Preached August 29, 1993, morning service First Baptist Church, Garrett, Indiana
If you have your Bibles please turn to Genesis 37:19 as we continue are sermon series Great Men of the Bible today with Joseph: Dreams-Dungeons- Diadems. The world loves a dreamer and the greatest story in the Old Testament centers around the greatest dreamer in the Old Testament, Joseph.
The story of Joseph will be the epic of the ages. The story of Joseph has all the elements of a blockbuster novel. Love and hate and ambition and greed. Dreams and sorrow, lust and temptation, revenge, suffering, sin, conquest. Every element of the master story is there. The world loves Joseph because he suffered greatly and he conquered impossible odds. He was a great dreamer and was a great sufferer and a great ruler.
He is also a type of Christ. Listen closely. In the Old Testament there is something called types and shadows. It is a picture of what is coming later. And there is a revelation of truth that is always great and rich in the unsearchable riches of God. Joseph is a type of Christ in as much as Joseph was the first born son of Rebecca and his father's beloved son.
Jesus was the first born of Mary and at His baptism His Father said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Joseph had revelation knowledge, that with absolute perfection predicted the future of Egypt. Jesus with revelation knowledge with absolute perfection predicted the future of the nations of the world in Matthew 24. Joseph was sent by his father to visit his brothers who were in the wilderness and his own flesh and blood rejected him violently.
Jesus Christ was sent from the balconies of heaven to earth by His Father. The Bible says, "He came unto His own and His own received Him not." Joseph rose from the dungeons to diadems in one day. And he became 2nd in command to mighty pharaoh. The mightiest man on the face of the earth and pharaoh said in Genesis 41:43, "Every knee in Egypt shall bow to you." Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory rose from the dungeon of death and He was exalted to sit at the right hand of God the Father, who has all power and majesty of all the earth. And God the Father has decreed in Phil. 2:10 "Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that you are the Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Follow this more deeply. There is prophetic symbolism here that absolutely cannot be missed. This is something that plunges into the unsearchable riches of God. Joseph went into Egypt and he became an Egyptian. He spoke a foreign tongue. He married a foreign wife, a Gentile wife, and when his brothers were driven by the whip of the plague and starvation in search of food, they were brought into the presence of Joseph and even thou he was their brother, they did not know him.
After being rejected Jesus Christ has been exalted to the throne of God the Father, He has chosen a Gentile bride, which is the church. A people who were no people have become a mighty nation and all the blessings of Abraham have been poured out on us and His own people, the Jewish people, do not know Him.
Genesis 37:19, read with me please (read)
Lord Jesus, let us grasp from the Word of God today, the power of God's dream. In Jesus' name we pray. And all of God's children said, Praise the Lord.
Let's talk first about the dream. The first dream that Joseph had were sheaves, representing his brothers bowing down to him. They were less then happy with his dream. In another dream, the son and the moon and 11 stars, representing the 11 brothers of Joseph bowing before him. His brothers were furious with this young trit and his high powered sport coat, having all these supernatural dreams. If you think people are going to be excited about your spiritual dream, you need to talk to Joseph.
Let me tell you that dreams are necessary for a successful life. Dreams are the golden ladder by which we climb into heavenly places. Dreams are the mountain peaks from which we see our destiny from afar. Dreams are the lanterns by which we light our path ways when we are walking thru impossible valleys. Dreams are the inner flame that drives us, that propel us thru the darkest night of our lives.
Your dreams are a 2 edged sword by which you slay the serpents that attack you. The man or woman without a dream is a dead person. Joseph brothers saw him coming from afar and they said, "behold, the dreamer cometh." Has anyone said that to you lately. I hope they have, because many of you have surrendered your dreams.
You have surrendered it to the cynic, to the agnostic. You have surrendered it to the spirit of this age, but I'm challenging you today in this message, to pick up your dreams and go back to the shattered ashes of yesterday and dream a new dream, because God is a God of impossibilities and nothing is impossible for those who are called according to the purposes of the Lord.
Edison dreamed and the night disappeared. If Edison hadn't invented the light bulb, we still be watching television in the dark.
Beethoven dreamed and the world's greatest symphonies were born. When James Watts crude steam engine worked for the very first time, he shouted to the top of his lungs at his friends, "Today, you see it with your eyes but years ago I saw it in the theater of my mind, in my dreams. Abraham Lincoln had a dream that all men could be created equal. Standing on the docks in New Orleans he saw a black family sold to 3 different plantations and split up. And a fire was born in his belly, that he simply would not surrender until he had done something about it.
He endured 10 political defeats and then the fire of that dream drove him to run one more time for the highest office in the land. And on his 11 try, he was elected as the president of the United States and signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation liberating people of color everywhere.
Tomorrow you and I are going to walk the streets of heaven because of a dream. Dream that God the Father had in the Genesis of time, that all men could be created equally and that they could become sons and daughters of the living God. The Bible says, "to as many as believe, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." Because of Calvary, I am free from the penalty of sin. Because of Calvary, I am free from the guilt of the past. Because of Calvary, I am free from the powers and principalities of darkness.
Because of Calvary I am free from the fear of tomorrow. Because of Calvary I am free from the fear of death, hell and the grave. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
But notice the deception of dreams. How many of you know that all of your dreams cannot be trusted? How many of you know that your dream lover can become your nightmare? Dreams are not solid things. Often the picture in the mind does not correspond to reality. And it is important that you have a firm grasp on reality. It is important that you have a firm definition of reality.
The world is divided into 2 groups, dreamers and doers. Which are you. Dreaming without doing always brings deception. Inspiration must be backed by perspiration. It doesn't hurt to dream provided you get up and hustle when the alarm clock goes off. No dream will work, until you do.
Dreams often lead to dungeons. Dreams invite the attack of the world. If you think you are going to share your dream and all the world is going to stand and applaud you, you are living an illusion. Dreams will bring you rejection, scorn, hatred, jealousy, animosity.
Dull minds struggling to stay up with yesterday cannot see into the future and they resent you trying to change their dull stagnant life. If the world can it will strip a man of his dreams. In most cases the dreamer surrenders. Under the stress of the attack the dream is abandoned, it is forsaken and he feels betrayed.
Joseph was faithful to his dream. Many of you have given up your dream. His brothers said, "Behold, the dreamer cometh." Out of their own mouth, they said, the boy still has the dream. And so they got rid of him. And he eventually ended up in the house of Potiphar and his wife. And she lusted after Joseph but he ran.
Potiphar's wife. Beautiful. A feminist no doubt. A member of NOW. When Potiphar comes home she points her long plastic fingernail in the face of Joseph and said, "He did it baby." Call the ACLU, sexual harassment, plain and simple. There is no greater tragedy that those who have yielded to just one temptation. Who have been disqualified from attaining the dream of their life. It only takes one affair to destroy your marriage. Ask millions of Americans. But Joseph withstood the test.
What does it cost to say no. Plenty. When someone ask you to do something that you no is wrong, you say no. Saying no will cost you in the short term. It sent Joseph to jail. In jail that night Satan came to Joseph and said, "See what happens to those who tell the truth. See what happens to people who keep rules. Where's you dream now, hot shot. All you would have had to do was play ball and go along with the beautiful woman and you could still be right where you were, everything going your way, but now you are in jail."
It was dark and when it is very dark, God's stars shine. And Joseph was a star. In the hell of that prison he determined that he was going to be the most helpful, the most cheerful person in that jail and if he couldn't have his own dream, he was going to interpret the dreams of other people.
Dreams lead to dungeons and dungeons to diadems. When Pharaoh could not interpret his dream and light came on in the mind of the chief butler, who had been in prison with Joseph and had had his dreams interpreted by Joseph. He said, "Pharaoh there's a prisoner in your prison camp that can interpret dreams. The sent the royal chariot for Joseph. He was taken to the palace. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream and he was given the signet ring. He was given the robe of a royal prime minister. The gold chain of Egypt was hung around his neck.
From dungeons to diadems in one day. Listen to this. He did not become prime minister because he got the ring, he became the prime minister because he was faithful in the dungeon. It's in the dungeon where your real character comes out. It is in the dark when you are going thru the fiery trial, that what you really are comes out.
I say this in closing. Joseph's final dream, was, "Bury me not in Egypt." Say that with me. "Bury me not in Egypt." You and I are in Egypt. This world is not our home. Our dream should be, "Bury me not in Egypt." Because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has said, "I go to prepare a place for you, ... where I am you may be also." Very soon we will be done with troubles and trials. There is going to be a meeting in the air.
Soon and very soon we are going to see the King in all of His glory. And the anthem of my soul is "bury me not in Egypt." This world is not my home. "Bury me not in Egypt." Because God the Father has prepared a Promised Land, where there is no death and there is no crying. Tear drops will not stain the streets of THAT city. It is a city where the Lamb is the Light. It is a city of rest and reunion. Soon and very soon the angel of the Lord will pass thru the land and he will sound the trumpet and the dead and the living shall go to the Promised Land that God has provided. I hope you're ready -- hold to the hand of God -- hold to your dream -- nothing is impossible for those who believe. You are the children of God, hold to that dream. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon to carry us to Beulah land. Praise Him.
Can we stand. Heads bowed while the organist is playing. How many of you in this room can say, Pastor, my dream has been crushed and I have surrendered my dream. My life has no direction, I'm simply going thru the motions. And I'm asking today that the Lord cause that dream to be reborn in my soul. Can I see your hands right where you are. Raise it high. God bless you.
How many of you here can say, Preacher, I have dreamed without doing. I have dreamed a dream, but I have not put perspiration and inspiration together, but I'm going to do that from this day forward. Let me see your hand right where you are. God bless you.
How many of you in this room can say, Preacher, as Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, so have I been betrayed by the dearest on earth to me. And today I need for the healing hands of Jesus to wrap around me and let the dream be reborn and the passion of God's purpose be re-ignited on the altar of my soul. Can I see your hand, right where you are. Raise them high, please. God bless.
How many of you here can say, Preacher, I have fallen into temptation. When invited to do sin, I have sinned. And the cancer of sin is on my soul. And I know that if I should die before I got out of this building, I'm not ready to meet the Lord. And I'm asking you to pray with me this morning, that Jesus Christ will forgive me of my sin and I'll be counted worthy to be a part of that grand body that goes to the Promised Land of God. Can I see your hand right where you are. God Bless.
We are going to sing "There's Room at the Cross for you" (#645) Chorus only. On the first word, EVERY one of you who raise your hand, for anyone of those appeals, I want you to come. Stand right here, we are going to have a prayer and this is going to be the best day of the rest of your life. Are you ready?
(sing)
No greater decision will you ever make than to serve the Lord with all of your heart--truly, it is the only this that can satisfy you. I have traveled all over and I have preached the Gospel, to all sorts of people, and I can assure you that the only people really happy in life and living are those who have surrendered to Jesus. Your immortal. Nothing will satisfy you until you totally surrender to the purpose of God.
Some of you are in this room and you are struggling with that. You hear the call. The call of the wild to do the ungodly things and there is something in you that wants to do it. But there is also something in you that says, "If you do, you'll miss the dream, that God has for you." We are going to sing it one last time. And I'm asking you to come and surrender to Jesus Christ. Eternal life and the hope of glory hangs on this decision. Your soul hangs in the balance. I can't make that any more clear.
(sing)
Pray this prayer with me please. Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins, cleanse me from all unrighteousness, Lord Jesus, let Your dream, be born in my soul, and give me the strength, and the anointing, to rise above rejection, to rise above betrayal, and to reach for God's destiny, and be all I can be, for the glory of Jesus Christ, In His name, I pray and ask it, Amen Give the Lord a praise.
Thank you Lord for Saving My soul, thank you Lord for making me whole-Your salvation so rich and free
