Genesis 37:28 – Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Genesis 37:29 – And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

Genesis 37:30 – And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

Genesis 37:31 – And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

Genesis 37:32 – 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.

Genesis 37:33 – 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.

Hello readers, don’t believe the bloody coat. I was recently thinking about the story of Joseph and many aspects of his story. His life is such a picture of Jesus Christ and also of the Christian life today. You could spend years seeing the amazing truths in his story which apply to us today. But I was particularly thinking about the bloody coat that the brothers sent to their father Jacob as “evidence” that Joseph had been killed by an animal.

The brothers hated the thought of bowing down to Joseph. They hated the idea of Joseph having authority over them. That sounds like this world today. Even Christians today. They don’t want God and his word in authority over their life. Well here’s the boy Joseph, and he’s telling them about a dream God gave him. And they hate him for it. They’re envious of him already… and this is the tipping point.

They hate him so bad they want to murder him. But why murder him when you can profit from his demise instead? So they came up with an even “better” idea of selling him so he’s gotten rid of… and they get a payday for it. These weren’t nice guys. Much later on in the story they go into Egypt where Joseph is now governor of Egypt… and they don’t know him… but he sure knows them. Joseph knows they’re liars. Joseph knows the kind of men they are. God knows who you are. You think you know who you are. But you don’t. They thought they were “true” men. But this bloody coat story testifies to the fact that they were liars and deceivers.

There was no instant revelation of Joseph to his brothers… a little thing called acknowledgement of truth and repentance had to happen before that. They get to Egypt, and Joseph speaks so kindly to them and says hey boys its me! Except no, that’s not what happens. The Bible says he spake roughly to them. You know, God’s word is too “rough” for most people. Preaching on sin, on righteousness, on judgement… getting convinced and convicted of your sin… that’s rough business. We don’t like rough truths… we rather smooth lies. You know what’s comforting in this amazing story. They didn’t know Joseph, but Joseph sure knew them. God knows who you are and what you need.

But today we are way back in Joseph’s life, at the time of where he was thrown into a pit and sold as a slave… condemned to a life of hard labour. Yeah we’ll see what becomes of your dreams Joseph. People are like that with God’s word today. They scorn and mock and doubt and hate it. We’ll see what becomes of all this God stuff they laugh. Yeah Noah’s flood didn’t happen, hey where’s your God now, look we’re all doing what we want and it’s fine. How’s your dreams down there Joseph? Well yeah, we will see what becomes of God’s word. Everyone before us has seen and been convinced of the truth of God’s word… and so will you… it’s a matter of when not if.

So the brothers are pretty smart. It’s funny how smart we get when we are in sin. We get really good at covering up who and what we truly are and fabricating evidence. And so they sell Joseph and they get his coat and kill a goat, get it’s blood and smother blood all over it. Hey dad, we found this coat out in the field. Isn’t this Joseph’s coat? They knew it was Joseph’s coat. But the interesting part is they didn’t necessarily directly lie to their dad. They let their dad come to his own conclusion based on the evidence they made. So yes, they were liars, but they helped their dad believe their lie.

Today I want to think about false evidence. Because people today ignore God’s word… that’s not evidence enough for them to believe or make decisions for life based upon it. Oh no. See, many people are like Jacob. They operate by sight and by their own logic and feelings and reasoning. See, Jacob saw, and Jacob put the pieces together. He relied on his own understanding. But faith is trusting God’s word. That’s Biblical faith. Jacob did have additional information to base his understanding on. Joseph had told him the dreams God gave him. So Jacob had God’s word, he had to know Joseph was alive. But he believed the coat instead.

The evidence was made up. It was a lie. And it was designed to make him believe the lie that Joseph had been killed out there. Reminds me of back in Jesus’ day when he was crucified… many people thought they’d won… but they hadn’t. The brothers think they have dead and buried Joseph… they’ve solved him. But they haven’t. You think you’ve buried Jesus Christ in your life of lies… but you ain’t. You’re going to face him one day… as King of kings and Lord of lords. Joseph was a big guy in Egypt the next time they saw him. The Jesus that was here the first time, he’s coming back in power and glory the second time… a bit different from that suffering servant the first time.

So what are you going to believe today? See people believe “science”. People believe evidence found in the media, on facebook, on youtube, they believe the scientists and the experts. We are prone to believe lies. We are easily led into lies. Look how easily Jacob was derailed in his life. He sees a bloody coat and that sets his life on a spiral. He goes into a spin of depression, unbelief, unhappiness, fear. All these things he didn’t need to exist in. Had he just believed the dreams Joseph told him… dreams which were God’s word. See, Joseph’s dreams weren’t what he conjured up, they were what God gave him, that’s how God communicated many times in the Bible, through dreams. You wouldn’t have your Savior if not for in a dream, Joseph being warned to flee into Egypt. We have something even better and more sure than dreams today, we have the written word of God. But while we should anchor ourselves to the truth of God’s word and the veracity of his testimony and promises therein, instead we are lead off into the deep dark hole of unbelief and despair by lying evidence.

The evidence was made up. It was fabricated. It was a lie. It was designed to deceive. Are you deceived today? You’re believing the wrong evidence… which isn’t legitimate evidence. You think it’s evidence. And you’re trusting your understanding and wisdom and thinking… but you should be trusting God’s account. God’s account was different to the bloody coat account. It’s amazing what people believe over God’s word today. It’s amazing the evidence you’re happy to subscribe to… you’ll believe a staged bloody coat over God’s word.

The Bible says let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). If we held this principle as true in our lives, we would be well set. Indeed, we would as that verse says, be justified in our sayings and overcome when we are judged. If you hold to God’s word, and what you say is based on God’s word… what you’re saying will be justified, because it’s truth. If you believe God’s word and obey God’s word in your life, you have nothing to fear of in regards to coming judgment. Many Christians are going to be ashamed and suffer loss in the day of judgment… because they lacked this simple principle of letting God be true and every man a liar.

It’s incredible to me this part of the story of Joseph. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 3:5,6 to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and lean not unto our own understanding, and in all thy ways acknowledge him and he would direct our paths. So many people believe the bloody coat lie over God’s word. Think of how big an impact this had on Jacob. Look at his life after he saw that coat. He was a broken man. Broken by lies. All because he believed a lie. Because he believed evidence that led him to believe a LIE! So often Satan’s lies penetrate our armor. Well, we should have the armor of light and the shield of faith… but his fiery dart goes straight through because we’ve left our shield and armor at home. We’ve gone into the battle with nothing on, with no sword, no armor, no shield… and that fiery dart strikes a mortal blow in our walk with God.

You know, I used quotations around the word “evidence”… because the evidence that this world has that runs against God’s word is not real evidence. It’s all based on lies. That’s why Peter said we have not followed cunningly devised fables… hey, these brothers cunningly devised this plan. They were smart. They send the coat… hey can you tell us what this means? Smart little cookies aren’t they. Satan is a smart cookie… he’ll eat you alive, he’ll devour you, he’ll consume everything you could and should be and spit out the bones when there’s nothing left to your life. It does seem ironic, Jacob had fooled his dad Isaac one day with goat skins, and he himself got fooled one day with goat blood. There’s something to that. There’s plenty of goats in Christianity today. Goats, because they’re not sheep. Goat skins and goat blood… but not the real deal on any level. They can’t go baa, all they do is butt… butt heads with God and butt the truth.

I cant help but think of evolution. I got taught a lot of evolution at university level, and it claims to have evidence to back it all up… but the evidence doesn’t exist… its’ as bogus as this bloody coat. But think of how the “evidence” has lead an untold number of people into very hurtful and harmful lies that cause them to reject the truth of God’s word. The Bible says Jacob observed his saying when Joseph had told him the dream God gave him. But he sees the bloody coat and that saying he observed was instantly thrown out the window. And he lives a bitter, cynical, and twisted and unbelieving man after that. When his life could’ve been a testimony to God’s goodness and grace… his testimony is chewed up by believing a lie.

What do you believe today? For Abraham, God’s word was enough evidence. It was enough evidence for him to pack up and leave his home country, it was enough for him to take his son to Mount Moriah and offer him there to God. For Abel, God’s word was enough evidence for him to bring a lamb of his flock and sacrifice it to God. For Noah, God’s word was enough evidence of a coming deluge that he hadn’t seen yet. That’s faith! For Moses, God’s word was enough for him to forsake the pleasures and future of Egypt and choose the reproach of Christ. What faith! God’s word should be your evidence, it should be what you anchor your life and soul to. It should be your foundation, for if it is, you have a house built upon the rock that will abide life’s floods and storms… and lying fake evidence bloody coats that are brought to you! See, the bloody coat is designed to discourage, deny, disprove God’s truth. It’ll get you in the world of your thinking and philosophy and rationalizing and wisdom… and you’ll be shot dead as a Christian.

Christians today are so cowered down by the devil’s “evidence. But Paul said beware of science falsely so called. Evolution isn’t science. Wake up man. Believe Genesis 1 over a scientific community where the blind leads the blind and they grope in the darkness and fall in the ditch together. There’s no proof you came from an ape which came from a fish which came from a bacteria which came from a rock which came from a speck of dust which came from nothing. Wake up. Jacob looked at the “science”. He saw a bloody coat, and he came to his own conclusions. He believed a lie. A lie that he believed for a good number of years… all while God’s promise was true all along regarding his son. But he believed the bloody coat evidence instead.

So today, make sure you aren’t living a life where you’ve swallowed a whole heap of lies. Where you’ve believed false evidence. Where someone’s played you for a fool and is chewing up your life and you’re a shipwreck shell of a Christian. Your logic and understanding and rationalizing and wisdom is infinitely inferior to the truth of God’s word. Sorry, but not sorry, it’s the truth. You’re not the smartest person to have existed. In him, in Christ, dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God’s word is the best evidence you’ll ever get. It’s the truth. And it’ll be the evidence that underpins your salvation and forgiveness and hope. Trust God’s word.

Jacob could’ve just believed what Joseph told him, because Joseph simply told him the truth that God had given him. He observed the saying… but when he’s looking at the coat, that saying disappeared in his thinking. It always amazes me what people believe because they’ve bought the lies. Stop buying lies. In Joshua 9, they saw some moldy bread and empty bottles and heard a fanciful tale and thought yep… we’ll make an alliance with you! They got fooled by the phony evidence. And they made a league with an ungodly nation. There’s plenty of bad leagues you can make. A bad league with a wrong woman, a bad league with the wrong church, a bad league with the wrong friends, a bad league with false doctrine. We need separation from all that garbage unto God and his precious, holy word. May God’s word convince you today, may God’s word be your evidence so you don’t have to be a sucker and a fool any longer, and you don’t have to waste your life in lies another second of your life. Dummy up to the fake bloody coat, dummy up to Satan’s lies, get in God’s word and get settled and entrenched and established in the truth of God’s word today.

Proverbs 14:8 – The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

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