Well, if you will turn with me in your Bible to Genesis chapter 40. I honestly was considering the possibility of trying to preach to you from Genesis 40 and 41. That's 80 verses. And I quickly realized that just wasn't going to happen. But the reason I wanted to put both together is that the same fundamental truth is being taught throughout both chapters. And I'll get to that in just a moment. But you're in Genesis chapter 40. We're going to read the entire chapter together. Hear the word of the Lord. It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker, so he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them. So they were in custody for a while. Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man's dream in one night and each man's dream with its own interpretation. And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, why do you look so sad today? And they said to him, we each have had a dream and there is no interpreter of it. So Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please. Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days. Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner when you were his butler." But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me, make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon." When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head. So Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you. Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him." Let's pray. Father, we ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit as I seek to preach your word. I am amazed, Lord, that you can use sinful men like me to proclaim your truth to your people. But I pray, Father, not only that you would anoint my lips, but you would anoint the ears of your people, that they might hear. Father, without the Holy Spirit, we can't understand the scriptures, and certainly we cannot apply them in any valid way. So, Father, we ask that you'll give both illumination and application to everyone here. For those who are outside of Christ, Lord, I pray that you will thunder home to them the danger that their souls are in. But then, Lord, for those who are in Christ, give us hope, give us comfort, revive hope in our hearts, and give us encouragement for the days to come. And help us to be a people, Lord, who are always careful to return thanks to you for all the many blessings that you lavish upon us. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We find in this chapter and in the next chapter a recurring theme, the theme of God revealing future events by giving prophetic dreams to several different men. In this case, to raw pagans. The chief butler, the chief baker, and in the next chapter it will be Pharaoh himself. And we know that God had already given prophetic dreams to Joseph some 11 years before the events of chapter 40. And they told him that he was going to become a great ruler, a great and mighty man who even his family would bow down to at some point. Well, as we think about these things, It's important for us to understand the nature of revelatory prophecy as it is set forth in Holy Scripture. Prophecy typically began by the Lord planting supernatural revelation in the hearts and minds of His chosen instruments, typically the prophets, who were called and commissioned by Him. Now, in this case, in the text before us, yes, it's given to pagans. But to the prophet, it was planted directly into his heart, God's very word was planted there, and when the prophet opened his mouth, the message God had shown him was revealed to the people. And there are basically two kinds of prophecy that were given. Very often when we think of prophecy, we think about future foretelling events, and that's certainly a major part of prophecy. But do you realize that so much of prophecy is foretelling? That is, it is God giving his own infallible evaluation of current events. and looking to the people and telling them about their present condition, usually from the perspective of warning them to repent of sin because there's wrath coming. For example, a few weeks ago we surveyed Obadiah to consider the descendants of Esau. And what is the very first thing God does? He rebukes them for their present condition. He rebukes them for the pride that was in their hearts and for the way they have mistreated Israel. And then, once he's done that, he says, because of what you're doing in the present, this is what's coming in your future. I'm going to send wrath, and I'm going to destroy you. So very often, it's foretelling, God addressing the present condition of a people. But then, of course, there's also foretelling prophecy, in which God tells men beforehand that something is going to happen in time. But He tells them before it happens, so that when it happens, they'll know it comes from Him. And it's interesting, sometimes the things that he prophesies are things that are going to take place in the immediate future. Sometimes they're things that are going to take place hundreds or even thousands of years in the future that he's telling them about. And oftentimes, these kind of events are prophesied to warn us in the present. to say there's a day of wrath, there's a day of doom coming, and if you do not repent of sin, you're going to be swept away in this day of wrath. And I'm warning you about it so you can flee from the wrath that is to come. But not all prophecy is negative. There's a lot of positive prophecy, isn't there? Times when God's people were going through very difficult circumstances, very hard times, and God rekindles hope by telling them, the season that you're in isn't going to last forever. It's going to pass away and there's other things, brighter future ahead of you. For example, in Jeremiah chapter 34, the people of Judah and the people of Benjamin were slaves. They were slaves in Babylon. Their temple had been burned to the ground. The entire city of Jerusalem had been destroyed. And here they are in captivity because of God's punishment of them for their idolatry. And yet, while they're slaves, it's in the midst of that that God sends a word through Jeremiah that says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Not like the old covenant which you broke, but this is the covenant I'm going to make." And he's prophesying about the future coming Messiah. There are brighter days ahead. I haven't forgotten about you. In the midst of your circumstances, there's something coming in your future that is glorious. Far better than anything you've experienced in your past. And God does that. Aren't you thankful? God doesn't just talk about gloom and doom. He also gives us hope and rekindles encouragement inside of us. And it's important to recognize that these future prophecies are not the product of just God's bare omniscience. Because God knows the future and the past. He foresees what's going to happen and then tells his prophets about it. No, it's something else besides that. What it is, foretelling prophecy, is when God reveals to men what He Himself has decreed to take place from all eternity before it occurs in the fullness of time. That is, it's His decree that He's making known to men before it is fulfilled in time. And because in every age there are false prophets that rise up, including our own, false prophets who try to deceive the people, and if possible, even to deceive God's elect, the Lord gave specific tests to his people so that they could determine whether or not a man who claimed to be from God really was from God or not. Two major tests that he gave them. Number one is, if a prophet says he's sent by me, but he tells you to do something contrary to my written word, he's a false prophet, stone him to death. So, for example, if a man came into the midst of Israel, And He did great miracles. And He performed mighty wonders. And maybe even He prophesied that certain things are going to take place, and those things did take place. And then He looks at you and says, now bow down and worship the bells and the asterisks. That was a sure sign to you that this man was not sent from God. His miracles notwithstanding. His abilities at foretelling the future notwithstanding. Because Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Satan can manufacture miracles as well. And yet, he's told you to do something God has forbidden. Well, it's contrary to God's Word. This is what Isaiah means when he says, If they don't preach according to this, it's because there's no light in them. If they're not preaching according to what God has previously revealed, then you know they're a false prophet. But a second test was this. If a prophet said, certain events are going to take place in your future, and then the time came and went, and what they prophesied to take place didn't happen, that was a sure sign that he was a false prophet and was not sent from God. Because revelatory prophecy, unlike modern preaching, was inspired and infallible. We can say of preaching today that preaching is, you might call it, declarative prophecy. Declarative in this sense. We're expounding God's inspired and infallible word. Unfortunately, we can't claim infallibility for preaching. Because while God's Word is infallible, my interpretation of it is not. And, by the way, neither is yours. And so, hopefully, pastors do the best they can to study hard and to pray hard so that God's Spirit will give illumination and come with power in the preaching. But we cannot claim that all preaching today is infallible. But that's not the case with revelatory prophecy. Because revelatory prophecy was never an interpretation of God's Word. It was itself God's Word, which tells us something right now. There are no prophets living today. There is no prophecy ongoing today. That has all ceased. Do you know why? Because the Bible is complete. Everything God has to say, He has said. As I've told you many times before, He's given us 66 books. I can't handle what He's given me. Please don't give me book number 67. Because we have not wrapped our mind around this nor have we exhausted this precious resource everything God has to say until Jesus comes again He has said and he's put it down in his word So there are no prophets and there are no prophecies today just as there are no apostles today either but that being said Revelatory prophecy was infallible. God Himself imparted His very Word to the prophet. And then when the prophet spoke, he was literally speaking God's Word as a channel of God Himself. That's why they'll say, thus says the Lord, and then they'll switch to the first person, I say unto you, O Israel, thus says the Lord. And they're speaking in the first person because it's God's very Word. And here's the thing, because it's God's very Word, it was always true. And everything God said was going to happen always did, and it always does. Every promise He made, He performed. Every prophecy He made came to pass, or will come to pass in His time. And that's important because here, why is prophecy infallible? Why is God's Word infallible? Maybe I should not presume that you know what infallible means. The words infallible and inerrant we use as synonyms, but actually they're similar, they're connected, but they're different. Inerrant means without error. Our Bible is inerrant. It's without error. But infallible is actually a stronger word. Technically, if you sit down to write a letter, you can technically write an inerrant letter. A letter that has no factual errors in it whatsoever. But none of us have the ability to write an infallible letter. Because the word infallible means incapable of error. The Bible is inerrant because it's incapable of error. Because it's the very words off of God's mouth, out of God's mouth itself. The Bible is infallible and prophecy is infallible because the God who gives it is himself infallible. God cannot make an error in judgment. He cannot make any errors in anything he thinks or says or does. And not only will God not lie, God cannot lie. There's a difference between won't lie and cannot lie. Won't lie means you've made a conscious choice, I'm not going to lie. Cannot lie means I have no ability to do so. God, in his very essence, is truth. And therefore, he cannot lie. Don't you love that about God? I love all the things God can do, but I also love the things he can't do. He can't lie, he can't sin, he can't tempt me to sin, he can't stop being himself. He has no ability to do that. And I love him for it. That's what immutable means. He cannot change. Not just he won't change, he cannot change. I love the fact that in a changing world, where my circumstances are always up and down, up and down, every which way, there's something that doesn't change. God and His Word never change. Isn't that a comfort? It's an anchor for our souls, isn't it, through all the things we go through? Well, because of this, what we have here in our text are God Himself giving His Word, giving prophecies through dreams, and enabling then Joseph to interpret the meaning of those dreams about future events. And what do we see? But the interpretation is given, and then it happens exactly as God said it's going to happen. Then he's going to do the same thing with Pharaoh. Twice he's going to give him dreams. And it's going to happen just as he says it's going to happen. And finally, last of all, he's going to fulfill what he had given to Joseph. It's interesting, he fulfills the prophecy last that he gave first. Because God is never in a hurry. We have seen that repeatedly throughout the book of Genesis, haven't we? God just is not in a hurry. His timing is never mine. Mine is always yesterday, and His is always three days away from now. He's always much slower than I would want Him to be, but He's always perfectly on time. It always happens in exactly the time of His choosing, and always, with the benefit of hindsight, we say His timing was best. But it's hard to see that when you're here, looking forward, isn't it? With all these things in view, What I want to do this morning, first of all, I want to drive home the central point that I think we're going to learn this week and next. I think this is the central truth that both chapter 40 and 41 are trying to teach us, and it's this. Because God cannot lie. He is always true to His Word. What He has promised to do, He will always perform. And what He has prophesied will always come to pass. Now let me say that again if you're taking notes, but I want to drive the point home. I want you to hear this. Because God cannot lie. He is always true to His Word. What He has promised to do, He will always perform. And what He has prophesied will always come to pass. Now with that in view, I'm going to give you my entire summary of these two chapters under three headings. We're only going to get past the first heading this morning. So I'm going to summarize all of chapter 40 under one heading. But I have three headings and I'm going to give them to you right now. What we see first is the prophecies given to Pharaoh's officers. Second, we see the prophecies given to Pharaoh. And third, we see the prophecies given to Joseph. But for this morning we have only one heading, the prophecies given to Pharaoh's officers. The first one tells us it came to pass after these things. That is, after Joseph had been falsely accused of trying to rape Potiphar's daughter and thrown into prison and then made the administrator of the prison under the prison warden. After these things, that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. We're not told what they did, but whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad. Or Pharaoh got up on the wrong side of the bed or something. But whatever the case, it was serious enough that Pharaoh throws these men into prison. He was angry with them and puts them in prison, and God's providence puts them into the very prison where Joseph is to be found. And that's not coincidental. Nothing in life is coincidence. Everything's providence. But there's a very specific reason why they're put here next to Joseph. Now think about the fact that these two men were officers in Pharaoh's court. They were very, very close to them, and the positions they served in were crucial. Because one was a baker. He made all the food for Pharaoh and his family. And then the other was a butler, which means he served the food to Pharaoh and his family, and he literally put his cup into his hand. Now this was crucial because think of a terrorist who was able to sneak his way by stealth into those positions. He could lace Pharaoh's food with poison. He could put poison in his cup and in his drink. So these men were there as a barrier to protect Pharaoh. They were men who were objects of his trust. It's like the President being able to trust his secret security. That they're really going to use their guns to defend me, not to kill me. Well, it's a place of trust and clearly the Chief Baker and the Chief Butler, whatever they had done, they had lost Pharaoh's trust. As we'll see, for the Butler, that trust would be restored. So the loss of trust was only temporary. For the Baker, as you know, it would be permanent, which is what's about to happen. Well, they're put into custody in the house of the Captain of the Guard, where Joseph was. But look at verse 4. Something very insightful here. The Captain of the Guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them, so they were in custody for a while. Who personally put them in Joseph's charge was the Captain of the Guard, and the Captain of the Guard was Potiphar. Think about that. It gives us more credence to what we saw last week. When Joseph was accused of trying to rape Potiphar's wife, rape and adultery were punishable as a capital offense. And yet, as angry as Potiphar was at the claim that Joseph had tried to do something to his wife, he didn't take off his head. Instead, he put him in prison. And I suggested to you last week that they raised questions about, perhaps Potiphar knew his wife well enough to know there's reasons to question her integrity. Well, what do we find with this being confirmed here? Now here is Potiphar entrusting Joseph with the care of these two men. It seems that his passions had cooled. He's thinking more reasonably and realizes probably Joseph is not guilty of the crime of which he's been charged. But someone has suggested this. Perhaps Potiphar's situation was similar to that of King Herod's when it came to John the Baptist. You ever noticed in Mark's account that Herod would go and see John the Baptist in prison and hear him gladly? And he longed secretly to find an excuse to set him free, but he couldn't because his wife Herodias wanted him dead. And as much as he may love John the Baptist, he's got to sleep with Herodias. And so he's going to please his wife because mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And it seems that maybe that's what's going on here. Potiphar has come to his senses and realizes this man has been falsely accused, but if I let him go, my wife ain't going to be happy. And he had to sleep with her at night, unfortunately for him, because she was sleeping with a lot of other people, too, it seems. But whatever's going on here, it's interesting to note Potiphar's had a change of mind, a change of heart. He's realizing, apparently, that Joseph was indeed innocent. Verses 5 and 8 tells us that both the butler and the baker had had disturbing dreams during the night. Isn't it horrible when you're disturbed in the middle of the night? I've come to believe that Satan has a specific fleet of demons who are committed to doing nothing but troubling you in the middle of the night. Night demons. Because in the middle of the night, when you're being afflicted and struggling with oppression of a demonic sort, your mind isn't clear enough or focused enough to deal with it. And so you lose sleep, and you're troubled, and you're tossed, and you turn. Well, these dreams are given by God Himself to the baker and the butler concerning future things, and they seem to know this isn't just an ordinary nightmare or an ordinary dream. It's something troubling, something too vivid, too real, and it troubles them all throughout the night. So that when they wake up in the morning, their countenances are kind of haggard and sad and down. And what we read next gives us a window of insight into the godly character of Joseph. There's two things that stand out to me here in verses 7 to 8. Notice verse 6. Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, Why do you look so sad today? Now, as simple as that statement is, there's something I want you to understand. Here was Joseph who was put in charge of administrating the entire prison. But it's very telling that in the midst of what must doubtless have been an extremely full and busy schedule, when he sees these two men looking sad, he cares about them. He cares about them enough not to just go about doing his duty, but to stop and invest some time in them and say, what's troubling you? Obviously something's bad. He's sensitive enough to pick up something's not right with them and to say, what's wrong? And to be a good listener as they explain what's going on in their life. And so they tell him, we've each had a dream. And there is no interpretation of it. This is a strange dream, something different, weird, and something is going on in the supernatural world, and yet we can't interpret what the dream means. We don't know the meaning. And that leads us to the second insight into his character. Notice how he responds in verse 8. Now notice this. He doesn't say, You know what? You've come to the right guy, because I'm gifted. I've got experience with dreams, and I got the gift to know how to help you. He doesn't brag about his gifts. Rather, he says, the interpretation of dreams belongs to whom? The Lord. Remember what had happened years earlier, when God had given him two dreams? You're going to be a ruler, and mom and dad are going to bow down in front of you, and all your brothers are going to bow down to you. Because I was like, guys, I had a dream. Guess what? You guys are going to bow down in front of me, and I'm going to be greater than all of you. It had swelled his head with pride. And very often, that's what happens when we have a vision for the future, isn't it? Or when we think we're gifted. We allow that gift to somehow use it to give glory to ourselves, rather than glorifying the giver of the gift, who is God Himself. And here's Joseph now. He's been thoroughly humbled because he's been sold as a slave and now falsely accused, and he's a prisoner, not exactly the highest rung of society. God has used this to humble him. And now, rather than boasting or bragging about any gifts he has, He points these men to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and gives him glory and says, God himself gives the interpretation of dreams. We're going to see this occur again, even more strongly when it comes to him standing before Pharaoh. Pharaoh says, I am told you can interpret dreams. And he said, it's not me. God can give an answer to Pharaoh for his dreams. That's humility. And that's the way God would have all of us to be. To realize whatever gifts God has given us, it's the giver of the gift who gets the glory, not us. We're just the recipients of a gift. It's the giver of the gift who gets glory. So, what happens? Well, the chief butler, first of all, tells him his dream. The dream is basically this. He says, I had a dream, and there was this vine. And on this vine, there grew three branches. And the three branches then suddenly sprung open with grapes. And they had all these ripe grapes, and I had Pharaoh's cup in my hand, just like I did before. And I took and I gave him some hand-squeezed wine. I squeezed those grapes into the cup, and then I handed it to Pharaoh. That's the dream I had. And he gives the interpretation of the dream then. He says, the three vines that you saw represent three days. Three days from now, Pharaoh is going to lift you up. As a matter of fact, he uses the same expression with both men. He's going to lift you up. In other words, he's going to call attention to you. And in this case, his trust in you is going to be restored three days hence. And because his trust in you is going to be restored, your position before Pharaoh is going to be restored. And you're going to serve before Him again. In other words, you're about to get out of prison. Three more days is all your prison sentence is going to be. And because he's seen that God has shown this man, you're about to be restored to Pharaoh's favor, he has a favor of himself to ask. I have shown you much kindness in this prison. Will you return my kindness to me? Notice what he says. Look at verse 14. But remember me. when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me. Make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house, for indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into this dungeon. Remember me." Does that echo or remind you of anything else? Somebody else that said the same thing? Jesus was dying upon the cross, and the two criminals on either side of Him, they're mocking Him, they're blaspheming Him. But somewhere, something changed. Something changed in one of those men. If you've never read J. C. Rowell's chapter in Holiness about Christ's greatest trophy, which is, he's saying, the thief on the cross is the greatest trophy of Christ in all the New Testament. Read that chapter. You'll be convinced after you read it. Because it's extraordinary. Because look at it. He's looking at a man beaten beyond recognition. A man who's been abandoned by his own disciples, his own friends, spat upon. From everything exterior looking, this man has been defeated. His ministry, his prophetic office, it's all coming to an end, it looks like, from all the exterior things. And yet, This one thief sees something about this man to realize there's something more going on than him being just a man. And he rebukes the other criminal and says, why do you mock him? We are guilty of the crimes that we're being punished for, but he has done no wrong. And he looks at him and says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Of all the times to believe Jesus was going to inherit a kingdom, this was the strangest of them. And yet he realizes this is not the end. This is just the beginning. He's about to inherit a kingdom. He's about to be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I'm about to slip into eternity. And my only hope of having any hope on the other side of this grave is in this man. Remember me. Remember what Jesus said? He says, truly, today, you'll be with me in paradise. Well, here's Joseph saying something similar. You're about to be restored to Pharaoh's kingdom. Remember me. Remember the kindness I've shown you. Remember how God used me to interpret your dream and put in a good word to Pharaoh. And notice he doesn't say, tell Pharaoh that it's time for my prophecy to be fulfilled and I'm supposed to be installed as a great leader. No, I'll be happy if I just get out of this prison. If you'll just tell him. Because first of all, I was stolen. I was kidnapped by my brothers. They put me in chains. They sold me into slavery. I shouldn't be here. I was stolen from my father's house. And now I'm here and I'm accused of a crime. I'm paying for a crime I didn't commit. I am innocent of this crime. Speak to him and tell him of all these things." Well, Chief Baker hears the interpretation and he gets full of some hope. Well, his dream wasn't so bad. It was a good thing. I'll tell you my dream, too. And so he starts to tell him his dream and he's about to be really disappointed. Because he says, I had three baskets just sitting on my head, stacked on top of one another apparently. And in the top basket, there was this bread and all these things, food for Pharaoh and his household. But there's something ominous in his dream. Because the chief butler saw himself putting the cup back into Pharaoh's hand, But in the dream of the baker, there's no putting the baskets into Pharaoh's hand and watching him eat of it. Instead, the birds come and they pick away all of Pharaoh's supper and take it away. And Joseph gives him the interpretation of the dream. Just as the three branches represent three days, the three baskets represent three days, and three times him. Pharaoh is going to put his attention upon you, cast a spotlight upon you, but instead of being a prophecy of hope, it's a prophecy of doom. He's going to hang you by the neck and kill you. And the birds are going to pick away at your flesh and eat you. There's a part of me that goes out, my heart goes out to this man because he had three days to anticipate what was about to happen next. To think about the fact that in three days he was going to be a dead man. Well, notice what happens then in verses 20 through 23, and the central point you need to get is this. God himself had revealed what was about to happen, and it happened exactly as God said it would. No one could stop it from happening. Do you ever notice when Jesus talks to his apostles and he says, in two days is the Passover, and then I will be betrayed and crucified and all this kind of thing. It's interesting, in the same text, the chief priests and the scribes get together and they say, let's not take him or arrest him during the feast. Do you realize what they're saying? They're saying the very opposite of what Jesus said was going to happen. We're not going to arrest him during the Passover. Because then there'll be a tumult among the people. There'll be an outbreak. But Jesus himself has already said, I'm going to be arrested during the Passover. And how did it happen? It happened just as Jesus said it would. In other words, men can say what they want to say. They can resist God's purposes all they want to, but what God has decreed is going to come to pass. And no man can stop it. And no devil can stop it. It happened just as God had said. Even so, God has revealed to these two men, infallibly, two things are going to happen. One man is going to be exalted to his position, the other is going to be killed. And so notice how the scriptures detail, in verse 20 and onward, the very point that had been made. It came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday. Now, how many people celebrate their birthday by hanging a guy? That's kind of strange. But it's his birthday. And so he throws a big feast. He throws a big feast for his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Let me put my spotlight upon two of my servants. One will be a demonstration of my mercy, and the other will be a demonstration of my vengeance. And so what does he do? He restores the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand, the very thing he had dreamed, because God showed it to him three days earlier, he literally does, by putting the cup into Pharaoh's hand. To say that his trust had been restored is putting it mildly, because you've got to trust the guy handing you the cup, especially when you're a ruler of people. But then verse 22, "...but he hanged the chief baker." as Joseph had interpreted to them. But then it's a very sad way that the chapter ends. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. I have three applications beginning with this one. Here's a man who thought he may be facing death. the chief butler. He didn't know how things were going to turn out and how long Pharaoh's anger against him would continue, if it would subside ever. And yet, here is a prophecy of hope given to him. And Joseph interprets these things for him, shows him kindness. How many people expect to be shown kindness in the middle of a prison? And he says, remember me. And the very first thing he does when he's restored to Pharaoh's favor is he forgets about Joseph. And I would ask you, do you see some of yourself in the Chief Butler? Because isn't it true that so often you and I face hardship? There's some circumstance in your life that looks like an impassable mountain, something that's going on. You're like, how in the world are we going to get through this? Or maybe there's some financial setback. You suddenly get a bill that's not part of your regular monthly payment. And suddenly there's this thing you owe. And you're like, I don't have the money to pay this. And how am I going to do this? And what's going to happen to my credit rating? And all this kind of stuff. And what do you do? You go before the Lord and you cry out to Him, Lord, help me. I don't know how we can ever get through this circumstance. I don't know how we're going to pay this bill. I don't know how we're going to do this thing. And as He always does, He proves Himself to be an ever-present help in trouble. And the thing you thought you couldn't pass over, you pass over. And the thing you couldn't endure, you endured. And then the provision of funds came in a way you never could have expected. And yet, As soon as the crisis has passed, we forget about the Lord. How often does He do great things for us, and then we forget to thank Him? Because great blessings require of us great thanksgiving. And so often, we're so quick to make our anxieties known to the Lord, and so slow to give Him thanks. And how rude, how ungrateful is that? What a slap in the face, because what we're essentially saying to God is, I deserve what you gave me. This is what you owed to me. Rather than what it really is, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies. And look at the mercies you have shown to me repeatedly. Whenever we're given great blessings, we are to give great things. And we call it returning thanks, and that's a good way of saying it. Returning thanks to God for the blessings He's bestowed upon us. I remember hearing a man named T.P. Hunt years ago. He was in chapel at Columbia Bible College. He said this, and I'll never forget it. He said, what if tomorrow's blessings were based upon today's thankfulness? You start meditating upon that and realize how profound that is. Because the truth is, there are not enough hours in the day for you and I to articulate all the blessings God gives us on a daily, moment-by-moment basis. Spiritual blessings, physical blessings, monetary blessings, things that we take for granted all the time because we expect them to be there, and they are, and we take them for granted. And God doesn't want us to take things for granted. Remember the ten lepers that Jesus healed? He healed 10 lepers. Now think about leprosy. When you had leprosy, you had a death sentence. You were isolated and marginalized from society. You were in your own little camp. If you went around and were going through the streets, you had to cry out, unclean, unclean, don't come near me. It's kind of like if you've got the coronavirus. Unclean, unclean, don't come near me, right? Well, that's the way you acted. You had no future. You had no prospects. You had nobody who's going to hire you to do anything. And you're literally rotting. Your flesh is rotting off of your skeleton. You have a death sentence. That's what these men, their future was bleak, and Jesus suddenly heals every last one of them. Suddenly they're restored whole, like any other person. They don't have to be unclean anymore. They don't have to run around telling people that they're unclean. They can get a job. They can have a normal life. And nine of them, no sooner is their affliction gone, they just run on and they forget all about it. One of them. turns around and bows down and worships Christ. Thank you. Thank you. And Jesus marvels. He says, were there not ten lepers? Where's the other nine? Was only this one found who would come and give glory to God? Brothers and sisters, great blessings require great thankfulness. The Scriptures put a premium on being thankful. As a matter of fact, do you know what the first step to becoming a sodomite is? homosexual or lesbian. It's not having a domineering mother and an absentee father. It's ceasing to give thanks. Look at Romans chapter 1 sometime. They did not give glory to God, though they knew God existed. They didn't give Him glory, and they did not give thanks. Therefore God gave them over to a depraved mind, to vile affections, to all those things. because they did not give thanks. Thanks is what we perpetually owe to God. It's a part of our worship. We adore Him for who He is, but we thank Him for what He's done. And why has He done what He's done? He's done what He's done because He is who He is. It's because He is who He is, God always acts in accordance with His nature, never contrary to it. And it's because of who He is that He does what He does. And we have reason to give Him thanks. And when you start thinking about the fact that you're one of God's elect, that God didn't pass over you when He wrote your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and He could have? My goodness, the perpetual things we owe Him. Thank You that I am an heir of saving grace. Thank You Jesus shed His blood for my sins. He loved me and gave Himself for me. Thank You, Lord, that there are millions of people, even billions of people, who don't have even one verse of the Bible in their language. I have the entire Bible, not only in my language, but in multiple versions. Thank you, Lord, for this blessing you have given to me that you haven't given to every single person on the face of the earth. So let's not be like the chief butler, the recipient of great blessings and yet being forgetful to give thanks. The second thing I would put before you is this, the promises and prophecies of God are always fulfilled by Him. As I said to you at the very beginning, because God cannot lie, He is always true to His word. And what He has promised to do, He will always perform, and what He has prophesied will always come to pass. And I told you at the beginning that sometimes future prophecies, foretelling prophecies, are prophecies of doom, coming doom, but others are prophecies of forthcoming hope. Right? And do we not find both in our text? To the chief butler, there was a prophecy of hope. In three days' time, you're going to be set free from prison, you're going to be restored to Pharaoh's good graces, and you're going to serve him a cup again. You're going to be restored to your former position. It was a prophecy of encouragement, a prophecy of hope. But then, there was a prophecy of doom. Three days hence, you're going to be hung by the neck, and the birds are going to eat your flesh. It was a prophecy of wrath. Well, the thing I would set before you this morning is that because God has in the past always fulfilled His every promise and His every prophecy, you can count on it, He's going to do so in the future. And there are prophecies given in the Word of God that have not yet been fulfilled that will await fulfillment in our future. Most specifically, there is the prophecy that Jesus is going to come again to this earth a second time to judge the living and the dead. That hasn't happened yet. And the question is, is that a prophecy of hope? Or is it a prophecy of doom? And the answer to that question is, yes. It's both. If you are inside of Jesus Christ, that prophecy of Jesus' future second coming is a prophecy of hope. A day of rejoicing unlike anything you've ever known in all of your life. The beginning of eternal pleasures and joys that will never ever come to an end. But if you are outside of Jesus Christ, and if you remain outside of Jesus Christ until that day, that is a day of doom. It is a threat to you. It's a warning to you that says, you are in danger. Your soul is in trouble, because Jesus is coming back to be your judge, and He will cast you, both body and soul, into hell, where you will suffer torment forever. Whatever you've suffered in this present age is nothing compared to what's ahead of you, if you don't repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ. I want to show you from two different scriptures how important this is. Turn with me to the prophet Amos. Amos chapter 5. It's page 807 if you've got the right Bible. Amos chapter 5, verses 18 to 20. The people of the Old Testament, who were God's people, at least visibly, presumed that God's favor was turned towards them. And very often, the people who presumed that God's favor was turned towards them were unregenerate. They did not know the Lord. They were circumcised in body but not circumcised in heart. They didn't know the Lord and so the Lord would rebuke them and warn them about it. Now notice chapter 5 verses 18 to 20 because this is really a prophecy warning people who are false converts, people who say they know the Lord. but really don't. Because, remember, there's the day of the Lord in our future, but there have also been days of the Lord in our past. In other words, there have been times and periods when God has brought judgment upon the earth. Think, for example, of Noah and the flood that took place in his day, or the day of the Lord that took place during the Babylonian captivity. Well, there's a day of the Lord ahead in their future, in this time, and look at where verse 18 says, Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, Here are people who thought, oh, the day of the Lord's coming, and that's going to be a great day for me. And they didn't really understand who they were. They didn't understand that the Lord did not know them. So what's he say? Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, for what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not very dark with no brightness in it? If you're here this morning and you're outside of Jesus Christ, that is what the day of the Lord is for you right now. It's a day of judgment. It's a day of the beginning of sorrows that will never ever come to an end. A place where you're eaten inside by worms, burning outside from the fire, and nothing can kill the worms, and nothing can quench the fire, and you're being eaten, but you're not consumed. And it's a place where there's fire all around you. It's completely dark, so you can't see the hand in front of your face. It's the darkness of blackness forever, the Bible calls it. A place where you hear the screams and the sighs of all around you, but you have no way to deliver yourself, no hope that after ten days of suffering, or ten weeks of suffering, or ten years of suffering, suddenly you're going to be relieved. God's wrath will be poured upon you and never will it stop. you'll have all eternity to regret that you did not repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ while there was time. And maybe what you do to get rid of that, if you're convicted by that, is you say, well, I'll just choose to not believe it. Because it's kind of fantastic, isn't it? The whole idea that literally Jesus is going to show up in the eastern sky, shining brighter than the sun, surrounded by tens of millions of angels. That's just crazy. And really, all the graves are going to pop open, and all the people who've ever died are going to rise again, some to a resurrection of life, and others to a resurrection of condemnation. Nothing like that's ever happened before. That's just too crazy. It sounds like a dream manufactured by religious madmen who want to scare people into joining their cult. But here's the problem, it has happened before. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3. It happened in the days of Noah, when God destroyed this world with a flood. And men choose not to believe that too. No, there was no flood. Well, look at what Peter says. 2 Peter 3 verse 3. knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? Don't believe it. For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Nothing like this has ever happened before." Verse 5. For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water." They forget God has destroyed the world once. And because he's done it once, and he prophesied that was going to happen, didn't he? He told Noah beforehand it was going to happen, 120 years before it happened. And then He did exactly as He said. But the fact that He did it in the past is the proof that He's going to do it again in the future. Look at verse 7. But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Two thousand years have passed since Jesus came the first time, and He hasn't come back again. But for the Lord, two days have passed. You see, because He lives in eternity, not in time. And then notice verse 9. Why has He not done it yet? Why has He not fulfilled this promise? The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why has God delayed the destruction of this world with fire? Because. This is a season of grace. This is a season in which mercy is offered in Jesus Christ. He has postponed your judgment until a future day, so that today you'll repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ. And the very fact that He's destroyed the world in the past tells you for sure He's going to destroy it again in the future. And Paul says in Acts 17 that the very fact that God has raised Jesus from the dead is proof that He's appointed a day and a judgment in which He will judge the world by the man He's raised, Jesus Christ. You realize the Father won't judge anybody. He's committed that judgment into the hands of His Son. And you will stand before Jesus Christ and give an account of yourself. And I ask you with Judgment Day honesty, are you prepared for that day? If you died right now, what would happen? Where would you be? Your soul is in danger. And nothing is more important than that you should find mercy with your judge, to be sober, and to realize all the pleasures and entertainments of this world, they don't matter. Your eternal, never-dying soul matters. Because what is it to a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what will you give in exchange for your soul? But here's the thing I want to press home to you. I've told you God's prophecies will all be fulfilled. There is a day of judgment coming. There is a wrath to come. But you know what? All his promises are true as well. And he promises that if you, as a sinner, will come to him, As you are, repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Christ alone, He promises you He will save you. He promises you He won't reject you. He won't kick you out and say, don't come to me, you're too wicked. All who come to me, I'll receive. Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. for I am gentle and lowly of heart. Learn of me, I'll give rest to your soul." And the prophecy cried out this way, Oh, everyone who thirsts, come without money and without price, and by freely. There's salvation offered to you. Have you ever noticed the entire Bible ends with an invitation? The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. The Holy Spirit says to you, Come to Christ. And you'll find mercy. And you can escape the wrath that is to come. Come to Jesus and he'll receive you. The church cries it out. That's the bribe. Come to Christ. The Spirit says, come to Christ. God himself says, come to me and be reconciled to God. Because he's promised that he is able to reconcile everyone to God who comes to Jesus. So why would you sit there and not come to Jesus? Because you say, well, I just don't believe there's a judgment to come, then you're calling God a liar, and that means you're a blasphemer. Unbelief is a horrible sin because it's blasphemy. It says God's Word isn't true. God's Word is true. You can sit here and just believe it in this present age. You go on doing that, in the age to come, you'll find out just how true it is. Flee to Christ while there's time. And that leads me to my third and final application, which is this. If you're in Christ, the prophecy of Christ's second coming is for you. a message of hope. If you're outside of Christ, it's just like the chief baker, a prophecy of doom. But if you're in Christ, it's like the chief butler, a prophecy of hope, something ahead of you. Notice it here in 2 Peter 3, verse 10, and holy conduct and godliness." Isn't that interesting? You're getting your eyes fixed upon the second coming of Christ right now affects your conduct right now. It affects the way you live. And then he says, verse 12, "...looking to for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire." The elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Oh, don't you long for it. Don't you long for it. When there'll be no more bad headlines. There'll be no more politicians fighting each other out. There'll be no more terrorism, or disease, or pandemic, or anything else. No more funeral homes. No more funerals. No more hospitals, no more doctors, no more medicines. Right now, you and I are living in the last great era of human history. That's why the Bible calls it the last days. The last 2,000 years have been the last days. This is the last great era of human history. We are suspended between the first and the second coming of Christ, and really we're at a razor's edge in history in some ways. Because we live between the now and the not yet. This present age and the age which is to come We are strangers and pilgrims here, but citizens there. We endure a cross because we want to obtain a crown. We presently are suffering tribulation. There you will have rest. Right now we have persecution. There we'll be surrounded by no one but friends. Friends who are made perfect and who love Jesus perfectly and will love Jesus perfectly. The promises of a future hell are true, but you know what? The promises of a future heaven are just as true. And if you're here and you're in Christ, there is no such a thing as being too heavenly-minded. As a matter of fact, Paul warns about those who set their minds on the earth that they really don't know the Lord. We need to set our minds on heaven because it helps us to pursue holiness in the present, and it helps us to not grow weary in well-doing. You ever get times when you're seeking to obey the Lord and striving to serve Him and you're just tired? And yet, if we don't want to lose heart, get your eyes fixed upon what's to come. Think about the great and glorious hope of Jesus coming again, and it enables you to endure hardship and difficulty and tribulation and persecution in the present age, because you know that all these prophecies about the second coming of Christ are full of hope if you endure to the end. And so it helps you throughout this time. You know, it's been said very often, The way the gospel is preached is like, believe on Jesus and all these temporal benefits will come to you. Believe on Jesus and life will be easier. How many of you have found that to be true? Life got harder when I came to know the Lord. Because He's a very demanding Lord. He really does expect me to obey Him. And being attached to Him is like being attached to a moving object. Wherever He goes, I'm going, whether I want to or not. because he's the Lord and he's the master and he gets to call the shots. Kings get to do that, right? And as far as your relationship with other people, coming to know Jesus makes it harder because you suffer rejection and you're marginalized, you're persecuted. And yet, would you be anywhere else? Would you want to be anywhere else? Is he not worth everything you suffered to know? Because knowing him is a far greater worth than anything this present world has to offer. and we're going to get to see him someday. We're going to get to touch His nail-scarred hands. We're going to get to hear the Word of God coming from His own lips. We'll get to take the Lord's Supper. I can't wait to take the Lord's Supper here, man. We've not been able to take it because of the current virus. I can't wait till that day we get to take it again. But imagine taking it in the presence of Christ Himself, where He's physically present. I will not eat this bread or drink this fruit of the vine again until I eat and drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom. There's coming a day when we're going to have some kind of Lord's Supper. with the physical presence of Christ right there with us. The beginning of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Everybody we've lost in the Lord, we're going to be reunited with forever. Think about all that. It's glorious to think about. People know Jonathan Edwards because of his sermons on hell. You know, it's said that he actually preached more about heaven than he did hell. It's worth us thinking about, to contemplate, day in and day out, what awaits us? Because when you consider the glory that's about to be revealed, this present age isn't worthy of comparison. compared to what awaits us. And I've said it to you many times before, let me say it again, it's the people in every age who have been the most heavily minded, whom God has used to do the most earthly good among others. So may God teach us to be more heavily minded than we have been, that we might endure this present age to his glory and his honor. Let's pray. Father, thank you that your word has both prophecies of hope and of warning. Lord, we pray for anyone here who is outside of Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that you would let them not have rest until they find their peace with you and Jesus. And for us who are in Christ, Lord, so often the things of this world distract us, the pleasures of this world, the pursuit of taking care of our families, all the things that are necessary so often. But even the pleasures of this world distract us from things that are really of eternal value. Lord, help us to set aside those things and to be less conformed to this world and more conformed to the image of your son. Give us hearts that are fixed upon heaven by your word and by your spirit, that we might bring glory to your name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.