(Genesis) Genesis 37:34-36

Now, will you notice the grief of Jacob, and this is something else to note at this point. And Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons, all his daughters, rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, For I'll go down into the grave unto my son mourning, thus his father wept for him.

And somebody is going to say, my, isn't that a demonstration of how much he loved his son Joseph. Well, I'll have to admit he certainly loved his son Joseph, but this man has not learned to walk by faith yet, friends. You remember the experience he had at Peniel.

It was the deflation of the old ego, perpendicular pronoun I. The flesh collapsed there. But now he's got to learn to walk by faith. And he hadn't learned it, and he hasn't learned it at this point.

You'll notice when you get to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, and the example of faith of Jacob, you find nothing in his life. It's not until you get to the time of his death that you find faith really exhibited in his life. And if you want to know whether this is an exhibit of faith or not, compare the grief of this man to David at the weeping for his son, and also of his weeping over Absalom.

Now, David loved his son Absalom and loved that little one that was born just as much as Jacob loved his son Joseph. But he also was a man of faith. And after he had grieved, he went on.

He knew someday, he said concerning that little one, he said, that little one can't come back to me. That's for sure. My grieving won't help their bit.

But I'm going to the little one someday. What faith? Poor Jacob, you see, is not walking by faith, friends. This is abnormal grief.

And Christian friend, and I'm talking, I'm sure, to some folk, you've lost a loved one. You can't get over it. I want to say to you, not brutally, but kindly, learn to walk by faith.

You manifest the Christian life when you recognize that you can't bring that one back, and your grieving is doing no good at all. But if the one you're grieving of is a child of God, you're a child of God, then walk by faith. You're going to see that one someday.

And you're going to see that one and never be separated. Now, look, can't you walk by faith? Don't exhibit that lack of faith that is in the people of the world. And that's the way they grieve today.

Now, we read verse 36, the last verse here. And the Midianites sold him into Egypt under Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's and captain of the guard. Now, we're going to leave Joseph right there, and we'll pick up his story in chapter 39.

But we come to chapter 38. Again, another chapter that seems to be about as necessary as a fifth leg on a cow. You just don't seem to need chapter 38 at all.

And after you read the story, you'd rather wish it was left out of the Bible. I've had any number of people say, well, why is that chapter put in the Bible? May I say chapter 38 is the worst chapter in the Bible? We'll take that up next time and go into not too much detail, but some. But there's some names here.

It's the sin of Judah. Actually, it's the sin and the shame of Judah. And Judah is going to be the one, the tribe out of which the Messiah is coming.

And there are some names that appear here that are quite interesting. And you find a name like Judah, and then you find a name like Tamar. And you say, my, I've seen these names before.

I wonder where it was I saw them. Well, now, if you would turn to the first chapter of the New Testament, Gospel of Matthew, you read a genealogy there, and it's the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll find out Judah begat Phares of Zerah of Tamar.

And of all things, you say, well, you mean to tell me this is the line of the Lord Jesus? Yes, friends, it happens to be the line that leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amazing thing, isn't it, that this reveals the awful sin, and the Lord Jesus came in that line, friends. He really took our place down here, didn't He? He came into a sinful line.

That's what the Word of God's trying to tell us. He was made in all points like as we are, yet He Himself sent apart. But He came into that line, that human line where all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

We'll see that chapter next time.