This morning we turn once again to Genesis 41, Genesis 41, as we consider verses 41 through the end of the chapter, verse 57. For those of you who may be visiting with us this morning, when we entered Genesis 41, we began the chapter in which we would find that Joseph, it points to Joseph's change in fortune, we might say. One of the themes that we find with regard to the Joseph episodes already in chapter 39 very clearly is that God was with him. And he could always say, as we just have sung, that God is still for me. And in chapter 41, we began in the first number of verses noticing that God was with Joseph as he was remembered before Pharaoh. Last week we considered in the middle section of the chapter that God was with Joseph as he was representing the king, the king of heaven, before the king, Pharaoh, the king on this earth. And now once again we consider God with Joseph empowered in a heathen land. Before we read those verses together, Let me just read from John 11, verses 25 and 26. Jesus said to her, this is Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Genesis 41, beginning at verse 41. So we hear now God's Word. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second in command, and men shouted before him, Make way! Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, but without your word, No one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zephanath-Paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city, he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain like the sand of the sea. It was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household. The second son he named Ephraim and said, It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph and do what he tells you. When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the countries came to Egypt by grain from Joseph because the famine was severe in all the world. Beloved in Christ the Lord, did you hear those words? In verse 54 we read, there was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. We read those words and what is it that comes to mind? Maybe what comes to mind is that Joseph was successful. Maybe you think about the fact that his hard work paid off. Or maybe what you think about is that he proved to be wise and discerning. One thing is for sure, it didn't backfire on him. You know, when you go for a job interview, you're taught to be confident. You've got to sell yourself. You need to make the prospective employer know that you can do the work. And then if you get the job, you hope that it doesn't backfire. You hope it doesn't fail. Well, in many respects, all these things we might say are true of Joseph. He was successful. His hard work did pay off, and he proved to be wise and discerning. But that's not what we ought to think about when we hear those words. But we ought to think about the fact, we ought to be reminded that God's Word proved to be true. Once again, as the cupbearer had said to Pharaoh, as we read in verse 13, And things turned out exactly as He interpreted them to us. You see, when the famine hit, and it was indeed severe, as Joseph had interpreted before, when the famine would hit, there would be absolutely no memory of the abundance, of the years of plenty. It would be wiped out. When that famine hit, it was so severe, it wasn't only in Egypt, it was in all the surrounding lands, But in the whole land of Egypt, there was food. Not because Joseph was so wise and discerning, but because God was with Joseph. And because of God with Joseph, then through wisdom and discernment, Joseph was empowered in a heathen land. He was brought to power. Yet we know that he always remained God's servant. But this empowering is seen, first of all, in the exaltation of God's servant. He is exalted. Now, Joseph, he remained humble. Notice, after he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, he didn't negotiate with Pharaoh for a high position. He didn't look him in the eye and say, Well, you know, now you have a need. You have a great need, and I know how to fill that need. But it's going to cost you. He didn't negotiate with Pharaoh. Athletes negotiate based on their talent and their athletic ability. We sometimes negotiate for salary or benefits based on education, experience, and our ability. Joseph did not have to negotiate with Pharaoh because God exalted Joseph through Pharaoh even before the Word of the Lord came true. And what's interesting is that Joseph is made a naturalized citizen of a heathen nation. God exalts him outside of the land of promise, outside of the people of promise. Yet another demonstration of God's sovereignty. And as Joseph begins his new administration, his exaltation includes a new job, a new name, a new wife, a new life. And the details of his exaltation are clearly spelled out for us in the portion of Scripture we read. He's given Pharaoh's signet ring. Now, boys and girls, that was a very important piece of jewelry. That was Pharaoh's signature. Joseph could conduct business and stamp it with that ring signing the king's name. And therefore, whoever didn't obey Joseph really didn't obey. It wasn't him that they weren't obeying. It was Pharaoh the king they weren't obeying. He had the sign of the king's authority. He's dressed in fine linen robes. He's given the look of royalty. He is supposed to stand out from all the rest. He's given a gold chain to wear around his neck, which was the customary mark of royal favor. He had the favor of the king. And of course, the chariot. The chariot showed everyone that he was second in command behind Pharaoh. Pharaoh gives him that new name, Zaphonath-Paneah. Now, there are many meanings that are suggested for that name, and there's no agreement among what the meaning of that name is. But it seems that there's one thing that is in common, sort of in common at least, in some way, with all the different meanings given, and that is the idea of life, which indeed fits with Joseph. And he's given a new wife. Asenath, daughter of the priest of the Son God. One of the top priesthoods in Egypt. One of the top families in Egypt. I read that even Pharaoh might take a daughter from that family for his son. This wife was a seal on Joseph's promotion. And through that new name, through that wife, these Egyptian things, Joseph becomes a naturalized citizen. He becomes an Egyptian. But all these details, the ring, the robe, the gold chain, the chariot, the new name, the new wife, All of these things together point to one very important detail. The power that was given to Joseph by Pharaoh. He was in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Pharaoh said, Without your word, no one will lift hand or foot in all of Egypt. From humiliation and suffering, from the pit of human existence to exaltation and glory, the crown of physical life. Of course, we know that that points to our Lord Jesus Christ, His humiliation, the exaltation that Paul speaks of in Philippians 2. Paul says, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the name that is above every name, 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 humbled Himself to the very pit of hell, the torment of the punishment for your sins and mine, and therefore God exalted Him to the highest place. Every knee will bow before Him one day. Joseph's exaltation was a gracious gift. It was not earned. But our Lord's exaltation was earned. He earned the right to reign over all. But Joseph's exaltation, beloved, also points to the truth of all those redeemed by Christ through His humiliation. All those born again by the Holy Spirit. We have been exalted. We enjoy a new status, beloved. We have been exalted to become children of the Most High God. We have been exalted with a new name, with the name Christian, the very name that identifies us with the One before whom every knee should bow. We have been given new garments, the sin-stained garments removed and been freely given the white robes of the righteousness of Christ. We have been blessed with new authority When we speak the truth in love, beloved, we speak God's truth, His authority. We have been given a new desire to worship and serve God, to live for Jesus. And we have been given a new task. We are called to be servants of righteousness. We are called to be holy. Yet, in the midst of all of that exaltation that we have been given, that we enjoy as children of the Most High God, we must remember who we are. we must remember from where we have come that we are unprofitable servants. That's what we were called to this morning in the forum for self-examination. Joseph, you see, was exalted. Joseph was empowered, but he did not take it for granted. He did not credit the success to himself. He didn't say, look what I have done. He remembered that he was God's servant. And as God's servant, Joseph's exaltation and power was in the second place, practiced in faithfulness. We know Joseph always represented God. That was the habit of his heart, to represent God. He always pointed others to God. He always spoke of God to others. He enjoyed the blessing of God. It was the gracious hand of God that preserved him from sin and unbelief and despair in the pit of humiliation and the very same gracious hand of God that preserved him from pride and falling into heathenism and exaltation so that even in the palace, he represented God. He practiced faithfulness even in his exalted state. And he practiced that faithfulness, first of all, by getting to work. Now that may sound strange, but Joseph got to work. He didn't just interpret the dreams for Pharaoh. He believed it himself. He believed that God would do what he said that he was going to do, and therefore he got to work. He made preparations. He traveled throughout Egypt. He surveyed the situation. He took inventory of the assets at his disposal, the cities, the storage facilities, and he didn't waste the surplus grain. He didn't wait for year 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 of plenty to start collecting. He collected all that was possible. And the Bible says it was in abundance. It was huge quantities. Literally, handfuls. Now that doesn't sound very impressive, does it? Handfuls. We might be more impressed if it was trucks full. Or big storage bins full. Ships full, but hand fulls of grain. Think about it. When your hand is full, nothing more fits. Boys and girls, when you stick your hand in the candy jar and you're allowed to take as much as you want, you stretch your fingers out and you fit as much in as you can so you can't fit anything else in there. It was so abundant. It was beyond measure. he stopped keeping records. Joseph's faith in the Word of God was demonstrated in faithfully doing what he told Pharaoh should be done. But in his exaltation, he also exercised faithfulness, demonstrated faithfulness in that he never forsook God. When he became an Egyptian, he didn't forsake God. An Egyptian name, an Egyptian wife, a father-in-law who was the priest of an Egyptian god. He was immersed in the heathen practice and the worship of false gods. Yet, Joseph never embraced their pagan religion. He remained faithful. But he also exercised, demonstrated faithfulness in his exaltation and physical abundance. Joseph had, no doubt, had anything he wanted. All he had to do was name it. And it was his. The fact that he kept his eyes on God in adversity is remarkable. That he remained patient in adversity. But even more so, it's remarkable that he kept his eyes on God in prosperity. That he was thankful in prosperity. And let's be honest, beloved, it's easier. It's easier to look to God and to be a strong witness for God in tough times When we're at the bottom, when we're suffering, when we have nothing left. It's a whole lot easier to look to God than because we have nowhere else to turn. We can't look to power. We can't look to friends. We can't look to money. We might as well turn to God. But it's a whole lot more difficult. Not impossible, but it's a whole lot more difficult to look to God and to be a strong witness for Him in prosperity, in good times. Because the temptation is there to be so self-reliant. The late Dr. James Boyce, in commenting on this episode where Joseph says, when we had less, Americans went to church on Sunday and generally tried to practice what was taught there. Now we have money for a vacation home where we spend weekends or we take trips in our campers or go golfing at the church or at the club. Not at church. At the club. Now, his point being too, beloved, that there are many other activities that we put before God. That we put before His worship. That we put before church attendance. And in doing so, by our very actions, we put God number two. Number two. Boyce says we think that we do not need God. And he points out that the danger of prosperity is that it can ruin us. But Joseph looked to God. He found strength to triumph in adversity. And now having triumphed, he would continue to look to God and go from strength to strength. He never lost sight of God, but demonstrated his faithfulness also in the names of his sons. Now his sons have his sons' children. That was also a part of his exaltation, to be sure. It pointed to inheritance. It pointed to a future. But his faithfulness to God is also seen in the naming of his sons. Both names, Manasseh and Ephraim, express Joseph's thankfulness to God. With the name Manasseh, Joseph praises God as the one who preserves. With the name Ephraim, Joseph praises God as the one who blesses. Both of these confirm Joseph's faith that God was with him and that God blessed him. He was mindful of God's hand upon him. Even with all of the exaltation and the splendor that he enjoyed, Joseph considered himself to be a stranger, to be a pilgrim in Egypt. And the names of his sons demonstrated that his heart was in his father's home, With his father's God, trusting in the promises that God had given to his fathers. With Manasseh, he says, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household. Now, that's not what it sounds like. That does not mean that Joseph forgot all about Jacob, his father. It does not mean that he forgot all about his brothers and sisters and his true home in Canaan. We know that because later on when they did show up, His heart melted for them. He desired to know how His Father was doing. How can we forget our parents, our family? He did not forget about them in that way, but He forgot about His past sorrow. He forgot about the trouble that He had suffered. And with the name Manasseh, He credits the goodness of God. Again, He doesn't say, Look what I have done! I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. He didn't do like Nebuchadnezzar who walked around his palace and he looked out over his kingdom and he said, look what my hands have done. I've built all this. Joseph didn't do that. Joseph demonstrates through the name of Manasseh that he did not have a bitter spirit. He did not wallow in self-pity because of his suffering as we do often. So many of us do. That's true. We wallow in self-pity. We have a bitter spirit because somebody has wronged us. Because we've been hurt in some way. Because we're suffering in some way. But Joseph recognized that God had been good to him. That God had changed his situation for the better. Joseph knew that the healing of painful memories comes from looking at life from God's vantage point, from God's point of view, moving forward. Trust in God, who always has our best interests in mind. He forgot his troubles, but not God. Like the psalmist says in Psalm 103, Joseph did not forget God's benefits. He clearly remembered God's benefits. Unlike Israel later on, you remember Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt and they were in the wilderness and God provided manna day after day after day after day after day. What happened? They got sick of it. and they started thinking back to Egypt. They didn't think about the work. They didn't think about making bricks without straw. They thought about the food they were missing. They forgot about their deliverance. They longed for the bondage of Egypt. Paul in Philippians 3 speaks of forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Forgetting what is behind. Straining toward what is ahead. He's talking about all that he suffered for the sake of the Gospel. He clearly lists those in 2 Corinthians. Shipwrecks, left for dead, stone, beating, all these different things. And those things he forgot. He would not let anything get in the way of rejoicing in God's grace and working in God's service. With the name Ephraim, Joseph says, It is because God has made me fruitful, not in my new homeland, but in the land of my suffering. He does not consider Egypt home. Egypt is the land of affliction, the land of suffering. Yet God had made him forget his suffering and had made him doubly fruitful. That's what Ephraim means. Double fruitfulness. Bounty. His two sons, the seed of his body, And grain in the years of plenty, like the sand of the sea, that fruitfulness brought to life and reminded Joseph of God's blessing and promises to his fathers, especially Abraham, that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky as the sand on the seashore. Even in a heathen land, beloved, God is sovereign and his promises could be trusted. Joseph's experience in Egypt was a foretaste of both the affliction and the fruitfulness that Israel would also experience in Egypt as God grew Israel into a nation and a people for Himself. And Joseph's faithfulness in the midst of all of his splendor, all of his exaltation, is to be an example for us as well. Again, we have been exalted in Christ Jesus. Lifted on high in the heavenlies. We are children of God. We can call the Almighty God our Father. Our exaltation includes we have been redeemed, regenerated, justified, set apart, empowered by the Holy Spirit. But that exaltation does not mean that we can live like we want. It doesn't mean that we are able to determine what's best for us. It doesn't mean that we may practice business like the world practices business doesn't mean that we are allowed to participate in ungodly activities of the world. Some professing Christians wrongly and ignorantly say, that's okay because I'm forgiven anyway and when I knowingly sin, I'll just ask for forgiveness in the morning and everything will be alright. But those who enjoy exaltation in Christ Jesus are called to be faithful, which means to live like God wants and expects His children to live, to live as children of light. We are called to offer our bodies and lives as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. That is to be our desire. That is to be our delight. We are called, beloved, to lead the world in living a God-honoring life, which includes demonstrating our faith in our conversations, in our work habits, in recreation, in marriage, in our marriages. in our parenting, in remaining single, in being parent-honoring children in all of life. You see, we're not exalted, we're not saved because of our faithfulness. But our faithfulness to God flows from being exalted, from being delivered out of darkness and brought in His wonderful light. But Joseph's faithfulness was also demonstrated in providing food. In providing food in a time of severe famine. In providing temporal and temporary salvation. Again, the famine not only struck Egypt, but all the surrounding lands. And Pharaoh says to the people, go to Joseph and do what he tells you. Pharaoh recognized the faithfulness of Joseph. And Joseph opens the storehouses. He sells the grain. He did what he had been preparing all along to do. His goal all along was the salvation of the people. God used one descendant of the patriarchs to provide this temporal salvation to the world of that time. And again, He points to the only one to provide eternal salvation from sin and the famine of eternal hell, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. You may recall that in the wedding in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed His first miracle. His mother Mary said something to the servants, something similar to what Pharaoh said to the people. She said to the servants regarding Jesus, do whatever He tells you. You see, what Joseph was to the men of his day, this and more, Jesus, the great provider, would be to the world. Jesus Christ is the bread of eternal life. And those who feast on Him will live forever. And our call, beloved, is to go to Jesus. Do what He says. In John 11, we read, He who believes in Me, Jesus says, will live even though He dies. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. To those who are brought to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit, He says, believe in Me. Joseph prepared for disaster before it came. Our Lord Jesus Christ prepared for the disaster of judgment for you and me before it comes. Jesus Christ suffered the famine of God's rejection and thereby banished forever the spiritual famine for those who believe in Him. He faithfully fulfilled the work the Father gave Him to do and therefore in confidence we now look to Him and we are saved. In confidence, we are called to prepare for His return to judge the living and the dead because He has prepared us in advance to survive the disaster, to stand in the judgment. He is faithful to those He saves. He says, I will not lose even one. He is always a feast for those who feast on Him. He prepares the great eternal banquet feast for His people. As we prepare for the Lord's table, Beloved, we need to understand that for us, it is a time to examine the truth of ourselves, the truth of Jesus Christ, and the truth of what we have in Him. We know that this life is a life of plenty, of abundance for so many. But apart from Jesus Christ, that abundance will do nothing more than lead to the most severe and intolerable famine of all, a famine for the presence of God's love. But Jesus Christ has secured the everlasting love of God for those for whom He died, for those who turned to Him in repentance and faith. And that means that God's everlasting love is ours today. That means that we are exalted as His children already today. And that means that we are also called, like Joseph, already today to demonstrate faithfulness to the God who exalted us from slaves to sin to servants of righteousness. We are called to represent Him before the eyes of a watching world. The Egyptians enjoyed a taste of God's blessing through Joseph's faithfulness to God, his faithfulness demonstrated in providing food for their stomachs. In the same way, the people of the world today are to have a taste of God's blessing through the faithfulness of you and me, our faithfulness to the Savior who feeds us and satisfies us with Himself. and even as our Lord feeds and nourishes our faith in Him may He be pleased to use our faith to show a spiritually hungering and starving world to point them to the source of never-ending satisfaction Beloved, through faith in Jesus Christ and belonging to Him we are empowered in a heathen world we are empowered with the name Christian the name that reminds us to whom we belong the name that reminds us of God's goodness to us a name that reminds us that He has changed our situations for the better a name that reminds us of the fruitfulness that we enjoy that we are a part of the church the family of God, the bride of Christ we are empowered with the promised Holy Spirit who is a down payment of our eternal inheritance, our living hope we are empowered with the bread of life Himself who guarantees never-ending satisfaction and eternal life, whose goal from the beginning was your salvation and mine. In Christ, Christians are brought from humiliation and hopelessness to exaltation and the living hope of glory. In Christ, Christians are brought from being at home in a heathen world to becoming citizens of the kingdom of heaven in Christ the church is united and empowered in this world the army of God to represent Him and to point the world to Jesus the kingdoms of this world will come and go until the end but the kingdom of God and her citizens will be exalted with Christ her head forever Amen let's pray Father, we must confess that there are times that we spend our days indeed feeling sorry for ourselves, for all that we don't have in this life, or for all the troubles that come our way, or when our relationships are not what we would like them to be. We complain about so many things, O Lord. Father, help us to focus our eyes on what you have given to us in Christ Jesus, which we can express with this one beautiful word, exaltation. We are exalted with Christ even today already to look forward to the exaltation in glory forever and ever. We praise you, Father, for your precious gifts to us, earned for us by Christ Jesus. And we pray too, Lord, that you would continue to work in us, Sanctify us that we might be more faithful servants of the Most High God day by day. That we might confess, give testimony to, witness for, speak of your glory, your honor and praise every day of our lives. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name we pray. Amen.