It is so good to be here. I bring
you great greetings from Katie Baptist. This is a beloved congregation,
believe me, to a lot of congregations, but I can tell you this, Katie
Baptist loves you and prays for you. Pray the Lord bless you
as he has. It is so good to be with you. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis. chapter
41, Genesis chapter 41. I asked Gabe to read that passage
out of Ezekiel and Lord willing, we'll see why in just a moment. But we've been going through
the book of Genesis at home and I came to this passage of scripture
about a week or so ago and I preached out of this passage there and
really I told Gabe yesterday or the day before that I would
be preaching. I think I said, Gabe did I say
Joshua? Something, I told him something. And I just, over the
last two days, I've just been convinced I need to go back to
Genesis. And I do pray that the Lord bless
this passage of scripture. I'm gonna preach tonight, Lord
willing, out of verse 45. Genesis 41, 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name,
and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, priest
of On, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Now, just to get all of us back
to where we are right here, Joseph was one of the twelve sons of
Isaac. And he was a favorite son. His daddy
loved him, loved him the most. Just stop right here, just think
of this man Joseph as a picture of our Lord. He was the most
beloved of the twelve sons. And he He had a commission from
his daddy. Daddy told him to go out in the
field where his brethren were and check on them, make sure
that they were doing okay. And his brothers saw him coming
and they hated him. They hated him because he was
the most beloved son. His daddy had made him a coat
of many colors. And they saw him coming and they
took him And they wanted at first they were going to kill him.
But one of his brothers stood and said, let's don't kill him.
Let's just put him in a pit. Let's put him in a pit and we'll
not kill him here. Some Midianites were coming past. And they sold him. They sold him to these Midianites.
And Midianites got him and brought him to Egypt. When he was in
Egypt, a man named Potiphar bought him, bought him as a slave. And
one day, after many days, Potiphar's wife, who wanted to really seduce
him, she kept trying to tell him, she said, look, lie with
me, lie with me. And he just pushed her, pushed
her, pushed her away. One day she caught hold of his
garment. And she said, lie with me. And he said, how can I do
this? How can I do this against God? How can I do this against
my master? Potiphar bought me. How can I
do it against myself? But how can I do such a thing
against God? And it just infuriated Potiphar's
wife. So when Potiphar came back, she
lied. She lied on Joseph. and told
the story in a way that made it look like Joseph was the one
that was stirring all this up. Well, Potiphar had him thrown
in prison, had him put in prison for a crime that he didn't commit. And he was in prison now, and
while he was in prison, Pharaoh had two men, a butler and a baker. that had uh... angered pharaoh
and he had them thrown in the jail and they were in jail with
joseph and they had a dream and in their dream joseph uh... you know he was he was the one
that the lord used to interpret this dream one of the men were
going to be delivered and uh... out of the bondage and the other
man was going to be killed by the king. And it came to pass
like that. Well, the butler that was delivered
back to Pharaoh and back to good standing with Pharaoh, he was
supposed to tell Pharaoh as soon as he got out. Joseph asked him,
he said, when you get to Pharaoh, would you mention my name? He
said, sure, I'll do that. I'll be glad to do that. He got
out of prison. He didn't more think of Joseph
than man the moon. Two years went by. Joseph is
still in prison after two years. And Pharaoh had a dream. And this dream was concerning
seven years. It was gonna happen in Egypt
of plenty. They were gonna have plenty,
plenty, plenty, abundance of food for seven years. But then
there was gonna be seven years of famine. And it was in this
dream, a dream of which Pharaoh, he saw some healthy cows, and
then he saw some cows that were real lean, and then he saw a
stalk of corn that was real healthy, and then this other stalk that
was just real frail-looking. He just couldn't understand it.
Well, he said, I'll go get some of my magicians, guys that can
tell me what's going on here. And so they couldn't figure it
out. They didn't know anything. They didn't know anything about
this dream. And all of a sudden, the butler,
he remembered. He said, I remember a man that
I was in jail with, two years now, has gone by providentially. He stayed there for two years,
and this butler said, I know a man that interpreted a dream
for me and for the baker. And he said, there's a man, and
he knows the interpretation of dreams. Well, Pharaoh told him,
said, go get him. And they got him out. And in
a period of one day, now all this took place, now not what
I told you, but from the time that Joseph got out of jail,
One day, he's delivered out of prison. He stands before Pharaoh. He hears the dream of Pharaoh. He tells Pharaoh the interpretation
of it. And Pharaoh says, This is an
amazing thing. Can there be one that can oversee
this seven years of plenty? Is there one that can do that?
Because Joseph told him, he said, search out somebody that can
oversee the plenty that's going to happen. Because there's going
to be a lot of food here for seven years. But then it's going to
be seven years. It's not going to be. And it's
going to be a famine. And Pharaoh says, can it be that
we search you out? And here's the man standing there,
Joseph, and Pharaoh tells him, he said, you're the man. I'm
gonna elevate you. He puts Joseph second in command,
only to himself. He said, I'm gonna put you over
all of my house, over all of my land. Everything is gonna
be in your hands. And nobody will be able to do
anything unless they come to you. Oh, buddy, you talk about
a plethora of gospel in that right there, but we don't have
that long for tonight. But I'd like to come to this
point right here. Now, Joseph has been elevated. He's a man, a criminal, in jail
for a crime he didn't commit. He was despised without a cause. And now he's delivered. Here
he is now. Pharaoh comes and he, look at
verse 42. Well, 41, Pharaoh said unto him,
after he has that dream delivered, Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see,
I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took
off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand. and
arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about
his neck. And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, bow
the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I'm Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand
or foot in all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zaphnath-Paeonea, and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter
of Potipharah, priest of On. And Joseph went out over all
the land of Egypt. Now here we are. Here's Joseph. Now he's got him out, and now
he's in Egypt. He's setting as a ruler. And here's Joseph as a type of
our precious Lord and Savior, exalted to be the ruler over
all the house of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's a picture of the Father.
And here's our Lord, the submissive servant of Jehovah, exalted be
a ruler over all flesh, as the Lord Jesus Christ has been given
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as the Father had given him." Now, I want us just to
look at that one passage of Scripture, that verse 45 right there. The
Scripture declares that Pharaoh has not only given Joseph a new
position, But now he's bestowed upon Joseph something that would
declare a new position in such a way that his name is going
to set it forth. He calls his name Zaphnath-Paeonea. Now, that name interpreted Pharaoh's
in Egypt. And that name right there in
Egypt, here's what it means. Savior. or salvation of the world. If you think that that's not
a beautiful picture of our Lord and Savior, the Savior of the
world. Turn with me to 1 John 4 verse
14. 1 John 4 verse 14. 1 John 4 verse 14. Here's what the Spirit of God
moved John to write. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Now that's what Zaphnath-Pananea
means, Savior of the world. Savior of the world. God so loved the world. that
he gave his only begotten son. Now, you know, that's a precious
passage of scripture, but oh, how abused it is. Do you know
what the world in John 3, 16 means? God so loved the world. I'd encourage you to look this
up. You know what it means? The human
race. The human race. Almighty God
has chosen a people before the foundation of the world. He's
got an elect. He's chosen them out of every
nation and kindred and tribe and tongue. He's chosen some. He's been pleased to show mercy
and compassion to whomsoever He will. He's chosen an elect. Why did He do that? Because He
loved the order of man. The human race. And if the human
race was left to itself, Almighty God, who is just, would have
cast the whole human race out. Almighty God has not set His
love and affection on everybody. The Scripture never says that.
I know how that Scripture is abused. They say, God so loved
the world. That means that God loves everybody. That's not what
it says. He loves the human race, and He's got an elect. So therefore,
He is the Savior of the world. He's Savior of the human race.
I looked that word up in 1 John 4.14 to make sure it was the
same word. And it's the same word. Look
it up. God loved the human race. And because He loved the human
race, He's got a chosen people that He's going to save out of.
And so here's Joseph. And God had moved this Pharaoh
to give him a new name. And he's going to save a people. He's going to save some people.
And so Joseph, he's got this new name. But let me ask you
this. Is Joseph not also a picture here of our Lord? The Father
gave him a name. Philippians 2, 9 to 11, I'll
just read this for you. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus, you know what Jesus means. Jehovah is
salvation. Jesus, Savior. At the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God,
the Father. So Pharaoh gave him a new name.
What does his name mean? It means Savior of the world.
The Father's given the Son a name, a name above every name. What's
the name? Above every name, the name is
Jesus. Jehovah's salvation. But not
only did Pharaoh exalt Joseph to a new position and gave him
a new name, he also, the scripture says, he gave him a wife. Pharaoh
called Joseph named Zaphnath, Panea, and gave him to wife Asenath,
the daughter of Potiphar. Now, this wife, I want us to consider the beauty
of this whole scenario as it unfolded out of this one passage
of scripture. Joseph had a wife given to him
by who? Pharaoh. Pharaoh, the scripture
says, and he gave him, Pharaoh gave Joseph a name and he gave
him a wife. Who gave the Lord Jesus Christ
his wife? He has chosen us in Him. Who chose us? The Father. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says the Father chose us. He gave us unto Him. So the Father has given us unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's given this bride, Scripture
says in Hosea 2 verse 19-20, that He betrothed unto Himself. He's one with the Father. And
the father's will is the son's will. The father gave him a bride
and the son accepted her bride. Why? Because that was his will.
That was his will too. I and my father are one, betrothed
unto himself forever. Yea, betrothed unto himself in
righteousness and in judgment and loving kindness and mercies.
Scripture says a wife that was betrothed unto him in faithfulness. A wife that would know the Lord. The capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D. A wife that would know the Father
of electing grace. The Father that chose. The Father
that would know the Son in redeeming mercy and grace. And know the
Spirit in regenerating grace. This beautiful bride was given
unto Him. Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife. A wife given unto the Lord Jesus
Christ that would submit herself unto him, made willing in the
day of God's power. And he who is the glorious husband. Husbands, love your wife as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for her. This wife that he would
wash and sanctify the water of the word. This bride that was
eternally precious to him. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I'll read that sometime. William,
I think. You know, before there was anything
else, when there was God, in the beginning, God. In the beginning,
God. What'd he do? He created the
heavens and the earth. But the scripture says before
there was anything else, Go back and read Proverbs 8. I invite
you to read Proverbs 8 for the sake of time, I won't, but you
read how wisdom himself, Christ, is speaking. He said, I was before
him, before there were mountains, before, he said, I was ever before
him. It's my delight with the sons of men, those sons of men
that had been given him in electing grace. He said, I've always loved
you. I've always loved you and I just
try to think on that and I try to get my head around that and
I think I just can't go, I just, I can't think in eternity. You
know, everything's timed to me. I try to relate, you do too.
We can't, how do you, how do you understand eternity? You
don't, you don't understand that. But before the foundation of
the world, before there was anything but God, We were loved. God's people,
God's elect were loved. And so here's this wife, and
her name is Asenath. Asenath. Excuse me. I got to
thinking about wives in the scriptures. Believers' wives. Believers'
wives. And as I began to think on it,
I began to think on Abraham's wife. Remember who she was? Sarah. And Sarah's wife. And she possessed a name that,
listen, this is what Sarah means. Noble woman. Noble woman. You know who the bride is married
to? The king. The King of Kings,
that's who we're married to. We're married to the King of
the Lord of Lords. And here's Sarah, her name is
Noble Woman. And we're married to the King. Our nobility is totally from
Him. We are what we are by the grace
of God, but that was her name. And then Isaac's wife was Rebecca. Isaac had a wife. Remember when
Abraham sent his servant to go get a son for Isaac, and he said,
now don't go to the land of Canaan. Don't go get a Canaanitish woman.
You go back to my people. He went back and he found Rebekah. And he saw this woman and she
fell in love with the servant's, the son, he'd gone to get a son
for Isaac. She never saw him. She never
saw him. Fell in love with him by what
she heard. This servant told Rebecca about his master, Abraham,
and he had a son, Isaac. And she fell in love with Isaac
totally on what she heard. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the word of God. We've never seen him either.
You know what we know about him, Eddie? What we've heard. And
we love him. And we love him based on what
we've heard. She went back with that servant
and she saw him. Saw Isaac out there in the field.
Who is that? That's my master's son. That's
who you come back to see. And then, now, oh, her wife,
let me tell you what her wife, Rebecca, her wife means, her
name means ensnared with beauty. That's what Rebecca means, ensnared
with beauty. I looked up Song of Solomon 4.9
when the Lord was speaking to the bride, and here's what he
told her. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. He said, you've
stolen my heart. I think that's the sweetest thing.
I think for a man to speak to his wife with such respect, I
like that. I like respect. I like to see
a man open the door for his wife. I like to see him treated with
kindness and hold her hand. There's nothing sweeter to me
than seeing an old couple like me and Glenda. I'm telling you,
just holding hands, I think that that's sweet, you know? Ravished
my heart, ensnared with beauty, Jacob had a wife. Here was the love of his life.
Her name was Rachel. Rachel means you, E-W-E, you
are sheep. And let me ask you this, are
we not the sheep of God's pasture? The sheep given by the Father
unto the Son in electing grace. Is he not the great shepherd
of the sheep? You see, the names of these These
brides, they're just so beautiful, so lovely. But there was something
about Joseph's bride that was truly amazing to me. Her name,
Asenath, and she was the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of
On. And here's what her name means.
Here's what Asenath means. Belonging to the goddess Neith. N-E-I-T-H. Neith. Belonging to
the goddess Neith. Her daddy, Potipharah, he had
a name and here's what his name meant. Gift of the sun god. Asenath and her daddy were idol
worshipers. Idol worshipers. And from that
description of her dad, the scripture said he was a man that was a
priest or prince in the worship of this sun god. And as I began
to think on all these beautiful names that, you know, Sarah and
Rachel and Rebecca, you could ask, how could an Egyptian woman,
an idol worshiper, such as this woman be given as a wife, a bride
to Joseph. Joseph is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How can we behold one like that? Oh, now here's the beauty of amazing
grace. Almighty God would take creatures
like we are, Spirit of God moved a prophet named Ezekiel to write
that passage of scripture that I asked Gabe to read. And it
began to set forth how this infant was born. Here's a picture. Here's
a picture of the bride of Christ as we're born in Adam. And back
in Ezekiel, you can hold your place there in Genesis, and just
turn back to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16, verses 1 and 2. This is what the Lord instructed
Ezekiel to write. He said in verses 1 and 2, again
the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, cause
Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem, to know her abominations. Now this is the first thing that
he told Ezekiel. He said, you tell Jerusalem,
I want you to tell her where she came from. We see the truth
of what God Almighty has to say concerning the good, which is
none, by birth of the bride in Adam. And how repulsive, being
born in Adam, we were. We are, by birth. Tell her how
pure, how impure, I'm sorry. How disgusting she is, not only
in birth but in action. You tell her. You cause her to
know her abominations. You tell her where she came from.
Tell her about her foul sins and her multiplied transgressions.
You tell her about her lewdness. You tell her about her being
an idol worshiper. You tell her how she loves spiritual
adultery. You tell her. Verse 3, and say, thus saith
the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is
of land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother was a Hittite. Here Ezekiel is instructed to
relate to the heavenly city, the bride of Christ, Jerusalem,
a picture of God's covenant people. You tell her where she came from
that she might have no ground to exalt herself above any people. You tell her, although a self-righteous
religionist back in the days of our Lord would come to our
Lord and they tell him, say, we're Abrahams. We're sons of
Abraham. That's who we're from. We're
sons of Abraham. Turn to Joshua. Turn to Joshua
24. Joshua 24. Joshua 24, verses 1 and 2. Joshua 24, 1 and 2, and Joshua
gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the
elders of Israel and for their heads, for their judges, and
for their officers. And they presented themselves
before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the
flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham and the
father of Nacar. And they served other gods. We're Abraham's, we're Abraham's
sons, we're sons of Abraham. Joshua said they were idol worshipers.
Almighty God was pleased to call them to himself, called them
out of the dregs of their sin and rebellion against him. You
tell them, you tell them where they came from. Ezekiel 16, four
and five says, And as for thy nativity and the day thou was
born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at
all, none. I pitied thee to do any of these
unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast
out in the open field of the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou wast born. What weakness, what helplessness
by nature, is our lot from birth, totally ruined in the fall. Nobody pitied us. Nobody pitied
our condition. Why? Because we were all in the
same common condition. We were all like that. And left
in that state, we would have had everlasting
damnation. born hopeless. Look at verse
six, when I passed by. When I passed by thee and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood. Now listen, he's talking about
power. Here, his word is not going to
return unto him, boy. It's going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. When I passed by thee, O thank
God that the Lord in his infinite mercy passed by this wretched
sinner right here. Thank God that he didn't leave
me to me Because I'm telling you, I'm just like you. I guarantee
you, I'm just like you were. You say, well, you don't know
where I came from. You don't know the half of it with me.
When I passed by thee, thank God that it was not left to my
merit. Salvation by grace. There was
nothing in a sinner but sin, that's all. Almighty God would
pass by and see us in our filthiness and pollution, that fallen nature
and our own blood, and say unto us, because it pleased Him. It
pleased Him. What other reason does the Scripture
set forth that God would show mercy? He did it according to
the purpose of His own will. There was no difference in any
of us. And if Almighty God was pleased to pass by and say unto
me, or to you, live. Let me tell you what happened.
You lived. You lived. He imparted love. I'm gonna remove that heart of
stone. I'm gonna give you a new heart. I'm gonna write my name
on your heart. I'm gonna be your God. You're
gonna be my people. And we lived. When we didn't know him. I wasn't
looking for him. I can tell you that. I was not
looking for God. No man seeks after God. When our eyes, our
blind eyes, we didn't see him. He's blind. Dead, trespassers
of sin. Our dead ears, we couldn't hear.
And when he said live, Ezekiel, And these dry bones
live, what Ezekiel said, wise words, Lord thou knowest. He
said, you prophesy to them. And you say unto them, oh, ye
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. And he said, and I will
cause. You preach to them, I'll cause.
Walk by. Oh, I'm telling you, Saul of
Tarsus, had letters of authority in his hands. The Lord stopped
him on the road to Damascus. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? He was a
Pharisee. Who art thou? I'm Jesus that
you're persecuting. Hard to kick against the pricks.
You know what that means? Not safe. It's not safe. Not
safe. He stopped him. The scripture
says that Joseph Beautiful name, given Joseph. Pharaoh didn't
have a clue what he was really saying. But the Spirit of God
moved him. He said, you call this boy right
here, you call Joseph, you call him Zaphnath Ananiah, Savior
of the world, salvation of the world. That's what you call him.
And he goes forth, he said, I want people to cry, bow the knee,
bow the, every knee's gonna bow, every tongue gonna confess that
he's Lord, to the glory of God. Gave him a new position, ruler,
you rule over everything. You rule over everything. This
is your name, and I'm gonna give you a wife. I'm gonna give you
a wife, Asenath, belonging to the goddess Neith. Oh, I'm telling
you. But he took this lump of dead
clay that was an idol worshiper. And the scripture says in Ezekiel,
I'm going to just read what Gabe just read. Verse 7, I cause thee
to multiply as the bud in the field. And thou hast increased
and waxen great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments,
thy breast are fashioned, thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast
naked and bare. When I passed by thee, I looked
upon thee. Behold, thy time was the time
of love. I spread my skirt over thee and
covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becameest
mine. Then washed I thee with water.
Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil, that oil of the Spirit of God. He gave him his
spirit, washed him with the water of the word, blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I clothed thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin. I robed you in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I put bracelets, I deck thee,
verse 11, deck thee also with ornaments and put bracelets upon
thy hand, chained about thy neck, put a jewel in thine forehead
and earrings in thine ears, beautiful crown upon thy head. This is
the queen. This is the queen. This is his
queen. This is his wife. The wife of
the king, thus was thou decked with gold and silver, thy raiment
of fine linen, silk, the righteousness of the saints, and broader cloth,
thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and thou wast
excellent, and exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom, a kingdom of the Lord, fitly put together, just, it's
his church, it's his bride, and thy renown went forth among the
heathen for thy beauty, and perfect through my comingness. You notice that? saith the Lord,
which I'd put upon thee, saith the Lord God. You know, scripture
sets forth that that wife, in herself, she was a heathen, a
worshiper, a goddess of the sun god, Neith, that's who that was.
Oh, what a beautiful picture of the Lord taking worshipers
of idols like me and you. And by the grace of God, we can
truly proclaim I am what I am by His grace. I pray God bless
this to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.