I want us this morning to turn
to the 105th psalm. The psalm that recounts something
of the Lord's dealings with his ancient people, the children
of Israel. Here we read of Abraham and Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph and Moses and how they were eventually a people
that were taken into Egypt and then delivered out of Egypt. The psalm then recounts a great
deal concerning God's dealings in the history of his ancient
covenant people. But it is Joseph in particular
that I want to center your attention upon and so turning to Psalm
105 and we'll read from verse 17 really the same portion that
we just sang in the Metrical Psalm in Psalm 105 verse 17 he
sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant whose
feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in iron until the time
that his word came the word of the Lord tried him The king sent
and loosed him, even the ruler of the people, and let him go. He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his substance, to bind his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his senators wisdom." These words then as a text. And I want us to consider something
of the faith of this man Joseph, he is mentioned. in that 11th
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews and we spoke of the deliverance
of the children of Israel and gave instruction concerning his
bones it says by faith by faith he spoke of that deliverance
and also by faith spoke concerning his own bones because of course
he died and was laid in a coffin in Egypt, as we read at the end
of the book of Genesis. But he was a man very much of
faith. But not only that, Joseph is
such a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In that portion that we read
back in Genesis 41, We read at verse 38, how Pharaoh
said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man
in whom the Spirit of God is? That was Pharaoh's testimony
concerning the man who had interpreted his dream. or his dreams. He was a man in whom God's Spirit
was to be found. And of course the Lord Jesus
is that one of whom we read in John chapter 3 that the Father
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. How the Spirit was
so much there in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's a type, he's Joseph of Christ. Again, later in that 41st chapter
in Genesis we would have read how when the famine came he was
able, Joseph, to open all the storehouses and so he was able
to make provision for the Egyptians and the peoples round about Egypt
in those terrible years of famine. In particular we're told later
in chapter 47 how he nourished his father and his brethren and
all his father's house with bread according to their families.
What a type then of the Lord Jesus who nourishes all of his
father's house, who is himself to them the very bread of life. He is then Joseph, a type of
the Lord Jesus, but he's also, we might say, a type of the true
believer. As we said in the past, the book
of Genesis is the book of beginnings, but it might also be referred
to as the book of the generations. As we read through it, we have
these various generations being spoken of, and the last of the
generations in chapter 37 and verse 2, these are the generations
of Jacob, it says. And then immediately we're introduced
to Joseph, Joseph being 17 years old. Joseph is that one who is representative
of the generations of Jacob who became Israel we know that they're
not all Israel that are of Israel but here is Joseph who is one
who is the true Israel of God the spiritual Israel and so he
is the type I say of those who are the the children of God the
type of true believers and this is the the way in which I want
us to consider Joseph this morning from these verses that we've
read here in the 105th Psalm verses 17 to 22 to consider Joseph in terms of that faith that was
his by the grace of God. And two things to observe, first
of all to say something with regards to the way in which his
faith was tried, and then secondly to consider the triumph of his
faith. He did not believe in vain. First of all, the trying of Joseph's
faith. Look at what we're told in verses
17 and 18 how the God sent a man before them that is before the
children of Israel he is sent into Egypt even Joseph who was
sold for a servant whose feet they hurt with fetters he was
laid in iron his trial was a very real physical trial he was in
prison of course But his trial was really a spiritual trial,
the trying of his faith. There was an external aspect
to it, but it was something that was transpiring in his soul.
And there at the end of verse 18, in the margin we see the
alternative. He was laid in iron, we're told,
literally in the Hebrew says, his soul. his soul came into
iron it was not so much a physical experience but also a a spiritual
experience and now he was tried so much by the word of God as
we read in verse 19 the word of the Lord tried him the word
of the Lord tried him now what was the word of the Lord that
was such a trial to this man well of course he he's living
in days previous to the written word of God. God in those days would speak
to men by dreams. Subsequently we read of King
Saul and his disobedience and how God rejected him and God
did not speak to him at all and it says there in 1st Samuel 28.6
that God spoke to him neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by
prophets. There were these various ways
and means whereby God would reveal himself and reveal his will to
men. And Joseph, of course, was one
whom God spoke to by means of his dreams. At the beginning
of Genesis 37 we have the record of the dreams and how he spoke
to his brethren concerning those things that he'd witnessed in
dreams, how he'd seen his brother's sheaves all come and bow down
before his sheave, He'd also gone on to relate another dream
in which he said the sun and the moon and the eleven stars
were all made to bow down before him, and how his brethren resented
him because he spoke of these things, how he was going to be
exalted amongst them. We're told how his father Jacob
laid up these matters in his heart, considered these things.
This was God's God's word to him, which was the way in which
God would speak to men. Remember the language of Elihu
back in the book of Job, those words that we find in the 33rd
chapter of the book of Job, and there at verse 14 following, For God speaketh once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not, in a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the
bed. Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction."
This was God's Word. God's Word had come to Joseph. God had instructed him. by means
of those remarkable dreams that he had had. And yet, instead of being exalted
as was indicated by the dreams, here in this portion that we
are considering, we first see him as one who is imprisoned,
one who has been sold into slavery. sold for a servant, whose feet
they hurt with fetters, and he was laid in irons." Why was he
in prison at this time? Well this is part and parcel
of the trying of his faith. This is part of the trying of
his faith. And how This man had to endure
many things. There were those terrible, bitter,
spiteful, hateful words that were spoken by his own brethren. How they had sold him into slavery. They were the ones who were responsible
for what we read of here at the end of verse 17. They were the
ones who sold him to those Ishmaelites. And we can read of that account
there in that 37th chapter in the book of Genesis you turn
to chapter 37 and what's recorded there at verses 19 and 20 as he goes
to them being sent by his father they've gone away with the sheep
and he is sent to to minister to them they said behold this
dreamer cometh come now therefore let us slay him and cast him
into some pit and we will say some evil beast has devoured
him and we shall see what will become of his dreams and then
later verse 26 Judas says to his brethren what profit is it
if we slay our brother and conceal his blood come and let us sell
him to the Ishmaelites And let not our hand be upon him, for
he is our brother and our flesh. And his brother were content.
Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and
lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites
for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into
Egypt. All those brethren, how they
so hated him because of his dreams, because of that word that he
had received from the Lord God himself. He has to endure then
bitter words, even the spiteful words of his brethren, then subsequently
when we see him in Egypt in the house of Potiphar, how he has
to endure false words, the wicked accusation that was laid against
him by his mistress, her wantonness, her desire to lie with him and
his refusal. How can I do this great wickedness,
he says, and sin against God? He refuses her adulterous advances. And yet then she turns against
him and lays against him such a false charge. And as a result
of that he is cast into the prison. Bitter words and false words. poor Joseph and then even worse
still there were the fickle words that were eventually spoken by
the Chief Butler when those two, the Chief Butler and the Chief
Baker were cast into the prison and they dreamt their dreams
and he interpreted for them and the Butler was raised up to his
office again and Joseph asked the Butler to remember him to
remember him And yet we're told, yet did not the butler remember
Joseph, but forgot him. He didn't remember him, although
he'd said, he'd promised that he would be mindful of him, yet
he forgot him. How fickle, how fickle were the
words of the chief butler. Here, these things are all part
and parcel of what he has to endure in the trying of his faith. He has the Word of God, he believed,
he was a spiritually minded man, God had spoken to him and yet
now he has to endure all of these things those spiteful words of
his brethren, those false words of his mistress the fickle words
of the chief butler but really the greatest trial of all was
that that came by the word of God, that's what it says here
in verse 19. His trial is really a spiritual
trial. The Word of the Lord. The Word
of the Lord tried him. How the trial comes into his
very soul. His soul came into iron, it says
there, if we read with the margin at the end of verse 18. How was
God's word such a trial to him? Well, was he not made to question
the word of God? Was God's word to him a dream? And really nothing more than
that, just a dream? Was it an experience that at
the time he felt was a sweet experience? And yet, alas, it
was a false experience. He'd misunderstood. It wasn't
really God that was speaking to him. He had imagined these
things in his own mind, it's his own vain imaginations and
nothing else. Isn't Joseph, in some ways here,
brought to this? He's made to have some insight
into the power and the workings of unbelief in his own heart.
Was he not made to question the word of God? How he feels this
conflict within him. concerning this word, he was
so persuaded that this was all from God, these dreams that he
had spoken of at the beginning of Genesis 37. This was God. God was in these things. And
yet now, things have worked out so contrary to what he then thought
would be the case. He's brought, you see, into an
experience where he's learning the truth concerning himself,
concerning his own fallen nature. Remember what the Lord Jesus
says concerning man's condition, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that that is born of the spirit is spirit. and
the flesh can never become the spirit these are so contrary
one to the other Paul takes it up writing there in Galatians
chapter 5 how the flesh lost it against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the
other says the Apostle and ye cannot do the thing that ye would
this is the conflict that the believer knows and as I said
at the outset this man Joseph the son of Jacob, but he's not
just a natural son of Jacob, he's a spiritual child of Israel,
he's a real Israelite, a spiritually minded man, but there's an old
nature. And here he is now, and he's in the midst of the trial,
and he, his old nature struggles with these things. All that he
had ever experienced, nothing really but a dream. vain imaginations. What a conflict goes on, you
see, in the soul of this man, the forces at work. There's truth, the truth of God's
words that stands against error. He would have been wrong to conclude
that that dream was nothing more than a dream. It was the word
of God to him. But in his truth fighting error,
in his fact, sets against fiction, near is the warfare between faith
and unbelief. And we see it so many times,
do we not, in the experiences of the godly as we have them
recorded for us here in scripture, especially in the Psalms. As
you know, the Psalms, time and again, they reveal to us something
of the inward workings in the souls of these gracious men like
David and Asaph and others of the Samis. And as we've said
many a time, one of the great beauty of the Messianic Psalms
is that very thing, that there we are permitted, as it were,
to look into the very soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see
something of what, what wrestlings and strugglings were transpiring
even in the human soul of the Lord Jesus during the days of
his humiliation here upon the earth. That's the Messianic Psalms,
but of course we know that the Psalms also speak of the experiences
of these men. Even when David speaks as one
who is himself a type of the Lord Jesus, David is also speaking
out of his own experiences. And likewise with others, with
Asaph. Look at the language that we have there in Psalm 77. Isaac, wrestling with the circumstances
that he is brought into, the condition of his own soul, and
the false conclusions that he is wont to come to. He says,
verse 8 in Psalm 77, is his mercy cling on forever? Does his promise
fail forevermore? Wouldn't Joseph say such a thing
as that himself concerning those dreams does his promise fail
forevermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? and then we have the sealer we're
to pause we're to consider and then he comes to this I said
this is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right
hand of the Most High I will remember the works of the Lord
Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also
of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is
in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? What a mystery! So the way in
which God deals with his children, he says later in the psalm, thy
way is in the sea. and thy path in the great waters
and thy footsteps are not known." And wasn't that the experience
of Joseph at this time? God's dealings so strange and
so mysterious God had spoken to him and indicated that he
was going to be exalted but that was his to come to pass not in
the way that Joseph would have imagined No, his faith is so
sorely tested and so sorely tried. This is that true faith, that
faith that is by the operation of God's Spirit, that faith that
is truly the gift of God. The hymn writer says true faith
is the life of God. Deep in the soul it lies, it
lives and labours on the loads, though damped, it never dies
and so it was here with this man, his faith is tried and the iron comes into his soul
and yet he lives to prove the truth of God's Word and he sees
the triumph really, we see the triumph of the faith of this
man Until the time that His word came, it says, the words of the
Lord tried Him. Oh, there was a time, that time
that was appointed by God, that time that was from eternity ordained,
and it comes. God says to the children of Israel,
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace,
and not of evil to give you an expected end. There would be
an expected end. There would be the end of his
faith. But before we come to consider
something of the end of his faith, I want to say something with
regards to the enduring of the faith of this man. The enduring
of the faith of Joseph here. Remember the language of the
preacher in Ecclesiastes, in chapter 3, he says, to everything
there is a season and a time, to every purpose, under heaven,
a time to be born, a time to die. We're familiar with that
passage at the beginning of Ecclesiastes chapter 3. But the time, to every
purpose, it says, under heaven, and that is God's time. The psalmist
acknowledges it. My times, he says, are in thy
hand. All our times, all the things
that come to us are those that occur at God's appointment. All our times. Every detail of
our lives. With those I trust who do believe
in a particular providence. The psalmist. In Psalm 107, of course, we have
that remarkable psalm of providences, God's dealings with his people
in the various circumstances of life. Even those that do business
in deep waters, it speaks of the mariner and his experiences,
and of course, We understand that not just in a very literal
sense, that's true, but also in a spiritual sense. God's children
sometimes do business in deep water spiritually, when they're
brought into great trials, as Joseph was. But that great verse
at the end of the 107th Psalm, "...whoso is wise, and will observe
these things, ought to be those who are observant of God's providences,
even they shall understand," it says, "...the loving kindness,
of the Lord. What a blessing if we come to
really appreciate the loving-kindness. One of the great words, I believe,
of the Old Testament Scriptures is the particular word that's
used here. It's translated in a variety of ways, not always
loving-kindness, sometimes it might be rendered tender mercies.
That's the idea of His covenant faithfulness. But what a word,
loving-kindness. if we observe God's dealings
and this is what we see with regards to this man Joseph how
we see the enduring of his faith when we come to the end of the
history of Joseph in the last chapter in the book of Genesis
you remember after the death of his father The brethren are
fearful as to what will next happen to them. Will Joseph now
seek to take his revenge upon them? No, he says, as for you,
ye thought evil against me. But God's meant it unto good
to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Ye thought evil. God's meant
it unto good. or there was that enduring then
of his faith, because he was one who was able to discern God's
hand, he observed, he observed the Lord in all these contrary
dealings, even all the bitterness of his experiences when he was
sold into servitude and slavery there in Egypt. God's word came,
but he came at God's time. until the time that His Word
came. We're so often impatient. We don't want to wait upon the
Lord. Waiting upon the Lord is not a passive thing. Where there's
true waiting, there's much activity of soul, there's much exercise
of faith in waiting. But we have to wait the Lord's
time until the time that His Word came. Remember the language
again of the Prophet Daniel in Daniel 10 we're told the thing
was true but the time appointed was long and how apt is that word with
regard to the experience of this man the thing was true the dreams
that he'd had were true but the time appointed was long and yet
he comes and he comes as God himself had ordained. Habakkuk
2.3 The vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end
he shall speak, and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come, it will not tarry. God is never
behind his time. God's time is always the right
time. That is the comfort of those who have this faith that
endures. He that shall endure to the end,
says the Lord Jesus, the same shall be saved. We need that
faith that is enduring, that faith that is truly a persevering
faith. It endures. It endures because
it is waiting upon God, it is waiting for the time of God.
It's a submissive faith. He doesn't want to run before.
Oh God, preserve us from any presumptive sort of faith that
we might be those who are ready and willing to
wait upon the Lord and to wait for God's Word to come to us.
The language again of the Apostle in Hebrews Hebrews 6.12 Paul
says, Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. How do we come to possess the
promises? Through faith and patience, literally through faith and endurance.
That's how we come to inherit the promises. Now, when this
word came to Joseph in the fulfillment of it until the time that his
word came oh it comes with haste and we have it there in that
portion that we read in Genesis 41 verse 14 it says then Pharaoh
sent and called Joseph and they brought him hastily out of the
prison they brought him hastily out of the prison the margin
Often the marginal readings are very instructive, because sometimes
the margin gives us the literal meaning of the Hebrew. And there
we're told that the Hebrew literally reads, they made him run out
of the prison. They made him run out of the
prison. When Pharaoh demands his presence,
this is because God's Word has come. And he comes with haste,
he doesn't tarry. as we have in that verse in Habakkuk
2.3. It doesn't tarry. Wait for it. It will surely come. Says God
through the prophet, it will not tarry. Those who have faith, they have
to endure looking to God, crying to God, waiting upon God. But then we have the end of faith,
the time of His Word, as it says here in verse 19, the time that
His Word came. What is this Word? Well, we're
to understand it surely in terms of the inscripturated Word, to
be satisfied that we have the word of God that is a great blessing
that we're in possession of we said at the outset that when
Joseph lived there was no canon of scripture these books of Moses
the first five books of scripture had not even been written God
spoke to men by means of visions or he spoke to them by means
of seers or prophets God would come and speak directly to men.
But how different it is for us, we have a more sure word of prophecy. We were reminded of that only
on Thursday by our brother Andrew Robinson. Those words of the
Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1.19, the more sure word of prophecy. Holy men of God, how they speak
as they were moved by the Spirit of God and how all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. We have the Word of God. Vain men want signs. Men want some sensible evidences
of things. It's the Spirit really of the
Pharisees. The words of the Lord Jesus to
them in Mark In Mark chapter 8 verse 11 we're told, And Pharisees
came forth and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign
from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit
and said, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say
unto you, there shall no sign be given unto this generation."
Men want something tangible. Or if God would just speak to
me from heaven, this is what they want. Or if God would just
make His will plain to me, give me a dream. Men want something
like that, something spectacular. We're to be those friends who
are satisfied with the great blessing that God has granted
to us in giving us His inscripturated Word. Remember the language of
the Psalmist again, Psalm 138, verse 2, Thou hast magnified
Thy Word, it says, above all Thy Name. That is the inscripturated
Word. God has magnified His Word. above
his name. His name is himself. His name
is the declaration of himself. In his name God reveals himself.
But he has magnified his word above that. In other words, and
I've said this many a time, if God's word fails, God fails. Because when he gave promise
to Abraham, he swore by himself. He has staked himself, his own
being as God, upon the performance of his words. Now there is an
emphasis here upon this Word of God, although God had spoken
to Joseph by means of dreams, just as he had revealed to the
Pharaoh what he was going to do by means of the dreams. and
yet there's such an emphasis here upon the Word until the
time that His Word, we read, came, The Word of the Lord, tried
Him, we have His Word and The Word the significance, the importance
of the Word of God and remember how that God's Word in the Gospel, God's
great Gospel promise is that that is said to be yea and amen
in the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 1 20 all the promises of God
in him are yea and in him amen to the glory of God by us how
God glorifies his own name by what he gives to us and what
he accomplishes in us of his word those exceeding great and
precious promises always the inscripturated word that we're
to understand here this word of God until the time that his
word His word of promise came, His word of promise was fulfilled,
His word of promise was accomplished. All that He had indicated, all
that He had said to Joseph must have its fulfillment. And all
that God says to us must also have its accomplishment. That's
our comfort. But not only the inscripturated
word. Here we must also think of the incarnate word. As I said, Joseph is a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can see those various
parallels between Joseph and Christ. Here in verse 21 we're
told that Pharaoh made him, that is Joseph, Lord of his house
and ruler of his substance. And of course when we come to
the one who is the antitype of Joseph, when we consider the
Lord Jesus, it's more glorious in Hebrews 3.6 we read of Christ
as a son over his house Christ is that one who is a son
over the house of God Joseph makes provision he opens all
of the storehouses he nourished his father and his brethren and
all his family with bread according to their various needs, he makes
every provision, but how much more glorious is that provision
that the Lord Jesus Christ himself makes for his church. Why, that
bread that was supplied by Joseph for the Israelites and for those
other nations about Egypt, it was but natural bread. But the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, of course, is the One who is the
very Bread of Life. He feeds His people, and He feeds
His people with Himself. They eat His flesh, and they
drink His blood. They come to partake of Him. And we're met now, of course,
we might again partake of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as we
come to His Word. we read of this man Joseph, or
to be those who are able to see beyond the type, discerning the
great anti-type himself, seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, and being
those who would desire that we might be fed at his hand, that
we might receive of his gracious works, and that his words might
have its fulfillment and its accomplishment even in us. Well, the Lord Bless these things
too.