In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth.
So does that mean that as Christians we're not supposed to set aside money for resources, for future needs, or for unexpected challenges? Today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg takes us to the Old Testament story of Joseph. a story that teaches otherwise we're in Genesis chapter 41.
So he tells him. There will be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. The famine will be so bad that the good years will be forgotten. His interpretation is wonderful. It's marked by absolute clarity.
It is in response to genuine necessity, as verse 24 makes clear. Pharaoh had said once and says it again: I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me. And it was the same time a matter of some urgency. The reason the dream, verse 32, was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon. How wonderful of God.
who when he said it once, has said it enough times, is prepared to say it a second time.
Okay. That's the wonderful God that we have here. Pharaoh, I gave you two dreams.
So that it was kind of like stereo effect.
So you got it in your right ear and you got it in your left ear, you got one for each eye, and you woke up in the morning and you said, woo! I knew you would. And I knew your magicians would be a bunch of dead ducks. And I knew that the cupbearer would finally wake up. And remember Joseph.
And I knew, of course, that Joseph would be quite willing to come out of the dungeon. And I knew that Joseph would clean himself up and give himself a shave and present himself ready for whatever you wanted. Nice and smart. And so he did. And the reason I did, Pharaoh, was because it is a matter of great urgency.
I have to prevent myself from applying this immediately at this point. Because It is such a wonderful picture of the dilemma that faces man in prospect of the spiritual famine that is before us. What do we need? We need a man like Joseph who will speak with absolute clarity. In response to genuine necessity.
Because it is an issue of great urgency. There's a sermon there that I'm not going to preach, but it's there. We can just acknowledge it as we go past, you know. Let's look then at the plan which Joseph suggested. The interpretation God provided, the plan Joseph suggested.
Verse thirty-three. And now let Pharaoh look for a wise and a discerning man. It is a matter of some wonder to me, at least perhaps to you. whether Pharaoh would have benefited from the interpretation without this little follow-on on Joseph's part. Do you think that if he had just simply had the dream explained to him, that there were going to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, that he would have acted in the way that then ensued?
It's difficult to know, it's hard to see. I sense That the application, as it were, of the prophetic word on the part of Joseph. was absolutely crucial to what was to happen. And so his plan is really straightforward.
Someone has said the world will always make way for a man or a woman who knows where they're going, and Joseph knew where he was going. Let me tell you, he said, first of all, find a person. Find a person. Look for a discerning and a wise man.
Now, why would it be important for the person to be discerning and wise? Because the circumstances were so grave. This wasn't a job for any Tom, Dick, and Harry. This had to be the right kind of person for the right kind of circumstance. They weren't looking just for a personality, you know.
There was going to have to be care given to the setting up of the plan, the collection and then the distribution. Those kind of situations are open to graft and to bribery and to elitism and to all kinds of corruption.
So let's make sure, says Joseph, that in looking for the person, he is wise and he is discerning. Find the person and then give him a position. Verse 33, the second half, put him in charge of the land of Egypt.
Well, that seems straightforward until you think about it for just a moment. He is speaking to the individual who is in charge of the land of Egypt. Twenty-four hours previously, this guy's been languishing in a jail. Not necessarily very well dressed, unshaven, chained up. And nobody.
Now he is face to face with a ruler of Egypt. He is interpreted under God's enabling the dream. And now he says, this is what I think you ought to do. I think you ought to look for a person, and secondly, put them in charge of the whole of Egypt.
Now Pharaoh could so readily have said, hey, I'm in charge of the whole of Egypt. And he was. But he recognized the wisdom in what this man was saying. And furthermore, he says, What I suggest you do is that you appoint commissioners, verse 34, over the land, subdivide it. and have them enforce a 20% tax during the good years.
And during that time, the grain, he says, should be stored and protected until it is. required.
Now this was really smart. Twenty percent tax. storing up the grain. Over a seven-year period. was sufficient.
And Joseph could have done the mathematics. was sufficient not simply To absorb the needs of seven years of famine in Egypt. But to bolster the Egyptian balance of payments during that time by being able to sell to surrounding countries.
So, Joseph is not about to put them in a position where they manage to eke out an existence. He's about to show them how they can have seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of the most ravenous famine, and during that time, feed everybody in Egypt and sell stuff to surrounding nations so that they won't die as well. And he was very clear about his purpose.
So that at the end of verse 36, the country may not be ruined by famine.
So Find a man. Give them a position. Implementing this plan And here's the purpose. In an exercise club, Ten days ago. behind the water.
Cooler. I found a little card. that said making goals for physical fitness. And it had on it the word smart. which they had then used As And a cross stick.
And I thought you might like these. I just made a note of it because I thought it was good, and it is good. It fits Joseph, and it may fit you. You make in goals for yourself, your family, your church, your business, whatever else, make sure they're smart goals. S.
Specific. Joseph was absolutely specific about what needed to happen, about the person, about the position, and about the breakdown of the tanks. N Measurable. 20% would be measured. against the hundred percent.
A action-oriented. It involved setting people to activity. They began to enter into these events. They didn't just sit around and talk about it. Realistic.
Joseph understood that these things were doable. They weren't pie-in-the-sky things. They weren't silly ideas. And T They were all worked out within a time frame. And the time frame was a very good thing.
was to be these seven years. Joseph stands out to us in Scripture for so many different reasons, but he is a foreshadowing of Nehemiah who comes later, who also was a man with smart goals.
So we notice actually then that Joseph's goal was smart. Also, we notice that in the plan that he suggests, he is proceeding on the basis of principle. And you'll notice that the principle is this. That he recognized that Pharaoh, in his position of kingship over Egypt, had a responsibility to use his power for the welfare of the people. In other words, I think we can say safely that Joseph believed In one respect, in the welfare state.
Now that may get some of you a little on the edge of your seat. Just think it through with me for a moment or two. What are you saying here is this? If we leave it up to the individuals, During a time of prosperity, To save, to tax themselves at the rate of 20% of their income. There's not one in a hundred people who's going to do it.
In fact, it may not be one in a thousand. And so if we leave the issue to a sort of laissez-faire market approach. whereby people can do whatever they want to do. Then a certain group By cunning, endeavor, ingenuity, graft, elitism. Old money We'll make it.
And another group as a result of whatever. They will be the first ones In the grave. And since the state has a responsibility to care for the welfare of its people, young and old, rich and poor, smart and silly. We're going to do this, he says. Twenty percent.
And I want to say in passing to you, and I never make really a Political statements at all. But I want to tell you this. There is no political system. on the face of God's earth. That is uniquely Christian.
There is no political system contrived by man that we can say, now here is the biblical system. Forrest John Stuart said, in the seventies. Under communism. Man exploits his fellow man. Whereas Under capitalism.
The reverse. It's true. And some of us in our well-healed Relative affluence. would do well to spend time. In environments where our exhortations to pick yourself up.
And get on. Ring hollow. in the ears of those Who would love to? But there is a wonderful balance here, you will note in verse 56. When the famine had spread over the whole country, for which Joseph By his wisdom it made provision.
Joseph opened the storehouses.
Now notice the verb. And sold grain. to the Egyptians. Ah, now you see. Here is a wonderful combination.
You're not smart enough to do it for yourself. Let me do it for you. But just in case you think you're going to come at the end of year seven and get a handout, let me tell you how it's going to be. You're going to buy it. The scriptures are marvelous.
They're wonderful if we would only read them. The plan unfolds.
Well, says somebody, do the words of Jesus, where he warns against laying up treasure on earth, shouldn't they somehow or another be set against that? Absolutely not. Because Jesus, when he warns about laying treasure on earth, is not prohibiting people from saving during a time of prosperity so that they might be able to live during a time of scarcity. He is warning against a preoccupation with stuff which refuses to acknowledge that there is eternity for which to prepare. And how wonderful of God to give the seven years of plenty before he gave the seven years of scarcity.
Now, if you find yourself this morning applauding Joseph for the wisdom of his plan and applauding Pharaoh for being prepared to implement it, as we'll see next time. Because we recognize the natural need of these things and of how it was so vitally important to make preparation in this way. Then I stand with you. And I stand with you also to face the question. whether we are prepared and preparing for other famines that may yet await us.
For if they prepared so straightforwardly for a famine in the realm of physical provision. Would we not also make the right kind of preparation? For that which may yet await us? The psalmist says in 90 Teach us to number our days aright that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. That's the 12th verse of Psalm 90.
As you Young person, make your journey through life. Are you preparing? Are you preparing for the future? No, you see, I've got all the time in the world to prepare for the future. It's just because you're getting old, Pastor, that now you're starting to worry about these things.
I've noticed it. You're mentioning it time and again. But no, no, I have all the time in the world. No, you don't. No, you absolutely don't.
Do you? And do your peers and do your parents, do we realize? What a benefit it is. To sit under? The instruction of the Word of God?
Irrespective of who teaches it. Do you realize what a wonder it is to have a Sunday school teacher who loves you and cares for you and will open the Bible to you and nurture you through your days? Are you memorizing any of it? Have you memorized anything? Probably not.
Because you take these silly tests. with a 2B pencil filling in circles the size of a pin dot. They require you to know just about nothing. And once you've finished the element in which you are studying, it doesn't matter if you ever see it again in your life or ever hear from it again in your life, because it's gone. Do you realize how quickly the days of famine may come in spiritual terms?
You say, well, you pastor, I'm waiting, you see till I get through, I'm going to college, I'm getting the thing, the bachelor's, the master's degree, then I'm really going to buckle down to it. Don't be so sure. You buckle down now, young person. You get yourself a New Testament, keep it with you every day. Keep it with you in your back pocket, in your purse, front pocket, anywhere you go.
Keep your New Testament with you. Everywhere I went as a kid, I went, after the age of about 16, I went with a tennis ball and a New Testament. Not because I played tennis, but because I played soccer. My mother sent me for shopping. I kicked the ball up the street against the wall, all the way there and all the way back.
Tennis ball. I figured if I could kick a tennis ball well, I'd be able to kick a regular-sized soccer ball well. And I kept my New Testament. And I don't say that to any credit myself because I was a scurrilous, rebellious. jerky teenager just as you would expect.
But somehow God in His providence brought me through all of that chaos and all of that anguish and all of that pain and all of that stuff and I wasn't smart enough to realize that those things in those apparently inconsequential days were the things that would make it possible for me to be 43 and 44 years of age. Are you preparing? There's a famine in the land. Don't tell me you can go anywhere and get biblical exposition. People write to us from all over the country.
Could you send us to a church? Could you find a church for us? We don't know where to go. We don't know what to do. They got 45 minutes of singing, 10 minutes of sermon.
The guy never opens the Bible, tells stories about dogs being trapped on the railway, and we don't learn the Bible and we don't know what in the world is happening to us. Please help us, would you? There is a famine in the land. And there is. As young man after young man after young man buys the idea that what you do is you find out what the consumers want, then you tell them what they want, and as long as you give them what they want, they'll come back in droves.
I can't do it. I've got to tell you what you need, even though you don't know what you want. And you come back, that's fine. You don't come back, I commit you into God's care. Right?
That's the deal. preparing for the famine. Strength, using our strength now.
Well, when I get retired, I'm gonna really kick in for the kingdom. You might never be retired. If you and I are going to applaud the preparation for seven years of physical famine about food and chicken and beans and vegetables. Then loved ones, we've got to face the challenge in our own lives to be prepared for whatever the days will come and bring. We cannot always believe that it will be as today.
We cannot always assume that we will have what we have. Therefore we must lay out in time. The opportunities. You're going to spend your money once you get it up, once it gets 10% and multiplies and does all those things. Hey, you may be dead and someone else will be disbursing your estate and they won't be smart enough or care enough to give the money in the way that you want it given.
You see. Joseph becomes the focus of attention. when the famine hits, as we'll see next time. And all the people in verse 55 begin to feel the famine. The people cried to Pharaoh for food, and Pharaoh told the Egyptians, go to Joseph.
And do what he tells you. Go to Joseph and do what he tells you. Does that. Does that start your Start your brain going somewhere you're just not kind of sure of where. You know, like...
That's right. Because he foreshadows the one to whom we go facing the great spiritual famine on our lives. Go to Jesus. and do what he tells you. That is the answer to the famine.
That was the answer to the famine in Egypt. And that is the answer to the famine. It says Jesus, I am the bread of life. He who eats of me will never hunger. On the great day of the feast, he cries out to the people, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
Go then. Go then. to Jesus. And do. What he tells you.
Well, you say, well, I'm I'm seriously considering it, and I think I'll be going there.
sometime in the future. I want to tell you. That that is exactly What happened in Matthew 25? in the story of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. Because all of them were waiting for the bridegroom.
All of them had lamps. All of them trimmed their lamps. but only five of them gathered up enough oil to see them through the time when the bridegroom would come. And at midnight, the cry rang out: Here's the bridegroom come out to meet him. And then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.
And suddenly in that moment it dawned on the foolish ones who said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. Mm-mm, they replied, There may not be enough for both of us in you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. And you can imagine these people chasing through the streets, shouting to one another, I think there's a place open here. Oh, I think there's maybe somewhere there.
And the screams as it became more and more apparent. And finally, when they managed to muster up what they had, Which was nothing that they could supplement because nowhere could be found. While they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. I can't press it on you enough, loved ones. That I am a dying man speaking to dying men and women.
And there is no guarantee of another day. to get to the source of supply. Do not be as the fools. And it says, the virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. And later the others also came.
Sir, sir, they said, open the door for us. But he replied, I tell you the truth. I do not know you. Therefore keep watch because you do not know the day nor the hour.
So don't see the story of Joseph as a smart guy who dreamt up a real secure plan for dealing with a real problem in the Egyptian context thousands of years ago. It is historically so and must be interpreted as such, but it points us on to one of whom he is the foreshadowing, who in this moment in time. Says to us You come to me with your famine. You come to me with your emptiness. You come to me.
And I We'll give you a rest. Have you ever done that? Mm-hmm. You're listening to Bible teacher Alice Derbegg on Truth for Life. If you still have questions about the gospel or Jesus' invitation to come to him, you can find out more on our website.
Go to truthforlife.org slash learn more. You know, our mission at Truth for Life is to tell everyone about Jesus, and we'd love it if you made this your personal mission in 2026 as well. One easy way to share the gospel with people you meet each day. to give them a copy of a a short tract that explains the gospel. This is a 12-page tract drawn from Alistair's teaching that explains the gospel message simply and clearly and encourages readers to turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.
These tracts are just 20 cents each. You can buy a bundle of five for a dollar or a pack of twenty-five for five dollars in our online store at truthforlife.org slash tract. I'm Bob Lapine. We have enjoyed studying the Bible with you today. Most of us like a good rags to riches story.
What if that was your story? Would you be able to keep your pride in check? Join us tomorrow to see how Joseph managed. The Bible teaching of Alaska Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. where the Learning is for Living.
