Good morning, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number six. Hymn number six. Come thou almighty king, help
us thy name to sing. help us to praise. Father all glorious, Lord all
victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come thou incarnate Word, gird
on thy mighty sword, ? Our prayer attend ? ? Come and thy people
bless ? ? And give thy word success ? ? Spirit of holiness ? ? On
us descend ? ? Come holy comforter ? ? Thy sacred witness bear ?
? In this glad hour ? ? Thou who almighty art ? ? Now rule
in every heart ? ? And e'er from us depart ? ? Spirit of power
? ? To the great one in three ? Eternal praises be, it's evermore. His sovereign majesty may we
in glory sing, and to eternity love and adore. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
288. Far away in the depths of my
spirit tonight rolls a melody sweeter than song. In celestial-like strains it
unceasingly falls, for my soul like an infinite goal. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
coming down from the Father Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. What a treasure I have in this
wonderful piece, buried deep in the heart of my soul. So secure that no power can mine
it away While the years of eternity roll. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit, Forever,
I pray, in fanless billows of love. I am resting tonight in this
wonderful peace. Resting sweetly in Jesus' control. For I'm kept from all danger
by night and by day, And His glory is flooding my soul. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever
I pray in fathomless billows of love. And methinks when I rise to that
city of peace where the author of peace I shall see. that one strain of the song which
the ransomed will sing, in that heavenly kingdom shall be. Peace, peace, wonderful peace. from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. A soul, are you here without
comfort and rest? Marching down the rough pathway
of time. Call on Jesus, our Lord. Call
on Jesus, our Lord. as shadows grow dark. Oh, believe, oh, believe this
sweet peace so sublime. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. If you have your Bibles with
you this morning, if you would open with me to the book of Genesis.
We'll read Genesis chapter 40. Genesis chapter 40. up there in my little sound room
office, whatever you want to call it, before service started. And Cody came in and asked me
what I was going to read. And I said, I was thinking about
reading Genesis 42. And he says, oh, well, I'm preaching from
Genesis 40. And I said, well, I guess I'll just read Genesis
42. And it came to pass after these
things that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had
offended their lord, the king of Egypt, And Pharaoh was wroth
against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers
and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them inward
in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the
place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard
charged Joseph with them, and he served them. And they continued
a season inward. And they dreamed a dream, both
of them, each man his dream in one night. man according to the
interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the
king of Egypt were bound in the prison. And Joseph came in unto
them in the morning and looked upon them and behold, they were
sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers
that were with him in the ward of his Lord's house, saying,
Wherefore look ye so sadly today? And they said unto him, We have
dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph
said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them,
I pray you. And the chief butler told his
dream to Joseph and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was
before me, and in the vine were three branches, and it was as
though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth, and the clusters
thereof brought forth ripe grapes. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand,
and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and
I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand, and Joseph said unto him,
This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three
days, yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and
restore thee into thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's
cup into his hand after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall
be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make
mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house, for
indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews. And
here also have I done nothing that they should put me into
the dungeon. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was
good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold,
I had three white baskets on my head. And in the uppermost
basket there was of all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh. And the birds did eat them out
of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said,
this is the interpretation thereof, the three baskets are three days.
Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee,
and shall hang thee on a tree. And the bird shall eat thy flesh
from off thee. And it came to pass the third
day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all
his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler,
and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored
the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave the cup into
Pharaoh's hand, that he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph has
interpreted to them. Yet did not the Chief Butler
remember Joseph, but forgotten. Lord God Almighty, our Heavenly
Father, Almighty, all-righteous, all-wise,
all-powerful, God of all, we come to you through
your blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for being
able to bow freely in my presence through
your blessed Son. Thank you for the privilege. Father, we thank you for this
day. Thank you for this gathering of saints. Thank you for this
place where we are gathered. Father, we thank you for allowing us to have Brother Cody
and his family here today. Lord, we ask that you would bless
this time together. Ask that you would bless Brother
Cody as he stands. Speak through him. Ask that you
would use his words to feed us. Lord, that you would comfort
his heart while he speaks. Cause him to speak freely and
boldly of the things of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, there are many traveling.
Ask for traveling mercies for them. Mercy and grace upon those who
are weak and weary. Lord, but truly we are. All of this flesh are weak and
weary. We all need you. Lord, but some are going through
great trials and tribulations, and we know their needs better
so than we know ourselves. Lord, we ask that you would meet
with us today. Let us not meet in vain. I ask that you ascend
your spirit to be among us. I ask that you bless your word to us,
bless it to those who are listening and watching, those who are unable
to be here. I ask that you ascend your word
all over this earth, that it would please you to cause a great
revival We know your word will not return
unto thee, Lord. We ask that you cause it to flourish. We thank you for your pastors,
wherever they may be. We ask that you would bless them as
they speak today. Bless the saints of God. Lord, again, meet with us today,
or else we meet in vain. I pray that that will be done
for Christ's sake. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Once my self-righteous soul relied
On my own works with hellish pride, But now in air my soul
sings praise Each note shall echo God's free grace. Was grace that quickened me when
dead? And grace, my soul, to Jesus
led. Grace brought me pardon for my
sin, and grace subdues my lusts within. Disgrace that shetters every
cross. Disgrace supports in every loss. In Jesus' grace my soul is strong. Grace is my hope and grace my
song. This grace upholds when danger's
near. By grace alone I persevere. Disgrace constrains my soul to
love God's grace is all they sing about. Tis thus alone. of grace I boast, and is alone
in grace I trust. For all that's past, grace is
my theme, for what's to come, tis still the same. In countless years of grace I'll
sing, Adore and bless my heavenly King. I'll cast my crown before
his throne. Be seated. We'll have a special
this morning. Oh, for a heart prepared to God my Savior and my King with
all the saints I'll join to tell my Jesus Jesus has done all things
well. How sovereign was he! is all his love. To sin for me, he plucked me
as a bread from heaven. My Jesus has done all things well. And since my soul has known his
love, what mercy has made me blue. Mercies which o'er my praisings
sell. My Jesus, who is do all things well. How sovereign, wonderful, and
free is all His love. To sin for me He plucked me as
a bran from earth. My Jesus had done all things
well. ? And win to them ? ? Bright world,
arise ? ? And join the air ? ? Thumbs in the skies ? shall swell. My Jesus hath done all things
well. How sovereign was and free is all his love. To sin for me he plucked me as
a bread from heaven. My Jesus has done all things
well. Come on and bring forth what
the Lord's put on your heart. In case there's anybody here
who doesn't know Cody, I'm sorry, I take that for granted, but
I think everybody here has met him, knows him. If you know him,
you love him. We're thankful for you, brother.
Thank you for your ministry the Lord's given you. Love you, brother. Come on up
here. If you don't know him, you're
about to. Good morning. He's too kind, by the
way. I was just thinking, I'm such
a big fan of music. I love a wide variety of music.
I especially love country music. But there's no music that does
for me what a song like that does for me. These songs of praise
to our God are so comforting, aren't they? And I love that
song in particular. I've only ever heard it sung
by you ladies. You know, some songs you'll hear sung by several
people or groups. I've only ever heard it from
your all's lips, and it cheers my heart every time. And it's
scriptural. He hath done all things well.
You will turn with me back to where our brother just read,
Genesis chapter 40. Genesis chapter 40. I like to
look at this whole chapter this morning, Lord willing. I feel like this is a portion of
scripture that many are familiar with. And as I've been studying
this story of Joseph, this is one of the chapters I was somewhat
familiar with it, but never really gleaned a whole lot from it.
But I pray the Lord showed me something and I pray he'll show
us something glorious in it today as well. We'll just go through
here verse by verse. Genesis 40, look with me starting
in verse one. And it came to pass after these
things that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had
offended their Lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh, they had offended
him. Here's where we start. All right.
That's us. We have a Lord. We have a king,
our creator, our maker, the eternal God of heaven and earth. We've offended him. We've sinned
against him. That's what we've done now. Naturally,
we make light of this. Churches all over this world
make light of this. You know, we were driving yesterday
and I saw a church sign said, looking for a sign from God.
Here it is. That's clever, isn't it? This is not a light matter.
Our sin against God is serious. We need to take it seriously.
And what we're going to see here this morning is the consequences
of sin. OK, we're about to see it. Verse two. And Pharaoh was wroth. He didn't sweep it under the
rug. He didn't laugh it off. He was wroth. He was angry. Pharaoh
was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of
the butlers and against the chief of the bakers. God is displeased
with us. Romans 8 verse 8 says, They that
are in the flesh can not please God. Everybody's trying to please
God. What are you going to do for God today? What can we do? We're sin. What are we going
to do that's going to impress Holy God? Nothing. Nothing. Oh, smile, Jesus loves you. God, what we are in this flesh,
God is angry with us the way we are in this flesh. He's angry
with the wicked every day. Psalm 711, every day. Habakkuk
113 says that God cannot so much as look on iniquity. That's what
we are. That's what we do. Iniquity,
sin, that which God hates. We need to understand that. Serious matter, verse three,
and he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard
into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound, thrown into
prison as a result of their sin, their offense against their Lord,
the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, and his anger against their sin and
against them. Prison. Do we know the result
of our sin against our God? I'll tell you this, it's worse
than prison. You know, people get sentenced
to prison for different crimes, they'll have different sentences,
and sometimes there's leniency, sometimes there's not. Here's
the closest example I could think of, given the texture. Death
row prisoners with no chance of parole. That's what we've earned. That
that's. Well, I'm an upstanding law abiding
citizen, not before God, we're not. Maybe before men, oh, we'll gladly
justify ourselves before men, we're going to try that before
God. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6, 23 is equal 18, verse
four and verse 20, the soul, the Senate, it shall die. Simple
as that. But you know, I'm glad our message
doesn't end here. Did you notice the end of verse three? This
is so encouraging to me. Where were they thrown into prison?
The end of verse three, the place where Joseph was bound. They weren't just thrown into
any old prison. This is significant. This crossed my mind when I was
sitting here last night trying to finalize this. We are not just sitting in any
old church building. You're not sitting in any old
pew. God mentions candlesticks in
the book of Revelation, the place where he has put his name. You know, you hear about a group
a couple years ago we heard about this man Willie in Malawi. I'd
never heard of Malawi in my life. It's in Africa. We have brethren there. Hold
on now. God has put his name there. God
has a people there. God has put his name here. Crossville,
Tennessee. First time I heard of Crossville,
Tennessee, I thought, where in the world is that? But, you know,
I heard about it because I heard that there's a man here named
Donnie Bell or Don Bell. He preaches Jesus Christ and
him crucified. I thought, well, I'd like to go there. And I did. And look at all God's goodness
to me through my time here. He gave me my wife from here,
and then my children, and my wonderful in-laws, and the gospel, brethren, many brethren. You know, I wouldn't want to
be in prison, but if Joseph's there, you know, naturally we
have no desire for church. Oh, but by God's grace, when
we find out Christ is there and his people are there, don't you
want to go? These. These two men, this chief baker,
this chief brother, they had sinned against their Lord, we
have sinned against our God and we are unable to right our wrongs
too late. They're in prison. We've already
seen that. Think about a murderer real quick.
A murderer would have a really hard time righting their wrong,
wouldn't they? Bringing their victim back. But
entertain this thought. Even if they could bring life
back, does it undo what they did? Does it undo the fact that
they thought it in their mind? And they committed the deed,
but they thought it, said they could erase what they did. They thought it.
You ever been so angry at someone you just could kill them or maybe
wish to death upon them? Or I hate you. I'd rather not
have you. I'd rather do away with you.
God forgive us. You know, say you say that or
you think that, then you change your mind. Oh, I didn't mean
it. We've done that, haven't we? Oh, I'm so sorry what I said
to you. I didn't mean it. It's too late. Before God, I
hope we can forgive each other. But here's the point. The moment
we've thought it, the moment we're already guilty. Can't undo
it. We can't right our wrongs before
God who is holy. We can't. Now, I see a beautiful
picture here of Joseph in this prison with these men. He's numbered
with the transgressors. That's what our Lord was. Praise
God, he made intercession for them. Verse four right here.
The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them and he served
them and they continued a season in ward. Now, remember, though
he had been in prison, Joseph was given this position of authority
that he was in charge of all the prisoners. OK, though our
God became a man. He had all authority. He never
ceased to be God. He walked this earth as man and
as God. Consider this. When our Lord
walked this earth, he had the whole world on which he walked
in his hand. All power was given unto him
in heaven and in earth. He walked the earth. He upheld
the ground on which he walked. He controlled everything, all
the affairs of the world. All the things that happened. There's so many examples we can
look to. This is one of my favorites. You know, the Jews always sought
to kill him. He'd be somewhere. He'd be declaring the good news
of himself and Oh, it made the Jews so angry. Their hearts were
enraged against him. They sought, they took counsel
together, how they might put him to death. And he just walked
right through. Because he's God. You and I can't
do that. You and I get backed into a corner.
We find ourselves in a dark place. There's no escape. Not for him.
Not for him. Nothing's too hard for him. This
blessed my heart so much. If you notice, they're kind of
towards the end of verse four. It says, and he served them. Who served whom? He, Joseph,
served them. He who had done no wrong served
the guilty ones. Good picture of our Lord, is
it not? Behold my servant, Christ, upheld by the Father. in whom
the Father delights, who cannot fail, shall not fail, or be discouraged.
He serves us, doesn't he? The king and the servant. Oh, what condescension. He serves
us. Who gets the glory in that? I'll
tell you who does. He does. You know, I think last time I
was here, we looked at Joseph in Potiphar's house. There was
no servant like Joseph. There's no servant like Christ,
whom he pictured. Verse five. And they dreamed
a dream, both of them each night, or each man his dream in one
night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream,
the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound
in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning and
looked upon them and behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's
officers that were with him in the ward of his Lord's house,
saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly today? And they said unto
him, We have dreamed a dream and there's no interpreter of
it. Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to
God? Tell me then. Tell me then, I
pray you, if we're going to have understanding, God must give
it to us. Because we're spiritually blind.
We can read this book all we want to. Now, naturally, we don't
want to. But even if we do, God has to
give us eyes to see. What did our Lord say again to
these lost religious people? He said, search the scriptures. They claimed that they read the
scriptures and they were all about the scriptures. He said,
search them. They testify of me. And Moses and the Psalms,
the prophets, they all testified me, he said. But unless he opens
our eyes to see that, to see himself, we're not going to see
him. Because we're blind. What can a blind man see? What
can a dead man do? What can a deaf man hear? Nothing. We have no ability. Again, one
of my favorite songs, Open my eyes that I may see. Pray the
Lord would do that for us. Now, Joseph was a man of God
here, and God was going to use him to tell these men their dreams.
Kind of like Daniel, right? Given the ability to interpret
dreams. All right, verse 9, here's the first dream. And the chief
butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream,
behold, a vine was before me. In the vine there were three
branches, and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot
forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes. And
Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, And I took the grapes and pressed
them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's
hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of
it. The three branches are three days. Yet within three days shall
Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore thee unto thine place.
Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the
former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when
it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto
me. and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of
this house, for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of
the Hebrews. And here also have I done nothing,
that they should put me into the dungeon." Butler had a favorable
dream. Joseph told him, he said, it
shall be well with thee. It shall be well with thee. His
dream was one of forgiveness. He defended, but he was forgiven.
One of mercy. He didn't get what he deserved.
One of grace, he got what he didn't deserve. Now in his dream, We see a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation through his blood.
I'm going to show you a couple of scriptures here. Turn to John 15. John 15. This man's dream started with
a vine. Started with a vine. John 15. Verse 1. This is Christ speaking. John
15, 1. I am the true vine, and my father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Let me go ahead
and tell you something. This isn't about the branches.
This is about the vine. All right. Verse three, now ye
are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, Or without me, ye
can do nothing. My center margin says severed
from me. You take Christ out of the equation.
Nothing. Got nothing. We are nothing.
We can do nothing. What does that tell us? Union with Christ,
being vitally, inseparably joined to Jesus Christ is everything. That's everything. And let me
expound on that a little bit. He said, abide in Me. We cannot
join ourselves to Him. That's what religion thinks.
Oh, accept Jesus, receive Jesus, come to Jesus. He must join Himself
to us. He must join us to Himself. Look right here, verse 16. We
quote this all the time. Ye have not chosen Me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you. Hold on now. Who did this? Who took the first
step, the last step, and every step in between? Was it us? We
get some credit here? No. He did it all. He did it
all. It's all Him. Here's the thing.
If we get any credit here, we're going to get some glory. I quoted
to you part of Isaiah 42, behold my servant. It goes on to say,
I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images.
It's all His. It all belongs to Him. It's divine.
Where are we going to glory? In our fruit? Or are we going
to glory in the vine? Christ! You know, I thought about
this, this is going to sound ridiculous, but I thought, you
know, we're the branches, right? What if, you know, all these
trees out here, what if one of the branches on this tree said, I
think I'm going to go join myself to that tree? Well, that's nonsense,
isn't it? To think we're going to go join
ourselves to Christ. No, if it weren't for Christ
already being and already choosing and already finishing the work,
we would we would have no part, no part with him. Without the
vine, there are no branches. Now. This vine. You know, in the text,
it's. The grapevine, is it not? There are some grapes. that had
grown on this vine. And it tells us that they were
pressed into Pharaoh's cup. Go ahead and turn to Matthew
26. In the garden of Gethsemane,
our Lord sweat as it were great drops of blood. Matthew 26. When He sweat as it were great
drops of blood, that's our sin, the sin of all His people, all
the branches in the vine being pressed into him, becoming his. Okay? Matthew 26, read a few
verses here. Matthew 26, verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and began to be sorrowful
and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he said, lo, I come to do
thy will. Well, this was his will. Did
the father hear his prayer? Yes, he did. Did he have to drink
the cup? He did. It wasn't possible. He knew it wasn't possible. This
is to show us how exceeding sorrowful he really was. He really was
a man. As God and our sin really became
his. I can't explain that. But because
God's word declares it, I believe it. God gave us faith to believe
it. He drank the cup. He drank the cup. This cup could
not pass from him. What cup? The cup of our sin. All the sin of all of his people. The cup of judgment, the cup
of wrath against our sin. That we deserve. He He drank that cup, that unfathomable
cup, and He presented it to the Father. Look back in our text. Again, what part do we play in
that? We just committed the sin that went into the cup that He
drank, that He consumed. You drink something, it becomes
a part of you, doesn't it? Our sin became his. Just as this butler delivered
the cup in the Pharaoh's hand, Christ delivered that cup to
the father's hand, and the father said, satisfied, well, please. This butler was the king's cup
bearer. What did he do? He simply carried the cup. Was
it his cup? No, it was the king's cup. Is
he getting glory in this? No. It's kind of like a gospel
preacher. What do we do? We're just delivering
the message God sent us to deliver. Just the messenger. That's basically
what he was. He didn't produce anything. Took
the king's cup, gave it to the king. He gets no glory in this. And
I love how his dream pictured Christ crucified. And the father
satisfied. He gets all the glory, all of
it. And Joseph told him, he said, you're going to be restored.
That cup that you're used to delivering to Pharaoh, you're
going to deliver that cup to Pharaoh again. That's good news,
wasn't it? That was good news to him. Now look at verse 16
in our text. Genesis 40, verse 16. When the chief baker saw that
the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was
in my dream. And behold, I had three white
baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there was of
all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh, and the birds did eat
them out of the basket upon my head. Those have answered and
said, This is the interpretation thereof. The three baskets are
three days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh
lift up thy head from off thee and shall hang thee on a tree
and the birds shall eat thy flesh. He heard Joseph interpret the
butler's dream. Oh, and I'm sure he was feeling
good. He heard the favorable news the
butler received. He couldn't wait to share his
dream, too. He just presumed upon it being good for him as
well. You know, that's where we go
wrong. That's the problem with false
religion. God, well, God must be for me. Blessings, well, God's
blessings must be for me. Christ, well, he must have died
for me. Must he have? Must God's blessings be for me?
Why would they be? We ever thought about that? Well,
hold on now. Why would God have anything for
me? I never had anything for him. Better slow down. Better examine ourselves, take
a deep look within. Why would God be gracious to me? These are some good things to
think. Ask ourselves. He had three white baskets on
his head full of baked goods that he had prepared for Pharaoh. That's what he did. He was a
baker. I have no doubt he was proud
of what he made. Aren't we? Some of you like to
cook. That's good. I wish I did. He
was proud of what he was going to present to Pharaoh. Are we not naturally proud of
what we're going to go present to God? The works of our hands. Are we not impressed with ourselves
naturally? I'm not what I used to be. Well, what are we in God's sight?
Do we know who He is? Holy, holy, holy. Did we fall
down before Him? Are we going to stand like that
Pharisee in the temple and, oh, I thank you, I'm not like others.
I'm not like Him. I'm not like that. I'm so much better, better
than you, better than Him. We're nothing in the sight of
God. All nations of the earth are reputed as nothing before
Him. All the inhabitants of the earth I can just picture him, got all
this food he prepared and all decked out, looking good, feeling
good, and walking up to Pharaoh and never makes it to him. The
birds come and devour it. Didn't go the way he thought
it did, did it? Pharaoh wasn't interested in
what he made. Neither is God. What you gonna do for God? We can't impress God. Can't do
it. Well, I'm reformed. Are we as
good as God? That's the requirement. Be holy. We holy? There's one holy. It's God. You know, I thought of Cain.
You know, story Cain and Abel, right? Sacrifice must be made. Well, what are we going to offer
up to God? There's one sacrifice, the lamb, which Abel's offering. Picture Christ slain. God smells
that sacrifice. He's well pleased. What did Cain
do? Cain worked hard with his hands
and he produced these fruits and vegetables to present to
God. And God said, I won't have it. Displeased with, it tells
us, not only with his sacrifice, but with him. It was a stench
in God's nostrils. What have our hands produced? One awful three letter word,
sin. That's it. That's it. Some of you have some remarkable
talents. Cooking, sewing, building. God's not impressed with us.
I want to stress that. The works of our hands are not
for God. I'll tell you who they're for.
They're for the birds. You know what birds feast on?
Death. That's what we are. You see those big birds circling
in the sky? Death. They'll have us, but God won't. Now, when Joseph interpreted
the baker's dream, we don't read his response, but do you think
the baker believed him? I bet he didn't believe a word
Joseph said. Why would he? We hear God's going to send us
to hell because of our sin? We're going to believe that?
Not unless God gives us faith to. God is gracious, God is merciful
to whom he will? Well, fool me with that. No,
no. Now, God, I got this figured out. Me and God got a good thing
going. We're good. I'm as good of heaven as if I'm
already there, as sure of heaven. Wouldn't be so sure. I'm somebody,
I'm his, I'm not just one of his bakers. I'm his chief baker. I'm the head honcho here. He's
gonna take me back. No, no, he wouldn't do that to
me. Hang me? No. Verse 20. And it came to pass
the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast
unto all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief
butler and of the chief baker among his servants, and he restored
the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave the cup into
Pharaoh's hand, but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had
interpreted to them. According as Joseph had interpreted,
It came to pass. God's counsel shall stand. Whatsoever God doeth, it's forever.
It's not going to change. Can't put it to it, can't take
from it. Nope. Both these men, both of them,
it tells us, had their heads lifted up. It's the day of reckoning,
the day of judgment has come. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, all of us. No escaping it. Now, why
were their heads lifted up? Because they sinned against the
king. So have we. We're in the same boat. Our heads
are going to be lifted up, too. What do they deserve? I mean,
both of them. Death. What do we deserve? We deserve God to save us. We
deserve God's salvation. No. Death. That's what we deserve,
me and you both. Why did Pharaoh restore the butler?
He delighted to have mercy. Simple as that. Did the butler
deserve it? No. No. What was his dream? One that
beautifully pictured Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What's our
hope? Why did Pharaoh hang the baker?
Was he right to do it? He showed mercy to one and he
passed by the other. How could he do that? Can God
not do what he will with his own? You got a problem with that,
take it up with God. Who are we to reply against him?
We're nothing. We don't have the right. The
right is his and only his. What was the baker's dream? One that clearly pictured man's
works, man's pride, and man's self-deception. And he was hanged. Oh, may we take heed. Take heed. At the end of the
day, both these men were at the mercy of Pharaoh. You and I are
at the mercy of God Almighty. That's it. Nothing we can do
to please him. I pray God would put it in us
to beg him for mercy. He'd like to show it. Thought
of that at the cross, our Lord, he was there and he had a thief
on either side of him. He showed mercy to one and he
passed by the other. Here in prison, Joseph has a
prisoner on either side of him. Mercy for one, condemnation for
the other. And there was a man there who'd
done nothing amiss. He was there because of sin. But not his. Who sinned? Whose sin resulted
in Joseph in prison? Potiphar's wife. He was there
for the sin of another. Sin had to be punished one way
or the other. Right. Our Lord knew no sin. He hung on the cross, not for
his own sin, but for the sin of somebody else, for the sin
of you and me, if we're his elect, if we're his chosen, his people.
Now, unlike Joseph, he was there willingly. Joseph didn't want to be there,
but it so beautifully pictures Christ, doesn't it? Who took ownership of our sin,
became his and died for our sin. And he did it on purpose. Christ
did it on purpose. Praise God. Did it on purpose. Something that caught my eye
here at the beginning of verse 20, it tells us it came to pass the third
day. Aren't you thankful for the third
day? You know, that's our judgment day. When Christ arose, he was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for what? Our justification. What do we see on the third day?
We see justified justification. When he died, I died. was buried,
I was buried when he arose, I rose in him the third day. Christ,
the resurrection and the life, what did he say in John 11? He
said, I am the resurrection life. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. What hope? What are we going
to trust in him? Are we going to trust in ourselves
and what we produce? Lazarus shall rise again. He
did rise again and he still shall rise again. I like, too, how it tells us
right here, it says, it was Pharaoh's birthday. You know, when it's
your birthday, you say, it's my day. This day is about me. You know,
your birthday or not, this is the day which the Lord hath made.
It's his day. Now, the judgment day is certainly
his day. And eternity is one great, eternal day. And that
day is not going to be about you and me. It's going to be
about Christ. It's all about him. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us. Unto thy name give glory. Dine
alone. His day. I pray God will cause
us to understand and believe that now. It's all about him.
It's all about him. It goes on to tell us that he
made a feast. He made a feast. And he didn't need the help of
this chief baker to do it. It's like that man said, come
for all things are now ready. He prepared a feast. Did it all
by himself. Nothing for us to do. Except
come and dine. What a day that shall be. Come
and dine. What the Lord has done for us.
Enjoy what he has done for us. The continual feast. We have
a merry heart that he's given us because of what he's done
for us. It'll be a wonderful feast. Oh,
but not for everybody. For those like this baker who. Looking within, trusting in themselves
that they're righteous. What they're producing. Here's
the end for them, weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's a. I don't like to think about it.
God calls it the second death, eternal death. I don't wish that
on anybody. But it's going to come for everybody
who's not trusting in Christ alone. Oh, my God, causes to
trust in Christ alone. One man was restored, the other
hand, verse 23. Yet did not the chief butler
remember Joseph, but forgot him. Now, recall what Joseph had said
to him. Look back, verse 14. But think
on me when it shall be well with thee. Show kindness, I pray thee,
unto me. Make mention of me unto Pharaoh
and bring me out of this house. For indeed, I was stolen away
out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also have I done nothing
that they should put me into the dungeon. Remember me again. As a man wrongfully in prison,
Joseph made this plea. All right. But as a picture of
Christ, his hour was not yet come that he should be delivered
from the prison. And he must needs be forgotten. I know that sounds strange, but
let me quote you a verse in Luke 24. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things? and to enter into his glory.
You know, the very next chapter, Joseph enters into his glory,
doesn't he? We looked at this during y'all's conference. Oh,
he ascended. He was seated on high. But he
had to suffer some things first, didn't he? Hated by his brethren,
nearly killed, sold, forgotten, sold, forgotten, forgotten, forgotten,
hated, lied about, How much more so our Lord? And
then he entered in his glory, didn't he? Everybody's about
to come bowing to Joseph. Everybody's gonna bow to Christ,
aren't we? I love this story so much. Now, in conclusion here, let's
not be too hard on the butler, okay? Do we not forget our Lord
daily? Through our shame? Do we not take Him and his good,
his perpetual, never-ending goodness to us for granted. We're no better. We're none the better. That's
us. As believers, that's us. My hope is not going to be in
me doing anything for or remembering our Lord. It's like that thief
on the cross. Lord, remember me. And like that publican in the
temple, God be merciful to me. Remember me. Think upon me. You
know, Joseph asked him right here. He said, show kindness
to me. My hope is in that Christ showed kindness to me. He said,
you go to Pharaoh, you make mention of me to Pharaoh. Christ makes
mention of our name to God, the father, doesn't he? On our behalf,
he intercedes for us. He said, you do this, that he
might come Deliver me out of this dungeon. One day, one day
our Lord is going to come deliver us from this dungeon, the body
of this death. He's coming. One day he's coming.
Oh, glorious day. What's our hope, Lord? Remember
us for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's have a word of prayer.
Oh, God, our Father, we thank you for this portion of your
word. We thank you for the beautiful picture of Christ we see in this
story time and time again. Lord, thank you for your mercy.
Thank you for your grace to those who just do not deserve it. Lord,
that's us. I pray that you would show this
great kindness to us and to our children, to our loved ones.
Forgive us of our many sins through the blood of Christ, our savior.
Bless this word to the hearts of all who heard it. Lord, pierce
our hearts with it. Cause us to believe your word,
to look to Christ and him alone. Rest in him. Be with these dear
saints, be with Brother Donnie and Sister Shirley and bring
them back safely, I pray. Lord, be with us in all that
we do. Bring us back tonight if it be
thy will. Enable us to worship you continually. We praise your
name in our hearts. In Christ's name we ask these
things, amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me Thank you, Brother Cody. You're dismissed. We'll meet
again this evening at 6 p.m. Lord willing.