And look at verse 26. I hope you don't have a brother like this. Look at verse 26. Judah said to his brothers, what profit is it of us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let us sell him. What goods have they got? There's no money in this if we kill him. What profit is it to us if we just kill him? Let's sell him. Now, this is really a good situation, right? Because we can actually benefit financially. We can have 20 whole shekels of silver if we sell him as a slave. Now, you remember back what their initial plan was, was to kill him. And you remember their motivation? Then we will see what will become of these dreams. Oh, wait a second. We can benefit financially if we sell him instead. Now they kind of got sidetracked there. Let's see what will become of these dreams, right? Well, now those dreams can still happen because they didn't kill him. God's providence overrules their evil. And in fact, God's providence ordains it. And so. Verse 28, some Midianite traders passed by, they pulled him up, they lifted Joseph out of the pit, sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. And right there in verse 28, by the way, you've got one of the major themes of all the scriptures, and certainly of the Old Testament, right there in verse 28, and thus they brought Joseph into Egypt. One of the major, major parts of the Old Testament is the Exodus, right? And you ever stop and think about how did they end up in Egypt to begin with? How was it that the children of Israel ended up in Egypt to begin with? It was because of Joseph. And Joseph is brought into Egypt, and you remember when it starts out, the children of Israel, Jacob and all of his family, they all go into Egypt and they have it pretty good. But the Bible tells us eventually there arose a king who knew not Joseph. He didn't care anything about Joseph. And so eventually things get very bad for them, very hard for them. They're in bondage and they're delivered out of that bondage, which I think is a beautiful picture of spiritual bondage that we're delivered out of through Christ. Well, how does that all happen? This is all God's plan. It's all going to happen exactly like God said it was going to happen. And there ain't enough sons of Jacob to stop it. No matter what they plan to do, no matter what they think they're going to thwart, they're not going to thwart God's plan. It's all going to happen exactly how he said it's going to happen. And thus it is, Joseph ends up in Egypt, undoubtedly not knowing what's going on in his life. And listen, it's not going to get immediately better for him. When you look at Joseph's life and what's coming, he's sold into slavery, well there's a lot of ups and downs, but he's going to end up in prison, he's going to have all kinds of bad things happen to him. All kinds of bad things, but God meant it for good. It's true of Joseph, it's true of us as well. Let's pray.