The Butler, The Baker, And The Dream Maker - Genesis 40:1-23

[0:00] All right, so you want to turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 40. We've left our friend Joseph as we've been going with his journey. We were with Jacob, and then we had a brief glimpse into Joseph's home life.

[0:16] He gets packed off to college in Egypt, much to his discomfort. And he's sent down to Egypt by his brothers.

[0:26] And then we had that quick side jaunt into Judah's life, and now we're back to Joseph. Joseph was with Potiphar. He had a pretty good job for what it was.

[0:37] And then he's been sent into prison here in Egypt. Remember our scripture for Joseph? Our theme verse is Jeremiah 29 11.

[0:47] For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. We had men's discipleship yesterday, our men's breakfast. We were kind of talking about predestination a little bit, because we started Ephesians, the book of Ephesians, where Paul says, you've been predestinated unto something.

[1:06] He says we've been predestinated unto adoption as sons, that we are in Christ. But he's only talking to those that are in Christ. He's not saying that carte blanche to everybody. He's saying those in Christ, man, you have a predestination.

[1:20] And what's predestination? It's just a destiny that's predetermined. So predetermined destiny. In Christ, I can definitively tell you, if you are in Christ, you have a predetermined destiny. That it's glorious.

[1:32] That it's with the Father. That it's without sin. That it's new life. That is a predetermined destiny. I can also tell you if you're outside of Christ. And if you reject that, then there's a predetermined destiny for those that are outside of Christ.

[1:43] Nowhere in that does it mean that God has decided and chosen and predetermined people that you will go to hell and there's nothing you can do about it. You're going to go to hell kicking, screaming, wishing you can go to heaven. But I predestined you to hell.

[1:54] The Bible never says that. If you just take the scripture for what it says, you'll never find that idea. But like we see in the scripture here, that God has thoughts that he thinks towards us.

[2:05] And he says, I'm going to give you an expected end. That's that same idea. A predetermined end. That God has a predetermined end. And anybody can enter into that. God's thoughts towards his people are never for evil.

[2:17] They're always for good. And so we all have that opportunity. Do we want to enter into that? If you don't, you stay outside of that. That's on you. God's not going to force you into this.

[2:29] But the promise we have is like Joseph. In what appears to be the worst of circumstances and situations, this promise holds true. That God is a predetermined end for Joseph and he's going to get there.

[2:40] We saw last week, there's a couple words we looked at that kind of encompassed this portion of Joseph's life. The Hebrew word hayah. You know, it means to come to pass. That appeared like 15, 13 or 15 different times in the chapter last week.

[2:54] Come to pass or to become or to happen. And so as it came to pass, God became everything for Joseph. Everything he needed. And everything that happened to him came to pass.

[3:06] And we also realize there's a big gap of time here. When Joseph gets to Egypt to when Joseph is raised up to be the grand vizier, there's like 11 years. And so we know two of those at the end of this chapter will happen.

[3:17] Because it says he's left in prison for two more years. So that means there's nine years between when he gets into Potiphar's house and chapter 41. Nine years that he was with Potiphar and or in prison.

[3:30] So I think as we saw him grow up in Potiphar's house, I think we're talking a number of years that he was in that position. And we also saw this other word, prosperous. They said that God made Joseph to prosper.

[3:44] That he was prosperous. And to do well. That Joseph did well. It also meant this idea of rush or pour out. Like an abundance. An overflow. There's just so much. So prosperous. And the overflow of Joseph's life, as we've looked through this whole narrative with him, is faith.

[4:00] Faith. The overflow that flowed out of Joseph's life was his faith, his faithfulness. He was a man who prioritized faithfulness. And for Joseph, it was not about his position, where he was.

[4:12] It was about the presence of God. That God said, I am with you, Joseph. And so at the end of the last chapter, backing up into verse 21, it says, But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

[4:28] As Joseph is unjustly sent to prison by Potiphar and Mrs. Potiphar, it says that God gave him favor. And God showed him mercy. And God's presence is with him.

[4:40] 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 hands, because the Lord was with him.

[4:54] And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. And that's the other idea of prosper. There's another definition within that word, if you remember, that means to finish forward, to finish ahead. And God is moving Joseph forward.

[5:07] What looks like a tragedy is actually just the next step, right, on the road of Joseph's deliverance. And not just his deliverance, but the deliverance for God's people. And Joseph is finishing forward.

[5:17] Interesting, every time God blessed Joseph and made him prosperous, the dude had more work and more responsibility. You know, the keeper of the prison is like, all right, I'm just going to kick back and drink a latte and you go do all the work.

[5:30] I'm going to hold you responsible. So God's faithfulness doesn't just mean that, hey, we don't have to do anything. We do our part. That when God is faithful in our lives, it's going to result in an outworking of faithfulness, as we see with Joseph.

[5:44] But Joseph's faith, it was in response to God's faithfulness, right? Joseph was a faithful young man at 17. Faithful man growing up in Potiphar's house as the steward.

[5:54] And he's faithful in prison, the worst of jobs, right? But his faithfulness was in a response to God's faithfulness in his life. At every turn, we see it says God is with him, that God is prospering him.

[6:05] So as he sees God being faithful, that overflows his faithfulness in his life. It's always a response. Psalm 31 15 says, my times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me.

[6:19] Joseph knew this. As he's sitting there in prison, he's like, Lord, my times are in your hands. So what does that mean? It means he relies upon the Lord to move him forward. He's saying, God, you deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me.

[6:31] Instead of me trying to fight on my own behalf. And so that's where we find him. How long he's been in prison, I don't know. But at this point, something happens that kind of changes up the routine for Joseph.

[6:43] In chapter 40, verse 1, And it came to pass after these things, after the things we just talked about, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

[6:54] And my message today is the butler, the baker, and the dream maker. So we have the butler and the baker. The butler would be the wine taster. He's just the one who was in charge of tasting the wine for Pharaoh.

[7:07] In other words, he was his last line of defense for poison. Eat my food, drink my wine. If you die, I know it's poisoned. But he also was a very trusted and close official. The baker, he was more than just someone who baked bread.

[7:21] He was actually kind of in charge of master of ceremonies. We're going to see later on in the text, it says that Pharaoh was having a birthday. Right? Does the Egyptians celebrate birthdays?

[7:32] Well, they did, but not for each other, not for the individual. They celebrated the origination of their gods. So the Egyptians also gave us a 365-day calendar year.

[7:43] But they celebrated only three, or they tracked only 360 of those days over those 12 months. They'd have five days left over at the end of the year. Those five days would be used to celebrate different gods.

[7:55] So this could be that time period. Or it could be that they were celebrating Pharaoh as deity. Because it was thought that Pharaoh was a god too. So that's the idea. These two men would have had some pretty unique positions.

[8:10] As we get into this, we're going to see the cupbearer and the baker as they're thrown into prison. They would have had unique positions in setting this thing up. And something happens here.

[8:22] The outline, if you're into outlines, verses 1-4 is a nightmare scenario. Where these two guys, the trusted officials, all of a sudden they find themselves in prison. 5-8 is troubled dreams.

[8:34] They both have dreams. Verses 9-13, a dream job. This is the wine bearer's, the cupbearer's dream.

[8:45] He has this dream, and it's like a dream job. Verses 14-15 is Joseph responding to the interpretation he's going to give to the cupbearer. And he's like, hey, get me out of this nightmare. Wake me up from this.

[8:56] Don't forget about me. Verses 16-19, the dream takes flight. That's the baker. His dream isn't what he expected it to be. And then at the end, a dream comes true for one of these guys.

[9:08] So that's our outline. 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.

[9:19] The word offend literally means like to sin. It's the same word for sin, that there has been an offense. Something that they have done. It says after these things. That wording in Hebrew actually means after these words, after this speech.

[9:33] You see the same thing in Genesis 15-1. When it says, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram. It's literally after the word came the word. After these words came this word.

[9:43] And in Joseph's life, you can mark it by the things that happened to him and then God's word speaking into that. And we think of like God getting the final word. God always gets the final word.

[9:54] But he also has the first one. You know, in the situation Joseph's in, he's like, Lord, just get me out of here. Just have the final word here. Little did he know, I don't think he quite understood here, man, that God's been in this from the beginning.

[10:07] That he's been speaking in this from the beginning. Revelation 22-13 says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So God is the final word. But he also has the first one that started us on this path.

[10:20] That starts us in this downward spiral, it seems to, where all of a sudden we're in this prison. God's there. God's plans and purposes will not be thwarted. And Pharaoh, he was wroth or he was provoked against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers or the wine bearer and the chief of the bakers.

[10:39] So this is very specific that the two heads of these organizations, right? It's not one of the guys from their, you know, their organization. It's not like, okay, well, the somebody in the cup bearers union and we're going to go after him.

[10:53] No, it's the heads. And so the idea is that Pharaoh thinks that there's some type of plot against him in one of these organizations. And so he is provoked, it says.

[11:04] And he throws in prison. He put them in ward or in guard, under guard or under watch, kind of get the idea. Maybe he's saying to the warden of the prison, hey, watch these guys.

[11:16] I need to find out some information about them. The warden of the prison is probably like, oh man, I haven't done a day's work in three years. I got Joseph. So he throws them in there and he puts them under guard or under watch.

[11:29] Interesting. We're going to do communion today. And I would have never thought this was a communion chapter until I went through it. But what do we have here? You know, who do we have represented? We have the bread and the wine right here going down into prison, the bread and the wine.

[11:44] And there's so many pictures here of that. And so he puts them in ward, specifically in the house of the captain of the guards. It's not just in a cell. He's in this house of the captain of the guard.

[11:55] Into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them. And he, Joseph, served them or literally to minister unto them. He became their minister.

[12:06] And they continued a season in ward or in what word? Under guard or under watch. So Joseph becomes their minister.

[12:16] And here we have that word again, haya. He continued. They continued a season. Joseph was to serve these men. One of them is guilty, right? Pharaoh knows something's up with one of these guys.

[12:27] Joseph isn't. Joseph is here unjustly. And here he's got to serve these guys. Where it's like, Lord, look at, Lord, one of these guys deserves this. Maybe both of them. And I'm here unjustly. And I'm having to serve an innocent man having to serve the unjust.

[12:41] And Joseph finds himself in a season of service where he's alone. He's bound. And he's suffering personal injustice. But he doesn't rebel against his calling.

[12:51] He doesn't rebel against the responsibility given him. He's not like, no way. I am done. I'm not serving these people. I'm going to go sit in my cell and sulk. But it's a season.

[13:03] And what's unique about seasons? Seasons have an end. They have a beginning and they have an end. No season lasts forever. But continues to an appointed end.

[13:16] Right? Summer won't last forever. Thank you, Lord. You know, three months and the heat's over. It doesn't last forever. No season lasts forever. Hebrews 10.35 through 37 tells us to not cast away our confidence.

[13:33] Which has great recompense of reward. Our confidence in God and his promises and who he is and in his word. For you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

[13:43] I want that to be reversed. I want to receive the promise of God and then I'll do God's will. So much better that way, Lord. But no, it's after we've done the will of God, we might receive the fulfillment of the promise.

[13:55] God makes the promise. And then he expects us to walk according to the truth and the vision of that promise without it being fulfilled. And what usually happens when the promise is in front of you and it looks like it's right there.

[14:06] Well, then they can't get insurance. And then the waterline breaks. And then, oh, wait. I mean, then you're thrown in prison. Right? Abraham, you're going to be the father of many nations. Right? How many years?

[14:18] 13 years of waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. That's our hope. Our promise fulfilled is the resurrection.

[14:31] That the dead in Christ will raise incorruptible and then we which are alive and remain shall join them in the clouds and there will ever be with the Lord. Right? That is resurrection. That the dead are raised and then we with them.

[14:42] We want to be in the latter part. Either way, we're going to be there. Right? But that's our hope. We don't see that promise fulfilled yet, but we walk in the light of that. Now, and so Joseph here, he continues in this season faithfully because he knows who his God is.

[14:58] And these men, they dreamed a dream. Both of them. Each man his dream in one night. Well, you're not going to dream the other man's dream. Each man, according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker, the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

[15:12] It's an interesting phrase in the middle of that. Both of these men have a dream. And it says each man, according to the interpretation of his dream. The idea is there was an interpretation and God gave a dream to fit the interpretation.

[15:25] You think, wait, wait, wait. That's not how it works. We have a dream. And then we go looking for the interpretation to fit the dream. Right? No. That's how you get all kinds of crazy ideas going. Right? Why this dream? I think it's the Lord.

[15:36] Every dream in scripture that the Lord uses to speak to someone, they know it. And it's pointed out. You know, Joseph had his two dreams back when he was home. And as we said at the time, those weren't the only two dreams a guy ever had.

[15:49] Right? He's like, man, I just had a dream I've never had before. He knew that they were of the Lord. He knew something about that. This isn't just a dream and I want to try and interpret it. They knew something was different about this dream.

[16:00] Remember when Abraham and Sarah go down to Gerar and Abimelech is there and he takes Sarah into his harem. And the Lord appears to him into a dream and says, dude, you're a dead man.

[16:13] She's the wife of the prophet. He knows this isn't just some random dream. He knows God has spoken to him. So we can't just take dreams and try and fit an interpretation on or think, well, God's speaking to me through these dreams.

[16:26] God can choose to do that. And that's up to him. And here we see specifically that there is an interpretation for these dreams. You see, the dream fits the message, not the other way around.

[16:39] If a dream's from the Lord, it already has an interpretation. And I don't get to decide what that is. And here God speaks to these men. You know, they're just kind of players in a sense, pieces, pawns in this narrative.

[16:49] But God loves them and God cares for them. They're not just to move this narrative forward in Joseph's life. They're not just a setup so that God can do something amazing in the future. He loves these men.

[17:01] And he has a heart for them as well in the midst of this. And he spoke to them in a season when they were in trouble. They were in bondage. And he spoke to them in a way they could understand. He didn't give the cupbearer a dream about bread and the baker a dream about wine.

[17:16] He spoke to them in a way they could understand. And also spoke to them in the presence of one who could point them to God specifically. You see, in Egypt, it wasn't just that they thought dreams were special.

[17:30] Egypt thought, in Egypt, they thought all dreams had meaning. All dreams were special. Eventually, when Joseph's going to stand before Pharaoh, it's going to say, in Pharaoh, he asked his magicians and he asked his wise men.

[17:41] And it says, and none of them could interpret. And you think, well, dude, make something up. If you remember when Daniel's in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar says, I had a dream. And they say, oh, great king, the magicians, tell us what your dream is and we will tell you the interpretation.

[17:56] He's like, no, not a chance. You tell me my dream and you tell me my interpretation. And they're like, nobody can do that. Because he knows they could just make something up. Well, what about this situation? Couldn't they just make something up?

[18:08] They're just very honest about, we don't know. Well, in Egypt, they had books. It wasn't that you made it up. There is a book of dream interpretations. Depending on what was in your dream, depending on what you thought was going to happen in your life.

[18:22] We're going to see that later on, the baker is going to say, I also was in my dream. When you saw yourself in a dream, you thought, oh, this has great meaning. I was reading a bunch of stuff about dreams that I did not put in for today.

[18:34] One of them was, if you have a dream, one like if there's water in your dream or you're underwater, supposedly means this. There's one that said, if you have a dream with an aquarium with fish in it, it means romance in the future.

[18:47] I don't know if that meant for the fish or for the person. But it sure is awful vague just to say something's going to happen in the future. It's like, great. But God, he doesn't leave it where we don't know the interpretation if he wants to speak to us.

[19:02] And here are these men. God spoke to them in a way they can understand. But he put a man there who could point them to God. And there's people in our lives that, man, until they're in trouble, until they're in bondage, sometimes they won't hear God's voice.

[19:15] And then God speaks to them in a way they can understand. And then lo and behold, he puts us there to be a light. And they're just like, I don't know what to do. But I know you're a Christian because you don't talk like I do.

[19:28] And I had a guy this week, a Hispanic guy on my site, we were talking. He's like, man, I go home and I have a cold beer. I just kind of was like, yeah, that's nice. He's like, you don't drink? It's funny.

[19:39] The guys that I work with that are like the American guys, they're so unobservant. They're just about. But the Latinos, they're pretty observant. Like they'll notice things about like, oh, you don't cuss?

[19:50] You don't drink? I'm like, no. He's like, nothing? I'm like, no. No tequila? I'm like, no. No, no. No tequila. So God puts those opportunities that you're light.

[20:01] You don't even know it because you just, you look at Joseph. Joseph has been so encouraging because he just was living a faithful life. Remember with Potiphar, it says Potiphar saw that God, the Lord is with him.

[20:12] He saw Jehovah was with Joseph. Joseph was just a faithful employee. He wasn't doing anything outside the ordinary. And Joseph came in unto them in verse six in the morning and looked upon them and behold, they were sad.

[20:25] They looked their means to inspect, to inquire, not just a glance. They were sad. They were perplexed. And here's Joseph. Joseph is in a worse state than they are, in a sense.

[20:37] Unjustly accused, been here for years. And yet you see his heart. The circumstances he was in did not alter his heart and his care for others. That he was able to see, man, what's up with you guys?

[20:48] You know, I see you're hurting. And here's Joseph. Like all of the hurts he's got, he's able to minister to them. Hebrews 4.15, it tells us that Jesus is not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

[21:05] All points touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Jesus knows, and he cares, and he understands. In John, the account of the crucifixion, John gives us this account in chapter 19, beginning in verse 5.

[21:21] He said, He's hanging on the cross, right?

[21:45] And he's like, oh no, I didn't make provision for mom before my crucifixion. And there he is, hanging there in pain and suffering, bearing the sin of the world, and yet ministering outside of himself.

[21:58] And so Joseph comes in, and he sees these men, and he says, hey, what's going on, bro? And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his Lord's house, saying, Wherefore look you so sadly today?

[22:09] Joseph was genuinely concerned for those that God gave him to minister to. They weren't just names. They weren't just faceless people. He's like, I am concerned. And the interesting thing is, he just asked a very basic question.

[22:21] You know, how's your week been? Hey, you seem a little down. What's going on? Sometimes we can think like, man, well, I can think. How do we get to that next level? How do we connect with someone spiritually?

[22:32] You know, especially in the body. How do we get past, how was your work week? Good. How was yours? Good. What you been doing? Not much. That's about the conversation that guys have, right? That's why we do men's discipleship.

[22:44] All right, step one, let's figure out how to talk to each other. Right? That's men. My dad came down a couple weeks ago. My parents were down, mom and dad, for a week.

[22:57] And we heat with wood in the winter. And so I had a ton of wood to split. And we spent like two days splitting wood. It was great. We had such fellowship. We were together. We didn't talk. Because the wood splitter was going.

[23:08] We both had ear protection on. But it was so great. It was so rich. And we didn't really say anything. The conversation was pretty light. Right? But sometimes it's just as simple as Joseph saying, hey, why do you look so sad today?

[23:20] Just saying to someone, hey, you know, we never know what that's going to lead to. Joseph is in a pretty bad state because he stood for righteousness. He said, I'm not going to sin. I'm going to stand for righteousness.

[23:32] We need to never be afraid to live out a righteous life. And sometimes that can start as simple as just saying, I don't drink tequila. Or no. You know, or how are you doing today?

[23:43] We think it's so trite and so insignificant. But the Lord could use that to lead to something deeper, as we're going to see here. We never need to be afraid to live out a righteous life.

[23:55] For Joseph, he might be thinking, what's the point of all this, Lord? I've tried to live righteous. In Isaiah 49, 4, Isaiah writes, then said, I've labored in vain.

[24:05] I've spent my strength for nothing and in vain. He says, man, 49 chapters of Isaiah, they haven't responded. No repentance. But then he remembers, yet surely my judgment's with the Lord and my work with my God.

[24:18] He said, you know what? God's going to judge my work. God knows. In verse 8, they respond and they say unto Joseph, well, we've dreamed a dream. And there's no interpreter of it.

[24:30] So they recognize in Egypt, this is a pretty normal thing. Well, we can't go to the interpreter's house. We can't call up 1-800-what's-your-dream, you know? And Joseph said unto them, do not interpretations belong to God.

[24:41] Tell me them, I pray you. Interpretation, Joseph is saying, of dream is divine. Now, they would also agree with that. And this is kind of a setup. There's going to be seeds planted here that are not going to take fruit for two more years when Joseph then comes before Pharaoh.

[24:57] The Egyptians did believe that interpretation was divine. And Joseph is saying that interpretation comes from God. Joseph, you remember when he was thrown in the pit in Genesis 37, when his brothers first saw him coming, they're like, oh, here comes that dreamer.

[25:12] Here comes the master of dreams. And they're like, come on, let's kill him. And then we'll see what happens to this dreamer. Well, they end up throwing him in the pit and he gets to Egypt. But they were right.

[25:23] He is a master of dreams. And we see here, Joseph not only has grown as a man, but his gift has grown. When we saw him before with dreams, what was he doing? Just telling them.

[25:34] Here's these dreams I've had. Now he's saying, hey, tell me what they are. God can interpret dreams. I realize God has given me this gift. Romans 11, 29 says, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

[25:46] God has a time for the gifts he gives us. We may know, man, God has gifted me. There's something about this in my life that's just, I connect with. Joseph's like, I had these dreams and it seems like God's speaking to me through them.

[25:58] I don't understand what all this means. Well, there'll be a season for that, Joseph. That God will bring that to fruition. In Ecclesiastes, if you remember, Solomon's not at the greatest place in his life.

[26:09] He's kind of, he's writing truth, but not from a heavenly perspective. He's writing truth from a perspective of kind of a jaded and backslidden life. And he speaks about dreams in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 3 and then verse 7.

[26:22] He says, for a dream comes through the multitude of business. And you got a busy mind, you got a lot going on. You go to sleep, you end up dreaming. For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there are also diverse vanities.

[26:34] Like, yeah, you know, you can come up with all kinds of ideas about what you think your dream means and what its implications are, but it's just vanity. And then he concludes correctly, giving truth, but fear thou God, but fear God.

[26:48] We never look for a message from God outside of his word. However, we do not deny that God can use other means to deliver his message. Yet those means will never be against the Bible or equal to the Bible.

[27:03] If you have a dream and God gives you an interpretation of that, you don't write it in the blank page at the back of your Bible, you know, as chapter 1 of my scripture, right?

[27:13] It's not equal to scripture. God can speak outside of his word, but we never look for it. We never go looking for it. This is the only place we're given to look for a message from God.

[27:23] The other thing is God's message leaves no room for ambiguity. There's no confusion. What does ambiguity mean? Vocabulary day, right? It just means multiple interpretations.

[27:34] There's no room for multiple interpretations. When God gives a message, when God gives his word, there's only one interpretation. Now, the interpretation I'm giving you, the perspective I'm giving you and the information I'm giving you, there's more here, right?

[27:48] We could go back over this chapter next week and the week after and see more and see more, but I think you'd probably really get tired of going over the same chapter over and over, right? So I don't have the corner on what God's saying, but what I say better line up with what God has said, right?

[28:04] If there's something I say here that doesn't, like if I say, you know what? Tonight we're all going to go home and dream and I know that God's going to speak to us. Call me up tomorrow. I'll give you the interpretation. You know, go find a new church and then get me some help.

[28:18] But what I say and what anyone says when we're speaking for God and for his word, we should speak what God's word says. And the chief butler then tells his dream to Joseph.

[28:31] So he says, well, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me. Now, it's interesting. He tells his dream first. You know, spoiler, the chief butler, the wine, the cupbearer, he's innocent.

[28:43] The baker's guilty, right? Innocence is happy to speak first. Guilt is like, I'm not saying anything. We'll see how this turns out first. So the chief butler tells his dream to Joseph and he says, We know the interpretation of this.

[29:18] We're going to read it in a minute. Joseph's going to tell us. So we're not going to go and impose our own interpretation. But because we know the interpretation, we can then look at the dream and look at characteristics of it that line up with the interpretation.

[29:29] Right? It's like going to the parable of the sower where you have the different seeds, the one that falls on the path, one in the weeds, one in the rocks, one on good soil. Right? You have four.

[29:40] Four that are sown. Only one quarter comes back fruitful. And then Jesus gives the interpretation. You don't have to sit there going, man, I've been spending two weeks trying to figure out what is he saying here. We'll just keep reading. And Jesus says, well, this is what this one means.

[29:52] And this, we can't reinterpret it. But when we know the interpretation, man, we can then go back in and see some of those unique things. This one, we see a picture of fruitfulness and service.

[30:04] He has whose cup? It's Pharaoh's cup. Right? But it's empty. And he receives a source from outside himself, a source of fruitfulness that comes from outside of himself.

[30:15] And he receives more than he already had. He was empty. He was given fullness. He used it to serve another. And so Joseph says to him, giving him the interpretation, this is the interpretation of it.

[30:28] The three branches are three days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head and restore you unto your place. And you shall deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

[30:41] Right? Dream job. You're getting your job back, buddy. Interesting. Joseph approaches this and he says, this is the interpretation. There is no ambiguity. There's no question of this.

[30:51] He is assured when he says this. Like, dude, that's kind of sure of yourself there. Remember, Joseph is our picture of what? The son of favor of Jesus. Joseph is like one of very few, him and Daniel, that there's no sin ascribed to them.

[31:06] We're never going to see his failures. We're never going to see any frailty. We're never going to see any sin. And here in that picture of Jesus, that son of favor, he speaks with authority. In Jesus in Matthew 7, beginning in verse 28, when he had finished his sermon on the mount, that the people were astonished at his doctrine and his sayings, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

[31:33] We have authority in God's word. I teach from the authority of God's word. If I didn't have God's word, I'd have nothing to say. And I'd have no authority in it. My life experiences, they're not going to help you very much.

[31:44] They're from my perspective and my life. You've lived a different life and you have, you need God's word. You need the truth. Then Joseph says, but think on me.

[31:57] Literally remember me. Remember me when it will be well with you and show kindness. I pray you unto me and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house.

[32:08] Get me out of here. Joseph is saying, look, I've declared good for you. Would you please declare good for me? And he also recognizes that it's going to be a force greater than himself that's going to deliver him.

[32:22] He's like, when you are before Pharaoh, not when you go to Potiphar, not when you see the highest judge of the land, Pharaoh, when you're before Pharaoh, kind of like he had an idea of his deliverance.

[32:32] He knew almost the way it was going to come. He's like, I can see how God's going to do this. I just don't know when. I don't know how. Joseph's present circumstances were not forever. It was a season, right?

[32:43] He pursued change. We did not demand it. We are in this world, but not of it. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight for me.

[32:55] But now is my kingdom not from here? He said, Paul would write and say that the kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, that the kingdom of God is not come by observation, right?

[33:06] The kingdom of God is within us. So currently, the kingdom of God is here in spirit. It's not here in manifestation yet. That's when Jesus comes to rule and reign.

[33:18] And Joseph, he realizes that he's pursuing change, but he's not demanding it. And Jesus tells us the same thing in Matthew 6, 33. He says to us, seek it. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

[33:31] Man, seek that change in one another's lives. Seek it. And all these things shall be added unto you. But it's God's place to do the adding. I don't demand that. I don't try and fight for that.

[33:42] I don't try and make that happen. That's God's place and God's time. And so he says, listen, think well on me when you are before Pharaoh, when you're brought out of this house.

[33:53] 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. I've done nothing. I have written in my Bible. Then why is he here?

[34:07] What's the purpose? Why are you here, Joseph? Why did God put you here? In John chapter 9, Jesus and the disciples, they're walking along. They see a man born blind. And the disciples ask him, they're like, Master, who sinned?

[34:20] This man or his parents that he was born blind? And Jesus said, neither sinned. This man was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest. The reason for it is because God wanted to manifest forth his works.

[34:31] This man had to be blind so that I could come and give him sight. Joseph, why are you in this prison? Because you got to be in prison before God can deliver you from prison, right? We want to see God do impossible things.

[34:44] I don't really want to be in an impossible situation. I want God to make it really smooth and comfortable for me. Then I'm going to encourage you when you're in an impossible situation. That's so much better. For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews.

[34:59] And here also have I done nothing that they should put me into prison. The son of favor did not deserve to be in this situation. But for the purposes and glory of God, he needed to be. He did not deserve to be, but he needed to be.

[35:11] And when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, all right? Because remember, they're thinking that Joseph's not just giving interpretation. Ooh, Joseph is speaking this forth. So if Joseph has this gift, he can speak forth good to me.

[35:24] He's divine. He said unto Joseph, well, I was also in my dream. And behold, I had three white baskets on my head. Again, he's pointing out he was in the dream. He's seeing himself in the dream.

[35:35] So he knows it has to do with him. He thinks Joseph is going to be the source. He thinks he's the source of this information, the source of the interpretation, the source of truth. But he's not.

[35:46] He's just the messenger, right? Joseph, the son of favor, he wasn't the source. But our son of favor, he is, right? Jesus is not just the messenger.

[35:57] But he's also the source. Hebrews 1, 1 through 2, So our son of favor, Jesus, is the source as well as the messenger of truth.

[36:22] And in my baskets, he says, in the uppermost baskets, there was all manner of baked meats or bread, baked goods for Pharaoh. And the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

[36:34] And here we see there was an appearance of faithfulness. He's got all this stuff for Pharaoh, right? But then we see there's loss. The baker experienced the loss of what he already had. Where the cupbearer, he had nothing and received fullness.

[36:46] The baker, he received loss. And he did nothing to stop or prevent it. It seemed like faithfulness. But he did nothing to prevent that loss. And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation thereof.

[37:00] The three baskets are three days. The baker's thinking, yes. Within three days, shall Pharaoh lift up your head? Yes. From off you? No. And shall hang you on a tree.

[37:12] And the birds shall eat your flesh from off you. Joseph wasn't just willing to speak truth when it was comfortable and easy. He was willing to speak hard truth. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday.

[37:27] Woo-hoo! Right? That's a celebration of the origin of a god. Either him as a deity or celebrating deities. It seems like specifically they're celebrating Pharaoh as being a deity. That he made a feast unto all his servants.

[37:39] And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Lifted. The idea lifted up means he reckoned. He reckoned with them at this point. And he restored the chief butler or the cupbearer and his butlership again.

[37:57] And he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. Here he is again, restored to his position. But he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them.

[38:07] These men, they had a reckoning with what the Egyptians thought was a deity, but he wasn't, was he? But we will all have a reckoning. Every man, woman, and child will have a reckoning someday.

[38:19] Romans 14, for it is written as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us must give account of himself to God. We must all reckon with the Lord.

[38:34] The idea there where it says he interpreted, it means he opened. Here's Joseph, one who was able to open this dream. And he said to the cupbearer, he said, man, remember me. When you go and stand before Pharaoh.

[38:48] And he also said to him, hey, only God, only deity can interpret dreams. Only deity can open up a dream. We're going to find out the beginning of the next chapter. We won't, you know, it'll say that two full years came to pass.

[38:59] He forgot about him. For two years, that seed that was planted, that there is a man who has deity with him where he can open dreams. That God has planted that idea here.

[39:10] Yet did the chief butler, and yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but he forgot him.

[39:22] He forgot about him. There was no remembrance of the son of favor, was there? After three days, a life was restored. While for three days, there was a life that was already dead, wasn't there?

[39:36] After three days, the cupbearer is restored. Here's the son of favor with these men, prisoners identifying with them. Three days later, we see a life restored.

[39:49] And yet for three days, one of them was a walking dead. He was already dead. The son of favor, Joseph, shared a fate he did not deserve. He revealed God's message to those he was identified with.

[40:04] His message brought life, or it brought death. And he was proven true in three days. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again.

[40:14] In Psalm 103, David writes, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.

[40:25] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. What are those benefits? He forgives all our iniquities. He heals all our diseases. He's redeemed our life from destruction.

[40:37] He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies. And he satisfies our mouths with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles. Don't forget. Remember means to recall.

[40:50] We are to recall in our life the son of favor. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, We do communion, we're going to do communion this morning, to remember, to remember that, that three days, and he was proven true.

[41:18] The son of favor went down into death and was restored to life, proving that he was who he said he was. In 1 John 5, John writes, And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

[41:34] He that has the son has life. He that has not the son of God has not life. Very simple, right? Do we have the son? If so, then we are to remember.

[41:46] And we remember the son of favor in the bread and the wine, don't we? For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

[42:00] And when he had given thanks, he'd break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. And there he is, going to be going to the cross. I mean, when you have something really big in front of you, really stressful, really important, what's your state of mind?

[42:19] How do you feel at that moment? It's like, I just need to get through this, and then I can talk to you. You know, I just need to get through this. Here's Jesus, right before the cross, about to be betrayed. He knows all these guys are going to leave him.

[42:29] In a moment, they're all going to forsake him. Judas betrays him, but the rest of the disciples forsake him. Peter denies him, and as he looks at them in love, he says, Guys, this is my body broken for you.

[42:40] You need this, because you're about to forsake me. This do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also, he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood.

[42:52] This do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till you come. So the cupbearer, he forgot.

[43:03] He didn't remember the Son of Favor. It's going to be two years before he does. The other awesome thing, when we get into the next chapter, Joseph is just as available. The gift is just as available.

[43:13] The blessing is just as available. It's not like he goes to find him, and oh, he's gone. Oh, no. No, he ignored him for two years. He forgot about him. He released him. He let him go. He didn't recall him for two years.

[43:25] And yet, as soon as he was willing to turn, there he was, ready to be used by God. And so we have an opportunity to remember, right? I don't know what season you're in. This was a Joseph, this is my new term, a Joseph week.

[43:37] It was a Joseph week at work. God is with me. His favor is on me. Thank you, Jesus. But man, you wouldn't know it looking at the week. The visible situation doesn't play out that way, right?

[43:48] But it's a season. And in every season, we can look back and we can say, man, I remember that. I remember those benefits that God did on my behalf. So we're going to pass out communion and just wait.

[44:02] We'll partake together. You know, just recall. Just turn back to that son of favor. Remember that he is not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

[44:13] Whatever we're going through, he's like right there. He's right there. And he proved that when he went down into death and three days later rose again. So, Lord, we do thank you so much. What a picture.

[44:26] Why would you put this chapter in here? I mean, we didn't need to know about the butler and the baker and the dream maker in this chapter. It could have gone that Joseph was in prison.

[44:36] And then it could have been like, hey, and then Joseph was before Pharaoh. He was raised up for whatever reason. You put this in here to show us this beautiful picture of your heart towards us.

[44:47] With us in our bondage. With us in our loneliness. With us when we are unjustly accused. With us in a job we might not want with too much responsibility.

[44:58] But you're with us. And your favor is on us. And your kindness is shown to us. With us in every season. When we're rejected.

[45:09] When we're falsely accused. With us, Lord, in the seasons, Lord, where we're seeing you work mightily in our lives. It's interpretation of dreams. The gifts of the spirit are working. And Lord, we want to be the same.

[45:23] Just as you are the same yesterday, today, and forever in our lives, Lord. Lord, we want to be the same. Because we know this world needs it, Lord. And we know the body needs it. We want to be the same because we're drawing on the same source, Lord.

[45:36] We want faithfulness to overflow in our lives. We want faith and ministry and service to be what comes out of our lives. And Lord, when Potiphar or someone on one of our job sites or in our office says, Hey, you're different.

[45:52] Lord, we know as they see that you're with us. So Lord, help us to live out that life that is a light to this world. And as we remember you now, Jesus, we remember the great benefits we have.

[46:03] Lord, that we would look away from our trials and our struggles. And we would look to the man who hung on a cross while thinking of us. Who was in the greatest of pain and thought of us. Who took the sin of the world upon himself.

[46:18] Who experienced rejection like we couldn't imagine. His father turned his face away. But we remember that, Lord. We remember your love for us.

[46:29] That three days later you would raise from the grave to die no more. We love you, Jesus. Come and meet with us now in the breaking of the bread. In the taking of the cup. Amen.