All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 41. Genesis 41. This scripture this evening is such a marvelous revelation
of God's grace and mercy. He's his people, and it's so
relevant to today. I mean, when we read it a while
ago, you read it, and it's just, I know how we think. It just,
it happened back then. There were seven years of famine
and seven years of plenty. But I pray that the Spirit of
God show us tonight how wonderfully relevant this is to us right
now. Joseph has not only been elevated
to the position of ruler over Pharaoh's house and all Pharaoh's
people, but he's been given a new name and a new wife. And just picking up, we looked
at that last time, verse 45, we won't go over it, And I'm
gonna pick up right here in verse 46, and it says, and Joseph was
30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph
went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all
the land of Egypt. Now, just reading how old Joseph
was when he began his ministry there in Egypt. He's been taken
out of jail, prison. New name, new wife, and here
he is 30 years old. Oh, do we not behold our precious
Savior? When he was 30 years old, Luke
3.23. Luke 3.23, this is what the scripture declares concerning our Lord. It says, and Jesus himself began
to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son
of Joseph, which was the son of Heli. Now that little, those
three words in there, Jesus himself, this right here, began to be,
He began to be. That is, He commenced or made
beginning to exist or be present concerning His ministry. Here's
the eternal God who humbled Himself to be made
flesh that He might accomplish the work of the Father. And Jesus
Himself began to be about 30 years old. God Almighty, who is the self-existent
one. In the beginning, God. When there
was nothing else, God. And the scripture says, and he
began to be about 30 years old. Time was related to him. the eternal God, that just hit
me as being, what humility. The Lord himself, he began to
be. But concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, unlike the life of Joseph, which we're told many things
concerning Joseph before his public ministry, except for a
very few revelations, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, except
for a few things before he began his public ministry. Only a few
things. The Spirit of God was pleased
to teach us. He told us he was born. He told us that he was
circumcised on the eighth day. And then there was a time when
he was 12 years old. and he had gone with his mom
and supposed dad, and they'd gone up to Jerusalem, and they
left, and three days later, they realized, we don't know where
he is. They went back, and they found him, you know, in the temple,
talking, debating with these doctors, and they were amazed
at him, and basically, That's how much we are told concerning
the years of our Lord's life, the years of His humility on
this earth before He began His public ministry. Turn with me
to John 21, verse 24-25. John 21. The Spirit of God directed
the Apostle John to say some things concerning
our Lord and really referring to these things that he did before
his public ministry and after his public ministry. But listen,
John 21, 24. This is the disciple which testifies
to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his
testimony is true. There are also many other things
which Jesus did. to which, if they should be written,
every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. Amen. Now, it wasn't that these
things were unworthy to be told, for when the Lord was baptized,
we know that the Father saw every one of them. The Father himself
said concerning his perfect life on this earth, everything that
he did. These things that were told and
these things that were not told. This is what the father said.
This is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased. And that was at
his baptism. That was actually at the commencement
of his public ministry. But what was written, which John
said that these things that are written, his testimony is true,
But if the things that he did, every one of them, had been written,
he said this world wouldn't contain the books. But all these things
that were written, they are sufficient for God's glory and our eternal
good. So what we have recorded tonight
in Genesis 41 concerning Joseph, who is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything that's said, inspired
of God's spirit, about Joseph is sufficient, and they're precious,
for they speak of our Lord. So the scripture says concerning
Joseph, he said he went out, that's what verse 46, Joseph,
30 years old, stood before Pharaoh, and Joseph went out from the
presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. So he went out at 30 years of
age, went out through all the land of Egypt. Hold your place
right there. Turn with me to Luke 4, Luke
chapter 4. Luke 4. Look what our Lord did. Luke
4, verse 22. And Jesus, being full of the
Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan. What was he doing in Jordan?
He'd just been baptized. That was the beginning of his
ministry. He returned from Jordan and led
by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the
devil. In those days, he did eat nothing,
And when they were ended, afterward, he afterward hungered. So here's
Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, beginning his ministry,
and here's the Lord when he left from Jordan, and here's Joseph,
a picture of our Lord. And he's not an idle man. Joseph
is not an idle man. He didn't just sit back and just
sit down, and he's got this authority now, No, he went out. He went out into all the land
of, throughout all the land of Egypt. Went from the presence
of Pharaoh. Turn, look at Matthew. Matthew
4. We're gonna turn a few times
tonight. But look, I want you to see the
beauty of the picture and type of our Lord. Matthew 4, 23. Matthew
4, 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee. Scripture says Joseph went out
through all of Egypt, all the land. Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness, all manner of disease
among the people. So our Lord was sent to finish
the work of the Father, the work of redemption and salvation for
God's elect, for his people. So here's Joseph, just look at
the type. Here he is, 30 years old, our
Lord, 30 years old. He went out from the presence
of Pharaoh, our Lord Jesus Christ, went out under the observation
of the Father, doing that which the Lord called him to. Genesis,
back in 41, verse 47 to 49. Genesis 41, 47. And in the seven
plenteous years, the earth brought forth by handfuls, And he gathered up all the food
of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid
up the food in the cities. The food of the field, which
was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph
gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he
left numbering, for it was without number." Now, we cannot but help. to see in, again, in type, something
about these two periods of time. Seven years of plenty and seven
years of dearth, seven years of famine. And that seven years,
that was promised of God. Look at verse 29. He came, Joseph
came and he's interpreting The dream of Pharaoh, verse 29 of
Genesis 41. Behold, there comes seven years
of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. And he said,
there's gonna be seven years of plenty. But I looked up that
word, seven, seven. Now, in a historical event, I
don't doubt one second, it was seven years. It was seven years,
that we know seven years. But that word seven is from a
root word meaning to be complete. It means to be complete. That's
what the word comes from, the root. It says to be complete.
And it was set forth to be a representation. Those seven years, they represent
something, complete, complete. And these seven years of blessing
was set forth as a time, as a complete time. I'm gonna look at that
word seven as what it means, the interpretation of it. Seven
years, actually, I don't doubt that. But spiritually, it's a
time of completion. And I began to think about the
seven years or the completed years of plenty and prosperity,
spiritually speaking. Now here's what I'm talking about
when I'm talking about this being relevant to us today. There were
seven years of a complete time ordained by God through that
dream of Pharaoh. And that seven years represented,
I can beautifully see the plenty as it relates to this world,
to God's people, to us, the blessing of God. To give a time of plenty,
I thought what plenty, what abundance did God give to us, his people. What abundance. I mean, just,
it couldn't be measured. It said that Joseph, he just
left off numbering it because there wasn't any number for it.
It was so much, it was so plentiful, he couldn't even count it. What
was it? What was given unto us in this
time of completion that was so abundantly wonderful? I thought of four things. Number
one, there was a time in this world when God took a man named
Moses and brought him up on a mountain and gave him God's law. He gave him the law. And he wrote it with his finger.
And he gave this to Moses, that law that showed us not only God's
demand for righteousness, but also that law that set forth
our total inability to accomplish that which God would accept for
righteousness before him. Think of the abundance of God
telling man This is my law. This is my character. This is my demand. This is what
I demand. What abundance that God would
give us the law. But then secondly, I began to
think of the plenty. The plenty of God sending prophets. God sent prophets to Israel. Prophets to proclaim the one
who would come and fulfill that law. We couldn't do it. But think of the abundance. How
do you measure? How do you measure the abundance,
the blessing of God sending men and teach these men what God's
gonna do? What God will accomplish on the
behalf of His people. How do you measure the fullness
of God sending men that would declare that there's one coming
who is gonna answer every demand of the law that God gave us?
He's gonna answer every demand for righteousness and justice,
the satisfaction of justice. He's coming. He's coming. God,
I think, what an abundance. What an unbelievably abundant
blessing of God. And then I began to think there
was the law and there was the prophet. And then I began to
consider the giving of the Psalms, the law, the Psalms, the prophets,
the abundance of God's glory. to give us the songs. You know,
I've heard people say, now this particular psalm right here,
that's a messianic psalm. They're all messianic psalms.
They're all concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. They're all dealing
with him and his suffering. that which he endured. You read
the Psalms and you look at how many times David and the other
writers of the Psalms, how they spoke of the sufferings and the
trials and the tribulations and the praises. You read the praises
that was penned by these men. They're all pictures of Christ. And here we see that God's law
was given and the prophet said he's coming and then the Psalms
was written to say this is going to be his ministry. This is what
he gonna do. He gonna satisfy God in the giving
of praise and obedience to him. He came into this world to experience
exactly what we experience, not in the magnitude of him, but
here he was as our federal head, and I think, what a blessing.
God gives us the law, he gives us prophets, he gives us the
Psalms, but oh, number four, the greatest of all. the Lord
Jesus Christ, what a gift that he would come into this world
and he would tell even a man like John, he would reveal to
John, he said, behold, there he is, that's God, that's God. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. The abundance of that tremendous
blessing to be able to have these precious gifts. How do you number
that? How do you count that? You can't,
but that was that abundance. The scripture says in verse 48
again of Genesis, and he gathered up all the food of the seven
years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food
in the cities, the food of the field which was round about every
city laid he up in the same. He gathered up, it was Joseph.
All that food, all of that blessing was in his hand to maintain it
and sustain it and to put it exactly where he wanted. It says
he laid it up in the cities, that food which was without number. Every time I see that, I think
you just can't number it. I mean, you can't count the blessing. Tell me if you can, you can't
do it. You cannot number it. Oh, is
not the word of the Lord abundantly laid up today for the sufficiency
of the supply of all the need of God's people? It's not everywhere. It's not everywhere. But everywhere
where God is going to bless that abundance of the gospel to the
salvation of his remnant, his people, it's there. So here was
that seven years, which was a picture. of the completion, of the completion
of the abundance of God's blessing. And I think God sent the prophets. He sent the prophets one time.
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to fulfill the law and
to obey the law and to die under the curse of the law being made
a curse for us one time. He gave the writing of the Psalms
one time. He gave the law one time. And
oh, the blessing of that, the blessing of that. But then the
scripture says in verse 50 to 52, and under Joseph were born
two sons about the years of, I mean before the years of famine
came, which Astonath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of own,
bear unto him. And Joseph called the name of
the firstborn Manasseh, for God said he had made me forget all
my toil. in all my father's house. In
the name of the second called he Ephraim, for God hath caused
me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. In the time
of the prosperity, when all of this plenty was given, two sons,
the scripture says, were born to Joseph, and their names are
graciously interpreted for us by the Spirit of God. First one's
name is Manasseh, meaning causing to forget. And that son, so named
because Joseph remembrance of God's blessing. He said this,
God hath made me to forget all my toil and all my father's house. The word there forget means neglect.
It was not that Joseph absolutely had no memory of what had happened
to him, but rather his remembrance was such that he didn't consider
what he had suffered to have been without great value. That's what he did. He was caused by the Lord to
count all the suffering that he had endured and experienced
according to the good pleasure of God, to be that which was
for his good. He called when he says, the Lord
hath made me forget or neglect all my toil. These things that
he endured, he was made to realize that by the grace of God, by
God-given faith, he was made to rest in the Lord's directing
hand. And that hand of direction soothed
and just covered all the sting of his trials, and ours too.
When we realize the troubles that we go through, the trials
that we go through, when we realize these trials and tribulations
are sent by the Lord. So he named that first boy Manasseh. And then the second boy, Ephraim,
Joseph was made to be thankful for God's present mercies. God has caused me to be fruitful,
that is to bear fruit in the land of my affliction. Egypt,
though a land of great affliction like this world, was found to
be a place to Joseph that was marvelously and graciously fruitful. from the Lord to him. God of
all grace had blessed him, and therefore, he was thankful. He was thankful for the past. I know I've told many of you,
I may have said this from the pulpit, but about 15 years ago,
I went through a time when I had to have some surgery, and I had
some work done, and had to take some treatments, I went through
about three years of going through these treatments. Well, you are
all here, you know what I'm talking about. And I was talking to Betty
Groover. Betty asked me one day, she said,
Marvin, how are you doing? And I said, Betty, this has probably
been one of the greatest blessings I've ever gone through. She said,
really? I said, yeah, yeah, it really
is. And one of the greatest blessings I've, I said, because now I see
things differently. I said, this life, I see a glimpse
of this life is frail. I mean, this life is a vapor. But I said, I see something now,
not as I wish I would, not as I desire to, but I said, I see
something of the sufficiency of God's grace to keep you in
the midst and that I could lay down and go to sleep. I could
rest, and I said, it's a great blessing. That's what Joseph
said. Had two boys, he named them Manasseh
and Ephraim. The Lord made me forget, to neglect
the toil and the trials. It was for God's glory, and it
was for my good. And Ephraim, because God has
caused me to be fruitful. Hold your place there, turn to
Colossians 1, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, verse
9 to 12. Colossians 1, 9. For this cause
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and desire that you might be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that
you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience
and longsuffering and joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. He named those two boys that
which God had done for him. to forget or neglect the toil. And he's made me fruitful. I've said so many times, you
know, Romans 8.28, it's always Romans 8.28. All things, all
things, all things. I need to be taught that again.
And you do too. All things work together for
good. And then, back in Genesis 41, verses 53 to 57. Now we looked at the first seven
years, all the plenty of that which God gave. All the plenty
of the food, the corn that was taken up, pictures, types of
the plenty of the blessing of Almighty God to give us, his
people, everything that we need. The hearing of the gospel, everything
that we need. He sent his law. He sent the
prophets, he sent the Psalms, he sent the Lord Jesus. God at
sundry times in divers manner spoke unto us by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by sun, in the language
of sun. Well, those days of plenty, they
were completed. God sent them all. But look what
it says in verses 53, 57. And the seven years of plenteousness
that was in the land of Egypt were ended. And the seven years
of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said, and the dearth
was in all lands, but in the land of Egypt, there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt
was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh
said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph. What he saith
to you, do. and the famine was over all the
face of the earth and Joseph opened all the storehouses and
sold unto the Egyptians and famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt
to Joseph for to buy corn because that the famine was so sore in
all lands. Now, again, I'm gonna finish
this message based on that statement that I made, how relevant this
is to us. The Lord sent, in the time of
completion, he sent those four things that we named, the law,
the Psalms, the prophets, the Lord Jesus, it all came. And it was completed, he sent
them. And And all of that time that
Joseph had all that plenty, gathered it and gathered it and he put
it where it was to be. And then there was a famine. Now beloved, following the seven
years of plenty, there were seven years of dearth, a completion,
a completed time of dearth. And I can't tell you when the
time of Plenty, I know when the Lord Jesus Christ went up, when
he ascended into heaven, that was, in my mind, I'm just, I
can't, I'm like Robert Hawker. I don't wanna speak expressly.
Robert Hawker says that a lot. I don't wanna speak expressly
on this, but if the reader will ask the Spirit of God for some
leadership. After the Lord Jesus Christ had
ascended back into heaven, I can truthfully see this time of dearth
that we're living in now. Can we not see that in this time
that we're in? When did it begin? I can see that we're in it. I
believe that with all my heart, but I can see where there is
today. There is a true famine. The Lord promised that in Amos
8, 11. We looked at that recently. He
said, I'm gonna send a famine. Not a famine of bread and water. Oh, there's gonna be plenty of
food, there's gonna be plenty of everything going on, but a
famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord. And there
was a famine that was in this land, a famine of corn and all
the other places, but there was bread, I mean, there was food,
there was corn. There was food in Egypt. Now let me ask you
something. Is it not so, this world, we're
living in a world that is filled with the foolishness of false
religion. There is a famine of the hearing
of the words of the Lord. There's a famine. Somebody said,
I heard someone tell my mother one time, now listen, if you
go up to West Virginia and you don't wanna go up there, if you
wanna come back, you'll be able to find a church right here.
I'm gonna tell you something. There's places all over this
world where assemblies are meeting, probably tonight, probably sometime
this week and this Sunday. where they'll be standing, a
man will be standing in a pulpit and he's gonna be saying something.
But just because a man is standing in a pulpit, if he's not preaching
what thus saith the Lord. The gospel, the clarity of the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. If he's throwing in a
little leaven here and a little leaven there, I'm telling you
there's a famine because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
There is a famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord. But
just as there was a famine in all the lands, that's what it
said. There was a famine, verse 56, the famine was all over the
face of the earth. And there was bread in one place
where Joseph was. One place. in Egypt where God
had been pleased to bless. Joseph had set up throughout
these cities in Egypt. He'd set up this bread and there
was an abundance. People could come and there was
a place to eat. And bless the Lord, there's still
in this day, in this world, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
There's a bunch of church buildings around here. I'm not saying there's
not a bunch of church buildings. There is. But where are you gonna
go and find something to eat spiritually that will satisfy
the soul of a believer? Only where the Lord has raised
up hearing of the gospel. The only places that they found
anything to eat was where Joseph, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ,
had put that food, and that's where it was, and you had to
go there to get it. If you want to just pick a city,
you can go to a city, but if Joseph had not put food in that
place, there wasn't anything to eat. And here we see how the
Lord, in the land of this world, where there's a famine, there
was a famine in all the earth, But I'm telling you right now,
God will not forsake his people. There's food, spiritual food,
for those that God has given a hunger and a thirst, a hunger
for the bread of heaven and a thirst for his righteousness. And when
the people cried unto Pharaoh, what did Pharaoh do? Here's Pharaoh,
a picture of the father. What did the Lord tell us? He
said, when you pray, say this, our Father. Whenever the people
cried unto Pharaoh, what did Pharaoh do? He directed them to Joseph. He
said, you go unto Joseph. And what he saith to you, do. Joseph had been given that new
name by by Pharaoh, Zaphnath Paneah, which meant the Savior,
the Savior, salvation, salvation. And the Father to whom we pray,
he's going to direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. I just quoted
a while ago. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I'm well pleased. You hear him, you hear him, you
hear him. Oh, the appointed Savior of the
world, the messenger of Jehovah, the Lamb of God, He is the way. He's the truth, He's the life,
and no man comes to the Father, but by Him. You go to Joseph,
go to the Lord. The famine was all over the face
of the earth, and it was Joseph alone who opened the storehouses. Look at verse 56 again. And the
famine was over all the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses. Isn't that beautiful? Joseph. Picture of our precious Savior. And sold unto the Egyptians,
and the famine waxed sore. in the land of Egypt, all over
the world. You go to Joseph and you buy
corn from Joseph. He sold to all the Egyptians.
Is it not our Lord who spiritually opens from the storehouse of
his plenty himself? You think about who's feeding
us tonight. It's the spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Two or three gathered together,
I'm in the midst of you. He teaches us by his spirit. You go to Joseph. Did not our Lord, the scriptures
say, in the last day of the feast, John 737, if any man thirst,
who did he direct him to? Let them come unto me. and drink. All the countries, that's what
it says right there. Last verse, and all countries came into Egypt
to Joseph for to buy corn. All countries, scripture says,
came to Joseph, came where he was in Egypt to buy corn. All the countries, all the countries,
I couldn't help but think about God's got a people scattered
throughout all this, where all the country came to buy corn
from Joseph. Out of every country, nation,
tribe, and tongue, God has a people. And it came to Joseph. Isaiah 55, verse one, says this,
ho, everyone that thirsteth, come, ye to the waters, he that
hath no money, come ye buy, eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Oh, here's the precious promise
spoken by our Lord, the Savior of his people, who scattered
throughout all the face of this earth, is bread, is bread to
be had. It's bread that's given by the
Savior, our great Joseph. And how many of them gonna come
out of all these nations, all these nations that came to Joseph? All the countries, all the countries
that came to Egypt, that's where Joseph was. How many's gonna
come? John 6, 37. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him to come to me I will
in no wise cast out. Are you spiritually hungry? Are
you hungry? This message of our Savior, does
it cause your heart to burn? Be thankful and rejoice. There's
no other name given among heaven, I tell you this, whereby we must
be saved. Come to Joseph. Come to the great
Joseph. Our great spiritual Joseph, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He'll feed us. He'll sustain
us. He said, I will know, I'm not gonna cast you out. Amen,
amen.