We can use this microphone now.
Can you hear that good? Yeah, he's come up with something
I never even know existed. Of course, there's lots of things
that I don't know about that I don't know exist. It's his
technology business. You know, I barely can use my
phone and computer every once in a while. If I didn't have
Shirley to see me through, I don't know what in the world I'd do.
But I want to bring another message on the pictures of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Old Testament pictures of Christ. And of course, as
I've said, Joseph is in so many ways a picture of our Lord Jesus. But when you think about Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, we find so many blessed spiritual
truths in these men. and the chronological order in
which God did something for him. And it brings us to a picture. I mean, even if the order of the truth that we
believe. It's just like Abraham. When
you think about Abraham, talk about Abraham, first thing you
think of is election. God separated Abraham And him alone, out of the air
of the Calvary. He didn't say, now listen. He
didn't go down there and say, anybody want to serve me today?
No, no. He went down there and spoke
to Abraham. Revealed himself to Abraham.
And Abraham come out. So God chose him. And then Isaac,
he's a typical of our sonship, the blessed truth of our sonship.
We're sons of God. We're sons of God by birth, sons
of God by adoption. And we're sons, and Isaac was
a son by promise. God promised Abraham and Sarah
that they'd have a son. And they waited and waited and
waited, but God kept His promise. He never fails to keep His promise.
That's why we sung tonight, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Now Ishmael,
he represents the man born after the flesh. He is not interested
in God. He said, what in the world is
the birthright going to do me if I die and I starve to death?
He lives by his flesh. He lives by his fleshly appetites.
He didn't think about anything spiritual whatsoever. And he's
the old nature. Oh, what an old nature that Ishmael
was. But then Isaac. Isaac is the
new man. He's a picture of the new man.
And you know how we become new men in Christ? It's the same
way Isaac was. By miracle work and power of
God. He overruled Sarah's womb and
produced a son. And He overrules us and produces
a son. By birth and then by a miracle
of the grace of God. And grace is an absolute miracle. And we ain't got over it yet,
have we? And then there's Jacob. Jacob. And that's the conflict,
the warfare between the two natures in believers. You know, He had
this warfare going on in Him. And that's the way we are. We
have this warfare going on in us. But I tell you, grace, grace
always triumphs. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. Not every once in a while
people say, well, I feel so... Listen, God's people always triumph
in Christ. But that's where the tribe sits,
in Christ. And then Joseph, when we talk
about Joseph, we speak of an heir. But before he became an
heir, And you know, before he was raised up, there was great
suffering first. Great suffering first. And Romans
tells us that we are heirs of God, joined heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. But the next verse says this,
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
to the glory which shall be revealed in us. And Joseph suffered and
suffered and suffered. But I tell you what, if we suffer
with him, Suffer with Christ. We're going to reign as sons
and heirs together with Christ. And suffering always goes before
glory. But now I want to go through
several things here about Joseph as a picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Look there in verse 22 here of
Genesis 49. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even
a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. Now
Joseph, the meaning of his name, he had two names. And the first
name here that Jacob's blessing him with is called Adding and
Fruitful. God added to him, added so many
things to him, the blessings, a headship, all of these things,
and he's called a fruitful bow that even went over the wall.
And I'll tell you something, beloved, when we was in our father
Adam, everything we had in Adam, we subtract. Adam, the first
Adam, subtracted from us. We lost everything we had in
him. But the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the fruitful
one. He's the only one who can add
to the church such as should be saved. Nobody can add to the
church. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can and he is the fruitful one. You think Joseph is fruitful?
How about our Lord Jesus Christ? How fruitful is he? How fruitful
was our Lord Jesus Christ? How fruitful is and he has to
the church. I know you can get folks to join
a church and Get them to walk down an aisle and do all kinds
of things. But this is one thing that I love about the gospel
and the grace of God. Salvation's not left up to us. And we cannot add to the church.
You can add church members, but only Christ can add to the church. Only Christ can bring forth fruit. Only Christ is the one who has
fruit and can bring forth fruit. Us and even he himself said except
a quarter wheat fall into the ground and die it abides by itself
But if it dies, oh How fruitful how much fruit is brought forth
in his blessed name now. I want you to look with me in
Genesis 41 Genesis 41 we're gonna be all over Genesis tonight,
but look in Genesis 41 verse 45 I'm gonna give you his next
name He had another name. God owes you a fruitful bough. And added. And our Lord Jesus
is the fruitful one. And He's the one who adds to
the church. And He's the only one who can
add to the inhabitants in glory. If we get to glory, Christ's
got to be the one to take us. We can't get there on our own.
And look what He said here in verse 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zaphnath-paneah. And you know what Zaphnath-paneah
means? Look what it says in the middle
of the verse there, in the margin. A revealer of secrets, the man
to whom secrets are revealed. That's what his other name was. He is a revealer of secrets.
He has re-understood secrets and he can reveal secrets. And
I tell you what, I tell you some things he revealed. He revealed
the father's heart. Because Jacob loved his son Joseph. Oh how he loved his son Joseph.
And he revealed his father's heart. And then he revealed the
secrets of his brother's heart. because they hated him and they
despised him and because of his very existence he revealed the
hatred and the manifestation hatred that they had in their
hearts and you're talking about somebody now listen to me you're
talking about somebody that reveals the secrets of people's hearts
the Lord Jesus Christ can do that when nobody else can I mean
beloved how many times in the scriptures and I was looking
at one today in Mark Well, they let down this man through a roof. You know, he was in a house and
they had the doorway blocked up and a big crowd outside the
door listening to him preach. They got up on top of the house,
tore the tiles off the top of the house, and let this man down
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what our Lord
said to him? He said, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Well, them Pharisees, the scripture
says that they fought within themselves. This man blasphemes. And the next word, verse says
this, And Jesus knew the reasonings of their heart, said unto them, His disciples were walking along
one day. And they were having a conversation,
who's going to be the best? Who's going to be the greatest?
Who's going to sit at the right hand? Who's going to sit at the
left? And our Lord Jesus, they come up to him and he was around
and he said, what was the conversation you had along the way? And he
began to tell them. So the Lord Jesus, and I've said
this so many times, one of the greatest blessings It, to me,
is that God knows me as I really am. Not like you see me, not
like Shirley sees me, not like my brother sees me, my sister
sees me, but as He sees me. My heart is open to Him, and
what a blessing that is. That he looks right in there
and comes on and takes up his abode anyway. You see our Lord was a light
in the world. He is shining in a dark place.
And what darkness does, it detects. The light, when it comes into
the dark, it detects things. It displays things. It uncovers
things. And He brings to light the hidden
things of darkness. And that's what the light does.
I mean, when the light comes on, the darkness can't stay.
And it reveals things. Have you ever went down in anybody's
basement? Now when I lived as a young boy down in North Carolina,
everybody down there had dirt basements. They dug an old basement
and then they built a house over there. The walls were dirt. Everything was dirt. And when
you went down in there, and most of them didn't even have light,
they had to go in there with a flashlight. But you go in there
and you know you don't see the cobwebs and anything else. If
you walked in there in the dark you'd be fighting spiderwebs
and rats and everything else. But you turn the light on You
know where to walk. And that's the way God does us.
He turns the light on in our hearts. And He uncovers. He uncovers us! And we love to
be uncovered by Him. We really do. Let me show you
something else about Joseph as a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Genesis 37, verse 3 and 4. Look what it says here in Genesis
37, verse 3 and 4. Now Israel loved Joseph more
than all his children. I seen a thing the other day
that they was just having a big to do over some parents like
some children better than they do others. Especially the baby. They loved the baby. They didn't
do the baby special. But you know they had done a
study on it. The scriptures have been teaching
that ever since there has been a Bible since God spoke. God
has special people. He has children he loves more
than he does others. And it says Jacob loved Joseph
more than all of his children. He had 11 of them. Joseph was
one of 12. Because he was the son of his
old age. And he made him a coat of many
colors. And that's the thing, his coat
of many colors. And when his brethren saw that
their father loved him more than his brethren, they hated him
and could not speak peace. He don't want a coat of many
colors, but did you have a coat that got all these colors on
it? It was a mark of honor. It was a mark of love. It was
swinging out to wear as someone who's noble and special. And
I'll show you that in 2 Samuel chapter 13 in verse 8. Look here.
2 Samuel 13, 8. Let me show you this. You know, this is a mark of honor. That shows you how much He loved
you and how much He honored Joseph. He has a special position. Look
what it said here in verse 18. It says it's in verse 18. He had a garment
of diverse colors before him. For with such robes were the
king's daughters, and that your virgins will come. Oh, my. He
had this beautiful garment. The king's daughters were found
in it. And so, beloved, I'm going to
tell you something. There's a difference between
Joseph and Paul. Our Lord was born King of kings
and Lord of lords. But our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
wear a coat of mace. Our Lord Jesus Christ, whenever
you find him, you hear him speaking of his glory. You hear him speaking, telling
you he's white as the sun. Glistening white. The fullness
of the Godhead's heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
have on a coat of mace. He had one coat. And that coat was a robe
of righteousness. A robe of righteousness. One color. And he gives us the
same thing. He gives us the same coat that
he wears, the same obedience he has, and the same righteousness
he has. Huh? Wouldn't you love to see? Did I ever say, I know
I told you this. And Bunyan killed his father.
When Joe, uh, uh, killed the man, they got down, Christian
and Faith got down, and they went through this narrow gate,
and they come up to the cross. And they looked at the cross,
and the birds fell off. And they saw Christ on the cross.
And then they looked over there, and they saw that this guy that
was on the cross had put this huge garment on him. And the
old priest would look at his face and say, oh my heavens, oh my, this man's from
God's people. He's the one who's the greatest
of us. He said, well, you're not one
of them folks. You can see the one in the other. You can't see
me. And that's the way that he is with us as believers. But we've got Christ did not
have a covenant. He had one covenant. Every place you find him, he
talks about his gold. He talks about his power, his
magic. And when they saw him on the mount, they couldn't wait
to watch him. He sang as the sun reflected. Huh? All right. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something. Next page. Let's go to Genesis
39 and more. Genesis 39 and more. And Joseph
here, he becomes a slave. He becomes a slave. Look what it says, "...and Joseph
was brought down to Egypt." Oh, he was brought down. Our Lord
Jesus Christ paid him. "...and Potiphar, an officer
of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, and Egyptian, bought him." Bought
him. That means he was a slave. He
was owned by somebody else. "...of the hands of the Ishmaelites,
which have brought him down." Now, here's Joseph. He would come
from being the most beloved of the flock, and having on this
beautiful coat. And then, all of a sudden, he's
not in his father's house anymore. It's father's mission. And yet, he goes down from being
in his father's house, and he becomes a slave, a servant, down
in Egypt. Oh, beloved, our master, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He came way up yonder. God, we can't imagine
how far down He came. And He came into this world.
And, beloved, He became a church. He became a church. He became a man. And our Lord
said, I came not to minister unto but to minister and give
my life a rest. And you know that I keep talking
about a curse, and my Lord Jesus Christ bowed down and warned
me to stop this. And he said, if I, your Lord,
didn't give you this, how much more could you do? And that means
to be a curse, to be a curse. You know, and a curse is a slave
that's getting ready to be a Lord's servant. And that's to be a servant,
to serve your God, to be a servant. I don't want to go out. I'm happy where I'm at. I'm happy with my best. Well, that's the way our Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, if they have to die,
dig mine ear. That means that they put a hole
in his ear. He's shocked at that. And he's willing, gladly, to
live in this world, to become a servant, one, to put himself
in the Lord's place. I don't know how many times I've
read where the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's not just saying, now
don't make that noise. He didn't run around trying to
make himself a reputation. He was meek and lowly of heart. Oh, he humbled himself. God bless
the Savior. Oh, how low he fell. I mean, the very fact
that he saved me and you, that tells us how low he fell. He saved us. Oh, my. And then here again in
Genesis chapter 9, I'm going to show you something else about Joseph. Down here in verse 3
and 4, look what he says. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, and that the Lord had made all that he did to foster
peace. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over
all his house, and all that he had he put in his house. Oh,
my. Here's Joseph. Joseph was down here. He was
the slave. But what made him different from any of the other slaves around here? God did. God had his plans. The Lord's plans. And he saw
that the Lord made all that he did to prosper you. I tell you, he was different
than any servant that he had ever had. You know why? Because
he did not. He worshipped God. He believed
God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord was different. He prospered. And he served Sodom
and Gomorrah faithfully. Faithfully, over and over and
over, day in and day out. and put everything in its place.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, God's had lots
and lots of servants down through the years. Lots of them. Abraham, Isaac, David, Paul,
and all the apostles. He says, only one has God put
everything in its place. Only one, he said to his servants. The Lord's will will prosper
in this country. The Lord will cause His salvation
to prosper in this country. And, oh, and He's the only one
that the Father spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved
country, in whom I'm well pleased. And I'll tell you something about
our Lord Jesus Christ. He was faithful. He's faithful
from the day he was born to the day he died, and he was faithful
in the seventh grade. He was faithful in time, and
he's faithful right now as a right-hand man. He's faithful to his Father. He's faithful to his people.
He's faithful to his Word. He's faithful to his Son. Our
Lord is faithful. Has He ever failed you? Oh, that's
why He said He's got to hold us right to service. And the
pleasure of the Lord, what's it gonna be? Prosperity. Prosperity. He gave something
else for these lifetimes. It's down here in verse 5 of
Genesis. That's what it said in verse
5. And it came to pass from the
time that he had made him over sin and over all that he had,
that the Lord blessed him with peace. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the kingdom. In other words, for Joseph's
sake, everything that happened was blessed. You see, Joseph
was made a servant. He was made a great blessing to others. A great blessing for Joseph's
sake. And I tell you what, without saying anything about it, it
would be very easy for us to regret that everything done for us is
done for Christ. God, for Christ's sake, asked
in my name. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, ask
in my name. And everything that we have,
God has, as Joe Bonner used to say, God put all of his eggs
in one basket. And I know this, the power, God's
power, is just in all the power. God's glory, God's nature, God's
character, the salvation of humanity is in His blood. You know even people that's
not converted, even some people that's not converted may be converted. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because that He sent us. His Word. His Word is here. And everybody needs it. And everything else, you know, is
this awful thing that happened in Nashville down in the mountains. But God has his way in the world. He does. And that's
why we preach the gospel. So that if God comes and picks
you up, you'll be a part of the world. And that's exactly the
way that you are, Lord. You said, I've come upon you
as a thief in the night. And I tell you what, that's come
upon people just like a thief in the night. And I don't mean
to sound powerful about that. But this world is bad. It's bad. It's my fault. And when God saves His last sheep,
we will be saved. Is that right? And let me tell
you something else about it. Now, sit down folks, sit here. Not only
did Job just say, God blessed us with five things. You know,
people talk about blessings all the time. But if, you know, when he said,
all spiritual blessings are in heavenly places. Now, here's what people, they
take blessings by the faith that they can have. By how healthy
they are, how smart they are, how pretty they are. And they'll
say, boy, God bless the people I meet. Does that mean that somebody's
not beautiful? But I tell you, the blessings,
the blessings that count for this world are all spiritual
blessings. And if you got him and all the
stupid records and everything else, it's just butter on the bread.
It's just butter on the bread. Ain't that right? I don't know
how else to put it. It's just butter on the bread.
All right. So look what he said here in
verse 2. And he left all that he had in
Joseph's hands. And he knew not all that he had.
He didn't even know what he had, but then. So he turned it all
over to Joseph. See, the only thing he knew what
he had, when he sat down to eat, there was food on the table.
And Joseph was a goodly person in the world. Now, let's talk
about Joseph being a goodly person. Now, let me say something here. We've got to distinguish between
the purpose, the person, and the place he occupied. But here's
Joseph, he's a slave. He's subject to the will of another.
He's no longer grown in this poverty. That's his position. He's a slave to the will of somebody
else. But that's not his faith. His purpose is good. His position as a slave is good. And that's the way it is with
our Lord Jesus Christ. I'll be like a hitched physician. When he's birthed, he was born
lowly. Oh, he was born lowly. Laid in a manger. And growing
up, his occupation, all of these things became stumbling blocks
to the Jews, and become stumbling blocks to other Jews. He was laid in a manger, but
yet the angel announced his birth. The wise men come from the east.
and prostrate themselves before that cave-in. John says, I'm
not worthy to scoot down and lose the shoes lacking of this
blessed son. You're talking about a glorious
person. I mean, his position, God bless
this son. His person, God bless this son. His person and his position are
worn in the flesh. Worn in the flesh. When he came down here, And he
was just 12 years old. There were doctors in the audience,
and he said, he sat there and he said,
when he was 12 years old, he was still there. Dumbfounded.
Dumbfounded. 12-year-old dumbfounded. Not to say a 12-year-old dumbfounded
me, but dumbfounded the first two doctors in the audience. Oh, my. Again, let me show you
this. Again, here, looking here at
39 and 37. And it came to pass, after these things, that his
master's wife cast her eyes upon him. And she said, my, this man,
that he refused to sit under his master's wife. The whole
of my master, what is not, what is this? There's none greater
in this house than I am. He ain't kept back anything from
me but you. How then can I do this great
business and sing? That's what it's all about. And it came to pass, as she spake
to Joseph day by day, that he had to not under her, to lie
by her, to be with her. And it came to pass, about this
time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and
there was no other man in the house, Mary and the children.
And she called him by his garment and said, lie with me. And he left his garment there,
and he said, and God be with you. Amen. And I'll tell you what, it says
here that he died. He knows it, and he did not die. He lives, and he lives,
and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and
he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and
he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives,
and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he
lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and
he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives,
and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he
lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and
he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and he lives, and
he lives, And our Lord Jesus Christ, so He is 50, and I trust
in all things, yes, He is 50. Our Lord Jesus Christ never thought
sin, never did sin, never imagined sin. Sin has no part or cause
in Christ. And even when He is 50 to the
death, He is 50 to Christ. Again, let me tell you again,
over and over. Joseph was costly, costly too.
Costly too. She lied on him. She accused
him of saying, you know, that he's a lieutenant, he's a side
dresser. Take advantage of him. He ran out. He was costly, costly
too. And you know what he did? He
never came back. He never came back. He never
came back. And I want you to see this. Look
with me real quickly in Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew 22. You know,
our Lord Jesus, and as when He was before all of these nations,
He opened not His eyes. He raised His hands and smiled. He opened not His eyes. He chose
what was possible for Him, charged with something He never did.
Now the chief priests and elders in all the counties They went out looking. And it
says there, look for false witnesses. They didn't look for witnesses,
look for false witnesses. Because they knew that they could
not charge them with anything. But it looked like they were persistent,
but they didn't charge them. Mary, though many false witnesses
came, yet found they none. At the last, at the last, came
two false witnesses. And I tell you what, they saved
her. And told a lie. Off she appeared. And then let me show you this. Joseph Smith, this is a good
one for me to say. He led us to the peace and forgiveness of Christ, Jesus Christ. Joseph was a prostitute,
and our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught us how to live each day in peace and love. He didn't look what he said back
then, until he was twenty-two. Not only was he passed in the
prison, but he was numbered with the same penalty. He came to
pass after he changed at the front desk of the C.E.B. and his basement
had offended their law enforcement. They were over-drawn from any
resistance until his office was in the Institute of Justice. You know what that says? That
not only is the question of faith a good thing, it's a bad thing. You are not. You are not. You
are not. You are not. You are not. You are not. You are not. You are not. You are not. You are not. You are
not. You are not. You are not. It's all the same to you. It's
all the same to you. It's all the same to you. It's all the same to you. It's all the same to you.
It's all the same to you. It's all the same to you. It's all the same to you. I love to, I love to change between. It sounds like music to me, but
to me that's made for me. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how
I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, oh. I'll see you on that
bridge. Thank you, Jesus. I love you.