Now this morning we will be looking
at part one of Joseph's rise to power. Joseph's rise to power. Now think upon the journey that
we've seen so far in Joseph's life in this study and let us
remember that all these events in Joseph's life were planned
and purposed by God and executed by God, executed by him. not only to exalt Joseph to the
throne in Egypt, and not only to bring his people into Egypt,
but also to typify the Lord Jesus Christ, the exalted God-man who
is right now seated on the right hand of God, on his glorious
sovereign throne in glory, ruling and reigning over all things.
And think upon these things, that Joseph was hated by his
brethren, without a cause, without a cause. And we know that if
it was not for the restraining hand of God, that they would
have killed him. And if not for the restraining
hand of God, the Jews would have sought to stone our great king
many times before his crucifixion. But God had fixed a time when
he would go to the cross and die on Calvary's cross for the
sins of his people. And no one was going to stay
God's hand. So instead of killing him, Joseph's
brother, they sold him off to slavery, to the Ishamites, for
20 pieces of silver. Could you imagine selling your
own brother for 20 pieces of silver? Boy, what hatred they
had for him. To be able to do that. To be
able to sell someone who's your own kin for 20 pieces of silver. And Joseph was 17 years old,
we know in the study, when the Ishmaelites took him down into
Egypt. And he was 30 years old when
he was called to stand before Pharaoh. So for 13 years, Joseph
was a man of souls and acquainted with grief, because it was not
easy for him to be in that prison. And oh, he was a slave and a
prisoner. And we know that our Savior,
he was a man of souls and he was acquainted with grief. And
always remember that all these things which happened to Joseph
happened according to God's determinate
counsel. And remember all the things that
happened to our Lord as we read the scriptures happened according
to the determinate counsel of God and the foreknowledge of
God. And Joseph and our Lord Jesus
Christ were exalted to the thrones of power and these things were
decreed by our sovereign God. Now during our last study we
left off at verse 36 of Genesis 41. So turn there if you would,
Genesis chapter 41. And we saw in our last study
that Pharaoh was troubled in his spirit by two dreams that
none of his wise men could interpret. And his chief butler, who'd been
in prison two full years earlier with Joseph, remembered how Joseph
had interpreted his dream, Chief Baker's dream, and they both
came to pass exactly as Joseph had interpreted them. Now, when
Pharaoh heard of Joseph, he sent for him quickly, and our great
God was pleased to give Joseph the exact meaning of Pharaoh's
dream. And Joseph told Pharaoh, What
God was to do over a period of the next 14 years. First there
would be seven years of plenty. And then there would be seven
years of famine. Great plenty for the first seven
years throughout all the land of Egypt. And then seven years
of severe famine. And this famine would be very
grievous. We see in verse 29 of chapter
41. Very grievous. So our dear brother Joseph then
advised Pharaoh to set a wise man over the land of Egypt. And
we know that Joseph wasn't volunteering himself. He wasn't that kind
of man. He wasn't volunteering himself.
He just said to Pharaoh, you need to put a wise man over all
of Egypt. with officers under his authority
and instruct them to gather a fifth part of the grain during the
years of planting and put that grain in storage to provide food
for the people during the seven years of famine. Now think of
that, he just told them that. He just told Pharaoh that and
God had made it so that at that time, at that time, Joseph is
the wisest man in Egypt because the wise men of of Pharaoh, they
can't even interpret Pharaoh's dream. They have no idea. And
we're seeing that that's a picture of Christ. That's a picture of
Christ. So Genesis 41 verses 37 to 46
we'll read today. And the thing was good in the
eyes of Pharaoh, the interpretation of his dream, and in the eyes
of his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we
find such a one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none
so discreet and wise as thou art. because he was the only
one who could interpret those dreams. And we know that Joseph
gave all the glory to our great God, didn't he? He never took
anything to himself. He always gave God the glory.
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall
all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. Now we see Joseph is a type of
Christ here with this, but again, every type breaks down and we'll
look at that later on. Every type breaks down and it
breaks down here when Pharaoh is actually still over Joseph.
So that type breaks down there. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
see I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh
took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain
about his neck. And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, Bow
the knee, and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall
no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And
Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zathnapineah, and he gave him
to his wife, Ezinath, the daughter of Palaferah, priest of On. And Joseph went out over all
the land of Egypt, and Joseph was 30 years old. So he started
off, he was 17, and now we see he's 30 years old at this point. 13 years. 13 years he spent in
slavery. 13 years. And during that time of 13 years,
he was sold into slavery by his brother, and he was cast into
prison. He became a slave for Potiphar, then he was cast into
prison. Thirteen years. Thirteen years. That's a long
time. When he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph went out
from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land
of Egypt. Again, in this study, we've seen, like our Lord Jesus
Christ, Joseph was hated by his brethren without a cause. If
it had not been for the restraining hand of God, again, his brethren
would have killed him. Instead, they sold them into
the hands of the Israelites for, again, 20 pieces of silver. A
people who were the known enemies of Israel. A known enemy of them. He was 17 years old. He went
down to Egypt. And in our text in verse 46 says
that he was 30 years old when he's called to stand before Pharaoh. Again, 13 long years. 13 long
years. In all these things, though,
beloved, happened according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. God had planned this to be so,
and God had executed it, just like our Lord's sacrifice on
the cross, beloved. It was planned and purposed by
our great God, and it came to pass exactly as he purposed it. And no one can stay our great
God's hands, beloved. So let's look at our own lives
and let's bring this into our own lives and see we can look
back in our lives and we can see how even before we were saved,
the Lord was protecting us and guiding us and directing us.
He does this for every one of his sheep, beloved. Don't think
that Joseph is just a special case. He does this for every
one of his sheep. Oh, what great love God has for
his people. What great care he has for his
people. Now think of this too, I want us to think of this. If
a man had been sold into slavery, had been falsely accused, cast
into prison, don't you think that most men, most natural men
would say, I'm gonna get those folks back that did all that
to me. Joseph didn't do that from what we see in Scripture.
He never did that. Never did that. He knew that
it was God's... Remember what he said to his
brothers? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. See,
he saw the whole picture. Since the Lord has saved me,
and I'm sure it's so for you, I look back at history and I
see God's hand just at work. I read history in a whole new
light now. I read what happened this week in a whole new light.
because it's God's sovereign hand at work, and he's working
out. We were talking about the Greeks
and the Romans rise to power, Vicki and I, and I said, boy,
look at that. The Romans just rose to power, great nation,
great military force, and they were used by God. The gospel
spread like wildfire through the Greek language, and now they're
gone. They were used for what it was
purpose that they would be used for, and now they're gone. And you can look back, you look
back at nations in the world, it's amazing. When you look at
history with the scope of that, knowing that our God is in full
control. That's what I like about this
study, because it brings it right down to Joseph's life for us.
And so we can see how even in our lives, the Lord's been at
work. Our whole life. Even when we had no clue, even
when we did not even know him. Even when we did not even know
him. Look at verse 38 here. And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
Can we find such a one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of
God is? So we see in this verse that
Joseph's interpretations of Pharaoh's dreams pleased the king of Egypt.
Pharaoh was very pleased. And his servants too. And there
was not a man in all of Egypt who had the spiritual wisdom
that God had given Joseph. Not one. Not one. Because not
one of Pharaoh's wise men could interpret the dreams. Not one. One commentator brings forth
that they believe that during this time when Joseph stood before
Pharaoh, that Joseph was the only man in Egypt who had the
Spirit of God dwelling in him. The only man in all of Egypt
who had the Spirit of God. He was living in the land of
idol worshipers, beloved. He is living in the land of idol
worshipers. And what a picture of Christ. There's never been
a man in the whole world, nor shall there ever be, who has
the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. There never will be anyone
who had the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there never
has been a man in this whole world, nor shall there ever be,
who's been given the Spirit of God without measure. We're given
the Spirit of God with measure. The Lord had the Spirit of God
without measure. He's God incarnate in the flesh. Ephesians 4.7,
the Scripture declares this. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. But not so of our Lord. In John
3, verse 34, it says, For he whom God has sent speaketh the
words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
him. He had the Spirit of God without
measure. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
He's the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.
Equal with the Father. Equal with the Holy Spirit. Equal
with them in essence. Equal with them in power. Equal
with them in purpose, too. Think of that. When He came to
this earth, He came here on purpose. And the Father agreed with Him,
and the Holy Spirit agreed with Him. Our Sovereign God, our Sovereign
Creator did not always dwell in the human body. That little
baby that came forth from the virgin womb of Mary was none
other than God Himself incarnated in the flesh. That's who He was. And that man who was nailed to
that cruel cross of Calvary for our sins, each believer says,
for my sins, That man who suffered the unmitigated
total wrath of God, due us, is the only wise God, our Savior. God incarnate in the flesh. God. The Ancient of Days. Don't ever let that just become
old. The Ancient of Days. He became a man. And went to
the cross, if you're a believer, for you and for me. For our sins. God Himself. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. I'll read 1 Timothy chapter 3
verse 16 which says, and without controversy, this means there's
no arguing. There's no controversy in this
truth. I was talking to Drew this week,
and he had read what Brother Tim James said on this, and Brother
Tim James just keyed in on this. There's no controversy in this,
in 1 Timothy 3, verse 6, that God himself became a man. There's
no controversy. None. Listen to this. And without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Without controversy,
there's no argument. God was manifest in the flesh.
Period. No controversy. No controversy. Justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received of the glory. 1 Timothy 3.16. But, now let's
go to Romans 1.3. So there's no controversy. None
at all. The man who came out of that grave on the third day
is declared to be the son of God, beloved, with power, according
to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.
Look at this, verses three and four in Romans 1. Concerning
his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember, there's no controversy
when it comes to Christ, none. Which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh, and declared to be the son of
God. Declared to be the son, there's
no argument. according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. It is Christ and Christ alone,
beloved, who has all power in heaven and on earth, and it is
he who is the glorified God-man. All things are under the feet
of King Jesus. Everything. Angels, authorities,
powers, all things that we see in this world and all things
that are invisible. Everything is subject to him. And He is
the only one who can give life. He's the only one who can give
life. Turn if you would to John chapter 17. John 17. He's the true and living God,
beloved. We know that life comes from
God. Look at this too. Eternal life
comes from our great God. And He gives eternal life to
as many as the father given him. Christ has all power. All power. No matter what people think,
no matter what people say, He has all power. He is an absolute
sovereign. Look at this, John 17, verses
1 and 2. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou has given
Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given. He that that Christ gives eternal
life to as many as the father had given him. And the reason
we're looking at this is because Joseph was set on a place of
power, but he didn't have absolute power. Christ has absolute power. Unchecked power. But. He rules by grace and mercy. He's God. He's God. Let's go back to Genesis chapter
41 with that in mind. We'll read verses 38 and 39 together. And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit
of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
For as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none
so discreet and wise as thou art. Now we saw that Joseph's
wicked brothers sold him into slavery in our study so far,
and Joseph did not know it, but they were instruments in the
hands of our sovereign God. They were just instruments. Brother
Matt, you work in a hospital, and then doctors, when they go
do surgery, they use instruments. His brothers were just instruments. Pharaoh's just an instrument
to accomplish God's purpose. It's incredible, isn't it? So
when you look at history, even in this scope, it changes everything. Everything. Turn, if you would, to Genesis
chapter 15, and here's where we can find out that Joseph's
brothers were just mere instruments in the hands of our sovereign
God. Why? To get Joseph the Pharaoh with
a message, which would eventually lead to Joseph's dad and his brethren
coming to Egypt, just like God had said would happen. Right? Genesis 15. Genesis 15. Verses 3 to 16. And Abraham said, Behold, to
me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine
heir. And behold, the word of the Lord
came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said
unto him, So shall thy seed be. Now, he has no heir at this time,
when God's showing him this, right? But look what it says
in verse 6. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. Again, what we've
been looking at in 1 John, in our study, he believed God. God's
people believe what God says. We believe what the Word of God
says. There was a time when we didn't,
but now we do. Now we do. And he said unto him,
I am the Lord that bought thee out of the Ur of Chaldees. He
was an idol worshiper. Abraham was an idol worshipper,
beloved, just like we were idol worshippers and dead in our trespasses
and sins. To give thee this land to inherit
it, And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it? And he said unto him, take me
an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years
old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a
young pigeon. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against
another, but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came
down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. And when the
sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. And lo, an
oar of great darkness fell upon him. Now look at this. And he said
unto him, Abraham, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in the land. Well, his seed isn't even born
yet, right? He doesn't even have an heir.
But God's telling Abraham, your seed is going to be a stranger
in the land. Okay? Going to be a stranger in the
land. That is not theirs. Egypt wasn't theirs. Right? And shall serve them. Well, they
became slaves, we know that, right? And shall afflict them
400 years. Look at that. And also that nation
whom they shall serve will I judge. And God did judge that nation,
didn't he? When he took Israel out of there. Now remember, he
doesn't even have an heir yet. God's telling them this is all
gonna come to pass. And afterwards they shall come
out with great substance. And thou shall go unto thy fathers
in peace and shall be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. Those people who the Lord's gonna
tell them, you go wipe them all out. How can people read the scriptures?
and not see that our God is a God of purpose. Well, number one,
they haven't been given eyes to see, right? But praise God
when he gives us eyes to see this, to see history in a whole
nother light. So Joseph's brethren were just
instruments in the hands of our sovereign God to get Joseph down
to Egypt, where he would be raised up to power, the second in command,
and then Israel and his family would come down into Egypt just
like the scripture tells us right there. It's incredible. And we know that the seven years
of plenty and the seven years of famine were predetermined
events by God. We know that, and we're seeing
this study that he will use the seven years of famine to get
his people to move to Egypt, just like he said they would.
And we see in our text today that Joseph is exalted to a place
where he's now ruler over all of Egypt. The only one who has
more authority than him is Pharaoh. He's sold into slavery. God's the only one who can do
this. And now here's a Hebrew raised up, second in command
over all of Egypt. The only one who can say no to
him is Pharaoh. Oh my goodness. Oh my. Well we'll see again that our
great God will use this famine in the exaltation of Joseph again
to his high position of authority to not only bring Israel down,
but to protect them. Because God preserves his people,
doesn't he? He protects his people. Those he's chosen, he protects.
He protects them. And here used Joseph's high position
of authority to protect and save his chosen people. To save their
lives during the famine that he, God, was going to bring upon
the land. They'd have perished otherwise.
But see, they're God's people. He ever protects his people.
He ever watches over them. Our God knows the end from the
beginning. It's very evident even in this study. And he sovereignly
rules and reigns over all things. And we see that it is he who
has placed Joseph in Egypt. And it's he who has made sure
that there's none so wise and discreet as Joseph. And our great
God has made it so. He's made it so. God withheld
his wisdom from all the others. Because he had chosen Joseph
to be the one who would bring his message to Pharaoh. Think of this. The Lord Jesus
Christ was sent from God to earth as a messenger. An ambassador
of the one true gospel of God's sovereign grace. And he spoke
through his prophets. He said Christ is coming. The
Messiah is coming. God spoke through his prophets.
The Messiah is coming. And then Christ comes. He comes. And in the last days He's spoken
unto us, how? By His Son. By His Son. God's people have had that, the
wonderful message of God's sovereign grace in Christ revealed to us.
We know that Jesus Christ is our sovereign creator. We've
been taught that He became a man, that He was really God incarnated
in the flesh. And we've been taught that He
established a perfect righteousness for us. For His people, how? By His perfect obedience to the
Father. He did that which we could never
do. We've been taught this. And we know and we believe that
He obtained eternal redemption for us. And we know that right
now our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is seated
at the right hand of the Majesty on High. He's our eternal surety,
isn't He? He's our eternal surety. And
we know all these truths. They've come to us by divine
revelation. It's not something we mustered up. It's not something
we said, oh, well now I know that. No. These truths have been
revealed to us. There was a time when we didn't
know these truths. And they came to us by divine
revelation, and we're born again by the almighty power of God.
And as we grow in grace, we grow in grace in the knowledge and
truth of our Savior. Not to puff ourselves up and
say, oh, look what I know. No, because the more we learn
about Christ, what does it do? But I like what John the Baptist
said. He must increase and I must decrease,
and that's what happens. The more we learn about Christ,
the more we're in the dust. And in awe of who he is. In awe
of who he is. Jesus Christ is the power of
God and the wisdom of God. He's every believer's wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Why? That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Don't
ever glory in yourself. We got nothing to glory about.
We're just worms. Saved by the grace of God. Saved
by the grace of God. And you know, when you hear someone
saying, like Brother Henry used to say this, and I just love
it. He used to say, well, when you hear someone popping off
about, well, such and such and such and such, and that's just
one worm trying to make themselves feel better at the expense of
another worm. That's all that is. That's all
that is. We're sinners saved by grace,
like Sister Gail and I were talking about this morning. We're just
sinners saved by grace. And now the truth is being revealed
to us and we rejoice in it. We absolutely rejoice in it.
We don't think the same way we used to think. The things of
the world aren't appealing to us anymore. Oh my, our great
God is so good to us. But always remember that there's
none so discreet, even though Joseph was wise and discreet,
there's none so discreet and none so wise, and discreet means,
in the Hebrew it means understanding and discerning, than the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no one, no one near him
in that. Look at verse 40. And this is
where we'll stop for today. There's still very much in the
finishing verses of this chapter. It says thou shall be over my
house and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. All those people, Potiphar's
wife, Potiphar, the jailer, all those people are now under Joseph. Oh my, I bet you some of them
were shaking in their boots. But Joseph wasn't that kind of
man. He wasn't that kind of man. He had the Spirit of God in him.
And here we see Joseph raised up to be over all the people
of Israel. Again, he was sold into slavery
for 13 years. He labored as a slave. He was
falsely accused. He was cast into prison. He was
forgotten for two full years by the butler. And remember,
all those things happened according to the wise providence of our
God. And now we see him exalted to
be ruler over all of Egypt. Could you imagine what Joseph
himself thought? He probably was stunned. Wow. He didn't expect it. He was just
going there to interpret Pharaoh's dream. That's all he was doing. But the sovereign hand of our
great God is at work, beloved. And it just, right, the heart
of the king is in the Lord's hands. Now you see Joseph raised
up by the word of the king. raised up to power. And then we see Pharaoh even
put Joseph over the affairs of his own house. Joseph was the man in charge
of everything in Pharaoh's palace and in Pharaoh's court. Everything. And absolutely no one was to
disturb Pharaoh with any decisions that had to be made over domestic
affairs. They all had to answer to Joseph
now. Anything they needed, they had
to go to Joseph now. Imagine Potiphar going to Joseph.
Oh my, my goodness. All the important decisions for
Egypt now goes through Joseph. And Joseph is exalted to a position
of prime minister over all of Egypt. We'll see that later on
in our study so that all the people in the kingdom we see
now are ruled by Joseph's word. The only one who's above him
is Pharaoh. But Pharaoh's just put all the
affairs into Joseph's hands. He trusts him. He just met him. That's the hand of God at work.
That's the hand of God at work, beloved. Now a picture or a type
of Christ starts to break down. As I said, it can only go so
far. We see here that our dear brother Joseph, he typified Christ. He typified the exalted Christ
of God, who sits on the throne of a sovereign power. And we
know that God the Father, from what we looked at there in John
17, God the Father put all authority into the hands of our Master,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the type breaks down when
Joseph's still subject to Pharaoh. But the picture of him ruling
over all is a picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ, He has
all power. He has all power right now. And He's over everything. He's
over everything. We know that God our Father has
put, again, under the feet of His Son, all things. He gave
Him to be head over the church, too, isn't He? He's head over
the church. Over all God's born-again, blood-washed saints. And we all
submit to the authority of who? Christ. The authority of Christ. And praise and thank our Heavenly
Father that we're even members of His spiritual house. And we
all do this. Think of that. We all praise
our great God according to the determined will of our majestic
God. It was his will to save us. It was his will to save us. It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. Our great God rules over all,
beloved. And oh Lord, just teach us to
trust you more. Just teach us to trust you more.
In Jesus' name, amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you.
We thank you again for your wisdom and your your greatness of power. We thank you that we were included
in salvation's plan. We who are your people. It's
just marvelous. And as we look at this life of
Joseph and we see God's sovereign hand at work, we see your hand
moving. We see we see you ordering things
and having things come to pass. Oh, what comfort we can find
knowing that in our lives you do the same. Lord, you ever watch
over us and you guide and direct us just as a shepherd over his
sheep. Praise your mighty name, Lord,
for granting us faith to believe upon thee, Lord Jesus. Amen.