“Looking for a Savior” – Genesis Chapter 41 – Scotty Brown

Alrighty, if you've got a Bible, we'll be in the 41st chapter of the book of Genesis.

And the title would be "Looking for a Savior."

Some people are looking for a Savior and they don't even know it.

They're looking for something.

Maybe a better job or a nicer house or a better good-looking, or a better wife or husband.

But really, the bottom line is the only one that can truly satisfy your soul is the one who created you

and knows you better even than you know yourself.

And so, I was impressed with the fast and pray thing.

I'd heard it a few, maybe a week or so back, and then got an encouragement from a sister to see if we wanted to do it.

And I think it's just something to be doing in these times in which we live,

especially after the freak show on Thursday night.

And it was a freak show.

So, we're in trouble.

I mean, I agree with what Lindsey Graham said.

He said, "We can't have another one of these because the world cannot see the condition of our administration."

And so, I'm sure the enemies of America are licking their chops right now.

So, we definitely need to be praying for our Commander-in-Chief that he would do what is best for his country.

And maybe even have an influence on the whole world.

So, pretty crazy times we live in.

But exciting, amen?

Jesus is coming, right?

And He's coming soon and very soon.

And so, we're going to see the King, as the old song says.

So, let's pray and we'll get it right into this chapter.

There's 53 verses. I'm going to try to get through them all.

Lord, we love You. We love Your Word that speaks to us.

It gives us direction and it gives us power for our lives, Lord.

It gives us wisdom in knowing what to do, Lord, especially in these days in which we live.

And so, as we commit this month to just seeking You and spending some time fasting and in prayer,

Lord, I pray that by Your Spirit, You would truly direct us, Lord.

That we would hear, Lord.

And Lord, that You would hear us as we humble ourselves before You, realizing that we all need to be forgiven, Lord.

That we've sinned and fallen short of Your glory.

So, would You wash us clean as we confess our sin.

And that You would lead us in the way everlasting, Lord.

And God, that You would stir up a hunger in our hearts as men and women who claim You as Lord.

To get into Your Word and to be in it and to be instant in season and out of season, Lord.

And write it upon the pages of our heart, Lord, that we might not sin against You, Lord.

So, we just pray that You would bless this time now in Jesus' holy name.

Amen. Amen.

So, looking at Joseph and his life track, and it hasn't been easy to say the least.

And yet, God is on the move and God is doing things.

And I just want to encourage you today, if you're going through it, if you're going through hard things,

the Lord's not going to waste it. I promise you, He won't waste it.

He's going to use it. He's going to use it for His glory.

He's going to use it in your life.

But it's all predicated upon those who love Him, right?

That He works everything together for good for those who love Him.

And so, just find yourself loving the Lord and seeking Him and let the chips fall where they may.

And so, I'm just going to start here in chapter 41, verse 1.

We're going to read the first eight verses.

And it says, "Then it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream.

Behold, he stood by the river, and suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows,

fine-looking and fat, and they fed in the meadow.

And behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt,

and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river.

And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine-looking cows."

Bovine carnivores.

"So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time.

And suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good.

Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them.

And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads.

And so Pharaoh awoke, and indeed it was a dream.

Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled,

and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

And Pharaoh told them the dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh."

So this sounds like one of those bad pizza dreams.

And no doubt he probably just shook the first one off,

but goes back to sleep, and here it comes again in a little different form.

And so he's extremely troubled.

It's been some time, two full years it says,

since the butler was restored and the baker was killed.

And so Joseph has actually had to wait here, two full years.

You remember his last request to the butler, right?

"Hey, remember, right? Remember me when you're free,

and maybe tell someone that has some clout.

You have Pharaoh's ear, maybe you could help me out here."

And so a lot of lessons come, and a lot of answers to prayer, right?

Somebody have rightly said there's three answers to prayer.

Yes, no, and wait. Right?

We love yes to our prayers.

No is not always good in our thinking, but God can see the future.

So if he says no, he means no.

The wait is the tough one, right?

Because who wants to wait? Really?

We live in a fast world. I want it, and I want it now.

I want a faster phone. I want it faster. I want a faster car.

I want a faster horse.

But so he has to wait these two full years.

Many lessons come from waiting,

and sometimes the good that we do seems to be unrewarded, no doubt.

Joseph maybe looks back over his life and thinks, "Wow, all this stuff.

My brother's chucking me in the pit, and Potiphar's wife throwing me under the bus,

and doing this jail time, and it's been 13 years.

It's been 13 years of hard things, and he's wondering,

"I'm wondering, is my life, does it mean anything?"

Do you ever wonder that? Does your life mean anything?

I can guarantee your life means something, right?

It means something to some people, maybe a lot of people,

and whether we like it or not, we're leading people.

I don't care who you are.

I used to get in this conversation with the kids at the school all the time.

The third graders are following the fourth graders, right?

The first graders are following the second graders.

The kindergartners are following the first graders, right?

And they used to always tell me, the kids would always tell me,

"Well, I don't want to lead." I said, "I'm sorry."

Whether you don't want to lead or not, you're leading,

and when you lead them awry, then you have to deal with me, right?

And so it is with us. When we lead people awry,

we're going to have to deal with the God of heaven.

God says, "I put these people in your life. How did you lead them?

Did you lead them to me? Did you?"

I went and had dinner with one of my sons last night and talking to him,

and he's an adult now. He's a man.

And he was telling me how I just didn't get things when I was younger.

I didn't get it. I get it now.

I'm going, "Ka-ching! Thank you, Jesus, that you didn't have to kill him."

Or worse yet, that I killed him, because believe me, there were times.

But it just takes time.

Sometimes we're just in a holding pattern.

I feel like we're in a holding pattern now, don't you?

We're waiting and waiting and waiting.

It's a common theme in the Christian life, waiting, right?

Isaiah, you know that song? We sing that song.

Everybody knows Isaiah 31. "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint."

Joseph's in that place, and he's going to mount up in a big way.

In Acts 1, verse 4, Jesus told the disciples, he says,

Acts 1:4

"And being assembled together with them, he," Jesus, "commanded them

not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father,

which he said, 'You have heard of me.'"

Go, remember? They had to go wait.

Now, they didn't have to wait, no two years, ten days.

Ten days they were in the upper room. Some think they were really fearful.

What was going on there? And here comes the Holy Spirit.

So, waiting is good. Being patient with what God's doing is a good thing.

Why? Because his timing is perfect.

God's timing, I don't know if you recognize that, but his timing is perfect.

And so, I don't get too wadded up about things,

because I know that God is going to do what he's going to do, with me or without me.

And, you know, the Bible encourages us, "Don't be like the horse that lurches ahead,

or be like the mule that lags back, but let the Lord guide you with his eye."

Just have a ready ear, and wait.

And he will bring everything to pass that needs to be according to his will,

and not our own.

God often appoints us to wait much longer than we would like.

Right? God appoints our stops and our starts in life.

You had those things that just brought you to a screeching halt?

One of those life-changing events?

And as I look out across this room, I see several faces where you've had life-changing events.

It's changed your life radically, these things that happen.

And yet, as you look back at those things that happen, that have changed your life,

you realize that God was with you.

Though at the time, you probably identified with David,

which I think Joseph, many times throughout the last 13 years, probably had,

where it says in Psalm 13, 1-2, "How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"

Ever feel like that? "How much longer?"

I was thinking that Thursday night. "Oh, Lord, how much longer this craziness, right?

This insanity that seems to be going on in our country."

Or we identify with the saints in Revelation 6, right?

And I think that we might be closer to these guys, because this appears to be in the future.

Maybe this is going to be our cry in the future.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true,

until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

How long?

God's hand was in this, and so when the time was right,

the butler knew exactly where to find Joseph.

If he had been released earlier, who knows what would have happened,

if Joseph would have been let out of prison.

So, verse 9, it says, right?

The waiting is over for Joseph.

"But when the butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying,

'I remember my faults this day, when Pharaoh was angry with his servants

and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard,

both me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night,

he and I, each one of us dreamed according to the interpretations of his own dream.

Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there,

a servant of the captain of the guard, and we told him,

and he interpreted our dreams for us, to each man he interpreted according to his own dream.

And it came to pass, just as he interpreted it for us,

so what happened, he restored me to my office, and he hanged him.'"

And he goes on, he says, "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph,

and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon,

and he shaved and changed his clothing and came to Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream,

and there is no one who can interpret it,

but I have heard it said that you can understand a dream to interpret it.'

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 'It is not in me.

God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.'"

And so his time has come. The waiting is over.

And so that appointed time was when God gave Pharaoh a dream.

God can control our dreams. Do you believe that?

I sometimes wonder, because I don't know about you,

you wake up in a panic going, "Oh, God, thank you, that was a dream."

Right? You know, you've had those dreams.

Am I the only one? I've done some wicked things in my dreams.

So wicked. I've killed people, I've committed adultery,

I've abused children, I've...

Maybe they deserved it, I don't know.

I've done some wild things in my dreams. And then you wake up, "Ah."

I don't believe we're necessarily accountable for our dreams,

but sometimes a dream can be a warning.

I believe the dream here of Pharaoh was God-inspired.

It was God's timing that he put this dream in Pharaoh's mind.

And Pharaoh, excuse me, did I say Harrow?

I'm slipping. I am slipping.

Harrow's what you drag in your pasture.

So God puts this dream in Pharaoh's mind,

and he's troubled, and he's seeking an interpretation,

and he can't do it.

And so all of a sudden the butler, "I've got it!"

Right? Notice, it's interesting what happened here,

how this all came about.

Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying,

"I remember my faults this day."

And all of a sudden, when you remember your sin,

and you're convicted by it, and you're burdened by it,

you have to do one of two things.

Either have to ignore it, or you have to act on it.

And I think as we get older, too,

we are more aware of this fallen nature of ours

and our corruption in our own heart

and how desperately we've fallen as we get older.

But he remembered his faults this day.

The faults actually, literally, can be interpreted sin.

He remembered his sin, and what did he do?

He felt guilty. Why? He'd forgot.

He had forgot Joseph. Joseph had asked him,

"Don't forget me! What'd he do?"

He forgot him. Kind of like us, you know?

When you hear somebody's trouble,

and you go, "Well, I'll pray for you."

And then you never pray for them.

Is that wicked? That's wicked.

I love what Greg Laurie does.

Greg Laurie says, "When I tell him I pray for him,

"I turn around as I'm walking away, I'm praying for him."

Right? So I'm just making sure I'm praying for him.

Because how terrible! I mean, you're such a liar!

We're such liars!

"Oh, I'll pray for you." And then it slips your mind!

Out of sight, out of mind.

Or not on the phone, out of mind. You forget.

And so he's burdened by his own sin.

And I think, many times,

coming to church brings that out.

You come to church and you hear something read

out of the Word of God, and you're like,

it's like a fiery dart that goes right into your heart,

and you go, "Oh! That hurts! I'm convicted!"

You really, conviction's good. Do you understand that?

It's good for us to be convicted.

I'm convicted all the time. I was convicted this morning.

I was convicted last night.

In fact, I got approached at this wedding by a guy

that me and him had had some of this going on.

And he was thanking me,

because I had approached him before we parted ways,

and saying that, "Hey, I'm praying for you. I love you.

"You're a good man." Though we disagreed on quite a few things.

And he come to me and he says,

"You know, I have to talk to you now."

He says, "I'm really convicted too."

I said, "I was too." So we had a little conviction party.

You know, we kissed and made up.

It was glorious.

So it's really good when the Lord convicts you, please act on it.

Just humble yourself. Whatever He wants you to do.

He might have you go to somebody and talk to them,

and say, "Man, I've just been convicted,

"and I don't feel right about this, and I want to be right with you."

And it's never easy, but it's always--

most of the time it's fruitful when you humble yourself and do that.

So if you're convicted today,

like it tells us in Hebrews 3 and 4,

it says it several times about the nation of Israel.

Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

The Lord's talking to you about something.

Don't harden your heart.

Don't put it behind you.

Keep it out in front of you and deal with it.

Because that was all about entering His rest.

When the Lord brings something to mind,

and you don't deal with it, and your heart becomes hard,

you're not going to enter Him to His rest.

I'm not totally saying you're not saved,

but you're going to be tormented

because you didn't yield to the conviction that God brought your way.

Because of his sin, this guy remembers his encounter with Joseph.

It was pretty impressive, wasn't it?

I mean, he was spot on when he interpreted those two guys' dreams.

And so his encounter with Joseph was not just to deliver him.

As you look back on this, this is pretty impressive.

His encounter with Joseph was not to just deliver him from Pharaoh's hand

and restore him to Pharaoh, but it was to lead Pharaoh to Joseph.

A type of Jesus.

That when you and I have an encounter with Jesus,

it's not just to deliver us from the condemnation that we deserve.

It's not just to lift the burden off of your heart and my heart of our own sin.

I don't know if you remember, I remember at nine years old crying out to Jesus,

and it was like somebody picked this half a ton pack off my back.

Now I don't know how wicked I was at nine, probably pretty.

But I was forgiven.

It wasn't just for me.

It was for others.

It isn't just for you when the Lord delivers you,

or you have this encounter with the God of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Right? It was to lead him, lead Pharaoh to Joseph, and also to lead others.

And it's for us to lead others to him. Right?

That we would lead others, that others would see our lives and be provoked.

Right? Paul said that he would love to see the Jews provoked to know and to love God.

And so in verse 13, he tells Pharaoh, right,

that this guy, this Joseph, told us exactly what was to happen.

So Pharaoh was excited to have his dream told to him,

and here comes Joseph before Pharaoh.

And I think of that verse in Proverbs that says,

"Do you see a man who excels in his work?"

And as we look at Joseph's life, he excelled in everything he did. Right?

He excelled in his father's house. He excelled in Potiphar's house.

He excelled in the jail.

It says, "You see a man who excels in his work.

He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men."

And that's Joseph.

And so in verse 16, Pharaoh's excited, saying,

"This guy's going to interpret, but Joseph gives credit where credit is due." Right?

"God will tell you an answer," notice, "of peace."

An answer of peace, that word can also be translated "completeness."

God is going to completely give you an answer of what you saw in your dream.

No more worries.

If you go back to verse 8, it says that Pharaoh's spirit was troubled.

He was extremely troubled after he had seen the second part of the dream,

realizing that it had significance.

And I usually tell people that, you know, in dreams,

it's not that God doesn't--God primarily speaks to us from His Word.

I think we established that last week.

But there may be times in these days in which we live where you may have a recurring dream.

And sometimes maybe the Lord is speaking to you.

So it's not that we ignore all of them, but we sift all of them through God's Word.

And so his spirit being very troubled,

he comes before Pharaoh and tells him that God is going to give him the interpretation

that kind of has rumblings of what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.

Verse 17, "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank.'"

In fact, I'm not going to read that because I'm going to run out of time if I don't get through this.

So from verses 17 through 24, he reiterates the dream to Joseph.

And then in verse 25, it says, "Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, 'The dreams of Pharaoh are one.

God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years.

The dreams are one.

And the seven thin and ugly cows came up after them are seven years,

and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine.

This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh.

God has shown Pharaoh that he is about to, what he is about to do.

Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come through all the land of Egypt,

but after them seven years of famine will arise,

and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will deplete the land.

And so the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following,

for it will be very severe.

And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice,

because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.'"

And so Joseph interprets and tells him what's going to happen.

As he listens to Pharaoh, describes these dreams,

and he tells him that it's established.

"It was a serious matter, for God had shown the ruler of Egypt

what he planned to do for the next 14 years."

Wouldn't it be cool if the Lord just said,

"Okay, this is what's going to happen in the next 14 years."

Right? Are you ready?

I don't know. Sounds scary, right?

The first seven sound good, right?

And so...

The dream is a two-fold witness, the reason God did it in twos, right?

2 Corinthians 13, verse 1 says, "By the mouth of two or three witnesses,

2 Corinthians 13:1

let every word be established."

God gave him the two dreams.

That's why in the law, you were never condemned on one witness account.

It had to be two witnesses against you, two or three to condemn you.

And so Pharaoh is on the hook for responding to this dream,

because it came by way of two dreams,

witnessing to him what God was going to do over the next 14 years.

Now that he knew God's plan, Pharaoh was obligated

to do what God wanted him to do.

Knowing this, Joseph went beyond giving the interpretation

and making suggestions to Pharaoh.

And this took a great deal of faith and courage,

but the Lord was using Joseph and Pharaoh accepted his suggestions.

And those are found, his suggestions are found there in verse 33,

where it says, "Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man

and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land

to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years

and let them gather all the good of those good years

that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh

and let them keep food in the cities.

Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine,

which shall be in the land of Egypt and that the land may not perish during the famine."

And so then he gives him some instruction.

He said, "Hey, you should just set some aside.

We know that seven years of plenty bumper crops is coming."

I was looking at the land of Egypt there and their growing seasons are pretty incredible.

They could possibly get two, even more crops a year there in Egypt.

And because they knew this, I'm sure their planting and harvesting program

was pretty aggressive, wouldn't you think, if you knew that?

If you knew that they were going to shut pumps off

and you weren't going to be able to water anything?

That was funny.

[laughter]

Everybody's saying, "No, it's not."

[laughter]

You would be pretty aggressive, right?

Get everything you can because hard times are coming.

It reminds me of my grandparents.

They lived through the Great Depression.

My grandma was born in '12 and my grandpa was born in '13.

And they were born in the Midwest.

They knew what the Dust Bowl was all about.

They saw it with their own eyes.

And they almost became hoarders.

My other grandma, when we got in her basement after she died,

she kept every plastic bag she had ever gotten in her life.

You never know when you might need these.

And for good reason.

When they migrated over here from Oklahoma to Idaho,

they had a flat tire in Wyoming.

My grandpa walked across the street from the gas station

where they were broke down because the guy goes,

"There ain't no tires here, boy. Don't you know there's a war going on?"

He worked for a farmer for two weeks until some tires came in.

And he could get his tire changed and come on to Idaho.

That was in the late '30s, early '40s.

For good reason.

I'm sure these guys were pretty serious about putting things aside.

And Joseph offered his wisdom.

It just seems to be so spot on, so perfect from the Lord.

And so, three things.

First, he tells Pharaoh that he must appoint an intelligent, wise man

to oversee the land and its harvest.

Secondly, that he must give this man several commissioners

who would cover different parts of the land

and take one-fifth of each harvest for Pharaoh.

Notice it was under Pharaoh's authority for the next seven years.

And thirdly, all this food must be put in storage to use

when the years of famine arrived.

And we know that this happened.

And I remember hearing my grandpa's brothers talking about

when they came out here, and they came out here and checked it out

after the Dust Bowl.

They said, "We got to move to Idaho."

And they were writing letters back and forth.

So they were here for a while, right?

And they go, "We got to move to Idaho."

Because in Idaho, they don't have Dust Bowls.

In Idaho, they divert the water out of the rivers and irrigate.

Right?

Because where they were all from, it was all dry farm.

And they'd had some pretty hideous crop seasons.

And so, man, they were so excited to come to Idaho

and actually be able to, at will, put water on their crops.

And so, this Joseph seems to just have this wisdom.

And he gives this instruction to Pharaoh.

And then in verse 37, it says,

"So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh

and in the eyes of all his servants.

And Pharaoh said to his servants,

'Can we find such a one as this,

a man in whom is the Spirit of God?'"

Wouldn't that be an awesome thing to be accused of?

Here's a man who has the Spirit of God.

I believe there's a lot of men in this room that have the Spirit of God.

I also believe there's several men in this room that don't have the Spirit of God.

You want it?

You should want it.

And so, Pharaoh's recognizing, this guy's giving us this instruction,

but it's almost like he's the only one qualified to do what he's instructing us to do.

So, verse 39 says, "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,

'Inasmuch as God has shown you all this,

there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

You shall be over my house,

and all my people shall be ruled according to your word.

Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.'

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.'"

Wow.

Talk about climbing to the top on steroids.

This is the first mention in the Bible here, in verse 37,

where it says, "Of the Holy Spirit coming upon a man."

It is interesting to note that it was in regard to more practical things.

Joseph didn't have to preach a sermon or lead a prayer

for Pharaoh to see the Spirit of God upon him.

And I think this right here is a great argument

for Christians getting involved in the whole political realm.

Do we like it? No.

It stinks.

In fact, the one dude, I'm not even going to say his name,

the one dude at the debate the other night says,

"I shouldn't have to be here.

I wanted you to be a good president.

But now I feel like I have to be here.

I just want to be at one of my places, kicking back,

you know, with a little umbrella in his cup,

taking it easy."

Because if there were more men and more women

with the Spirit of God upon them in our leadership,

in our cities, in our counties, in our states,

we wouldn't be in the pickle we're in.

I don't think we would be in the mess that we're in.

And it's interesting, the word "spirit" is there as "ruach,"

and it means "wind."

And so it was on him, and he could see it.

Pharaoh could see it in his character, in his message,

in his knowledge, in his wisdom, and in his family.

The presence and power of the Holy Spirit can be seen

in very practical ways in our character, in our humility,

in our ability to just have the answer for what's right.

And that's what Jesus said, right?

When you come before people, you don't have to rehearse

what you're going to say.

I'm going to fill your mouth when you're filled

with the Holy Spirit.

And maybe you feel like you need that today.

I know I do.

I want to be filled with God's Holy Spirit,

and I want to know what to do in the times in which we live.

And so Pharaoh starts transferring all this authority, right?

He says, "Only in regard to the throne

will I be greater than you."

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you

over all the land of Egypt."

As we go through this comparing, I don't know

if there's a greater comparison in all of Scripture

than Joseph to Jesus, right?

You know, this is the third time he changed garments.

And you remember the robe that they put on Jesus?

There's symbolisms there.

I won't go into it.

But this, with the authority, Jesus said of himself

in Matthew 28, "All authority has been given to me

in heaven and on earth."

Joseph is a type of Jesus.

And so he goes on there in verse 42,

"Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand

and put it on Joseph's hand, and he clothed him

in garments of linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

And he had him ride in the second chariot, which he had,

and he cried out before them, 'Bow the knee!'

So he set him over all the land of Egypt.

And Pharaoh also said to Joseph, 'I am Pharaoh,

and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot

in all the land of Egypt.'

And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath, Penaiah,

and he gave him a wife, Asenath, and the daughter of Potipharah,

a priest of Aon.

So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt."

And so here he is from the dungeon to the throne, right?

Don't we all like stories like that?

We love rags to riches stories, you know.

And years ago, I remember when I was a kid,

I watched the movie "The Jerk."

I think that was rags to riches to rags.

It's Steve Martin, so go figure, pretty weird.

But the types of Jesus here are powerful, right?

"I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.

For without me you can do nothing."

And that's exactly what Pharaoh says of Joseph here, right?

"Without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot at all."

They can't do anything.

Jesus says, "Without me you can do nothing."

Then he receives a name.

There's all kinds of conjecture of what this means,

but most believe that it means,

Zaphnath means God speak, and Paneah means he lives.

God speaks and he lives.

And then he receives a Gentile bride.

What does Jesus receive?

A Gentile bride.

God tells us in the Old Testament,

"And I will give you the Gentiles as your inheritance."

Incredible.

As you read through this, and as you read through God's word,

and I think I've shared it before,

and I'll share it over and over again.

As you read through God's word, you're always thinking Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus is on every page.

This Bible is themed with a person.

Chuck Mischel used to say,

"In the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.

In the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed."

And so many people go,

"Well, I don't understand the Bible, so I don't read it."

If you don't consistently read God's word,

please just hear this.

If you don't consistently read God's word,

you are lost.

I don't mean lost from salvation.

I mean you are lost in your way in how to navigate this life.

Because it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

It directs your path.

You hide it in your heart,

and you have a heightened sensitivity to what sin is.

You don't, you become dull.

That's why it's so important.

It's so important to read this, to dig,

because there's treasures here that will change your life forever.

And the truth, just the truth,

looking at comparing Joseph's life to the life of Jesus,

super powerful.

Verse 46,

"Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh."

Remember somebody else that started their ministry at 30?

"He stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh

and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

Now in the seven plentiful years,

the ground brought forth abundantly.

And so 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.

He laid up in every city the food of the fields

which surrounded them.

And Joseph gathered very much grain

as the sand of the sea

until he stopped counting for it was immeasurable.

And to Joseph were born two sons

before the years of famine came,

whom Osaneth, the daughter of Potiphar,

priest of on, bore to him.

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh

for God had made me forget all my toil

and all my father's house.

And the name of the second he called Ephraim

for God caused me to be fruitful

in the land of my affliction."

And so he's doing the work of the Lord.

He's married a woman.

He's having babies.

He had been through the refiner's fire for 13 years.

And all of a sudden he finds himself at the throne.

And before the seven years of plenty were over,

he has two boys.

Jesus had truly, excuse me, Joseph,

Joseph had truly become the bread of life

to the whole world.

Didn't Jesus say that about himself?

I am the bread.

And so it pictures him here.

The boys were born,

the first one he names him Manasseh

for God has made me forget all his toil.

It's interesting.

He did not give Egyptian names,

but Hebrew names.

He didn't forget where he from come.

Isn't that important?

Don't forget where you've come from.

Don't forget what God has delivered you from.

He doesn't forget.

In fact, he names his boy Manasseh.

And we see Manasseh later,

he's got both sides of the Jordan.

And then the next one is named Ephraim.

Notice what his name means.

It means fruitful.

Ephraim was the biggest tribe,

the biggest tribe of Israel was Ephraim.

All these things God seems to fulfill.

Names mean something, numbers mean something.

It's all significant.

So he's remembering his Hebrew roots.

And obviously the God of his father, Jacob.

The God of his grandfather, Isaac.

The God of his great grandfather, Abraham.

Verse 53, it says,

"Then the seven years of plenty,

which were in the land,"

good things always come to an end,

"ended, and the seven years of famine began to come,

as Joseph had said,

and the famine was in all the lands.

But in all the land of Egypt, there was bread.

So when all the land of Egypt was famished,

the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.

And then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians,

'Go to Joseph, whatever he says to you, do.'"

Ring a bell.

"The famine was over all the face of the earth,

and Joseph opened all the storehouses

and sold to the Egyptians.

And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt,

so all the countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain,

because the famine was severe in all the lands."

Last couple things pointing to Jesus here

as we close up today.

"So they came to the king, he sends them to Joseph,

and he says, 'Whatever he says to you, do it.'"

Whatever he says.

Remember John chapter 2, when Jesus is at the wedding,

John 2 · chapter mention

Mary comes to him, his mom.

"Hey, they ran out of wine."

And Jesus goes, "Whoa, whoa, what's up?

My time's not yet."

"Though he honors his mama, a question came to me this week,

why did Jesus make wine?"

"'Cause his mama wanted him to.'"

And he told the servants, remember what she told the servants,

"Hey, whatever this guy says to you, do it."

"Can I tell you, whatever Jesus says to you,

would you just do it? Just do it."

He might be telling you to repent.

He might be telling you to move.

He might be telling you to go this way or that way.

Whatever he says to you, do it.

You'll never go wrong letting the Lord direct and lead your life.

So then this famine comes, and it's horrendous, this famine.

And so all of Egypt has to come to Joseph to get food.

Not only that, but all the surrounding countries have to come.

Joseph truly becomes the savior of the whole world.

Where it says in 1 John that Jesus just didn't come

to die for my sins and your sins,

but the sins of the whole world.

Jesus came to save Egyptian, Hebrew, and every Gentile in the world.

Jews and Gentiles alike.

And so I guess with that last verse is kind of where I want to just end today.

Is we must be willing to do whatever God tells us to do.

And so people are asking me all the time,

"Well, what's God telling you to do?"

I don't know.

But when he tells me to do something in my past,

he's always been really clear.

Because I'm too thick-headed, right?

He has to make it really clear.

And so when he says it, I get this, I don't know what it is.

It's an angst in my spirit, and he won't let me not do it.

And so that's what I pray for you.

Maybe you need some angst.

Maybe I need some angst.

And have the Spirit of the Lord come upon me and move me

in a way that would fulfill his will,

that the world would be fed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen?

The Savior truly came.

Though they didn't even know they was looking for one.

Right?

Maybe today you don't even know what you were looking for.

You don't even know why you're sitting maybe in this room.

Just know that God loves you.

He's got a plan for your life.

You just have to do what he says.

And it's his way, it's not our way.

People want to come to God on their own terms.

God doesn't work that way.

Jesus told us in the beginning of his ministry,

and John the Baptist did as well,

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Just do what he says. Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for telling us what to do.

Lord, we've got your word that it encourages us,

and Lord, it directs our steps.

It even tells us whether we're thinking right.

And so, Lord, I just ask that you would move on us, Lord,

in these times in which we live.

We truly need you leading us.

You at the helm, the one who has all the sustenance

that everyone in this room needs.

We've got storehouses, Lord, that never run dry.

And so, Lord, we just praise you for that.

I want to find myself in the center of your will.

I know that's the heart of many here today, Lord.

So would you move?

Would you show us, Lord, in these last days

in which we're living, Lord?

There just seems to be an urgency to share the gospel, Lord,

the good news with the world around us

that is so full of darkness and bad news, Lord.

And you've given us all the resources.

So may we be those who distribute, just as we see in this man, Joseph's life, Lord,

was willing to give food to those who would come to him, Lord.

And so you're going to put people in our lives this week

that need to hear this truth,

that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, Lord,

and that not just this sinner, but all sinners who would say yes to you.

So, Lord, would you just motivate us, Lord,

and, Lord, that you would activate us as well, Lord, get us moving,

that we would be salt and light in these days.

In Jesus' name, amen.

All righty, let's all stand.