and the testimony of the brethren." Calper's words. Powerful, scriptural, godly words indeed. And I can't think of a better hymn if you were to choose a theme song for the life of Joseph than the words that we have just sung. So if you will, turn with me to Genesis chapter 40. And as you turn there, I'm actually going to read the closing verses of chapter 39 and then the 40th chapters. If you'll perhaps join me then at verse 21 of chapter 39, this of course following Joseph's remarkable victory over a remarkable temptation, false accusation, and then imprisonment. We read from verse 21, But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper 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 there, 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 to prosper." And it came to pass after these things that the butler of the king of Egypt and his daughter 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 they put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard in prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard worked with them. And they continued their season in 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 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, For look ye so sad 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 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 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 I've 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. 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 situation 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 under his butlership again. And he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief butler, or baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him." Well, in the reading, we trust again the Lord to add his blessing. to the public reading of His Word. Let's bow our heads again in our hearts together. Our Heavenly Father, again, we pause to acknowledge Your presence. Lord, we take our place with the hymn writer and consider the marvelous and often mysterious ways that You move Or perhaps we have not known such dramatic mystery as Joseph's pilgrim journey was. But yet, Lord, Your hand, it is evident. We think of the psalm that we've lifted up. I fainted had, unless I'd believed to see the Lord's own graciousness amongst them that living be. Lord, truly You gave Joseph faith so that he would not faint. Grant us something of believing faith today. Take up of Your Word that is inspired and written for our learning. And help us as we consider it together today. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. If we could review again the broad outlines of Joseph's story. He was, as we have seen and known, the especially beloved son of his father. And yet was sent on an errand to his ailing and sinful brethren to seek their welfare. He was rejected of his brethren. And they would have killed him themselves, but instead they delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles. He sold into slavery, yet even there his nobility and his glory shine forth. His master's wife sees some glory in him that she desires to unlawfully use. He resists a fierce and focused temptation. A temptation that appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and to the pride of life. The foiled tempter turns to persecution. And Joseph is falsely accused and cast into prison. Again, it doesn't take an imagination at all to see the parallels between Joseph's journey and that of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. But as we come today and find Joseph cast into prison, This certainly brings us to the low point in Joseph's humiliation. And it is a low point that will last not for days, but for years. You think of this with regard to Joseph. Again, we turn the pages. Hopefully, as we're reading our Bibles, we can kind of turn the pages quickly. not pause to meditate on the passage of time. What's going on in life? What's going on in the mind and the heart in the days or years in between the parts of the story that are put before us? Joseph may have known, we believe, that he had some knowledge of the end of his story. The dreams that he received in his youth were revelatory. him as a foolish child and relating his dreams. We have found at least in our own meditations and the agreement of so many others that given the circumstances, given the affairs of the patriarchs, the manner in which God had revealed Himself to them. Hebrews 1 tells us about that. God in different ways and different times spoke in times past. And so there was really an obligation upon Joseph to make those dreams known. There's nothing said in the story about his boasting them and putting them in the wrong way. There is something in the story about how his brethren took them. And even his father Jacob taken back. But yet, we saw that phrase so similar to what we see of Mary, the mother of the Lord. He pondered those things in his heart. But I say Joseph must have had some knowledge of the end of his story. But what about those chapters in between? His lack of knowledge about what those chapters would contain. And then as we see the unfolding of those chapters. The hardship that came. We see here now Joseph in prison. And I say this is the low point of his story. This is a place of punishment, of humiliation, of shame. And who is it that we find in this prison? An innocent man. A man far more noble than his persecutors. Here he is. Noble, innocent Joseph. Imprisoned and forgotten. These are the words, if we could single out any two, that encapsulate the chapter that we've read. This chapter of Joseph's life. The elements of the story are few, and for many of us, we're familiar with them. But I want us to consider these elements today and try and at least think through what falls between them. So today I want to give some observations, first regarding Joseph himself, and then some observations with regard to the butler and the baker that are alike imprisoned with him and come to figure obviously so prominently in the story. But what do we observe, I say, regarding Joseph himself? Can I just list for you five things that I think very clearly shine through from this chapter of Joseph's story? Here I say he is in prison, but first, we find that he still works hard and he has a good spirit. We aren't told all the details, but evidently he didn't immediately come to be placed in charge of the prison. He is at some point at least in irons. The psalm tells us that Joseph endured fetters of irons. Whether that was only once in here in the prison or perhaps journeying across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula from his brethren who captured him. He knew fetters. He knew imprisonment. He knew hardship. But I say, he works hard and has a good spirit. I try and put myself in Joseph's story. I'm sure I would have collapsed prior to this point in his story, but if not, certainly here, cast into the prison Many commentators try and speculate from different archaeological discoveries and so forth just what the prison might have been like. Let's just say the summary and conclusion of all is it wouldn't have been a pleasant place. Joseph, how easily could he have crumbled at this point? Here he is in prison, falsely accused, Everything that he's endured has been based upon lies and jealousy. He could have thrown up his hands and said, what's the use? He could have easily become a troublemaker in prison. All right? If that's the way it's going to be, if I'm going to get treated like this, I'm going to play the part. I'm not going to cooperate. I'm going to be a tough guy to deal with. And I'm certainly not going to exert myself to make life happier and easier for the guy that's in charge of keeping me in this place." Wouldn't he have loved to have been Joseph's boss? All along the way, his boss is like, go on permanent vacation. This guy is great. Would that have been your spirit? How do we respond? Not just when hardship comes upon us because of our own problems, our own sins, our own messing up. But when hardship comes upon us because we're innocent. Because we're good. Joseph, I say, he has a good spirit. He's not crushed in spirit. And that is remarkable indeed. This isn't natural. This is evidence of a man who's thinking correctly. But secondly, another observation. We find here that he cared about other people's problems. And again, I put myself in his place and I think, how difficult. how unlike my flesh at least, this would be. If he doesn't become a troublemaker, at least he's meditating as it were on his own problems. Thinking, Lord, You've given me understanding that You've got something for me to do, and it's not this. When's it going to come? Maybe he's... Rethinking everything. Calculating. Trying to figure out how it's going to be. Maybe make some plan. Help things along. You don't think about other people and their problems. And you're wrapped up in yourself thinking like that. And yet Joseph comes. His morning rounds. Perhaps he's interested in these prisoners. These are Pharaoh's officers. You know, we can think of it often, the butler and the baker, and we think of servants, which indeed they were servants in the courts. But in the ancient world, these would have been positions of influence, positions of trust. Think of Nehemiah, the cupbearer to the king, a trusted servant. one given task to go forth and even oversee monies from the government given to him to take into Judea. Suggest the butler's job would have been akin to what is called the cupbearer in Nehemiah's day. Joseph comes by and he takes note. These men don't look happy. They look troubled. And so we ask them of their troubles. He has sympathy for these men. And He doesn't know if these men are guilty or innocent. He doesn't know if they've been cast into prison because Pharaoh was in a bad mood one day. Or if, as some commentators suggest from traditional commentary outside of Scripture obviously, that perhaps there was some plot on Pharaoh's life and these men were involved. And it was known. And they're cast into the prison. Whatever it is, Joseph doesn't know. But here again, this innocent man who knows he's there for the wrong reason, doesn't deserve to be there. These guys may very likely deserve to be there and be really bad men. But he cares for them. He shows sympathy and concern. So I say, one, he works hard and has a good spirit. Secondly, he cared about other people and their problems. I just encourage you again as we walk in this world, we know, we have absolute evidence that most in this current age walk in ungodliness. It permeates our culture. So in all likelihood, the people we're mingling with day by day are unsaved. Well, let's have gospel thoughts toward them. Let's not walk around as I fear often Christians do with a chip on their shoulder. We're the persecuted people and nobody likes us because we're better than them. Already we've gotten away from gospel thinking, haven't we? Maybe we walk around thinking I might deserve hell more than them. We would deal with them differently. We wouldn't let Joseph care about other people and their problems. But think with me with regard to a third observation. He's confident in God. When these men answer his inquiry about their well-being and why they're concerned, he hears of their dreams. And he says, tell them to me. He says, don't interpretations belong to God? I say, he's confident that God will give him the interpretation of the dreams. We've seen a refrain. We mentioned it already in our studies of Joseph, but the refrain comes in the last chapter and then twice in this chapter, God was with Joseph. Joseph knows that God is with him. It isn't just a refrain. It isn't just a literary observation in the wonderful literature that is the book of Genesis. It's a truth in Joseph's experience. He knows the presence of God. Now step back with me for a minute. And I want to apply this. Joseph has now for many, many, A decade or a little more now at the least. Been absent from his father's house. He's been absent from Canaan. He's been away from the Lord's people. He has not enjoyed, he has not been present in any of the gatherings of the corporate means of grace. He's not in church. There isn't a church. I can suggest here quite confidently, if there had been a church, he would have been there, but he hasn't had the opportunity. He hasn't had major pieces of the means of grace to enjoy, to avail himself of. But he's still enjoying God's presence. He's confident God will give the interpretation. He's confident God is with him. As I thought of this, my mind just rushed back to my youth. When I was young and in my college days, there was a routine, if you will, to services. Sermon is preached, and almost universally, there is an invitation given. An altar call. That was the close of the meeting. I remember being in classes at times where people would give instructions about how you give an altar call. I used to whip a little bit during instruction like that. Isn't this kind of God's work? Trying to get those emotions wrapped around this way. Get them coming forward. There have been godly people that have given, godly people that have responded to invitations, all of that. Just take those commentaries in the general. But what direction are we going with our view of the Lord and of His work and of His Spirit? We don't want to be Calvinists that never make any appeal in our preaching to say in a quiet moment after the Gospel's preached, are there any here today that don't know this Christ? Come to Him. Seek us out after the service. We can help you and understand the Gospel further. Call upon Him now. Appeals are not only not wrong, they're necessary. It's not appeals. methodologies of the flesh that I'm commenting on, but I have gone a little further. I'm on a second rabbit trail. I've got to get off the second one and come back to the first one. The first rabbit trail is this. There was usually a sequence in the invitations. If you need to be saved, come forward and be saved. Okay, well those are you that are already saved. A lot of you aren't living for the Lord. You're backslidden. You need to come forward and rededicate your life. You could go on rabbit trail number 3 on the whole idea of rededications. It's not Romans 17 that we read that in. Sorry, I go on. But after the rededication appeal, it was usually an appeal something like this, are you having your devotions? And the phrase was put forth almost in that specific terminology. Ritual that we have to perform daily of having our devotion. Well, lest you misinterpret the tone of my voice, that ain't bad. We need, and that's my whole point as I'm making an appeal that I'm hearing echoes of from my childhood. The problem is sometimes it's just put out there as a mechanical thing. You've got to have a set time every day and it's always done this way and that way and here are the boxes and if you need help here's a piece of paper that will help you do it. Again all of which some of those things can be helpful. But again when we just look at it so mechanically. Oh, I've stopped doing it. I need to come forward and confess that and tell everybody I'll never skip it again. I feel bad because I skipped it again and now I've got to go forward and tell everybody that what I said last time didn't work. All the machinery that we know of and we are put off from. But to come to the story, Joseph was evidently having his devotions. There's not a church within 300 miles. I know my geography isn't helping me right now, but it was a long way. He couldn't get back to church, but he was with the Lord. He knew the Lord was with him. He's obviously taking up God's promises. He's taking up the revelation that has been given and handed down to Him. He's rehearsing that in His heart and mind. He's seeking His God in prayer. It is for this reason. These reasons alone that we can say in our third observation here, He's confident in God. He's walking with God. He's able to stand up in this occasion and say, don't interpretations belong to God? If God has so evidently moved that these two men are shaken by their dreams, they're not just some normal dream where we wake up and think, where did all of that jumbled stuff come from? He knows God is at work. Because He's walking with the Lord. Now we have privilege of the means of grace. All the other good and necessary parts of our Christian walk where God takes them up and by His Spirit applies them and helps us. I pity people. Christians don't think they need the help of the means of grace. They can just take it lightly. I need the house of God. I know my own heart. I need it. I need the encouragement of singing hymns with you folks. Speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Making melody in our hearts to the Lord. It makes it a little more helpful when you go out in the world on Monday and you see the misery and then the fake happiness that's written across people's faces when you've come out of true joy like gathering with God's people here. It's helpful. You don't get in the mindset of, oh, I wish I had what they had that looks like they're happy with. You get in the mindset of, man, do these people need what I have? And that's helpful. I need that kind of help. But here Joseph, even without that help, He's confident in God. Because he's spending time with God. If I only had, for all of the benefits I've just extolled that we gain when we gather together. I mean, the preaching of the Word is central in that. Beyond the singing and the worship and the praise and the fellowship. But if all I had, the only food I had, was what I got from this pulpit, I'd be famished. I need to be in the Word, that daily manna, as it were. And I say Joseph is confident in God. But fourthly, a fourth observation, he's not bitter. Now this has almost been the perennial observation for this whole story so far. We found this as we considered him in Potiphar's house. He's not embittered. He's helpful. He seeks the welfare of Potiphar's house. Interestingly, Jeremiah instructs Israel as they're about to go into captivity of the Babylonians by the hand of God to seek the welfare of that city they were going to be cast into. Here we see a fresh evidence, if you will, that Joseph is not bitter. When he asked the butler to remember him when he's restored, he rehearses his story in a remarkable way. We don't read in the story My lowdown, no good brothers. We don't read in his recount of the story. Can you imagine what this woman is like? Potiphar's wife that sent me here. No mention of them at all. He is past that. He never got into that. He just says, I'm not supposed to be here. I was sold. and brought here. And even here, I've done nothing that is worthy of this prison. Remember me when you speak to Pharaoh." There's not a shred of bitterness in his story at all. He can speak truth with regard to his circumstances without throwing everybody else under the bus. Again, what a remarkable picture of the Spirit in control rather than the flesh. And a fifth observation. He faithfully reports the good news as well as the bad. Much like his report to his father when as a younger man he was sent to his brethren and gave report of his brethren's deeds. He doesn't give the good interpretation to the butler and then shrink back from giving the full, honest, bad report to the baker. I must confess, as I read the story year by year, if it weren't for the fact that the Scriptures tell us that both of the men dreamed a dream, My thought runs to the version of the story that maybe the baker didn't have a dream at all, and he heard the butler's dream and the interpretation, and he said, I got to make up something like that. Let me see what I do. I carry baskets full of food, OK? There are three days, three baskets. OK, what are the birds? Yeah, you got to watch the birds when you're carrying that stuff. And some commentator talked about different types of birds and how quickly they will come and get your food. One story I read, I can't remember now, the baker or something, the guy said, this guy wants his meal all ready to take, gone. Well, I don't think I can find any evidence for my suspicion in the story that the baker just made his up. But his dream, which God gave and is faithfully reported, was not good news. You think Joseph and all that we've outlined so far, he's not just some nice guy that is going to shrink back from truth when it hurts. He'll only say good things to people. No, he honestly takes up the report to the baker. Three days instead of being restored to office, Pharaoh's going to take your head off and hang up your corpse. And the birds are going to descend upon your flesh. He's faithful in reporting the good news as well as the bad. He obviously reports this in a gospel heart, because that gospel heart has belonged to Joseph. but he doesn't shrink back. Well, those are observations regarding Joseph himself. Let us come quickly to some observations regarding the butler and the baker. Perhaps both of these men at first are surprised and maybe even careless about Joseph's inquiry as to their mood and why they're upset. But immediately, one of them The butler opens up to Joseph. And so as we look at the butler, we see first that he acted in faith. Joseph hasn't presented himself as one of the practitioners of curious arts in Egypt, as we know there were plenty of them. He's not said, well, you know, I'm this kind of magician kind of guy. I can tell you what's going on. Sorry, it's kind of like the chiropractor I saw once years ago. A little issue, you know, and he said, do you carry a wallet? Yeah. Pocket? Yeah. I don't know. Well, the odds are pretty good. Sorry, not all chiropractors are bad. I need them sometimes, so I should retract my criticism. But it wasn't some curious art or some fair stunt that he said, I can get this figured out. He had told them there's a God in heaven. Interpretations belong to God. And the butler, contrary to sense, I mean, here's this guy. He's in prison with us. If he's so in touch with God, why is he still here? What can he know? How can he help? Oh, instead, he swallows his pride and says, yeah, I'll tell you my dream. You think God can let you know what it is? Here I am. Joseph has brought God right into the center of the conversation. His God. the God of the Hebrews. It's already spoken of. We've seen in the story. We haven't paused. But Potiphar's wife said, my husband brought one of the Hebrews here. Abraham's not-so-overly-numerous descendants yet are already known because Abraham's testimony at the altar that he built in the middle of the land when he first arrived to call people back to the Old Gospel has been made known. And this butler acts in faith. Your God is able? You think your God might be behind this? Sure, I'll tell you my story. And so he acts in faith, and his faith is rewarded. In spite of outward appearances and circumstances, he sees and he finds the authority and promise of God in the words and the interpretation that Joseph gives him. He hears that promise. He takes it up. And he receives it. The baker. This man not so ready at the first to trust as the butler was. He's not the first one to speak. And perhaps he is still, as most suggest, still incredulous. Maybe he's the one that entertains the thought, if you're so in touch with God, why are you here? More than one commentator that I have read find parallel between these two prisoners of Pharaoh that are crucified on either side of the Lord Jesus. Both of them at the first casting unbelief in his teeth, but one of them Obviously, by the intervention of the Spirit of God, begins to see something more in that man on the central cross than a condemned imposter. A despised false prophet. He begins to see the suffering Savior. And he says, Lord, remember me. It's interesting how everything is reversed. In the story of Joseph, he asked Butler to remember him, and the Butler forgets. In the story of Jesus, he found Jesus to remember him. He says, today, you'll be with me in paradise. Can I share with you the words of Henry Law? Again, I appreciate and call for your patience in the reading. He says, whenever awakened conscience cries, behold, I am vile, I loathe and abhor myself. Omnipotence has aimed the blow which brought the rebel to his knees. He is here contrasting these two thieves. But more than this, a trusting eye now gazes upon Jesus. To the mocking mob He seems a very worm and no man. But through all the rags and poverty of humanity, through all the disguise of blood and infamy, faith sees the King of kings, the conqueror of Satan, the divine deliverer, the all-subduing Savior. The shameful cross is discerned as the glorious high throne of incarnation." Here again, we see the mighty Spirit's work. He alone can show Jesus to the soul. But when He speaks the Word, the despised and rejected of men is loved and adored as the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely, the one dispenser of the mercies of salvation. But that is not all. A man may confess, I have sinned, and yet perish. Such was the case of Judas. The knowledge of the head may boast, we know thee who thou art, and never obtain life. Such is the case of devils. To gain interest in Christ, there must be a personal application to Him, close dealing with Him. But when the soul is deeply taught its need and sees that Christ alone can minister relief, it cannot be kept back. It receives a strength which bursts all fetters, wades through oceans of difficulty, surmounts mountains of obstacles, and never rests until safe in His sheltering arms and hears the words of His lips. It was so with the dying thief. Mark his cry. Lord, remember me. I'm perishing, but You can save me. The flames of hell almost encompass me, but Thou canst rescue. Lord, remember me." What a difference between these two prisoners of Pharaoh. What a difference between those two thieves. on Calvary's crosses. Joseph, emblematic of our Savior, not only as we, Lord willing, will see as we continue to pursue his story in his glories, but perhaps nowhere more so than in his humiliation. Here, he is a servant. Hear His love for His people. It shines forth most brightly. Let's bow our heads and our hearts together. Our Heavenly Father, we ask today, You might draw near in grace to see something of our Jesus in this ever-moving story of Joseph. Joseph had endured strong fetters of iron, lies and slander and jealousy and hatred. Jesus endured all of this. And it was just an insignificant prelude to His enduring wrath against our sins. We thank you today that he willingly, happily bore that wrath himself that we might never come under it. Give us the eyes of that dying thief to say, Lord, remember me. We pray it in Jesus' worthy name, Amen.