Let's open scripture this morning in the first book of the Holy Word, Genesis chapter 37. Genesis 37 verses 1 through 11. Genesis 37 verses 1 through 11. and we read there the word of God as follows and Jacob dwelled in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan these are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with its brethren and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah with the sons of Dilpah his father's wives and Joseph brought in to his father their evil report now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheave arose and also stood upright and behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheave and his brethren said to him shall thou indeed reign over us? or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? And his brethren envied him. But his father observed the singing. Dear congregation, the theme for the sermon this morning is hear and humble yourselves. Hear and humble yourselves. Two points of attention, two thoughts. One, love and hate. We see in the story just read, love and hate. The second point of attention, envy and hearing and pondering. We also meet envy and hearing and pondering. Our first thought, love and hate. First one, First one we read and Jacob dwelled in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. At first reading nothing special at his first isn't it? It seems to be a kind of introduction. We meet Jacob. And we hear where he lives in the land of Canaan. We hear about his father who also lived in that land, Canaan. And from henceforward it is about the children of Jacob living in the land of Canaan. So it seems to be a kind of introduction. But it isn't that simple. Let's read the verse again. and Jacob dwelt he dwelt in the land where in his father was a stranger the land of Canaan you hear the contradiction there is a tension here Isaac the father of Jacob was a stranger in Canaan and here we have Jacob his son and instead of being a stranger He starts to dwell in Canaan. He feels at home in Canaan. He no longer considers himself to be a stranger. He feels at home in Canaan and he starts to dwell there. What's going on here? we all know that father Isaac was a stranger in Canaan he didn't have a home to live in, he lived in tents he wasn't involved in agriculture or farming but he had flocks he was a stranger in Canaan by the way how did father Isaac end up in Canaan as a stranger And the young people among us now, of course, the answer? It started with Abraham. We all know how the Lord, the Almighty God, called Abraham. We read that in Genesis 12. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out, out of thy country, that pagan, heathen country. from thy kindred, from thy father's house unto a land that I will shew thee." And Abram he obeyed the voice of the Lord and he went out and he traveled all the way to Canaan and upon arriving in that land in Canaan the Lord spoke again to Abram and the Lord promised Abram Unto thy seed, not unto Abram, unto thy seed will I give this land. Now we all know that Abram, the remaining part of his life was a stranger. He never was at home. He always looked upwards to heaven. He expected heavily Jerusalem before I go on. Are you a stranger? Or do you feel at home here? I have no idea. I don't know free reform done this. I have no idea if you feel at home. But I really hope that you feel a stranger here. and that you expect heavenly Jerusalem to be your dwelling. Please, don't make this earth your home. Be a stranger and expect the Lord coming from heaven and He is preparing homes. He is preparing homes. We don't have homes here, we are strangers here. But, okay, in Jacob, Jacob, we all feel with Jacob things start to change. He starts to dwell in Canaan. He's going to make that land his possession. He feels at home in Canaan. But the Lord has other plans with Jacob. Jacob, not now, once, once, this country will be of your seed but not for you Jacob not now oh by the way two reasons that Jacob had to wait he wasn't allowed to dwell in Canaan but he needed to remain a stranger two reasons first of all read in Genesis 15 verse 16 the sins of the Amorites are not yet full the sins of the Amorites, the Canaanites were not yet full so Jacob needed to wait but there was another problem and we come across this problem verse after verse after verse in these chapters you know what the problem was? Jacob and his family Israel they were in danger of accepting the moral standards of those around them what a big danger this is also for us to accept the moral standards of the world around us we are strangers here aren't you? with a heavenly passport? consider here in the tent of father Jacob the moral problems around Robin and Judah one fell into the sin of incest what a terrible sin and the other into the sin of marrying a Canaanite woman another terrible sin in the eyes of the Lord and in order to preserve his people here are the goodness and the mercy and the grace of the Lord in order to preserve his people the Lord will bring his people out of Canaan and bring them to Egypt to preserve them because they should be holy as the Lord is holy and please remember we are also His covenant people and the Lord tells us again and again be holy as I am holy be a stranger here look upwards to heaven and expect it all from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is preparing a dwelling and as long as you live here as a stranger you live holy, upright. What a rich lesson here. Well, let's move on. And then we read a second verse. Let's read it. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the land, the land was with the sons of Bilhah or with the sons of Thilpah, his father's wives and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Well, what a remarkable things we read here. First of all it started, these are the generations of Jacob. In other words, a new pagan in the history of the people of Israel. Every time you read these words in Genesis, these are the generations, and you will read it ten times in Genesis, a new chapter starts. Well, so here, a new story, a new chapter starts. These are the generations, and from henceforward the remaining chapters of Genesis it is about the children of Jacob and especially about Joseph and then we hear about Joseph 17 years old and like his father and grandfather and brethren he's a shepherd why? well he is a stranger and therefore they are shepherds the time of agriculture and farming has to wait until they will possess the land of Canaan and until they will possess the land of Canaan they are not farmers, not involved in agriculture but they will be shepherds so here's Joseph, a shepherd and then we read a strange verse, right? strange words the lad was with the sons of Bilhah with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wife Please explain me these words. Aren't these strange words? Why does the Holy Spirit tell us that Jacob, a Joseph, was with the sons of Bilhah and Thilpah? Where are the sons of Leah? We know that's not that difficult. Why the lad was not with the other son of Rachel? The other son of Rachel, Benjamin, was just two years old. So we can explain that. But why does it not say, and Joseph was with his brothers and sisters? Why don't we read about Leah? To be honest, we don't know. But everything has a reason in the Word of God. and one thing is very clear from these words that a family of Jacob is not a unity it is not a unity in a bond of self-sacrificing through love it is a family full of divisions with hatred, with envy, with parties how did it end up there? that the tent of Jacob was a divided tent well it started with Jacob himself taking four wives Jacob, Jacob why do you take four wives? isn't the Lord clear? Genesis 2 verse 24 therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother shall cleave unto his wife they shall be one flesh their congregation sin is never without consequences and especially for fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers and I see many fathers and mothers here if you sin we just have read the holy law of the Lord it will go on to the next generation and the next one and the next one and the next one we don't sin cheaply dear congregation fathers, mothers, I'm a father myself we don't sin cheaply Jacob sinned taking four wives and see where it ended up a divided family a family full of hatred envy And later on, later on today, we will even hear that some of the brothers of Joseph will try to slay him, to kill him. And it all started with the sin of taking four wives. Let us be holy, dear consistory, keep a watch on the flock that we will live holy and upright for the Lord, because also the congregation is in whole. we don't sin cheaply we have to watch the flock very carefully and a father, a mother well, let us reflect on our own behavior and then there is another puzzling sentence it is not an easy portion of scripture not at all we read and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report what's this? Joseph brought unto his father their evil report isn't this gossip? right? we all think well this is gossip right? that's what we think This is a boy secretly whispering in his father's ears what the mistakes and faults of his brothers are. Why do we think that? Why does it even come into, raise up into our minds? Because we are exactly like Joseph and we like to gossip. My hand in my own bosom. Oh, what a terrible sinners we are. And just because we like to gossip and to whisper in the ears about, ah, did you hear that? Did you hear that? And just because of that we think that Joseph is gossiping here. But we are all mistaken. This is not a gossip at all. Joseph is a young, righteous boy. And it shows in his deeds that he knows the Lord. And he loves the Lord above all. How do I know that? Well, later on at home there is enough time today please read Leviticus 5 the first four verses or read just one verse Leviticus 5 verses 1 through 4 not now but later at home I'll read just one verse and listen carefully if a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing and is a witness whether he has seen or known of it and now it comes if he do not utter it then he will bear his iniquity far from the modern idea it was the duty of a witness in Israel to come forward and give testimony in the interest of justice All the people in Israel were to be involved in seeing that justice was done, not to witness, not to tell about evil deeds, was to be a sinner. So Joseph didn't have a choice at all. According to the Word of God, he heard some evil words and he saw some evil deeds with his brothers. And according to the Word of God, he was forced to go to his father it was not gossiping at all he was righteous and he couldn't stand the unrighteous words and deeds of his brothers and of course it is not when he first went to his brothers they hated him of course he first went to his brothers and he told them don't speak evil, don't do evil but then afterwards he went to his father and probably in tears. It's not written here, but I think in tears. Father, hear what they are telling. These are the evil deeds in our tents. They misuse the name of the Lord. That's Joseph. And again, again, let's reflect on our own behavior. Are you righteous like Joseph? counted righteous because of Jesus Christ? Are you righteous? Do you know about the righteousness of Jesus Christ being your righteousness? And if so, are you concerned about the iniquity in your home? The iniquity in church? The iniquity of your nation? Or you just are silent? In our 21st century especially in our western countries we are so individualistic we shouldn't be like that the Lord always looks to groups, to families to a church family to his covenant people and if one sin in the eyes of the Lord they all sin oh please remember dear brothers and sisters congregation we don't, we do not sin cheaply Not at all. If I sin or you sin, it has its consequences for the whole family, the whole congregation. And that's why the Lord says in Leviticus, if you see iniquity, don't keep it for yourself. Well, let's move on. There are so many lessons here in this portion of Scripture. One lesson on top of the other. Oh, Scripture is so rich. You like scripture here, right? And scripture is so rich. Let's continue. Now, verse 3, Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Is there one father among us who doesn't love his boy, his children? Right? You fathers, you all love your sons, right? of course you do, but here there is a problem here is preferential love here is a father who has a bunch of sons he probably loves all of them, but one he loves more it isn't supposed to be like that, please dear congregation, true love is self-sacrificing love. True love doesn't make any distinction. True love is always giving. It doesn't consider the other. True love is always self-sacrificing, doesn't make a distinction and is always giving. Father Jacob, you are sinning here. Dear Father, There shouldn't be preferential love in our family. Dear mothers, there shouldn't be. May I ask you one question? Was there preferential love with the Lord Jesus Christ? Then sure it wasn't for me, and it wasn't for you. With the Lord is self-sacrificing love, true love. He only gave, gave and gave for sinners like us. And He said, you don't deserve my love, but still yet I love you. Why? Because I love you. That's the Lord. And we should reflect that image in our lives. So there is clearly a problem here. There is self, there is preferential love. And by the way, where did this preferential love come from? And again we see the same thing. It started in previous generations. Again we see this, that we don't sin cheaply. If a grandfather sins, it will continue in his son, in his grandson, it will continue. three or four generations. Genesis 25 verse 28, Isaac, Isaac loved Israel because he did eat of his vengean. That's not love at all. But Rebekah loved Jacob preferential love. And later we read how Jacob loved Rachel above Leah. And now again we read how Jacob loves Joseph above his other brothers. Jacob, why this preferential love? And as a token and a sign of his love for his son Joseph he gives him a beautiful robe. The same kind of robe we meet later on in scripture as a kingly robe. But preferential love their congregation has always a price always if there is more love for one than the downside of it there is less love for others and the others will feel that and the other person will feel undervaluated and the others will feel that they are the lesser one and the seed of hatred is planned in the heart and if God doesn't prevent it that seed of hatred will grow and grow and grow and that's precisely what happens here in this story righteous Joseph is hated by his brothers and it all started with a preferential love from Jacob, of Jacob before I move into the second point of attention or thought, that this story will bring us to the feet of Jesus Christ. We are not that different of Jacob, are we? Are we? We are not that different from the children of Jacob, are we? We are so sinful. But there is one And He has such a sweet name, Jesus, Savior. There is one. And He left heaven. He left His Father. He left all heavenly glory. He became man like you and me. He took on our black clothes, black of sin, and he ended his life at Calvary's cross. Why? Because he loved sinners. Oh, that this story may bring us to Jesus Christ and that we will learn from Him what true love is. Dear congregation, please stay with the Lord. By the way, do you know the Lord? It's not yet too late. Still we are in the time of grace. Young people, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers. Do you know the love of Jesus Christ? Who is He for you? He gave everything. Please, give all you have to Him. And from henceforth, let us live holy and in true love while we move on to the second point of attention the second point of attention the story speeds up events begin to unravel at an increasing speed or rate tensions rise at an alarming rate this also happens in real life, isn't it? what is hidden beneath the surface sometimes explodes triggered by seemingly small and unimportant events well and in this case here there are two dreams just two dreams but because of these two dreams things started to speed up and to unravel and we know where it ended And by the way, where is God in this story? It is remarkable that in the whole of Genesis 37, you never hear once about the name of God. It seems like he is absent, but we all know he isn't. God is never absent. God is in control. in his providence he arranges and rules not only the big events of our world history but every small affair and his hand is in all events in Genesis 37 everything here unfolds because the Lord wants it to happen even the smallest affairs Joseph himself he will say later on in Genesis 50 verse 20 but as for you my dear brethren ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass you see God's hand is in all things even the most in our eyes unimportant and small event well and then we come across verse 5 and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and of course it makes us curious right what is in this dream that they hate him the more by the way Hebrew is a beautiful language and the more and Joseph are in Hebrew a play of words they sound almost equal. If you read Amor, it is like you hear Joseph, Joseph, Joseph. If you read the name Joseph, it's like you hear the Amor. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told to his brethren, and they hated him the more, they hated him the more, this Joseph. And it seems like these brothers of Joseph, they are not willing to listen to Joseph. of course they are not willing to listen of course not because there is no peace between them and Joseph but Joseph insists they should hear this dream and then we come across verse 6 and he said unto them hear I pray you he forces them to listen to his dream hear I pray you you should listen brothers this dream which I have dreamed and of course we wonder why? why didn't Joseph keep this dream for himself? why does he force his brothers that they will listen to this dream? well let's never forget this is Old Testament and in Old Testament times there is not yet the Bible we have 66 books and these 66 books reveal the full will of God this is enough to be saved to go through life to go out of this life this is enough this is the full will of God but in all testamentic times they didn't have the witten word of God and God revealed himself through dreams so this dream to Joseph is a self-revelation of God to Joseph God reveals his will through righteous Joseph Jewel 2 verse 28 and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams you see God revealed his truths in Old Testamentic times through dreams and there is another thing this dream concerns not only Joseph it concerns as much as his brothers so Joseph knew this is God revealing his will to and he knew this dream involves not only me but also my whole family my father and my brothers therefore I need to tell them Joseph as a righteous young man couldn't withhold the truth from his brothers let's reflect again a moment are we a witness? father, mothers Are you a witness of the truth to your children? Boys, girls, are you a witness of the truth to your brothers and sisters? To the other youngsters at school? Are we a witness? If we got to know through the Holy Spirit the truth and we came to know Jesus Christ, how can we stay silent? That's just an impossible possibility! Of course not! The main command from the Lord himself before he ascended to heaven was, be my witness! And that's not only for pastors and preachers and elders, it's for all of us to be a witness of Jesus Christ. How terrible it is if you know Jesus Christ and you never tell about Jesus and your sins and a triune God to your children and your neighbor and your colleague. I would even go further. That's a sin. Why? Because it's against the Word of God. All, let us be a witness of Jesus Christ and His love and tell the whole world about it. There are so many people out here who don't know the Lord. There are still so many empty places here in this beautiful church. Look all to these empty pews. And there are so many people out there who don't know the Lord. Let's invite them. Let's be a witness of the Lord. Well, you see, these few verses in Genesis 37, they are packed with lessons for us. It never ends. because God's Word is so rich and has so many lessons. Well, let's listen. We need to move on. Let's listen to that first dream of Joseph. For behold, we were binding seals in the field. Alo, my sheave rose, and also stood upright. And behold, your sheave stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheave. What a dream! Joseph, Joseph, do you need to tell that dream? Of course, we know now why. Of course, because it tells about his brothers. Listen, for behold, we, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheave arose, and behold, your sheave stood round about. Of course, he was a true witness of the Lord and his will, and therefore He told this dream to his brothers. They needed to hear it. And then the reaction to this dream, verse 8, And his brethren said to him, Shall thou indeed reign over us? Who are you, Joseph? Or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more. Again that play of words. Joseph and Amor. They hated him yet the more for his dreams. Why this reaction? Well, they only hear a part of the dream. How tragic this is! When you listen to a sermon and you only hear a part of the sermon. You should listen to the whole sermon. It's so important. They hear only part of the dream. they hear only this part of the dream that Joseph will be elevated by the Lord because a dream is a revelation of the Lord that Joseph will be elevated by the Lord and they will bow down before him they just hear this portion of the dream and of course they didn't want Joseph to rule over them their feelings of being the lesser one because of the preferential love as father Jacob stirs them up and their hatred increases I am sure not of a lesser value than our brother and sister we are probably all the same I'm as a pastor not of lesser value than the elders here and you say I'm not of a lesser value than my brother no you aren't but it reveals something about ourselves, isn't it? Oh, we are so full with self-love may God change us and give us that self-sacrifice of love that we take up our cross if this is God's will that they should bow for Joseph, so what? if that is God's will let them bow for Joseph? This is the will of the Lord. It is His revelation. But they only hear human words. They don't hear the word of God in this dream. They hear human words. But they don't hear the full dream and that's terrible. Because the dream was about them as a family. And the dream told them that they were working together as a family in the field in other words they were involved in agriculture work, in farming in other words the Lord will bring this family in Canaan and they are allowed to take possession of that land they once will dwell there this is the rich promise of the Lord the Lord himself reaffirms and reaffirms his promises every generation and through these dreams he reaffirms the promise you will dwell in the land of milk and honey and I'll instead of being in herding flocks you will be farmers involved in the work of agriculture I will bring you there this land is your possession indeed it is a confirmation of the promise to Abraham but they missed it they missed the promise and they didn't want to bow down before I go on did you bow down for the Lord Jesus? did you confess your sins? did you take up your cross of self and There is only one way to get peace in your life. There is only one way to salvation. And this way, beautiful pictured here, is to bow down for the Lord. Dear congregation, let's take up our cross. If the way to salvation is that we take up our cross and follow that great cross-bearer, Jesus Christ, let's go that way. There's only one way to salvation, also for these brothers. The way to salvation for these brothers is to bow down for Joseph. And this is a great picture that all of us need to bow down for the great Joseph, Jesus Christ. But we read, his brethren envied him. They envied him. Well, it even becomes worse. Joseph receives a second dream. Let's read it. Verse 9 and 10. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told this dream to his father, to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee for the earth? This second dream confirms the first one. And we see the same reaction. There is not the willingness to be the lesser one. And a Christian, a true Christian is always the lesser one. Always. There is no other way. Living in true love is always self-sacrificing love. see our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord even comes twice with the same message. Twice! In other words, He said, I confirm it in the second dream, the message of the first dream. You will surely hear it. And how many times did you hear the Word of God? Once? Twice? Far more, right? How many times you've been here? Probably thousands of times. Did you confess your sins? Did you flee to the Lord Jesus? Take up your cross and flee to the Lord and find Him in all you need. All you need. Please don't go on in your life as if you didn't hear the promise. as if you don't want to bow down before the Lord. Well, these brethren, they hate Joseph even more. But, we read, his father observed the saying. Father Jacob rebuked his son. But at the other hand, there is faith in Jacob, right? But it's small faith. He rebukes his son. He shouldn't have done that because he knew himself that the Lord revealed himself through dreams. He knew it. He shouldn't have rebuked his son. Small faith and little faith. But yet there is faith in Jacob because he stores the words of these dreams in his heart. Jacob, Jacob, He once wrestled with the Lord. He wasn't willing to take up his cross. And then the Lord brought him in that brook in the night. And in that night he wrestled with the Lord. He didn't know it was the Lord, but he wrestled with the Lord himself. Oh, and he couldn't overcome the Lord. But he hold on and he hold on in that night and he said, I don't let you go until you bless me. He felt at that time, I'm resting with the Lord. He lost from the Lord. And in losing from the Lord, he won everything. That's it. In losing everything, he gained everything. that you lose it from the Lord to gain everything well that's father Jacob yet indeed his faith is small but there is faith his father observed this saying he stores it in his heart dear congregation I end this sermon let us bow before God acknowledge our unholiness our lack of true love our lack of self-sacrificing love that our faith is often so small and so weak but let's find all we need for time and eternity in Jesus Christ, the great cross-bearer, the great Joseph I just would like to ask you one question young people, father-mothers, who is the Lord, the precious Son of God for you? Amen. Let's see the Lord in prayer and thank Him for His Word. Lord, we bow down before Thee. We are such weak people. Lord, there are so many sins in our life. Lord, our word was such a mirror for us. Lord, we are so unholy. There's such a lack of holiness. And we should be holy, because we are thy covenant people. And thou require thy covenant people to be holy. And we are. Lord, grandest Thy Spirit, that none of us will get lost, that each one of us will come to know Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Thy precious gift to us sinners. Lord, grandest Thy Spirit, that we will accept and receive that gift. teaches us to take up our cross and then work in our lives these fruits of holiness and righteous deeds through Thy Spirit and Thy Word. Lord, again, we come to Thee as sinners, but we praise Thy name. Thou art such a wonderful God. thou art so great that thou takest care of sinners Lord bring us again later on today we hope to listen again to Genesis 37 the second half of this chapter forgive our sins in preaching and listening in praying and singing, we always fall short. But Lord, bless Thy Word. We end this prayer in praising Thy holy name. Hear our prayer in the name of Thy Son, Jesus, the Savior, the Christ, the Messiah. Amen.