Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, January 18, 2004, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia. For more outlines, including zipped files of my sermon outlines from previous years, click on the link at the bottom of this note, and go to our website:
JOSEPH AND JESUS – THE LIES THAT WERE SAID, THAT THEY HAD DIED AND WERE DEAD
Scripture Reading: Genesis 42:29-38
Text: Genesis 42:38
Genesis 42:38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
Introduction: Tonight we turn once again to the HIM-Book, not the hymn book, but the HIM-Book, because it’s all about HIM, the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re going to do what Jesus said:
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
I believe I have found another scripture in the first book of Moses, which primarily tells the account of Joseph, but which also writes of JESUS. Remember the Lord said:
John 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
I don’t want to see things in the Bible that are of my own imagination. However, it may be that the occurrence of our text is one of the things that Jesus brought up in a lecture to two disciples many years ago after His resurrection:
Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
I believe that our scripture reading is historically and primarily about a real man named Joseph. However, I ALSO see there a prophetic and typical reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
(READ MATT. 28:12-15)
Tonight’s message is titled:
JOSEPH AND JESUS – THE LIES THAT WERE SAID, THAT THEY HAD DIED AND WERE DEAD
I. THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE LIES
Genesis 37:31-33 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. 33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Matthew 28:13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
The lies and their contrast:
A. They said that Joseph died, but he DIDN’T. He went to the pit and the prison, but rose in power to the PALACE!
B. They said that Jesus, who DID die, did not RISE from the dead, but He DID!
II. THE CAUSES OF THE LIES
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
That’s the basic cause; they were obeying the prompting of Satan. Additionally:
A. Cowardice
B. Covetousness
C. Corrupt hearts
III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LIES
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
A. A guilty conscience
B. A gloomy spirit
C. A guarantee of judgment
IV. THE COLLAPSE OF THE LIES
Genesis 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
The lies all came apart, because of
A. The personal appearance
B. The positive statements
1. Come near to me
2. Joseph’s next two words – “I am”
3. Note the significance of the words and their power in the garden when Jesus said, “I AM he”
C. The proofs
1. Infallible – Acts 1:3
2. The “resurrection certificate” was signed, by inspiration of God, by DOCTOR Luke!
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Michael D. O’Neal (Proverbs 11:30), Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church |