Turn with me again if you would
to Genesis chapter 49. You may never get out of this
chapter. I want you to notice verse 22
with me. We'll look at three verses or
so tonight. Genesis 49, 22. says Joseph is a fruitful bough,
even a fruitful bough by a whale whose branches run over the wall. Now in his prophecy concerning
his sons, and that's what Jacob is doing here in the 49th chapter
of Genesis, he comes to his son, Joseph, his beloved son, the
son that he loved. And he compares and describes
him as a fruitful bough, a fruitful offshoot, a fruitful tree. That's what bough means. He says,
even a bough that's planted by a whale whose branches ran over
the wall. You know, when a vine grows near
a whale, it's always full. When its roots drink from an
unfailing spring, it'll always be fruitful and bring forth many
branches. And the lesson here for us is
to get next to a whale, get next to a whale, to tap into a spring
of eternal waters. And as you know, that whale and
that spring I speak of is Christ. And how well this describes Joseph's
character. He flourished being near his
God, did he not? He was an offshoot of an old
tree. He was rooted deep by a well that always watered him from
his childhood until he died. Joseph was in constant fellowship
with his God, and therefore God blessed him greatly. That's a
sure and certain way to be blessed. For if you draw nigh to God,
the scripture says, he'll draw nigh unto you. That's a promise
that God himself made. Oh, that we might draw nigh to
God. Matter of fact, if you draw nigh
to God, it's because he's already drawn nigh to you. Joseph lived before God and he
was God's servant. But better said, Joseph lived
with God and he was God's child. Joseph, from his early years,
look to heaven for daily teaching and divine comfort. And God was
with him. Oh, that's so obvious in the
story of his life. We're told that over and over
again in the book of Genesis. And the Lord was with him. And
the Lord was with him. Oh, as I look back on my life,
And I know as you look back on yours, we can say, the Lord was
with me. Oh, the Lord was with me there.
And the Lord's with us now, those that trust him. So much so was
the Lord with Joseph, is not only to bless him, but to bless
others for his sake. And again, what a picture he
is of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God blessed Joseph in
the house of Potiphar. And Potiphar was blessed and
prospered because of it, for Joseph's sake. And God blessed
our Lord Jesus Christ that he might bless his elect in, by,
and through him. As you remember afterwards, God
blessed Joseph in the prison. And through him, God blessed
the butler, and God blessed Pharaoh, and God blessed the whole nation
of Egypt, and many famishing nations in the time of the famine. There was root in Joseph. Oh,
is there root in our religion? Have we tapped into the spring
of life? Is our root planted deep in the
spiritual truth? Have we received life and power
from Christ, the spiritual fountain? You know, the first blessing
in the book of Psalms is that the godly man should be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season and his leaf also shall not wither. and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, David
said, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Friends, if you and I are rooted by the well, drawing our supplies
from the eternal fountain and storehouse of Christ, we'll bring
forth fruit. We shall not wither, and whatsoever
we do, shall prosper. When a man lives in the presence
of God, I'm telling you, they have fixed principles, things
that rule their hearts and guide their lives. They fear God. They reverence Him. That's what
fear is, to reverence God. It's a reverential respect. It's acknowledging Him as God
and we ourselves as nothing. The child of God believes his
refilled truth and he won't drink from another man's cistern. Why? Because within him and within
her is a well of water springing up into eternal life. God puts
that in a man or woman's heart. And that's what being a tree
planted by the rivers of water does for a sinner. They're able
to discern between truth and error. Oh, I can assure you that,
and you know it so, those of you that know God. Oh, you can
hear error when you hear it. Oh, you are able to discern the
truth of the scriptures. You've learned the gospel by
the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Those that are taught the scriptures,
the gospel, are taught of God, and the law of God is written
upon the tablets of your hearts. And you believe and you trust
in Christ, whether others bow to him or reject him, for you
know that Christ is the one and the only mediator between you
and a holy God. And your constant Your constant
striving is to have Christ, to cling to Christ. That's your
one desire, that you might have him. You know, Joseph showed
his character throughout the whole of his life. As a child,
his father loved him, and our translators say because he was
the son of his old age. In other words, he had him when
he was an old man. But I think it would be better
to understand those words as meaning it was because Joseph
was a son of old age. And what I mean by that are in
other words, Joseph was old and wise in his ways, even when he
was young, his thoughts were of God. And I am convinced that
Joseph had dreams at night from God because during the day he
thought of God. God was on his mind and on his
heart constantly. Joseph was, as a youth, lived
very near to God and therefore was compelled and forced to protest
against the evil conduct and action of his brothers. If you
remember back in Genesis chapter 37, we're told that Joseph brought
unto his father their evil report. And though we're not told exactly
what they're doing, whether it was neglect of the sheep or whatever
it was, it was evil. And they hated Joseph without
a cause because he only told the truth. You know, his dreams
were supernatural and they were prophetic. And what he said came
to pass. But his brothers dismissed them
and called him a dreamer. And you know what they did? With
malice, they sold him into slavery in Egypt, but no sooner than
he's there, we read in the scriptures, and the Lord was with him. No
matter what we go through in this life, no matter where we
find ourselves, whether it's in a slave in Potiphar's house
or in the prison, the Lord is with his people. What a comfort
that is to the child of God. You know, Potiphar bought him,
and the Lord made all that Joseph did to prosper, as I said a moment
ago, and God blessed the house of Potiphar for Joseph's sake.
And then came that great temptation from Potiphar's wife, and she
made aggressive advances toward him, but what did Joseph graciously
say? Do you remember what he said
to her? He said, how can I do this great wickedness and sin
against God? Oh, he was ever mindful of his
Lord and his God, and God was with him, and God kept him in
a way of innocence. He would not grieve his God. Oh, that I would not grieve my
God, that I would always do what's pleasing in his sight. Lord,
make that so. God was his delight. He dared
not to disappoint his Lord. And by false accusation, as you
know, he was cast into prison. But then we again immediately
read that the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And before
long, he's the under jailer. He's the one under the jailer
and was helpful to other prisoners. Oh, I can't help but to think
his branches were always running over the wall. in the form of
usefulness to others. You know, the prison, a dark
and dingy place, was brightened and blessed by his presence.
And God providentially made a path from the prison to the presence
of Pharaoh. Providentially, God made it so. And even then, in the hour of
his elevation, he didn't forget God. When he interpreted the
dreams of Pharaoh, he said, God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. Always giving glory to his God. He said, God has showed Pharaoh
what he, God, is about to do. There was no doubt in Pharaoh's
mind that this man loved his God. And on the throne, his God
is still with him and he proclaims, God has caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction. Who did? God did. And friends,
it's God that makes you fruitful in the land of this affliction
in which we live and toil and labor. You know, when Joseph
finally met up again with his aged father, there are talks
concerning the Lord God. And when it's time to die, as
we'll see in Genesis chapter 50, he tells his brethren, I
die, but God will be with you. And as also we'll see, Joseph
gives commandment concerning his bones, that he should not
be buried in Egypt, for he was no Egyptian, even though he had
been Lord of the land. He desired to be carried away
into the land of promise in the day that Israel should enter
into that land. And no doubt that Joseph was
a fruitful bough by a well, and that well was Christ, his God.
A body near God made Joseph independent of others. His resources of faith
were within. And he would not be injured by
external trials and circumstances. He refused. He refused. God brought Joseph to the throne
by the way of adversity. But he never charged God foolishly. Matter of fact, he gave God the
credit. The Lord's done this. The Lord's done this. Have we
come to that point where we know all things come from Him? And
we know that all things are working together for the good of them
that love the Lord, who are thee called according to His purpose. Oh, I'm telling you, Joseph's
roots were deep. They were tapped into that everlasting
fountain, that everlasting fountain. And he was not affected by temporal,
physical things. Oh, that God would bring me to
that point. Oh, that I might not be so easily
upset, tossed about to and fro by every wind of doctrine, every
circumstance, every trial in life. That I might firmly set
my feet on the solid rock and say, God hath brought me here.
And it's gonna be good. It's gonna be for my good and
for his glory. What a lesson for the child of
God to learn. Though he was treated horribly
by his brothers, he was a blessing in the house of Potiphar. He
was a blessing behind the bars of prison. And he was a blessing
on the throne of Egypt. May God enable us to seek after
a spiritual life which is not dependent upon the outward and
upon the external, but one that finds root and finds foundation
upon Christ. the fountain of life and the
sure foundation. I'm telling you, it's upon that
house that is built upon a rock that the storms of life will
beat to no avail. That house will stand. That house
will stand. May God make you and I fruitful,
a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a whale whose branches
run over the wall. Now look at verse 23. Jacob says, the archers have
sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. But his bow abode in strength. And the arms of his hands were
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. First, I'd
point your attention to the cruel act and attack against him. It says the archers have sorely
grieved him. Notice that Joseph's enemies
are described as archers. The old translations call them
masters of arrows. I think of Satan who fires and
shoots his fiery darts when I read that. These are men who are well
skilled in the use of arrows. Yet to me, there seems to be
something cowardly about the attack of an archer opposed to
that of a swordsman. You know, the swordsman plants
himself foot to foot, face to face against you and allows you
to at least defend yourself as he deals his blows against you. But the archer? He stands at
a distance, he hides himself, and the arrow flies unannounced
to penetrate your heart. So are the enemies of God's people.
They very seldom come foot to foot to show their faces. They shoot the arrow from a distance
so that we cannot answer or defend ourselves how cowardly they are. No doubt the archers sorely grieved
poor Joseph. They were archers of envy. He
was the one who talked with God. He was the one that heard from
God. He was the one that his father loved. His father made
him a princely coat of many colors, and therefore his brothers hated
him. Why? Because of envy and jealousy,
they hated him. They wanted to kill him, but
they settled for less, and they sold him into slavery. And envy
and jealousy was behind it all. And was it not the same with
Christ our Lord? But they did kill him. And they
were archers of temptation, as we have already mentioned. The
wife of Potiphar fixed her adulterous affection on Joseph and being
continually in her presence. He was the head of the house.
He was always there before. Joseph was perpetually, day by
day, hour by hour, solicited and tempted by her evil advances. And he was an extraordinary man
for sure, but never forget that he was a man susceptible to the
temptations that plague all sinners. And these temptations to Joseph
were real. But he never took his mind or
his eyes off his God. And one old wise commentator
wrote, opportunity gives men a way to be a criminal, but importunity
will drive the strongest men astray. To be tempted day in
and day out by such solicitations, man needs more than just human
will to resist. I'm telling you, he needs a power
from above. There was a power within the
will of Joseph that was not his own. There was a strength within
Joseph that was made manifest in his utter weakness. I'm talking
about, am I talking about Joseph here or am I talking about Christ?
I'm talking about both. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Our Lord
Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Oh,
I'm telling you, truly the archer sorely grieved Him and shot at
Him. But his bow abode in great strength. And I'm telling you, these were
the archers of malicious slander. Seeing that he would not yield
to temptation, Potiphar's wife falsely accused him to her husband. And his lord believed her over
him and cast him into prison. And there was Joseph. Can you
imagine? Innocent. Innocent of the charge. His character
ruined in the eyes of man, but not in God's eyes. Most likely
he was even looked upon in the prison with contempt. Can you
imagine criminals who deserve to be there slandering and withdrawing
themselves from Joseph thinking that he was more vile than they?
Oh, how hard, how hard that must have been. And again, what a
picture we have of our Lord who came into the world and His own
received Him not. His own people didn't receive
Him. Oh, it's no easy thing to be
slandered and thought a criminal by others, especially when you're
innocent. They called our Lord a drunken
winebibber. They said on several occasions,
he's got a devil. He's possessed. The Lord of glory,
they said this about. I'm telling you, the archers
sorely grieved our Lord. They shot at him. They hated
him. They killed him. Don't think it strange if they
do the same to you. Did our Lord not say, if the
world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
And I would have you also notice here in verse 24, our Lord's
quietness. It says his bow abode in strength. It's not rattling, it's not moving.
It's not even aiming back, but it abides in a quiet state. He takes no notice of the attacks
against him. Joseph's bow was not turned against
his enemies in retaliation. His bow abode in strength. He rested while they raged. Boy, what a picture of our Lord
and Savior. You know, if a dog howls at the moon, what does
the moon do? It just continues reflecting
the sun. Does the sun's movement stop in its tracks because the
clouds cover it? Absolutely not. God's universe,
God's will, God's purpose continue on even if men oppose it. Doesn't
change God. Doesn't change His will, His
purpose. May we learn to let our arrows abide in our quiver
Let's don't be quick to take them out and be in a hurry to
set ourselves right with those that oppose us. Why? Because if God be for me, who
can be against me? He'll defend my case. He'll plead my cause. God will
take care of it, and He'll take care of us. And our bows, like
Joseph's, abide in strength. Joseph's bow was quiet, but it
wasn't broken. Big difference. His bow abode
in strength. What was the cause of this strength?
Again, verse 24. But his bow abode in strength,
and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the
mighty God of Jacob. You know, When my father was
a small man, most of you know that I was adopted and I was
larger than my dad in the sixth grade. And he used to always
tell everybody that I pushed him away from the table and I
ate all the food. And he may have had a point there.
But my dad was a very strong man. In his prime, His arms,
I remember this so vividly, his arms were so muscular that they
looked out of place with the rest of his body, kind of like
Popeye when he ate spinach. He worked as a logger during
the day, hard work. He was a welder of steel at night.
He made drag lines for surface mining. And he was an avid hunter,
and he liked to hunt deer, and he liked to hunt with a bow and
arrow. And I'm reminded of a time when my son Matthew was a young
boy, and he wanted to learn how to shoot his Papaw's bow and
arrow. And Daddy agreed to show him.
Well, Daddy handed him that bow, and he placed the arrow and put
his hand on the string and on the bow. But Daddy put his hands
over Matthew's hands on the bow and on the string, and he pulled
back the string of that bow. I don't know if you've ever tried
to pull back a string of a bow. It's not easy, especially depending
on the pound of bow it is. And I don't know anything about
it, but they say it depends on the pound of the bow that it
is. It makes it even harder. But
when that string was pulled back, Matthew was smiling from ear
to ear. He must not have been probably over eight or nine years
old. And as that arrow flew forth
and struck their makeshift target, Matthew was convinced that he
had shot that arrow. But I knew who had a hold of
that bow, and I wasn't the least bit concerned. I know whose strength
it was that pulled that string back. It was my dad's. May we never forget who our strength
comes from. In our weakness, Christ is made
strong. In other words, our weakness
reveals His power and His strength. Just like my son's weakness revealed
my father's strength. And that's what Paul said. He
said, truly His grace is sufficient for us, for in His strength is
made perfect Paul said, most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. Oh, I glory in my infirmities,
friends, knowing that Christ is my strength. And it's in my
weakness that his strength is revealed. You know, the strength
Joseph experienced was divine strength. That strength which
God gives to Joseph is real strength. And I am more and more persuaded
every day that the sinner has no power at all within themselves
except that which is given to them from above. Did you notice
the way God gives this strength to Joseph? Well, he gives it
to him the same way my son received it from my dad. The arms of his
hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. This strength was covenant strength. You know, whenever you read of
the God of Jacob in the Bible, know that it has reference to
God's promise to him. of God's covenant with him. You
know, it was the same with Abraham and Isaac. It always had to do
with the seed, the coming of the Messiah, the coming of Christ. When our first parents sinned,
you know, Adam hid from God and God called for him in the garden. And Adam told God, he said, I
heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was
naked. I saw that I had no covering.
I saw that I had no righteousness. For the first time, he truly
saw. And he said, I hid myself. And
I'm telling you, any sinner that sees they have no righteousness
will endeavor to hide themselves from God. And God said to Adam,
who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree that
I commanded you not to eat from? And do you remember what Adam
said? He said, the woman you gave me, gave me of the tree
and I did eat. And then God turned to the woman
and he said, what is this that you've done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled, deceived me and I did eat. And then the
Lord turned to the serpent And he said to the serpent, because
thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above
every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I'll put
enmity, I'll put hostility between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise, that seed,
her seed shall bruise, shall crush, snap, break thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now friends, we know that that
seed is Christ. And we need to understand that
the covenant of salvation that God made was with Him. Christ,
the seed, before the foundation of the world, Christ agreed to
redeem a fallen people that God would give him. And that covenant
that God made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is the same covenant
that he makes with every believing child of God. I have a covenant
with God, but it's in Christ. It's the covenant of salvation.
It's a covenant that God made between, that was made between
Christ and God, and it's ours in Christ. And Christ in that
covenant as the seed agreed to pay the price of redemption for
his elect, and God agreed in that covenant to give to him
those for whom he died. Christ has paid the price, he's
validated the covenant, and God fulfills his part of it by giving
every elect vessel of mercy into the hands of Christ Jesus to
be conformed perfectly to him. What a covenant. What did I do
in the covenant? And that's a gift of God, the
ability to believe. So all the power and all the
grace and all the blessings and all the mercies and all the comforts,
all the things that we have, we have through the covenant
of Christ as the seed. And God made promises to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob But they had to do with the coming of Christ,
the seed that would crush the serpent's head and redeem his
elect was the fact that he would come through their seed. And the arms of Joseph were made
strong, friends, by the hands of this mighty God, the mighty
God of Jacob. And then notice what it says
at the end of verse 24. It says, from fence is the shepherd,
the stone of Israel. Well, I wonder who that's speaking
of. That's speaking of Christ. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd
that gives his life for the sheep. John 10, 11. Christ is the good
shepherd who knows his sheep and is known of them. John 10,
14. Christ is the good shepherd. And he said, as the father knoweth
me, even so know I the father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. That's the covenant of grace,
the covenant of salvation. Christ the Good Shepherd said,
and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring. Why must he bring them? Because
God gave them to him before the foundation of the world, and
all that the Father giveth him shall come to him. They must
come, they have to come. God would be a failure, Christ
would be a failure if they aren't saved. Them I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and they shall be one fold and one shepherd." Christ is the
shepherd that said, believe ye not, but you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall
any man pluck them out of my Father's hand." You can't be
plucked out of his hand, his mighty hand. You believe one's
saved, always say, if I'm in the hands of the Lord, I am forever
saved. Christ came into the world as
a shepherd to redeem his sheep. And you know what? He's still
finding lost sheep. He's not lost. They're lost. They're sheep. He doesn't take
goats and zap them into sheep. They're sheep. They're just lost.
And He goes and He finds that lost sheep and He puts them on
His shoulder and He carries them back to the fold. And it says
there's rejoicing in heaven when that comes about. Oh my. What a Savior. What a wonderful
Savior. Isn't that what we saw? Isn't
He? He sure is. Christ is the stone
of Israel. You know, He said, and I'll finish
with this, He said to those religious Jews, Those scribes and Pharisees
that hated Him. Oh, they hated Him. They despised
Him. He said, did you never read in
the Scriptures? I think it's amazing sometimes
how the Lord talked to them. You know, they prided themselves
as being experts of the Law and the Scriptures. You know, we
talked recently about, he said, you search the Scriptures in
them, you think you have eternal life. And here he said, did you
never read in the Scriptures, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. He said,
this is the Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes.
The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof. Oh, are you a fruitful bough
tapped into the water of life? And whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken. but on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind them to powder." Now listen, if you fall on Christ,
dear sinner, you shall be broken, you shall be humbled, and you
shall be taught to say with Adam, what have I done? Don't you know
that's what Adam said? When his eyes were opened to
the good and evil and he found himself naked and hiding from
God, don't you know he said, what have I done? What have I
done? And so are you, when your eyes
are open to who and what you are. Oh, but if this stone fall
on you, it'll ground you to powder. There'll be nothing left of the
one who rejects Christ. But to those who trust in Christ
alone, the Lord says, behold, I lay in sand, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on me shall not be
confounded. Until you, therefore, which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallow, the same is made the head of
the corner. and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at his word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Christ is a
fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a whale. Well, he is
the whale. He is that spring, the fountain
of eternal life. His branches run over the wall.
And I'm telling you, if God enables you to put your trust in Him.
Remember what Brother Montgomery used to say? Everything's going
to be alright. Everything's going to be alright.
If you put your trust in Him. I can assure you of that. Look
to Christ. Trust in Him. Why? Because salvation's
in the Lord. It's all in His hands. Oh, that
God might make me fruitful, a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough,
planted by a well whose branches, you ever seen a branch that's
so full of fruit it just hangs to the ground? It just, there's
so much weight on it, it can't hold it all. That's what I want
to be. God, make it so, for Christ's
sake. Alrighty, I appreciate your attention. Paul, would you dismiss us in
prayer, please?