Genesis 37. I got an Apple watch. So if I keep on going, somebody just throw an apple at me and say it's over, it's done. Genesis 37. This is Joseph lesson number four. Sin of his father. We're gonna look at verses 12 through 18. To start. you know, obvious, we've been trying to make application to Christ, and then what I do is I find these things of Joseph, and I go to the New Testament and try to look for how it most mimics something about our Lord. So that's where we're going to wind up at Christ. That's where we strive to get to every Sunday. This entire 37th chapter of Genesis is absolutely full of types and pictures of Christ our Lord. Verses 12 through 18 is no different. Look at it. And his brethren went to feed their flocks and sheikim. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said, Joseph said, I will go. Joseph sent, all these little words, all these little words, Joseph sent Jacob. Our Lord God sent his son. to find out the welfare, the condition of his brothers. His brothers, that's important, brothers. Joseph, like our Lord, knowing their malice toward him from all of eternity, he knew the malice that he would face, willingly replies, here am I. and he goes to Shechel he goes to the world verse 14 and he said to him go I pray thee see whether it be well with our brethren and with well with the flocks and bring me word again so he sent him out of the veil of Hebron and he came to Shechel Joseph was sent out of the veil of Hebron Hebron is a place of fellowship and communion. That's what Hebron means. The veil, out of the veil, the veil is a place of peace and rest. He leaves that. He came to Shechem, into the world, as we say, a place of sin and unrest. Verses 15 and 16. And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, what are you looking for? What are you seeking? And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. Joseph wonders, it says, in a field. Our Lord says that field is the world, in Matthew 13, 38. Look at Ezekiel 34. Let me read this to you. Ezekiel 34, verse 12. Here it is here, Ezekiel, writing pretty much the same thing, "'As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day "'that he is among his sheep that are scattered, "'so will I seek out my sheep.'" This is Christ. "'So will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them "'out of all places where they have been scattered "'in the cloudy and dark day.'" Our Lord, like this Joseph here, this man, certain man, it says, saw him wandering. Well, I'm sure it appeared to those folks in our Lord's day that he was wandering around, even to his disciples. But our Lord, unknown to them, only known by God his Father, was sent on a certain mission, wasn't he? To seek and to save the lost, as Luke writes in his 19th chapter. And we see him doing this, don't we? Don't we see the Lord doing this? He enters into the synagogues. He preaches and teaches the gospel. He walks the streets. He goes by the seashores. He walks the tombs. He tells them, I must needs go to Samaria. Why? He wasn't wandering, was he? He was seeking those he was sent to find. Why did God send his son? This is important. Why did God send his son? Go to Hebrews 10. We're going to look at verse 7. Prior to verse 7, he's talking about about the blood of the animals here in this 10th chapter of these it says that it appeased God his father for a while and that's what that's what all of those slain animals they just appeased but it didn't satisfy God's justice did it they had to do it continue how much blood was shed in those gallons and gallons seas of blood was shed but it just stayed God's justice, appeased him for a while, never was satisfied until until verse six, and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. God, you had no pleasure. My father, you had no pleasure. Then said I, then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, in this whole thing, all of those types, in the volume of this book, every page is written of me. to do thy will, O God." That's why He was sent, to do the will of His Father. Satisfy His Father's judgment. Over in Galatians 4, Galatians 4, verse 4, But when the fullness of time was come, when the fullness of time was come, the time God has set from all eternity, It's God's time. God's time. A lot of folks say the fullness of time is when the world was at its worst. No, that's when God the Father said, Son, it's time. It's established. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Here's why He sent Him. Can't get any simpler than this. Verse 5, to redeem them that were under the law. That's why God sent Christ, His Son, to redeem us. cursed by the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Luke again, I'll read that, or I'll quote that verse to you again, Luke 19, 10. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Here's the first point. Christ, our Lord's mission, will not, will not ever be frustrated? There are two big questions in religion. I'm talking about religion as we all know it. Just Baptist, just Baptist religion, okay? Baptist religion. Here's the first one. Or, not questions, two opinions. The first one is this, and keep in mind what we're talking about, will God be frustrated in sending his son? Christ's mission. be accomplished or not. Here's the first one in Baptist religion. Was our Lord sent to redeem all men? That's known as general redemption or universal atonement, universal bloodshed. Christ died for all men. We're familiar with that, aren't we? Well, if that's the case, then he was frustrated, Steve. Our Lord was frustrated. Rod, this is why he would have been frustrated. Because common sense and the facts of this Bible tells us that there are people in hell right now, right? There's folks in hell. Or here's the second. Here's the second view of redemption. Did Christ's blood have infinite value but particular scope? And that's particular redemption. And that's what we hold to. That, that particular redemption, implies that the mission of Christ was never, ever to save all men. If so, Because God is perfection, all men would have been saved, right? That just makes sense, doesn't it? If God intended every man to be saved, then every man and woman and child would have been saved. What we believe is Christ's intention is exactly equal to its effects. So in saying that, we know, we have faith and full confidence that His mission will never be frustrated. So let's look at some arguments out of the Scripture, from Scripture, history, that lends the fact that God is not frustrated. Was anything prior to Christ's incarnation, His coming to this earth as a man, anything prior to His incarnation of God ever frustrated? Did God ever intend anything and it not be accomplished prior to Christ's coming? Well, our study from Genesis chapter 1 through 37 now, just those chapters alone prove that nothing was ever frustrated. From creation to now, all things deemed to have come about by God have been accomplished. Numbers 23.19 says this, God is not man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? The very best of men, Chris you'll see this more and more and more, I want you, the very best of men, in intellect, in ability, in power. These old folks have already seen it. At some point, they're going to be thwarted, whatever their intentions are. It just happens. I mean, all you got to do is watch a Saturday football day, right? And you never saw that one coming. Never. Who thwarts these goals of men? God does. God does. We used to pray before a ball game, and we knew the other team was at the other end zone praying. And I always thought, I wonder which team God's going to answer that. Somebody's going to leave here a loser. In Him, we move and live and have our being. He controls it. Those men's ideas, their goals, their plans, or leave them unhappy at times, disappointed. God's never disappointed. He's never frustrated. Imagine that, never frustrated. It's crazy as this world that we live in is now. He's never frustrated. We got a new president coming in, and I tell you what, I'm just as confused now as I was before the other one left, or if he ever leaves. I'm thinking, what is he thinking? What is he thinking? Well, you know who's not thinking what is he thinking? God's not thinking what is he thinking. God's moving him. God's moving all of this for his glory, and he'll never be frustrated. And that ought to give us such peace. So let me ask you this. Can the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His atonement, if nothing was frustrated prior to our Lord's incarnation, can the Lord Jesus Christ, in His atonement and redemption, be ever frustrated in that mission? No. No. Now, if He's just a man like we talked about last Sunday, yeah. But He's not just a man, is He? Glenn, He's not a man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is THE Lord. He's God. He's the second person of the Godhead. No, he will not be frustrated. Here's the second thing to think about. The whole history of providence. Has anything failed? Well, Psalm 2, 2 through 4, tells us that. He said, he holds the king's heart in his hand. They make their plans. He holds them in derision. He laughs at them. Even though they're trying to destroy God and his people. He's not frustrated. creation, the fall, the flood, the trials of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now Joseph we're seeing? The whole of the Old Testament, was God ever frustrated? No. So this leads to this question, so will the la- I ask you this, will the last Old Testament providence, will the last be accomplishment or be accomplished Talking about his sovereignty over creation and creatures. And the greater fail? His sovereignty over salvation? That's the way men would have it? Oh, we hold him as sovereign over creation, but not over salvation. No, he's sovereign in all things, and he will not fail. And here's the third thing to think about. The whole life of our Redeemer. From birth to growth, look, following through the Gospels. From birth to growth, to his ministry, to the garden, to the cross. Was anything ever frustrated in his life? No. No. It all was part of God's plan. Wasn't it all as God said it would be? Read the prophets. And as they came true in his life, that's what we're doing now. Will not the Lord's death be accomplished as decreed and ordained by God? And not be frustrated? So, you know, you leave it here with this first point. To many, to many people, the idea of universal atonement is a lovely concept. It's syrupy, it's emotional, God shed his blood for all men, but But it's a deceptive, false doctrine. It does not honor our Lord Jesus Christ, but in fact dishonors Him. If Christ in death intended to save those damned before He died, I'm talking just the flood alone. We know all those men and women that died in that flood, we know that they perished in hell. We know that. So that alone, just think how frustrated he must have felt when he was dying for those people from the flood that were in hell. For those that think that Christ died for those that are in hell, makes his blood ineffectual, doesn't it? Of absolute no value. Makes the Bible untrustworthy. It makes our holy God unjust. We might as well just quit if that's what we believe. Stop! Goes all of our hope. If we believe that, we have to believe that sins are twice paid for by the sinner and the Savior. No, the Scripture says that my Lord, our Lord, saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. He was not frustrated. So if the mission is not going to be frustrated, here's the second point. What was the intent of the mission? Well, it's this, to seek and to save the lost. All right, here's our first point on the second point, sub-point. Who are the objects? Who are the objects that Christ came to seek and save? Well, that's pretty clear, isn't it? The lost. The lost. Who are the lost? Now, that's a bigger question. Who are the lost? And what we want to know, are we part of that? Are we part of that people for whom our Lord was sent? Well, let me ask you this question. Are you good? Are you a good person? Are you just a little sinner? Never done a whole lot of big sinning? Do you look around and say, well, I'm no worse than my friends. And I'm a whole lot better than a lot of my friends. I, you know, if I don't go to heaven, who in the world will? Based on my folks around me. I watched, Kim and I did, the CMT Awards Wednesday night, and there was, did anybody watch them? Pretty good. Brooks and Dunn were on there singing with Jelly Roll. the song Believe. I liked it. You know, if I wasn't a Grace guy, I would probably, I would probably shout with a lot of these silly songs that go on, because it does make you feel good. But boy, they did a rendition of Believe. You can YouTube it and listen to it. But there was a verse in that song, or part of that song. And this fits country music to a T, and people to a T. Says if there was ever anyone who deserved a ticket to the other side, it'd be old man Ridley. You'd have to hear the song to get the gist of it. But that's, isn't that what people think? I had a grandmother who thought that, she said it. She had dealt with sick mother and sick brothers and sick husbands and she told my daddy, if anybody deserves heaven, I do. A lot of that thought out there. A lot of old man Ridley's that deserve heaven. Well, friend, if that's you, you got no part of Christ. He wasn't sent for you. He wasn't sent for you. Scripture says he came not to call the righteous, the good old Mr. Ridley's to repentance, but sinners. So there's no blood. There's no atonement for you. Here's the second question. Are you trusting, whether in part or all together, are you trusting in your works, your rituals, your merits, your ceremonies, your creeds, your duties? You're doing right. Just all those things that you're doing right between God and man, between you and God, and between man and man, between you and your fellow man. A lot of folks trust those things, don't they? That's what they're trusting. Well, Scripture says, by works no man is justified. Romans 3.20, no man. By what he does is justified. So you, friend, you have no hope, no Christ, and His blood isn't for you. Well, who then, preacher? Who qualifies? What is lost? That's a question we all want to know. What is lost in the spirituals? What is lost? For lost is lost to all hope but Christ. All hope but Christ. Lord, I love the sea. It's fun out there, isn't it? I love it. Jason says, isn't it fun? Sam's been out there a lot. I love the sea. But Paul there, I'm afraid of it also. I'm scared of the sea. Strange, isn't it? And so I read stories about people lost at sea. You know, they're lost a lot more than you realize. In our modern world, they're lost. I remember a couple of years ago reading about two 14-year-old boys off the east coast of Florida that disappeared. They found the boat in the Bahamas, but never, obviously no sign of the boys. And then there were two firemen, two firemen who just disappeared a few years ago, a couple of years ago. Then before I came, I just checked and they were never found. And you wonder, I do, I wonder what happened. Sam, what happened to them? What happened to that boat? What happened to communication? What happened? Well, maybe the boat sprung a leak, and maybe the pumps worked as long as they had fuel, but then finally you're going to run out of fuel, but they weren't lost yet, were they? As long as the boat's pumping water, they're not lost. They're just biding time, hoping somebody will find them. They're not lost. Well, then after a while, they're going to run out of fuel and the boat's still leaking. Well, they're still okay because they can dump coolers and just bail the water out. So they bail, but they're still not lost because they have the ability to bail that water out. But that can't last forever, can it? You're going to wear out. So at some point, you gotta let that life raft go, hadn't you? You gotta blow it up and inflate it, and you gotta get into it. And so maybe they took some food and some water, and they got in the life raft, but they're still not lost, because they've got a life raft, and they got food, and they got water. And any day, somebody gonna come along. So they still don't feel lost. Somebody will find them. And then they see a boat, and they see a plane, and they wave. They wave, but it goes by them. It don't see them. But they're still not lost because they think another one will come by. There'll be another one soon. So they're not lost. There's still hope. But at some point their food's gone. Their water's gone. Their energy's gone. There's no more ships. There's no more planes. Now they're lost. And they know they're lost. That's what lost is. That's what lost is. Is that you? Then, then Christ was sent for you. If that's you, then he was sent for you. Romans 5, look at Romans 5. Verse 6. For when we were yet without strength, we were lost. That's when, in due time, Christ died for us. We were lost, and we knew it. See, the problem with religion is most folks don't know it. If you know it, if you've ever known it, and I don't know, somebody said, When were you saved? I said, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe sometime between six and 30 years old sometimes, I think. I don't know. I don't know. But I know this, I'm lost all the time to myself. I'm what old man say, what that old guy say, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. I'd rather know I was lost, I think, than know I'm saved. That's sort of strange, isn't it? Sort of strange. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love, his love to me. in while we were yet sinners. Lost, lost. Christ died for us. That's when, that's when. Third point, seek and save. Aren't those comforting words? Seek and save. Those men that I were talking about, those boys, They were sought after, but they weren't saved. Christ came to seek, like Joseph, to seek and to save. He wasn't just wandering around in that field. He was here on a mission, seeking his brothers and saving them. But you know what? You know, people say, well, Christ came to seek those and save those that are seeking Him. And in a sense, they're right. We men do have their responsibilities. We'll probably get into that in another message. But I tell you this, and you know it if you've ever been lost, you'd have never sought Christ if He hadn't sought you first, would you? Would you have ever wanted, would you? No, you wouldn't have. You wouldn't have. Now you know. You may have grown up in church thinking otherwise, but now you go out here in this world, now you know. I'd have never sought Him. I don't want to have anything to do with Him. Our nature opposes Christ. Scripture says, you will not come to me that you might have life. That's our nature. We don't want to come. Why don't we want to come? Because we love that darkness we're in. Therefore Christ, Joseph, was sent to his brothers. The brothers weren't looking for him. He was looking for them. He was sent, he sought, and he found. That's a blessed hope. Sent, sought, and found. When Christ seeks whom he seeks, he saves. He saves you in life, He saves you in death, and He saves you for eternity. Isn't that a good hope?