I practice on pronouncing this
name right. Zaphnath-peah-nia, the Revealer
of Secrets, the Interpreter of Dreams. This is the name that
Pharaoh gave to Joseph after Joseph interpreted his dreams. Dreams. I have dreams all the
time. I dream, I don't know if I dream
more than the average person, but I dream a lot. And they're
weird, they're strange, I can't give an explanation for them,
nor do I want an explanation for them. There's a couple of stress dreams
that I have, probably at least once a month. Now, um, somebody
says, why are you stressed? Well, I shouldn't be. I realized
that God's on the throne, but I still have these stress dreams
and they're true to dreams that I have. I believe at least once
a month, one dream is that I dream that it's finals. and I'm getting
ready to graduate, and there's a class that I've completely
forgotten about, and I know I'm going to flunk it for sure. And
I am very stressed out. And when I awake, it's such a
relief. And the other dream I have is
that I'm getting ready to preach and somebody has picked up my
Bible. And I don't have my Bible, I don't have my notes, I'm getting
ready to preach to some people. I'm thinking, I'm going to have
to wing it. And I don't want to do that. I always want to
be well prepared. And that is a very stressful
thing to me, to think of that. And when I wake up, I'm so happy. It was a dream. I can relax once
again. I don't really put any stock
in dreams. As a matter of fact, I've dreamed I should preach
on certain things before I didn't do it. I mean, my dreams, I don't
trust him. Uh, I don't, the Lord speaks
through his word. Now he doesn't speak through
dreams. He speaks through his word and
his word is all I trust. Now Pharaoh's dreams were not
like that at all. They were dreams. God gave him.
They weren't just weird dreams. They were dreams that God gave
him. Let's begin reading in verse
one of chapter 41. And it came to pass at the end
of two full years. This is two years after Joseph
had interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker. Pharaoh dreamed and behold he
stood by the river and behold there came up out of the river
seven well favored kind and fat fleshed and they fed in a meadow
seven healthy fat cows and behold seven other kind came up after
them out of the river ill favored. And lean flesh, their ribs were
sticking out. You could tell they had not had
proper nourishment. And stood by the other kind upon
the brink of the river, the ill-favored and lean flesh kind did eat up
the seven well-favored and fat kind. So Pharaoh awoke. And he slept and dreamed the
second time. And behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one
stalk, rank and good. And behold, seven thin ears,
and blasted with the east wind, sprang up after them. And the
seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And
Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And it came to pass
in the morning that his spirit was troubled. He evidently knew
this meant something, and he didn't know what it meant. And he sat and called for all
the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof. And Pharaoh
told them his dream, but there were none that could interpret
them unto Pharaoh. Then spake the chief butler unto
Pharaoh saying, I do remember my faults this day. He remembered
what had taken place two years ago. Pharaoh was wroth with his
servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's
house, both me and the chief baker. And we dreamed a dream,
and one night I and he, we dreamed each man according to the interpretation
of his dream, and there was there with us a young man, in Hebrew,
servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, And he
interpreted to us our dreams to each man, according to his
dream, he did interpret. And it came to pass as he interpreted
to us, so it was. Me, he restored into my office
and him, he hanged. Now this young man is Joseph. He's the man who accurately interpreted
the dreams of the Butler and the Baker in Genesis chapter
39. Now, Joseph is such a remarkable man. Everything he did was successful. He was successful as his father's
favorite child. When he was betrayed by his brethren
and brought into Egypt, he was successful in Potiphar's house.
You remember how Potiphar turned everything over to him. He didn't
even know what he owned. He entrusted everything to Joseph. And when Joseph is falsely accused
and thrown into prison, the prison keeper entrusted everything to
Joseph. He became the head of that prison. Now, I don't know whether anything
like that has ever happened before or since then. He was successful
in all that he did, and he successfully interpreted those dreams of the
Butler and Baker. He told exactly. what would take
place. And what I love to think of Joseph,
he was a successful man. And that's not given to tell
us of his success. His success was because of his
God. But understand this, he is a
type, a beautiful and glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And whatever Christ does is successful. Any idea of Christ having his
intentions frustrated, is wrong. He's no failure. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged. Everything he puts his hand to
or has put his hand to or will put his hand to is necessarily
successful because of who he is. He's the Lord's Christ. Now, after he gave these correct
interpretations to Pharaoh, we're going to come back to that. Pharaoh
called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paeonea. And the first translation the
Hebrew Lexington gives of that is the savior of the world. Christ
is called the savior of the world. It's also translated abundance
of life, revealer of secrets. He revealed to Pharaoh The meaning. God's word speaking life. And certainly each of these titles
could be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ who is successful. Aren't you thankful our Redeemer
cannot fail? If he intends to save me, I'm
saved. Without any question, because
he is the one that does the saving. Now, look in verse 14 of Genesis
41. Then Pharaoh sent and called
Joseph. And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon and
he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came in unto
Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I've dreamed a dream and there's none that can interpret it. And
I've heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret
it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh saying,
it's not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer
of peace. I can't interpret the dream.
God will do it and he'll use my mouth as a mouthpiece to give
his interpretation. Verse 17, And Pharaoh said unto
Joseph in my dream, Behold, I stood upon the brink of the river and
behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, fat fleshed
and well favored. And they fed in a meadow, and
behold, seven other cows came upon them, poor and very ill-favored,
and lean flesh, such as I'd never saw in all the land of Egypt,
for badness. I'd never seen cattle like this. And the lean and the
ill-favored cows did eat up the first seven fat kind, and when
they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten
them, but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
Now, these scrawny, rib-showing cows ate these big, fat cows,
and they didn't look any different. They were just as lean-fleshed,
just as weak and scrawny. Verse 22, and I saw in my dream,
and behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good.
And behold, seven ears withered thin and blasted with the east
wind sprung up after them. And the thin ears devoured the
seven good ears. And I told this unto the magicians,
but there were none that could declare it to me. They had no idea. Now I'm asking
you, I need an interpreter. And Joseph had already let him
know. The interpretation is not in
me. God will give you an answer. Verse 25. And Joseph said unto Pharaoh,
the dream of Pharaoh was one. The two different dreams have
the same meaning. God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. I love that. You know anything that hasn't been
done yet? It's what God is about to do. I wish we could read histories,
newspapers, anything we read and realize whatever it is, it's
what God is about to do. And that ought to put a little
bit of excitement in our hearts to know that he does all things
well, and it's what he is about to do. That fills me with anticipation. You know, he may kill me in the
next 15 minutes. I might drop dead while I'm preaching to you.
I've always thought I'd like to go that way, but, um, uh,
everything is what he is about to do. What God is about to do. He show
with Pharaoh verse 29, behold, there came seven years of great
plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Here's his interpretation. Those first seven years. There'll
be seven years of plenty throughout the land of Egypt and there shall
rise after them seven years of famine and all the plenty shall
be forgotten. Those seven skinny cows shall
eat the seven fat cows and the seven skinny years of corn shall
eat the seven fat years of corn and all those seven years of
plenty will be gone. I've skipped some verses. Let
me go back. Verse 26, the seven good kind are seven years and
the seven good ears are seven years. The dream is one, the
seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after the set them
are seven years and the seven empty ears blasted, which the
east wind should be seven years of famine. This is the thing,
which I've spoken unto Pharaoh, what God is about to do. He showed
the Pharaoh. Behold, there comes seven years
of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Times are
good. Everything anybody could ever
want. Seven years of that. Seven years of plenty. No problems. Everything is great for a seven
year period. Seven years is a pretty long
time. Seven years of plenty. There shall rise verse 30 after
them, seven years of famine and all the plenty shall be forgotten
in the land of Egypt and the famine shall consume the land. What a famine this must have
been. And as a matter of fact, we're going to find out as we
go into the next chapter or the end of this chapter, it was a
worldwide famine. Uh, people think of the, uh,
pandemic that has taken place in the last few years. This was
much more severe. This was a worldwide famine where
people were starving to death everywhere. It covered the whole
face of the earth. Verse 31 and the plenty shall
not be known in the land by reason of the famine following for it
should be very grievous. for that the dream was doubled
unto Pharaoh twice, it's because the thing is established by God. It's going to happen. There are
no events that will keep this from happening. It's going to
happen and God will shortly bring it to pass. That's what these
dreams mean. There's going to be seven years
of plenty. And then after that, there's going to be seven years
of such severe famine that all those years of plenty will be
forgotten. Verse 33. Now, therefore, let
Pharaoh look out a man, discreet, wise, and set him over the land
of Egypt. And Pharaoh, let Pharaoh do this. Let him appoint officers over
the land and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in
the seven plenteous years. and let them gather all the food
of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand
of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that
food shall be for store to the land against the seven years
of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land
perish not through famine." Now here, Joseph displays his wisdom. What to do during these seven
years of famine. Take 20% of what we grow and
save it so we'll have food during this worldwide famine that God
is going to bring. Verse 37, and the thing was good
in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this,
a man in whom the spirit of God is? Who could that describe but the
Lord Jesus Christ? God giveth not the spirit by
measure unto him. He as a man was completely dependent
upon the spirit of God. Oh, how he had the spirit of
God. We have a measure of the spirit.
He had the fullness of the infinite Holy Spirit, the third person
of the blessed Trinity, and what wisdom he displayed. And Pharaoh, verse 39, said unto
Joseph, for as much as God has showed thee all this, there's
none so discreet and wise as thou art. thou shalt be over
my house, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. Now this is so beautiful. He
went from being a prisoner to the most powerful man in the
world in one day. I kind of doubt that that's ever
taken place, humanly speaking. He went from being in shackles
in a prison to the most powerful man in the world. And you can't help but think
the father's committed all things to the son. That's what Pharaoh
said to Joseph, you're top dog. You're in control. The only way
I'm going to be greater than you is in the throne. I'm still
Pharaoh and I think that has to do with the Lord saying, my
father is greater than I. You remember there in John chapter
14, verse 38, when he said, my father is greater than I. Now
he's equal with the father. He is, he said, I and my father
are one, but he willingly submitted himself to his father. And oh,
what? glory there is in his willing
submission to his father. You know, he achieved glory he
would never have achieved had not he submitted himself to his
father. And he said, my father, in Not he's equal to the father
is the second person, the blessed Trinity, but he submitted himself
to his father. Somebody says, what's that mean?
When the Lord says, my father is greater than I. That's what
it means. He said willingly submitted himself to his father. And look what Pharaoh says, according
to thy word, shall all my people be ruled. Isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ? According to his word, all people
are ruled. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. He said, thou has given him power
over all flesh. This is such a glorious type
of Christ. Look in verse 41. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. Now this speaks
of the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ. He is over all
the universe. His will is always done. Think about that. His will was
done in creation. Whatever happens in Providence
is His will being done. His will is done in salvation. The Son quickened with whom He
will. And this is who He is. This is given to typify the Lord
Jesus Christ. Pharaoh said, I've set thee over
all the land of Egypt. Look at verse 42. And Pharaoh
took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand.
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. And he put a gold
chain about his neck, and he made him to ride in the second
chariot which he had. And they cried before him, bow
the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. From being in prison, now look
at Egypt. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, picture
him seated as the prime minister of the universe, the interpreter
of the father's will, the executor of the divine decrees on his
head. The scripture says are many crowns
on his finger, the ring of absolute uncontested sovereignty. Robes
of light envelop the shoulders that hold up the government,
the gold chain of omnipotence around his neck. And the cry
goes before him, bow the knee, bow the knee. And I couldn't
help, but think of Philippians chapter two. Now, if you haven't,
if I haven't bowed the knee, we will, we will. I hope it's now. I hope right
now in my heart I'm bowing the knee to King Jesus at his feet. But the scripture says, God hath
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee shall bow. Things in heaven, things in earth,
things under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Notice in verse 40, thou shalt
be over my house and according to thy word shall all my people
be ruled. My marginal reading says they
shall kiss him. They shall kiss him. Kiss the
son, lest he be angry, when his wrath is kindled but a little,
and you perish from the way. Kiss the son, willingly, I couldn't
help but think of the woman who was a sinner, kissing his feet. Verse 44, and 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. No one will take a
step without your permission. I have made you Lord. Now you know this refers to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zaphnath-Paneah. And he gave to his wife Asenoth,
the daughter of Potiphar, priest of On. And Joseph went out over
all the land of Egypt. Now, Pharaoh gave him this new
name, the savior of the world, the revealer of secrets. And
he gave him a wife. And this is God giving his son,
the church, his bride. Let's look what happened, verse
47. Verse 46, and Joseph was 30 years
old when he stood before king of Egypt. How old was the Lord
when he began his public ministry? He was 30. And 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. And in the seven plenteous years,
the earth brought forth by handfuls. Can you imagine the plenty at
this time, just like God said it would be. 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 lady up in the same.
And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much until
he left numbering, for it was without number. Now, he didn't
just gather 20%. He gathered a whole lot more
than that. And you're going to see that
in later chapters where people from all over the world had to
come to Joseph for food. Do you know that this was a worldwide
famine and the only place there was food was in Egypt? And you
were totally dependent upon Joseph to give you food. Now this is
the power of this man. Humanly speaking, if you were
going to eat, it was up to him. And if you're gonna be saved
by His grace, it's up to Him. But I love the way it's spoken
of without measure, without number. That's talking about the riches
of His grace. Now listen to me, you cannot
be too bad to be saved. You cannot be too sinful to be
saved. Oh, the greatness, the infinite
riches of His grace. You can't put a numerical value
on it. You can't say it'll do this much.
It's infinite. be numbered." Oh, the greatness
of the salvation of our Savior. Verse 50, and unto Joseph were
born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenoth,
the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, barren to him. And Joseph
called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. which means forgetting,
forgetting. For God said, he has made me
forget all my toil and all my father's house. And the name
of the second called he Ephraim. For God has caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction. Now, Joseph has these two boys. And you can be sure that he remembered
the very severe things he's gone through. He was sold by his brethren. He was put into Potiphar's home
and falsely accused, imprisoned. He had correctly interpreted
the dreams of the butler and the baker and they forgot about
him. And there he lays in prison again and now he's brought out
and he has this son that he says, this makes me just forget everything. I just forget everything. All the toil, all the labor,
all the evil things, all the mistreatment, all the terrible
things that have been done to me, I forget. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
me and you do that, just that tonight, forget it, forgetting
those things that are behind and reaching forth into those
things, which are before I pressed for the mark of the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I have forgotten these. And then you can't help but think
of how that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross. despising, counting as nothing,
the shame. He forgot it all because of the
joy that was sent before him in glorifying his father. He
said, I've glorified thee on earth. I've finished the work
thou gavest me to do. He forgot all the pain and he
endured pain that you and I don't know anything about. He was forsaken
by his father. He was made sin. He bore the
full equivalent of an eternal hell. And he says, I'm forgetting
it because of the joy I have in glorifying my father and honoring
him and obeying him and saving my people. I forget the pain. And then the
name of the next is Ephraim. Ephraim. And what does Ephraim
mean? 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. Now you look how fruitful God
caused him to be. I mean, he became the most powerful
man on earth. God put him in that position.
It was caused by God, but look what was done under his hand.
God made him to be fruitful in everything he did. And I want
you to remember this. As he typifies the Lord Jesus Christ, everything
the Lord Jesus Christ does is fruitful. It's successful. Never
think of Christ as someone who wants something, but he doesn't
get it. Who intends to do something, but it doesn't happen. No, the
Lord Jesus Christ is fruitful. Oh, the fruit of his death. Joseph says, you've caused me
to be fruitful. Oh, the fruit that Christ bore
by his death. He forgot about what he had to
go through because of the fruit, the fruit of glorifying God,
the fruit of saving his people. Now I want to close by thinking
about this, these two things, forgetting and fruitful. The gospel's in those two words.
forgetting and fruitful. Forgetting. God says to every
one of his people, their sins and their iniquities, what? I will remember no more. I have forgotten them. This is not okay. And it shouldn't be. But boy,
it's hard to forget things, isn't it? We should. But as long as we're human beings,
we can truly be forgiving. But yet remember, as a matter
of fact, Joseph, when he did make himself known to his brethren
in Genesis chapter 45, he said, I'm Joseph. I don't remember
what you guys did to me. No, he said, whom, you? So did
Egypt. I remember. Don't think I don't. He did. Now when God forgets
something, it's not like our forgiving because it's still
back there somewhere in our subconscious. Shouldn't be, but it is. But
when God forgets, the reason he forgets is there is nothing
there to remember. My sin is removed from me. That's what Christ did on the
cross. He removed my sin. And when God looks at me, he
sees someone who never sinned. He doesn't think, I remember
what you did. No, it's gone. I have a new history. It's all forgotten. It's buried.
It's cast behind God's back. It's separated from me as far
as the east is from the west. It's blotted out. It is no more. That's what Jesus Christ accomplished
when he said it is finished. My sin was blotted out, and I
have a new history, and it's all perfect. It's all good because
of what Christ did for me. You know, when I'm in heaven,
and I don't, I can't grasp this, but I know it's so, God's not
gonna be looking at me and saying, I remember what you did. I remember
what you thought. I remember your, no! I didn't
do anything. I stand before God. Just that's
what justification is. Justification is sinlessness. You see, when Christ died, my
sin was put away. It was canceled. It was blot
out. It was made not to be. And God said, I've forgotten
it. Not like me and you forget. He
forgets it because there's absolutely nothing there to remember. Forgetfulness. Aren't you thankful for the forgetfulness
of God? When he forgets, there's nothing
there for him to remember. And then he speaks of fruitfulness. Fruitfulness. When you start
thinking about yourself in terms of bearing fruit, you probably
don't think, you know, I'm bearing a lot of fruit. I'm real fruitful.
If you think that way, please don't think that way. That's
ugly. It's just wrong. That being said, every believer
bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If you're a believer, you bear
the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not your fruit. It's what's given you in the new birth. And you have a new nature. You have a holy nature. You have a nature that really
does believe the gospel. I really do believe. That's the
fruit of the Holy Spirit. Faith. I love God. I really do. How much do you
love Him? Not as much as I should, I realize
that. I don't love Him as much as I want to love Him, but I
do love Him. I love everything with regard to the Living God.
I love who He is. I love all of His attributes.
I love His power. I love His salvation. I love
the way he saves. I love his sovereignty. I love
his holiness. I love his justice. I love his
love. I love his grace. I love his
forgetfulness. That's fruitfulness. The fruit
of God. One of these days, I'm gonna
be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. I am right now
in him, but I still got me here too. But one of these days, he's
gonna be gone. And I'll be perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. Talking about fruitfulness. Can't you see the gospel in these
two boys' names? Forgetfulness. Oh, I'm so thankful
for God's forgetfulness. I can't even enter into it, how
he can look at me and say, you've never sinned. And it'd be so.
It'd be so. The great mystery of the gospel,
how God can be just and justify the ungodly like we considered
this morning. God forgets. Perfect history. You know what
I think of preachers talking about rewards in heaven, like
a believer is going to be judged. And they're going to be given
a particular position in heaven, some up here that had really
good fruit, and then you got the ones that were kind of disobedient,
and you know, Christ wasn't really... And I remember one time hearing
a preacher say, it'll be that way, but it won't bother you. And I thought, that'd bother
me. Bothered me a whole lot. But the fact of the matter is, Every believer is holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. That's what God says. So Joseph
went through these difficult years, betrayal, false accusation,
thrown into prison. The scripture says they hurt
his feet with fetters. It wasn't an easy situation.
But when he's brought into this glorious position as the prime
minister of Egypt, the most powerful man in the world, he says, God's
made me to forget my affliction. And he's made me fruitful. And child of God, if he saved
you, he's made you fruitful. You have the fruit of God, the
Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. For our
Redeemer. The one whom Joseph typifies. The one who is the savior of
the world. The one who does reveal the secrets
of the gospel and makes them known. The one who causes you
to forget our sins because they're
no longer there because of his precious blood and causes us
to bear the fruit of your spirit. Lord, we thank you for your word. Bless this message according
to your will for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen.