Did you lower your pulpit? All
right, from now on, it's whoever's responsibility. You can do it yourself. Thank
you, buddy. That's fine. Good evening. What an honor. I feel so privileged that Todd
asked me to come and that this church would have me speak at
this conference. I hold all these men who are
preaching here in very high esteem, thankful for each and every one. I want you to turn with me to
the book of Genesis chapter 41. And while you're turning, I want
to read a passage to you out of Luke chapter 24. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he, the Lord Jesus Christ, expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Let me catch you up to what's
going on here in Genesis chapter 41. Pharaoh had two dreams that
troubled him greatly, and none of his so-called spiritual advisors
could interpret them or tell him what they meant. And then
God providentially, after two full years, two full years, according
to verse one, brings to the mind of Pharaoh's chief butler, a
man named Joseph, who had interpreted his dream in prison. So Pharaoh
calls for Joseph, and Joseph interprets his dreams, and he
tells Pharaoh about the seven years of plenty and the seven
years of famine. And Joseph then gave Pharaoh
advice on what he needed to do to preserve his nation and his
people. And after giving him this advice,
in verse 38 of our text here in Genesis chapter 41, Pharaoh
asked this question. Can we find such a one as this,
a man in whom the Spirit of God is? That is a very good question. Very good question. Can we find
such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Did you know that the name Joseph
means increase? In preaching, we plant and we
water. That's what preachers do. But
God's gotta give the increase. God's gotta give the increase.
Now in order to be redeemed, we must proclaim and we must
possess a substitute, a savior, a sacrifice that is first a man. Only a man can redeem man, but
not just any man. Gotta be a perfect man. Perfect. Perfectly holy. Perfectly just. perfectly righteous. God will accept nothing less
than perfection. It must be perfect. It must be
perfect to be accepted. And that's our dilemma. We cannot
provide what God requires. So the question of all questions
really is this. Can you find such a man as this? Can you find such a substitute,
such a savior, such a sacrifice as this? You're going to have
to in order to be redeemed. Now, Pharaoh wasn't asking his
servants to go out into the kingdom to find such a one as this. He's
pointing to Joseph and he's saying, can you find such a man as this,
this man? in whom the Spirit of God dwells.
And that's what we do in our preaching. That's what we do
in our preaching. We point to Christ and we ask
that question of all questions. What think ye of Him? What think ye of Him? Is there
such a one as this? There's none like Him. He's the
only one who can save you from your sin. Now look at verse 39
here with me. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none
so discreet. And that word discreet means
separate, means distinguished, diligent. There's none so discreet
and wise as thou art. He's talking to Joseph. Thou
shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people
be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. Does that sound like someone
you know? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee
over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring
from his hand, and he put it upon Joseph's hand, and he 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. He and he made him ruler over
all the land of Egypt. 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. And just reading those verses,
Just reading those verses, we see that Joseph is a beautiful
picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 45, and Pharaoh
called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paeonea, and he gave him to wife Asenath,
the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. And Joseph went out over
all the land of Egypt. Now the name Zathnath-Paeonea,
that's a mouthful, isn't it? I'm glad my name's David. But this was an Egyptian name. And if you have a marginal Bible,
you may notice that it's translated the Revealer of Secrets. Joseph
was a Revealer of Secrets. But friends, Christ is the Revealer
and the Revelation. And in the Egyptian language,
this name is said to mean Savior of the world. He who has bread
and famine. And again, what a picture of
our Lord and Savior. Did you notice here in verse
45 that Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife? You know, I read over that several
times before I paid much attention to it. He gave Joseph a wife
and her name was Asenath. And names mean something in the
scripture. And Asenath means peril, means
danger, means pitfall. It also means I shall be hated. She was an Egyptian. She was
a woman of the world. She was the daughter of a priest
named Potiphera, and Potiphera means afflicted. So we see that
Asenath was an unworthy bride. She served a false god. She worshiped
an idol. She was the daughter of a priest
whose name means afflicted. Oh, she's a picture of us by
nature. For Christ makes us without spot and without blemish. and presents himself to us as
his bride. Notice also in verse 45 that
Pharaoh gave Joseph this wife before Joseph ever started his
work in Egypt. I know you see the picture there.
God gave Christ a bride and he gave her to him before the foundation
of the Before Christ came to do His great work of redemption,
God had already given Him a bride to redeem. Christ's bride is
like Asenath in the sense that she is one who has experienced
great peril. She's one who by the pitfall
of sin has fallen into great danger. Christ's bride was of
the world, which Egypt represents, all through the scripture. And
she was the natural fallen daughter of Adam. Adam had once been the
prince of Eden, but because of his fall, he'd been terribly
afflicted by sin, and so were his children. that followed. Now look at verse 46, and Joseph
was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And I think about Luke chapter
3 when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon the Lord Jesus
Christ in a voice from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. The scripture tells us that Jesus
himself began to be about 30 years old. Oh, do you see the
picture here? Isn't this a beautiful picture of Christ? Genesis 41
here, verse 46, tells us, And Joseph went out from the presence
of Pharaoh, and he went throughout all the land of Egypt. And Christ
went out from the presence of His Father to do His work of
redemption in this God-forsaken world in which we live. Little
is said about our Lord in the first 30 years of his life after
his birth and the blessing of Simeon, only one brief story
is found of him at the age of 12 in the temple confounding
those who were there. Yet the minute that Christ came
out of the waters of baptism, we're told that the father was
well pleased with his son, just as Pharaoh was well pleased with
Joseph. Look at verse 37. After all that
Joseph told Pharaoh, we read this, and the thing was good
in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants. Christ
went out from the presence of his father. Why? There was a
work that had to be done. And this was a work that only
he could do. He'd have to appease the law
of God without any assistance from above. As a man, Christ would have to
work out a perfect righteousness for his people. Why? Because
their righteousness filthy, filthy rags. As a substitute, he was
an innocent man who would have to die to pay the debt of guilty
men and women. And as a sacrifice, he would
have to satisfy the holy justice of God that was against his people
by being made sin for them and forever present them righteous. Boy, that's a beautiful word,
isn't it? Because you're going to have
to be perfectly righteous to stand before God. And Christ
made us righteous. He gave us His perfect righteousness. And thoughtless we stand before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. As a Savior, Christ
was and is both just and justifier. of those that believe in him.
And notice in verse... 46, again, we see that, as I said,
Joseph was 30 years old when he went out through all the land
of Egypt, preparing and putting all things in order. And I thought
about that verse found in Matthew 4 that says, and Jesus went about
all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease among the people. Now verse 47, and in the seven
plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he, Joseph,
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. And Joseph gathered corn. as the sand of the sea, very
much, very much, until he left numbering, for it was without
number. Friends, in Christ Jesus dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And His mercy and His
grace is without number. It's numberless, boundless. And
it was God's purpose to bring Joseph to the throne. And Christ
is set down now at the right hand of the throne of God. And again, in all these things,
Joseph pictures Christ our Savior. Now just for a few minutes, I
want you to put yourself in Joseph's place. I like to do that when
I read the Scriptures. I'd like to try to put myself
in what's going on here. Do you remember Joseph's road
to the throne? How would you feel? Let me ask
you this way. How would you feel if your own
siblings hated you so much that they wanted to kill you? How
would you feel if out of envy and hatred, your own flesh and
blood, without a cause, threw you into a pit without water? Would you believe that the Lord
was behind it? Would you believe that the Lord had caused it?
Would you believe that the Lord was in it? How would you have
felt if your own family had sold you into slavery for 20 pieces
of silver? The best I can figure, that's
somewhere between $200 to $400. in today's currency. If that
was me, some folks would say they probably overpaid. Would you grumble and complain?
I'm being serious. Would you grumble and complain?
Let's just be honest. Would you feel sorry for yourself?
If you'd been falsely accused in Potiphar's house, you might
have even thought, what did I do to deserve this? I didn't do what Miss Potiphar
said I did. Would you have defended yourself? Joseph didn't. Christ didn't. What about in the prison? Joseph
got sent to prison for the very thing that he was falsely accused
of. I recently saw one of those shows
on television, Lock Up or 30 Days In, one of those shows where
they interview prison inmates. And I was absolutely amazed,
shouldn't have been, but I was absolutely amazed that every
inmate that they interviewed was innocent, according to them,
according to them. Most folks who are falsely sent
to prison think, God can't be in this. God can't be in this. Bad things don't happen to good
people. How many times you heard that? God's too good to do that. God
loves sinners too much to send them to hell. That's the devil's
work. God wouldn't do such a thing.
Really? He did to Joseph. I can assure you that Joseph
wanted out of prison. He wasn't there just being a
martyr. He didn't want to be locked up in a dungeon any more
than you and I would want to be locked up in a dungeon. And
he would have never asked the butler to remember him if that
was the case. Joseph didn't want to be there.
And then on top of all that, the butler forgot about him for
two whole years. Knowing me, do you know what
I would have said? All I did for that stinking butler. And he does me like that. Or
how about this one? You ever said this concerning
a former employer or supervisor? Why, he's where he's at today
because of me. That's what I would have said.
Why, he's right back there bearing Pharaoh's cup because of me.
Joseph didn't say that. My, we never read that he murmured,
never complained, never charged God foolishly. He quietly, now
listen, he quietly submitted to the divine purpose and providence
of God as the first cause of all things. Joseph accepted his destiny as
being according to the sovereign will and purpose of God Almighty. Now listen to me. The providence
of God is not always pleasant, especially to our flesh. When
Joseph was in the pit, he didn't know that one day he'd be in
the palace. When Joseph was serving under
Potiphar, he didn't know that one day he would rule over Potiphar. And when Joseph was sitting in
the dungeon, he didn't know that he'd soon be sitting on the throne.
How beautiful is the sovereign providence of God. God brought Joseph to the throne,
but it was by the way of hatred. It was by the way of a waterless
pit. It was by the way of slavery.
It was by the way of prison. And I find it real easy, as Donny
was saying earlier, to believe Romans 8.28, when everything's
going good. All things work together for
good to them that love the Lord, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Yeah, I believe that. But it's
much more difficult. Much more. to acknowledge when
we're experiencing trial, trouble, and tribulation. May God enable
us to be faithful like Joseph, even in times of affliction.
It's easy to believe God when everything's going well. But
how about when you're hated without a cause? How about when you're
found in the pit of despair? How about when you're falsely
accused? How about when you're in the
dungeon of depression? Do you believe that God is the
first cause of everything, man? God, please enable me to quit
fretting and quit being upset over all the second causes. The second causes, you know what
they are? They're nothing more than means resources in the hand
of God to accomplish His sovereign will and purpose. I think I'm
beginning to understand that and believe that. Lord, help
thou mine unbelief. Help thou mine unbelief. How
often we let the second causes steal our joy. We let the second
causes rob us of our peace and comfort, don't we? Stop it. Let's stop it. I will view it. Whether it's people, places,
things, situations, all of them are second causes. God is behind
them all. Now I want to just spend a few
minutes here the time that I have left to thinking upon the subject
of the need of a sinner to come to Christ. That's the biggest
need that any of us have, whether you know it or not. Many of you
here tonight know that. You know that you have great
need. Those that have no need have
no need of a physician. Those that are righteous, those
that are well. When do we go to the doctor when we're sick?
When are we going to come to Christ? When we see that we have
great need. Look at verse 53. And the seven
years of plentiness that was in the land of Egypt were ended,
and the seven years of dearth began to come. According as Joseph
had said, and the dearth was in all lands, but in all the
land of Egypt there was bread. Now, we have a picture here of
this world we live in spiritually. There's a famine in the land. Dirt is in all the land. That word dirt means hunger.
But in the land of Egypt, there was still bread. You know, there's
a spiritual famine in Lexington, Kentucky. Not a famine of bread
nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord. A famine, great famine. But there's still bread at Todd
Road Grace Church. There's a famine in Danville,
Kentucky, bad famine. But there's still bread. There's
bread to be found at Grace Baptist Church. We could say that about
Ashland, Madisonville, Tennessee. Look at verse 55. 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. When Egypt was famished, do you
see what happened? They cried unto Pharaoh for bread.
You know when you'll cry for bread? When you're hungry. When
you're hungry. And that's the same thing that
happens when God calls a sinner to hunger and thirst spiritually. They'll cry unto God for bread.
They cry unto Pharaoh for bread, and do you know what Pharaoh
said unto all the Egyptians? Look at it. Again, verse 55.
He said, go unto Joseph. That's where you're going to
have to get the bread. If you're going to get it, you're going
to have to get it from Him. No one's going to eat unless
it's by Joseph's hand. Did you hear what I said? Whatever Joseph says to you,
do. This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him. Pharaoh sent him over the land
of Egypt. Verse 41, Joseph wore the king's
ring and what he said was law. It was sealed with the king's
ring. It was law. You better do what
Joseph said. He had the power by royal decree. None had better murmur nor complain
against Joseph." Why? To complain against Joseph is
to complain against Pharaoh. And if you valued your life at
all, you didn't complain or speak against Pharaoh. If you came
to Pharaoh for food, you're going to have to go get it from Joseph,
and you're going to have to bow to him. Do you see where I'm going with
this? None can lift a hand or foot in Pharaoh's kingdom without
the permission of Joseph. How much more true is this in
the kingdom of God. How much more, much more so concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. You quoted it, thou has given
him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life.
Are you interested in eternal life? This is where you get it.
He gives eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. But what
if I'm not one of the elect? I had a fellow tell me not long
ago, heard me preach, he said, I get the impression that you
believe that you've got to believe in election in order to be saved.
I said, you've got to believe in Christ in order to be saved. God just shows you, after He
saves you, that you were elected. Isn't that right? Election removes all doubt about
who did the saving. Joseph had all power over all
Egypt, and Christ has power over all flesh, over everything in
heaven and everything in earth. And it pleased Pharaoh to give
all this authority to Joseph, and it pleased the Father that
in Christ should all fullness dwell. All fullness. What does that mean? Well, it
means a lot of things. All that God requires, all that the sinner
needs. All righteousness, all obedience,
all justice, all godliness, all holiness, all submission, all
that God commands of men and women, Christ has the fullness
of it. All of it. It takes power for
a dead man to believe. And we are made willing in the
day of His power. I need repentance. It's the goodness
of God in Christ that leadeth thee to repentance. I need righteousness. He was made to be sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I need forgiveness. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. I need healing. Oh, I need healing. By his stripes, we are healed. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Christ. And I heard your pastor once
say this, and I wrote it down. I write down a lot of things
he says, and then I preach them. Christ has the capacity to contain
all fullness. Isn't that good? Christ has the
power to retain, to keep all fullness. And Christ has the
wisdom to distribute all fullness. Wish I'd wrote that. Physical
life was found in knowing who to go to for bread. Go to Joseph,
whatever he says to you. Spiritual life is knowing who
to go to. This is my beloved Son. Hear
ye. He shall give eternal life to
as many as God gave him. And eternal life is a gift. It's a gift. It's Christ who
gives eternal life. You're going to have to bow to
Christ to receive it. Look at verse 56. I'll wrap this
up. And the famine was over all the
face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses. Friends,
spiritual famine is over the whole face of this earth. And
only Christ can open the storehouses of God's grace. Only Christ can
open the storehouses of God's mercy and love. Joseph was made
king, as I said earlier, by royal decree. And Christ is King of
kings and Lord of lords by royal decree. Joseph was a fit king
to open the storehouses. He planned them. He built them. He filled them. He saw the work
through. And Christ is a fit king to open
the storehouses. As God, He planned them. As God,
He purposed them. As the God-man, He filled them.
He finished the work that His Father gave Him to do. Three
of the most blessed words in all of scripture, it is finished. God is satisfied. I can't get over that. God's
satisfied. With me? Yes. Yes, with me. Again, verse 56,
Joseph opened the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians.
But Christ, by His own sacrifice and substitution, opened the
storehouses of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness. And He says, Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and ye that
have no money. Come ye, buy, eat, yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money and without price. How can you
buy without money? You ever thought about that?
Well, somebody said I put it on a credit card. Well, that's
not what I meant. You can only buy without money when it's free. When it's free. Illustration,
last summer, Teresa and I were cleaning out our garage. We was
either going to have to do that or move again. And I had a couple
of things that I didn't use just in the way, but they were too
nice to throw away. So I called my son-in-law, and
I asked him if he wanted these things. And he said, yes, yes,
absolutely. He said, I'll buy them from you.
I said, no, you can't buy them. They're not for sale. They're
free. Leave your money at home. Why? Because there's no price on them.
They're not for sale. They're free. Come get them.
Now, I don't mean to insinuate for a second that Christ, that
it didn't cost Him something, but it's free to us. Free to
us. No price on a gift. You ever have someone give you
a gift and then say, by the way, that was 20 bucks? That wouldn't
be much a gift, would it? No, sir. It's free, sovereign
grace in Christ. Free. Are you hungry? Are you hungry? Look at the last
part of 56. And the famine waxed sore, grew
worse in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt
to Joseph for to buy corn, because of the famine was sore in all
the lands. How many of the countries came
to Egypt to buy corn? All of them. Who did they come
to buy corn from? You ought to buy it from Joseph.
Can't get it anywhere else. God saves men and women out of
every nation, kindred tongue. But in order for them to be saved,
they're going to have to come to Christ. Look at chapter 42,
verse 1. Now when Jacob, Joseph's father,
saw that there was corn in Egypt, there wasn't any corn anywhere
else, but there was corn in Egypt, And Jacob said unto his sons,
Why do ye look one upon another? He said, Behold, I have heard. I've heard. Have you heard? I've heard that there is corn
in Egypt. Get you down thither. It's got
to go down. Got to go down. And buy for us
from thence that we may live and not die. This is a matter
friends of life and death. We're not just playing church.
This is life and death. Serious, serious matters. In order to have physical life,
you're going to have to go down to where the corn is. You're
going to have to come to where Joseph is. But to have life eternal,
to have spiritual life, you're going to have to come to where
the living bread and water are. It's always a trip downward.
You're going to have to come to where the gospel is preached.
But you're going to have to come down to hear it. I've got good
news. And I'm telling you, every preacher
that you'll hear this weekend has this same good news. This
faithful pastor preaches it four to five times a week. What's
the good news? What's the gospel? There's corn
in Egypt. There's corn in Egypt. There's
living bread to have in this world. Christ Jesus is the living
bread. He said, I am the bread of life,
and he that cometh to me shall never hunger again. Boy, I tell
you, that sounds pretty sweet to someone that's in the midst
of a famine. You'll never hunger again. You'll never thirst again.
If you partake of this bread. He that believeth on Me. That's
what it is to eat. Believe on Him. And thou shalt
have everlasting life. No man or woman cometh to the
Father but by Me. Just one way. How many mediators
are there? Just one. One mediator between
God and man. The man Christ Jesus. He is the
one with whom we have to do. Somehow, someway, you're going
to have to get to Christ. The storehouses of mercy are
in His hand. So let me ask you, are you in
a pit without water? Are you serving this world in
Potiphar's house? Are you in a dungeon of deception
and depression? Do you feel as though God has
forgotten you? Just maybe. Just maybe. God is bringing you to Christ. So speaking of Him, let me ask
you just one last question. Can you find such a one as this? A man in whom the Spirit of God
dwells without measure. Can you find such a one as Jesus
Christ? Let me leave you with something
even more wonderful and incredible than that. If you truly desire
to be forgiven of your sin, He's already found you. Isn't that
right, Donny? He's already found you. Thank
God for His beloved Son. Thank you, Todd.