WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.100 31 and at verse 38. We can read from verse 37. 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:11.140 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:13.519 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, 00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:17.859 Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God? 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:20.219 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:25.460 Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:32.020 You shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:37.560 Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you. 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:51.859 Well, how often do you find it in history that one individual has the whole world set around him in terms of its future? 00:00:51.859 --> 00:00:57.960 And that in a sense is what you find largely in the case of Joseph at this point in his life. 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:03.420 Because the whole world, at least the known world, the settled world of his day, 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:12.319 was really dependent on the decision that Pharaoh was going to take as he was advised here by Joseph in regard to his dreams. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:17.500 In other words, you find sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:25.819 Because who could have made up the kind of events that you find in the life of Joseph brought from prison to being president, 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:38.359 you might say, in one day, having suffered so much before that and having been tested by the immediately preceding events in the prison 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:44.219 and proving himself then later when he came to be set over the land of Egypt. 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:50.299 So what was the secret of Joseph's wisdom? 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:53.459 What was the secret of Joseph's lifestyle? 00:01:54.140 --> 00:01:59.560 What was the secret of the way that Joseph conducted himself in all the circumstances of his life? 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:07.180 Well, you can find that actually in verses that speak about how God was with him. 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:11.939 And you find that more than once throughout these passages dealing with Joseph. 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:15.659 You find chapter 39. 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:19.379 If you look back to chapter 39 and verse 2, 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:26.879 the Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:32.879 And you'll find the same thing in verse 21, the same chapter, the same emphasis there. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.500 The Lord was with Joseph. 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:39.740 This is him being put into the prison where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in the prison. 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:47.280 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:53.840 And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:02.319 And then the end of the chapter there, the keeper paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him. 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:05.280 That really essentially is the key to his life. 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:08.400 The Lord was with him in all these circumstances. 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:15.699 As things change day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year in the life of Joseph, this did not change. 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:16.759 This did not go away. 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:20.020 This was the thing that undergirded his life. 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:31.780 And when Pharaoh actually heard him interpret the theme, he actually said, can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God? 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:34.120 So often you find in the Bible, don't you? 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:36.480 People were not Christians, not even believers. 00:03:37.040 --> 00:03:40.140 And yet they often speak more than they actually know. 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:54.000 You find that in the New Testament as well in different places, especially during the trial and the arrest and trial of Jesus, where the likes of the high priest and others spoke in terms of the future. 00:03:54.139 --> 00:03:57.839 But they actually said more than they themselves were aware of. 00:03:58.679 --> 00:04:05.659 And here we find Pharaoh actually saying, can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God? 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:09.379 Now, it doesn't mean that Pharaoh himself was a believer in Joseph's God. 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:12.979 He would have believed in many different idols. 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:17.360 And of course, Pharaoh himself in Egypt was regarded as among the gods. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:22.219 He was a divine being as far as people of Egypt were concerned in their religion. 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:24.980 And yet here is Pharaoh saying, here is a man. 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:26.459 Can we find anyone like him? 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:27.680 And the answer, of course, is no. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:35.480 Oh, he's already tried his magicians, his own wise men, and they failed to help him with his predicament. 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:39.560 And now he finds this man, this prisoner, having been brought before him. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.360 And here he is telling him really what the future holds. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:55.259 It's God's presence with Joseph that makes the great difference between himself and the culture of the magicians of Egypt. 00:04:55.259 --> 00:05:00.480 And I want to see this just briefly tonight, because we have to be brief, as we said. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:08.480 First of all, there's an emphasis here that godliness in Joseph's life, and here godliness gives the honor to God. 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:10.279 God was with him. 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:18.360 But then from Joseph's side, as you look at it, his godliness, his godly life consistently gave the honor to God. 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:26.420 I might say that this verse and the surrounding verses really, and all of Joseph's life really, is an account of consistent godliness. 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:33.220 His life really, as you go through it, and we did some time ago, years ago, look at this in a Wednesday evening study. 00:05:34.180 --> 00:05:36.060 You remember that we did that. 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:43.819 But it's such a remarkable thing that you have real difficulty finding a fault in this man. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:54.100 And all the things that are revealed about him, it's very difficult to find anything there that you would find, that you would accuse him of in terms of wrongdoing. 00:05:54.100 --> 00:06:06.160 Somebody has said that if you want to try and find any fault in the life of Joseph, you're hard-pressed, unless you might say he was a bit too heavy-handed with his brothers. 00:06:07.140 --> 00:06:13.080 That's about all you could say about this man and his consistent godliness. 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.620 And that consistent godliness gives the honor to God. 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:20.140 Go back to 39 again from verse 20. 00:06:20.260 --> 00:06:21.220 There he is in the prison. 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:30.040 And despite the fact that he's in the prison, the Lord is with him, showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 00:06:30.400 --> 00:06:34.600 And obviously, there's only a very short summary of what went on in that prison. 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:38.040 But he put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:41.280 Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 00:06:41.820 --> 00:06:43.500 Yet he didn't lose his godliness. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:45.580 He didn't change from his godliness. 00:06:45.580 --> 00:06:47.260 The matter didn't change. 00:06:47.340 --> 00:06:50.240 Otherwise, God would not have been with him in the way he was. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:56.439 And there he is, faithful and holy, even in what led to this. 00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:01.740 Remember how, you know the story very well, how he actually ended up in the prison. 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:08.100 It was because he was faithful to God, as he had been a servant of Potiphar, this officer of Pharaoh. 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:11.480 And Potiphar's wife had made an attempt to seduce him, 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:16.860 to actually get him to conduct immoral sexual relations with her. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:21.860 And as he escaped from there, as he just fled from there, he left his garment behind. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:29.240 And she took that garment and made that falsely an accusation that this is what he had been trying to do. 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:33.800 And she had called out in panic and he had to leave, but he left his garment behind him. 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:35.560 Sheer lies. 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:44.960 And it does remind us that sometimes being faithful to God doesn't necessarily mean that the truth will always be to the fore at any one time. 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:50.300 It can be twisted by those who want to twist it into something of their own making. 00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:53.840 Well, that was what led to his imprisonment. 00:07:54.139 --> 00:08:03.180 His faithfulness to God led to him being taken and deposited in the prison with Pharaoh's other prisoners. 00:08:03.580 --> 00:08:09.060 And yet, it's no different for Joseph inside the prison than it was outside. 00:08:09.780 --> 00:08:10.920 He's not a different person. 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:13.120 He doesn't have a different view of life. 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:15.900 He doesn't have a different way of approaching life. 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:17.900 He doesn't have a different lifestyle. 00:08:17.899 --> 00:08:25.159 He doesn't actually have in his mind any other approach, but one which wants to follow and to be true to God. 00:08:25.579 --> 00:08:35.000 Because godliness, true godliness, and I'm saying this very conscious of the fact that I'm very short of that myself. 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:37.480 I'm sure most of us would say that. 00:08:37.699 --> 00:08:46.699 When you come across true godliness or the extensive consistent godliness, you'll find in the likes of Joseph, let's face it, there are not many of them around. 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:57.379 But when you come to look at this, this is a man who obviously, as a godly man, sought to gain from adversity. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.639 He sought to gain from adversity. 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:03.459 He didn't complain when he was thrown into prison. 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:05.319 He didn't find fault with God. 00:09:05.579 --> 00:09:12.720 He didn't ask himself questions that sought to denigrate God or the wisdom of God or the knowledge of God or the purpose of God. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:15.160 He just got on with being godly. 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:29.360 He just got on with being faithful to his God, witnessing to those that were in the prison, showing the wonderful capacity and ability that God had given him even to deal with his fellow human beings in the way he did. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.100 Of course, that's such a huge challenge for us to follow. 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:46.379 So, in the midst of all the changes and the temptations and all the agitations and the aggravations that you come across in life, the many assaults that you know from sin, from the world, from the devil, here is Joseph. 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:47.940 Here is Joseph in the prison. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.620 And he's exactly the same as he was outside. 00:09:50.620 --> 00:10:05.039 William Gurnall and his wonderful work, the Christians Armor, from Ephesians 6, has a statement there. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:06.139 It goes something like this. 00:10:06.539 --> 00:10:15.120 The devil is God's master swordsman sent to teach us how to handle our weapons. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.740 What a remarkable statement. 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:24.919 There is Gurnall, a man who suffered himself as a Puritan, a man who suffered for faithfulness to the gospel. 00:10:25.560 --> 00:10:26.720 And yet this is what he's saying. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:32.460 The devil's attacks as they are under the sovereign wisdom and purpose of God. 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:34.700 He is God's master swordsman. 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:36.539 He comes with his sword thrusts. 00:10:36.680 --> 00:10:38.019 We feel the sword thrusts. 00:10:38.139 --> 00:10:39.360 We feel the sharpness of them. 00:10:39.560 --> 00:10:45.500 But he's God's master swordsman with God's purpose, overriding his own purpose, the devil's own purpose. 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:56.700 He is God's master swordsman sent to help us, sent to enable us to know how to handle our weapons, our spiritual weapons. 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:01.299 See, if you didn't have that sort of opposition, how would you know how to use your faith? 00:11:02.059 --> 00:11:04.000 What need would you have of your faith? 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.039 Where would your hope be? 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:08.679 How would it be exercised or strengthened? 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:20.419 Where would your love for God be tested as it needs to be tested in order for you to remain faithful to him, in order for that love itself to grow the more it is tested? 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:23.839 That's what Gurnall meant. 00:11:24.319 --> 00:11:30.939 And, of course, you find that frequently throughout the Bible, no less so than in the book of Psalms. 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:45.100 Remember Psalm 84, a psalm that speaks about pilgrimage, going through a desert area, the Valley of Beka, which is usually understood as meaning a very dry, dusty area, a little water. 00:11:46.040 --> 00:11:51.300 But it says these pilgrims, as they go through the Valley of Beka, they make it a well. 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:54.180 They make it a well. 00:11:54.179 --> 00:12:00.239 They rise to the challenge of the adversity by looking to gain from the adversity. 00:12:00.839 --> 00:12:08.539 And as they seek God and as they seek to make the maximum of these difficult conditions, they are making it a well for themselves. 00:12:08.699 --> 00:12:15.919 That's to say they more in the spiritual, meaning that they actually gain because God comes to strengthen them. 00:12:16.379 --> 00:12:19.059 God comes to assuage their thirst spiritually. 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:49.039 God comes to assuage their thirst for themselves. 00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:55.819 For Christ's merits brought a blessing to the crosses of the sons of God. 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:01.299 What a wonderful statement that is with regard to the sufferings and the aggravations of God's people. 00:13:01.959 --> 00:13:07.779 They have been washed by the blood of Christ as much as our persons have. 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:11.819 And this really is what Joseph's life is all about. 00:13:12.019 --> 00:13:13.779 He doesn't change his tack. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:18.779 He doesn't change his view of life or of his God when he faces adversity. 00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:22.479 And as he comes out of prison, the same thing follows. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:23.739 There's the remarkable thing. 00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:25.179 You find Joseph in the prison. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:26.019 That's what he's like. 00:13:26.259 --> 00:13:27.619 You find him now out of prison. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.359 Chapter 41 here, verse 16. 00:13:30.819 --> 00:13:34.119 Here is Joseph out of prison coming to meet with Pharaoh. 00:13:34.719 --> 00:13:39.419 Joseph, Pharaoh said, I've heard that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:41.240 Joseph answered immediately. 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:43.000 He said, it is not in me. 00:13:43.699 --> 00:13:46.740 God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. 00:13:46.939 --> 00:13:50.860 See how immediately he turns the matter around to focus upon God. 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:56.059 Whereas some of us, most of us perhaps would say, well, yeah, God, okay. 00:13:56.319 --> 00:14:03.659 I might have that ability to interpret dreams and eventually turn the thing around to say that actually it's God that's behind us. 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:05.579 There's no such mumbling with Joseph. 00:14:05.699 --> 00:14:06.740 He's straight to the point. 00:14:06.839 --> 00:14:08.219 He said, no, it's not about me. 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:10.980 It's God who has actually done this. 00:14:11.579 --> 00:14:16.419 And it's God who will give the interpretation to Pharaoh a favorable answer. 00:14:17.319 --> 00:14:21.399 And he maintains that all the way through his response to Pharaoh. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:25.120 Look there in verses 25, 28, 32. 00:14:25.740 --> 00:14:27.000 The dreams of Pharaoh are one. 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:29.620 God has revealed this to Pharaoh. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:35.200 Verse 28, it is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he's about to do. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:37.679 Verse 32, exactly the same emphasis. 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:43.919 The doubling of Pharaoh's dream means the thing is fixed by God and God will shortly bring it about. 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:48.620 There he is speaking to a pagan king, the most powerful man in the world at the time. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:56.180 And all the way through his speaking to his conversation with Pharaoh, it's God, God, God. 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:57.180 God will do this. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:58.220 God has done this. 00:14:58.220 --> 00:14:59.560 God will do this. 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:00.879 God has yet to do this. 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:04.519 All the way through, it's God that's to the fore. 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:10.200 Because godliness, this godly man out of prison and in prison has the same emphasis. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:16.220 And you can actually contrast that so much with not just here, but also in the days of Moses, 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:20.560 the magicians of Egypt, the magicians of Egypt, the magicians of Egypt, the magicians of Egypt, 00:15:20.560 --> 00:15:26.879 the magicians of Egypt, who themselves were given the dark powers that paganism sometimes has, 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:34.820 to be able sometimes even to replicate miracles that God's people there, Moses and others, were able to do. 00:15:34.820 --> 00:15:42.040 But what a contrast to the magicians of Egypt you find in Joseph. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.460 There's nothing dark about it. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.640 There's nothing underhand about it. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.240 There's no magic about it. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.600 There's no magic at all about it. 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:59.920 There's nothing there other than dependence upon God, faithfulness to God, confidence in God, being true to God. 00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:08.040 That's how we are placed in the world as Christians, to be different to the culture of the world around us. 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:18.219 Indeed, to contradict that culture of the world around us and to show that our way of life, our philosophy in life, if you like, 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:23.199 our outlook in life, the way that we handle the problems of life, 00:16:23.819 --> 00:16:30.659 they don't at all, are not at all in the same category of handling them as the ways of the world. 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:34.099 God has rescued us from thinking in a worldly fashion. 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:44.920 And so Joseph is for us one of the great examples of the Bible of the contrast in being distinct in the world for God 00:16:44.920 --> 00:16:51.480 and showing that we live life on a very different plane to that of the world itself. 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:56.639 So in prison and out of prison, Joseph is the same. 00:16:57.379 --> 00:16:59.740 But yet what about promotion? 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:02.960 Is he going to change with promotion? 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.200 Is he going to change when Pharaoh actually says to him, 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:09.259 look, I'm going to place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:12.059 Only the throne will be greater than you. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:17.220 Everybody will do as you actually advise or command them to do. 00:17:17.900 --> 00:17:21.180 Only as regards the throne will I be greater to you. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:24.480 See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. 00:17:24.740 --> 00:17:27.160 So Pharaoh then took a signet ring from his hand. 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:30.700 He put it on Joseph's hand, clothed him as garments of fine linen, 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:34.640 put a gold chain about his neck, made him ride in his second chariot. 00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:35.940 There he is with his limousine. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.680 You would say today that's really a big limo that Pharaoh has put into Joseph's possession. 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:47.019 And he's given him all of these trappings of richness and trappings of greatness, 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:49.640 trappings of authority and all the rest of it. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.440 Is that going to change Joseph, do you think? 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:58.700 Well, you can read down through the passage and still see that he is true to God. 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:04.660 You see, when it came to Joseph actually being given a wife, 00:18:05.360 --> 00:18:11.980 some people have undoubtedly got a difficulty with the fact that Joseph was renamed by Pharaoh. 00:18:12.140 --> 00:18:14.160 This is for Pharaoh's own advantage. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.880 He gave him in marriage, Azanath, the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of On. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.560 So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:23.340 Now people find fault with him for that. 00:18:23.780 --> 00:18:27.400 Here he is marrying to all appearances, a pagan woman. 00:18:28.100 --> 00:18:32.020 How could he actually do this, knowing that God was not in favor of his people, 00:18:32.560 --> 00:18:34.360 marrying or intermarrying with pagans? 00:18:34.760 --> 00:18:36.920 Well, there was no option really for Joseph. 00:18:37.320 --> 00:18:41.780 If he wanted to, at that point, fulfill the will of God as he did, 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.880 and God had placed him in this situation deliberately, 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:48.120 this was the way that Joseph had to then conduct himself. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.580 In order to actually go through with the purpose that God had for him. 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:55.860 I know that that necessarily doesn't explain everything about it, 00:18:55.940 --> 00:19:03.180 but certainly it's not something that Joseph himself would ordinarily have chosen. 00:19:03.800 --> 00:19:10.280 Matthew Henry says, for example, that this is not an ordinary situation for this man of God. 00:19:10.800 --> 00:19:16.160 And he has to fall in with the purpose of God in this strict situation. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:20.700 Anyway, we're not going into that, but it's what follows that I'm really interested in. 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:24.740 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:29.800 Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of On, bore them to him. 00:19:30.620 --> 00:19:33.360 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:39.080 For he said, God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:41.919 The name of the second he called Ephraim. 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:46.039 God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. 00:19:46.139 --> 00:19:47.699 Now, that's really interesting and significant. 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:53.699 Here he is, and he's been given this pagan woman to marry, to have children with, 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:56.019 settle down with in the land of Egypt. 00:19:56.299 --> 00:19:57.740 And he has these two children. 00:19:57.899 --> 00:19:59.740 He has these two sons. 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:03.480 He's been given a pagan name himself by Pharaoh. 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:09.900 Doesn't mean that Joseph has necessarily willingly accepted that or repudiated his own Hebrew background. 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:11.220 Nothing of that. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:13.380 He still remains Joseph the way he was. 00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:18.980 And you can tell that when he came to name his children, he called them Hebrew names. 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:30.680 And not only Hebrew names, Hebrew names that meant something very specific as regards God, his God, Manasseh and Ephraim. 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:40.460 And that is so significant that promotion to honor and authority, second in command in Egypt, no change with Joseph. 00:20:41.019 --> 00:20:43.519 He's still a man of God. 00:20:43.860 --> 00:20:44.720 He's still a Hebrew. 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:49.680 He's still committed to God and covenant and faithfulness and obedience. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:21:01.960 That's what shows that in prison, out of prison, in promotion, Joseph remained the same person he was, the same outlook and everything else. 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:09.920 And, of course, that's something that God reminded the people of Israel of when they came into the promised land. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:15.120 Not that Joseph is mentioned specifically, but the same principle is there. 00:21:15.740 --> 00:21:21.200 And when you come to Deuteronomy 6, for example, and verses 10 to 12, you read as follows. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:51.180 It was God saying through Moses, 00:21:51.200 --> 00:22:03.940 And then later on in chapter 8, you find the same or similar, chapter 8, verse 11, where again the same reminder is given. 00:22:03.940 --> 00:22:14.799 Take care, lest you forget when you are full, lest you forget the Lord your God, by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:20.840 And then he speaks about when you're multiplied and your flocks and your silver and so on and so on. 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:22.319 And then he says, 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:29.619 Beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand has gained me this wealth. 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:41.819 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day. 00:22:41.819 --> 00:22:47.539 And there's a principle that follows through into the Christian life in every generation. 00:22:48.399 --> 00:22:57.359 Godliness sets out to honor God in adversity, out of adversity, in promotion, looking at it in Joseph. 00:22:57.740 --> 00:22:59.779 That's exactly what you find. 00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:16.099 But of course, then you could say that godliness also gets involved with people, because Joseph's life from this point on is very much involved with people, the people who came to him for advice, the people that benefit from his leadership and so on. 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:19.639 In other words, to be godly is to be different. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:29.000 It is to be opposite to what is in the world, but it's not to be isolated from people and isolated from interaction with them. 00:23:29.779 --> 00:23:34.079 That's the salt and light principle, again, that Jesus taught his disciples. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:35.519 You are the salt of the earth. 00:23:36.180 --> 00:23:37.519 You are the light of the world. 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:41.839 It has to actually be, in order to be effective, it has to be applied. 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:43.319 It has to shine. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:53.740 And that's why Pharaoh was able to say here, can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God? 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:55.019 Now we have to leave it there this evening. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:56.980 You can follow through yourselves. 00:23:56.980 --> 00:24:00.700 There's very practical points to follow on from that. 00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:02.279 You mustn't think.