From Prison to 2nd in Command

Mosaic Boston - Sermons

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Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are the supreme Father. You show us what it means to be a father, to not just give life, but to sustain it, to provide for it, to care, to love, to sacrifice, to teach, to lead, to protect. I pray for all the fathers in the house. Lord, it is a supernatural calling and it's a great responsibility. You entrust to us eternal souls to disciple and usher into your kingdom and then one day to usher into heaven by your grace. So Lord, fill all the fathers with the Holy Spirit. Teach us where we need to be taught. Strengthen us. Give us a greater vision for being even better fathers in the coming year. For those who have a desire for fatherhood, Lord, I pray. Make that a reality as you lead the young men. Lord, bless us in the holy scriptures today, we're reminded of the words of Christ in the desert to Satan.

When Satan came to tempt him, and Jesus, you were in fasted state physically, and yet you rejected the temptation of the evil. And you said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." So Lord, we humble ourselves before your word and we come to your word as nourishment for our souls. We are famished and we live in a land of a famine of your words. So we pray, nourish us. And as you do, help us take this bread to others who are famished in their souls as well. And Lord, satisfy us with your love today, with your grace and with your presence. We pray for your Holy Spirit to guide us through the sermon and speak to our hearts in a way that only you can. And we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.

We continue today our sermon series called Graduate Level Grace, a study in the life of Joseph where in Genesis 41 today, and the context that we find ourselves in is that Joseph has been sold into captivity by his brothers. He's been in Egypt coming up on 13 years now. First it started in Potiphar's house and he rose in Potiphar's house to the point where he became second in the household. And then he was tempted by Mrs. Potiphar. She wanted him, she was in a position of authority over him. She wanted him to do something that was against God's law. So he refused. He refused an authority figure speaking over him, calling him to do something that was against God's law. Then we find him in prison. In prison he's going through the ranks as well to the point where everything was entrusted to him.

Then last week he interpreted the dreams of the cup bearer, and the baker. The baker was then hanged and then the cup bearer is in the presence of Pharaoh, although he did not say a word about Joseph for two years. So that's the context we find ourselves in. These final events of Joseph's imprisonment the last two years were arranged by God, first of all to continue to hone Joseph, continue to strengthen him, temper him, deepen his faith and trust in the Lord. But then also its sovereign timing in that God waited for Joseph to come to the mind of the cup bear at the precise moment that Pharaoh needed him, which allowed Joseph to be elevated. Joseph we see is a radically God-centered man who believed that God had given him dreams and those dreams were from God and they were going to come to pass.

And despite the serpentine twists and turns of the road, the circuitous road, Joseph's trusting God to get him to the promised destination. And this is really the lesson before us today. Will we trust God in the dark days of our life? Will we be able to say, "God, thank you for seasons that we don't want to live through."? 1 Thessalonians 5:8 tells us, "Give thanks in everything. This is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." And this is before God elevates Joseph to second in command in all of Egypt. He first teaches Joseph how to submit to authority and how to submit to ultimate authority, which is God's Proverbs 3, five through six, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your path."

What is the purpose of God in your life? What is God's will in your life? Well today God's will is for you to be thankful to him for bringing you to the season that you are in, to submit to him. And as we submit to his authority, he continues to work. Five sections that we're going to walk through, it's a very long text, so there'll be a lot of reading, but five sections as we work through the text, Pharaoh's nightmares. Then we'll look at Pharaoh calls Joseph, then Pharaoh recalls the nightmares, and then Joseph interprets the dreams. And finally, Joseph is elevated to prime minister. First of all, Pharaoh's nightmares, and this is verse one.

"After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. And behold there came up out of the Nile, seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin came up out of the Nile after him and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke and he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears. And Pharaoh awoke and behold it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh."

So God's timing in Joseph's life comes 13 years after he had been sold into captivity. Two years here, he's in prison until this night. So nearly half his dream, half his life, Joseph has spent in captivity. He's about 30 years old at this time when Pharaoh has this set of bizarre dreams, nightmares even. In the sacred world, the number seven is important. So we see the number seven twice here, the cow was a symbol of Egypt and it was even one of their gods. And if I weren't a Christian, I could really understand that cows are really miraculous. Praise be to God. Thank God he made them out of steak. So they were a society where they were agrarian in that they had grain and also they used that grain to feed their cattle. What we see here is that the dreams violate nature and that's what shocks him. The plump cows, that's tremendous. He sees them, they're attractive, but what scares him is that they begin to cannibalize the skinny cows.

The same thing happens with the grain. In Egyptian Pharaohs, they considered themselves to be God. So when they dreamed, they thought they were being connected to the spiritual realm. And he thought this is clearly something from the divine, two dreams. The duality is important, signaling their certitude. So he dreams and the word behold is used here six times to show just how shocking this is. He wakes up. Although he thinks he's God, he doesn't have the interpretation of this message that was sent from the supernatural realm. He brings in all his wizards and pagan priests and they can't interpret the dream or they will not interpret the dream because they know what it signifies. It signifies that danger is coming. And perhaps they don't want to share bad news with Pharaoh because they know how Pharaoh would react. So what does Pharaoh do? And this is the second subheading.

Pharaoh calls Joseph. It wasn't a good state for a king to be in. So the people around the king, his confidants, including his cup bearer, want to do something. So the cup bearer, here delicately, volunteers information that he should have shared a long time ago had he cared more about Joseph than himself, but he didn't care about Joseph more than himself until this moment. In this moment, he only shares the information because he most likely thinks it might help him. So Genesis 41, 9 through 14, "Then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh, 'I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. We dreamed on the same night he and I each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, the servant of the captain of the guard. And when we told him, he interpreted our dreams for us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us. So it came about. I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged.' Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh."

And as I was studying this text, I can't but think about the fact that everything can change in a second. If we believe in a God who is sovereign, a God who works miracles, everything can change in a second. What do you think Joseph had been praying about for 13 years? He was praying for his freedom, for his liberty. And now he has an opportunity to free him himself. He was a Hebrew man. In contrast to the Egyptians, they wore beards. So he is forced here to be shaved, sanitized, Egyptianized and presented to Pharaoh. He goes from prison, from the pit of prison to the pinnacle of power in the palace in a second.

Their Joseph, handsome, well-built stands before Pharaoh, but he does not stand alone. And I find this fascinating. A lot of young people move to Boston from faithful families, from faith backgrounds. They come here, nobody knows them. No one knows you. There's no accountability structure. No one's going to call you out about any decisions that you make. That's where Joseph was. Age 17, he's in this brand new context. No one knows him. He can refashion his character, his identity, his destiny, any way that he wants, but he doesn't. He continues to submit his life to Yahweh despite the challenges. Joseph, no, he wasn't alone here. He knew he was never alone.

He always knew that he was with Yahweh. Even in prison they said that he succeeded in everything that he did because Yahweh was with him. His God was with him. His God here convenes this meeting, orchestrates it with exquisite timing and brings him to the presence of Pharaoh. So this is title three that Pharaoh recalls the nightmares. Joseph's situation was to say the least intimidating. Here's a young guy. He most likely had to learn Egyptian in prison or in Potiphar's house. He's absolutely a nobody, and now he's going to be in the presence of the most powerful person alive. This person needs Joseph's help, needs his divine wisdom. So Joseph has been lifted from the filth of the prison, and now he's in the powerful court of Pharaoh. He's 30 years old. The temptation here would be to humbly moderate his views.

Pharaoh, let me tell you a part of the dream, not all of it. No, no, no. He knows if I'm going to do this job and if I'm going to speak the truth and the spirit of God is in me, I'm going to speak all of it. And on top of that, he has the temptation to attribute honor to himself. Yes, Pharaoh, I'm the great interpreter of dreams. I can do this thing for you. What will you do for me? Will you free me? No. He understands that he's been put here from by God and he has a message to speak from God. He doesn't melt under the pomp and the circumstance. He doesn't melt under the flattery. He resolutely stands true to who he is, his identity and what God has called him to do is duty and destiny. So this is verse 15.

"And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I've had a dream and there is no one who can interpret it. I've heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.' And Joseph answered, Pharaoh, 'It's not in me.' God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Observe carefully the humility. It's not in me. The very first words that we hear from the mouth of Joseph as he's in the presence of the greatest man alive, so to speak. He says, "It's not me. It's not me, it's God." Observe carefully his faith. He believes in God. I can't give you the answer, but I believe even at this moment that God will speak and observe carefully that Pharaoh who called himself God, he thought he was God, all of a sudden has met with this young guy who just came out of prison. And this young guy, he appeals to an authority greater than Pharaoh himself. Who is this young man? Who is his God?

Joseph, all of his life, this has been the lesson from the very beginning that his brother sold him. He was a young man under authority of his father. His father tells him to do something risky. He does do it. And then he's a man that's under the authority of God. My father's not in the picture, but I will submit to God the Father. So Joseph before he's positioned number two in Egypt, number two behind Pharaoh, he's been submitting his whole life to God. He's been his whole life practicing to be number two to God. God is first, I'm second in every aspect of life. And that, friends, is the key to discipleship. How do you grow in the faith? You grow in the faith by on a daily basis saying, "Lord, Lord, I need you. I'm dependent on you. I trust you. Now help me submit this day to you. Help me submit all of my abilities, talents, opportunities, everything to you, every aspect of my life."

And that's what Joseph does here. He appeals to God, Elohim, a God superior over the gods of Egypt. And this is what's happening. God loves to do this. What's happening is the idolatrous, the demons behind the idols of Egypt are right now going toe to toe with the God of Joseph. And God loves flexing at these moments to glorify his name. What we see is that Joseph hasn't changed a bit from his time in the pit to the palace. He wants to glorify God and he understands that the wisdom that is within him is not his own. It is God's. It's from the spirit of God.

1 Corinthians : 11 through 16 says, "For who knows a person's thoughts accept the spirit of that person which is in him. So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual."

Verse 14, "The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

And I bring that in here. And most of us, we will not stand before the number one most powerful person in the world. Most of us won't have that opportunity, but most of us will be placed in a position where we do have to speak. At that moment, the spirit of God will speak to you and say, "Speak my words. This is what Jesus said to the disciples. "When you stand before the authorities, don't worry about what you're going to say." At that moment you're channel for the Holy Spirit. Lord, speak for me. Lord, give me the words, Lord, give me the wisdom. Give me them temperament to speak, not just to minds but to hearts. And that power is accessible to us if we humbly ask.

Genesis 41, 17 through 24, "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. Seven cows, plump and attractive came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. Seven other cows came up before them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the thin ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows. But when they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had eaten them for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk full and good, seven ears withered thin and blighted by the east winds sprouted after them and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me."

So here, obviously Pharaoh was very proud of the cows in Egypt. Multiple times he's like, "No, no, these aren't our cows. These are some kind of demonic cows. These are completely out of the realm of reality." He doesn't know what to do. He turns to Joseph. And this is setting, this is... Title four is Joseph, subtitle. Joseph interprets the dreams. So as Joseph listens to Pharaoh's dreams, what is he doing? The whole time he's listening, but he's also listening to the spirit. He's listening to what God is speaking to him. Remember Joseph had already declared that it's God. God is a source of interpretations. Every time he's been met with dreams, with the cup bearer, with the bake, he says it's God. Invokes the name of God and that's the key to his success here.

Verse 25. "And then Joseph said to Pharaoh, 'The dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years. And the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he's about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow for it will be very severe."

One interpreter says that Joseph here interprets the dream with deft skill and a sure touch. He promises that there is a famine that's coming. It's a cyclical famine and it will be a time of severe adversity and even death if we don't do something about it.

Here Joseph's language is that of a prophet. He's speaking the truth. And what's fascinating here is he predicts the truth no matter what. He says later in the text that this thing is fixed, everything that we see that's about to happen, it's fixed. And Pharaoh, your only decision is will you submit to the will of God. So this is Genesis 41, 31, "And the doubling of Pharaoh's dreams means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. Now therefore, let Pharaoh select the discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years, and let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. That food shall be reserved for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt so that the land may not perish through the famine."

This thing is fixed by God, he says. This thing is controlled by God. This thing is ordained by God. The reason why God can foretell the future is because God ordains the future. The reason why Joe has access to the wisdom of God and predicting the future is because God has already ordained it. Pharaoh, no matter what, God is going to do, what God is going to do through you. And this is fascinating because Pharaoh was not a God worshiper. He wanted nothing to do with God. He thought he was God himself. And we have many kings and rulers and presidents today who do think that there's no one above them, that there's no one in authority over them, that no one will hold them accountable.

This is a lie. The truth from this text that we see is, no, kings do not make history. Pharaohs do not make history. Presidents do not make history. No. God uses them to affect history. Holy scripture says that the heart of the king is like water in the hands of God. So as we look at our nation, or if you're from another nation and your nation is worse than our nation or better than our nation, it's all a mess everywhere. You just need to know that no matter what, no matter what evil regime, thumbs its nose at justice, no matter how much violence and corruption they do with impunity, we must know that God will use all of this for his purposes. Joseph here, very wise. I'm not sure if he was thinking of himself when he was like, "Pharaoh, and by the way, you should nominate someone to do this job and I recommend myself."

Most likely, it wasn't that. Most likely all of his plans of ambition and prospering in a worldly sense, most of that was probably vanquished already. Here, the Lord is just speaking through him. He proposes a plan. For seven years we're going to farm as best as we can and we are going to take 20% from everybody, a flat 20% income tax. Joseph, I can get behind that. I'm not for taxes, but if we had 20% flat tax that includes income, real estate, sales, et cetera, et cetera, that would be great. But his plan here is based on the spirit moving him. And what's fascinating is though he knows the future, God is sovereign, this is what God is going to do, he does not say, "Pharaoh, God knows the future, period. Okay, let me free and hopefully I'll never see you again." He doesn't do that.

He knows that God has revealed the future to him, but the fact that he knows what God is going to do does not nullify his action. Actually he says, "Based on what I know God is going to do, I propose a plan of aggressive action for us to thrive." He says, "Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man." Discerning, you have insight. You have a capacity to constructively attack a problem and you are wise in that you have the ability to take information and you know exactly what to do with it. It's not just knowing what to do and knowing the right thing to do, but actually how to do it. And this brings us to heading five, and Joseph is elevated to Prime Minister and this is verse 37.

"This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God?' Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Since God has shown you all this, there's none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command, only as regards to the throne, will I be greater than you." And this is absolutely fascinating that God would move the heart of Pharaoh like this. Why? What did Pharaoh see in Joseph?

I think first of all, he saw the authenticity, the integrity of the man, but he also saw the spirit of God. Obviously, how would you know this information? How would you know? How would you have a plan all set in place? You of all people, this prisoner from Canaan? What's fascinating is whenever you read in the Old Testament about the Holy Spirit or the spirit of God, it does not mean the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we see in the New Testament because several times Jesus Christ said, "Don't do anything disciples, apostles, until I send the Holy Spirit," the indwelling of the spirit that came at Pentecost.

And that comes whenever anyone repents and believes in Christ. No, this spirit in the Old Testament was given for a certain task. Like we see when the builders of the tabernacle went to work, God's spirit came upon them and gave them this wisdom to conduct the work. But it is the spirit, the Holy Spirit working through him. And here Pharaoh says, "There's no one in the land who has the spirit of God like this man." And unwittingly, what is Pharaoh doing? He's raising up God, the God, Elohim, God, Yahweh above the gods of the Nile. What he's saying is our gods were powerless to give us this information, but the God of the universe, Elohim, he's the one that sent Joseph to. So Pharaoh here, however ignorantly, he's praising God. He's giving glory to God. He's extolling the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In one day everything changes for Joseph. In the morning he awoke an imprisoned slave. And now he's second only to Pharaoh. George Lawson in the 19th century, he wrote this book on Joseph, called The History of Joseph, and he summarizes this exquisitely this transition.

And he says, "The life of different men presents not greater varieties to our observation than the life of the same man sometimes is done. How different is a king's grandson, a shepherd, a lawgiver from one another? And yet Moses sustained all these characters in different periods of the same life. Joseph was in his early days, the favorite son of a venerable father. He was in the next period of his life, a slave, and then a prisoner held in long confinement under the imputation of one of the worst of crimes. But in the best and longest period of his eventful life, he was the Lord of all the land of Egypt, trusted with all the power of the king and honored by the people as their savior from destruction. Let us not be greatly dejected by adversity. Let us not trust in prosperity. It is a storm in tempest today. It may be sunshine tomorrow. If it should, storms may again disturb our tranquility. Nothing is permanent in this world of changes. Nothing is more foolish than the presumption that tomorrow shall be as today."

And then so it is with Joseph. He didn't let adversity break his heart. He kept going. He didn't let it wound his spirit. He doesn't let prosperity go to his head. And here in an instant, he doesn't just become the second most powerful person in Egypt. He becomes the second most powerful man in the world. And this is a lesson that I think perhaps the modern church is afraid to teach because of the abuse of the prosperity gospel, et cetera. But it is a teaching of holy scripture, a precept, a principle in life that God wants to bless those who are obedient.

God loves to bless those who delight in him. God loves to bless those who are faithful to him. God said, "For those who love me, I will bless you not to just the first and second, third generation, but for a thousand." Psalm 84, 11 through 12, "For the Lord God is a son and shield the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Oh Lord of hosts blesses the one who trusts in you."

We don't walk uprightly to get things from God just like we don't earn our salvation. We don't become Christians or believers or children of God, we don't get into heaven because of anything we've done, not through our law keeping or doing good works. No, salvation is all by grace through faith, you repent, you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saved. You're saved. All your sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. Now begins the Christian walk. Now begins the process of sanctification. And in this process God loves to bless those who are obedient.

Psalm 37, 4 through 6, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as delight and your justice as the noonday." Yes, God expects his children to be faithful to him and he delights when we are, but he also delights to bless us when we're walking in paths of righteousness. The story of Joseph inspires us, not only because it's a demonstration of how perfect and certain the providence of God is to the detail, but also that God does lavishly reward those who love and serve him in thick and thin. Joseph, was he perfect? Of course not. Like Elijah, centuries later he was a man like us.

He had his stumbles, he had his doubts. He had his fears. He had his even sins. He wasn't sinless, but he was faithful. He was loyal to the Lord. He submitted to the Lord in every aspect of his life by God's grace, and look what God does for him. And we should aspire to obedience. We should aspire to loyalty in faithfulness knowing that we will receive a reward, if not in this life, then in the next. Genesis, 41, 41, "And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'See, I've set you over all the land of Egypt.' Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in the second chariot and they called out before him, bow the knee. Thus, he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."

On the spot, Joseph here is knighted in the sense ceremonies, bestowed all of the paraphernalia of power. First the king takes off a signet ring, which he used to sign documents. Therefore, here Pharaoh is giving Joseph his seal and seal of Pharaoh like authority. He also gives him garments of fine linen, the designer clothing of Egypt. And this is fascinating. First wardrobe he had, his father gave him the colored jacket. That didn't work out. And then the second clothing linen that he had from Potiphar's house, that didn't work out. And here finally, he's given not just the robe, he's given the finest robe that was created in that day. It was created for Pharaoh. Here he is elevated and given the status symbols.

And then finally the gold chain that hung around his neck was a gift and symbol of the highest distinction. And now with all of the signs of power, we see a parade that Pharaoh has for Joseph, taking him through the lands so that everyone knows who's second in command. In the morning wakes up just in a dirty stinking pit. Although he had a beard, unfortunately he lost that. And then all of a sudden everything changes for him. I think of him sitting in Pharaoh's house, having someone feed him clusters of grapes. That's Joseph. The finest menu of that day was offered to him and he's got people basically worshiping him. Incredible. And then in verse 45 it says, "Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zephenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

So here Pharaoh gives Joseph a wife. She's Egyptian. And he gives him an Egyptian name, which means abundance of life. And not only, this woman that he gives him into marriage, not only is she Egyptian, but she's the daughter of Potiphera priest, not Potiphar, but similar name, Potiphera Rah, but also has to do with the Rah, which is the son God, God gives. So this is a priest who is elevated as high as possible that we know of in this cultic religion of the sun god. The city of On was a place where they worshiped the sun god. So what is Pharaoh doing? Pharaoh is trying to get Joseph's commitment for life. Okay, I see your power. Now you're going to become like one of us. He Egyptianizes his name. He gives him an Egyptian wife, Egyptian father-in-law, and now he's connected in the network of this false religion.

And here Potiphar is trying to get control of Joseph's soul. That's what's happening. And what's fascinating is that Joseph's soul, if you think about it in many ways is in greater danger now that he's in the court of Pharaoh than his soul was when he was in prison. Because when you are as low as you can possibly go, when you're at the bottom of the pit, there's only one way to look, and that's up. You look up to God. So learning, reliance and dependence and trust in God, in a position where you have no power, you have no one else to rely on, well that makes all the sense in the world. But now Joseph, at age 30, is in the position where his pride can kill his soul, right? He does have wisdom that's matchless. He does have looks that are matchless. He does have power that is matchless, connections that are matchless.

Does he need God? And I think that's important because many of you will be in a position in life if you're not already, where your life will look more like Joseph's life now than Joseph's life in prison. I was just thinking about it. If you can afford to go to one of those resorts, all-inclusive resorts where they just feed you whatever you want and it's just... That's basically Pharaoh's court. Pharaoh's like, "This is my life." And you're like, yeah, "Well your palace doesn't have indoor plumbing. My all-inclusive resort does." In many ways we live more comfortable lives than if Pharaoh would've ever dreamed to live. In many ways in our lives, on a daily basis, you don't need God. All your needs are met, physically. And here Joseph shows us that even though he's at the very top, he understands the dangers before him and his soul is connected to God like never before.

Why? Because God had prepared him for this moment. God had taught him to trust no matter what. In Genesis 41, 46, "Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through the land of Egypt. During the seven plentiful years, the earth produced abundantly. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which occurred in land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. And he put in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea until he ceased to measure it for it could not be measured."

So we see everything that Joseph said came to pass and they worked strategically both to harvest the grain and then also to store the grain. And by the end, they have immeasurable cash of grain in every strategic city. So Joseph, we see his reliance on God in that he went to work. He realized, God put me in this position. God gave me this plan. God gave me the interpretation. Now he goes to work and we see his work ethic and his administrative skills all on display.

And then verse 50, "Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, Asenath. The daughter of Potiphera priest of On bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. For he said, 'God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.' The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Despite his public success, so this is five, six years after his elevation to the number two spot, there's a pain that has not gone away. And we see a glimpse into the personal pain of Joseph here with the birth of his firstborn son.

What does he remember? My hardship. What does he remember? The hardship of my father's house. He's never forgotten his childhood. He's never forgotten what his brother's did to him. He's never forgotten the flaws of even his father. And he thought, "Well God, thank you for sending me the son." And he names him, God made me forget. God sent me a spiritual amnesia and he says that this is a gift. God, thank you for making me forget something that was indelibly written on my soul. God, thank you for making me forget this. Some of us, we need to learn this lesson of spiritual amnesia. I drive a Suburban, a black Suburban because I like looking like a fed. And it was raining yesterday, I was on the highway, I was driving New Hampshire. I live in New Hampshire.

And I'm driving and it's pouring. And I realized I haven't looked back into my rear view mirror in probably, I don't know, 30 miles. I just don't care. I'm just driving. And then I tried to look back through my window and I can't see a thing because I didn't even have the wipers on. So it was just water, just like you're in a car wash. And then I put the windshield wipers on and I'm like, "Oh, that's so much better. I like looking back." Like, I should actually know what's going. And I think in many ways like through difficult times in our life through suffering, through pain, through seasons like Joseph experienced, we don't even want to look in the back. Lord, I don't want to look there. But there were so many lessons there. There were so many blessings there, there was so much provision of God back there.

So we need the windshield wiper of God's grace to remove the tears so that we can look back and say, "You know what? I choose, like God chooses to forget my sins, I choose to forget the sins of the people against me. By God's grace I choose..." God, the omniscient God of the universe, does not forget a thing. He chooses to forget our sins and he casts them as far from us as the east is from the west. And that's what's happening with Joseph here. God thank you for the spiritual amnesia that comes as medicine upon his soul. So that's his first son. And his second son is Ephraim, which means abundance. That God, you have blessed us with fruitfulness even in the land of affliction. What's fascinating here is that we do see that Joseph has not forgotten his God. We see that. His Egyptian wife couldn't do anything here.

Lord willing, he discipled her and told her about Yahweh, she becomes a Christian. Because what kind of names does he give him? What kind of names does he give his son as he's in Egypt, as he's number two to Pharaoh, as his father-in-law is a priest in the idol religion? He gives them Hebrew names. And the Hebrew names here signify that God is with them, that he's continuing to honor God and he humbles himself before God. Even in the midst of his prosperity, Joseph remains a man under God, interested in the will of God and God continues to use him powerfully.

F.B. Meyer here comments and he says, "It was a wonderful ascension and a single bound from the dungeon to the steps of the throne. His father had rebuked him. Now, Pharaoh, the greatest monarch of his time, welcomes him. His brethren despised him. Now the proudest priesthood of the world opens its ranks to receive him by marriage into their midst, considering it's wiser to conciliate a man who was from that moment to be the greatest force in Egyptian politics in life. The hands that were hard with the toils of a slave are adorned with the signet ring. The feet are no longer tormented by fetters. A chain of gold is linked around his neck. The coat of many colors torn from him by violence and defiled by blood, and the garment left in the hand of the adulterous are exchanged for vestures of fine linen drawn from the royal wardrobe. He was the ones trampled upon as the ox carrying of all things. Now all Egypt is commanded to bow down before him as he rides in the second chariot, Prime Minister of Egypt and second only to the king."

The text ends with verse 53 through 57. Verse 53, "The seven years of plenty that occurred in land of Egypt came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands. But in the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go to Joseph what he says to you, do. So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, the earth, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain because the famine was severe over all the earth."

So the monstrous seven cows and the seven years of grain who had been cannibalizing the seven plump cows in the ears of grain. And Joseph and Egypt were ready for it and ready to provide for their own people and also capitalized and take the wealth of the other nations in exchange for grain. So the money readily poured into Egypt's coffers. But Joseph does not bow to other idols. Prosperity does not kill his faith. Joseph goes from humiliation to exaltation. It's a remarkable story. He goes from absolutely nothing from being a slave to becoming second in command. He didn't do it willingly. He didn't choose this. That's a remarkable story. But there is a greater story. And Joseph points us to a greater Joseph, a man who was raised by a man named Joseph. And that's Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity name. Jesus Christ willingly goes from exaltation to humiliation. He goes from the presence of God. He goes from perfection and bliss and he comes down into our filth, into humanity, into this world. Notice the kiss of honor here that's talked about. Everyone bows, everyone pays homage to Joseph. Scripture teaches us about the fact that there's another king and we have to give honor to him. Psalm two verse 12, "Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him."

So the king can get angry if I dishonor him? Yes, of course. That's how honor and authority works. In our culture we have a hard time understanding that because we don't really... We're egalitarian and we don't really believe in honor and hierarchy and authority. Joseph knew it. This is what made Joseph, Joseph. He understood authority. He understood that there's God and then God places people over us and there is a way to serve in order to grow, but he does learn it from God.

So the king can get angry if I don't pay homage. So what am I to do? I'm to take refuge in him. What kind of king is this that welcomes those who dishonor him, those who did not worship him? What kind of king would take us in so that we find in him? We, rebels, of all people? Well, this is King Jesus. He came to us when we were still rebels. He came to us not when we were honoring him or glorifying him. He came to us when we wanted nothing to do with him. In Philippians 2, 5 through 11 says, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the Father."

Jesus Christ likens himself to bread. He said, "I'm the bread of life." He is the only one who can satisfy to the depths of our soul. If anyone's been on a regular diet and then all of a sudden, sudden you're like, "I need to lose weight," and then you go keto. For the first two weeks, you miss above all else, what do you miss? You miss bread. You just miss it. You miss it. And in a sense, there is a part of our soul where only the bread of life can fill.

You might try to fill it with prosperity, with comfort, with prestige from people around you, with honor, with degrees, with wealth. And you realize as you acquire, as you experience that, that gnawing is still there. Jesus Christ alone is our bread. And how does he become our bread? We remember this on every single time we celebrate the Lord's supper, his body on the cross is broken for us. The king of kings is on a cross. The second person of the Trinity is on a cross, bearing the curse that we deserve for our lawbreaking. That's the bread being broken for us. And this blood pours down. That's symbolized by the cup. So how is that a tribute? How can I have that? How can I get the satisfaction of the bread and the cup of Jesus' body and his blood? By grace through faith. At communion, we eat the bread and we drink the cup.

It's a sign of internalizing. I internalize what Jesus did and he did that for me. If you're here this morning, if you've never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've never submitted your life to him, we today urge and plead with you. We ask today, receive God's grace. What makes us Christians? We have found bread, bread of life in Jesus Christ and we now want to share it with a famished world. And may God help you recognize your lost condition. There is a famine of the spirit that apart from God and apart from God's grace will continue to grow. Scripture teaches. Blessed are the poor in spirit. What does that mean? It means, Lord, I'm spiritually bankrupt. I need more of your spirit. Lord, I need the blessing of more of your spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Friends, do you hunger and thirst for righteousness above all else? Well, scripture says you shall be satisfied. So come to Christ today, come to our greater Joseph, come to our greater Prime Minister of the affairs of God, the eternal second person of the Trinity, and he will welcome you with arms wide open.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for a blessed text. We thank you for a blessed time in the Spirit, in the Word, as your people and we pray. Minister to us Holy Spirit, and help us trust in you no matter what. Help us submit to you no matter what. Make us a people who are useful to you, ready to be of service to you in the same way that you blessed Joseph for his faithfulness and loyalty and obedience to you. Lord bless each one of us. And for those who are far from you, draw them to yourself. Make them your own. Take off their rags of sin. And instead, Lord, robe us with your righteousness. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.