Let's turn to Genesis chapter
49. Genesis 49. Jacob, who is also called Israel
in Scripture, was dying. And he had 12 sons, you know.
They each were a head of the 12 tribes of Israel, or the 12
tribes of Jacob. And Jacob is dying here and he's
blessing. He's called each of his sons
one at a time to his bedside to say his dying words to them.
And now he's come to Joseph. And he says here of Joseph in
verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough
by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Jacob never thought
he'd see Joseph again. Years and years and years before
this, he was told Joseph was eaten by a wild animal, when
the truth was Joseph had been sold by his brothers into slavery. And Jacob thought he'd never
see his son again, thought he was dead. And then years passed,
and through God's providence, he met his son again. So you
could just imagine the joy he had over Joseph. And he says
here, Joseph is a fruitful bough. What made Joseph so fruitful?
Christ. Christ made him so fruitful.
He's a great picture of Christ. Joseph is a fruitful bough. Christ
is divine. He's divine. It says here, whose
branches run over the wall. Christ is the vine and His people
are the branches. That's what He said. And He's
loaded down with fruit. He has fruit that we don't know
of. He has people that we don't know. And in the end, when we
see them all gathered together, it's going to be a multitude
no man can number. And it says here, a fruitful
bough by a well. And Christ is that well. Remember
he told the woman at the well, he said, He that drinketh of
me, I give you water that's life everlasting. I give you water
and you never thirst again. He's the well. Joseph's story
is the story of Many sitting here today. It's the story of
a believer. It's the story of a believer.
And his story is a picture of the blessed God and Savior, Christ
Jesus. I've titled this, Joseph's Life,
Christ the Life. Joseph's Life, Christ the Life. First of all, Joseph trials picture
Christ's trials. Look at verse 23. The archers
have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. And then
secondly, Joseph's faithfulness pictures Christ's faithfulness.
Verse 24 says, but his bow abode in strength. And then thirdly,
Joseph's strength pictures Christ's strength. What was Joseph's strength?
Verse 24 says, and the arms of his hands were made strong by
the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd,
the stone of Israel. Let's look at those three things.
First of all, Joseph's trials picture Christ's trials. Verse
23 says, The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him,
and hated him. Joseph was not shot at by literal
archers. But he was shot at by archers
who were indeed masters of arrows, and they were masters of arrows
that are much more dangerous and much more sharper than literal
arrows. Arrows of hatred, arrows of envy,
arrows of maliciousness, which are the worst kinds of arrows.
The archers who shot at Joseph were his own brethren from his
own family. His own brethren. From the youngest
age, Joseph was beloved of his father above all his other brethren. In Genesis 37, verse 3, it says,
Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Israel is Jacob. Israel and Jacob. When you hear
me say Jacob, you hear me say Israel. I'm talking about the
same person. Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because
he was the son of his old age. Joseph was the firstborn son
of Rachel. He had other sons born before
Joseph, but Joseph was the firstborn son of his wife Rachel. And this
son of his old age means more than the fact that Jacob had
Joseph when he was old. It means Joseph was the son who
had the wisdom of an aged man. He had the wisdom of an aged
man, even from his youth. He was the wise one, the wise
son. Well, Christ is the Son of God's
love. He is. Just like Jacob loved Joseph
more than any of his brethren, God loves His Son Christ Jesus
more than any of His brethren. He spoke from heaven and said,
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Christ is the firstborn among
many brethren. He's not the firstborn like Joseph
was not the firstborn in time. But he's the firstborn of God,
to God. And he's the wisdom of God. He is the son of his old age.
He's the son of wisdom. Christ is the wisdom and power
of God. In Joseph, from the first days, dwelt the Spirit of God,
and it made him holy inwardly. It made him of a holy character
inwardly. Joseph loved his father. He was
honorable toward his father. He was his heavenly father first,
and then his earthly father, and even his brethren who hated
him. He was faithful to them. He was beloved of God the Father
and beloved of his earthly father. Jacob made him a coat of many
colors, and it was a picture of that needlework of righteousness
which Christ had put on him by grace, is what that coat of many
colors pictured. Well, that's a picture of Christ,
that whole thing. Christ, Jesus, was formed in the womb of the
Holy Ghost. He came forth, that holy thing. thinking holy, speaking
holy, doing holy, everything he did righteous and holy. Look
down at verse 26. Jacob said to Joseph, the blessings
of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
unto the utmost mound of the everlasting hills. They shall
be on the head of Joseph. The same blessings, and watch
this, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate
from his brethren. You know who that is? That's
Christ. Christ is him who was separate from his brethren. For
such a high priest became us who's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Christ was
Joseph's coat of righteousness. Christ put that coat of righteousness
on him. Christ himself is the Lord our
righteousness, the righteousness of his people. That's who Christ
is. Therefore, because all of this is true of Joseph, Joseph's
brethren hated Joseph. They hated him. Genesis 37 verse
4 says, When his brethren saw that their father loved him more
than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably
unto him. That was so of his brothers and
his family. Joseph's brethren didn't see
anything in Joseph to make them have any desire for him. And
when their father wasn't looking, they tried to do things to injure
him and hurt him because they didn't like him. Well, more so
is true of Christ. It's true of Christ. When his
brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren,
they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Christ's
brethren after the flesh, the children of Israel, the children
of Jacob, Israel after the flesh, they didn't see anything in Christ
that made them love Him. And it says, Christ came unto
His own and His own received Him not. Just like Joseph's brothers
hated Him. He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were,
our faces from Him. He's despised and we esteemed
Him not. And His brethren thought God
the Father wasn't looking. And so, thinking God the Father
wasn't looking, they tried everything in their power to harm Him, continually,
over and over. Look over at Genesis 37. Why? Why did they want to harm Christ?
Same reason Joseph's brothers wanted to harm Him. Look at Genesis
37, 5. Joseph came telling his brethren
of a dream he had. Now, this dream is something
different than just dreams we have. This was God declaring
what was going to become of Joseph. And it was a picture of Christ.
God was doing this on purpose. Joseph has it. He doesn't know
anything about it. He just comes and tells it to his brethren
harmlessly, just saying, you know, let me tell you this dream
I had. But listen to what he said. They understood what he
said. Listen to this, verse 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream. This
is a picture of the Gospel going forth, a picture of Christ coming
forth and preaching the Gospel. Joseph dreamed a dream, and he
told it his brethren. And they hated him yet the more.
And he said unto them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed.
For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And lo, my sheaf
arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood
round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. Your sheaves bowed
down to my sheaf. Now you can just imagine, there's
the Dormientos, a house full of kids. You can just imagine
Joshua coming up to his older brothers and telling them this,
what they would think of this. Years later, this prophecy came
true though. It came true. Joseph's brothers
suffered a famine of bread so that they were about to die.
They were about to die. And Joseph's brethren came down
to Egypt where he was. And all these years had passed,
they didn't even recognize him. And they came down there because
Joseph was head of everything. And they came down there to get
some corn, to get some life. And they came down there and
they bowed down to Him. And when He revealed Himself
to them, they confessed their sins to Him and bowed down to
Him. fed them, and clothed them, and
gave them corn, and gave them everything they needed. And it
pictures Christ in His glory reigning over this whole world.
It pictures Christ who's drawing His people, revealing the sin
in His people, and drawing His children to Himself, and causing
His children in the day of His power to bow down to Him and
to worship Him in spirit and in truth, who He feeds and clothes
with His righteousness and His everlasting goodness. We have
to come to Christ. We have to come to Christ. We
have to come to Christ confessing our worthlessness, confessing
our sins. We have to come to Christ asking
for mercy. And I said asking for mercy.
It's His prerogative to give us mercy. That leper came and
he said, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou can make me whole. We don't
come expecting it. We don't come and say, well,
now I've come to you, you ought to give me mercy. That's not
asking mercy. We come to a broken and contrite
sinner, begging him, Lord, have mercy on me. I tell you these
things, but if God ever starts working in your heart, you won't
have to be taught what to do. I promise you that. Oh, you'll
flee to Him. You'll flee to Him and you'll
beg Him for mercy. But we have to come to Him. Every tongue
is going to confess that Christ is Lord. Every tongue is going
to give Him obeisance. Every tongue is going to bow to Him,
either now by His grace or in that day of judgment. And when
Christ preached this gospel to His brethren on the earth, they
received Him the same way Joseph's brethren received Him. This is
how. Look at Genesis 37. And His brethren said to Him,
Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words." You remember when Christ came
preaching? Remember the parable he gave of himself and of the
children of Israel? He said his citizens hated him
and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this
man to reign over us. Christ came and He came preaching
the truth that God had sent Him. He had sent Him to save His children.
He raised Him up and His children must come to Him to give them
life and acceptance with God. And they said, we won't have
this man reign over us. They looked at Him and they said,
you're just like us. You're just like us. That's what
Joseph's brethren said to him. You're just like us. You think
we're going to bow down to you? You've got to be crazy. And that's
exactly how this gospel is received. Well then one day, his brethren
had all of Joseph they could stand. They had all they could
stand. His father sent Joseph to his
brethren out in the field where they were supposed to be tending
sheep. That's a picture. God the Father sent Christ to
this field where Israel was supposed to be tending His sheep. And
Joseph came, and when they saw Joseph coming, they decided,
let's kill him. Here's our chance, boys. He's
coming out here. We're out here in the middle
of nowhere. Nobody knows it. Nobody sees it. Our father don't
see it. Let's kill him. Let's kill him." And Reuben talked
them in. Reuben said, no, let's don't
kill him. Let's throw him into a pit and just leave him. And
so they said, all right, we'll do that. They stripped him of
his coat and they threw him in a pit and they just left him
there. They sat down and started eating their bread. And they
looked up, and here comes a train of camels, and here comes some
Ishmaelites. And these Ishmaelites coming
toward them, and Judah said, you know what, boys? What's the
point of just throwing him in the pit and not making any money
off of him? Why don't we sell him? And they said, hey, that's
a better idea. So they pulled him out of the
pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of
silver. And they took his coat, and they rolled it in blood,
and they went back to Jacob, his father, and they said, we
don't know what happened to him. I think an animal killed him.
And so there Joseph is, separated from the father he loves. And
there's Jacob, who loves that son, who's separated from the
son he loves. And he has to do, both of them,
endure the agony of that separation from one another. Isn't that
a beautiful picture of Christ? Isn't that a beautiful picture
of Christ? When the time was come, God sent
Christ into this world, and He came into this earth where His
children were, and He began to preach the gospel to them. And
they hated Him for it. They hated Him. And when finally
they had enough of Him, they said, let's kill Him. Let's kill
Him. And they stripped Him, and they
whipped Him, and they mocked Him, and they cruelly treated
Him. treated him cruelly and Christ was in charge of everything.
Christ gave himself willingly into their hands because it was
the Father's will. He gave himself willingly to
be thrown into the pit. He hath made Him sin, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
It was a necessity that Christ Himself, for God to be just,
to punish Christ in our place, He had to be made what His people
were. And in order for him to declare
God just and to justify his people, he had to be made what we were.
And so he came and willingly was thrown into that pit where
we are. and made to be what His people
are. Made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God. That all our sins be put away,
and that we'd be totally, completely, thoroughly justified, so that
now the very righteousness that Christ worked out can be imputed
to His people, and we can be accepted of God in justice and
mercy. In mercy and in justice. That's
what He did. Judas betrayed Him for 30 pieces
of silver. It all pictures Christ. He hath
made Him sin for us. And the archers sorely grieved
Him, and shot at Him, and hated Him. And He's hung there on that
cross, and just like Joseph endured separation from his father, and
the son that his father loved had to endure the agony of separation
from Joseph, so when He hung there on the cross in justice,
God the Father turned His back on His own Son, because He had
to. He had to. And so there they suffered separation
from one another. It was as much suffering for
God the Father as it was for God the Son. I think we forget
that sometimes. This was His Son. This was His
Son. And He separated from the Father
He loves. So it was with our Savior. Believer,
just like Joseph endured these wicked arrows from his brethren,
this is what Christ tells us we can expect from our kinsmen
after the flesh in this world. The wicked have bent their bow
to cast down the poor and needy to slay such as be of an upright
conduct. That's the case. But this is
what we're told. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some
strange things happen to you. It's not something that's just...
We know we feel that way sometimes. We feel like nobody's ever suffered
like I've suffered. Satan loves to get us, don't
he? He likes for us to be proud of our suffering. and to try
to exalt ourselves over others just because of our suffering.
Try to comfort somebody. You know, you've had people do
this before. You just don't know. You haven't suffered what I've
suffered. But he says, this is not something that's just individual
to you. Christ has suffered worse than
any of us. And He suffered it, and He knows the feeling of our
suffering. But he says, but rejoice inasmuch as you're partakers
of Christ's suffering. that when His glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy. And Christ said,
He that endures to the end, He that endures to the end, He said,
the same shall be saved. Trust Christ. Keep trusting Christ.
Don't waver from trusting Christ. He's our salvation. He's going
to save us. Keep trusting Him. So let's see
that faithfulness of Joseph now. Secondly, look at Genesis 49,
24. It says, But his bow abode in
strength. Joseph was treated cruelly, he
was harmfully treated, but his bow abode in strength. When he was reviled by his brethren
for their bitter envy and for their hatred, Joseph continued
trusting the Lord." You never read one word in all of that
that his brethren did to him, you never read one word about
Joseph resisting, never. You never read one word about
Him opening His mouth and you might picture Him kicking His
heels into the sand and Him having to drag Him to the Ishmaelites
to sell Him. You never read anything like
that. You know why? Because God's holding him up
as a picture of Christ to come. And when Christ came, he was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. He opened not his mouth. He willingly
gave himself to his enemies. The Scripture says, when he was
reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. I pray God will let me do that.
Just give me grace to do that. It's just a, it's like a, it's
like somebody tapping you on your knee and it just reacting
when somebody reviles against us, isn't it? To just, automatically. If we don't do it with our mouth,
we do it in our heart, automatically. Well, how dare they? Ah, save us from that. Look back
now at Genesis 39. Look at Genesis 39. Potiphar,
he was Joseph's master when he was sold there into slavery.
And Potiphar made Joseph overseer in his house over all that he
had. Look back there at Genesis 39. Look at verse 7. And it came to pass, Genesis
39, 7. And it came to pass after these
things that his master's wife, Potiphar's wife, cast her eyes
upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said
unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wanteth not what is
with me in the house. And I watched this, and he hath
committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater
in this house than I. Neither hath he kept back anything
from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I
do this great wickedness and sin against God? That's what
Joseph said. He remained faithful. God the
Father sent forth Christ into this earth to serve the Father
for His people. And God the Father committed
all that He has into Christ's hands, just like Potiphar did
to Joseph. And there's none greater in the
house than Christ. Just like Joseph said, there's
none greater than I. There's none greater in the house than
Christ. The Lord held anything back from His Son. And He, in
fact, made, gave Him a bride. Gave Him a bride, His children,
before the foundation of the world. And all the time that
Christ walked this earth, He was tempted repeatedly by Satan. Tempted repeatedly by Satan.
But Christ said in His great faithfulness through it all,
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
and He remained faithful through everything, through everything.
Brethren, I do pray Christ will continually remind us He's committed
to us the unsearchable riches of the Gospel. Christ Jesus,
our Head, has given to us everything into our hand. He's given us
everything freely by His grace that He accomplished for us.
He's given it to us. And it's a great privilege to
have this given to us. And we ought to say at the face
of every temptation, this ought to be our first thought, how
then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And then finally, Potter's wife
falsely accused Joseph, just like Christ was falsely accused,
and Potiphar threw Joseph in prison. He threw him in prison.
Still Joseph remained faithful, even in prison. Pharaoh threw
two of his servants into prison where Joseph was, a butler and
a baker. And they were there in prison
with him. And Joseph interpreted their dreams for them. And Joseph
declared that justice and mercy were going to be shown. He declared
that the baker would die, but Joseph revealed good news to
the butler. He told the butler that he would
go free. He would go free. And both came
to pass, just like Joseph said. Now again, this is not just dreams
like you and I have dreams. This is the Spirit of God declaring
what God was going to do, what He was about to do. And the picture
here is of, in Joseph, is of Christ our intercessor. standing
between us and God, as Joseph stood between God and the baker
and the butler. And it's a picture of Christ,
who has the Spirit of God, just as Joseph had the Spirit of God
to interpret these dreams. Christ has the Spirit of God
to come forth and reveal the Gospel in our hearts. And when
He reveals the Gospel in our hearts, He declares to us, mercy
and justice have been done. He declares to us that He has
died in the place of His people. And He declares to us particularly,
I've died in your place, when He comes forth. And He says now,
mercy can be shown justly. And that's the good news. And
just like the butler went out free, He makes His people to
be freed from the shackles and bondage of the law and condemnation. And He sets us free in Him. That's
the picture we have here in all of this. But Joseph charged that
butler after he had done this. That butler was so happy you
could imagine that he heard the good news he was going to be
set free. And Joseph charged that butler to make mention of
him to Pharaoh to bring Joseph out of prison. And Joseph said
this, for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews,
and here also I've done nothing that they should put me into
the dungeon. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph,
but forgot him. He forgot him. But still Joseph
remained faithful. He remained faithful. Two years
passed. Over two years passed. And that
butler forgot. He forgot to say anything to
Pharaoh about Joseph at all. And then one day, Pharaoh needed
a dream interpreted. And the butler remembered Joseph.
He remembered Joseph. And so he told Pharaoh about
Joseph. And Joseph came forth. They went
and got him. He came forth and he interpreted
the dream just like the butler had told Pharaoh he could do.
Do you see the picture in that? Do you see the picture of Christ's
faithfulness in that? In spite of all the wrongs that's
done to Christ in this earth, Christ is faithful to His people
to reveal the truth of God in our hearts through the Spirit.
He's faithful to do it. And when He reveals the gospel
to us, He charges us just like Joseph charged that butler. And
He charges us to go forth and speak of Him in the ear of sinners
in this earth. He tells us to go forth and to
declare Christ is the Holy One. He's done nothing wrong. He was
falsely charged. And He tells us to go forth and
declare Christ is faithful. He's faithful. He's been faithful
in everything that's been put into His hand, like as Joseph
was faithful in that prison and everything that was put into
His hand. And He gives us to declare that Christ is the Righteous
One. He's the righteousness of His people so that Christ shall
be called upon by needy sinners like Pharaoh when he heard about
Joseph, then he called for Joseph. And so by telling others about
Christ, Christ works it in their heart to call on Christ. And
Christ comes forth and He reveals it in their hearts. And yet often
we do just what the butler did. Christ gives us the truth. He
gives us these unsearchable riches. And we get so caught up in our
day-to-day, everything going on with us, We forget Him. And we come to the opportunity
to tell somebody about Him, and we forget about Him. We forget
Him after everything He's done to us. But Christ remains faithful. Christ remains faithful in the
hour of our need, when we need Him and we call for Him. He still
comes forth to His people and forgives us of our forgetfulness,
forgives us of our sins. And He comes forth and He reveals
grace in our own hearts and He intercedes on behalf of us and
He works grace in the hearts of those that He's going to call.
I pray He'll give us grace to remain faithful to Him. He's
been faithful to us. He remembers us always. He remembers
His people always. He never forgets His people.
He's continually thinking of His people, continually making
an intercession for us before the Father. So we ought to always
remember His mercies to us and look for opportunities to tell
somebody about Him. He's charged us to do that. That's
Joseph's faithfulness. There's a picture of Christ's
faithfulness. Now let's look at the strength. Joseph's strength
is a type of Christ's strength. Look at verse 24. But his bow
abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands... You see this, Genesis 49, 24.
Genesis 49, 24. His bow abode in strength, and
the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd the
stone of Israel Christ. In all that Joseph endured, the
mighty God of Jacob made the arms of his hands strong, so
that his bow abode in strength." You ever pull back a long bow?
You ever pull back a recurve bow? A compound bow that they
make now has release. You pull it back and most of
them have about 75% let off, what they call let off, 80%,
some of them now 90%. You pull it back and it just
lets off at a certain point and you're not holding back all that
weight. But not with a longbow, not with
a recurve. You pull it back and the harder you pull it back,
the harder it gets to pull back. And you can't hold it. You sit
there and try to hold it and you shake it and you can't shoot
it. You gotta draw it and shoot it.
at one time. But God did what you see fathers
do. You see a father, he'll take
his hand, he'll put it on the hand of his son, and he'll take
his son's other hand, and he'll draw that bow back, and he'll
hold it for him, and he'll let go of it, showing his son how
to shoot it. Well, that's how God deals with
us. That's how God works with us. He's got his hand on our
hand. so that He's doing the holding.
And all the strengths of Him, we're not holding it back. All
the strengths of Him and He's working everything by His strength
and by His power among us. It was the hand of God that sent
the Israelites that day to Joseph so that he was sold rather than
remain in that pit. God directed them right there.
It was the mighty God, the God in the man, Christ Jesus, who
protected Christ as He walked this earth, so that nobody could
do Him harm until His hour was come. It was God who exalted
Him and raised Him out of the pit and set Him at His own right
hand in glory. Look back at Genesis 39 again. And look there at verse 2. In
Potiphar's house, it tells us this. The Lord was with Joseph. And he was a prosperous man.
And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his
master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made
all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace
in his sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over
his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. Why? The
Lord gave him favor in his sight. The Lord was with Christ as he
walked this earth, so that the pleasure of the Lord prospered
in his hand. And the Lord is with Christ now.
He's the God-man, so that the pleasure of the Lord prospers
in his hand. Christ enters our house just like Joseph entered
Potiphar's house, and by his Spirit, just the opposite. Joseph found grace in Potiphar's
sight, but he enters in, we find grace in his sight, in Christ's
sight. And he makes us to see God's
with Christ. He makes us to see Christ prospered
when he served for us and he accomplished the redemption of
his people. He didn't try, he did it! He did it! And He makes
us to see He did it. He makes us to see He accomplished
it. And the power of God brings His lost child to put all we
have in Christ's hands. Just like Potiphar gave it all
into the hands of Joseph. And from that day forward, Christ
becomes our strength and our wisdom. The overseer of all that
we have. The overseer. Look at verse 21
of Genesis 39. Then Joseph was thrown in prison.
What happened there? What was his strength there?
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the
keeper of the prison committed at Joseph's hand all the prisoners
that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he
was the doer of it. You see, everywhere Joseph went,
he prospered because the Lord was with Joseph. And the Lord
put it in the hearts of people to give him favor, to exalt him
to these places. Well, when Christ appeared bound,
nailed to the cross, when he appeared like when Joseph was
put in that prison and it appeared like, well, now he won't prosper. Christ is bound on the cross
and there it appears, now he's not going to prosper. He saved
the man sitting right next to him. You can't bind Christ. You can't bind the Word of God.
You can't bind Him. Even all our loved ones that
are getting the prison of sin and death. You know what we do
when Christ has revealed Himself to our hearts? We commit everything
into His hand, trusting Him to save them by His will, if it's
His will to do so. Because if they're saved, Christ
shall be the doer of it. Just like Joseph was the doer
of everything in that prison. Verse 23 says, like as the keeper
of the prison looked not to anything that was under Joseph's hand,
so we cease our worrying about everything because it's all in
Christ's hand. You see, the keeper of the prison,
he didn't have to go around checking up on Joseph because Joseph was
faithful and he knew God's with him and he's going to prosper
in everything he did. And we don't have to worry about
things in our lives because it's in Christ's hand and Christ is
the mighty God and everything He does shall prosper. And He's
going to give us favor just like in other sites, just like He
did Joseph. So when we get promoted, we don't have any reason to pat
ourselves on the back. Glory in God. God did it. God did it. Look at Genesis 41.
Genesis 41. Joseph was then brought before
Pharaoh to interpret his dream. And Joseph told Pharaoh seven
years of plenty were coming and seven years of famine were coming.
And look at Genesis 41-39. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch
as God hath shewed thee all this, there's none so discreet and
wise as thou art." This is not the Pharaoh we looked at on Thursday
night. This is another Pharaoh. Pharaoh
is an office, like a president. This was a Pharaoh that came
before the Pharaoh that did so much injury to Moses. This was
another Pharaoh. And he recognized, he said, To
Joseph, for as much as God hath showed thee all this, there's
none so discreet and wise as thou art. Well, in all the land,
there's none so wise as Christ, none so wise as Christ, whom
the Spirit of God is with him. without measure. God the Father
was satisfied by Christ's finished work, so God the Father exalted
Christ to the highest possible position as our Mediator. He's not above God in His Mediator
office, but He is God working in that Mediator office, but
He's working as a Mediator still serving the Father. He's drawing
His people in, making intercession. He's our advocate with the Father.
But look at Genesis 41, 40. It was pictured in Joseph. This is what Pharaoh told him.
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall
all my people be ruled according to your word. You see Christ
in that? God's made Christ over all His
house, and it's according to Christ's Word that all His people
are ruled. Look at verse 41. And Pharaoh
said to Joseph, See, I've set thee over all the land of Egypt. Christ is over this whole land.
We read that in Ephesians 1 at the end of verses 20 through
23. He's over everything. Look at verse 42. 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
upon his neck. He had the seal of the King.
He had the seal of the Most Powerful One. Well, we know Christ has
that seal. God the Father raised Him from
the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places.
And He's adorned Him in fine linen garments. And He has all
power. And He has the authority from
His Father to work whatever He's pleased to work. He has power
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given unto Him. And look at verse 44. Pharaoh
swore by himself, but God swore by Himself when He raised Christ.
And He said, Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot
in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zaphna, Here's what it means. Treasury of glorious rest. That's what Christ is. There
He sits, the right hand of God, our treasury of glorious rest,
with all power over all things in the universe, all things in
nature, all things great, all things small, all things seen,
all things invisible, all things in heaven, all things in earth
and below, all things now and all things to come. He's head
over all things, and He's head over all things to His church,
to His people, to work good for His people. for his people. And
when the famine came, and all the land was suffering, and they
didn't have any life, you know where they went? They went to
Pharaoh. They ran to Pharaoh because he
was the keeper of the storehouse. And Pharaoh, who had laid up
all that plenty for them, he had it all at his disposal. And
from him, he sold it to them that came to him to buy. Well,
Christ is the one that God... He has laid up all righteousness,
all holiness, all redemption, all wisdom, all spiritual blessings
are in Christ Jesus. And He is the ruler over the
storehouse of grace. And God comes to us and He reveals
our sin, and our need, and our hunger, and our starvation, and
He draws us to Christ. And when He draws us to Christ,
we come to Him, and we confess all our sins to Him, and He freely
forgives us. But Christ doesn't sell anything
to us. He doesn't sell anything to us. He says, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. How can I come buy Without any
money. Because Christ is the price.
Christ already paid for it all. And it's already laid up for
His people. And when He draws His people, He reveals this to
them. It's already been paid for, my son. It's yours freely. It's been yours freely from before
the foundation of the world. And He reveals this in our hearts.
And oh, we rejoice in Him. We rejoice in Him. Look at Genesis
50. Genesis 50. But preacher, I'm
so sinful. I can't come to Christ. I'm just
too sinful. You remember those brethren who've
been so evil toward Joseph? Remember those brethren? Been
so evil to him? Well, they ran out of corn. And
they didn't have anything. And they went down there to where
Joseph was. And verse, Genesis 50, 18 says, And his brethren
also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold,
we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear
not, for I am in the place, for am I in the place of God. But
Christ is God, and our mediator is in the place of God. He draws
us to himself. But look at this, verse 20, But
as for you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it
unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive. Well, just like God overruled
everything that Joseph's brethren did to Joseph, so that God might
be just in saving the people, God overruled everything that
came to pass against Christ so that God might be just. Acts
4.26 says this, The kings of the earth stood up, the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ,
for of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou has anointed
in both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel, were all gathered together for to do whatsoever
Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done. It's that
counsel we looked at this morning. And so, there's Joseph and he's
saying, you meant all this for evil. God meant it for good.
Sinner, Christ says to those who have come to Him humbled
and broken by His Spirit, He says what Joseph said to his
brethren. Do you think Joseph turned them
away? Think he turned them away? Look
at verse 21. He says, Now therefore fear ye not. I will nourish you
and your little ones." And He comforted them and spoke kindly
unto them. Let's go home with this. Sinner,
you don't have Christ. You're sitting here today that
have never confessed Christ. You don't have Him. You don't
have Him. None of these great blessings I've been speaking
about that are true for the believer is not true for you. You don't
have Him. You don't have Him. come to Christ
a broken, contrite, empty-handed sinner, starved of all righteousness,
starved of all good, seeking everything in Christ, just like
these brethren came to Joseph. And Christ will say, fear ye
not, I will nourish you, and He'll comfort you, and He'll
speak kindly unto you. It'll take His grace to make
that happen. It'll take His grace working
in you to draw you to Him. Come to Him. Come to Him. And
brethren, you there sitting here that trust Christ and trust Him
for everything, you just keep on being steadfast trusting Him
for everything. Trust Him to keep you trusting
Him. Trust Him to keep you turned
from yourself and trusting Him. Don't look to your righteousnesses.
Don't look to your holiness. Don't look to anything that you
think you've done. There's not one of the Ten Commandments
that you have ever done. I hate to be the one to break
that to you, but you've never done one of them. Nobody ever
has. But Christ. By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. That one is Christ. Believe on
Him. Trust Him. And look nowhere else.
We have in Him real strength. It's full justification from
all our sin, Christ's perfect righteousness, separation into
Christ our holiness, complete redemption from all the chains
of sin and death. We have the mind of Christ to
guide us always. Our strength's covenant strength.
When it says, the mighty God of Jacob, it means covenant,
the covenant. Spurgeon said, mightier than
giants are men of the race of heaven. That's true. That's true. Look at verse 24.
Here's why. From thence is the shepherd the
stone of Israel. It meant he would come through
the lineage of Joseph, but all of this is from the shepherd,
the stone of Israel. I'll just remind you. Go home
tonight and read Psalm 23. He's our shepherd. He's, the
Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. And Christ is the stone
of Israel. He's the stone of Israel. The
stone which the builders refused, the same has become the headstone
of the corner. That's what happened to Joseph.
They refused him and they threw him away, and by God's grace,
he became the most powerful man there was. And it was by him
that he saved us. That's who Christ is. That's
who Christ is. I want to tell you a story Mr.
Spurgeon told on this passage. He said it may be true or not.
I don't know if it is, but it's a good illustration whether it
is or not. When Solomon's temple was being built, Among all the
stones that they would bring from the quarry, they'd bring
those stones sort of rough cut. They'd bring them and then they'd
take those stones and they'd put them down between two stones.
You've heard Brother Don talk about that. They'd move them
and put them down into place in there. Well, they had this
stone that they kept trying to put someplace and it wouldn't
fit anyplace. It wouldn't fit anywhere in the
house. And it fixed them, and they got angry, and they got
perturbed at this stone. And they took this stone, and
they just threw the thing over to the side. And they went on
building the building. And after so many years and years,
that stone laid over there, and it just covered over with moss
and covered over with grass and things, and nobody even noticed
it. If they did notice it, they looked
at it and thought, that's that stone that fixed us. That's that
stone that bothered us so. That's that stone we despised.
And they kept on building the temple. And they built it, built
it, and they get it to where it's almost finished. And just when
it almost gets finished, they call all the people out, and
all the people come out to see this temple, the Solomon's Temple
that's now been built. They come out, and they just
needed to put one more stone in the top, the top stone. And
they had no more stones. They looked around, and there
wasn't another stone anywhere around there to put in there.
And somebody said, maybe that stone that was refused is the
top stone. And they hoisted it up there
and it fell right in place on the top and held the whole thing
together. Now I don't know if that's true
or not. But it's a good picture of Christ. It's so of Christ.
It's true of Him. He's the foundation. He's the
builder. And He's the topstone. And in
the fullness of the dispensation of time, He'll be the one who
consummates all together and holds it all together. The stone
the builders refuse has become the head of the topstone, the
head of the corner. That's Him. That's who He is. I pray he'll give you rest. I
pray he'll make you trust him. Amen.