You have your Bibles, open them to Genesis 41. If you were here on last night, you knew this was where we were going. We had our outline of Genesis on last night, and now we begin the story of Joseph, where all stories should begin, in the middle. We usually don't start in the middle. However, Genesis 41 is really the crux of the matter. It's sort of the fulcrum point, if you will, in the story of Joseph. It's the most well-known part of the Joseph narrative, you know, followed closely by what happens to him in 39 and what happens to him in 37. But if you talk about Joseph, generally people are going to refer to what happens to him when he becomes second in command in Egypt. And as I began to share on last night, we get it wrong. We interpret it wrongly. And there are a number of reasons that we do that. Number one, we're ignorant of the context. And we looked at the context in our first session. And we saw in our first session that when you understand the context, you interpret things differently in this book and really in the Bible as a whole. So if you don't have that context and all you have is Genesis 41, you'll interpret it wrongly. Secondly, our overall approach to the Old Testament. Kind of that Aesop's Fables slash yearbook approach to the Old Testament, right? I go and I'm looking for me, and what's there for me, and where am I in this? And what that means is, when we read biblical stories, we usually put ourselves in the place of one of the characters. And it's usually the protagonist. We don't usually read the story and think about it from the perspective of us being the bad guy. Right? We usually read the story and think that God has given us this story so that we can think about ourselves through the lens of the good guy and how the world impacts us as the good guy. And so we read the story of Joseph as though we are Joseph. And you're not. You're not. It'd be much healthier to read this and see yourself as Rubin. somebody. Amen? And thirdly, our addiction to movies. Our addiction to movies and literature. There's a character arc. We're used to a certain character arc. And the story goes something like this. We're introduced to the character. And then the character arc goes up, and a good story. And we're seeing good stuff about the character and all these sort of things. And then all of a sudden, there's a precipitous drop. Something horrible happens in the life of this character that we came to love in the upward climb of his character arc. And all of a sudden it drops, and he goes through much difficulty. And then he begins to overcome that difficulty, and in really good stories, it'll drop again, even lower than it did the first time. And then all of a sudden something happens, and he comes out on the other end victorious, and you say, that was a great story. That's called a character arc. And if you look in movies, and in good literature, you'll find a very similar character arc. And in fact, the most shocking books are the ones that change up the character arc. you're expecting it to go in one direction and it goes in another. Why? Because we know how stories are supposed to go. And so, when you understand that and you read the story of Joseph, you know, here he is, he comes along and, you know, all of a sudden he's Joseph, his daddy loves him, gives him his coat, and then his brothers hate him, and bam, he goes down into the pit. And then his character arc comes up in the palace and everything is wonderful, right? And all of a sudden he gets, you know, chased by, you know, Potiphar's wife and back down again. And then he meets these guys in prison. He interprets their dreams. Please remember me. A couple years later, he's remembered. And then all of a sudden the character arc goes right back up to the top. All's well that ends well, except that's 41 and Genesis has 50 chapters. And so we tend to read chapter 41 through the lens of a culture that is very familiar with the character arc. We know a hero's character arc. And if we assume that Joseph is the hero in this story, the way we understand a character arc makes us feel like 41 is the apex. It's the denouement in the story, all right? And that's wrong. And then finally, our materialism. Our materialism. What's the good ending? The good ending is he gets rich. He's faithful and God makes him rich. That's the good ending. And we're materialistic and we think blessings equal wealth. Right? And so when he gets to the apex of his wealth, that must be the apex of his blessing. These are reasons that make us interpret chapter 41 wrongly. But if you think about it, use the story of a fictional character, Victor. Victor's mother, comes to church. And Victor's mother comes to the pastor, and Victor's mother says, I need you to pray for my boy. OK, we'll pray for your boy. What's going on with him? Well, I'm not too sure. I'm kind of getting secondhand information, because the fact is, I haven't seen him in years. Victor went off, and he left home. And since he's left home, we haven't heard much from him. In fact, he doesn't even call himself Victor anymore. He's got a whole other name than he calls himself. He's gone off and he's gotten himself educated and he's running with this crowd. Doesn't even go to church anymore. He's working with a company that is really an immoral company, but he's making a lot of money. He got married. He got married to a young woman who's not even a believer. They have children. I've never seen them. And they don't go to church anywhere. Would you pray for my boy? Does that sound vaguely familiar? It ought to sound familiar for two reasons. One, because that's a story that we hear often in church, is it not? Two, I just told you Joseph's story with a different name. He's gone away from home. He's been gone for years. He doesn't go to church anymore. Not even called by his name anymore. He married a woman who's not even a believer. He's got kids. Grandma and Grandpa haven't even seen the kids, and these kids aren't being raised in church. And we teach kids in Sunday school that chapter 41 is the payoff. It's the familiar horror story of every Christian parent, and we call it the payoff. Now granted, it's different in that this is forced on Joseph. We get that, right? However, the elements are exactly the same. So again, I say we're wrong in interpreting chapter 41 in a positive light. But I believe that there are other things in the midst of the story that help us to see that it's not a good thing. If we read carefully. First, let's remember where we are. We're in the totodote of Jacob. It's the last totodote of Genesis. The generations of Jacob. We're not going to get the generations of anybody else. Why? Because Jacob's name has been changed to Israel. And ultimately we're getting to the nation. The nation of Israel. So he's the last Toledot because this is the foundation of the nation. Now we know that we have to continue to see the promised seed and the fulfillment of the covenant. And we know that there's a promise of land. If we keep in mind land, seed, and covenant, and the fact that we're in the toledot of Jacob, that orients us in the story so we can interpret it. In light of that, let's look at a few things. Reuben, firstborn, committed incest and he's been disinherited. Simeon and Levi, they're mass murderers. Not just murderers, mass murderers. You remember their sister? Remember Shechem? Yeah, you guys can intermarry with us. Just be circumcised. All of you. And they come back three days later when the men cannot defend themselves. And they slaughter everybody. Fourth son, Judah. chapter 38. Some commentators have even argued that chapter 38 is sort of out of place here. Because you have chapter 37, right? And here is where Joseph is told into Egypt. Chapter 39, you pick up again with Joseph in Egypt. But chapter 38 is all about Judah, and eventually about Judah and Tamar. What's that got to do with anything? Well, I'll answer that tomorrow. Or maybe tonight. We'll see. But Judah's gone. He's voluntarily left the covenant community and left the promised land. He voluntarily married outside of the covenant community. And he's fallen into gross immorality. There's a problem here. Where are we going to find this promised seed? There's a good guy in the story. His name's Joseph. But where is he? Well, he's outside of the promised land. He's away from the covenant community, and we don't know his relation to the promised sea. This is not a good thing. There are other things in the story that make it clear that we're not supposed to view this positively. In the wrong land, we find that God is being glorified from the mouth of a pagan. Listen to this. Go to Genesis 41, beginning verse 37. We know what's happened up to this point. There have been three pairs of dreams. Okay? Don't miss the symmetry there. The first pair of dreams is in 37, when Joseph has two dreams. One he shares with his brothers, one he shares with his brothers and his father. This is what sort of leads to his bad relationship with them and them selling him into slavery. Then there's a second pair of dreams, the baker and the cup bearer in prison. That second pair of dreams is what allows Pharaoh to be informed that there's a man in the prison who interprets dreams, because Pharaoh has a pair of dreams. The dream of the cows, the fat ones and the lean ones, and the dream of the ears of corn, the fat ones and the lean ones. And so now, he goes to get this young man out of prison to interpret the dreams. It's not only the interpretation of the dreams. I'll say more about that in a moment. But the interpretation of the dreams is a very important piece of the puzzle as to why Joseph is brought before Pharaoh. There's other things that explain why he's put into the position that he's put in. I'll say something about that momentarily. But remember the interpretation of the dreams. Basically, Joseph says to him, here's what's going to happen. There are going to be seven fat years and then seven lean years. During the fat years you need to store up everything you can. Store up your excess so that you have something to make it through the lean years. Now, beginning in 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? Now, Pharaoh hasn't been converted, folks. He had been converted, he still believes in the Nile God, he still believes he's God, okay? It may be more accurate in terms of his thinking to say, in whom is the spirit of the gods, okay? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. Amen. Because you have the word of God, and it's true. There's none more wise than one with a handle on the Word of God. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Amen? So God is being praised even from the lips of Pharaoh. Pharaoh doesn't even intend to praise God. He doesn't even know the God he's praising, and yet he's praising God. That's the God I serve. Amen? God will be praised. God will be praised even by those who don't know that they're praising God. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God will be praised by all. And here he's being praised even by Pharaoh. And there's irony in that. Next we see that there's been a transfer from Jacob's house to Pharaoh's house. Look beginning at verse 40. here's where we get again if we hold on to our context you shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command only as regards the throne will I be greater than you and Pharaoh said to Joseph see I have sent you over all the land of Egypt a couple of things here number one the word house from chapter 39 through chapter 41 the word house appears 20 times 20 times. First Potiphar's house. Then he's in prison, but it's in prison in the house of the captain of the guard. And now he's being put over Pharaoh's house. Why is this significant? Well, go back to Genesis 39, verses 4 and 5. Because this explains why Pharaoh was so eager to put this man in command. Notice, and he interprets the dream. Pharaoh can say, thank you very much for interpreting the dream. I'll put somebody in charge of this. You can go back to jail. But he doesn't do that. Do you realize that? Just the fact that he interpreted the dream is not reason enough to put him in charge and to put him second in command in Egypt. So why? Why would Pharaoh do that? Well, the key is that word house. from 39 to 41, you see it 20 times. Look here, 39, beginning of verse 4. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. This is Potiphar. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So Potiphar puts Joseph in charge, and everything that Joseph touches is blessed. four times in chapter 39. Remember I said last night, God was with Joseph. Potiphar knows there's something special and unique about this kid. God is with him and Potiphar's house is blessed overwhelmingly. Whose house is supposed to be blessed by Joseph? Jacob's house, not Potiphar's. Now he goes to prison. Now watch this, chapter 40, verses 1 to 3. Sometime after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker committed an offense against their Lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. And he put them in the custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. They're confined in the house of the captain of the guard. By the way, Why would Joseph go to a prison at all? If an Egyptian slave attempts to rape, or an Egyptian woman, you don't put him in prison, you kill him. But Potiphar didn't kill him. Why? Because God was with Joseph, and I believe Potiphar knew his wife. Secondly, when you put him in prison, you know, first of all, you don't put him in prison, you kill him. Secondly, if you do put him in prison, you don't put him in prison with the captain of Pharaoh's guard. That's for the king's prisoners. But everything he touched was blessed. And if he's got to go to prison, You put him with the captain of the guard, who also puts him in charge of his house, so that everything there is blessed. So that now, when he comes before Pharaoh and interprets this dream, it's, oh by the way, this is the guy who was over Potiphar's house and blessed everything. And this is the guy who was the right hand to the captain of the guard and everything there was blessed. And now Pharaoh says, fine, you come to my house then so that everything here will be blessed. This is the favor of God. It's the favor of God. By the way, I would just put a footnote here. Again, Joseph is still a slave. We forget that. He's just a slave to a more powerful man, but he's still a slave. He's still not free. Okay? We forget that because we forget ourselves. So, number one, this idea of house, this question of the house is very important. Number one, because he's in the wrong household and he's been a blessing to every household that he has been to. The one household that he's not blessing right now is Jacob's household. But by the way, He was a blessing in Jacob's household, which is why Jacob sent him on an errand to check on his brothers when he's just 17 years old. His brothers are grown. His brothers are grandparents. And this 17 year old is checking on them. Why? Because God was with Joseph. That's why. And so the irony here is he's blessing the wrong house. He's blessing the Egyptians. And of course, he's in the wrong land. You see that in that passage. All the land of Egypt. That's the wrong land. That's not the land of promise. It's outside of the land of promise. From Jacob's robe to Pharaoh's. More irony. So we know he's in the wrong land. We know he's in the wrong house. Watch this. Verse 42 of chapter 41. 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. Isn't it interesting? How was Joseph distinguished from his brothers in his favor with his father? By robe. And how is Joseph now distinguished in his favor with Pharaoh? By robe and also by chains of gold, rings of gold. This is irony. This is irony. This is reminding us that Joseph is in the wrong place. It's reminding us that Joseph is serving the wrong man. He's serving the wrong Egypt. He should be clothed in Jacob's robe, but instead he's clothed in Pharaoh's robe. If we're paying attention to the story, there's no way we'd get here and say, there's what he was looking for! Verse 43, and he made him ride in his second chariot, and they called out before him, bow to me! Thus he sent 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." Here's what's interesting. What did his brothers say when he interpreted the dreams? We'll never bow the knee to you. What did the Egyptians say when he interprets dreams? Bow the knee. The Egyptians bowed gladly to God's word through Joseph. The covenant community won't have it. This is irony. This is irony. We're supposed to understand that this is irony. Genesis 37 verse 8, this brother said to him, are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. They hated him for his dreams and for his words. Chapter 37 verses 10 and 11. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers. This is the second dream. His father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you've dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you? And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind." How about that? Isn't that interesting? Why would his father keep the saying in mind? Genesis 28, verse 12. Real quick, go there. Jacob dreamed and behold there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. God revealed himself to Jacob in a dream and Jacob has the broken hip to remind him. Chapter 31 verse 10 Laban was a scoundrel And Laban tried to deceive Jacob. Right? You remember this? Verse 10, chapter 31. In the breeding season of the flock, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, and I said, here I am. Why do they have the immense wealth that they possess right now? Because God revealed himself in a dream. So when his boy says, I dream something, he doesn't like it, but he keeps it in mind. Because he understands that he serves the God who speaks. He understands that he serves the God who reveals himself, and specifically, the God who reveals himself in dreams. Remember, he's the son of Isaac, who's the son of Abraham. He understands what's going on here. And yet, he doesn't caution his sons. He doesn't say to them, boys, you might not like it, but this is God we're dealing with. You might not understand it, but let me tell you something about God revealing himself in a dream. He didn't do that. He didn't do that at all. And so he reveals the word and he's hated for it. It's a good thing the nation of Israel got over that. It's a good thing the rest of their history is not filled with them killing the prophets who reveal God's word to them. That's a wonderful thing, because if that were the case, then, you know, the Messiah could even come to his own, and his own not receive him. Now we have a pagan wife and a pagan name. 4145. And from my perspective, these things become increasingly obvious. If you're reading carefully, you get to the first part and you realize he's in the wrong land, he's outside of the covenant community, he's being a blessing to the wrong house. Okay, maybe you missed that clue, right? Now he gets this robe put on him. Certainly that screams you know, coat of any color, that's got to bring you back. But maybe you don't get that one, right? And now it's the dream and the balcony. Certainly that's got to take you back to why his brother started to hate him. Okay, fine. Maybe you missed all of that and still think that Moses intended for you to read this as a positive occurrence. But now we get to one that you just got to let go. You might be holding on barely with your fingernails, right? I love this story the way that it's interpreted. Don't you dare try to take it away from me. I'm holding on to it. Okay, yeah, but you know, yeah, I don't think so. I'm about to remove your fingers. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphonath-Paneah. Is there somewhere else in the Bible where the people of God whose names are very important. Have their names changed by a powerful king? Hananiah, Meshach, Azariah, and Daniel. Or as we know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Negro. Their names are changed, and it's obvious that that's a bad thing. When you are named in the covenant community, and given a name with covenantal significance. And a pagan changes your name to reflect his pagan worldview and pagan religion. Everywhere else in the Bible we say, that's a bad thing. But in Genesis 41 we go, la la la la la la la la, this is good, this is payoff, he obeyed God and this is what God gave in return, la la la la la la la. No, this is awful. And in case that's not enough, And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Again, a reference to the land. Now he's got a pagan wife. Second most powerful priesthood in all of Egypt. Her father is a priest of On. She's a pagan. Is this significant? I don't know. Genesis 24, 1-4, now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, put your hand under my thigh. that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac." This is a big deal. Same thing happens with Jacob. They're very particular throughout the rest of redemptive history. God makes it very clear that you do not intermarry with the pagans. By the way, it wasn't ethnic. It was religious, because the reason was they will draw you off after their gods. That was the reason. God was not looking for a purified people, as the genealogy of Jesus makes very clear. Amen? They're Gentiles. Airwear. Not everywhere. Airwear. Down south, airwear, that's bigger than everywhere. Alright? There are Gentiles all over in that bloodline. Rahab. She's in. She's in. Why? Because it's not about pure ethnicity. It's never been about pure ethnicity. That's why every time the covenant is reiterated in you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So he's away from the covenant community. He's serving and blessing the wrong house. He has a pagan identity. He has a pagan wife. He has pagans bowing their knee to him. He's wearing the robe of the pagan, not the robe of his father. Folks, please believe me when I say, this was never intended to be read as a positive occurrence. But it does get good. Next. So that was about the lamb. He's in the wrong lamb, right? There's a couple of other things here. Besides land, there's seed and there's covenant, right? Well, what does the next section say? First, we get a quick look at the calendar. 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 all the land of Egypt. This is very important. Because, you know, sometimes when we read the Bible, we lose track of time. He was 17 when he left. Now he's 30. Okay. It's been 13 years. It's going to be at least another seven before he sees anybody from his family. That's 20 years. Probably more accurately, 22 or 23 years. And so a 17 year old young man is about 40 years old. before he sees any of his family again. That is not to be lost on us. That's why that's dropped in there, by the way. We're getting a timetable here so that we understand. We know, for example, when he was in prison was another two years before he was remembered. This is stuff that's happening over a long period of time. This is a lifetime that's being shaped here. We have trouble for a week. And we think God has fallen off his throne. The story of Joseph reminds us, God does not work on your timetable. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. And just because it's taking long, doesn't mean that he's forgotten. Just because it's taking long, doesn't mean that he's not in control. He is completely and utterly in control. Amen. Sometimes I have to remind myself this. Sometimes I look and I think about my own circumstances and I just have this sort of, who do you think you are moment. And this is one of those texts in scripture that brings me to that place. And I've been praying about this for a week. I've been praying about this for a month. God, you haven't, you know, who do you think you are? Do you know how long Joseph was in Egypt? Are you serious right now? When were you a slave in Potiphar's house? When did you go to prison? When did you have to serve a pagan king? When did you have to spend 20, 22, 23 years away from any member of your family or anybody who even spoke your language? Who do you think you are? I don't know about you, but I need that sometimes. Because on the other side of the who do you think you are is this. Who do you think I am? You actually think I've forgotten you? You actually think you fell through the cracks? You actually think there's, you know, a renegade molecule anywhere in my universe? Because there's not. When you can't see His hand, trust His heart. We know who God is. This little note right here about time is one of those things that we often overlook. Please don't. Please don't. Here's where it gets interesting. During the seven plentiful years, again we're dealing with the seed, right? During the seven plentiful years, the earth produced abundantly and He gathered up all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt. Again, earth, land, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain or seed in great abundance. Now, watch this, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured. Have we heard that somewhere before? Genesis 32, 12. Go back to 32. Jacob has fled from Esau across the Jordan. But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. There it is. That's the reiteration of the covenant to Jacob about the promised seed. And it's almost the identical phraseology that's used in verse 49 in reference to what Joseph is doing in Egypt. So there's something about the seed that he's storing up. that has to do with the promised seed. I already told you on last night. He's storing up seed in Egypt so that the promised seed doesn't starve. There is absolutely a connection here. And so now all that's left is this. We see land, right? We know that Joseph is in the wrong land. We know he's serving the wrong house. There's a problem there with land. We see seed. There's a connection here with the seed. And we see that this seed is connected somehow between this physical seed and the spiritual seed. We're not quite sure how. There's one thing missing. Covenant. Where does that come in? In the naming of his sons. Two sons are born to Joseph. And there are three things about these sons that point to the covenant. And this is the first good news we get in chapter 41. Because again, I'm arguing that there's not good news in 41, other than the providence of God. Amen. That's always good news. The providence of God. He's still alive. He's still there. Amen. So we know good news is coming. And it's good news to know that good news is coming. But so far, what do we know? What do we know? We don't know about Joseph and God, right? I mean, we can assume, but we don't know until he has these two boys. Three things about this. Number one, he gives them Hebrew names. That's significant. That's significant. Almost 20 years in Egypt. He's an Egyptian now. He's been an Egyptian longer than he's been a Hebrew, as far as nationality goes, okay? He speaks Egyptian, his name is Egyptian, his wife is Egyptian, his boss is Egyptian, his job is Egyptian, his surroundings are Egyptian, everything about him is Egyptian. These sons are born and he gives them Hebrew names. That's huge. Why? He's still identifying with the covenant community. He's still identifying with his Hebrew heritage. This is important. And it's the first positive note that we get from Joseph. That he identifies with the people of God in spite of his surroundings. The names of our children are important. The names of our children are important. The naming of our children is an important covenantal opportunity. It's an opportunity to speak to them certain truth for their entire life, just through the name that we give them. These are significant and these are important. Secondly, the names that he gives. The first one's name is Manasseh, which means to forget. Because he said, God has made me to forget all my hardship and all my father's house. Now, does that mean I've forgotten my father? Absolutely not. That's why his boys have Hebrew names. But he's forgotten all of his hardship. What does that mean? It means that Joseph chose to define himself by the hope that he had in God rather than by his current circumstances. Some of us need a Manasseh moment. You want my interpretation of the name Manasseh? The name Manasseh means I let that stuff go. That's my interpretation of the name Manasseh. I let that stuff go. Joseph, your brothers hated you. Manasseh. Joseph, you gave your boys Hebrew names. I mean, here we are in Egypt, you gave your boys Hebrew names. I mean, those are not Egyptian names. Why would you want to identify with them? Those people put you in a hole. Manasseh, I'll let that stuff go. That doesn't define me. Why would you give those boys Hebrew names? The Hebrews rejected you. We Egyptians have embraced you. Manasseh, I'll let that stuff go. Why would you give them Hebrew names? You brought them the revelation of God and they rejected you for it. You brought us the revelation of God, we bowed the knee before you, Manasseh. I let that stuff go. Some of us need that. I meet Christians all the time who are defying themselves by their past circumstances as opposed to the reality of God's covenant, God's grace, and God's truth in their life. How long, O Christian, are you going to excuse your sin because of your past? How long, O Christian, are you going to say, yeah, I'm hot-tempered, but I'm hot-tempered because of my Irish blood or my Latin blood or my, you know, whatever. Isn't it interesting how every nationality, Italian, Irish, whatever, everybody's got some excuse for sinful outbursts. When you say that, what you are saying is the cross is not sufficient for your nasty attitude. Manasseh, you need to let that go. Well, I just have trust issues because of bad things that happened to me in my past. Can Christ not heal that? Must you as a believer continue to be defined by that as opposed to the grace of God that nailed that to the cross? Yeah, I realize that I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do in my home, but I never had a father. Manasseh! You may never have had an earthly father, but your heavenly father is a father to the fatherless. How long are you going to hold on to the excuse of what you didn't see when we have before us the very Word of God so that you can see everything that you need? Even if you did have an earthly father, he was a wretched example of a man. God is the only perfect Father. Manasseh, let that go. Stop being defined. by the things that have harmed and hurt and scarred you in your past, but cling to the cross, profess hope in Christ, and let that stuff go. Joseph did that. Do you realize what happened to him? And yet by the grace of God, he could do that. The second boy. Ephraim or Ephraim. That means fruitful. He says that because God has made him fruitful in the land of his oppression. Hold on. He has these sons in Egypt and he names this boy Ephraim because God has made him fruitful in the land of his oppression. Joseph saw the land of Egypt, not the promised land, as the land of his oppression. This is only possible when viewing his circumstances through the redemptive historic lens. Egypt is the land of his oppression. Why? Why? Because God made a promise to his father, Jacob, and to his grandfather, Isaac, and to his great-grandfather, Abraham, and it wasn't Egypt. Egypt is not the fulfillment of the covenantal promise. Therefore, no matter how much wealth he acquired and accumulated in Egypt, Egypt was always going to be the land of his oppression. That is why later on he would say, if I die here, don't you dare leave my bones. You take them back. The significance of this ties to what we saw yesterday. God makes a promise to the land. Does Abraham get the land? Nope. What does he get? A burial ground. A burial ground. There's the first fruits. There's the first fruits of the promise that God made. God is faithful. We got a burial ground, boys. It's ours. In front of witnesses. We own it now. And we're going to continue to be buried here. That's what it means to go lay with your fathers. To go to the family burial ground. That's all Jacob knows or Joseph knows. And so he says, don't bury me here. And when they come out in the Exodus, they bring his bones and they take them back to the promised land. Why? Because Joseph was not willing to trade earthly possessions, earthly wealth and earthly power for his covenantal promise. That's what his son's name meant. No matter how good it gets here, this is the land of your oppression. And it can be good. It can be wonderful. But don't ever forget that we are merely pilgrims passing through this barren land. Amen? We are seeking another city. We are seeking a heavenly city. Listen, I am proud and grateful to be a citizen of the United States of America. I've traveled the world. I've been to many, many countries. And as much as we complain about things here, we're not lining up to leave because there's nowhere else to go. Amen? this is as good as it gets and by the grace of God we live here and for now live here as free people free to worship God we have an incredible godly heritage which is why we're so free here and so free to worship God go read the Mayflower compact sometime don't let people tell you all this nonsense about who we are and us being a secular nation Go read what people wrote when they came to this land. And then you'll understand why the gospel has had freer reign here than just about anywhere else in the world. Praise God. People in the South complain all the time, and people in America complain all the time. We got all these people who have this outward religion, and they say, I would rather live among people who are just honest about being lost. No, you wouldn't. Be grateful for people who still have Christian residue on them. Preach the gospel to them, but be grateful because the society that's built on the foundation of that Christian residue is the reason that we continue to enjoy the freedoms and the blessings that we enjoy, and yet this is the land of our oppression. people literally dying to get here, and it's gonna burn. This is not the New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem will be somewhere around Texas, but this is not the New Jerusalem. And we have to teach our children this. We really do. We have to teach our children the concept of dual citizenship. I'm a dual citizen and my heavenly passport trumps this one all day every day and twice on Sundays. Amen? That's why he could say what he said. And again, all of this without knowing what we know. He doesn't even know yet why he's here. 20-some years he hasn't seen anybody in his family, and he has no reason to believe he ever will. And yet, without anything to hold onto, other than what he heard from his father and from his grandfather, and probably about his great-grandfather, He knows that he's part of that covenant community to whom God has promised something more than Egypt. And so he holds on. Regardless of what he sees, he holds on. This is faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. I know there are people under the sound of my voice who are dealing with pain, sorrow, guilt, hopelessness, disappointment, fear, and everything else. And hear me when I say to you that unless you have this covenantal hope, all you have is despair. It is only when we recognize that the maker of heaven and earth is our God and our Savior and our Redeemer. That we know that we can endure whatever it is that we're called upon to endure. And that we know that whatever it is, it's better than we deserve. And we know that whatever it is, it will only last a little while. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. How many of you know that's not talking about tomorrow when the sun comes up? It's coming. It's coming. So Christian, hurt. Mourn, but not like those who have no hope. Grieve, but not like those who don't know who holds tomorrow. And if you're here outside of Christ, may I plead with you to consider this reality. All of us hurt, all of us weep, all of us mourn, all of us have lost, all of us, every last one of us. But if you are here today apart from Christ, what do you hold on to in the midst of that? Do you lean to your own understanding? Do you lean to your own goodness? Do you lean to your own grasp of things? Do you lean on people around you who themselves can't explain your circumstances any better than you can? Do you lean on the hope that somehow things are going to get better because you're a good person and you deserve better? God, help us! You have offended a holy and righteous God The breath you just took, you stole from Him. I would say you borrowed it, but you don't intend to give it back. You live by God's mercy. You grieve by God's mercy. You hurt by God's mercy. And yet you shake your fists at God. Better to repent. Turn from your sin. Turn to Christ in your suffering. Recognize that Christ endured the cross, despising its shame. Recognize that He endured it not because of what He had done or what He owed to God, but because of what sinners owed to God and could not pay Him. Recognize that this is what this whole story is about. that God was preserving the promised seed so that Christ might come and bear the sins of His people, because that's our only hope. And if God, by His grace and through His providence, can see to it that the promised seed doesn't die in a famine, how much more will He see to it that Christ has the fullness of the reward for which He died? Consider that you might be here today just because of that. Turn from your hopelessness, from your helplessness, turn from your self-reliance, turn from your strength, embrace your weakness, and cling to the cross wherein is your only hope. That's where we find the peace that passes all understanding. This is where we can say, Manasseh, I let that stuff go. Why? Because, Efraim, even when it's good, this is no more than the land of my oppression. I'm waiting for something more. I'm not waiting idly. I'm serving. I'm believing. I'm proclaiming. I'm telling everybody I can tell. And yet, I'm waiting. Thank you for another day. Come Lord Jesus. There's the attitude of the believer. Hold on to Him, Christian. Flee to Him, non-Christian. Let's pray. Oh merciful God, our Father, how we need you. We live in a world that tells us we need a fairy tale with a happy ending, and yet that's not the way life works. Because we live in a world that is ruined by sin, men who don't live as they ought. And yet, by your grace, you continue to strive with us. Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you're with us. Thank you for reminding us today But even in our darkest days and hours and months and years and even decades, you neither slumber nor sleep. But you watch over your people and you fulfill your purpose in and through them. Grant by your grace that we might cling to this truth. Grant by your grace that we might be defined not by the hurt or disappointments of our past, but by the hope that we have in Christ. Grant by your grace that we might hold on to the things of this world with an open hand, recognizing first and foremost that everything that we have is a gift from you, and recognizing at the same time that it wasn't meant to last. Grant by your grace that we might live with an eternal perspective. Living in light of our heavenly home. Living in light of our covenant promise. And that that might cause us to live with urgency. That it might give us boldness to preach. That it might give us strength to endure. That it might give us patience to wait. For the ones under the sound of my voice who have not come to you through repentance of their sin and faith in Christ, would you grant that to them? Would you bring them to the end of themselves, open their eyes and cause them to see that they might flee to Christ, that they might flee from the destruction to come and cling to the cross? Lord, we thank You and we praise You and we rejoice in all that You have taught us. Grant by Your grace that it would not be in vain, that we might be changed by it, and that Christ might be glorified as a result. For it is indeed in His name that we pray and ask all these things. Amen.