I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, we'll finish Genesis 39. It won't take long to do that. We'll get into Chapter 40. We're going to look at some of the comparisons. We've been doing that between the types of Jesus Christ and Joseph, and there are many. I haven't kept count of everything, but I read other men who have, and I'm not really big on getting real. I try to get deep into the scriptures. I like to do that for Sunday school. You know, there's a difference between teaching and preaching. Preaching, you can just give a truth and declare the truth, and you're not really explaining yourself. There's no need to explain yourself, by the way. When you're giving out the Word of God, let the Spirit of God explain it. Let that do the convicting. But in Sunday school, I try to explain as much as possible. It takes me too long probably to put a lesson together, but at the same time I read a statement that by the time you get to chapter 41 there's already been 55 legitimate types between Jesus Christ and Joseph. And what you have to take from that, we've explained this before, but what you have to take from that is the idea that This book, Genesis, is written probably 1400 years before Christ ever shows up. These types are all on the money. You don't go to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and have them referencing Joseph's life at all. But what you have is what you would otherwise call collusion. But there could be no possible collusion between Moses and John's writings and Moses and Matthew's writings or Luke's writings. And it's not as if they went back and said, let me go back to Genesis and try to write a story here about a man named Jesus and fake it. And I'll steal every attribute of Joseph's life and put it on to Jesus Christ's life. And because of that, because of all that, and because you're saved and you're looking at that, the world would never look at this stuff. But because you do, you realize that you are reading a miraculous book. You're not reading an ordinary book here. And so we give it the credit that it's due and we call it God's word. And of course, God tells you that he has a word and that he is the word and that him and the word are the same. And so we expect to have the Bible. It's not just a fanatical thing that we have at this church that we believe we have a Bible. We have real proof for that. But anyway, Genesis 39, we'll finish up with that in verse 22. Or we can start in 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. 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. There's no difference there between the keeper of the prison and what went on inside of Potiphar's house. Joseph maintained his testimony. That's on your paper. Verse 22 to 23, I'm skipping ahead a little bit, would indicate that Joseph never lost his testimony. Now consider his situation one more time. He's hated by his brothers. They told him so. They called him names. They said, here comes this dreamer. What shall we do to him? They suggested to kill him. No doubt that he understood that they wanted to kill him. They threw him in a pit, stripped him of his clothes, sold him off as a slave. He goes into Egypt and can you imagine as a 17 year old, I mean just think, I don't know if you can remember that far back some of you, but if you remember that feeling of needing to be accepted by your family and needing to be loved and needing to want people to hear, God gave me a message and nobody wants to hear my message, how defeating that could be at that age. when that's going on. And yet the whole time, it says here one more time that the Lord was with him in verse 21, showed him mercy and gave him favor. And so, the thing about Joseph is, why did God do that for him? Well, God did that for him because he maintained his testimony, he maintained his character, he maintained his attitude. You know, I've had many, many people over the years, you know, give me little cliches. And one of the cliches I always remember is attitude is everything. And, you know, you can get through a lot in life if you just maintain a good attitude. And whether or not you've been thrown into prison like this, whether or not you had something bad happen to you, doesn't mean you have to change your attitude and become a jerk or become mean or, okay, fine, I'm going to pay everybody back. I'm not going to be nice to anybody anymore. I'm not I don't care. You know what the Lord Lord obviously has deserted me and done me wrong and let me. So he didn't do that. And because of that, he was always in charge and the Lord always blessed him, always showed him mercy. And it's possible that he spent 12 years in prison in total. I can't imagine that, being 12 years. If you go ahead in the next chapter, you're going to see that he calls it a dungeon. So even though he was put out as the leader and he was given privileges, just like Paul was when Paul was in prison, at night, I believe what they did is they put him in the dungeon, they chained him up, and he was just like any other prisoner. But Joseph finds himself in prison. And by the way, this is the first mention of the word prison in the Bible. And I don't know, I couldn't prove this, it's probably not the case, but it could be in the case of a believer. But this may be the first believer ever in the Bible that was ever put in prison. And that would be Joseph. And what he didn't realize and what we never think that will ever happen to us because of our beliefs in Jesus Christ, he never realized he'd go to jail for that. He never realized he'd be persecuted for that. He never realized he'd be put in prison for that. But there's a long line of people that followed all the way, and we can go all the way through history from the Bible. And we can go all the way through history up to Paul and find out that Paul was in prison and beheaded. John was in prison and beheaded. All the apostles, according to legend or history, some of it you don't know, but they were crucified because of their beliefs. If you go to Hebrews 11, you read about all the people that were martyred for what they believed. And you know, we're insulated, very insulated in the United States. But this incident here about these two children and what might have happened, that got canceled by the way. I don't know if everybody realized that that queer fest, whatever you call it, the parade got canceled. And it only got postponed though. It didn't get completely canceled. It's postponed because our governor made a law that affects that situation. And it had to do with minor children. And you see, that's what, I don't want to get into it because I just don't want to get into it, but what they want to do with minor children and take them to places like this parade and expose them to all that lewdness and all that activity because they want them to think it's normal and indoctrinate them and get those evil spirits to come into them. So our governor, and we pray for that, right? We pray for Kings and all that are in authority that we could lead a quiet, peaceful life, but we may not always. And there may come a day and, you know, I don't know when it'll be, but, and maybe we'll get some forewarning. Maybe we won't, you know, COVID came on it like that. I remember when COVID came, we were doing a Bible Institute. We were in the other building and I was doing a Bible Institute lesson over there. And I remember the night, remember the lesson. And I think it was the next day. Certainly was the, the, the, within Tuesday, between Tuesday and Sunday, they, the announcement came out, Hey, everybody take a 15 day quarantine or whatever it was at 14, 15 days. quarantine and don't go to church. And all the churches, including ours, was shut down. And it was just we just had Bible Institute and then we didn't even get the Sunday, we didn't have church. Now we had it over the Internet. But I'm just saying you never know. And Joseph didn't know that he would be maybe the first one in the Bible to be in prison for what he believed, what he said, sold out, persecuted. And we may we may face that at some time. And the question then becomes upon us, are we ready for that? I don't know if I am. I'd like to say that I am, but I don't know that I am. Never had to face that before. You can go to some places around the world and they're facing it right now. But anyway, Egypt, he didn't realize that he'd be in prison, but he didn't realize his own family would be in prison. Egypt is called the house of bondage. That's where his family came to ultimately. God brought them there and there's a reason for all that too, but God brought them there to prosper them and to make them grow. But it turned out that Egypt imprisoned them and wouldn't let them go. Ultimately, what did Pharaoh say? I will not let them go. You cannot go. What was the famous line from Moses? Let my people go. It's called the house of bondage ten times in scripture. Ten of course is the number of Gentiles. But 1 Peter 1.7, just look at that real quick and then we'll move into chapter 40. I've said this before and I still don't know why. I have my thoughts. I have some I know that Jesus came and he suffered and because he had to suffer for our sin and that we have to suffer. That's one of my thoughts, that we have to suffer and understand that sin creates suffering and that we should never be comfortable in this world. But as we do suffer, we gain rewards. 1 Peter 1 says, let's just turn to verse 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. So it's reserved up there. You know, all these prosperity preachers have it wrong. Hey, read 1 Peter. It's reserved up there. It's nothing to do with down here. You know, I like to tell the prosperity preachers, why don't you take your message over to South Africa? Why don't you take your message to South Korea or North Korea? Really? Why don't you take your message to someplace except America where there's already prosperity without you telling me there is? Why don't you go there and set those people free and tell them to have positive mental attitudes and claim everything the Lord has for them? It's not true. It's reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So we have to wait for it. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now, this is this is God giving you the foreknowledge of what your life is going to look like through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith. And this is obviously what Joseph was going through. The trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold. I mean, gold, what's more precious than gold on this earth? I don't know. Everybody, the gold standard, right? Everybody, the money system is based on gold, precious metals. And the Lord says that your trial of your faith is much more precious than that of gold. Though it be tried with fire, it might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And we'll stop right there. But just making the point that God looks at our lives and He expects it. He creates it. He causes it. He caused it in Joseph's life. And so when it comes to ours, it's difficult to do. But we might want to just think about it and say, okay, Lord, what are you doing? And give it over to him. And Joseph, I believe, would have had some peace about him. And Joseph, because he kept his composure, he kept his attitude, he kept his character, even in the worst of circumstances, he was put forward. So chapter 40 in verse 1 through 5, And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in a ward in the house of the captain of the guard, and 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 war. By the way, who's the captain of the guard? Anybody know? You know his name? Potiphar. So even though he gets kicked out of Potiphar's house, Potiphar is still in charge of him over here. And so, anyway, in verse 5, 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, and were bound in the prison." Now we're going to talk about dreams a little bit this morning, not yet, but we'll talk about dreams. And I forget how many times dream shows up in the Bible, or the form of the word dream is a hundred and some times it shows up in the Bible. And God uses dreams. We'll talk about that. But He used it more in the Old Testament times than He does today. In fact, well, we'll get to it. We'll get to it in a little bit. But the word butler, just to give you some more numbers, the word butler shows up seven times in this chapter, in chapter 40. That's the number for completeness. Now, who was restored back to their office? The butler. He was restored. The baker appears five times in the chapter, but he was hung. Five is the number of what? Death. So it's right there on your paper. Forty, this is chapter 40, 40 is the number of trials and testing in the Bible. And classic examples are Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. And you've got Jesus Christ tempted in the wilderness from Satan, 40 days. And so 40, we could go through it, but we won't. We don't need to. 40 is the number of testing in the Bible. And Joseph, I believe, is being tested. At this point, he may have been in that prison for 10 or 11 years when these guys show up. And because he gets two more years before he gets out, once the butler gets put back in position, he forgets about, and we'll maybe mention that later, but he forgets about Joseph. And so anyway, he's in that prison. Verse 15 is where you find the word dungeon. He's giving, he's making his case to the butler and he says, for indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also, I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. So again, he was free to roam around, I believe, during the day, but they put him in chains. The Bible says here that they bound him, and I believe every night they just chained him up and put him in the dungeon where he was supposed to be, and that's where these guys were. But they had dreams, and the Lord works in mysterious ways. These two guys are obviously unbelievers, Egyptians, they're servants of Pharaoh, and they come into this prison and they have dreams. And so, but Adam was told not to eat of a tree. This is, I'm just giving some examples on your sheet of God working in mysterious ways. I mean, why would Adam not to eat of a tree? We studied all that. But that's a strange thing in the Bible, right? Noah's told to build an ark to the whole world, that seems strange. Adam was told, or I put Abram, Abram was told to leave his home, leave his family, go to a land that you know not, just leave, and he didn't know where he was going. He is told that he was wait for a hundred years for a son. I mean, if I had told you that, if the Lord told you that, you'd be like, I'll be dead by then, right? And so, and then once he had the son, he said, take your son up to the mountain and on the altar and sacrifice your son and kill him. So all through the Bible, what you're going to find out, Anthony and I had a discussion, Pastor and I and Anthony had a discussion the other night of another incident in the Bible about the old prophet and the young prophet. And, you know, the idea is like, what's that all about? Well, that's a great question, because we don't really always know what that's all about. When you read the Bible and you read all the strange things that how God works, and that's where the saying comes. It's not in the Bible that God works in mysterious ways. You understand, right? That's just a phrase we make up. But God does work in mysterious ways and he does some strange things. And so here you've got these two guys, Joseph, why is he in prison? He shouldn't be in prison, right? He's done nothing but right. He's done nothing but serve the Lord and God's blessed him for that, but yet there he is. And then here comes these two lost people and they come in and they have dreams. What's that all about? Well, we're about to figure that out. Let's see here. If you have, oh, by the way, if you have, I have it on your sheet. If you have a Ruckman reference Bible, Verse number five, which is, they dream to dream, both of them, each man is dreaming one night. He talks about all the people in the Bible, and I think he's got a good list here, I don't know if he's got everybody, but he's got fourteen people on a list here that have had dreams in the Bible. Let me give you some of the names. Joseph, of course, here. Jacob, before that, had a dream. Remember, he had the ladder going up and down and God spoke to him. And Laban had a dream. Don't go mess around with Jacob. And Laban may or may not have been saved. I doubt he was. You've got Pharaoh having a dream. You've got a Midianite soldier in the Bible having a dream. You've got Solomon, as recorded, a dream. Nebuchadnezzar. with the statue, Daniel as well, Joseph, the husband of Mary gets a dream, the wise men have a dream, and Pilate's wife has a dream. And these dreams are recorded in the Bible. Now, I looked over the list, he has 14 people on the list, but of that list, at least seven of them are not even saved. They're not believers. We wouldn't call them believers. They're just people out in the world. So why in the world then would God give people like that a dream? You see? But we'll get into that in just a little bit. But Joseph is presented with the chance to either minister to these two guys or to not minister. I believe that's why these guys showed up in the jail. It was one of the Lord's mysterious ways to say, okay, Joseph, let me see. Just because someone shows up around me, I'm like, well, that's their problem. You know, well, they're lost. Let them figure it out. If they haven't been saved by now, there's probably something wrong with them. Right. That's what goes on in my mind sometimes. Instead of saying, well, you know what? God brought them in my path. Let me pull out a tract if I have one. You know we don't always even carry those. Let me pull out a track and hand it to that person. Because obviously I'm here at such a time where I saw a situation or I heard something come out of their mouth or they have a certain need and I could be the one to minister to them but I'm totally unprepared either that or I just don't want to. Or I do. And so God will put things in lost people's lives to bring them across our path so that we have a chance to say what we ought to say about that or do what we ought to do about that. You know, we have the answers. We know what the Bible says about what they don't know and what their dilemma is. And so these guys come in, and the Bible tells you that they're real sad. Let me see here, where are we? We're right up to verse 5. Let's read the verse 6. 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 the Lord's house, saying, wherefore look ye so sadly today? So they had this dream and they said, we had these dreams. Both of us had dreams. It was undeniable that we had these startling dreams, these very realistic dreams, and we don't know what they're all about. And obviously these people are very superstitious as Egyptians. They had all these gods. And everything meant something to them. You know, the world is always looking to get into interpretation of dreams and what they really mean in the afterlife and the spirit world. And I'm a spiritual person, but I'm not a religious person. And what they mean is they're off into all areas that it's not safe to be into. And it bothered them. And so Joseph was presented with the chance to either minister or to keep himself. You know, he didn't have to say anything to him. He could have said, well, that's too bad. You know, I'm in charge of the prison. You're my prisoners. It's as if you're my prisoners. You know, start washing the floors. I don't want to hear about your dreams. But he didn't do it. And that shows something about his character. He's presented with the chance to minister, and he does. It says in verse 4, and he served them. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them, and they continued a season in war. So he decided that he was going to take his position and serve these men. And just as Jesus, by the way, as a comparison, Jesus served the guilty, right? And I gave you the reference, Matthew 20, 28, he says, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister And who did He have to minister unto? Us. People like us, Lord, who didn't deserve it. People that, you know, just like the people that we're confronted with. If Jesus was willing to minister to us and heal the blind and the lame and the sick and cast out devils and undeserving we are, then we ought to have that same attitude and Joseph had that attitude. Joseph's willingness to minister to these two would result in his release two years later. Now you never know what you're going to do, and you don't do it for this reason. You don't tithe so that you get back, you know, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. And some people, you know, think, well, I'm going to give, and the preachers say, if you give, God will give back to you tenfold and all this garbage. If God never gives back to you, it's okay. You know, we do what we're supposed to do anyway. In this case, and in other cases, we never know what God is going to do with that. We never know. Joseph had no idea that two years later, this one man at least would be responsible for his release. And he didn't do it for that reason, nor should we, but that's what happened. Also in verse 4, by the way, it says, these men continued a season in ward with Joseph. Now I am just making a comparison. Jesus said in John 1.9, I am the light of the world. In fact, go there and look at John 1.9. I don't want to misquote it. John is speaking in verse 8. Well, John is talking about who's the light. And it says in verse eight, he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which light of every man that cometh into the world. So the point I'm making is these men, God was doing two things at one time. Number one, God is giving Joseph a chance to see if he's willing to minister to people who he that Joseph knows. He tells them, don't do not interpretations belong to God. And this is what we're going to get into the dreams in just a minute. But do not interpretations belong. Joseph knows that. Just like if someone were to come to you and say, you know, is there really a is there really, you know, Pilate said, what is truth? Well, if I if that's an earshot of me, I could say what truth is. And if people say, well, who knows if you really go to heaven when you die? Well, if that's in earshot, I could tell you, you can really know. I have a verse that tells you exactly these things that were written to you that you may know. Right? And so we have, Joseph had the chance, but also God was giving these two lost men a dream and puts them, the ones with the dream, into prison so that the one, the only one in the whole land could interpret that dream for them and give them God's message. And if Joseph didn't do it, so God's being merciful to both parties. He's allowing Joseph to have a chance to see if Joseph will serve him. And he's having these men have a chance to hear a message from God. And this is how God, this again, God works in mysterious ways. And God, and what I'm pointing out is they continue to season and ward. They came into that prison to spend time with Joseph, no doubt about it. Just so happens that of all the servants, Pharaoh gets mad at these two. And these two wind up in prison, and these two get a dream that very same night, and these two are in front of Joseph, the man of God, if you want to call it. And Joseph understands, already has the understanding that interpretations belong to God. He wasn't flustered by that. He's like, well, I don't know what that means. I haven't really studied my Bible. He knows what that means. And so he's given these men, and Jesus is the light of the world that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He gives every man a chance to hear. He gave these two men a chance to hear. Now, we realize that it didn't help. The one man got hanged on a tree and the other man, as soon as he got out, he was happy and he forgot all about Joseph. Right? So he didn't do anything. But Romans 119, if you want to turn there, Romans 119 shows you, you know, people say, well, what about the people who've never heard? And you know what your answer to that is? Well, number one, God lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Number two, I would say Romans 119, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, For God hath showed it unto them. And then he goes on and talks about the creation of the world. And you have to deny your own God-given instincts, your own God-given conscience, because it's in you to know that there's a God. That's the second thing. And number three, and I think Anthony just said it, what about you? It doesn't matter if the person off in Zimbabwe, you don't worry about them and say, well, I'm going to stand before God and say, well, what about so-and-so in Zimbabwe? God's going to say, no, no, I'm talking to you. What about you? Well, yeah, I knew, but I had an issue with you, God. I took care of the guy. In fact, here's the guy right here. He's behind me. He's already saved. You don't worry about that, and you don't worry about other people, and don't let that argument throw you. God takes these two men in Pharaoh's house and puts them in front of the man of God. We could go after example, after example, after example in the Bible about how God put men in front of preachers so that they could get the word of God. So verse 6 through 13 back in Genesis 40, it says, And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were very sad, or they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of the Lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly today? And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches, and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth, and the cluster 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 the palace, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. Let's keep reading. 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 his house. this house for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews and here also I have 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 thine head from off thee, and shall hang thee on the tree, and the bird shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants, and he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand, and he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. So, and we could, I don't know what the temperature is in here, but if you could knock it down, that would be good. So, Joseph asked these men, wherefore look ye so sadly today? And they told him about the dreams. And we mentioned the world is always looking to dreams, so what, so do dreams have merit? That's the question. Do dreams have any merit? What does the Bible have to say would be your next question. You don't say, well yeah, I had this dream and two days later it all happened. Now there may be that. There can be circumstances. There can be coincidences. That's real. The coincidences are real. Some people say that coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous. That's a clever saying, but I don't know if I believe that all the time. You know, just because there's a coincidence doesn't mean that God was in it. It could be the devil orchestrating your life. You know, we have to watch out for that. So do dreams have merits? Well, Ecclesiastes 5.3. Go to Ecclesiastes 5. It's on your paper, but I also want to show you another verse there. Ecclesiastes 5. Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 3. It's talking in chapter 1 about not speaking. We might as well read it. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few. That's always good advice, by the way. And then verse three, for a dream cometh through the multitude of busyness, and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words. So you understand what that's saying? You get dreams. You say, well, I did all this stuff today and I dreamed about it at night. Well, of course. That's what happens. Your mind is doing a dump, right? I mean, it's like taking a hard drive and just deleting everything that was on the hard drive. And you go to sleep and all of a sudden your mind is just like rehearsing all the things you've been thinking about, all the things you've been worried about, all the things that you're anxious about, and everything that you're fearful about. All that stuff can come out in your dreams. And even your work, what you're doing, you know, I've plenty of that. I've told you about that when I was a landscaper. I still have the nightmares. I still have the dreams where, you know, I'm late for work, and I'm running, and it's raining, and I got to get this done. And if I don't get this done, I won't get paid. And these people didn't show up for work, so I'm making up for them. And it's just run, run, run, and you don't get any rest at all. But that's because just a multitude of busyness. You've got a lot of things going on through your mind and so it doesn't really mean that the dreams have meaning. Look at verse 7, for in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also diverse vanities, but fear thou God. So we fear God, we don't worry about what the dreams tell us. Well, okay, I had this dream and this is what happened, but this is what God said. And I'll take what God said over what my dreams said, right? And so dreams are not anything to get all worked up about. But look at, let's see here, let's go to Job chapter 33. Job has a different take on dreams than Solomon, and it's true too. Job chapter 33 and verse 14, we'll start. It says, For God speaketh once, yea, twice, yea, yet man perceiveth it not, in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed. Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction. So what's Job telling us there? That same thing that happened to the baker, right? Hey, you're going to get your you're going to your head's going to be taken off based on your dream. And the butler, hey, you're going to be restored based on your dream. It was true. And the interpretation was there. And God gave those men those dreams, right? There's no denying that. And of the list that Brother Ruckman put in his Bible, 14 other times we have men. You take Pilate's wife, for example. Hey, don't have anything to do with that just man. I've suffered many things last night in a dream because of him. That was true. And that was God trying to get a hold of Pilate through his wife. And so Job is telling you here that in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep fall upon men and slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction. So this seems to be, though, that it's God provoking men with thought. All right, there's nothing wrong with saying, man, I had a dream last night and it seemed so real. Where do I put, oh, right here. It seemed so real. And it really bothered me. And you know what, you might say, boy, I never want that to happen. Or I never want to go through, thank God it was only a dream, right? And we can thank God that it was only a dream. Sometimes we actually live out the consequences. Sometimes we actually live out the circumstances. Sometimes we actually have those conversations that we shouldn't have or maybe should have in those dreams. and we see how it might have turned out, and we live that, and we get a little fearful of that, and maybe we get a little caution from that, and don't think that maybe that's not God trying to talk to you. You know, why would God not talk to you at night if He talks to you during the day? If you read the Bible and you say, God, show me something from the Bible, or God, speak to me, God, help me with this decision, does He only do that during the day? Sometimes he has to do it, and sometimes, I believe, according to Job, he does that at night. Not to give you prophecy, not to tell you that this is what's going to happen, your head's going to be taken off, or that you're going to be restored, or that you're going to make a million dollars, or that you're going to be successful, or that you're going to fail, concretely, but just to maybe work into the subconscious mind things about God and things to contemplate, and warnings, perhaps. And I believe that. I believe He does that. The spiritual warfare takes place in the mind. That's where it goes. I believe that when you give devil's entrance into your body, which I believe can happen to a Christian, and definitely can happen to a lost person, it's always an entrance through the mind. You know, if you want to take drugs, guess what you're doing? You're altering the state of your mind. Say, well, what's wrong with a little high every now and then? It makes me feel good, takes my pain away. You know, the marijuana, it just helps me out. Because you're altering the state of your mind. And when you alter the state of your mind, you're allowing things to come in to that mind. Why not just let God speak to you, right? And so when you're drinking that alcohol and you're getting that buzz and you like that, and it's just a little bit, it doesn't bother you. You're altering the state of your mind. Just a little bit, and we have breathalyzer tests for this, just a little bit can alter the state of your mind to the point where you can kill a little child. You can go out on that road and you can kill an entire family in a car because you just needed a little drink. Right? And so that's what happens. The warfare goes on in the mind. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. I've been praying for years before I go to bed about dreams. anymore is I don't want to dream. I don't need a dream. Thanks, Lord. But but it happens anyway. And you and you can't control it when it does. It just going to happen. But you might want to take a more of a spiritual approach to your dreams and be considering what what's going on there and who's giving you the message. But but Ephesians chapter four and verse twenty three. Paul talks about the warfare of the mind, he says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So where does the renewal, how do you put on the new man? Where does it begin? In the mind. In the spirit of the mind. Go to Romans chapter 12. That word shows up again in Romans chapter 12 about the renewing. Romans chapter 12. in verse 2, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. And I believe that's what God wants to do. He'll take a lost man and he'll let him go to bed at night. And he won't necessarily have a dream like the baker and the butler or Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar or Daniel or all these other men. But he'll get God's. He'll have a time where God is able to work on his subconscious, where God is able to put some thoughts into this fear of God into him. Maybe some situations. Maybe I remember when I got saved. And I wasn't sleeping yet, but I was laying in my bed. I was in my bedroom all alone. I was laying on my bed and it was just as if God was showing me a movie. And what I saw was hell. I saw the flames of hell and I saw and God said to me, do you see that? And I said, yeah, I see that. And he said, is that real? I said, according to the Bible, that's real. And the question was, where are you going there? And I know the cross is a sign of a curse, and I'm just telling you, I saw this movie in my bed, in my bedroom. The cross was there as well, and he said, you know, I died on that cross for you. And John, you know you've prayed the prayer of salvation a thousand times. And you know you never believed it one time. And you know you were just doing the religious activity. Do you know what I said in the Bible? And I said, yeah, I know what you said in the Bible, because it was right there. I read it right on the screen. It was right there. And it said that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, thou shalt believe in thine heart that God is risen from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And the question he said to me was, do you believe that? I was having this conversation, okay? I wasn't hearing his voice. I was reading it on a screen. That's the best way I can describe it. And I said, I do believe that because that's what you said. He said, well, then why haven't you done it? I said, okay, I'll do it right now. And it was the last time I ever prayed that prayer. I don't pray anymore for God to save me. You know why? Not because I did some great work, but because I trust what God showed me. I trust what God told me. And He wanted me to have that trust, you see. And so sometimes on your bed at night when God is dealing with the spirit of your mind, and He is saying, now look, let's deal with this. That's the time where I believe God can deal with a man. And so look at Titus chapter 3 and verse 5. This idea of renewing, it shows up again in Titus chapter 3. right after 2 Timothy. It says, "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." So the renewing of your mind is not something that you can do in your own power. The business world keeps telling me that that's what I can do in my own power. The business world keeps telling me to think and grow rich. The business world keeps telling me the power of the mind. And there is power in the mind. But you know what? The only way you're going to get the power that God wants you to have is through the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And so you get the Holy Ghost involved. If you're saved, that's the only way you can get it involved. And you can get that. Spiritual warfare won't be as difficult. Now go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. and I'll show you the opposite. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, talking about Satan knows that the battle is in the mind. He wants your mind. Why do you think every billboard has sex on it? Pardon me for being honest, but that's what you're going to see when you leave here today. Why do you think they always want to make innuendos and everything it means has a double meaning? Why do you think they're trying to trigger your mind to think wrong, right? Why is it all the time that that's what they're doing to try and sell you something? and to make you want something more. Why is it that every video game started off as little dots on a screen like this that you just jump around when I was a kid, moving a dot on a screen. And now it's everything under the sun that you couldn't even see in an R-rated movie. And so they do that because they, and why do you think they want to adopt two little children into a gay couple's home, into a homosexuals, two men? Why do you think the world think that that's okay? And why do you, why do you think they're going to have a march and a parade here in our town so that they can make, they can force the idea? That's what the devil is. That's what 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says. It says, in whom the God of this world hath blinded, what? Not the eyes. It's not that you can't see what's going on around you, but you know what? People's eyes, they see all this stuff I'm mentioning, and they don't even think anything about it. They think it's okay. They think it's normal. Oh, well, that's how people are. That's their culture, or that's what they do, or that's how they live, and that's how they get their pleasure. You know what that is? The devil's been successful at blinding their minds. They can't even see straight anymore because their minds are so crooked. They can't even understand what's wrong with that. Well, if you had some spirit of renewal, if you had the Holy Ghost renewing your mind, you might see what might be wrong with that. And in his ultimate goal, it says, whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not. So he takes the people who don't believe and he tries to blind them all the more, lest The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. He doesn't want you to be a Christian. He doesn't want you saved. He does not want you in heaven. He wants everybody possible in hell with Him. He is so mad, and He's been mad like that for thousands of years now. He's been after men like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And so that's what goes on with the mind. The world is constantly bombarding our minds with filth in hopes of desensitizing us. And that's what they want to do, just get desensitized to it. It's just normal. It's just what people do. Incidentally, the last reference of any form of the word dream in the Bible shows up in Acts 2.17. We won't turn to it, but it's a reference to the future. It's a reference to people and their young men shall see visions and your daughters in that dream dreams. It's a prophecy. And so nowhere in Paul's gospels or Paul's writings, epistles, do you find anything about dreams. Now we reference Job and Job is outside of the law. Job is not necessarily dealing with Israel, but Israel and the prophets in Israel are the ones that get all the dreams. And God dealt through dreams, but there was also a test for that. And Joseph knew that. Both Joseph and Daniel recognized that the interpretation belongs to God. For sake of time, we won't give you the reference in Daniel, but it's on your paper. Today we are to do as Jeremiah instructed. Go to Jeremiah. We're not looking for anybody's dream. If I came up here on a Sunday morning and said, now listen, I'm not going to give you a sheet today because I'm going to tell you about a dream I had last night. that you should get up and walk out. Or you should take me by the hand and walk me out. Because my dreams don't matter. Now maybe I learned something in a dream, maybe God showed me something, convicted me about something, maybe a scenario played out, I'm glad it did maybe. But Jeremiah chapter 23 is what God says even to the children of Israel. Jeremiah 23 and verse 25. The Lord says, I have heard what the prophet said, that prophesied lies in my name. Just because someone has the title of preacher doesn't mean they're not just a flat out liar. And so that prophesied lies in my name saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Can you think of one great, maybe somewhat contemporary to some of you preacher that said, I have a dream. And everybody listened to that, boy, that's revered. And so, and it was a lie. I could read you that speech and it's all a lie. And so how long, verse 26, how long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord?" That's where I get my idea where, you know, go ahead and read what John MacArthur has to say. Now, I understand the warning. The pastor gave the warning. You know, John MacArthur doesn't believe that the blood of Christ saves you. But you know what? Now that you know that, what do you believe about that? What's the chaff to the wheat? Come on, MacArthur, you're wrong. Yeah, well, he's got a big church. He's well-known. He's on TV. It doesn't matter. Well, what about Charles Stanley now that he's dead in heaven? No doubt I'll shake his hand in heaven. I believe the man was saved. But what about the fact that he read an NIV and I read a King James Bible? Nothing. He's wrong. He's wrong and I'm right. And I don't mind saying that. What's the chaff to the wheat? Right? It doesn't matter. So, verse 29, is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord. Whoa. The Lord's against the prophets? Well, they're prophets. The word is right there in the passage. They are prophets, but they lie. So what do you do with a lying prophet? Well, the Lord's against you. Yeah, but you have a big church and ministry, and like I said, the Lord's against you. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, verse 31, that use their tongues and say, he saith. Verse 32, behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all. sayeth the Lord." Well, that was so good, man. I mean, what Osteen said this morning, it was so good. Well, according to the Lord, that didn't profit you at all. What does profit you? The truth. The truth will profit you. And so we'll stop right there. But that's what the Lord has to say about dreams. All dreams are to be interpreted by Scripture, no matter how real they seem. So even if you had a dream that seemed so real and so vivid and it was so lifelike and this has to be a sign from God, I'm telling you, this has to be God and there's no other way. I don't ever dream like that. This is so unlike me or whatever. It doesn't matter. You compare that dream to what the Bible says and if the Bible is against it, then you're against your dream, just like the Lord's against the prophets. Pharaoh would have a dream next, not just these men, but God would show Pharaoh a dream, that's in chapter 41, we'll look at that next week, but he needed Joseph to provide the answer. Now, why did any Joseph provide an answer? Well, just like the butler and the baker, they were lost men. They had no clue what the dreams meant. And so God will give you the Bible to help you interpret what's going on, is the point. Go to, real quick, we'll have to wrap this up, but go to Psalm 25. Psalm 25 and look at verse 12. I think I might have the wrong reference. Yeah, it should be verse 14. Psalm 25, verse 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. So you know the secret to understanding the Bible is, it's not the secret to understanding a dream. That's not what you're looking for in life. The secret to understanding the Bible is to them that fear Him. Go to Luke chapter 12 and look at another similar statement. When you have the fear of God, you can understand the Bible. People say, well, I don't understand what the Bible says. Well, maybe you ought to check up on your fear of God, meaning your obedience to God. And then you won't be carried about with every wind of doctrine or every dream that you have or that someone else has. I can't tell you when Donald Trump got kicked out of office, And there's a lot that could be said about that, but regardless, there was a lot of prophets that came out and said, it doesn't matter, John, don't worry, he's going to come back to office. I had a dream. Or God told me, and it's going to be on this date, and they had every detail. And you know what they were doing? They were racking up their YouTube numbers. And they were getting more money in the coffers from people who were following them. You know what? He's not the president. You know who the president is? Joe Biden. and he's not coming back, unless he wins the next election, he's not coming back to be the president. And so you know what? Every one of those people were discredited. You know what they should have done? They should have opened up their Bibles instead. But they don't fear the Bible. They don't fear the Lord. And so they don't get any pleasure out of reading the Bible and saying, well, you know, perilous times shall come. Now that doesn't mean that just because he's not president that perilous times are here. I'm just saying that that's what evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. They don't go to the Bible. They want to have a positive dream. and they want everybody to feel good about that and so they steer you away from the Bible. So the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him according to Psalms. The secret of the Lord is not on YouTube. The secret of the Lord is not with the prophets and all those positive mental attitude people. Luke chapter 12, here's where the secret of the Lord is. Luke chapter 12 in verse 10. Luke 12, am I there? That's not what I want. Boy, I'm getting all my references wrong. I want where the Lord is saying that the Lord rejoices. Maybe I want 1012. Maybe I wrote it down. Maybe I'm dyslexic. Let me see. No, that's not what I want either. But what I want is that where the Lord says, I rejoice in this 1021. Boy, there you go. Man, what a I must have had a dream last night and wrote down the wrong reference. 1021, this is exactly it. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit. This is what Jesus rejoicing. You know you don't read about Jesus rejoicing, except for right here. And what's He rejoicing over? In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them unto them that fear him. Babes, even so, O Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." You know what Jesus said, except you become like one of these little ones? Why? Why should I become like, because a little one, if you bring them to church long enough, they'll get saved. You want your little one to get saved? then don't stop coming to church, keep bringing them to church. Why? Because even if you're a rebel, they'll hear the word of God, and just like a little one, they'll get saved. Because you know why? Because that's how the Lord uses their innocency, gives them the truth, and they get saved. and that's what you want as a parent. And so he says, I rejoice that the little ones get it, but you wise people that know better, that have all these arguments against me, that want to have something proved to you, and you don't fear my word, you look to your dreams, I'll hide it from you. I'll hide it. In fact, when you come looking for me, you won't even find me, because I'll hide. And if that's what you want, then you'll go on your merry way. And if you're hopefully, you can do that as a saved person. You can be saved and still not have the renewing of the spirit of your mind, as we looked at, and you can wander through life believing every wind of doctrine that comes your way, and you'll be so confused about who God is, and what the Bible is, and which Bible you should read, and what church you should go to, and even if church is even for me or not, and should I drink or not, should I this or not, that or not? See, that's how most Christians are today, because they don't have the fear of the Lord. I'll give you the last one. It's 2 Peter 1.20, and then we'll have to wrap it up for here. 2 Peter 1.20. You know, the Bible says, and I quote it often, the words of the Lord are plain to him that understandeth. You know how do you get understanding? You get understanding through fearing the Lord. and that's the secret to knowing truth. That's where the Lord's secret is, with them that fear Him. 2 Peter 1.20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. What that's telling you is that the Bible is not, well I think it means this, well I think it means that. No, the Bible is not of any private interpretation, it has one main interpretation. And your goal is to find out what the one main interpretation is of the Bible. The Bible is, yeah, interpretations belong to God, but who is God? Who is Jesus? He is the Word, right? And so we're not looking to interpret your dream, we're looking to interpret what you had a dream in light of the Scriptures. In the Old Testament time, back with Joseph, he interpreted their dream because God gave him as a prophet, gave him an understanding of what their dreams meant, gave next dreams up as