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November 18, 2007
Gen 37: 31 -36
Not Mine Alone
In my generation we had a saying, one that stuck but was not rightly understood. “If it feels good Do it.” And then we’d say “AS LONG AS IT-DOESN’T HURT ANYONE ELSE.”
There is only one horrible problem with that, you can never know the long reaching hurt of a situation until the whole scene is played out.
We have seen this kind of scenario before in this family. recall back in chapter 16 that Abraham and his wife were tired of waiting for God to deliver the promised child and so figured he must have meant for them to work things out? And recall we said that generations after have paid for that folly.You see there is never a victimless sin.
Now here we are,the deed has been done, the baby brother has been sold into slavery and what looked like an easy way out of their stress has turned into more pain and sorrow and lies and bitterness than they ever dreamed of.
There is never such a thing as a victimless sin. There are many victims in this scenario, and we will note them for you.
also we will note some correlations that may have your shoe size on them.
Victim number one in any sin is always God. God was set aside and not relied on in this instance and HE is grievously wounded. The brothers of Joseph took matters into their own hands and in the light of day the horrible hurt is revealed.They failed to trust God. God could have straightened this out without bloodshed and deception.They did not even consult God. Did you know that your sin, all of it no matter who you hurt, is a sin against God? Did you know that when as A child you disobeyed your parent it was a sin against God?
Did you know that when you got that speeding ticket even though the state gets the money, it was a sin against God to violate the God ordained authority over you? You see every sin is against God and so he is to be seen as victim number one in this scenario. God had a plan and Jacob’s family was to follow it, and in essence by not trusting God with the problems Joseph caused,they go against Him and sin.
Victim number two is the sinner His or her self. Here are the brothers caught up in a lie which has to eat at their conscience for years.Each one has to live in a tense situation. Each has to watch as Father suffers miserably and each one knows “I did that.” I know that many years later when they are sent to egypt for food and are detained and their brother Benjamin is sent for they still remember this horrid deed. Joseph,whom they didn’t recognize, had brought pressure on them and held some of them until Benjamin was brought. ANd in 42 :21-22 listen to what they are still dwelling on “21 ¶ And they said one to another, We [are] verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.”
Believe you me, there were many years of torment packed into those words. and from his tone Reuben may have blamed them..perhaps they all shifted blame on occasion...
Perhaps a lot of “Hmm I’d never have done that but those sons of Bilhah...or those sons of Zilpah they coerced us...it really wasn’t MY idea. That’s a guess,but maybe not far from truth.
Is that not the case with us when we sin? I sure like to look somewhere else to blame someone else if I can. I dare say that many of us after having blown our temper all over the living room are quick to say "I shouldn't have done that BUT YOU..."So the sinner always is in a tense spot.
Victim number 3 here is Joseph. Though he really did act wrongly in his proud manner. Though he was a tattler ,He still is now in a far graver situation than those things merit.
Vengeance is always that way, others get more than their due. The 4th victim here is Jacob. Jacob had absolutely no choice in the disappearance of Joseph. But If there is blame being taken in HIS heart guess who HE blames. He blames JACOB. If only I had never let him go. if only I had sent servants with him. And he lives in misery upon misery.
Other victims in this crime consist of a whole nation of people brought into slavery and hardship in later years..... One sin, but look at the heart ache and pain caused by this one deviation from trusting God.
I want to bring this all to a point today by looking to James chapter one. Turn there if you will with me and lets read what The Holy Spirit says through James: vv13 -18 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Here is the situation of Joseph and his brothers and every other person in the world who ever sinned. It is not because God drew us away.
I have heard some people say "Well, it may be wrong but God allowed it." Oh foolish people, God gave you a will to use in HIs service or against Him and you decide and you will pay the price for that choice.He says “offenses must needs come but woe to the one by whom they come.
Notice here the downward trend of sin.
1. We are tempted. That may come from some minion of the evil one, but most often it comes from another evil source, Our own lusts. Our own desires. In other words we want to do it OUR way to gratify OUR selves not God's way. These brothers desire was to be rid of their brat brother Joseph. They wanted their own desires met.
This is sadly very prevalent in this society, this "You owe it to yourself" sort of attitude. The commercial says,"You pass this way but the one time, better live it while you're here, celebrate with schooner, that's your kind of beer." The attitude is "ME, NOW, WHAT I WANT. Remember flip Wilson? The devil made me do it? Well guess what sweetie, the devil is a convenient scapegoat but the book says its WHEN YOU ARE DRAWN BY YOUR OWN DESIRE that stuff happens.
It was Eve's desire to be like God that caused her to bow to Satan's temptation. You see He can tempt but we have to choose to sin.
Now today in this enlightened society we have learned that most of this is not our fault.They will soon discover some gene that makes us sin. Well they have found that there is some genetic or hormonal reason that mice are fat or slim. So hey baby pig on out? But really folks, I am tempted when I am drawn by my own desire.
That term "Drawn" is a fishing term used when we lure a fish out of hiding by means of bait.
This leads to the second step and James uses the figure here of conception and birth.
“The genealogy of evil desire is traced by three generations,” says Donald Burdick. “ There is a chronological order. First comes temptation, then desire like a mother conceives and gives birth to sin. Then sin,the child of evil desire, develops till it is full grown and ready to produce offspring and its offspring is death.”
Do you know what Ted Bundy, executed serial killer said was the basis of his evil rampage? Do you know what made this, likeable guy" turn into a killer? His desires.
They were fed by pornography and built in him an insatiable desire and it resulted in his evil murderous sprees.
Do you know where adultery begins? In the mind. If you have a mind that refuses to dwell on the shapely virtues of another then you will not fall. I have had to deal with several who have fallen into sin and do you know what happened? They first of all went through the process in their mind where they thought of a woman over and over and over and finally they felt no guilt. Then when the moment of temptation gained opportunity it was a small step of conscience to give in. Then what happens is this person VOWED it would not happen again and guess what, the fact that the mind had been conditioned to allow sin, and that the mind knew he'd fallen once helped break down the barriers of conscience and made it easier and easier to continue the sin.
So we are tempted and drawn away by our own desire, then we fall into sin, and then...There is a morning after.
I recall in the movie Dr Zhivago that the Dr had given in to his lust and cheated on his wife and there he and his lover were in the aftermath and he said "What are we going to do?"
There was silence because a commitment to marriage ( and by the way his wife was a sweetheart ) had been destroyed and there in the chilly morning after lust had conceived and brought forth sin and sin had begun its death march in the life of this family.
James warns in verse 16, Do not be deceived.
Oh how quickly we are deceived when our emotions tell us something is OK. As The song goes"It can't be wrong if it feels so right" and we would ridicule this sentiment, but it happens to all of us. We rely on what we feel and not on what God says.
Jacob ‘s sons needed to learn to handle things God’s way. He is the one who is able to bring brat brothers in line, and the one who is able to do all that is needed if we will trust His word.
I need to ask some questions to you today.
How is your thought life?
Are you spending time dwelling on the imagined pleasures of sin? I may be talking to someone who is harboring the identical sentiment that Joseph’s brothers harbored. Jealousy, hatred or bitterness against another.If you are beware and do as The Spirit of God said through Paul. 2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
There is the first line of defense, there is how you put on the breastplate of righteousness. Not by a formula or ritual prayer, but by bringing the heart and mind into a right relationship with God. By deliberately thinking God thoughts.
Are you toying with thoughts that you wouldn't want read? Confess them and forsake them and make yourself accountable to God and someone else.
Sin happens when you allow its advertising first in the video theater of your mind. If you do not play the ads, you won't be buying the product.
And if you do not give in, why then you will not have to face that chilly morning after.
Did you know that in America every Friday night people are arrested for bar room brawls? Do you want to now something? I will not be arrested in a bar room brawl. why?
Because I will not go into the bar room in the first place.
The old saying is this..you cannot stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can stop him from building a nest.
Think about that..Amen
