If you have your Bibles there, please turn with me to the book of Genesis and chapter 37. The book of Genesis and chapter 37 and we are commencing the study of the life of Joseph. We're in our series in the book of Genesis and we've learned many things so far and we've been tracing some of these key Bible characters. We studied the life of Abraham, We studied the life of Isaac and we studied the life of Jacob for a number of weeks and Jacob is still present in many of the chapters relating to Joseph's life but he is not so conspicuous as the Spirit of God moves our attention and our focus towards this character by the name of Joseph. And no doubt Joseph is familiar to you, his story has inspired millions of Christians down through the ages and even has inspired non-believers too. Now as believers we get the most out of it because by God's grace we can understand the truth of his life. So we're in Genesis chapter 37 and we're dealing this morning with the subject, Joseph, the early years. Joseph, the early years and I'm just going to read the first 11 verses for you this morning and then we'll pray and ask for the Lord's blessing as we seek to lay out a few introductory points to the life of Joseph and then get into the study of these early years. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. These are the what? Okay, that's one of the key phrases that comes to the book of Genesis and that tells you a new division of the book has just started. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto 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 under him. 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 sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. His brother said sure his brothers said unto him shout thou indeed reign over us or shout they 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 eleven stars made obeisance to me 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 what's that word envied him but his father observed the same let's pray Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this opportunity to open the Word of God and we thank you that each time the Word of God is opened, it presents an opportunity for us to be changed. Lord, that we would be conformed into your image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And so we pray for the workings of the Spirit of God this morning in our hearts in our lives that you would give us understanding of your word. Lord help me as the preacher, empty me of self and fill me with your spirit. Lord that our faith would not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God and that we would know that when we have left here we have heard not words spoken in demonstration of man's wisdom but words that have been spoken in in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So we look to you now, asking for your blessing in Jesus' name. Amen. As we embark on the study of the life of Joseph as a part of our exposition of the book of Genesis, I think it would be useful to consider a number of introductory points about the life and the story of Joseph. Firstly, the biblical biography of Joseph's life divides neatly into three segments based on three time markers given to us in the divine record of his life. So we have from birth to 17 years of age. He's 17 here in Genesis chapter 37. Then we have the second stage from 17 to 30 years and these years were largely marked by trials and tests as Joseph experiences hurts and injustices at the hands of others. And then the third phase of Joseph's life takes us from 30 years of age to 110 years when he died and these were the glory years of blessing and reward in the life of Joseph. I think the second introductory point here is we can benefit from the study of Joseph's life from at least four viewpoints, and I got this from Pastor Dennis Lyle and his excellent sermon series on Joseph, but we can look at Joseph's life from four viewpoints and benefit from it. Firstly, we can look at his life historically, for his life explains the development of the Hebrew race and this is very important and you say, well it says here the generations of Jacob, why then does it focus on Joseph rather than Jacob? Well, because Jacob was to be a key man in history and he provides a very important link between the book of Genesis and the book of Exodus. If you did not have the account of the life of Joseph and you just opened the book of Exodus, you'd be a bit lost as to how the children of Israel ended up in Egypt. And so Joseph's life is a very important life, historically, in the biblical canon of Scripture. Secondly, we can learn from Joseph's life and we can look at it providentially because we see the hand of God planning and the heart of God planning, pardon me, and the hand of God shaping. What an amazing lesson in the providence of God, God overruling, God working, for good that in Joseph's life. Then we can look at it thirdly, devotionally, for Joseph is a wonderful example and an inspiration to us of godliness. So much to be learned from the life and the example of Joseph in the realm of holiness. Then we can look at it, typically, for Joseph is a beautiful picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are too many parallels to be a coincidence, we will probably note some of these as we study his life. So the theme, if we were to think about a theme for the life of Joseph, we could summarize the life of Joseph in this phrase, God meant it for good. If you were to pick a title for summarising the life of Joseph, it would have to be those words of Scripture, God meant it for good. Remember what Joseph would say? Ye meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good. Joseph is a living demonstration of the truth of Romans 8 28 that God works all things together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose. Well with those introductory points in mind we want to delve into chapter 37 where the account of Joseph's life really opens up before us And we're going to seek to set the scene here by first reminding ourselves about Joseph's family background and I don't want to go back over familiar territory too much but we have been studying the life of Jacob and the home that Joseph grew up in and so I think it would be useful just to pause and just to remind ourselves about some of those dynamics in Joseph's early years and then God willing we will be studying these verses before us that describe Joseph's life at 17 years of age. So let me give you the three headings this morning. Number one, I would like you to think about the dynamics of the early years, the dynamics of Joseph's early years. and I want us to remind ourselves about some of the key features of Joseph's family background. Now, Joseph had some wonderful blessings in his family background but I think you'll agree with me from our studies of the home that Joseph was born into, to date there was a lot of dysfunction in the family upbringing of Joseph. And so we want to consider some points here about Joseph's family background, just to set the scene as we consider this remarkable life and how God worked. Well, as Joseph was growing up as a child, he was confronted with a number of things. He was confronted firstly with polygamy in his father's marriage. Okay, we don't need to go back over all of that, but Joseph was at the 11th of 12 children, and he would have quickly discerned as a young boy that there was not one woman in his father's life, but four women. You think you have troubles with your mother? Imagine having four mothers in your life. that was the life of Joseph and no doubt growing up he would have experienced some of the tension and some of the division and the strife that is going to be a natural consequence of deviating from God's model of marriage. Well what else was he confronted with in his early childhood years? Well not only polygamy in his father's marriage but he also was confronted with problems in his mother's life and Rachel was a fine lady and she had some good qualities but she also had her fair share of problems. Joseph was an answer to her prayers, wasn't he? But she had an affection for pagan gods and the overall sense you get of Rachel's life was is that though she was attractive outwardly, she was somewhat lacking spiritually. And so Joseph was born into a home where his mother had this affection towards these idols. She stole her father's gods, took them with her. Eventually, by the grace of God, she got rid of those along with the rest of Jacob's household in Genesis chapter 35. But for Joseph in those early years, perhaps he maybe even saw those idols. and we just again marvel at the grace of God that those idols did not have a destructive influence in Joseph's life, they could have. What else was he confronted with in the childhood years? Well, perversion in his siblings lives, number three. I mean, imagine growing up as Joseph and seeing some of the behaviour that is recorded in the Word of God in the older brothers there. I mean, just to recap, he would have been exposed to Dinah's defilement with Shechem, we studied about that. he would no doubt have become aware of Simeon and Levi's murderous rampage of the town of Shechem and I'll tell you what, when those brothers got their hands on Joseph, I've no doubt Joseph knew what those brothers were capable of. And his soul was in great anguish when he came under that mistreatment at the hands of his brothers. There was Reuben's affair with his stepmother Bilhah. there was the wickedness of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah as noted in the chapter before us and so we're just looking at some of the dynamics of Joseph's upbringing. This was a home that had some good qualities, it was a home where there was genuine faith in the living God and yet there were some difficulties, there was some serious dysfunction in Joseph's upbringing. else was Joseph confronted with? Well I think he would have been confronted with pain in his mother's death. We saw Rachel buried, didn't we, in chapter 35 and we forget that standing at the grave of Rachel that day was a young lad by the name of Joseph. he was probably all of 14, 15, maybe 16 years of age at that time as he stood and wept over his mother's grave and in a sense it was kind of a little bit symbolic of what was to come, his life was ordained for suffering. I don't know how that impacted him but I'm quite sure that losing one's mother at such a young age would be a bitter pill to swallow, would be a trial that could potentially send a young person in the wrong direction if not for the grace of God. And I think as we just look at the history here and we look at Joseph's family background, I think right here there is a lesson for us to learn from the life of Joseph. And the lesson is this, that by the grace of God, your family upbringing does not have to ruin you. The lesson is that the dysfunction and damage of your past does not have to define and determine your future. And I'm not trying to just engage in some sort of Joel Osteen power of positive thinking. We're talking about what salvation and the grace of God can do. And let me encourage you this morning, maybe you're one of those people who can identify somewhat with Joseph and say, I grew up in a home that was far from perfect. I grew up in a home where there was dysfunction, where there was disunity. where there were some serious problems in my parents, could I just encourage you this morning, though those difficulties in your life must have been very hard for you, by the grace of God you do not have to be a casualty, by the grace of God you do not have to follow the footsteps of your parents, you do not have to be a failure. Joseph's life should teach us that. I mean, you look at his family background here and if anyone would have had an excuse to go in a sinful direction, to live a self-indulgent life, to claim victimhood, it would have been Joseph and yet we see Joseph, despite his family background, despite all of these things that he had to contend with as a child, we see him by the grace of God living for the Lord. that's an important lesson for us to remember in a day of victim culture where everyone wants to use hurts or injustices of the past as excuses for bitterness and for sinful indulgence in the present. Now, I'm not saying that genuine victims should not be the objects of Christian care and concern and compassion. I am not making light of that. If you have been through some serious trials as a child, if you have experienced abuse and some of these things, I'm not making light of that. But all I am saying is, is that salvation and the grace of God is the answer for those hurts, not bitterness and not sin. One of the concerns I see in our day is this victim mentality and that well, the reason I'm doing these wicked things is because of my mother did this to me or my father did this to me and they want to blame their sin and their own wickedness on the faults of others. No, by the grace of God you don't have to be that way. so we see the dynamics of Joseph's early years there. But then I want you to consider, secondly, the description of the early years and we find that here in Genesis 37 and verse 1 through 4. And Genesis 37 is where the Spirit of God really begins to paint the canvas of Joseph's life for us. And it really starts with Joseph's life at the age of 17. What were you doing at 17? I think there are at least two features of Joseph's life that stand out here as a 17 year old and there's some wonderful lessons here. So the first feature is this, that really stands out in the biblical record here. Firstly, Joseph's purity within his family. Joseph's purity within his family. Here we have a 17 year old young man And he was seriously concerned about the wicked activities of his brothers. Look at verse 1 and 2. And Jacob dwelt 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 his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. So we get a sense right here very early of Joseph's purity, Joseph's concern for holiness and isn't it amazing how this would become one of the defining features of the life of Joseph and it's going to be on full display in Genesis 39 where we see a young man saying no to Potiphar's wife. But here we get an early sense of this. I don't agree with certain commentators and preachers that say, oh, Joseph was being a tattletale, and Joseph was being a dibba-dobba, and Joseph was just full of arrogance and pride. No, I believe that, as the record just indicates here, Joseph was genuinely concerned about the sinful behavior of his brothers, and that worried him, that drove him to do something about it. And so this is the description of Joseph's early years. We see his purity within the family as a 17 year old. so Joseph responded to his brother's wicked behaviour. Let's just think about a few points about this. Number one, Joseph refused the temptation of his brother's evil example. Joseph refused the temptation of his brother's evil example. This says a lot for Joseph's godly character at the young age of 17. To say no to temptation at any stage of life is a great challenge, but to say no to temptation at the age of 17 says something of Joseph's godliness, something of Joseph's walk with God. could I just pause here and encourage our young people, maybe you are 17 years of age or you're around about that age, you're somewhere in the teen years, could I encourage you based on the life of Joseph that you do not have to follow the majority direction of young people today, you don't have to be a rebel, you don't have to blow your morals, you don't have to destroy your life on drugs and alcohol and everything else and just follow the crowd, Joseph should be an inspiration to you that by the grace of God working in your life, you can say no to temptation. Oh, that's so important. It does not take any courage at all to follow the crowd to sin. But let me tell you, it takes some courage to be like Joseph and say no to sin. That takes courage. That takes spiritual strength. And here we have a 17 year old who is concerned about sin, a 17 year old who is concerned about purity. Purity. That's why I think as a young person you should make the heroes of the faith your heroes. Don't make the pop stars your heroes. Don't make the movie stars your heroes. Don't make the rock and roll stars your heroes. Don't even make the sports stars your heroes. Make the great heroes of the faith like Joseph the heroes you aspire to be like. Men of God like this. and this is just so important, it just reminds us that the teenage years do not have to be years of rebellion, do not have to be wasted years, I'm not saying they won't be years of struggle, every teenager is going to struggle, but I'm saying by the grace of God you don't have to waste those years, make your teenage years count for Christ and may 17 for you or 18 or 16, wherever you sit there in the teenage years, be years of spiritual revival for you, not years of spiritual defeat. So Joseph refused the temptation of his brother's evil example. Then Joseph, number two, resisted the influence of his brother's evil example. Now, you understand, the temptations of youth are very difficult to resist but could I just say this, they are all the more powerful when they come from one's older siblings. They're all the more powerful when they come from a source that is close to you. You see, the source of the temptation often adds to its seductive power. I find this amazing about the life of Joseph and again there's an encouragement there. Joseph was the 11th out of 12 children there and he had 10 older brothers and one older sister who were not really living an exemplary godly kind of life and yet we have this young man Joseph who by the grace of God did not follow in the footsteps of his older siblings, could I just encourage you that you may have in your life an older sibling that's off the rails and not walking with God, by the grace of God you do not have to follow them. Joseph is an example of that. Joseph did not follow his brother's bad example. But it's hard, isn't it? If you have an older sibling or you have older siblings that are not walking with God, that can have a very powerful effect upon your life for wickedness and for ungodliness. But praise God, Joseph was given the strength by God not to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers and sisters. I mean, you just consider some of the sins his siblings were involved in. The book of Genesis records murder, incest, immorality, hatred, envy, the selling of Joseph into slavery and lying by these older brothers of Joseph. And yet here we have Joseph living a pure life despite all of that. So it's a reminder, no matter how your older siblings may be living, or maybe not even, older siblings, younger siblings, no matter how family members may be living, you can choose to do what is right by the grace of God. Is that a good point or not? I thought that was very important. You can choose to live right by the grace of God. You know, sometimes you see the domino effect in families. the oldest one goes downhill and the second one goes down and the third one goes down and apart from the grace of God that domino effect can sweep through an entire family. I'm standing here as living testimony and all glory to God that the domino effect can stop in your family. That you don't have to be the next casualty and the fact that you have a sibling who is living in sin does not mean that you have to follow them. By the grace of God you can live right. Joseph's purity. Number three, he reported the wickedness of his brother's evil ways. So not only did Joseph not participate in his brother's sinful behavior, but he had the courage to raise a voice of concern about it. Joseph was not silent. That's a good example. You know one of the greatest problems in the church today? Silence in the face of evil. Christians who will tell you, I don't believe in that, I'm against that kind of wickedness and yet they won't say anything, they won't do anything and wickedness is very often allowed to flourish in an environment of silence. Not so with Joseph. And by the way, I believe this is why, part of the reason why Joseph's brothers hated him so much. They hated him for his purity. They hated the fact that he was an obstruction to their sinful lusts and their sinful desires. And could I just say that, if you happen to be a person who is trying to get in the way of a loved one and their sin, you can get into a lot of trouble. You can be treated very viciously. so there is a time when it's spiritual to be silent but there's also a time when to be silent is sinful. Now some people accuse Joseph here of being a tale bearer but I don't believe he was a tale bearer for two reasons. Number one, Joseph was speaking the truth whereas a tale bearer spreads falsehoods with a malicious motive. Number two, he was speaking to the right person in the situation which was Jacob as the head of the home whereas a tale bearer discusses issues with just about everyone except the appropriate individual. It is not gossip or slander to communicate the facts of a situation to a God-ordained authority who can be a part of the solution. I've had experiences where church members have gotten angry about the pastor finding out about something to do with their lives. But in reality, if the pastor is there as a biblical authority in your life who is trying to help you, you should not object about that. A couple of people think that's okay, so that's good. I'm not talking about going around and trying to find out everyone's personal details, I'm just saying, I've had that experience where some people object to that, you know, because after all, often the pastor's the last one to find things out, that's how things go, right? But I'm just saying, you should not object to that, do not say that someone is gossiping or being a slanderer if they are approaching a God-ordained authority about a problem. it's actually quite appropriate for a God-ordained authority to be made aware of a problem. And if you're running your mouth behind the scenes in the church, then you should not be surprised that maybe someone might go and tell the pastor that you're being a tail-bearer. And so no doubt, there's no doubt that Joseph's brothers hated him because of his purity. I like what Alexander McLaren says about this, he says, their hatred shows that his purity have made their doing wrong more difficult. And I like what he says here, it is a grand thing when a young man's presence deprives the devil of elbow room for his tricks. That's good, isn't it? It is a grand thing when a young man's presence deprives the devil of elbow room for his tricks. I don't agree with people who trash Joseph over this, I believe it shows his purity at a young age. Was there some immaturity in Joseph's life at this age? Well, I'm sure there was. How mature were you at 17? How mature are you at 17? Not much, let me tell you. But 17 and the teenage years can be a time of spiritual revival. As I was just thinking about this message, by the grace of God, my 17th year actually turned out to be a year of great spiritual revival for me, of great spiritual working in my life. Let me encourage you again, young people, you do not have to follow the status quo. Let your teen years be years of spiritual blessing. Be pure like Joseph. that's the description of Joseph's early years, we see his purity within the family but we notice also secondly his position within the family, verse 3 and 4. Now Israel, that's Jacob, loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colours. his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.' So here's the second feature of Joseph's early years we see described here, not only his purity within the family but his position within the family and it's clear from these verses that Joseph occupied a high position in the family and this contributed to his brother's animosity towards him. So he held the position of, number one, the highly favoured son. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Is that a good idea? No. This was a mistake on the part of Jacob. It was a fateful mistake. Partiality in the home exercised by either parent always promotes contention, discontent and bitterness. That's just a fact. you are going to play favourites in the home, you are going to sow seeds of trouble, seeds of discontent in that home. Not only was it a fateful mistake, it was a fleshly mistake for Jacob to make and we have to understand that, that partiality stems not from genuine love but from selfishness on the parents part. did he love him the most? Well he was the son of his own old age and as you look at Jacob's sons I think you would agree Joseph was a bit easier to love. I mean compared to what some of those other guys were up to, Joseph was a well-behaved kind of guy and it would be very easy therefore for Jacob to love him the most. Plus Jacob had a tendency to be passive and passive men tend to make personal peace such a priority in their lives that they fall prey to this sin of partiality because Joseph would just cause him the least amount of stress. He was also the son of his favourite wife as well. Now if you're a parent here this morning, I'm not saying that you can necessarily, particularly when your children reach adulthood, I'm not saying you can necessarily have the same closeness with every child because a lot will depend on that child. sometimes you have a parent who loves the child and by God's grace has no desire to show partiality but because of the child's rebellion and because of their waywardness they will not allow the parent to get close to them. You can only really get as close to your children as they will let you. But that's quite different to the scenario we have here where Jacob is engaged in a carnal favoritism, a carnal partiality. it was a fleshy mistake but it was also a foolish mistake for Jacob to make because I think you would agree with me that Jacob should have known the kind of danger favouritism brings into a home. Do you remember Jacob's upbringing? What happened with Jacob and Esau? Why was there such bitterness and contention between Jacob and Esau? Well because Isaac loved Esau the most and Rebecca loved Jacob the most. This is foolish Jacob. Jacob should have known from his own childhood and his own upbringing that favouritism breeds division and bitterness in the home. Now before you're too hard on Jacob and say, how on earth could Jacob repeat the exact same mistake as the mistake committed by his parents, could I just admonish you and encourage you that apart from the grace of God, you and I will commit the same mistakes our parents made, and could I say that includes children who even hate the mistakes of their parents. I have seen children grow up and they can be even bitter about the mistakes their parents made and you watch on and think you don't realise you are so angry at mum about her behaviour in your life growing up as a teenager but you're living exactly the same way. are adopting exactly the same behaviour, you can even be angry at the faults of your parents and unwittingly begin to commit them, don't underestimate how powerfully our lives are shaped in the home environment and that's where the grace of God is needed and a humbleness before God, not to repeat the same mistakes of our parents and every parent makes mistakes, even the best of parents. So Jacob was the highly favoured son. He was also the honoured son, and we see this in the coat of many colours, and no doubt the coat was given to Joseph as a part of Jacob's favouritism of him, but it meant more than that. You have to understand, in the culture at this time, this coat marked Joseph out as holding the position of firstborn in the home. remember, Reuben was the firstborn but he forfeited his birthright because of his immorality with one of Jacob's wives. you say, well wouldn't the birthright then automatically pass to Simeon as the second born? Well no, Joseph was the firstborn of the second wife and that is why the birthright jumped over all the rest of Leah's sons and came to Joseph. And that wasn't wrong, that wasn't sinful, that was right and Joseph was also of pure character and so he therefore was worthy of the birthright. 1 Chronicles 5, 1 and 2 talks about that. Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel bracket for he was the firstborn but for as much as he defiled his father's bed his birthright was given under the sons of Joseph the son of Israel and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright for Judah prevailed above his brethren and of him came the chief ruler but the birthright was Joseph. So the messianic line was continued through Judah but the birthright with its honors was given to Joseph. this coat was a part of that, it marked him out as being the honoured son, having that princely position within the home and yes, no doubt, Jacob's favouritism was linked to it as well. So he was the honoured son but he was also the hated son. Look at verse 4, and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they what? Hated him and could not speak peaceably under him. we're going to talk more about the brother's response in this whole situation in a few minutes, but we are reminded here that while Jacob had a lot to answer for in this situation, the brothers did not have to go down to bitterness. And would you agree with me that what was happening in Jacob's home at this time was not fair? This was not fair. It was unfair for Jacob to show that excessive love to one son rather than the others. It was not fair. And could I just say that there are many things in life that you're going to find out are not fair. we're not justifying what happened here. What Jacob was doing was wrong but God holds us responsible for how we respond to the hurts and injustices in your life and if you are privileged to be raised in a home where there's no favouritism, mark it down somewhere in your life, you are going to encounter injustice, you are going to encounter hurt, someone is going to treat you unfairly and it is at that point you must be so careful in how you respond, bitterness and hatred and a spirit of revenge are never the solutions to hurts in our lives. They were so full of animosity towards Joseph that they could not speak peaceably to him, couldn't say a normal word to him, heart being revealed through the tongues there, how our tongues have a way of revealing what's on the inside. That's the description of Joseph's early years. Look thirdly now at the dreams of Joseph's early years, verse 5 to 11. And Joseph dreamed a what? A dream. he told his brethren and they hated him yet the more.' And then the Bible goes on to describe those dreams. Now, at this particular time in biblical history, God would sometimes make his will and his word known through dreams. this time they did not have the written Word of God. Now we have, in the New Testament era, the completed canon of Scripture, dreams are not the primary means of God's communication with us. I'm not saying that God could never use a dream, I understand in some persecuted countries sometimes that does happen, but you find in those stories that at some point the individual must come into contact with the Word of God before they get truly saved. We have the completed Word of God, and so we should not be looking for God to communicate with us directly through dreams. We have the Word of God, which is far superior, I might add, to any dream or any sort of vision. But at this stage in Joseph's life, and at this stage in biblical history, God would sometimes use dreams to reveal his will and to reveal his Word. And dreams would become another one of those defining features of Joseph's life. Joseph is involved at three key times in his life with dreams and each time those dreams came in pairs of two. This time in his life, the early years at 17, two dreams were given to him. Later in prison, he was confronted with two dreams, one for the butler, one for the baker. And then later again, Pharaoh received two dreams and Joseph was used of God to interpret those dreams. So God gave Joseph a gift at this point in biblical history to both receive and to interpret dreams. Let's consider a couple of points about these dreams. Firstly, the revelation in Joseph's dreams. What did these dreams reveal? Well, both of these dreams drew on familiar scenery and we have the first dream and I would call it the sheaf dream. in this dream, the scene of this dream, Joseph is there and they are binding their sheaves in the field as the manner of the ancient world was and gathering the hay together there and binding up the sheaves and Joseph's sheaf stands upright and his brother's sheaves gather around and do obeisance, they bow down before Joseph's sheaf. Now you didn't need to have a PhD to understand what that dream meant. You didn't even need to have the gift of interpreting dreams to understand what that dream meant. Don't worry, Joseph's brothers got the message real clear. you're saying that you're going to rule over us and have dominion over us? Ha! As if Joseph, little did they know, not only would Joseph eventually be in a position of power and authority over the family of Jacob, but he would be second in charge in the most powerful nation on earth, Egypt. The chief dream. And of course, that's exactly what was fulfilled. When Joseph's brothers eventually turned up in Egypt and they bowed before him, can you imagine Joseph at that time? I guarantee his mind went back to that dream. And here they are bowing before someone they think is the Egyptian ruler, not knowing that this was Joseph, the brother they had sold into slavery, the brother they thought would not amount to anything now, they thought that they had thwarted all of those dreams and shattered all of his dreams and yet God was working. Second dream, the star dream. The meaning of both dreams was the same but the second dream, it goes beyond the first in its grandeur. first dream was an earthly scene in the field, the second dream is a heavenly scene of stars and the moon and the sun and in this dream Joseph sees the sun, moon and the eleven stars bow down to him.' Joseph's father understood the dream straight away and said, even he was a little bit incensed this time, son, you saying that not only your 11 brothers but your mother and I are going to be subservient to you? And that's exactly what ended up happening, the whole family of Jacob came to Egypt and were under Joseph's watch care and his protection. In authority, he ended up being over his entire family, he was the second in command of the most powerful nation, earth. Now, God had clearly given Joseph a gift here. it's possible that Joseph may have lacked maturity in the way he approached the gift of God at this time. These were the early exercises of that gift that would help prepare him for later use but Joseph was going to need another 13 years of preparation before he would really be ready for his life's work. don't know, I've heard preachers really go to town on Joseph here and say he was so arrogant and so immature and look, he probably was as a 17 year old. I kind of get the sense that he just shared this in his simplicity, maybe he was arrogant, I don't know, when the Bible doesn't tell us the motivations of an individual we've got to be careful we don't just read into it and enforce something there. Maybe he was a bit immature, well clearly he wasn't ready to be the ruler of Egypt yet. God was going to have to do a lot of work to prepare him and maybe there is a bit of a lesson there for you, maybe you feel that God has given you certain gifts and abilities that you could use for him. Could I just encourage you, wait on God for his timing in relation to the fulfillment of those gifts and the exercise of those gifts, don't get all angry and bitter about the fact that you've been overlooked, maybe it's not God's time for you yet. The revelation in Joseph's dreams. Look at the reactions now to Joseph's dreams. The reactions to Joseph's dreams. Firstly, his brothers, and I would call this a malicious response. A malicious response. Verse 8 says, they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. Verse 10, we have the response of the father. Verse 11, and his brethren what? Envied him. So Joseph's brothers hated him a lot but when he started sharing his dreams they just hated him a whole lot more. It intensified their hatred towards him, their bitter hatred and their bitter envy towards Joseph went from a smouldering flame to a raging fire, they went from hot to boiling. And there's a lesson to be learned here about Joseph's brothers, that this seething rage in the hearts of Joseph's brothers was the motivation behind their unjust and cruel treatment of Joseph, described in the second half of this chapter. Dr Jim Berg says, whilst he observed, the bitterness of these brothers is the single hinge upon which the next 14 chapters turn. It is this bitterness that changed the course of history. Now, of course, we know God was going to overrule and God was going to work through all of this difficulty in Joseph's life, but let's not forget that the chain of events was triggered largely by the bitterness and the envy of these brothers. Do you notice the Bible uses the word envy as well as the word hate to describe the hostility of these brothers towards Joseph? Verse eight, they hated him. Back to verse four, they hated him. Verse 11, they envied him. You say, well what was it, hatred or envy? Both. It was bitter envy, what we could call bitter envy. Envy and bitterness are often partners. In Acts 7 verse 9, Stephen understood this as he gave that great speech there in Acts chapter 7 and he said, and the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt but God was with him. bitter envy, hateful envy, this is the problem we see in the lives of Joseph's brothers and James warns about bitter envying and strife in the believer's heart and the terrible fruit it can produce, James 3, 14 to 16, but if you have bitter envying, And I hadn't really stopped to think too much about the connection between bitterness and envy or hatred and envy until really studying this passage, but it makes sense, doesn't it? Bitterness can be a response of our hearts to trials or to injustices in our lives, but bitterness can also be a byproduct of envy. You get so jealous towards a person, so envious towards a person, that they become an object of bitter hatred in your heart. James warns that when you have bitter envy in the heart, it can result in confusion and every evil work. Don't miss that, Christian. You say, how on earth could Joseph's brothers do the kind of cruel and terrible things that they did to their own brother, well let me just say, be warned of the capacity of your heart and the capacity of my heart to do every evil work if our hearts are overtaken by bitter envy. Bitter envy prepares the heart to commit any sin. Proverbs 27, 4 warns, wrath is cruel And anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? It's true, some things weren't fair in Jacob's home, but jealousy and bitterness were not the answer. Could I emphasize that this morning? Hurts in your life? injustices in your life, as difficult as they may be, bitterness, hatred is never the answer. Hebrews 12 15 says, "...looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled." Just be very careful where bitter envy will take you. You say, how far can envy go? Well, why did they crucify Christ? Matthew 27 verse 18, Pilate knew that the Jews had delivered Christ for envy. And you say, we're spiritual people in here pastor, why are you talking about this? Let me tell you, envy can destroy a church. And you may not go to the level, like Joseph's brothers, where you actually consider murdering that individual, but you're just going to trash their character. You're going to slander them, you're going to tear down their character, you're going to go around town and say things you ought not to say, and you can put even a spiritual veneer on it, but underneath it all there's bitter envy. Jealousy is a terrible thing. They envied their brother. yes, Jacob would have to take some responsibility for this, he helped create that environment in his home and he should not have done that. But even beside the fact that Jacob had done that, these boys did not have to choose that path if they'd been in touch with God and more spiritual, they could have chosen forgiveness over envy. So you will encounter many things that are not fair in this incursed world, but the sweetening influence of God's grace is the answer, not the souring influence of bitterness and envy. So we have in his brothers what I would call a malicious response. And then let's look at the response of Jacob, his father, and I would call this a mixed response. Because in verse 10, he rebukes his son for this dream, But then in verse 11 he observes the same as a more considered response. So I would say this, Jacob's initial response was carnal. Who gave Joseph this dream? Who gave it to him? God gave it to him. Excuse me Jacob, did you ever receive a dream from God? Excuse me Jacob, did God ever speak directly to you Interesting, isn't it? Jacob had experienced God speaking to him directly, Jacob had experienced God revealing himself in his life as a young man, even through dreams and throughout his earthly pilgrimage. Jacob, I would suggest, should not have responded this way to Joseph, this was a hasty response Jacob should have known that God could work in this way and Jacob should have known that since Joseph was now taking the position of the firstborn, it would be entirely appropriate for God to speak to him in this way. Jacob's pride got stirred up initially, what? What? You're saying I'm going to be under you Joseph? I think there's a lesson here for the older saints that sometimes older saints can be a source of discouragement in the lives of the young who have a desire to do something for the Lord. Older Saints, be careful about that initial reaction. If a young person opens their heart to you, and yes, you're probably going to see all the immaturity and all the innocence of their life, and that could be a temptation to despise them. I mean, here's Joseph at 17 years of age, you can understand the human response here, Joseph you're 17, what do you have any... you have no idea about life. But sometimes, Older saints have a very carnal response to a young person who's just opening their hearts about how they may feel the Lord is dealing with them, how they feel the Lord may be leading them. Look, I'm just really praying about where the Lord might have me in the ministry, where the Lord might lead me into some form of Christian service and boom! You come in with some carnal statement and it can actually have a very detrimental effect upon a young person's life. Screw your face up. Christian service is not for everyone. Concentrate on your career. I got that from Naomi's article. She's doing a good job writing some devotional articles for ladies, Naomi Curry. Make sure you ask her how you can get on her list there. But she gave an example about an older saint and she didn't mention names, which is wise. And she said, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Lord would maybe use me in my life or how I could serve the Lord. Christian service is not for everybody. Concentrate on your career. would you say something like that to a young person? Actually, Christian service is for every Christian, for every single Christian, whether you're in full-time Christian service or not. In a sense, we're all full-time servants of the Lord, aren't we? In whatever capacity God has for us. But why would you respond that way? Why would you cut down a young man who's opening his heart to you about how he feels God may be calling him to preach? Yeah, you know, you've got no idea, mate, what's ahead of you. I'll tell you, I'm very thankful for older men that were encouragers in my life. And you get a sense for that, I've said this more than once to people, Brother Ringwald is one man who I've always sensed is an encourager of younger men. has a desire to see if you've got a calling in your life, he wants to see you succeed, wants to help you, encourage you. My dad was like that, I came back from the mission field all pumped up and I'm so thankful he did not put any wet blanket on me but he did give me some helpful guidance and counsel and there's nothing wrong with that, older saints. Very often your wisdom, very often your hand of guidance and help is going to be needed and my dad sat me down, he took me out for lunch, went out with mum and dad after I got back from the mission field, I was jumping up and down like I was on magic beans ready to to take the world on for Christ and he said, Simeon, it's wonderful that you've gotten stirred up and the mission filled but now we need to talk about how you can be in the ministry for the long term. See, things like finishing year 12, not so fun. Things like doing your course of study were on the list. To discourage me? No. But in wisdom, he could see you're going to go up like a rocket and come down like a rocket if you don't get some stability into your life. So even if you do sense immaturity in someone's youthful ambition, make sure you still encourage rather than exhoriate. Just remember, how mature were you at 17? You forget that, don't you, sometimes, as older people? What were you doing at 17? Probably bopping around town in some stupid car. Or doing something else. Boy, I tell you, you see how cars can become a God in your life. And I was sitting there yesterday, because I know Seth's testified about this, how that by the grace of God, the Lord really helped him get his focus on more spiritual things. I'll put that in because you forgot that bit in your testimony, so I'll just add that in. So Jacob's initial response here was carnal. His pride rose up initially to this revelation God had given to his son, even though he himself had been the recipient of such divine revelation, or divine revelation of a similar nature, or communicated through a similar way. But I think we notice his secondary response was spiritual, verse 11, So that initial response was hasty, carnal, but then Jacob went away and thought about it and thought, there might be something in this. pondered on it. Don't be surprised though, if God does call you to something or God really does work in your life. I'm not saying he's going to give you a dream like Joseph but the principle here, God is calling you to some kind of life's work. Don't be surprised if your dreams get shattered. Joseph is going to have to come to the death of the vision. Joseph's dreams are going to appear totally impossible to ever come to pass and that leaves room for God and His power to work in his life. So we'll leave our study there for this morning, we get a sense there for Joseph's early years and God willing in our next lesson We will study the rest of the chapter there and how he was sold into slavery. Hopefully that will whet your appetite for what is to come. Have you had a difficult family background? God's grace is available to you to lift you so you don't have to make the same mistakes God can use you. Are you a teenager this morning? You can pursue purity and by the way that's not just for teenagers, that's for everyone. What about the hurts and injustices in your life? Are you becoming bitter or better? See the word bitter? All you have to do is change one letter. Change the I to E and you have what? Better. With the grace of God, our bitter experiences can make us better. Do you believe God has given you some gift for Christian service? let God work with you, let Him prepare you and let Him use you in His time and in His way, let's bow for prayer. Father we thank you for the life of Joseph and for these early lessons in Genesis chapter 37, I pray you'd seal them to our hearts Lord and help us now as we go our separate ways, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, let's open