We're going to begin this morning
in Genesis 31, 41. Genesis 41. So in this chapter, the Lord
gives Pharaoh, king of Egypt, a dream. And he doubles that
dream. It's one dream, but he sees it
in cows and in ears of corn. And he's awakened by this dream. When he awakes, he's troubled
by what he has seen in the dream. And it answers the question that
Paul will ask many hundreds of years later, is he the God of
the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is. He's Lord over all
the earth, none excepted. There's one true and living God. And we see here that truly the
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As rivers of water,
he turneth that heart whithersoever he wills. God is doing his will
in the earth. And then in this chapter, the
Lord exposes the wisdom of man. He shows that the wisdom of the
world, and Egypt is a picture of the whole world, and he shows
that the wisdom of the world is ignorance, it's darkness,
it's folly. They don't know the truth. And
so it says in verse 8 there that when Pharaoh awoke in the morning
and his spirit was troubled, he sent and called for all the
magicians and the wise men of Egypt. And he told them his dream,
but there was none that could interpret it unto Pharaoh. And then the Lord shows us that
there's only one. In all the land, there's only
one who could reveal what God had shown to Pharaoh. Only one
could interpret it. Only one could make it known. And what he made known was what
God was saying to Pharaoh for the salvation of the people,
for the salvation of the world, as it were. And then in verse
9, that's when the butler remembers Joseph, and he preaches Joseph
to Pharaoh. He declares Joseph to Pharaoh. And so in all this chapter, and
we won't finish the whole chapter, we'll just look at the beginning
part, but in all this we see how the Lord is working all things
together for good. All these things are coming together
here for the salvation of the people. So, Hearing the testimony of
the butler, the butler said to Pharaoh, there's a man that can
interpret your dream. I forgot. I forgot all about
this. But now I remember. And he told
us the interpretation of our dream. He revealed to us the
mystery. He told us the mystery. This
is what the Lord Jesus Christ does for his people. Then Pharaoh,
verse 14. Genesis 41 verse 14, Then Pharaoh
sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the
dungeon. And he shaved himself, and changed
his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. So this is the beginning
of Joseph's exaltation. This is the beginning of him
being raised up now and exalted among the people as the revealer
First, he had to be raised out of prison. And before that, he
had to become a servant. And so we see all these things,
how the Lord had made Joseph a servant, sent him down into
Egypt, under that bondage, as it were, of being a servant.
And he unjustly went to the prison, and there suffered many things. And now he's raised up from that
prison. There was no end in sight of
how he could get out of prison. It would seem that had this never
happened, he would have rotted there in jail and never been
raised. But here he's raised up, and
he's going to be exalted. And this pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ. who came as the servant of God,
who took upon him flesh, a body that he might suffer and die
in the room instead of his people, and go into the cross for them,
bearing their iniquities, their shame, bearing their iniquity
and paying their transgressions, he's satisfied. He's settled
the debt that we owed unto the Father. And all this was done
according to the determinate will and counsel of God, so that
men with wicked hands, wicked men with wicked hands, took the
Savior and put him on the cross. in order to bring about this
great salvation that we now know, and understand, and believe,
and receive, and rejoice in what the Lord has done for us. He
was buried in a grave, but he rose the third day in power,
as Peter declared, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be
holding of it. And so it pictures Christ. This coming up out of prison
is a picture of the grave, which is an iron bars. We cannot get
ourselves free of it. We are shut up in the prison
and cannot deliver ourselves, but it can't hold Christ. And
because he overcame it, it gives us a great hope, a sure hope,
a glorious hope that we too shall be raised from the dead by that
same power. And he begins it now in delivering
us from darkness, from bondage, from the prison and bondage of
sin and death. He makes us to hear the glorious
good news, to see Christ, and to believe him. And he delivers
us from death. And there's a picture here where
Joseph, in verse 14, it says that he shaved himself and changed
his raiment. That's a picture of what Christ
did. When he rose from the dead, when
John and Peter heard that the Savior was no longer in the grave,
they run to the grave and Peter goes in and what does he see?
He sees the linen clothes lying there in the grave. Christ had
changed his clothes. He saw the napkin that was over
his head. That was taken off, folded up,
and laid aside. A picture of Joseph shaving his
face and changing his raiment. And it's what the Lord does for
us in salvation. He removes that veil of flesh
over the heart that keeps us in darkness, ignorant of the
truth of God, and makes us to see, to see the Lord. And he
changes this raiment. He makes us new creatures in
Christ. old things are passed away behold
all things are become new it pictures Christ and it pictures
what Christ does for his people what he does for you that now
believe him that's because the veil of flesh is removed from
your heart and you're a new creature regenerated born again by the
Spirit of Christ and you see him and know him and so We see
that in this, as we look, as we stand back, we see this isn't
just chance happenings. These aren't just things, oh,
that was good fortune or good luck. No, nothing like that.
This is God's hand directing the whole thing, bringing about
this whole salvation, right? Who was it that troubled Pharaoh? Who gave the dream to Pharaoh?
The Lord did. The Lord troubled Pharaoh with
that dream. He gave it to him. Two times. He gave it to him
twice. Then, who was it that made the butler to remember?
First, he blinded it for him, from him for a time, for two
years. It says that he forgot. Two years. And then, he hears
this and he, oh, I remember now. I forgot all about this. There's
one that can interpret this. You've asked the magicians. You've
asked the wise men. They couldn't do it. But there
is one. There is one that can interpret this. And it was at
the time when Pharaoh was ready to hear it, most eager to hear
it. Had he told him two years earlier, Pharaoh would have forgotten
all about it. Oh, that's nice. That's great.
But now he wants, oh, there's a man that can interpret this?
Bring him up. Let's hear it. I want to hear
him. And so that was the perfect time. And God moved all these
things together to bring Joseph there, to bring him to the forefront.
So that, as it was with Esther, so it is with Joseph. He has
come to the kingdom for such a time as this. This is the time. This is when the salvation of
the people would be made known and wrought in their hearts. And so it all speaks to what
Christ has done, who came in the fullness of time, being made
of a woman, born under the law, to save his people, to accomplish
redemption for his people, to accomplish the perfect will of
God and the salvation of his people who cannot save themselves. Now, going on in verse 15 and
16, Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there
is none that can interpret it. And I have heard say of thee
that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered
Pharaoh, saying, it is not in me. You see the humility there. It's not in me. God shall give
Pharaoh an answer of peace. And this is probably my favorite
verse in the whole chapter. God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. And what that means is when God
gives you the answer, when God reveals the mystery of the gospel
to you, it shall come with power to the satisfaction of your soul.
You'll know this is so. This is it. This is the truth.
This is salvation. This is the Savior. When God
speaks it to your heart, He speaks peace to your soul, so that all
your running and scurrying and looking and trying to find some
peace, it's found in Christ. When Christ comes, and He speaks
to your heart, and He testifies to you that I am He, when He
reveals that He is God and Savior of you, that He's Lord of your
life, that he's done all things that you need and provided everything
for you, he comes as peace to your soul. As when Christ came
into that room where the disciples were, locked behind a door, yet
Christ couldn't keep Christ out. He came right in there, right
through into that locked door and said, peace be unto you. And then as he spoke, he settled
them. He calmed them down. He revealed
himself to them. I'm risen again. Look at my hands. Look at my feet. I'm the crucified
Savior, risen again, just as I said, just as I said. And so
he reveals, he gives peace to our hearts. He settles us in
him. And so we believe him because
of his grace and power. He says, come unto me and I'll
give you rest. We come to him with our burdens,
our labors, our heavy loads, our sin, our unbelief, our trials,
our hurt, our pain, our brokenness, and he gives us rest. We find
rest in him to the satisfaction of our souls so that we're not
listening to this thing, we're not going to this religion, we're
not trying this thing out anymore. No, we've heard. To the satisfaction,
we've received an answer of peace. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And you alone
have the words of eternal life. We believe. We know that you
have life. Lord, speak. Speak. We hear you. We hear you. And so that's what
he does. He brings that life around into us. We found him
of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. We found him. He's the
Savior. He's the Savior. Let's read the
dream that Pharaoh had. We'll read it in verse 17. It's
a repetition from the beginning. So here it is repeated, verse
17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
in my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river. And
behold, there came up out of the river seven kind, seven cows. meat cows or milking cows, I
don't know, but seven came up fat-fleshed and well-favored,
and they fed in the meadow. And behold, seven other kind
came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed,
such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. And
you wouldn't find these at auction. You don't take these cows to
the auction. These are ugly, hurting, despised
cattle here. And the lean and the ill-favored
kind did eat up the first seven fat kind. And when they had eaten
them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them. But
they were still ill-favored as at the beginning. And so I woke.
I woke from that thing. And then he fell back asleep.
And it says, verse 22, I saw my dream, and behold, seven ears
came up in one stalk, full and good. And behold, seven ears
withered thin, blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them,
and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told this
unto the magicians, but there was none that could declare it
to me. And that's how the Lord moves.
When the Lord reveals himself to you, he shuts up the mouths
of all other interpreters. He shuts you up to Christ, to
hear Christ, to hear Christ alone, to receive his word. He does
that in grace and in mercy, to show you that they don't know
what they're talking about, but this one does. This is the Savior. He knows. He knows, and so he's
made unto us the interpreter. Christ is made unto us the revealer
of God. He makes us to know who the Father
is, who the true and living God is. He's the interpreter. So
Genesis 41 verse 25 then, and Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the
dream of Pharaoh is one. God hath showed Pharaoh what
he is about to do. And that's what our Savior does. He makes us to know who God is. He makes us to know who you are. And he makes us to know what
he's accomplished. and what he is accomplishing
for his people. He's revealing to us salvation. He's revealing the gospel. He's giving us light. He's teaching
us the confession of the living soul. And he brings it forth
so that we confess Christ. We believe Him whom the Father
has sent. We hear Him. We trust Him. We have no other salvation, no
other Savior, but Him. This is what He works in us.
And this is so of Christ our Savior. It says in Revelation
1.1, the very beginning of that book, the revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass. He's the revealer. He's the interpreter. By him we know and understand
and worship God in spirit and in truth. By him and him only.
And Joseph then goes on to explain the dream that God gave to Pharaoh,
verse 26. The seven good kind are seven
years. And the seven good ears are seven
years. The dream is one. And the seven
thin and ill-favored kind that came up after them are seven
years. And the seven empty ears blasted
with the east wind shall be seven years of famine." Seven years
of good, seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have
spoken unto Pharaoh. What God is about to do, he showeth
unto Pharaoh. He's showing it to you. He's
revealing it to you. He's making you to know what
he is about to do. Behold, there comes seven years
of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there
shall arise after them seven years of famine, and all the
plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine
shall consume the land. And the plenty shall not be known
in the land by reason of that famine following, for it shall
be very grievous, very heavy. And for that the dream was doubled
unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God,
and God will shortly bring it to pass. And so you can hear
Christ saying, verily, verily. Truly, truly, I say unto you,
it's true. It's established. It cannot be
changed or altered. God has determined it to be so. And it's fixed and established
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made known to us the things
which shall surely come to pass. And so just as Joseph explained
to Pharaoh what God was about to do, so the Lord makes known
to his people what God is about to do among all people. He makes
us to know we are sinners. He makes each of his children
to know, I'm the transgressor. I've offended God. I need a savior. I need salvation. Lord, you show
me my heart. You show me my thoughts. You
show me my ways. You show me my works. They're
all wicked. They're vain. They cannot save,
Lord. Save me. Have mercy upon me.
He makes us to know that we might receive him by faith who is revealed
in Moses and the prophets. And this word testifies of Christ
the Savior, Christ the promised seed. That's why he makes us
to know we're sinners, not just to beat us down, but to humble
us, that we would hear, to open our ear to hear him who speaks
and says, peace be unto you. Come unto me, you that labor
and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. and peace, reconciling you to
the Father, who is holy, righteous, perfect, just in all his ways. And I give you raiment. I clothe
you. I give you righteousness. I make
you righteous in me. Come in me to the Father, and
you'll be received. And all who come to him for mercy
are received. He doesn't turn you away. He's
never turned any sinner away who came to him seeking mercy. And he shows us this, that we
would confess our sin to him. Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. Save me. Have mercy on me, Lord. He does this. And so he makes
us to know there's a coming wrath. There's a coming judgment. And
Peter says he's done it once in the flood, and all men know
it. There's evidence of the flood all over. They all can see it,
but they're being willfully ignorant of it. And next time, it's with
fire. But God has provided the Savior. He's provided a remedy. He's
provided salvation. It's the tower of Christ. Fly
to the tower. Flee to Him. Go to Him. He's
the Savior whom the Father sent and provided to save you from
your sins. If you look over at Isaiah 26,
there's a picture of this where the Lord is speaking to you,
to you that hear. You that hear this testimony,
Isaiah 26 and verse 20 and 21, it's the last two verses of that
chapter, and it's a picture of Christ calling to his people,
calling to his people, come, come, my people, enter into salvation,
enter into the safety which God has provided. Isaiah 26, verse
20, come, my people, Enter thou into
thy chambers. Shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. For behold, the
Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of
the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain. That chamber, brethren,
is Christ, who said, I go to prepare a place for you. And
that place is prepared. And we flee to that place now. Today is the day of grace. The
chamber is there, thy chamber, the place prepared for you by
the Lord Jesus Christ, who went to the cross, and the judgment
came over, and all things were settled and established right
there. Right there for God's people.
It's done. We are saved in Him. And all
outside of Him are outside of that judgment. Fly to Christ. Hear Him. Hear Him and go to
Him. Believe His word. It's the testimony
that He gives us that He is the Savior, we're the sinner, and
we need Him. We need Him. That's what He reveals
in us. Now, additionally, Christ has
made unto us our wise counselor, just as Joseph was made the wise
counselor to Pharaoh. He said, verse 33, Now therefore,
let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the
land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let
him appoint officers over the land and take up the fifth part
of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them
gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay
up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the
cities. And that food shall be for store
to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall
be in the land of Egypt, and the land perish not through the
famine." And so this is a picture of Christ who takes the gospel,
which is to the natural man as a dream. That seems just too
good to be. How can these things be so? How
could I know God and dwell with him forever? Well, Christ takes
that dream, as it were, and reveals it to you and makes you to see,
no, these are the things which are shortly to come to pass. And he speaks to us in wisdom. He publishes who he is throughout
all the world by this word and by his church. The Church of
God, which He purchased with His own blood, He publishes this
Word, making it known to the people of what He's done, of
Him who is the Savior, why He came and what He accomplished,
and how that He went to the cross. bearing His people in His own
body, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree to put that
curse away from us, to deliver us from our just due, to deliver
us from the debt that we owe. He paid the debt, he settled
the debt, it's paid by Christ for his people. And he's publishing
it, he's making it known to us how that he has removed the stain
of sin, the guilt from us, and reconciled us to holy God. He's
done this, brethren. And having died as our shorty
in our room instead, having made satisfaction unto the Father,
he rose from the dead, and we've been raised in him so that there
comes a day when we shall hear it. The day is the day of grace
and he sends provision for us, the dew of heaven as it were,
that blessing of the Holy Ghost and all that we need is given
to us of Christ to effectually reveal this in our hearts. If
you're a sinner, delay no longer. If you hear the Savior, if you
know He's the Savior, go to Him. Ask, seek, knock. It'll be open. It'll be given, because He's
the one that stirs the heart, that makes us to know our need
of Him. And then we see the type of what
our Lord works in His people. in verse 37, and the thing was
good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. That's what he does. He makes
us willing in the day of his power. Yes, Lord, you are salvation. You are the Savior. Lord, save
me. I need you. Draw me, Lord. Seal me up for
your purposes, for your grace. Take my wicked, wandering heart
and fix it on you, Lord. Have mercy on me. Save me. Save
me. He draws us. The weak and fearful
sinner, though you be afraid and you're not sure, but you
know he's salvation, go to him. Confess that to him. Be honest.
He sees your heart. And he does that to draw us near
to him. Verse 38 and 39, and Pharaoh
said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this, as this
is, a man in whom the spirit of God is? A man in whom the
fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily? That's Christ. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
for as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none
so discreet and wise as thou art. That's what the Lord has
shown us. There's none so wise, none so discreet, none so prosperous
as Christ, who takes the will of God and brings it to pass,
establishes it in his own power and glory, in his blood, in his
righteousness. He's perfect, brethren. And so
we're made to sweetly confess like Pharaoh. That's it. That's
the peace. You're right. It's settled in
my heart. What you said is true. It's right. It's perfect. This
is exactly what God has shown me. Lord, bring it to pass. Bring it to pass. We're safe
in Christ. And so he settles that troubled
heart of his people in him. He makes us to know the mind
and will of God so that we have peace with God and are reconciled
to him. And this is the word of peace,
brethren, which is published by our God, the angel going across
the heavens throughout the world declaring to us the gospel. That woe has come, but here's
salvation. Here's the Savior. Look to him.
Believe him. And I close with Colossians 2.
Verse two and three, he has come that our hearts might be comforted
being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. Brethren, I pray the Lord bless
that word to our hearts. Amen.