OK, there's a lot to be seen
here, and that's the reason I want to get right into the next. We're going to skip. I wanted
to read all of it. I could because we're going to
take whole blocks of verses at a time and just. Comment on now
start to look at verse 45. Verse 45 Pharaoh after all of this called Joseph's
name, Zaphnathaneia. And I started to entitle this
message that, but I didn't want Sam to have to type that on all
the tape later. Zaphnathaneia. I had to look
it up myself. But it means Revealer of Secrets,
or the man to whom secrets are revealed. That was the name,
special name given to Joseph by Pharaoh. Another marvelous
picture of Christ. Marvelous. Pharaoh here, as you
probably already see, represents the Lord God, God the Father,
Joseph, God the Son. These are the two characters
in this story. All right. Now, Pharaoh has a
dream. Pharaoh has a dream. In the first
seven verses, he has a dream. He tells it twice. It's written
twice. And in verse 8, it says that
he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, all the wise
men thereof. He called for the wise men and
told them his dream, and none of them could interpret it. They didn't,
in our language, have a clue. And I thought of Isaiah 29, which
we recently looked at. God Almighty has purpose. God Almighty has purposed all
things from the beginning. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning, from the foundation of work. God's purpose
is written in this book right here. God's will, God's mind,
God's purpose, which none of these Hocus-pocus preachers, magicians. No. In Isaiah 29, it says, The
vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed,
which men deliver to one that is learning. A doctor of divinity,
a master of divinity, a Bible scholar. Deliver him this story. He might not even say Christ's
name one time. Read it, they say, I pray thee.
And he said, I can't see you. So these magicians, they can't
see it either. They don't know the mind, the
will and the purpose of God. So the word of God was hid to
the so-called wise men of Egypt, Egypt, the world. Wise men of
the world. That's what our Lord said. There's
one revealer. One who reveals the truth. We're going to see that. All
right. In verse 9, the butler comes up again. Verse 9, the chief butler spake
unto Pharaoh, saying he had a confession. Now, the butler's in the service
of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh's dream came up, and the butler, his
conscience pricked him. His heart pricked him. And he said, Oh, I remember my
thoughts this day. There is someone, and I've forgotten
all about him. There's someone, and he told
his story. He made his confession. That's
what he did. He confessed his sins, his guilt,
and he declared one person who made known to him his mind, his
heart, his dream, the revealer of secrets, who restored him. to his place with her. And this
is the confession. This Butler represents every
single believer. Who confesses to God the father,
his sin, my sins ever before. Unbelief. That's what this represents. Unbelief. A forgotten Christ. Lived all these years without
a mind to Christ at all. But then Christ reveals himself
to every believer, reveals the mind, the heart, the purpose,
the salvation of God in Christ himself. And Christ restores
that sinner to his God, his life. And that's the confession. This
is a confession of every believer, this confession of the butler.
All right. He said in verse 13, the butler
said everything he said came true. Everything that this one in prison with me said came true,
just like he said it would. He's the truth, and he restored
me. All right, so that's the confession.
Now, this is a confession of every believer, and I couldn't
help but think of Ephesians 1, verse 8 and 9, which said, Abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure of his will,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. God made
known unto us, abounded toward us in wisdom. Hid these things
from the wise and proven, but a poor, miserable, prison-bound
butler, he made known the mystery of his will, his purpose, which
was Christ. So that's the confession of every
believer. All right, now Pharaoh sends for Joseph, verse 14. Pharaoh
sent and called Joseph. They brought him hastily out
of the dungeon. He sent and he called for Joseph. Every word
is so particular in God's Word. Sent. How many times did Christ
say in the Gospel of John, the Father has sent me? He's called
the sent one. I forget how many times, dozens
of times, Christ said, the Father has sent me. In the fullest of
time, God sent forth his Son, made of woman, made under law,
to redeem them, to redeem the prisoners, to redeem them. In Isaiah 42, I think I wrote
that on your outline, I don't know if I like that outline or
not. You know where I'm going next. I like surprising you. That's
all right. And Isaiah 42, verse 6. So he's the sent one and called,
Joseph sent and called Joseph. Isaiah 42, 6, I the Lord, speaking
of God the Father, have called thee Christ in righteousness. And we'll hold on hand and we'll
keep the and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles open the blind eyes to bring the prison. Then the
sit in darkness out of the prison house so. Pharaoh sent and called
for Joseph all right now look at the text. In verse 14 they
brought him hastily out of the dungeon out of the dark. Out
of the dungeon. Christ came. Christ lived. Christ died. Christ was buried. Put in the darkness of the tomb.
Wasn't it? But he was brought out. He came
forth. Out of the dungeon. Back from
the dead. Didn't he? And this is a picture
of Christ's resurrection and ascension right here. Verse 14.
And he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came in under
Pharaoh. You see that? Christ shaved you. In other words, Joseph, he looked
like a prisoner. He looked like a haggard, lowly
prisoner in a dungeon. But then when he's about to go
back to Pharaoh, he changed his appearance and put on new clothing
and went to the camp. What a picture of Christ that
is. assumed his glorified body, laid
aside his lowly form, visage, that marred visage. He laid it
aside for this glorified body that he had in the beginning
and put back on his royal robes and
went to the presence of God for us. Verse fifteen. And so Pharaoh
tells his dream unto Joseph. I've dreamed a dream. Verse fifteen.
And he says, there's none that can interpret it. And I have
heard say of thee that thou canst, that you can understand a dream
to interpret it. And Matthew 11, 27 says that
our Lord said this, that no man knoweth the Father, say the Son. And him, no man knows the Father's
will. No man knows the Father's purpose.
No man knows the Father's mind. No man knows the Father's salvation. No man knows the Father, save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal
it. So Christ is the only one that
can reveal God to pop. Buddha can't do it, Confucius
can't do it, Mohammed can't do it. Jesus, the Son of God, the
only begotten, He hath declared Him, is the only one, the only
one that can. And without a revelation from
Christ Himself, we don't know God. This is life eternal to
know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Well look at
verse 16. Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
and Pharaoh said, I understand that you are the only one that
can understand the dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh
saying, it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. If that troubled you a little
bit, don't let it, because Christ said personally, he said, the
words I speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father, which
is it. As a man, he took no, didn't
take the glory from himself, but he glorified the Father.
But the Father is glorified in him and him in the Father. But
he said, now, the words I speak are not of myself, I speak Words
of the Father. And the word, the message that
comes from Christ is a message of what? Peace. Paul wrote this many times
in his epistles. Grace be unto you and peace from
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. He began nearly every
one of his epistles that way. So this message of peace, this
answer of peace to everyone whom Christ reveals the will of God. It's an answer of faith. It's an answer of faith. All
right? God in me. Pharaoh tells Joseph his dream.
And verse 25, let's jump down there. He told him the whole
dream. And verse 25, Joseph said unto
Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. Now, Pharaoh had two dreams.
One of the cattle. They woke. And they went back
to sleep and one of the years of call to drink. Very similar. And Joseph said Pharaoh's dream
is one. God has showed Pharaoh what he
is about to do the work of God. It's being shown here and it's
one. The word and the work. It's one. The Word of God speaks of one,
doesn't it? The Word of God, Old Testament,
New Testament. It's one. It's one. The will
of God, the purpose of God is in one. The mind of God, the
pleasure of God is in one. Justification, sanctification
is in one. It all speaks of one. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one hope of your calling. It's one. The
Word of God is one, and I've just quoted to you Ephesians
1, 9, and 10. He's going to gather together
in one, all things, even in Him, in Christ. It's one, the will,
the purpose. God has showed us what He has
done, is doing, and will shall do, and shall do. It's all in
one, in one person. and the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to this. Revelation 1. Did I write that down, Revelation
1, on your notes? Ha, good. Revelation 1 says this. Listen very carefully. Revelation
1, verse 1, says this. The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly come to pass. That's exactly what that verse
is saying. the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
to him, God gave. Joseph said, dreams walk, and
God is showing Pharaoh what he's about
to do. The revelation, the book, two
books? No, one book, of one person,
of one work, of one thing equal. Salvation is in one. One. All right, so and he wrote down
in verse 19 of Revelation 1, he wrote the things he said,
right, the things which thou hast seen, things which are,
and the things which shall be hereafter. Now, here are the
dreams of Pharaoh. Seven fat cows. Seven lean cows. fat ears of
corn, seven lean ears of corn. All right. The lean cattle, seven
lean cattle, ate up the seven fat cattle. And in the next dream,
the seven withered ears of corn ate up the seven fat ears of
corn. That was a dream. All right.
And Joseph tells him what the dream is. that these seven fat
cattle and seven fat years of corn are times of plenty, seven
years of prosperity, with plenty, abundance, super abundance, such
as never been seen before. And then after that, though,
are going to be seven years of famine, such as never been seen
before. So much so, so bad, so grievous
will be the famine that you'll forget all about the prosperity.
It's going to just totally consume everything that was built up in those seven good
years. That's the dream in a nutshell. All right. All right. Now, look at verse 32. And Joseph said in verse 32,
the dream was doubled under Pharaoh twice. Same dream, but it was
told twice. Why? because of things established
by God, that it might be established. God will shortly bring it to
pass. God said it twice. And the scripture says, God has
spoken once, yea, twice. But most men don't perceive it.
They don't perceive it. Some do, and God lays up in store
for them. The scripture says, at the mouth
of two, or three witnesses a thing is a God has spoken once God
in the beginning God and sundry times faked under the fathers
by the prophets have been these last days spoken under us by
his son all right now the dream the vision that the story here
is the same as Pharaoh's dream times of plenty times of famine. Scriptures talks about this.
I do want you to turn to Amos, the book of Amos. It might take
you a little bit to find it. Amos chapter 8. Good times followed
by bad times. Times of affluence followed by
times of famine. And in time, This is the way
it has been in God's purpose, and in the course of time, this
is the way it has been. God, in the beginning, sent prophet
after prophet after prophet. I was looking at that chart on
your wall. I won't want that. Where did you get that? Find
out. Prophet after prophet after prophet
after prophet after prophet. God had not left himself without
a wits every generation. Prophet after prophet after prophet
after prophet. The Word of God to every generation. Prophets like Moses, Joshua,
Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elijah, you know. Wow. Isaiah,
Jeremiah. Up to Malachi. And then there were over 400
years. Malachi is the last book in the
Old Testament. 400 years went by. God didn't
speak again for 400 years. Then John the Baptist. That seems
the next topic, John the Baptist. Well, Amos chapter 8 tells of
this, tells of that famine and also of another to come. All right, Amos chapter 8, verse
11, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God. that I will send
a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord, a famine of God's word. And it says they shall wander
from sea to sea, north to east. They shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. Famine. Can't find it. And so
that actually took place in time past. And then Christ, then John
came. Oh my, John the Baptist. He's called the last of the Old
Testament prophets. Then that prophet came. Christ himself, of whom Moses
spoke, said God's going to raise up a prophet. like unto myself. He's the one,
he's going to tell you everything. We've just prophesied. The reason
there were so many prophets, Dan, is each one of them told
a part. They all pre-prophesied in part. But Christ came, Stan, he told
it all. He, in Matthew 24, in about five
minutes, he told it all. All things. Because he's that
He's the one who taught the prophets. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit. All right. And then Christ himself had his apostles
and so forth. Now, it says here, go back to
the text, it says the vision was double. So there was a famine
before and. And then Christ came, John came,
Christ came, and the apostles came. But then Paul wrote, listen,
Paul writes in 2 Timothy, he said, the time's going to come,
perilous times. And the last day, this is the
last family, perilous time's going to come. And he said, they're
going to turn away their ears from the truth. More Bibles than ever in history,
but less people know anything about it or care. So we're in the last phase. The
vision is doubled. We're in lean time. Paul told
young Timothy, he said, you preach the word in season and out of
season. It was in season for a while, and now it's out of
season. It's out of season. It really is. It really is. And you've got to run to and
fro. You've got to go a long ways to find it. Don't you? You've
got to move from Stanton to Rocky Mountain to find it. You've got
to go long distances to find it. Yes. So we're in lean time
now. Back to the text. Here's Joseph's
counsel to Pharaoh and Pharaoh's decree. Verse 33. And Joseph said, now, therefore,
let Pharaoh look out a man. Let Pharaoh choose a man discreet
and wise and set him over the land of Egypt. What Pharaoh needs
is a man discreet and wise to be over of this whole thing.
Discreet, the word discreet means having discretion or that is
intelligence. Superbounded intelligence. Discretion. Discernment. Foresight. Someone with vision. Someone
with authority. Someone that can lead. Someone
that can see ahead and know what to do. Someone who knows what
he's doing. Discreet and wise. One who can wisely take the best
course. One who knows what to do and
how to do it. That's what Pharaoh did. That's what the people need.
That's what Egypt needs. They need someone discreet and
wise. Christ is that man. That's the
title of this message. Be man. Be man, discreet and
wise. There was only one. Pharaoh looked
for one, and there was only one. I thought about Pilate saying,
what is truth? of the rich young ruler who said,
or the Pharisees who said, what about the kingdom of heaven? It's all in one. He said, every
answer is in one, one person. Christ is the one discreet and
wise, a man who knows, a man who's able to do all needs to
be done. Verse 34, let Pharaoh do this. Let him appoint officers
over the land. Take up the fifth part of the
land of Egypt in the seventh plenteous year. Point officer.
This is what needs to be done. A man discreet and wise over
everything who will appoint officers to overseers under his charge
to. To take care of things, too,
and that's exactly what Christ did in Matthew 10. Says he chose
his 12 apostles. He chose some prophets, some
apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to feed
the remnant. Fifth, the time of famine. Verse
37 and 8. Pharaoh said the thing was good.
This is good. In the eyes of Pharaoh, in the
eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
Can we find such a one as this? Is there one? Yes, there's one. Only one. A man in whom the capital
S. See that? Capital S. Spirit, a Holy Spirit of God.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, you're the man. Pharaoh looked
at Joseph, beheld Joseph, loved Joseph, highly esteemed Joseph, admired
Joseph and said, you're the one. Thou art the man, thou art my
children, thou art the man. Verse 40. None like you, since
you've showed all this, there's none so discreet and wise as
thou art. Verse 40, thou shalt be over
my house. And according unto your word
shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than you. Thou art the man. By thy word will my people
be ruled. And that's exactly what God says
His son in Psalm 2, didn't he? I've declared this decree. Thou
art my son. Ask of me, and I'll give you
the heathen for your inheritance. God has set his king upon his
holy hill of Zion. That's his decree. You're the
one, and every knee is going to bow, and every tongue confesses
you. There's only one equal or greater than you is me, God the
Father. Let's read verses 41 through
46, all right? We didn't read that. And this
doesn't need comment. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See,
I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh took off his ring from
off his hand. The very ring, the very signet,
the identifying, distinguishing mark of Pharaoh, his sovereign
seal, and put it on Joseph's hand. and arrayed him in vestures
of fine linen, put a gold chain about his neck, and made him
to ride in the second chariot, the second person of the Godhead,
the second chariot which he had. And they cried before him, bowed
the knee. Everybody better bow the knee
to Joseph. Pharaoh made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am
Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot
in all the land of Egypt. Without you, they can do nothing. Without you, without a word from
you, without appealing to you, without you giving the word,
without you giving the command, they're all going to have to
come to you for everything. I've made you Lord over all.
And so has God with Christ. In verse 45, Pharaoh called Joseph's
name Zephilephaneh. If you want to use that, Sam,
it's all right. It's a good name. A revealer
of secrets. And look at this. He gave him
a wife. And he gave him a wife. Gave
him a wife. Christ said, God has given me
a people John seventeen he said that I've manifested that name
of the people that have given the men that have. God gave Christ
a bride. Daughter of a pair of priest
of own and Joseph went out over all the land of the Christ came.
To this land. Oversee it look at his people
now these next few verses. And it all happened that Joseph
said. It all happened according to the word of Joseph. Verse
46, Joseph was 30 years old. Wait, 30 years old when he started
writing. It says that very thing of our
Lord Jesus Christ when he stood before the king. And Joseph went
out from the presence of Pharaoh, went throughout all the land
of Egypt. And what he did was he gathered things up. He began to gather. Verse 48,
food gathered up and laid it up. Christ gathered his people
there while he was here. The gathering of the people shall
be to him. Verse 49, Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea,
very much till he left numbering. It was without number. Well,
God's people are numbered. And under Joseph were born two
sons. This is interesting. Two sons
were born to Joseph before the years of famine came. Verse 51,
Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. The name of the second called
Ephraim. of God, it caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction. And this is a name really given
to all of God's people. Our sins and our iniquities,
he remembers no more. And we're fruits. We're the fruits
of Christ's work of our gospel. Seven years of And the land of
Egypt were ended. Verse 54, seven years of dirt
came. According as Joseph said, all
the land of Egypt though there was bread. All the land of Egypt
was famished and people cried to Pharaoh for bread. What Pharaoh
do? He said, go to Joseph. Go to
Joseph. And whatever he says, do. Does that sound familiar? Whatever
he saith unto you, do it. He's discreet and wise. And he's
got all the corn. And he gives it plentifully.
Verse 56, the family was over all the face of the earth. The
whole world was under this family. And who was in charge of all
the food that there was to have was Kelsey. And he, what did
he do? Oh, he's merciful. He's gracious.
He opened the storehouse. It sounds to me like, Brother
Dan, that you could bring whatever you wanted to bring, and he'd
fill it up. Does that not get to you? You
brought a sack or wagons, it doesn't matter. He'd fill it
up. That's what he did. But he sold
to the Egyptians. We're going to see in the next
few chapters, he gave it to his family. He was free to his family. He
sold it to the Egyptians. And all the countries came to
Egypt to Joseph to buy corn. Famine was sore everywhere. Next
Sunday, this Sunday, corn in Egypt, corn in Egypt. And these no good, worthless,
sorry, rotten brothers are going to have to come empty, hungry,
about to starve to death to their brothers that they don't know.
He's got it all. Stay tuned. It gets better. All
right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your Word. Again, we thank you. It is marvelous. It's truly the Word of God. No man knows no private interpretation. No private interpretation. It's
not the Word of Moses. This is God's Word. How clear
it is to us who understand, who had these things revealed, so
clear. So clearly speaks of Christ the
word, faith, flesh. And we ask that you would take
this word now and plant it, create faith in Christ, increase faith
in Christ, our elder brother, our Lord and our Master, our
Joseph who sits on the throne, to whom we come for everything. It's in his name we're met here,
for the honor and glory of your Son. Amen. You're dismissed. I'm going to show you how to
do this. I'm going to show you how to
do this. Okay. I'm going to give you guys a
chance to try it out. I'm going to start with a little
bit of a challenge. I'm going to start with a little bit of
a challenge. I'm going to start with a little bit of a challenge.
I'm going to start with a little bit of a challenge. I'm going
to start with a little bit of a challenge. I'm going to start
with a little bit of a challenge. I'm going to start with a little
bit of a challenge.