in every instance that he's in. And here he is, he's in prison.
He's been put in prison. It says in Genesis 39 and 20,
Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place
where the king's prison was bound. And he was there in the prison. And our Lord Jesus Christ And here he was, he's numbered
with the transgressors. He's numbered with the transgressors,
put in prison. And as our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered greatly, greatly, numbered with the transgressors. And he's
innocent. He's there not for no fault of
his own. He's there because he is falsely
accused. Because he was lied on. And he
was put in prison, numbered with the transgressors there. And
he's brought into the affliction of the righteous. And he won
respect to the jailer. Look what it says in verse 21
here of Genesis 39. But the Lord was with him and
showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper
of the prisoner. of the prison and the keeper
of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were
in the prison and whatsoever they did he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under
his hand because the Lord was with him and that which he did
the Lord made it prosper. Now Lord Jesus Christ favor with
God and man Let's read here this 40th chapter
and see if we can find some things in it. After these things, that the
butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their
lord, the king of Egypt, Pharaoh was wroth against the two of
his officers, against the chief of the butlers and against the
chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward 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 in the ward. And they dreamed a dream, both
of them, 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 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 dreamed
a dream, no one to interpret it. Joseph said unto them, Do
not interpretation, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me then,
I pray you. Chief Butler told his dream to
Joseph, said it to him, but not to him. In my dream, behold,
a vine was before me. And the vine was three branches,
and that was though it budded, and her blossom shot forth, and
the cluster there has 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. into Pharaoh's
hand. And Joseph said unto him, This
is interpretation of it. The three branches are three
days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and
restore thee unto 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, but think on
me, or remember me, and show kindness I pray thee unto me
and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of his 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 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 birds shall eat the flesh from off thee. And it came to
pass, The third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made
a feast unto all of his servants, and he lifted up the head of
the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. He
restored the chief butler under his butlership again, and he
gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker,
as Joseph had interpreted him. Yet did not the chief butler
remember Joseph, but forgot him, but forgot him. You know, here's
something about Joseph. He was faithful, he was loyal,
and he was committed to his God in whatever circumstances he
was in. It made no difference where he was at, when he was
a boy, when his father sent him to do something, he went and
did it. He was hated and despised of his brother, but he was loyal
and faithful to his God in those circumstances. And whatever circumstance
he was in, whether it's in Potiphar's house, whether he was a servant
there, or whether he was in prison here, this man lived his commitment
to God, his faithfulness to God, and he did not complain about
his circumstances. And while he was in this prison
or wherever he was at, he lived on his God and lived by his God. He wasn't one of those who believed
that when in Rome, do like Rome does. Wherever he was at, he
was faithful to his God. He believed his God. And God
greatly blessed him. Joseph never compromised his
position. The Lord, everywhere you look,
it says the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord
caused him to prosper. Now here's what happens. Joseph,
while he was in prison, he was exalted even in prison. And when
our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, this old sorry, sorry
world, where everybody in it was bound by sin, bound, and
our Lord Jesus came here, and beloved, and we were in prison,
and our Lord came to do something for us. But here he was, he was
put in prison, and two of Pharaoh's chief officers, the butler and
the baker, the chief butler and the chief baker, And here he
was, the scriptures tell us that the captain of the guard made
him a servant to these two officers. Now these two fellows were in
prison, same prison Joseph was in. They were just as bound as
Joseph was. But Joseph, he found such favor
with the captain of the guard. He says, you wait on these fellows.
You serve these men. And that's what he did. He was
at his greatest being a servant. And he was as imprisoned as all
the rest of them was, but he served everybody in that jail.
He served and did what the jailer told him to do. But here's these
two officers. And he served these two men,
waited on these two men. Carried their food to these two
men. Waited on these two men, took care of these two men. And
God put them two men there just like those two thieves on the
cross. He put those two men there for a reason. They were not there
by chance. They were not there because of
bad luck. They were not there. They were
put there like those two thieves on either side of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God put these two men in Joseph's presence. Joseph
did not know why. Christ knew why those thieves
were there. Those two men, the butler and the baker, they did
not know why they were there. But God knew why they was there.
And God put them there for a purpose. He's gonna do something with
Joseph and He's gonna do something for these men through Joseph
that nobody else could do. And ain't that what we know?
That all things, all things work together for good. That them
that love God and are the called according to His purpose. And
here's what Joseph never murmured. never murmured never complained
he just obeyed just obeyed he was faithful he was loyal wherever
God put him he didn't make no difference in prison in Potiphar's
house wherever he's at he's faithful and he's loyal and he honored
his God but Joseph was watching these two butlers this butler
and this Baker, these two officers of Pharaoh's house, he was watching
them and serving them. And ain't that what it says,
you know, he served them in verse 4, served them. And these two
fellas had these dreams. And they had these dreams and
Joseph went in there one morning and they both sat there with
big ol' long faces. Sat in there with big ol' long
faces, sad faces. Sad, sad faces. And Joseph watched
them. And he said, why in the world
are you so sad? And I tell you what, beloved,
do us well to watch people's expressions. And when somebody's
sad, say something encouraging to them, or ask them why they're
sad. And our Lord Jesus Christ asked those disciples on the
Demas Roads, and he asked them, he said, why are you sad? Why
are you so sad? You're walking along here and
you're talking and you're absolutely so sad. And our Lord Jesus Christ
stood near to them. And while they were walking,
He opened up the Scriptures to their understanding. And when
they got there, they said, Who is that? Well, that's the Lord.
And I tell you what, our Lord Jesus Christ, He knows where
we're at. And He watches us. He keeps His eye on us. When
we're sad, He knows it. And He knows exactly how to bring
us out of our sadness, how to bring us out of our heavy heartedness.
And I sometimes, you know as well as I do, you get up some
days and the day is just, you don't know why it is, but it's
just a bad, it's just a day where you just, you just feel bad all
day. You don't know why, you can't
explain it. You get up, you have a, you're just sad all day long.
You're just troubled all day. You don't know why. Christ knows
why. And the next day you may get
up and it may be sunshine and roses. But it's the Lord that
does it, one way or another. But this butler had a dream. And Joseph, you know, it's told
us that his name was an interpreter of dreams. That's why Pharaoh
gave him a name, the interpreter of dreams. And here this fellow
was, he had these dreams. And Joseph, had been given and
told this man his dream. And he gave this butler some
very, very, very good news. He said, you know, in three days,
typical of the resurrection, in three days, Pharaoh's going
to pick you back up and he's going to put you right back where
you was. And you're going to wait on Pharaoh. You're going
to go right back. You're going to go back to that
wonderful position you had. And he was made such a blessing
to that butler. But oh, that baker, that's another
story. It's like I said this morning,
our Lord Jesus passed by a bunch of Jews, left them in their sin. left them in past judgment on
them and said because you say we see you're going to stay blind
and your sins going to remain but then he went by this blind
man and he blessed that blind man and gave sight to that blind
man and saved that blind man and that blind man worshipped
the Lord Jesus Christ and oh our Lord was made a blessing
to one and judgment to the and that's the way Joseph was made
a blessing to the butler But oh my, it's a whole other story
to this baker. Oh my, he pronounced judgment
on him. It's like those two thieves that's
on the cross with our Lord Jesus Christ. One of them, one on each
side of him. Both are malfactors. Both are
there because they deserve to be there. Both are dying for
what they themselves had done. Christ was on there for what
somebody else had done. Joseph's in prison for what somebody
else did. And these two thieves on the
side of our Lord Jesus Christ, one railed on him. He said, oh,
you said you saved others, well save us. Take yourself down from
the cross and take us down. Something happened to this other
fella. Something took place in his heart. He said, listen, He
said, I'm here justly. I'm here justly. And he talked
about Christ. He said, this man has done nothing
amiss. This man has done nothing amiss. He said, but I'm here justly.
And don't you, ain't you afraid of God? Don't you fear God that
you'd talk to him this way? And our Lord told that one, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. And the other one just left him
hanging there, cussing God while he died. And that's the way it
is with this right here. Made a blessing to one, a curse
to the other. One got life, and the other perished. And all Joseph was faithful in
the little things, and he gave glory to God. Ain't that what
he says there in verse 8? And they said unto him, We have
dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph
said unto them, Listen to what he says, Do not interpretations
belong to God? He didn't say they belong to
me, they belong to God. He said, You tell me. Maybe God
will let me understand what's going on here. He'll open this
up to me. Joseph was faithful in the little things. And they
foretold the future. Joseph foretold the future here
to both of these men. And it happened just exactly
as he said. And Joseph was watching, and
Joseph was waiting. And there he was, he was waiting,
and he told that baker. That baker said, oh boy, he gave
you good news, maybe he'll give me good news. But that's not
the way it was. That's the way our Master was.
Good news to one, bad news to another. Blessing to one, a curse
to another. Salvation to one, the passing
by of another. And that's what happened to Joseph
here. This baker, he said, oh my, he gave him good news, he's
sure he'll give me good news. But he told that baker, he said,
in three days, Pharaoh's gonna hang you. He's gonna take your
head. And not only is he gonna take
your head, but them birds are gonna come pluck the eyes out
of your head. Birds are gonna come pluck the eyes out of your
head. And Joseph waited and waited and waited and he served these
men, was good to these men and waited on these men and he asked
one thing for that brother. He said, when you go before Pharaoh,
when you go into Pharaoh's presence, please remember me before Pharaoh. Remember me before, show me this
kindness, would you? Just show me this kindness. When
you go before Pharaoh, and you're going to go before him. And this
was just three days after he told him that. You'd think just
the minute he got out of there, as soon as he got out of Pharaoh's
prison, he said, listen, there's this man in prison who told me
exactly what was going to happen in my life, and I've got to tell
you about it. I need to tell you about him
because he's down there and he's done nothing of his own. And
I tell you what, he was a wonderful man, a wonderful servant. He
was a gracious man and a kind man and a loyal man, a faithful
man. You'd thought that had been the
first thing went through his mind when he saw Pharaoh. But boy,
boy, he went Pharaoh and he never, he done forgot Joseph in three
days. He forgot Joseph. And Joseph was waiting. Look
what it says in verse 23. And old Joseph just asked that
man, said, please, please be, make mention of me unto Pharaoh
and bring me out of this house. Bring me out of this house. Bring
me up out of here. But yet did not the chief butler
remember Joseph, but forgot him. Forgot him. And I'll tell you, let me give
you three things about Joseph being in prison. You know, God's
way is the wisest. God's way is the wisest. No matter
where we're at, what we're to Joseph, falsely accused, hated
of his brethren, sold into slavery, stripped of his coat, lied on
to the father that he's dead. Then he goes into prison falsely
accused. You say, how in the world could
that do any good? God's way is the wisest. This
is where Joseph is being prepared for the work that God is going
to use him for when he brings him up out of prison. This man
is going to sit on the throne. This man is going to go from
the lowest position to the highest position. People say poor old Joseph. Sure
had hard luck. But this is God's school. God's
school is not like our school. You can go four years or eight
years and go to school. God's school is not like anybody
else's school. Do you know how long Moses had
to, how long it took him before he was ready to go down into
Egypt and deliver his people? He spent four years on the backside
of a desk tending sheep. God ain't gonna turn his sheep
over to just anybody. Moses thought, you know when
he slew that Egyptian and buried him in the sand, he thought right
then and there that God's gonna use me to save Israel out of
this bondage. That's not the way God does.
He don't use the sword that way. He took Moses, put him on the
backside of the desert and 40, 40 long years he was back there. And God taught him. That was
his school. No mistakes. And oh my. Paul, he spent three years down
in Arabia. God saved him on the Damascus
road. He went into Damascus and then
from there he went into Arabia. And for three years, that's how
God put him in Arabia, for three years. And you know what God
did for him in Arabia? Taught him the gospel. He said, I didn't
go up to Jerusalem. I didn't go up to the apostles
before me. He said, I certify that the gospel that I have,
God gave it to me. Christ revealed it to me. The
gospel was taught to me by Christ. And that's why Peter did not
understand justification by faith when he had an opportunity to
preach it. And oh my, and I tell you when
you know we see these clouds sometimes, but God, God's behind
them clouds. God's behind these clouds. And
when those children went into the furnace, Christ went into
the furnace with them. And wherever we're at, Christ
is with us. Whatever goes on in this world,
Christ is with us. He's never ever left us to ourselves. And some of us and some of you
have been in some awful situations in your life. We were just talking
about it back there a little while ago. When you have a baby,
and that baby, a new baby, and that baby gets sick, you never
felt so helpless in your life as when your baby gets sick. You have to carry it to the hospital
and they take it out of your arms and they put it in these
machines and get those machines to do this for them, that for
them and another thing for them. You're talking, what are you
going to do? There ain't nothing you can do
but trust God. And when God puts you in a situation
that you, and I love Oscar Richie when he used to say this. He
said, it's like Job. When it's all said in Job, the
only friend Job had in this world was God. He was left alone with
God. And Jacob, in Genesis 32, he
was left alone with God. That's what needs to happen,
to be left alone with God. You know, we're bombarded. I
hope I'm not getting out of line. I hope I'm not saying things
I'll not say, but we are bombarded with so many things. Televisions,
cell phones, radios, there's just something going on all the
time. And it just consumes our time. It gets our minds, and
it draws us this way, and it draws us that way, and we think
about this, and we think about that, and then we've got kids
that's in this situation, and grandkids in this situation.
We have all these things bombarding us. You know, and all these temptations
and things that just take so much of our time. And I tell you what's the best
thing that can happen for us is that God just bring us Ducky
did Joseph and put us in a position where we cannot do nothing but
be alone with God. That's, we need that more than
we need anything to be alone with God. You know it's like
Isaac, when Isaac, when he saw Rebekah and Rebekah saw Isaac
the first time, you know what he was doing? He was walking
in the evening, meditating on God. Pray. Pray. So in God's ways the wisest. What's he doing in prison? God's
got him in school. He's getting an education. God's
education. And I tell you what, when God
puts you in school, you're going to learn. People say, God tried
to teach you something. I think that you know God's going
to try to teach you. I hope God will teach you. Listen, God,
if He intends to teach you something, you're going to learn that lesson.
I guarantee it. I've had to learn a lot of lessons
in my life and I'm going to learn some more before I get out of
here. But I'll tell you one thing. I want to be taught. Whatever you do, Lord, do not
leave me to myself. If you have to, you know, if
he has to, I use this illustration sometimes. It's like you take
a cup and you break a cup and then try to put it all back together. I sometimes thank God, just take
me like you would a cup and break it and do whatever you need to
do and then put it back together. That seems as good in your sight.
Just strip it, strip it. You know, because I don't want
to I don't want to be deceived in myself and I don't want to
play the hypocrite and I don't want to be lost. I want God to
save me. I want God to save me. And then not only is God's ways
wisest, but God's time is best. God's time is best. Oh, and His
brothers got Him. and took him from home. He said,
I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews. I was stolen. I didn't leave there by my own
will. I didn't leave there by my own
pleasure. I didn't leave there by my own power. And he was taken from home. Put
in a pit. sold into slavery. Everything
seemed to be against him. Then he's cast into prison though
he was innocent. And he offered no offense. I mean, excuse me, no defense.
He offered no defense. Never tried to defend himself
at all. And he just asked that butler for one thing. One thing. Think on me. Think on me. Ain't that what it said in verse
14? 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 favor. Make
mention of me. God's time is best. And two long
years went by. Yet in those two long years he
trusted Trust in his God and he waited in time. He was exalted. You know he told his brothers,
he said, all these sheaves are going to make obeisance unto
me. They're going to come and bow down to me. And that's exactly
what happened. And that's why I said in verse
1 of chapter 41, I said it came to pass at the end of two full
years that Pharaoh had been. And that's when Joseph was brought
up. And here's the third thing we learn. that God's grace is
sufficient God's grace is sufficient in spite of everything that appeared
against him I mean you think what good ever happened to him
in his life up to this point and the Lord was with him wherever
he was God was with him and in spite of everything appeared
to be against him He was victorious. How? The same way we are, by
the grace of God. By God's blessed grace. In fact,
when he was lifted back up and raised back up, he was more than
a conqueror. David said, be still and know
that I am God. That's what Joseph did. He was
still. He said, God. And all listen, be patient for
the day of the Lord draweth nigh what he told us. He says, my
grace is sufficient. And there Joseph is, waiting
on God, waiting for the time of God to bring him up out of
there. He didn't know when it was going to happen, didn't know
how it was going to happen, but he knows, God, go bring me out
of here. And beloved, and our Lord Jesus
Christ, bless his holy name, He came into this world, came
into this world, numbered with the transgressors, numbered with the transgressors.
And where Joseph said, think on me, think on me, remember
me, show this kindness unto me, make mention of me, in favor
of whose presence to bring me up out of this house. but our
Lord Jesus Christ when he was on that cross he says my God
my God why has thou forsaken me? and he went down he was numbered
with the transgressors and he went down into the grave he went
into prison and there beloved he conquered everything that
was against us And on the third day, He came out of that grave. And Beloved, He left all of our
sins within that grave. And everything that we need,
He gives us. His grace has never, ever failed
us the first time. Never. His love for us is never
waxed, it's never waned. It's constant. We're like that
butler. We sometimes forget. We sometimes
forget. But thank God he never forgets.
He never forgets. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, oh, thank you for the day you've
given us. Thank you for the prayers we've heard today, the scriptures
we've seen read today and heard read today. Thank You for the
fellowship we've enjoyed. And Lord, it's in my heart to
submit to You. And I know it's in every believer's
heart here to give themselves away to You. You're worthy of
our whole being, our whole heart, our whole mind, everything about
us. You're worthy of it. And oh Lord
Jesus, we thank You that You love us and care for us died
for us and put away our sin. And we look forward to the day
when we'll be lifted up. Lifted up because you were so
kind and so gracious. We'll be lifted up. Be lifted
up. Spend eternity with you. Lord,
thank you. And Lord, it's in my heart and
I pray that you'd make this body of believers understand how much
I love them, and how much I admire them, and how much I esteem them. Lord, I count it such a blessing
and a privilege to be able to stand here before them. Lord,
thank you for being so kind, so gracious to me. And I pray
your blessings upon this congregation, upon the brethren as they preach
next week, And upon the meeting as we go, give Shirley and I
traveling mercies. Please bless these dear saints
of God. Lord Jesus, every one of us, call in our hearts and
say as Brad said, Lord, we need you. We need thee, oh, we need
thee. Every hour we need thee. So Lord Jesus, bless your holy
name. Thank you. Bless you. Amen. Amen. There's a chorus I want
to sing here. We ain't sung it ever. Stand
with me. It's in the back of the book.
Let's go to the back of the book. And every hour, the very last
one, the very last chorus in the chorus book, on the last
page. I hope I can remember this. We
ain't sung this in a long time. We used to sing all these choruses
and we don't. We haven't in a long time. Oh boy, I hope I can get this. No, no, the one at the bottom.
Every hour. Oh, every hour. Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. Every hour of
every day and moment and in every way I'm leaning
on Jesus He's the rock of my soul I'm singing His praises
wherever Let's do it again. Every hour
of every day and every moment and in every Jesus, he's the rock of my soul. I'm singing his praises wherever
I go.