Thank you ladies for that song
and thank you brother for that message. I pray our Lord would
bring us to his feet and enable us to hear his word again. If
you will turn with me to Genesis chapter 41. Genesis chapter 41. Last night we looked at verses
1 through 45, and I'd like to pick up where we left off, starting
in verse 46. Genesis 41, verse 46. And Joseph was 30 years old when
he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was 30 years old. I don't find that to be an insignificant
detail, do you? What it say about our Lord? It
said he was about 30 years of age. When? when the Holy Ghost
in the form of a dove descended upon him and God the Father spoke,
saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. When
he went out into the wilderness and was tempted of the devil,
he went out healing those that had need of healing. And he began
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 30 years old. Joseph's
30 years old when he rose to power in the land of Egypt. He's
been here 13 years, almost all of this time spent in prison. Now he's on the throne. You know,
like Joseph, a lot of similarities. Our Lord was hated. Our Lord
was plotted against. You know, right there where you
were reading in John 11, when they saw him weeping at Lazarus'
grave, they said, behold how he loved him. And then you read
on down a few verses, and they took counsel to put him to death. All they ever desired, these
religious men, they just wanted to make a mockery of him. They
just wanted to do away with him. Just like Joseph's brothers saw
it to do with him. Sold him, you mentioned Judas,
sold him, right? For a little bit of money. And
our Lord took it one step further. He was crucified. For all his
people. And I'll tell you this, our Lord
wasn't crucified until his hour was come. It didn't matter how
many times, how many people got together to take counsel to put
him to death, he couldn't, nothing could touch him until his hour
was come. But when his hour was come, he said, for this cause
came into the world, this moment right here. He laid down his life for his
sheep. Our Lord died, he was buried,
and he rose again, all according to the scriptures. All according
to the scriptures. Just like Joseph here, our Lord
sits right now on the throne of glory. Seated on his throne. Verse 46, again, Joseph was 30
years old 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. As Joseph went out over all the
land, Christ left his throne above and came down into this
world to deliver his people from the famine, from the fall. He came and he wrought salvation
in the midst of the earth and he did it completely by himself
He was forsaken by everybody. You know, when you read that
one of the disciples did something, they forgot him or said, well,
I'll never do this. Don't forget the note where it
says all the rest of them did too. We're no different. Like
you said, we'd have been right there with him. Right there. He tread the winepress alone.
And I like right here how it says Joseph went out over all
the land of Egypt. Our Lord has people scattered
all across this earth. There's some in Crossville, some
in Lexington, some in Kingsport, some in Danville. There's some
here, some there. Our Lord has a people of every
nation, kindred, tongue, and people all over this world. Aren't you thankful to know that?
We don't have to know all of them. We will know them all one
day. We're gonna know even as we've been known. Verse 47, and
in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls,
What came to pass? That thing which Joseph said
was established by God that shall shortly come to pass. It came
to pass. It always does. And God has a
purpose here. God has a purpose in these seven
plenteous years and then also in the seven years of famine.
You know, it's so easy for us to praise God in the good times,
isn't it? When everything's going fine,
work's good, family's good, everybody's good. Everything's good. You
know, those times can be very dangerous times if we don't have
a need within. If there's no need deep down,
I'm rich, have need of nothing, and I don't want to be that.
I like the Psalm, it said it's good for me that I've been afflicted.
Why? Because it points me to you,
that I might learn your statues, look to Christ, cling to Him. I pray we'll look to Him. I pray God will cause us to praise
His name in the bad times. Because here's the thing, there's
no such thing as bad times for God's people. I should say the
hard times, the tough times. The Lord said, tribulation shall
come, it must. May he cause us to look to him at all times.
Right here it says, the earth brought forth by handfuls. Handfuls. Does that remind you of a dear
sister? A dear sister who was having
tough times in the land of Moab. And then she went to a land called
Bethlehem, Judah. And she wound up in a man's field,
a man named Boaz, who was gonna redeem her and make her his.
You remember what Boaz said? He told his servants, he said,
you go out and you drop some handfuls of purpose for her that she may
glean. That's what our Lord is doing for us every day of our
lives. He's dropping handfuls here,
handfuls here. Oh, may we praise him at all
times. You know, we don't know what today is going to bring
forth, but we know this. This is the day which the Lord hath
made. Oh, may God enable us to rejoice and be glad in our Lord.
Verse 48. And he gathered up all the food
of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid
up the food in the cities. The food of the field which was
round about every city laid he up in the same. Who gathered
up all the food? Joseph did. Joseph did. This is his work. Salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. That verse goes on to say his blessing
is upon his people. We don't bless ourselves. We
need Him to bless us. He laid up food in the cities.
According to His abundant mercy, according to the good hope through
grace that God has given us in the Lord Jesus Christ, here's
what 1 Peter 1 says. We have an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
us, who were kept by the power of God. Is that good news to
you? Our Lord laid this up for us.
The good hope we have, He prepared this good hope for us. And just
like you read with Mary, it can never be taken away. It's forever. God hath prepared for us a city.
He laid it up in the cities. God hath prepared for us a city.
He went to prepare a place for us, didn't he? There's another
verse that says, we have a city. We have a strong city. All the glory, all the glory
goes to our Lord. Verse 49, and Joseph gathered
corn as the sand of the sea. very much until he left numbering,
for it was without number." How good were these seven years?
There was no number in it. You couldn't, it was unspeakable. Words would fail to describe
just how wonderful these seven years were. Years, the number
of perfection, right? Wonderful years. He gathered
corn as the sand of the sea. You ever gone to the beach and
picked up a handful of sand? I love just picking up a handful
and just dropping it, handful. Next time you do that, next time
you go to the beach, do that, and you think of a verse like
this. The sand of the sea, until he
left, remember he couldn't count it, it was without, number one
handful of sand is believed to have 400,000 grains, 400,000,
that's a lot. What about if you go all the way down the beach, I was at the beach not long ago.
I walked five miles, longest beach walk I've ever done, and
I got so tired. My feet hurt so bad, and yet
I barely walked at all. What about all the beaches in
the world? What about the ocean? All the sand on all the beaches,
all the oceans, doesn't compare to God's goodness to us, does
it? It doesn't even come close. I love what our Lord told Jacob
in Genesis 32, 12. He said, God's people are said to be a multitude
no man can number. Again, I work with numbers. enamored by numbers. I love working
with numbers. You can't put a number to it.
You can't put a number to God's goodness to us. You can't put
a number to God's people. You say, well, his people are
a remnant. That's right. And yet it's a number we can never
number. So great. The Lord of hosts, that's his
name, the Lord of many hosts. Heaven's not going to be empty.
It's going to be full. It's going to be so full. Psalm 40 verse 5 says, Many,
O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. God's wonderful
works he's done for us. God's thoughts that he has toward
us can't be numbered, innumerable. Verse 50. And unto Joseph were born two
sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath, the daughter
of Potiphar, priest of Onbear, unto him God blessed Joseph with
children." I almost skipped over this, but
I thought, you know, it's such a blessing for God to give us
children. It was always a dream of mine
to find the love of my life and have children. But I couldn't
help but acknowledge all along the way, one, what if the Lord
doesn't give me a wife? And two, what if we can't have
children? Because here's the thing, we don't make children,
God does. God's a God of means, there's
a means to everything. But if we're gonna have a child, God
must give us that child. God must give us children. Now
this really blesses my heart. You know, the Lord has blessed
me with an earthly family. God, it pleased God to have a
family. You say, well, you have the Triune
God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. That's right. But
it pleased God to have children. It pleased God to have children,
many children. I want you to see this. Hebrews chapter two. Todd, I
don't know if you drank any of this water, but we're here to
drink the same water, right? I never saw you take a drink. Hebrews chapter 2, look at verse
9 with me. And I'm going to go ahead and tell you, one of these
verses was this verse right here. When I first started truly hearing. God enabled me to actually hear
what He said in His Word. This verse is one that confused
me, but it don't confuse me anymore. Look here, Hebrews chapter 2
verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings." Did that just say Christ died for everybody? That
he should taste death for every man? What did it go on to say? For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing all men unto
glory, every man unto glory. What's it say? Many sons unto
glory. Many sons. It pleased God. God has one son. And in that
one son, he has many sons. Go on reading. Look at verse
11. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Who? His many sons. Look at the
next verse, verse 12. Saying I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. Verse 13, and again, I will put
my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children which God
hath given me. God has children. What a loving
God. You know, to have children, you
have to be somewhat selfless, if you love them at all. Well, that goes against our nature,
doesn't it? It doesn't go against God's nature to be selfless.
What did our Lord ever do for himself? Nothing. All the accusations
railed against him. When did he ever defend himself?
You find me a place. The works he bore, the works
he did, they bore witness of him. They bore witness of where
he came from and who he was and what he came to do. Let me say
this, if Christ died for us, it's because God has everlastingly
loved us. It's because God, from the foundation
of the world, chose us to be his children, his brethren, his
bride. You know that? We're his children,
his brethren, his bride, his friends, all of the above. I love this verse, 1 John 3,
2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory. When he appeared
on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Moses and Elijah were with
him, it says they appeared in glory. I don't know what that
means, but it sounds glorious to me. Sounds wonderful. Go back in our text. Genesis 41 verse 51. Joseph called the name of the
firstborn Manasseh for God said he hath made me forget all my
toil and all my father's house. His name means causing to forget.
He made me forget all my toil, all my trouble. Joseph endured
much, didn't he? He endured much trouble. But
now he's experiencing the joy of having children. For the joy
set before him. Our Savior endured the cross.
He despised the shame. What that means where it says
he despised the shame, it means he thought nothing of it. Just
like Jacob served all those years for Rachel, Laban tricked him
into serving the seven extra years, right? It was nothing
to him for the love he had for her. It was nothing to our Lord
for the great love he had for his people. Nothing to him. You
who have born children, what was the pain you endured compared
to the joy that you had thereafter? I venture to say it didn't compare,
did it? I want to show you this. Turn to John chapter 16. John 16, verse 21. John 16, 21. A woman, when she is in travail,
hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is
delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for the joy
that a man is born into the world. How much more when our Lord bowed
his head and gave up the ghost so that that thief could be with
him in paradise that day. So that you and I don't have
to Fear death, because we know what awaits us. We know who awaits
us. And whatever happens in our life,
we know he hath done all things well. And it shall be well with
us, for Christ's sake. What did our Lord's death accomplish?
It accomplished bringing many sons unto glory. It accomplished our eternal salvation,
brethren. Back in our text, Genesis 41. Verse 51 again. Joseph called the name of the
firstborn Manasseh, for God said, he hath made me forget all my
toil in my father's house. You know, Joseph had been taken
away from his father's house. Now I am certain his brothers
never expected to see him again, since they lied to their dad
and told him that an evil beast must have devoured him. I don't
expect Jacob ever thought to see Joseph again. I don't suppose
Joseph thought he'd see his brothers again either. I can't say that
with certainty, but I can tell you this, he didn't know. Do you think he knew he was going
to wind up in prison for 10 to 13 years? I don't think so. Do
you think he knew he was going to rise to power in Egypt? Everything
that happened to him. And yet, all this while, God
was preparing Joseph, and God was preparing Jacob, and God
was preparing his brothers for a glorious family reunion. And it's a glorious reunion.
I told you, I don't think we'll get to it this weekend, but maybe
I'll try to squeeze it in tomorrow. We'll see. Joseph is going to
save their lives, physically speaking, by a great deliverance.
What did our Lord do? He came to save our lives, not
to try to, but to do it, and He did it by a great deliverance.
Salvation is not just of the Lord. It is of the Lord. But
Christ is our salvation. He is our salvation. Verse 52,
in the name of the second called he Ephraim, for God hath caused
me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. This blessed
my heart so much when I saw this. Ephraim means double ash heap. I shall be doubly fruitful. Scriptures
declare us to be dust and ashes. Dust and ashes. You know what
our Lord took from us and then gave to us? He took our dust
and gave us His beauty. Beauty for ashes. His beauty for our ashes. What a trade. He has clothed us with the garments
of salvation. He's put that coat of many colors
around all of His people. Because the Father loves them
with the same love wherewith he loves him. John 17. I want
to show you something else, Gloria. Let's turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 28. Deuteronomy 28. God caused Joseph to be fruitful
in the land of his affliction. And I'm here to tell you, there's
never been anything more fruitful than our Lord's death and resurrection. Never. And there never could
be anything as fruitful as that. Look here, Deuteronomy 28, verse
4. Deuteronomy 28, 4. Blessed shall be the fruit of
thy body. Who do you suppose that's talking
about? Our Lord. Blessed shall be the
fruit of thy body. We're referred to as the offspring
of God, the seed which the Lord hath blessed the children of
the living God. It's the Lord that hath made
us, not we ourselves. He's our God. We're just the
sheep of his pasture. He made us. He bought us, redeemed
us to himself. We're his fruit. His workmanship,
so thankful it's so. Genesis 41, verse 53. Genesis 41, 53, and the seven
years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended,
and the seven years of dearth began to come according as Joseph
had said that the seven years of plenty came to an end, just
like Joseph said it would. And this word, dearth, you take
one letter out. Do you not see death when you
read that word? That's what happens when famine
comes. Something or someone's going to die. We fell in Adam. We died. That's the famine. That's the
great famine. We were born in a famine. Born
in a famine. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. You hath he quickened. We're
dead and we can't do anything about it. Did Lazarus raise himself? No, the Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. And he came forth. He that was dead. Verse 54 tells
us right here that the dearth was in all the lands. No exceptions. No exceptions. Everyone has been
affected by this famine. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Because in Adam we
all died. We all died. That's our helpless
state. We can't do anything to save
ourselves. Nothing. Nothing. Verse 54 again. Oh, I'm so glad
that verse doesn't stop right there. Oh, aren't you thankful
for bread when you know you're in a famine? You know why there's bread? Because
of the preparation Joseph had made. You know why there's salvation?
Because Christ came to save. Because Christ is the Savior. There's no other hope. You take
Joseph out of the equation here, it's not looking good for anybody.
Not looking good for anybody. It's not looking good for Pharaoh.
You take Joseph out. I don't care who you are. You
know, people think there's something because of their family name. It don't matter who we are, we've
sinned against God Almighty, and we must give account. What
a famine. What a famine. Verse 55, And
when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to
Pharaoh for bread. They cried out. My children are
the world's best at telling me and Rachel, they're hungry. You
know what they do when they're hungry? They start crying. Heard
a lot of crying today. Isn't that what we do when we're
hungry? Is anybody hungry in the soul? What do we do when
we're hungry in our soul? Well, we need to straighten up
fly right, let's put our suit on and go to church, that'll
do it. Not if we're not hearing the gospel preach, it won't. This famine was in all the land.
I do want to touch on this tomorrow if I can, but Jacob and his brothers
were living in a land, not Egypt, different land. The famine was
great there too. There was just bread in one place.
Not just any old church will do. You go where you can hear
Christ preached. If you don't, you go where you can hear Christ
preached. You're not going to be fed anywhere else. It's not
us. It's where the Lord hath placed
his name. The Lord hath placed his name there. Well, that's
where I want to be. Where two or three gathered in his name,
that's the place to be. I don't really like that preacher. Well,
then go find another one who preaches Christ. But let me tell
you something. They're hard to find. If Christ is preached, well therein
I rejoice. Therein I rejoice. Verse 55 again. When all the
land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.
They're crying to Pharaoh. You notice that? They're not
crying to the right person. What did Christ say? He said,
no man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's just one mediator
between God and man. Man, Christ, Jesus. The God man.
We must come to Him. We must come to Him. Well, there's
a lot of different ways we could get through this. If we just
sit down and figure this thing out, there's only one way. Christ said, I'm
the way. Everybody thinks we have a little
bit of truth, and you have a little bit of truth. There's just one
truth. He said, I'm the truth. Doesn't matter what church you
go to, we'll all have life in the end. Christ said, I'm the
life. One way, one truth, one life. It's all Christ. If we're
hoping in anyone or anything else, the famine's going to get
us. We're going to die. People can look to religion
to for something to do to soothe their conscience and make them
feel better about standing before God. But here's the thing, we
can't help ourselves here. There was only one solution here.
You had to go to Egypt, and look what Pharaoh said in verse 55.
He said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph. We gotta go to
Joseph. It's not just enough to go to
Egypt. We gotta go to Joseph. That's who Pharaoh put in charge,
Joseph. You know what the law says? I
love the verse that says, the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. It doesn't mean you keep the law and then you
eventually wind up with Christ. It means the law says, look to Christ.
He fulfilled it. He kept it. We can't. The law looks at us and says,
condemned. The law looks to Christ and says,
fulfilled. By the faith God gives us in Christ, we establish that
holy law in Him. The law says look to Christ.
Pharaoh, God the Father, says look to Christ. The Spirit says
look to Christ. The Spirit and the bride say
come, where to Christ? We can't feed ourselves. My kids can't
feed themselves. They don't know how to cook. There's no food anywhere but
in Joseph. If we don't get to Joseph, we're
going to die in our sins. If we don't have Christ, we're
going to perish. We're going to perish. You know, if you don't
eat, you're going to die. I don't recommend you try it.
Of course not. Now let me say this about this
bread in Egypt that Joseph has. It belongs to him. It says, salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. It belongs to him to give to
whomsoever he will. He doesn't owe it to us. The only thing God owes me and
you is to judge us for the sin we've committed against him.
And that's why I love Joseph's love and warmth to his brethren
when they are confronted with him. Because our God delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy, but
here's the thing, it's his to show to whom he will. He said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. Yay, Lord. Oh, would you have
compassion on me? Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. I want to close with a few verses in Psalm 107.
Turn with me there, if you will. Psalm 107. I just can't help but think,
anybody that came to our Lord for mercy, never did He turn
them away. Never. Not one. I pray He revealed to us our
need. It's a great need. Psalm 107, look with me at verse
5. Psalm 107, verse 5. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted into Him. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Cry unto the Lord. He delivered them. He'll deliver
us, too. It's just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they
were about to be thrown into that fiery furnace. They got
threatened and warned, and they wouldn't back down. God was with
them. God was gracious to them. He
made them very bold in Christ. They told that wicked king, they
said, we know that he's going to deliver us one way or the
other. Cancer may take our life, but it's God who kills and makes
alive. And his people are ultimately
going to be alive forever. We can rejoice in that, can't
we? Verse 7 right here, and he led them forth by the right way
that they might go to a city of habitation. That's where we're
headed. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the
hungry soul with goodness. You know, I'm thinking about
Mary performing that good work on our Lord. You think how unworthy she must
have felt to do that. He's so worthy to be praised.
He said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. What he told Martha there in
John 11, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for he's good. That's how that song right there started. Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. May God cause us to go to Joseph. Come to Christ. Don't go anywhere
else. Don't look anywhere else. Go to him. All right. May God
bless his word to our hearts. Yeah, the Lord has indeed met
with us again. I tell you, I've been so blessed
again. So blessed. There's nothing like
sitting here in the Word of God, preach. Just nothing like it.
Just nothing like it. It's the most glorious experience
I've ever had. Well, I'm going to sing this,
and then you're going to be at Liberty Golden. We'll see you
at 10 o'clock in the morning. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing His word. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. See you in the morning, 10 o'clock. Thank you, Brian.