please open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. This is God's Word. Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. These are the family records of Jacob. At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age and he made a robe of many colors for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him. Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, listen to this dream I had. There we were binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf. Are you really going to reign over us? His brothers asked him. Are you really going to rule us? So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. Look, he said, I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me. He told his father and brothers and his father rebuked him. What kind of dream is this that you've had, he said. Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the matter in mind. His brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready, I'm sending you to them. I'm ready, Joseph replied. Then Israel said to him, go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring word back to me. So he sent him from the Hebron Valley and he went to Shechem. A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, what are you looking for? I'm looking for my brothers, Joseph said. Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks? They've moved on from here, the man said. I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, They plotted to kill him. They said to one another, oh, look, here comes that dream expert. So now, come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, let's not take his life. Reuben also said to them, don't shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him, intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father. When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph's robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. Then they took him and threw him into the pit. Pit was empty without water. They sat down to eat a meal. And when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, resin, going down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, what do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come on, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers agreed. When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, the boy is gone. What am I going to do? So they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, we found this. Examine it. Is it your son's robe or not? His father recognized it. It is my son's robe, he said. A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. No, he said, I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning. And his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. God love Joseph. Wouldn't you like to have a brother like that? Hey, listen to this dream I had. Someday you're gonna worship me. And maybe after my voice finishes changing. Okay? Joseph would become one of the most significant figures in biblical history. But he didn't start out that way. His dad loved him more than his siblings, not because he was smarter, Not because he was better looking, but because his dad was old when he was born. And so he had a special relationship. He also had a special mom. His mom was not their mom. And so, let's just say, as we've said before, this was a dysfunctional family. Okay? Some people are clearly easier to get along with than others. And even within a family, some people have difficult personalities. But there's no suggestion in this passage that the reason Joseph was the favorite was because he was just so good with people skills. Okay? Just the opposite is true. He's presented as acting like a goof. Okay? It is not a good thing to tell people, yeah, well, right now I know I'm your little brother, but someday you're going to work for me. Okay? It's just, it may come true. But that's not the kind of thing you want to tell your older siblings. And it wasn't just that. The start of the chapter, Joseph is out helping the older brothers take care of Dad's flocks. Apparently some of the brothers did something that they shouldn't have and Joseph felt it was very important for dad to know and so he brought a bad report he came back and he said they're lazy or They were sleeping on the job or whatever now what he said may have been true and what he said may have actually needed to be reported and But Joseph's attitude toward his brothers fed their attitude toward him He was already dad's favorite. It wasn't at that point that he became dad's favorite He was already dad's favorite and they despised him for that so having that dynamic Only made it more aggravating when he goes to tell dad. Hey, I'm gonna tell dad How many of you have ever heard that expression? Okay I'm gonna tell you better not you better not I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell mom Okay, that's Joseph Is that you? So Joseph became the object of scorn, the object of hatred, and it says they couldn't even bring themselves, they couldn't make themselves speak to him peaceably. It's like, I try, I try, but he just always does stuff that just drives me up the wall. I'm trying to be nice to him, okay? But I just, I mean, I just can't do it. Doesn't he make you crazy? So now, some time goes by, and the brothers say, there he is. Let's kill him. Now why was he there? He was there because the Father sent him. For all of his flaws, all of his mess-ups, he actually did the Father's will. He is a flawed picture of Jesus. Because Jesus didn't have any mess ups. Okay? Jesus never did anything wrong. But I will tell you this. It would have bugged me if Jesus was my brother. Okay? My older brother, I had two older brothers. One was Easy to follow. But my oldest brother, my oldest brother was 14 years older than me, and he couldn't walk on water, but I think sometimes people wondered. He was amazing. So brilliant. His goal as a kid was to become a medical doctor, and therefore he wanted to go to the number one medical school, which was Harvard. And he'd really like not only to go to Harvard, but to end up teaching at Harvard. Guess what he did? He did it. OK? How'd you like to follow that? And for the next performance, it's like, no, I have a little stomach trouble. I'm just not going to come out on stage. I mean, it was tough to follow Bill, OK? He knew all kinds of things about all kinds of subjects. I saw him once in an argument. It wasn't much of an argument. But I saw someone trying to argue with him. And he was responding, as usual, with surgical precision. And as they talked, the person grew increasingly frustrated because they saw that they couldn't outthink him. And so this person said to him, oh, Bill, you just think you're the fount of all wisdom. And his response was, the term is font. And he's right. That's what really kills, okay? It's the font of all wisdom. It is the repository, not the fount. See, even when you go to insult a person like that, don't. Okay? You just prove their point. Now, growing up with Jesus, A lady came to me, I'm about to do a marriage conference this weekend, and it reminds me of years ago when I did a marriage conference, and a lady came to me later and she said, you saved my marriage. And I said, well, I'm glad to hear it. She said, it was one thing you said. I said, okay, what was that? She said, you told us if you think it's hard to live with the person you're married to, just imagine how much harder it would be to live with somebody who was perfect. Just imagine for a moment living with somebody who never is wrong. Not just somebody who thinks they're never wrong. That's unpleasant. But what if they really were never wrong? What would that make you feel like? About this big, okay? Because whenever I disagree with them, I'm wrong, okay? No point arguing because I'm wrong. It's not like this time I might have a point. No, I don't. You're right. I'm wrong. Would that get to you after a while? Would that be kind of dispiriting? I think so. I think it would have been tough to be Jesus' brother. Not because of any flaw in Jesus, but precisely because there was no flaw in Jesus. He always did everything perfectly. And I want to remind you that Jesus, who always did everything perfectly still, didn't always do what his mom wanted. But on those occasions, who was wrong? Mom. Mom. Okay? Now, Joseph was not perfect. Joseph didn't always get everything right. But Joseph does become a type, a symbol, a picture. It's a true story. But he becomes a forerunner of what's going to happen with Jesus. Who was sent by the Father to where his brothers were. And his brothers would take him and mistreat him. And he would be thrown into a pit, as it were. He would be put in the ground. And guess what? It wouldn't be some male goat whose blood was shed. It would be Jesus whose blood was shed. He would offer his life as the sacrifice for our sins. Well, there are two other dynamics that are going on here that I think we need to recognize because it gives us a window on the human heart. One is this tragedy of the brothers wanting to kill him. Can you imagine? He's your own brother and you want to kill him? This goes way back in our family line. Okay? Some of you may be embarrassed by things your relatives have done. You're not so embarrassed about what you've done, because people don't know about that. But you may be embarrassed about what your relatives have done. They've messed up. They've messed up badly. I come from a dysfunctional family. Oh no, I'm sorry. Our family line goes back to Adam and Eve, who had two sons, and one killed the other. If that happened in the neighborhood, we would say, yeah, I think that family's kind of always had problems. Okay? I mean, wouldn't you consider that a dysfunctional family if one brother kills the other? Is that a dysfunctional family? Yeah, that fits the definition. Okay? You're just, just for the record, if some of you are sitting there saying, what's the problem with that? It's not okay to kill people. It's not okay to murder. Okay? If you ever feel like murdering somebody, that's the enemy talking to you. Don't do it. Okay? Not okay. If you ever get really angry, just so mad you could just burst, take a chill pill. Because it's not okay to just blow up and kill people. It is not all right. I've told you before about wanting in the store to bark at the woman who insulted me. Okay? Because she looked like a bulldog and she stared me in the face as if I'd done something wrong just by being in line. And I wanted to bark at her, but I restrained myself. I didn't want to slap her. I just wanted to go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I figured if you're gonna act like a dog But then I thought how sad it would be if she had a heart attack And I had to explain to the police why I had made barking sounds so we just Don't go there all right These guys got in an argument with each other over whether or not to kill their brother that's how serious their hatred was and let me tell you Jesus says that Jesus says if you hate your brother, you're a murderer at heart We need to understand that about the human heart because on the outside we Learn how to present ourselves as nice people who only want the best for our neighbors But the fact of the matter is if the neighbors trash keeps blowing over into my yard After I've told them that they need to put a lid on that can After a while I would like to do something else with that can. Like put my neighbor in it. Right? And you see, that's not an okay attitude. It's a normal human response. I had a guy who called me on the phone. because he was a little concerned that he had engaged in some behavior he never engaged in before and he wanted to be sure that what he was doing was normal. He was a teenager. He wanted to be sure that what he was doing was normal. I told him, yes, it's normal. And he said, good. Well, let me ask you about something else. And he described another situation, something else that had occurred. And he said, is that normal? I said, yes, that's normal. And he said, OK, good. Well, let me ask you about this. And he told me about another situation. And he said, is that normal? And I said, yes, that's normal. But I need to tell you something. Normal is going to hell. Jesus said, broad is the road that leads to destruction. Many travel thereon. Narrow is the way that leads to life. And very few people find it. And I said, you have not asked me one time in this whole conversation if that's pleasing to God. You have not asked me, is this a good thing to do? What you've asked me is, is it normal? And I can tell you, yes. Your behavior is consistent with most of the population. And most of the population is headed for hell. You need to be concerned about whether or not it pleases God. Is that clear? What these guys did, we say, oh, they did what? But the fact is, our hearts have been there. We have wished that we could take people who are a huge irritation in our life and just make them go away. So the murderous human heart is one thing in this passage that we need to be confronted with and realize that's our family line, that's the way we behave. We are by nature a bunch of savages. Oh no, I've always been a very peaceful person and I will kill anybody who says I'm not. The second thing that we see in this passage that is absolutely tragic is the way that they deceive their father. It's not just Joseph who suffers in this story. Joseph suffers, okay? He's captured, stripped, thrown in a pit, sold as a slave. Bye-bye. That's hard. That's difficult. That's tough. But he's not the only one who's suffering. His dad. His dad goes through the grief of losing a son and feeling responsible because he's the one who sent him out there to see the brothers. Oh, I should never have done that. I wondered if he's going to be okay. It just didn't occur to me that a wild animal would get him. Oh, this is on me. This is my fault. And they try to cheer him and say, it's okay, you know, you've had your period of mourning. He says, no, I will go to the grave. I will go to Sheol. I will go to the grave mourning for him. I'm going to be in mourning the rest of my life. This is a sorrow I will never get over. He has lost hope. He's lost his joy. He's lost his peace. He is miserable. And so the brothers say, we can't leave dad like that. Listen, dad, I'm sorry, it was a bad trick. We'll go down to Egypt and hopefully find Joseph for you. No, they don't do that. They let their father mourn. Tragic, horrible, cruel. But whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Jacob was the deceiver. This dad who is now experiencing such grief, when he deceived his father Isaac, his father shook. He was so traumatized by the deceit of Jacob who lied to his face. who deliberately, insistently, even invoked God in order to try and deceive his father. And he deceived his father. So you see this pattern of deceit passing from generation to generation to generation. That's tragic. That is absolutely tragic. But the fact of the matter is, that's just the way life in this world is. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family, you're going to have a dysfunctional family. And if your parents did bad things, you will too. you're gonna just repeat all the same mistakes. So you might as well give up and just surrender yourself to addictions and lies and immorality and whatever other dysfunction you've been around. Because it runs in the family. So hey, let's just get with the program. Right? No. Not right. Jesus said, in order to see And in order to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again. If you just try to white knuckle your way through this life, I'm just gonna do what it takes, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna improve myself. I'm gonna get hold of my bootstraps and pull hard and get myself up in the air. You're not gonna succeed. You're just gonna repeat the same pattern. You're going to grow up saying, I'll never do that. I'm not going to be like my parents. And you're going to find yourself being like your parents. Trying to remember now which of the wonderful Disney movies it was. When the guy realizes, oh no, I'm as crazy as my mom. I thought, that's a good line. Let me tell you something. It was a cartoon movie. Disney movies are not safe. Any other disclaimers I need to make? But I want you to understand something. We live in a world where we will tend to repeat the same patterns. We tend to do the stuff that we grew up with. When we get in a situation, what comes out of our mouth is what came into our ears. We say what they said to us. And our kids look at us the way we looked at them, and our kids are thinking, boy, when I grow up, I'm not gonna do that. Well, that's what we said, isn't it? How do you break the cycle? Jesus can. You and I can't. Not in our strength, not on our own. We do not have the capacity in and of ourselves to fix the problem. But Jesus can. I remember years ago going to a conference on fathering. And as I heard about the struggles of passing things from one generation to the next, I went home and I called my dad and I said, I want to thank you. Because I said, I know you were a much better father to me than your dad was to you. My dad choked up and he said, thank you. And I said, that had to be hard. And he said, yes, it was. You don't have to repeat the mistakes of the past. With God's help, you can be different. If you will yield your life to him and say, God, I don't want to be like that. But I need you to change me. I need you to live your life through me. Let me tell you something, you'll be a work in progress. But as one of my preacher friends said to his son, I may not be the best father in the world, but I'm a whole lot better than my dad was. And I want you to be a whole lot better than me. You understand? We can make progress. by God's grace. And we're not saved by our performance, we're saved by Jesus. But I want you to realize, apart from Jesus, you're going to make the same pattern of mistakes. But if you will yield your life to Him, knowing His love for you, He will empower you to do what you need to do. and you will grow more and more and more like him. And that is his promise, not just mine. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for this amazing story. It is history. It is truth. But we thank you that it points us to one who is perfect, and who gave his life so that we could live. We pray, Lord God, that you would deliver us from evil and that you would live your life through us. We want to do your will. Forgive us, cleanse us, empower us by your Spirit, and manifest the life of the risen Christ in and through us, we pray. And we will be careful to give you all of the praise. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.