Genesis chapter 41. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Let's remember Paul Gaudet. He was in the hospital last night
with a real bad stomach virus. Paul Gaudet. Yeah, Florence texted
me about 11.30 last night and said they were in the ER. He
was having a bad stomach virus, fever. I think she had it last
week while he wasn't here. Then this week he's there. So
let's remember that family. Our Father, we've gathered here
in thy presence as thy children to be taught of God. Be our teacher
this morning. Enable me, Father, to rightly
divide the word of truth. Enable me to clearly set forth
Christ in the scriptures. Help us to give unto you the
praise and glory due unto your name. We pray for our brother
Paul and his family. Lord, bless them. Make them to
know thy grace is sufficient. Heal him of his virus and please
thee, Father. We know and recognize, Father,
that everything that comes our way is by divine appointment. Infinite wisdom, infinite wisdom
has ordered all things well. And we pray this morning for
the spirit of worship. Help us to get, help us to worship
and give you the honor and glory this morning. In Jesus Christ's
name and what we pray for ourselves, Father, we pray for all of your
children and service throughout this world. No man sufficient
for these things. Lord, we look to you as our sufficiency. In Christ's name we pray, Father,
and amen. I titled this, Seeing Christ
in Joseph. Seeing Christ in Joseph. And
I'll touch on verses as we go through this. This is a very
long chapter. It's 57 verses, so. And much
of it is made up of a dream, dream that Pharaoh had, and then
the interpretation of the dream, and then the exaltation of Joseph
to the throne. But let me say this, because
this stood out to me, how Joseph, as a believer, he's a type of
Christ, but he's not Christ. He's a dyke. But he is a believer,
like me and you. He's a man of like passion, like
you and I. He's a sinner in need of mercy
and a sinner in need of grace, in need of saving, just like
you and me. And I thought about this as I
was reading the story. And I thought this, this stood
out to me, how that as a believer, he conducted himself in a exemplary
manner in adversity and prosperity. When he was in prison, he was
a model prisoner. And when he was exalted to the
throne, he was a model leader. He was just a model in everything
he did. Now we know he's an example of Christ, or a type of Christ.
Because you know, Joseph is one, if not the only one, in the Old
Testament that nothing negative is said about him. Nothing. But
he's also a believer. He's also a believer. He was
a good and faithful servant, whether he was in house, serving
Potiphar, or whether he was in prison. You know, the guards
gave him rule in the prison. He was such a good person. And
I thought of this, or such a good example in his attitude and conduct. We are God's children at all
times. It doesn't matter the situation,
whether we are in prosperity or in poverty. Whether we're
on top or we are on the bottom, it doesn't matter. We are God's
children all the time. We represent our Heavenly Father
all the time. Everywhere we go, everything
we say reflects on our Heavenly Father. I wish I could remember
that. I pray the Lord would enable
us to remember that. And also this, He bowed to the
sovereign will of God in all things without complaining."
We don't read of any complaints. He bowed to the sovereign will
of God. Now, you and I know that everything
that we will face, endure, go through is by the sovereign will
of God. I heard Henry say this. This
past week, I listened to him pretty much every day. And he
said this, he said, I wish we would quit complaining about
second causes. He said this in a message. I
wish we would quit complaining about second causes, because
God's the first cause of all things. Second causes are means. He said, I just wish we would
learn to stop complaining. And in Joseph's life, what's
written of it, I'm not gonna say he never complained, but
what's written, what's written, he bowed to the sovereign will
of God and did not complain. But that's an observation I wanted
to point out as a believer, because he's a believer. Now in looking at this, let's
not forget the providence of God. Let's not overlook the providence
of God in the life of Joseph, because the same providence works
in our lives individually, not just collectively. It does as
a church, not only locally, but throughout the whole world. The
providence of God is working for the whole church, but God's
providence works for us individually. All things work together for
our good as a whole, as a church, and individually. It works together
for our good. Now, I've noticed it says in
one place, they said at the end of two full years. You know,
Joseph, he interpreted the dream of a butler and a baker. And he said to them, when you
come before Pharaoh, I'm going to paraphrase, when you come
before Pharaoh, remember me, remember me. And they did. They came before Pharaoh. And
what Joseph said to them about their dream came true. The baker
was hanged, but the butler was reestablished to his position.
And two years went by and he forgot about Joseph. He, two
more years went by. God left him there for two more
years because it wasn't time for him to be glorified yet.
It wasn't time. When I say glorified, I'm in
reference to Christ because it wasn't time for him to come out
of that prison and ascend the throne. Because that's exactly
what's gonna happen. He's gonna come out of prison,
and he's gonna go right to the throne. He's not gonna go live
out there for a while, then go, no, he's coming from the prison
to the throne, just as our Lord, and I'm getting ahead of myself,
but as our Lord came from the grave, he went straight to the
throne. Trials must run their course.
They must run their course. Christ said many times, mine
hour has not yet come. And we will see in the next service,
he says, my hour has come. There's a time and a purpose
for everything under heaven. Whatever, whatever this day brings
forth, I don't know what it's going to bring forth. No one
knows what a day will bring forth, but whatever this day brings
forth has been ordered by God. And it's coming. One of the things
that, and I'm completely getting off what I prepared here, but
one of the things that I have learned going through a difficult
situation, Joseph here, and our Lord is 33 years on this earth. What I have learned that the
end is already determined. I just got to get to it. Whatever
I'm going through, I don't know what the outcome is going to
be, but God knows. Job said, He knows the way that
I take when He has tried me. So I know the outcome is already
there. I pray for the grace to go through it and get there in
a way that's honoring to God, as Joseph did, and as our Lord
did. You know, our Lord conducted
Himself in such a way that He gave glory and honor to His Father
in every situation. situation when he was reviled
he reviled not he didn't threaten he didn't say I'm gonna get even
with you he had no malice that's just astounds me to have no malice
whatsoever but there's a let's not forget the providence of
God in the life of Joseph and in our life it's the same providence
now in verses 1 through 7 Pharaoh dreams two dreams, and God shows
Pharaoh what he's about to do by those dreams. And he calls
in his magicians. in verse 8 you can see that in
verse 8 after he has that dream he calls in his magicians and
it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled
and he sent and called for all the magicians of egypt and all
the wise men thereof and pharaoh told them his dream but there
was none that could interpret them unto pharaoh you see the
wisdom of this world is foolishness There's only one who can reveal
the mind of God. Only one. At this time, it was
Joseph. Only Joseph could reveal the
dream. And our Lord, whom Joseph represented, only he can reveal
the mind of God to us. No man knows the Father saved
the Son, and no man knows the Father except the Son revealed
him to him. He's the only one who can reveal
the Father. He's the only one who can reveal
the truth to us. He's the only one. Truth and
grace came by him. And so here though, he calls
these magicians and they can't tell him anything. They can't
tell him anything. And then the butler there in
verses nine through 13. Now you go home and you read
this chapter, go home and read it. But the butler remembered
Joseph. You know, it was by God's will
that he should stay in that prison two more years. And then the
butler says, oh, I remember my fault now. He says, I remember
my fault. He said there was a man, a Hebrew,
a young Hebrew. I think he says that in verse
12. There's a young Hebrew. Let me see over here. Yeah, there
was there with us a young Hebrew. And here's something interesting. Every time the mind of God was
revealed to a Gentile, it was by a Hebrew Jew. Joseph reveals this dream, interprets
it to Pharaoh, Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, the apostles to the Gentiles,
us, and Christ this morning. If he reveals anything to you,
it's going to come from a Jew, a Hebrew, the Lord Jesus Christ,
born of the Jews. And so Butler tells him about
Joseph, and so he calls for Joseph. Joseph is brought before Pharaoh
in verses 14 through 24. He sins for him, and he's brought
to Pharaoh. He's brought out of prison. He's
been in prison. You know, Joseph, he went to
visit his brethren. Remember, Jacob sent him to visit
his brethren. And he visited his brethren,
and they put him in a pit. Christ came unto his own, and
his own received him not. They took him and put him in
a judgment hall and lied on him, just like his brethren did. They
lied about him. And he's brought here to stand
before the king of Egypt. And here our Lord, here's a representation
of our Lord being raised from the grave to sit at the right
hand of God. Our Lord went from the grave
to the throne. Joseph went from prison to the
throne. That's how he ended up on the
throne. And Pharaoh reveals everything
about his dream to Joseph. This dream he had of these fat
kind, And they were real fat. Then came these lean kind, and
they ate up the fat ones. Then they had this corn. They
had this real bumper crop. And then the lean corn came up
and ate up that. And then Joseph here interprets
this dream. But Pharaoh reveals everything
about his dream to Joseph, even judgment, which is the lean.
They are the judgment. You know, God the Father made
everything known to His Son. Christ said, as I hear, I speak. I speak not of myself. He said
this, I speak not of myself. Everything has been turned over
and revealed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called the Mighty
Counselor. He's the Mighty Counselor. I
don't need to go to a counselor. He's my counselor. He knows the
mind and will of God perfectly. And he's the one who reveals
the mind and will of God. No one else can do that. No angel
can do that. No angel can do that, but the
Lord Jesus Christ can and does. And after he interprets the dream
of Pharaoh, Pharaoh is pleased. HE'S PLEASED WITH HIM. HE SAYS
HERE IN VERSE 37, AND THE THING WAS GOOD IN THE EYES OF PHARAOH,
AND IN THE EYES OF ALL HIS SERVANTS. PHARAOH SAID UNTO HIS SERVANTS,
CAN WE FIND SUCH A ONE AS THIS, IF THIS IS A MAN IN WHOM THE
SPIRIT OF GOD IS? GOD THE FATHER SPOKE FROM HEAVEN,
AND HE SAID, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON. in whom I am well pleased. God the Father never spoke from
heaven and said that about any other man but the man Christ
Jesus. He said, in him, I am well pleased. Just as Pharaoh said about Joseph,
I'm well pleased with him. The thing that he has said has
pleased me. And then in verse 40, listen,
look here in verse 40. This is what Pharaoh said to
Joseph over everything. He said, thou shalt be over my
house. My house. And according unto
thy word shall all my people be ruled. Boy, can you not see
Christ in this? Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. Joseph is placed over the whole
house of Pharaoh. He's placed over the whole land
of Egypt. You know, when, when Pharaoh
says my house, he's not talking about his, just his personal
house. He's talking about the whole land of Egypt. he said
joseph is over the whole land of egypt and according to his
word my people isn't it interesting the language that pharaoh was
uh made to use he said my shall my people be ruled does this
not apply to the lord jesus christ who's over the house of god so
it says in hebrews 3 That he's over the house of God. And it's
by his word. This word right here. This is his word. This is the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ right here. And by his word, shall my people
be ruled, guided, instructed, taught. You know, we are here
this morning, and in my prayer, I pray that the Lord would instruct
us, be our teacher. All thy children, it says, shall
be taught of God. And I pray that the Lord teach
us this morning. If I can just get a nugget, that's
usually how it happens with me when I sit under preaching. It's usually a phrase or just
a scripture or something that's said in the message that just,
that was for me. That was for me. And I can go
home with it and chew on it the rest of the week. Oh, by His
Word, how precious is the Word of God. How precious is His Word. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph
in 41 there, See, I have sent thee over all the land of Egypt. All things, the scripture says,
are delivered unto the sun. All things are delivered into
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, All power and all authority
has been given to me in heaven and in earth. There's no place,
no person that He does not rule over. None. He rules over all. And Pharaoh exalts him before
everyone. He says there in 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. Can you imagine
what it'd be like to see the Lord Jesus Christ now? When he walked on this earth
in the flesh, he had one outfit, he had one robe he wore. It wasn't
purple. He had no crown on his head.
He was not arrayed in fine linen. He dressed like the common poor
people, but not now. Now he's robed in fine linen.
Beautiful royalty, royalty. That's what he put on him, royalty.
And Pharaoh took off his ray from his hand, put it upon Joseph's
hand and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. and put a gold
chain about his neck. What's going on here? What's
going on? He's being exalted above everyone except Pharaoh
himself. He exalts him above absolutely
everyone. The Lord Jesus Christ, His name
is exalted above everyone. There's none like Him. There's
none to be compared to the Lord Jesus Christ in any way, shape,
or form. And what's happening here also
is that He is being made Mediator, that we see the Mediatorial Work
of Christ here. Everything's placed into His
hands, just as it's placed into Joseph's hands. And He says here, And He made
him to ride in the second chariot, which he had, and they cried
before him. As that chariot went by, here's
what they cried, bow the knee. That's over in Philippians 2.
Every knee's gonna bow. Every tongue's gonna confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And he's in that second chariot, and as they go by, they cry,
bow the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. Jesus Christ is ruler over all
the world. You see, Egypt represents the
world. And he's ruler over all the world. Not just the church,
which is in this world, he rules over all, over all. He's made ruler over all of Pharaoh's
kingdom, and our Lord is ruler over all kingdoms. His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, and He has dominion over all the
earth. And He's given absolute power, and Pharaoh said in verse
44, 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. Without thee, what did Christ
say in John 15? Without me, you could do nothing. You and I and no one on this
earth can move. We can't even breathe without
him. We can't even breathe. You can't
take your next breath without him. You ever watch someone take
their last breath? Some of you have. That last breath
is the last one the Lord gave him to that person. That's his
last breath on this earth. And when he gives that last breath,
it's over. I believe, I strongly believe
this, that God has so ordered my life and your life that even
he says the hairs of our head are numbered. I believe every
breath I take is numbered. even the number of breaths that
I take, however long I may live. And then there's that last one.
There's that first one when you come out of the womb. And then
there's that last one when you leave this world. And they are
ordered by our Lord Jesus Christ. They're ordered by him. He's
given absolute power and authority over all the world. Now he's
given a new name here. Pharaoh called Joseph's name,
Zathnath-paneah. Over in the margin, it means
revealer of secrets. But the Egyptian meaning of it
was this, savior of the world. Savior of the world. That's the
Egyptian meaning. Our Lord said, I believe it was
last week we looked at it. He said, I came not to condemn
the world, but that the world through me might be saved. I
didn't come to condemn it. It's already condemned. THAT
I MIGHT SAVE IT. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS TRULY
THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. HE'S GOING TO SAVE A PEOPLE OUT
OF THIS WORLD. AS I TOLD YOU LAST WEEK, HE'S GOING TO SAVE
THE WORLD, BUT NOT EVERYONE IN IT. BUT THERE'S GOING TO BE A
WORLD OF SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE, AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF SINNERS
SAVED BY GRACE IN HEAVEN AND ON THAT NEW EARTH SAVED BY THAT
ONE MAN, JESUS CHRIST. SAVED BY THAT ONE MAN. And then look here in verse 46,
and Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. Our Lord was 30 years old when he entered on his earthly
ministry, publicly, publicly. Just as Joseph here was 30 years
old when he basically took over the land of Egypt. And when he stood before Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh
and went throughout all the land of Egypt, since our Lord has ascended the
throne, has not the gospel gone throughout the world? Has he
not gone throughout the world? You know, before a thousand years,
Gentiles, us, our ancestry was left in darkness. But since he
went to the cross, died, rose again, back to the throne, he's
gone throughout the world. The gospel's being preached right
this day throughout the world, the whole world. And in verse 47, in 47 and 48,
things happen just as Joseph said they would. And in the seven plenteous years,
the earth brought forth by handfuls, by handfuls. And he gathered
up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land
of Egypt, and laid them up, and laid up the food in the cities,
the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid
it up. And then came those seven bad years. I tell you what's going to happen.
I can't tell you what's going to happen day by day, but I tell
you this, and you know this, everything written in this book,
everything that God said in this book is going to happen. The
world, this earth, is going to end. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and they've been dying ever since. There's no one alive
since the beginning, not on this earth. Everything this book says, everything
our Lord has said to us in this book is going to happen. It's
going to happen. He's coming back. That's going
to happen. This is going to end. That's going to happen. There's
going to be a new heaven and a new earth. That's going to
happen. He's going to wipe away all tears and all sorrow and
all heartaches. That's going to happen. Take
him at his word. It's going to happen. Joseph is just a perfect picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ as far as types and pictures go. And there's one other thing I'm going
to point out. here in the end of this chapter, and I'm gonna
close. It says, and when all, let me go to verse, let me go
to verse 53. And the seven years of Plantis that was in the land
of Egypt, they were ended. And the seven years of Dareth
began to come according to as Joseph had said. That's what
I said, whatever the Lord said, it will happen. And the Dareth
was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt, there was
bread. Where Joseph was, there's bread. And when all the land
of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. You
see, this is when the storehouse is open, when the people cried.
You need mercy, cry for it. You need forgiveness, cry for
it. The storehouse of mercy will be open to you. And Pharaoh said
unto all the Egyptians, go to Joseph. If you want life, you
want forgiveness, go to Christ. And what he says to you, do.
What does he say to you? Believe. Believe. And the famine was over all the
face of the earth, just as the fall of Adam was over all the
face of the earth. The fall affected the whole earth,
all of humanity. And Joseph opened all the storehouses
and sold them to the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in
the land of Egypt and all countries, Jew and Gentile. There's so much
in all this. All countries, Jew and Gentile,
came to Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was
so sore in all the land. The fall has affected everyone.
Everyone. And if you need mercy, and if
I need mercy and grace, salvation, go to Christ. It's all vested
in Him. That's so simple, isn't it? We don't read of any Egyptian
having to produce anything. He just said, go to Joseph, go
to Joseph. And you know what happened? These
other countries came and they bought and, you know, they got
bought and then they ran out of money and then they gave up
their land and they gave up everything they had. You know what happened
at the end of all that? Pharaoh owned it all. God Almighty owns it all. He
owns it all. So when you need mercy and forgiveness,
go to Christ. It's all vested in Him. All right.