As I mentioned in my email, we
won't read chapters 40 and 41 of Genesis, but I'll refer to
some verses in them, I believe, and if you had time to read it, even
if you didn't, I pray that the Lord will teach us some Some
beautiful truth here from these chapters 40 and 41 and chapter
37 also of Genesis. There's something these chapters
have in common. Joseph was gifted of the Lord
to understand and explain dreams. We see it in chapter 40 where
Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker were cast into the same
prison where Joseph was. And they had dreams while they
were there and they were upset about them and Joseph asked them,
what are you upset about? And they said, well, we've dreamed
dreams and we don't know what they mean. And Joseph was able
to explain to them what their dreams meant. It was a gift from
God that he was able to do that. And we see it in chapter 41 where
when Pharaoh had a dream and then the chief Butler remembered
Joseph when When that butler had had the dream in prison,
Joseph said, now you remember me if you get out of prison,
when you do, because he knew from his dream that he would.
He said, when you do, remember me to Pharaoh. But then it says
at the end of the chapter that the butler forgot him. But then
Pharaoh had a dream. And that butler remembered. Nobody
could interpret pharaoh's dream but that butler came to pharaoh
and said i was in prison and i had a dream and somebody in
that prison was able to tell me what it meant and pharaoh called for joseph
and joseph was able to understand and reveal the truth of pharaoh's
dream But even going back to chapter 37, as I said in the
book of Genesis, we see Joseph telling his own dreams to his
brethren and his father. You remember the Lord gave him
dreams and he knew what they meant and he told his brothers
and they weren't happy about it. And so we see Joseph telling
these dreams his own and those of others. And the meaning of
these dreams is very instructive. What are these dreams? In the
context of how they're recorded in the Bible, what are they?
Well, they weren't just like my dreams now, and yours probably. Do you ever dream much? I dream
sometimes. My dreams are meaningless. The
Lord doesn't do this anymore. He doesn't speak this way anymore.
But here, in these texts, these dreams are God revealing truth
concerning things that could not have been known any other
way. If God doesn't give the meaning of these dreams and give
that gift to a man to express that meaning, then nobody will
have any idea concerning these truths that are seen in the dreams.
So it's a God's revelation of truth. And this is important because
God still reveals truth. in different manners. He has
revealed his truth throughout the ages. But God himself doesn't
change. He's used different manners.
We saw that in Hebrews 1, you remember. God who at sundry times
and in diverse manners spake. And one of the different manners,
one of the various manners in which God has spoken to people,
he has revealed his truth to sinners, was by dreams then,
by these dreams, that he gave his prophets many times, he appeared
to them in visions and dreams. And he spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets in these various ways. And he hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his son. He doesn't reveal
truth in dreams and visions anymore. He sent his son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
But he still reveals truth, and he still does it in the same
way, but by a different method now. And what do you mean by
the same way? Well, that's what we're going
to see here. He reveals it to certain people. He reveals it
through a man, through means, through certain means, though
the means themselves might change. But God himself, the truth that
he reveals doesn't change. And he reveals it to certain
specific people whom he has chosen to reveal it. He said to his
disciples, to you it is given to know. To Joseph it was given
to know. And to everybody that he revealed,
it was given to them to know the mystery of the truth of God
that he revealed only to those specific ones. In these last
days, the Son of God came down to this earth, God with us, and
spoke Himself. God spake by His Son, but now
think with me here. God has always spoken of His
Son. He spake by His Son in these
last days, but even in the ancient times, from the beginning, He's
always spoken of His Son. Christ said to those religious
Jews in John 5, 46, had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me, for he wrote of me. God, when he spake through
Moses and spake through the writings of Moses and appeared to Moses
and revealed truth to him in dreams and visions sometimes,
in different manners, it was concerning his son, Jesus Christ.
The message has never changed. Moses wrote of me. Peter preached
at Cornelius' house in Acts 10.43 this, to him, to Christ, give
all the prophets witness. The Lord would appear to them
and would sometimes in visions and dreams, but he would reveal
truth and he'd say, here's what you say to my people. And he
would send them to do that. And to him, to Christ, gave all
those prophets witness. That, through his name, Whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. You see why
I say he still speaks the same way? He's still speaking the
same thing. That's what he's doing tonight. By God's grace
to Christ, give all of his preachers witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him, God said, I'll save them. You go preach and whoever believes,
I'll save them. They'll receive remission of
sin. Same thing, same way, different manner, different means. Our
Lord, it says in Luke 24, 27. He said, it says, beginning at
Moses and all the prophets. What are we reading in the book
of Genesis? That's Moses. and all the prophets. He expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."
Well, what does that got to do with Moses? We're not talking
about Moses, we're talking about Joseph. Moses wrote the first
five books of the Bible. And that's what he talking about
there. The book of Moses, the five, the Pentateuch. God also has always revealed
his truth by his son. Now think about this, he speaks
by his son in these last days. His son came down to this earth
and he spake by his son, spake by his son. He's always spoken
of his son and he's always revealed what he said by his son. He didn't speak by the son back
then, but who revealed the truth to these prophets in these dreams?
How did Joseph have the gift to know what God was teaching
in these dreams, to interpret dreams? How did he know what
Pharaoh's dream meant? Look what he said in Genesis
40 and verse 8. These two that were in prison,
when they said unto him, we have dreamed a dream and there's no
interpreter of it. And what did Joseph say to them?
Do not interpretations belong to God? You're not going to know
what it means unless God tells you what it means. interpretation,
understanding of his revealed truth belongs to him. Tell me
them, I pray you. The Lord gifted him to be able
to understand that belongs to God. This too has not changed. Matthew 11, 27, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, all things are delivered unto me of my father. And no
man knoweth the son, but the father. Neither knoweth any man
the Father save the Son." What is God doing when He speaks?
When He spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets and
in these last days by His Son, what's He saying? He's revealing
Himself. Well, how are we going to know Him? Well, it's through
the means of the preaching. But no man knoweth the Father
save the Son and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal. It belongs
to Him. reveal his truth to you. You're
not going to understand what he's saying when he speaks unless
Christ reveals it to you. So hear this. One of the diverse
manners in which God spake in time past was by dreams. And
this is strange to us now, but keep in mind what is the same
as now about this. We don't learn anything from
dreams now. We realize that. Some say, well,
I had a dream about God. Well, I don't want to really
hear it. Not if it was about God. If it
was about Martians or, you know, pink elephants flying and then
tell me that's interesting. But if it's about God, I don't
even want to hear it. Because nothing that you dreamed about
God is going to be worth talking about. We have the complete written
word and the preached word of which Paul said In 1 Corinthians
121, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. When I have a dream
now, it might be about somebody breaking into the house. Have
you ever had that one? You know, some subconscious fear that we
have manifests itself when we're subconscious in our sleep. I've
had that one many times. Somebody break it in the house,
you know, what am I going to do? Or it may be about some bizarre
something that's so stupid it'd be embarrassing to even tell
you what it is. I know what it's not. It's not a revelation from
God. God doesn't reveal truth that
way now that we have the scripture, but God still reveals truth. as he did in our text to certain
people. And it still has to do with his
son, Jesus Christ. He's still manifesting the truth
of his son. The Holy Spirit of God will take
the things of Christ and show them to you. And it still must
be revealed to you by Christ, by his spirit. Now, as we said earlier, God,
by these diverse manners, spake of his son, and even these dreams
that Joseph had in Genesis chapter 37. What does God reveal to certain
people by these dreams? When he talked about the preeminence
that he had over his brothers, he's talking about the preeminence
of Christ. God is setting forth the truth
of the preeminence of his well-beloved, favored, blessed, only begotten
son. It's God speaking in a different
manner then, but speaking of his son. Christ is God's chosen,
favored, well-beloved son as Joseph was supremely loved of
his father. And like Joseph, our Lord wears
a splendid, beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind coat. code of many
colors, all of God's attributes and all of God's glory are seen
in Him alone. And the truth that He reveals,
the truth that God reveals is the same as what He reveals there. He revealed that same truth now
that all of God's other sons will bow down to and worship
his one preeminent, well-beloved son. We all want to bow down
to him. We all want to worship him. You
remember Joseph's brothers and father weren't happy about Joseph's
dream. In Genesis 37, 8, let me quote it to you. His brethren
said to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us? When he told them
the dream that the Lord had given him and given him understanding
to tell forth that dream, they said, You sure enough going to
reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion
over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams, for the truth. It was the truth. What Joseph
sought, what God gave him in that dream was the truth. That
was going to come a time when that was going to come to pass. But they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And when our Lord spake here
and talked of His preeminence, He said, you're going to see
the Son of Man coming in power. You can spit on me now. You can
whip me now and beat me and abuse me and falsely accuse me. This
is your hour. This is the hour of darkness.
But you're going to see yet the Son of Man coming in power. And
you wouldn't have any authority over me at all. if it wasn't
given you for now, for a time, for a brief season, for this
dark hour by my father. Oh, and they hated him all the
more for that. Now let me get your reaction
to this. By God's grace, I think I know maybe what your reaction
will be. God has revealed the same thing
in this day by his son He's spoken it by his son and by those whom
his son ordained to preach what he preached. Philippians 2, 9,
wherefore God hath also highly exalted him. Will you indeed
reign over us? Oh, yes. Yes, he will. He does. God has highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow. Are you going to have dominion
over us? Oh yes, oh yes. Of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. In that parable, the Lord Jesus Christ told, they
said, we will not have this man to reign over us. Oh yes, you
will. Yes, you will. Oh, I know that men love now,
they love their idea of Jesus. They talk about him stretching
out his arms, you know, on the cross and saying, I love you
this much. But what about the sovereign Christ? If you preach
the authority, the power, they have a form of godliness, but
they deny the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power.
What about the one that John saw in Revelation when he said,
I beheld a throne in heaven? And there was someone sitting
on it, on the throne of glory, doing
as He will with whom He will. God has from the beginning revealed,
is now revealing, and shall reveal the preeminence and glory of
His Son, Jesus Christ. And that's what Joseph's dream his dreams in chapter 37 of Genesis
set forth. Paul said in Romans 9, 23, that the reason he purposed in
eternity to have mercy on sinners, chose sinners in Christ from
the foundation of the world, sent his son to die in their
stead to redeem them from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for them, that just for the unjust dying that he might
bring us to God was that he might show the riches of his glory. He is setting forth the glory
and preeminence of his son in all that he does. Christ prayed
that we might be with him forever in John 17, 24, that we may behold
his glory. Paul said in Colossians 1, 12
through 18, listen to this. He said that God delivered us
from the power of darkness, translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, redeemed us by the blood of his Son, forgiving our sins,
established Christ as the firstborn of every creature, created all
things by him and for him, upholds all things by him, made him the
head of the body, even the church, and raised him from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. Wilt thou indeed
reign over us? He already does. Some of us just
don't know it yet. And he will reign, he must reign
until all of his enemies are made his footstool. God's still
revealing, in a different manner now, that same truth. He's been
revealing this ever since Joseph had that dream in Genesis 37.
Yea, before that, even in the very beginning, when God revealed
that the seed of woman would crush the serpent's head, he
has revealed the preeminence of his son and his glory in saving
sinners by his precious blood. Now in chapter 40, Joseph revealed
the dreams of this butler and baker. One interpretation was
of life and freedom, and the other was death. He said to that baker, your days
are numbered. Pharaoh's going to hang you.
He said to the butler, You're going to be freed. Your life
is going to be spared. You're going to be free and you're
going to be reinstated to your former position. And even so, when God makes known
his will now in a different manner, it is to one the savor of life
unto life and to another the savor of death unto death. Our message is this, Isaiah 310,
God said to me, and to you, and to all who speak for him, say
you to the righteous that it shall be well with him. Tell
the butler it's going to be all right. For they shall eat of the fruit
of their doings. Woe unto the wicked. It shall
be ill. with him for the reward of his
hands shall be given him. Woe unto them who like Paul said
in Romans 10 3 are ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Say ye to the wicked who have
not the righteousness of God and shall be ill. How do we know something of God's
righteousness, Paul? How do we submit to God's righteousness? How do we have God's righteousness? The next verse for Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe what folly What madness to go
about establishing your own righteousness before God when even our very
righteousnesses are filthy rags in His sight. Christ is the end
of the law, the goal of the law, the purpose of the law. The law
was given as a schoolmaster to bring us to the goal. The Lord
Jesus Christ. To show us our need of His redeeming
blood by which alone He is able to present us faultless before
the presence of God's glory. And those who are wicked are
those whom he does not present faultless. The righteous are
those. Colossians 121, and you that were at one time alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death To present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, it shall be well
with the righteous. Those who are in Christ Jesus,
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. The truth of God,
interpretation Joseph said belongs to God. The truth of God revealed
to these prisoners and all of us are spiritual prisoners by
nature. Even us who know him now were
at one time the children of wrath by nature, not in God's purpose
and love and his covenant. We've always been in Christ and
loved in Christ. Our brother showed us that so
beautifully this morning. But by nature, in and of ourselves,
according to what we deserve, according to our condition before
God as we're born into this world, children of wrath. The truth
of God, however, revealed to these prisoners, and all spiritual
prisoners, now in a different manner, was death to one, but
to the butler, life. Life, freedom, and restoration. You're going to be Pharaoh's
chief butler again. Life. He that hath the Son hath
life. Have you ever heard a more simple
and more beautiful truth in your life? He that hath the Son hath
life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Freedom. If the sun shall make
you free, you'll be free indeed. And restoration, same verse we
read well ago, Colossians 121, listen to it again. And you that
were at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled. You know what that word reconciled
means? bring back a former state of harmony to receive back into
favor. That's what happened to that
poor old butler. He was thrown into prison for whatever reason,
we're not told. He's not the chief butler anymore,
he's a prisoner. And slated for death, I imagine,
just like the baker received, but he's restored. Because God's
revealed truth was shown unto him that it shall be well with
you. He was received back into Pharaoh's
favor. You're my chief butler. Come into the house. We have back all that Adam lost
and then some. And that's an understatement.
We are now infallible in Christ. Where sin abounded grace didn't
just cancel it out but much more about it. Blessed beyond that
which any personal righteousness could ever have earned us. We
are the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Reconciled, restored, brought
back into a former state of harmony with God, and even more, receive
back into his favor, but not in the same way we had it before. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. The understanding of this dream
of Pharaoh now, in chapter 41, was a vital, urgent consequence. If God does not make this truth
known, the seven year, you remember, the cows and the skinny cows
and the fat cows, the dream that Pharaoh had. If you read these
chapters, refer to them later if you didn't. I didn't want to take the time
to read them all tonight because it would have just been so long.
But if God does not give Pharaoh this dream and through his servant
Joseph, reveal the truth of this dream to Pharaoh, that there's
going to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. If
he doesn't reveal it, everybody dies. Everybody. And what would happen to this
depraved, wretched world if there were no gospel. If God does not speak, if he doesn't speak to us tonight
in a different manner than he did then, we die. If he doesn't
speak at all, everybody dies. Everybody. As a result of this
dream, this truth, this gospel, Joseph is exalted at the right
hand of the majesty. And by his wisdom and authority,
many are saved. Many. Turn to Genesis 41 and
we will read part of this because it's just so, so beautiful and
we'll spend more time expounding these passages later. I wanted
to focus mainly just on the dreams tonight, but we'll look at the
text somewhat verse by verse. if the Lord is willing next Sunday
or the Sunday after that. Look at Genesis 41 and verse
37. This is after Joseph had told
Pharaoh what the truth was concerning these dreams. And he told him
what to do about it. Told him what to do about it.
God reveals his truth unto us and then tells us what to do
about it. What must I do to be saved? God will tell you the
same thing Pharaoh said, spiritually speaking. Go to Joseph. You want to be saved? You want
to have something to eat? You don't want to die of hunger? Are you hungry
and thirsty after righteousness? Go to Joseph. And the thing was
good in the eyes of Pharaoh, verse 37, and in the eyes of
all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants,
Can we find such in one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit
of God is? The scripture says that the Father
without measure, that the Son has Spirit, has the Spirit of
God by the Father without measure. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
for as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none
so discreet and wise as you are. Christ, unto the Jews a stumbling
block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
Christ the wisdom of God, and Christ the power of God. Thou
shalt be over my house. God hath given all authority
into the hands of his Son. And according unto thy word shall
all my people be ruled, only in the throne will I be greater
than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
and by the way, the Lord said, my father which sent me is greater
than I. So we see even that here. And
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have sent thee over all the
land of Egypt, this world. Satan is called the prince of
the power of the air and the prince of this world in the scriptures
because for a time he's been given some freedom here by God. But never make any mistake about
it. This world belongs to and is ruled by in all of the minutia
of every circumstance and every person's heart even in everything
that takes place. This world belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is Christ who sitteth upon
the circle of the earth and all the inhabitants thereof, including
Satan and all his demons, are as grasshoppers. All of Egypt is yours. And Pharaoh
took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. Joseph always wearing
something fine, isn't he? the coat of many colors, and
vesture of fine linen. Why? Because all through the
scripture, our apparel, pictures are standing before God. Our
righteousness or lack thereof before God. Adam and Eve in the
garden were naked. Why? Because they fell, they
were sinful. They had no covering, they had no righteousness before
God. They wouldn't let those ones
in in that parable of our Lord without a wedding garment. Why
not? Because you can't enter the presence of God without the
righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're not there by
God's appointment and by God's invitation, if you're not compelled
to come in by Him, the One who made a marriage for His Son,
then you're not welcome. You have no garment. You can't
be in His presence. All through the scripture this
is taught. And Joseph was arrayed in vestures of fine linen, and
a gold chain was put about his neck. And he made him to ride
in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him,
bow the knee, bow the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I am Pharaoh, and without you, shall no man lift up his hand
or foot in all the land of Egypt. Now look down at 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. according to the word of the
Lord, so shall it be. And the dearth was in all lands,
but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. There was a
dearth in all the land. He's as a root out of a dry ground. He's the oasis in the desert
of this world. In all the land of Egypt, though,
there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt
was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh
said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph. What he saith
to you, do. Go to Joseph. No man cometh unto
the father but by me. He died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. You're not coming to God any
other way, but through Joseph. All of God's blessings for sinners,
and he blesses sinners. He loves sinners. He has mercy
on sinners, but the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of
God, they're all in Christ. You can read all of that glorious
language there in Romans chapter eight. None shall be able to
separate us from the love of God. Nobody, no thanks. And he lists all those different
things and he said, nor any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. And if you stop right there,
it's a lie. Like our president did one time
when he quoted that in some place they were calling a church on
national television. None shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. Don't stop there, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. If you're gonna experience the
love of God, you're gonna have to go to Joseph. Are you hungry?
Go to Joseph. And what he saith to you, do, do. What does he say to you? Come
to me. The father says, go to Joseph,
go to Christ. And Christ says, come to me.
And the Spirit says, come to. The Spirit says the same thing.
We read it in the Revelation this morning. The Spirit and
the bride, we're saying the same thing, aren't we? Go to Christ. John said it, behold, the Lamb
of God. You need your sins taken away?
There's God's Lamb right there. Everybody to whom God has revealed
his truth in whatever manner he's done so, says the same thing.
Go to Joseph. Go to Christ, come to Christ. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come, come. What he saith to you do, and
the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened
all the storehouses and sold them to the Egyptians, and the
famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. He opened all the storehouses. You either had plenty to eat
or you had nothing to eat and nothing in between. You was either
a victim of the famine and you didn't have anything, but if
you came to Joseph, he wasn't stingy about it. He opened all
the storehouses and our Lord Jesus Christ is plenteous in
mercy. You either are under the curse
and wrath and condemnation of God Or you have all spiritual
blessings in Christ. There ain't no in between. All
of the storehouses of God's grace are opened unto you, or they're
not. That's the difference. He that hath the Son hath life. Do we even know what life means? We use that word, don't we? But
life, life. Spiritual life means everything
that God has that's good is mine. No good thing will he withhold
from me. Go to Joseph. And all the countries came into
Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn. All the countries. Out of every
kindred, nation, tribe, tongue under heaven. All over this world,
by God's grace, by his revelation, in different manners in time
past, but now his son has come. And God's still revealing his
truth. And out of every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue under
heaven around this world, people are still coming to Joseph. And
because of God's revealed truth, his exaltation of his son, and
because of that glorious news of the truth of his son, of the
truth that Joseph is wise and discreet above all others, and
he's exalted and he has authority over storehouses that are full. Come and dine. Are you thirsty? Come. There's a river flowing
that never runs dry. And all over this world, people
are still coming. And when the last one comes,
then we'll see all things put under his feet.