Do not interpretations belong to God (Quality: Good)

[0:00] For I venture to read the word that I trust the Lord has given me for this evening, I would once more read the morning text, which was found in the 34th chapter of the book of Job, and the 32nd verse, that which I see not, teach thou me.

[0:30] If I have done iniquity, I will do no more. Now this evening, I would seek the Lord's help to direct your thoughts to the book of Genesis, the 40th chapter, reading a clause in the 8th verse.

[0:59] The book of Genesis, chapter 40, reading a clause in verse 8. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God.

[1:21] And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God.

[1:36] If we are helped by the Holy Spirit to consider once more the text this morning, that which I see not, teach thou me.

[1:55] And indeed, I must just turn back and read it again. We might have it in our thoughts.

[2:05] Here we have it in our thoughts. Here we have it in our thoughts. Here we have it in our thoughts. If I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

[2:21] Here we have the exercise of those who are made aware that only God can teach them.

[2:31] Only God can rightly convince them of their sins. And how we do especially need the Holy Spirit to graciously convince us of our secret sins.

[2:51] For if there is life in our souls, we shall certainly know that we have them. We shall know that we have secrets in.

[3:07] The rage of our poor hearts in secret. And all the evil imaginations and the wickedness that goes on.

[3:21] William Coper, in another of his hymns, says this, Concerning the monsters within our poor hearts, I know them, and I hate their dead, Am weary of the bustling crowd, But while their voice is heard within, I cannot serve thee as I would.

[3:46] And so as we came to a close of this morning's service, We mentioned how David in Psalm 19 was brought to this, Cleanse thou me from secret faults.

[4:02] And if any of us, and I speak to my own heart first here, But if any of us have sins which as yet have not been revealed to us, Oh may the Lord reveal them.

[4:18] May the Lord show to us exactly where we do stand in his most holy sight. We mentioned too, in closing, How that Moses, God's servant, Was also brought to the same place, Where he says, Thou hast set our secret sins In the light of thy countenance, As in the light of God's countenance.

[4:50] Now here this evening we have another dear man of God, Made so by the grace of God, And yet brought so feelingly to acknowledge and to own here, Do not interpretations belong to God, That which I see not, teach thou me.

[5:20] We know this, That Joseph was not sinless, He was given grace to live very near the Lord, We have Joseph's life recorded, We have Daniel's life recorded, And both, And Moses too, And others, And yet as we may just think, Of Joseph, Of Moses, And, And of Daniel too, Of course we have in the record of scripture, What the Lord has seen fit, To leave for us, But I feel we could rightly say, That each one of them live very near their Lord, And they were very favoured men, And the Lord used them, In very striking, And wonderful ways,

[6:23] And they were certainly taught, The plague of their own heart, Well the Lord help us now, In our meditation upon his word, And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God, Again I just mention this, The Lord knowing our hearts, And the Lord knowing all that is in our life, And if indeed we have things in our lives, That we cannot, In another way, If we have things that we cannot as yet understand, That which I see not, Teach thou me, And until the Lord grants, A gracious and divine interpretation, We cannot rightly understand our life, And our path,

[7:23] It was so with Joseph, And yet we come at once to this, And we hope presently to sing, That hymn that I am sure the Lord has so often used, And yet let us not forget, Dear William Cowper, As he came into such places, That he would have taken his own life, And yet the Lord favoured him, To pen those words, That we hope to sing, And I'm sure there are those here, Who at times have sung them very feelingly, God moves, God moves, In a mysterious way, His wonders, To perform, He plants his footsteps, In the sea, And rides upon the storm, Well, Well, Joseph certainly proved this,

[8:24] And every air of glory will prove it, May we be helped then, To come to the sacred teaching, At least a little of this, In our meditation, The Lord had appointed Joseph's path, Every step of the way, What a mercy when we are favoured to see this in our lives, That our God has appointed the path, And that it is the right path for us, Every aspect of our life, Yes, And even when we fall a prey to the evils of our own heart, And may be left to bring trouble into our own lives, I wonder how many of us here tonight,

[9:27] Have been made aware of these two particular thoughts, One that God, In his sovereignty, Has appointed our path, And all that is in it, He has sovereignly brought to pass, His holy will for us, From our birth till now, Everything that has gone on, And yet what man is there, That has ever lived upon the face of the earth, What woman is there, That has not brought trouble, Upon their own heads, By their own foolishness, And sin, And yet think of it, How the Lord so mercifully overrules even this, Cannot we testify to the fact, That God has overruled, Even our foolishness, Our sinfulness, And all that we may have been left to do,

[10:30] And he is very merciful, We know this, That Joseph, When he was 17 years old, He made known his two dreams, To his brethren, I'm sure it would be right to say, That there was sin mixed with it, But Joseph had yet to learn, In a very painful way, Do not, Interpretations belong to God, And all that he must go into, That he might say this from his heart, And yet the Lord was over it all, And so Joseph, Must be sold into Egypt, His brethren, Moved with envy, The Bible tells us, Sold him into Egypt, And of course envy,

[11:32] Is a sister to jealousy, And jealousy we might say, Is a brother to pride, Pride, Jealousy, And envy, Are so linked together, And have wrought such havoc, Upon the sinful race of mankind, Oh how often, Pride, Pride, And jealousy, And envy, When poor sinful men and women, Are left to these dreadful sins, And the awful effect of it, And the trouble that ensues, And yet what a mercy, To be made aware of all this, And dear friends, Concerning Joseph, It was all so closely linked, To his dear father, And to his brethren, Amen, And yet,

[12:33] The hand of God, Was over it all, And we might rightly say, That intermingled, With all the pain, And the sorrow, And the divine favour, That there was mercy, Mercy, Mercy was intermingled, With it all, Because God was not only, Going to have mercy upon, Joseph, But he was going to have mercy, Upon Jacob, And his brethren, And many others, The Lord help us then, Just for a little while, To look into that, That the Lord brought to us, That Joseph might be able, To say this, Can we say this tonight?

[13:28] Some of you have certainly proved it, In your life thus far, And God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain, And as we were seeking to speak, On the past Wednesday evening, The three verses in Psalm 37, And the third verse, Over those three verses, Commit thy way, Unto the Lord, Trust also in him, And he shall bring it, To pass, So then Joseph, So feelingly says here, Do not interpretations, Belong to God, How did the Lord instruct him, And lead him, That he might come to this, You see the Lord's hand, Was in what he said, To his brothers, And to his father,

[14:30] The Lord's hand was in this, Oh, There may be times in our life, When we are helped, To speak rightly, And of course, There will be times, If we are left to ourselves, When we shall come into exactly the same place as Moses, When it is recorded thus, He spake unadvisedly with his lips, Yes, Even dear Moses, He spake unadvisedly with his lips, God had instructed him what to do, Concerning the rock, That the children of Israel might have water, And yet Moses became so angry with the children of Israel, Those whom God had placed him over,

[15:33] That he said, Must I bring forth water for you rebels? And he smote the rock twice, That was his sin, He smote the rock twice, And how solemn it was, And if we really just think of it for a moment, The solemnity of it, That that one sin, Kept Moses out of the promised land, How searching God's word is, One sin, He spake unadvisedly with his lips, And we might rightly say this, Well surely the dear man was provoked, Surely he had some right to speak in the way that he did, And as we look at it after the manner of men, We would say yes, But dear friends,

[16:34] God judged him, For that one sin, It doesn't mean that Moses, Was kept out of heaven, It certainly doesn't mean that, The Lord had a sovereign purpose in it, And Moses was buried by God himself, And no man knows of his sepulcher unto this day, And God had a wise and divine purpose, And think of it, His God buried him, Now then, Joseph declares, Before these two men, Do not interpretations belong to God, Well how had he learned this?

[17:22] Because he must learn this, God knew that Pharaoh was going to have two dreams, God knew that those two dreams, Were going to convey, What God was going to do, First of all then, God overruled, What Joseph said to his brethren, Oh he overruled it, The Lord so permitted it, That his brethren must, Sell him into Egypt, Some of them would have slain him, Others had compassion, And yet, What I would seek to convey is this, You've heard it before, But may the Lord, Make it as it were, Fresh, Sacred, Savory meat to our souls this evening, And I tell you this once more, That God's hand was over it,

[18:24] Because Joseph must go into Egypt, And what a mercy, If we have seen this in our life, God overruling things, Bringing to pass his own sovereign will, For us, And where and as we may have been directed, Here or there, In our life, And as it was with Joseph, He was sold into Egypt, That God's hand was over his brothers, Because he must go into Egypt, And you see, When he was taken down into Egypt, For a very short while, He was very favoured, He went into Potiphar's house, And how well, Things went for him there, And may I notice once more, God's sovereignty, In the way that he, Was teaching Joseph,

[19:26] Because in Potiphar's house, He was given great responsibility, And dear friends, To each of you here tonight, Whatever responsibility, God has given to you, There is a purpose in it, May you be favoured to do this, Whatever your responsibilities are in your life, And have been, And if you trace the hand of God in it, And you will see this, That God's hand is upon, Everything in your life, And your responsibility, And in the Lord's hand, It is a school of teaching, Oh I'm sure there are those here tonight, That can see this, The way God has led you, Step by step, Thus far in your life, And each step, Has been in God's hand, And every changing scene, And every path, It's all been ordained for you,

[20:28] Ordered by his wise decree, May I just notice also, How the path of providence, Is bound up, In our life, Whatever path you may be in, Whatever profession you may have been in, Whatever labour, Whatever work, Whatever business, If you are favoured to see, How God has used it, And it has been, A school of teaching, And I believe, Some of us here tonight, Can not back, And as we view our life, And it's changing scenes, We can say with Joseph, Do not, Interpretations, Belong to God, Yet what a wonderful thing it is, To have an interpretation, In other words, To be shown, What the Lord is really doing with us, And so Joseph in Potiphar's house,

[21:33] Was very favoured, Potiphar, Put everything in his hand, He what not, What he had, See how the Lord was training Joseph, In Potiphar's house, He commenced by favouring him, He was really the head of the house, And he put everything in his hand, Apart from his wife, And yet how, Quickly, Comparatively speaking, Joseph must suffer, He must suffer, Friends, One of the things I hope the Lord has given me, To tell you this evening, Is this, That our sufferings, Are as much in the hand of our God, As our pleasant things, Suffering, And if it is used of God, To give to us,

[22:34] Just a glimpse from time to time, Of our suffering saviour, Because I am sure, Because I am sure this is why, Or one of the, Sacred purposes, That God has, Concerning his, Dear people, That they may be, Given as it were, A sight of their, Saviour's sufferings, Suffering, Saviour, Lamb of God, How has thou been used, Oh, How was the dear saviour used, How he suffered, How he suffered for his people, And a very sacred type of Christ, But then, How soon, Joseph, Must suffer, Wrongfully, You know, The Bible, Speaks to us, About this kind of thing, And it says, That if we,

[23:34] Are buffeted, For our faults, And we take it patiently, We do well, What does it say, In Peter's, I believe it is, In his, First epistle, And this is what, The Lord brought him, By the spirit, To declare, For this is, Thankworthy, If a man, For conscience, Toward God, Endure grief, Suffering, Suffering, Wrongfully, Now this is just what happened to Joseph, He was falsely accused, By Potiphar's wife, Oh the awfulness, Of that account, And then, The apostle Peter, Goes on to say this, For what glory is it, If when ye be buffeted, For your faults, Ye take it patiently,

[24:37] But if when ye do well, And suffer for it, Ye take it patiently, This is acceptable with God, For even here unto were ye called, Because Christ also suffered for us, Leaving us an example, That ye should follow his steps, Oh if any of you, If any of us, Should be given a glimpse, Of these precious truths, This evening, It will put everything, Right in your life, If you see, Your path, And whatever it may mean, In the light of God's word here, For even here unto, Were ye called, Because Christ also suffered for us, Leaving us an example, That ye should follow his steps, You've asked him,

[25:38] That you might be favoured in this, You've asked him, That you might grow in grace, And in the knowledge, Of your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, You may have been brought, At times to pray, That you might be led into Gethsemane, That you might be taken to Calvary, That you might be favoured to see, His wounded hands, And his wounded feet, Oh when the Lord begins to answer, Your cries in this, Then how you tremble, And how left to yourself, You begin to wish, That you never prayed for such things, And of course we need to be careful, How we do pray, That the Lord does, Sometimes squeeze out, Of his people's hearts, Such petitions as this, That they might be led into Gethsemane, That they might be taken to the judgment hall, And to Calvary, Well if the Lord should grant to any of you,

[26:40] Tonight a revelation, That the Lord is answering your cries, That these very things that are in your life, Are in his hand, To bring you near to him, That you may consider him, Who endured such contradiction of sinners, Against himself, Lest ye be wearied, And faint in your minds, And how we do faint, How we are ready as it were to give up, And then I just read, A little more concerning him, And this could only be said of him, It could never be said of us, Who did no sin, Neither was guile found in his mouth, Who when he was reviled, Reviled not again, When he suffered, He threatened not, But committed himself, To him that judgeth righteously, Who his own self,

[27:42] Bear our sins, In his own body, On the tree, That we being dead to sins, Should live unto righteousness, By whose stripes, Ye were healed, Do not interpretations belong to God, Now we must come to this, You see, Joseph must go into prison, There was no other place, That he could be taught, What the Lord was going to teach him, He must go into the prison, And he must go into the part of the prison, Where the king's prisoners were kept, And I understand that this, Would have been as it were, The worst part of the prison, And Joseph must go into that prison, That he might learn this truth, That he might learn, And be compelled,

[28:45] Presently to say before Pharaoh, It is not in me, Oh the teaching that the dear man had received, He knew that only God could interpret dreams, Or visions, Only God can interpret things to our hearts, So Joseph then must go into the prison, And if we just think for a moment, That for thirteen years, From when he was seventeen, Until he was thirty, He was passing through this time, Of solemn teaching, Thirteen long years, And I'm sure that most of them, He spent in the prison, And we are told that, He was put into irons, The suffering that he had there, And yet, The Lord was in it,

[29:47] Because in that prison, He learned things, That he would never learn, In any other way, Oh if the Lord should favour any of us, Here tonight to see this, That we could not learn, What the Lord would teach us, In any other way but this, And thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, Saying this is the way, Walk ye in it, And what goes before it, It is this, And though the Lord give you, The bread of adversity, And the water of affliction, Does that describe your life, This evening?

[30:25] Affliction, That that you must eat, And that that you must drink, And yet the Lord has given it to you, And thy teachers, Shall not be hid in a corner anymore, But thine eyes shall see thy teachers, And thou shalt hear a word behind thee, Saying, This is the way, Walk ye in it, When ye turn to the right hand, Or when ye turn to the left, And so dear Joseph, Must go into the prison, But even there God favoured him, Even there the Lord shone into his heart, Even there he found favour, In the eyes of the keeper of the prison, You see dear friends, In this path of solemn adversity, The Lord, As it were, Raised up friends for Joseph, The Lord raised them up,

[31:27] And the day came, When the butler and the baker, Must come into the prison, And they must have their dreams, And here, As we might say, The Lord was further instructing Joseph, Because God gave him, The interpretation of those two dreams, And it was all, This was all in the Lord's hand, That he might presently come before Pharaoh, And after he had given these two men, The interpretation of their two dreams, He was given some hope, And he said to the butler, When it is well with thee, Remember me.

[32:20] Oh, I'm sure that Joseph here thought, Well, perhaps the Lord is going to deliver me, From this prison. Perhaps the Lord will favour me now.

[32:32] And so he says to the butler, When it is well with thee, Remember me. And yet what do we read? Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, But forgot him.

[32:46] And Joseph must wait another two full years, Before he began to see the outcome, To all this that he had walked in, Another two full years.

[33:05] Oh, I tremble to say this, But if the Lord should keep any of us waiting, His own appointed time, And if any of you here tonight, Are waiting for an interpretation, Waiting for light to shine upon your path, That you might understand it.

[33:29] And yet if it is the Lord's will, And I'm thankful that that is with our God, But if it should be the Lord's will, There may yet be a time of waiting for us.

[33:40] There may be a time of waiting for you. The vision is for an appointed time, And in the end it shall speak, And not lie, Though it tarry, Wait for it.

[33:55] Oh, have you had a vision? Have you things that the Lord has laid in your heart? You need the Lord to interpret the meaning.

[34:05] You keep, as it were, Taking this to him. You keep carrying this burden of your heart to him, And you keep saying, Lord, shine upon it.

[34:17] Oh, in thy mercy do reveal thy will. And Lord, if thou art in this, Then, oh, do bring it to pass. But it is all to teach us What the Lord taught his servant here.

[34:32] Do not. Interpretations belong to God. And so we will leave it tonight. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretation.

[34:47] Are you waiting for an interpretation? Are you waiting for a revelation? Are you waiting for God to bring your it to pass?

[34:59] This comes into my thoughts, And I leave it here. Tarry his leisure then. Wait the appointed hour.

[35:10] You're going to need the appointed hour. Wait till the bridegroom of your souls Reveals his love with power. And Joseph said unto them, Do not.

[35:25] Interpretations belong to God. How he did prove it. When the Lord's time came, He was brought out of that prison. He must go through all this That he might be fitted For the position that God Was preparing him for.

[35:44] He must go through all this. I venture to say this in closing. And so it will be with you. Amen.

[35:55] Amen. May we help to conclude with hymn 320.

[36:16] God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

[36:32] Him 320. God moves in bear with most of you. At the potential. He keeps który tendzes. Hymnroyable's réponse to the supplies of your soul. Heavenoxeo will come from air, Yes, near the ground. His road from maybe shackled, And thejal fan runs many streets. Dismount to are knownłec.

[36:42] All those who ask love for this activities actually Amen. It is a collective event. God move in aamt form, For the quality of the Trek, For theıld ogves of the 삶, And in a frightening camp, For them thejak isleb23 about z estilo. God mandai groups of all, Yes, dear souls of the ANA SI Theory, OK A price of all the soul, a price of all the soul.

[37:38] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[38:43] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS The confidence in all he drags

[39:46] Behind the crown of the providence He bright, O starling wind, He bright, O starling wind.

[40:14] feast, and age collected, Thank you.

[41:05] Thank you.

[41:35] Thank you. Amen.

[42:07] O Lord, as we have been venturing to speak of thy servant Joseph, and how he said so feelingly, in the prison to those two men, do not interpretations belong to God.

[42:27] And Lord, we thank thee for this, that the day did come when light shone into his heart and life, so that he could say presently to his brethren whom he loved, it was not you that brought me hither, but God.

[42:52] Oh, what a declaration of truth. Lord, bless thy word. Help us now as we come to thy table.

[43:03] Lord, remember those that will now return home, and those who might stay. And if anyone here tonight, Lord, is very burdened as to whether they should stay or not, show them what to do.

[43:22] And do, Lord, favour those who come to thy table. Oh, may we be blessed there, seeing we would ask it in the name of Jesus and for his sake.

[43:37] May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, with the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

[43:50] Amen.