Genesis 37. This is Joseph number 5. Jacob receives the bloody coat. Verse 18. Speaking of his brothers, as they saw Joseph approaching, and when they saw him afar off, even before, even before, before, if you want to underline that, before, he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Before, that's remindful of our Lord. No sooner than our Lord was born, we're at that time of year, aren't we? No sooner than our Lord was born, that Herod hatched that hateful plot to kill him. To kill him. No sooner than he was born. Scripture says the carnal mind, the lost mind, the wicked mind, the evil mind, is enmity against God because it's not subject to God. That's his natural state. Herod's evil plot was 30 years before our Lord ministered the gospel. 30 years before. Verses 19 and 20, they said, one to another, behold, this dreamer comes. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him. Cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him. And we shall see what will become of his dreams. Here again we see our Lord hanging, hanging from that cross. And scripture says, they that pass by taunted him saying, if you be the son of man, come down, come down. You saved others, yourself you can't save. Taunting, taunting, this dreamer. That's what they taunted Jacob, this dreamer. Most folks around the cross said, come down, then we'll believe, which was an admission of non-belief. Is there much difference today among men and women? Is the gospel in all? There's not a simpler means of heaven, I don't think, than what we preach, is there? The gospel is so simple. God made it that way. He said, I want a child to understand the way to heaven. It's in the gospel. It's simple requirements preached in simple words, believed as just simple truth. That's it. He that believeth. He that believeth. Is that hard? He that believeth. You want to go to heaven? You want to live eternity with Christ? Just believe. He that believeth. Believe it or not, that's simple. If you don't believe, then you got no life with Christ. Wrath of God abides on you. All that's easy to believe. Simple, simple words. You know, one day if you don't believe now, you will believe, but then that day will be too late, won't it? Just too late. Verses 21 through 23, and Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands and said, let us, let's not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand on him, that he might rid him out of, Reuben's idea was he'll go back and rid him out of their hands to deliver him again to his father. And it came to pass when Joseph was coming to his brethren that they stripped Joseph of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him." Joseph here is insulted in verse 23, isn't he? Put to an open shame. Wasn't our Lord? Joseph had come just seeking their good, their welfare. That's just... His father said, like we said, Joseph, go check on your brothers. That's all he was gonna do. Check on my brothers. See if they were okay. But at the end, he was mocked. Our Lord was. At the end, he was mocked and stripped of his clothing, put to an open shame, and he came only to do good. Scripture says, then the soldiers took him into the common hall and stripped him. were also told at the cross they took his garments and gambled for him. Then verse 24 of our Genesis, and they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty. There was no water in it. This is, as Steve was talking about a while ago, the rest that we have in Christ arose is satisfaction with God. That's what it implies. Always keep that in mind. Most people don't know that. You know that? Most people at Easter, when they talk about the resurrection, they don't know the blessedness of the resurrection. But Christ was dead. He was in that pit with no water is the grave. He was as dead as any dead man has ever been. Dead, dead, dead. Verses 25 through 27, and they sat down to eat bread. Can you imagine that? They sat down, his brothers sat down to eat bread, had their lunch. That's no different than our Lord. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother." What a hypocrite. For he's our brother. Let's don't kill him, let's just sell him in our flesh. And his brethren were okay with that. Let not our hand be upon him. That's our Lord too. Pharisees said, then let they, Jesus, into the hall of judgment. And it was early. And they themselves, listen to this, they themselves, these wicked lawyers and went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled. Also, it says in verse 31 of John 18, then said Pilate unto this bunch of hypocrites, take ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put a man to death. You do it. You do it. And then verse 26, also, you see, you can't help but see Judah is a Judas who sold our Lord for 30 pieces of silver. So you see the Lord in all of this, don't you? So full of types and pictures. But here's the message for this morning, verses 31 and 32. took him and sold him, and Reuben returned him to the pit, and he was gone, in verse 29, and he asked what happened. Here's what they did, and they took Joseph's coat, verse 31, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and he said, this have we found. Know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. the blood of Christ as the blood of a sin offering, offered to God the Father. That's what we see there. The putting away of sin. Over in Leviticus, if you want to turn to Leviticus 16, we're going to eventually get to Hebrews, but let's stop on the way to Leviticus 16, set the pattern. That was the picture. I just gave you a picture of Christ. Now we're going to read about the type of this putting away of sin, Leviticus 16. Verse five, talking about Aaron, this is the day of atonement. This is the once yearly day of atonement. Our Lord has given the rules for here. Verse five, and he, Aaron, or the high priest, shall take the congregation, or of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids, of the goats for a sin offering and one round for a burn offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering. Now there was three animals here. Aaron had to offer an animal for his own sin before he could offer an animal for the soul. So there's three animals. Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and for his house. Then, and he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering. The second goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." Two goats. The two halves become one. And we see this in our Lord. The one was sacrificed for the sins of the people. You read about that in detail in verses 15 and 16 of Leviticus 16. And the other would be let go into the wilderness, which typifies our sins being put away, forgiven and forgotten. Both of these goats signified the putting away of sin, though. Now, there's the tie. Go to Hebrews. Chapter 9. We'll spend the rest of the message looking at the fulfillment of our Lord actually putting away sin. Hebrews 9, 26. As you turn there, let me just say a thing. What would you say if somebody said, what is the putting away of sin? You ever thought of how you would answer them? Well, you gotta first think of the gospel, don't you? The gospel, like I said earlier, the gospel is good news. It's good news. It's good news that God, the believer's father, is willing to put away and forgive my sin. Isn't that good news? That he'll forgive my sin? Scripture says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. It was declared of Christ to his father Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Shall, shall do, not might. Maybe he shall save them. Isn't that good news? That's good news. He shall save us. Isn't it good news that all that is required of you and I is just faith? Huh? Just faith? Just believe, like I said a while ago, the simplicity of the God, just believe it? I don't have to even produce that faith. It's given to me. I don't have to have perfection to any degree. I am complete in Christ. Complete. Just believe. Just believe. Isn't it good news to know that God, our sovereign king, is willing to just put it away? Away! Into that wilderness where that scapegoat went. Put it away. Not just in picture, like we have here of this Joseph, that coat being presented to, not just a picture of it, not just a type of it, like we had in Leviticus, but in reality, here in Hebrews. What is that, so again, I ask that, what is that, the putting away of sin? And not just my sin, but untold numbers of God's elect, their sins have been put away. All their sins. What a task! How is sin put away? Well, we know according to Hebrews 7 and 10 and all of those sacrifices, all the sacrifices of animals, their blood couldn't do it. Hebrews 10, let me read that to you, 10. Verse 4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. It's not possible. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, talking about Christ, who we're going to Then today, like we do every Sunday, talking about, when he cometh, he says, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not, but a body, a man's body, you've prepared for me. Started as a baby, a body. Think about all this. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure. My father had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, I'll go. I'll go. Like we talked about last Sunday, I'll go. Here I am. Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldst not neither have you pleasure then, which are offered by the law like they did in Leviticus. Then said I, then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which we were all sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." How many times? Once for all. Once. What a task. These were types and pictures of the best, of something better, something finished, something complete. The offerings that we just read about Leviticus were offered year after year after year after year, every year, continually. They only appeased God, they never satisfied him, never satisfied his justice. So we know that all of those sacrifices that the Jews did for years, they couldn't put it away. Our second thing, trials and suffering can't put away sin. No man ever suffered like Job. No man. We know people in our lifetime, we think, boy, they've suffered. They've suffered. But Job, Job, trial, they can't, his sins couldn't put, or his sufferings couldn't put his sins away. He said at the very end of the book, I abhor myself. I hate myself. After all that he had been through, he didn't hold on to any of his trials, his meriting anything with God. He said, I abhor myself. I repent. What did he trust? Well, over in Job 19.25, he tells us, he says, I know, I know that my Redeemer lives. He trusted his hope was in a Redeemer, wasn't it? Wasn't it his trials? Wasn't it all the problems in life that he had had? Couldn't put away his sin. Only a Redeemer could. Third thing, holy living can't put away sin. Scripture says, those of you who want to try that, you who would live by whatever list you come up with, you would live by the law and under its curse, you're under it. You go that direction, you're going to die under the curse of that law. Because it says you've got to keep every part of that law, every single part. You break one part of the law, you've broken it all. So that won't put away sin. You know what? Hell won't even put away sin. Think about this. You know, our minds are fixed on time, aren't they? But a man spends a million years in hell, his sins are still not put away. Not put away. Think about that. Hell can't put away an eternity of hell. Whatever an eternity is, if you can number an eternity, it wouldn't put away sin. You're no nearer your sin being put away than you were when you started there. See how important Christ is? See how important it is to learn about Christ? How will sin be put away? Job asked what some say is the oldest question in the Bible. How can man be just with God? How can an unclean thing, shall the unclean from his mother be clean? Well, Hebrews 9, Verses 24 through 28. Let me read 26 to you. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once, talking about our Lord, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. But verses 24 through 28 give us three appearings of Christ. And all three of these appearings sort of complete this picture of the putting away of sin, this story that we have of redemption. Verse 26, I just read, He came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Descending of His Son by God our Father was the absolute only way, the only way. His sacrifice, His death, was the only solution for the sin problem. If rituals or sufferings, those things I just talked about, holy living, deeds of men could have cleansed, God wouldn't have sent Christ. That would have been foolish, wouldn't it? It would have been cruel. It would have been needless. And that's not God. Everything God does is on purpose. And the scripture is clear. There is no other name, no other name given, whereby we can be saved other than the name Christ Jesus. No other name. That's the way. He says that. I am the way. His name, Jesus, Emmanuel, that's the mighty God with us. He must be with us. He came in the form of a child to be with us, to grow and become a man. What did He do, though, to put away the sin? It's the sacrifice of Himself, verse 26 says. Was it His birth? Did His birth play any part in the putting away of sin? Couldn't. What about His perfect life? Oh, it was vital for the keeping of the law, but that couldn't put away sin. What about his teaching of the gospel and the healing of the sick? That couldn't put away sin. That couldn't. None of those things. His life couldn't put away sin. Only his death. He had to die. Sin is put away by death. That's what the Old Testament teaches us. There's always death. There's always blood. Steve led that last hymn, there's a fountain filled with blood. Christ's blood though. Bloodshed, the wrath of God had to be endured. Scripture says in Isaiah, he was wounded for our transgressions. Scripture says this, we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. That bloody robe that those boys, those brothers, brought back to the Father. That blood of the Son, God, our Father, had to see it. He had to see it. And that did it. This is what did it. This is what put away my sin. What all the blood of bulls and goats could not do over time and year and year and year, He did once. His blood satisfied justice and brings peace to me. That's my hope. That's where I rest at night. Am I going to heaven? Will I live in eternity with Christ? Will I please God my Father? Can I walk with Christ if I'm under the blood? If I'm under the blood. All those things otherwise, no. No. All right, real quickly. Verse 24, we have a second appearing. This is important to the putting away of sins, to our hope. For Christ, it says, is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself. Now, here it is, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Appears in the presence of God for us. He's risen. He's satisfied God's demand for justice. Now he sits with him in his presence. He appeared on earth, we just read in verse 26, to put away sin. He appears now as our faithful high priest. What's he doing there? He's interceding, isn't he? He's interceding for us. He's not pleading our works. Not pleading our merits. Sometimes I think, you know, we see Him interceding for us. Say, see, Father, He thought of you there. He thought of me there. He read His Bible there. Everything He pleads for you and I is His blood, His merits, His justice satisfied Christ, our God. He pleads this. He's risen again. Well, I'm sorry, I'm ahead of, I'm ahead. Turn to Romans 8. Turn to Romans 8. You're thinking, that idiot's not making any sense at all. Romans 8. I said he's there interceding, interceding his merits, his death, his blood. Verse 33 of Romans 8. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. So when Christ is there interceding, who's charging? Well, we know Satan's always charging. Our friends, our acquaintances, our family, those who know us, in their minds, which reaches God, they charge us, don't they? I thought you were a believer. I thought you were a believer. They're charging. And our own consciences are charging. Always charging. Always charging. That's who the who is. Who shall lay anything. All of those are charging us all the time. All the time. So what does Christ say? What's he say? Well, he says three or four things in verse 34. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? Here's the first thing he says. It's Christ that died. Christ died. I paid the debt. I satisfied justice. They didn't have to. I did it for them. That's what he tells those three people accusing God. Here's the second thing he says. Yea rather, that is risen again. Risen again. Like we said two or three times, what does that mean? Why is that important for the putting away of sin? Because God's anger is appeased. He's not angry with me anymore. Do I sin? Sure I sin. He's not angry because those sins are gone. They're on that scapegoat somewhere out there in the wilderness. Here's the third thing. Who is even, talking about Christ, our intercessor, who is even at the right hand of God. What's the right hand of a king? That's a place of power, isn't it? Equality. Honor. Authority. That's where Christ sits while he's interceding to the Father. Equal. Equal. And then the fourth thing there in verse 34. Who also maketh intercession for us. The ones for whom he died. He don't intercede, surely, for everybody. One to just the ones for whom he died. Just those. In that hope there, He didn't die. Christ didn't die and leave everything up to you and I. We'd be in a mess, wouldn't we? His body intercedes, His body as a man, His body intercedes in heaven. His spirit is in us giving hope in Him. See, all is in Him. Everything is in Him. Everything that we hope for is in Christ. And he says this concerning us. He says he, that if he's began the work, if you're an elect, if he began a good work in you, he's going to finish it. He's interceding in heaven. He's just, until you get home, till you get to glory, he'll intercede for you. All of those accusers, he constantly interceding because he started the work and he's going to finish the work. And then there's a third appearance in verse 28, and we know... That's not it. Let me get back over there. Verse 28 of chapter 9 of Hebrews. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear, this is the third appearance, the second time without sin unto salvation. Appeared the first time as a humble baby, a humble man, a man of sorrows. You won't appear that way the second time. He told his disciples in John 14, he said, don't be troubled. Don't be troubled. If I go, I'll return and bring you home. I'm going to bring you home. You'll be where I am. But until then, until then, I'm interceding. I'm interceding. Until I come again, I'll intercede. And then when I come again, you'll be with me. The second time he comes, He's going to come as a sovereign, victorious king and ruler. We're going to see this with Joseph later on when those brothers see him again. He wasn't that humble boy that they picked on and made ridiculed. He's sovereign. Okay, we'll get to that a little bit.