Well, you'll notice in your bulletin that we are about to tackle Genesis 39, 40, and 41 together. And there are important reasons for that. There is a symmetry to these chapters as a narrative that unfolds that to break them down too much, I think, would be a disservice to how the Holy Spirit has woven together this particular stretch in the life of Joseph. And so we're going to be looking at Genesis 39, 40, and 41 together. If you want to, I invite you to turn to 39 where we'll start, and then of course we'll finish up in 41. But before we get to all that, let's first go to the Lord as always in prayer. So Father, we Once again, come to you knowing that we are weak and that we are in need and we are in need of your spirit and your work in our lives and your sanctifying work in our lives. And so we pray that you would help us to see the truth of your word, to understand the truth of your word, and then even more importantly, to apply the truth of your word to our hearts. So we pray that you would, in this moment, bless the preaching of your word for your people. In Jesus' name, amen. So these chapters in Genesis are a part of the Genesis story that I know that many of us are familiar with. They involve the events that take place while Joseph is either enslaved or in prison during his time in Egypt. And so just to kind of remind ourselves about the flow of the story in chapter 39, Joseph finds himself in the household of Potiphar. And this is where he is eventually put over the entire household of Potiphar. And then, of course, we know he winds up in the house at one point by himself with Potiphar's wife. And Potiphar's wife, up to that point, has attempted to seduce him, and he has rebuffed her advances. And then at some point he finds himself alone in the house, and she attempts to seduce him again. And when he refuses and runs off, he leaves his garment there with her. And so she takes this opportunity to frame him, essentially, for trying to assault her. And so Potiphar finds out about it, of course. throws Joseph into prison. And so then in chapter 40, Joseph is imprisoned after these false accusations. And it is while he is in prison that he interprets two dreams. One dream is the dream of the king's cupbearer, and the other dream is the dream of the king's baker. And he interprets these dreams, and the interpretation of those dreams comes to pass. And so he asks the cupbearer to please remember him whenever he is taken out of prison. And of course, the cupbearer at the end of chapter 40, it says, did not remember him, but forgot him. And so the cupbearer winds up back in the court of the king and the baker winds up being beheaded by the king. That was what the interpretation of the two dreams was. And so chapter 41 then involves Joseph eventually being brought before Pharaoh, because Pharaoh has two dreams, and the two dreams are the warning. The warning that you're about to have seven years of abundance, but they are going to follow seven years of famine. And so nobody could interpret what these dreams meant that Pharaoh had. And so he brings Joseph in and Joseph gives him that interpretation and even advises him on what he needs to do in order to prepare for the years of famine. And that's kind of where chapter 41 leaves is the years of famine happen. And Egypt has plenty so much so that other nations come to Egypt for food in this time of famine. And then, of course, in chapter 42 is where we meet Joseph's brothers again, and they come to Egypt looking for food and so forth. And so we're taking chapters 39, 40, and 41 together because of all of those parallels. Joseph finds himself first enslaved in a household and falsely accused. And then he finds himself in prison because of these false accusations. He interprets two dreams by two different people. And then at the end of the chapter, he is still forgotten about. And then in chapter 41, He interprets two dreams. Again, it's like I said, just to try to break them down, there are so many points that these passages, this narrative parallels itself that to try to break it down over the course of many weeks just seemed detrimental to what is the point that is trying to be drawn out for us. And there is an important theme that we need to draw out and it is this theme through these chapters that will serve as the lens through which we understand the events of what happens in the life of Joseph. And that theme is found in Genesis 39 and in verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph. That is the overarching theme of all three of these chapters. That is important enough that it is repeated again in verse 21 of chapter 39. The Lord was with Joseph. So first he finds himself as a slave in a household and we are reminded the Lord's with Joseph. And then he finds himself imprisoned after false accusations. And we are reminded once again, the Lord's with Joseph. So this is an important aspect of what is happening in the life of Joseph. And so that's the title of this message, God with us. Now, God is with Joseph here. And he is with Joseph in some very specific ways. And although we can't expect God to work in our lives in exactly the same way that he works in Joseph's life, we can trust that he is with us. Regardless of how he chooses to work in our life, compared to how he worked in Joseph's life or the person next to you's life, he is with us. And then to conclude this morning, why God being with Joseph is important and what exactly it does mean for us. OK, so that's what we're talking about. God with us. And then we'll conclude with why is that important? So where do we start? So here's number one. God is with us in our circumstances. God is with us in our circumstances. Now, it's been a few weeks. since we were in chapter 37, but let's remind ourselves of how Joseph got here in the first place. His brothers in chapter 37 in verse four saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers and they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Joseph has the dreams that he has about the sheaves bowing down and the sun and the moon and so forth bowing down and Joseph has these dreams and we told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. And then in verse eight of chapter 37, his brothers said, are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to rule over us? And they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. His brothers were jealous of him in verse 11. And so in verse 20, they conspire when they see Joseph coming from afar, they conspire to kill their brother out of their hatred and throw him into the one of the pits. And then we'll say that a fierce animal has taken him and devoured him. Now Reuben comes along and says, hey, let's not kill him, let's just throw him into the pit. You remember Reuben had the plan to get Joseph out of the pit and restore him to his father and hopefully restore his own place in the family as well. And so they throw him into the pit and the pit was empty, it says, there was no water in it. And then Judah comes along and says, look, because the brothers still plan on actually killing him. And Judah comes along and says, look, let's not kill him, let's sell him. We'll sell him for a profit. We can still tell dad that an animal devoured, and we can still do all that stuff, but let's sell him and let's get some money out of this deal. And so they sell him to some Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt. So that's how, at the end of chapter 37, Joseph winds up in Potiphar's house, which is where chapter 39 picks up. Chapter 38 sort of creates a narrative break. We looked at that two weeks ago, the story of Judah. And so chapter 39 and verse 1 recounts all of that very quickly when it just simply says, Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites. And so chapter 39.1 just kind of reminds us of what happened at the end of chapter 37. And it's as if to say, and then the very next thing after verse one that we are told about Joseph, after verse one recounts what had happened to Joseph, the very next thing that the writer wants to make sure that we know is verse two, the Lord was with Joseph. All this happened to Joseph, but make no mistake, the Lord was with Joseph. Don't get twisted. Don't misunderstand. The Lord has not forgotten Joseph. The Lord has not left one of his children on his own. He has not forsaken this young man in chapter 39 and 37. No, he is with him. In the midst of these circumstances, the Lord is with him. In fact, as we'll continue to see, Yahweh is not merely with him in the midst of these circumstances. Yahweh himself is orchestrating these circumstances. I almost made this point, God is with us in spite of our circumstances, but that just, the more I thought about it, the more it just makes it sound like stuff happens to us, but no matter what happens to us, God's with us. But that's not, entirely accurate, is it? It wasn't accurate for Joseph and it's not accurate for us. He's not with us just simply in spite of our circumstances. He's with us in our circumstances. Yahweh is orchestrating everything that is happening in the life of Joseph. He is in control over all of it. He's not just with us. He's in control while he's with us. He's not running around behind the scenes trying to clean up the mess that's constantly being made in our lives. He is with us, but he's in control while he's with us. Now take a step back for a moment as we think about Joseph and what has brought him to chapter 39 and verse one, what has brought him now into enslavement and brought him now into Potiphar's household. And ask yourself, what exactly happens in your heart and in your mind when we go through trials? What happens in us when we walk through the fire, when we find ourself in the valley of life? And unless you're different than me, we tend to immediately doubt We tend to doubt, first we doubt ourselves, we doubt our own actions, we doubt our motives, we doubt our decisions, and then we kind of, in our own heart, start to justify ourselves and say, well, I can't think of any way that this would have turned out any different, and so then what do we do? Well, we start to doubt the Lord instead, right? It's easier to doubt someone else than ourselves. I couldn't have done anything different. And so we doubt the Lord, we begin to wonder, If he's even there, there is no harder season in life than the season that feels like the absence of God. I said it feels like that, right? But there is no harder season of life than the season that feels like God is absent. I remember years ago, someone that we know, they had just gotten married. set to move away for new career opportunities and whatnot. And immediately after they got moved, the husband's mom passed away due to cancer. And I remember the first thing, the first question that came up was, did we do the wrong thing? Should we have done this? Would it be this hard? They were having a little bit of trouble finding a place and, you know, different things were happening besides just the mom passing away. And it was, you know, what Did we make the wrong decision? Why is it so hard? If it's this hard, then how can it be the right decision that we made? Should we have stayed? Should we not have left? And the answer, of course, is no, that's not the right way to think about it. Things are hard, and life is tough, and sometimes life is brutal. And sometimes the answer just is welcome to a fallen world. If we're constantly moving our opinions and vacillating based on our emotional responses to circumstances and situations to discern stuff like that, we would drive ourselves crazy. We'd drive ourselves literally insane. The point is, do you trust the Lord? Do you believe that He is with you? Good book. I have a few copies in my office, by the way, if you want one, but it was written about the will of God and making decisions in life. And the title of it was just do something. You know, we get, we get so bogged down and what do they call it? Paralysis by analysis. Just do something. Sometimes you got to make a decision and trust the Lord with the results. You say, what does that have to do with Joseph? Well, how did all this start? It started with the simple decision to obey his father and go check on his brothers. That's how this entire event kick-started was a simple act of obedience to a father. And look at where that got him. He's enslaved in the household of another in a foreign land. The life of Joseph Chapter 39 in verse two reminds us that even when things are unfair, and even when things are unforeseen, and even when things in front of us are unknown, God is with us. He's with us. So that's point number one, God is with us. Point number two, God is with us even when people are not. God is with us even when people are not. Now, how do we see this play out? Well, we see it play out first in chapter 39 with Potiphar's wife, don't we? We're told that Potiphar winds up placing Joseph in charge of his entire household. He recognizes and discerns this special aspect of Joseph, that the Lord is with him and the Lord prospers everything that Joseph touches. Literally, you know, you've heard the phrase, everything he touches turns to gold. And Potiphar sees it and he kind of figures out, man, if I put this guy in charge of my house, I am set. And so that's what Potiphar does. And then what happens? Well Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him. Now this particular scene, by the way, really starts to show the character of Joseph. When she tries to seduce him, his answer down in verse nine is, he is not greater in this house than I am. He's talking about Potiphar, of course. Nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So there's a couple of different aspects to Joseph's response here. The first aspect is his responsibility to Potiphar. And he's like, look, Potiphar has honored me and has put me in this position and he's given me his entire house. He hasn't held anything back from me except for you because you are his wife. And then the second argument is, how can I do this evil and sin against the Lord? So his first argument is a practical argument and his second argument is a theological argument. Practically, how can I do this? Potiphar's trusted me with everything. I can have anything I want and anybody I want except for you. But theologically and most importantly, how can I sin against God in doing this? So it's a sin against Potiphar, but it would also be a sin against the Lord. And notice, by the way, in verse 10, it says that she spoke to Joseph day after day and he would not listen to her. The point here is that, you know, she is repeatedly coming to Joseph and confronting him and trying to seduce him. This is a man of a high moral character, at least in this instance. Let's be honest. There are many men who would not have had this kind of fortitude when faced with this kind of situation and temptation, perhaps once, maybe twice, maybe 10 times. But day after day after day, having the lady of the house throw herself at you. And yet Joseph remained unstained by sexual immorality. Most of us, by the way, I would hope if we found ourselves in this kind of situation would try to remove ourself from it in some capacity. But remember that Joseph, for all the power in the household that he has been given, he's still a slave. I mean, he can't turn in his two weeks notice and walk away and go find another job. And eventually, of course, he's in the house alone with her as we said earlier, and his garment winds up in her hand when he runs away from her. And she takes this opportunity to lie about him and claim that he tried to seduce her, but instead she cried out and he left and left his garment. And Potiphar's anger in verse 19 is kindled against him. And he says, this is the way your servant treated me. And he takes him in verse 20 and throws him into prison. God is with him. is the very next thing we're told. In spite of the fact that Potiphar's wife has lied against him, in spite of the fact that Potiphar has not given him a hearing and has not given him a chance perhaps to make it right and explain himself, you might wonder why there isn't an investigation here. Where's due process? Why no trial? And remember, once again, he's a slave. This is a situation where it's the lady of the house versus a slave. That dynamic is going to be a problem every time. And so he's put into prison. But the Lord was with Joseph, verse 21, and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor. And it gives him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And now he is put in charge of all of the prison that he is put in. And then while he's in prison, in verse 40, he is mistreated by someone else, isn't he? It's here that he is in prison and he meets the chief cupbearer and the chief baker of the king. And they have these dreams that Joseph interprets And it's here in prison because of his status that he attends to them. And again, we are reminded in verse 8 of chapter 40 that God is with Joseph because they bring these they mention these dreams. He comes down, he sees their trouble, and he asks Pharaoh's officials or officers who were with him in custody in Samathra's house, why are your faces down today? And they say to him, we've had dreams, but no one to interpret them. And Joseph says, do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me. And so From the get-go of this dream interpretation now that becomes a part of the narrative, Joseph is admitting that God is in the answers that he will give. And of course, the cupbearer's dream turns out to mean that he will be restored to his office in the king's court, while the baker's dream means that he will be beheaded. And it is the cupbearer that he turns to and he says, look, in verse 14 of chapter 40, Remember me when it is well with you. And please do me this kindness, do me a favor to mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. Essentially he says, look, when you get back to Pharaoh and you get back in the court, remember me, mention me to him and get me out of here. I'm here unjustly anyway. And then what happens at the end of the chapter? He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, that's Pharaoh, and he placed the cup in the Pharaoh's hand, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. Verse 23, yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. And so once again, the people that are in the path of Joseph's life have forsaken him and forgotten him. and mistreated him and lied about him or just completely forgotten about him altogether. From his brothers in chapter 37 to Potiphar's wife in chapter 39 to the cupbearer in chapter 40, the people that have surrounded Joseph's life have left him wanting. And so we're left to imagine perhaps what would go through our minds at this point. All right, let's be honest. We don't typically respond very well to being mistreated by somebody else. And now here he is, and it's happened a third time to him. It happened first in his family, and then in the household he was a slave in, and now by this cupbearer. And even with all this failure, we are reminded over and over again that God is not failing him. The people around him are failing him, but God is not. This is, by the way, just to make like a more specific practical point, this is a great reminder for families, isn't it? Marriages in particular. Look, the people in your life are going to fail you. It's just a part of dealing with sinners. Your spouse will eventually fail you in some way. Your children are going to fail you. And children, your parents are going to fail you in some way. Your friends and your coworkers, your church members, we're all sinners. Your life is just a constant roller coaster of dealing with sinners. That's what life is. But even for all of that failure, guess what? God will never fail you. He won't. We want to think God has failed us even when things don't go our way. We want to think that God has failed us when things don't turn out the way we would have liked them to turn out. But no matter what may come in life or no matter what people do in our lives, God will never fail us. And he hasn't failed Joseph yet. Now that's point one and two. God is with us in our circumstances and God is with us even when people fail us. Now here's point number three. God is with us in ways that we don't always understand. God is with us in ways that we don't always understand. Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. Now what's going on with Joseph throughout all of this? Don't forget this, by the way. We read stories and we read narratives and we forget that Joseph is not privy to the information that we are privy to. And especially for those of us for whom these chapters are familiar and this story is familiar, we kind of tend to read the life of Joseph through the lens of knowing how it turns out. So take all that out of your mind for a moment and try to live a little bit in the shoes of Joseph and understand, he's just experiencing all this as it comes bombarding him from the ripe old age of 17 years old when he was taken out of the land. What must be going through Joseph's head at this point? Slavery and imprisonment? What do you think, and I know we're reading in the white a little bit, but what do you think's going through his mind when he thinks about those dreams that he had so many years ago? Remember those dreams you had, Joseph, where your brothers were gonna bow before you and your father and your mother and your brothers were gonna bow before you? What do you make of those dreams now, Joseph? You're a slave, you're in prison, and you're forgotten. You ever wonder that kind of stuff? How long has he forgotten, by the way? Chapter 41 and verse 1 says, after two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. He was left in prison and forgotten for two years after he interpreted those dreams of the cupbearer and the baker. So Joseph was 17 when he sold into slavery. And for 11 years, he was either a slave in Potiphar's house or a prisoner. We don't know exactly how long, but he's one of those. And then at some point, obviously, he interprets the dreams of these two prisoners and he asks the cupbearer to remember him. And then it's another two years before Pharaoh has his dreams and they go and grab Joseph and the cupbearer remembers him. That is 13 years now. in Egypt. We know it's been 13 years because of chapter 41 and verse 46. It says that he was 30 when he entered into the service of Pharaoh, so from 17 to 30. He has been in Egypt for 13 years. All of it as a slave, some of it as a prisoner, and two years of it completely forgotten as a prisoner. I mean, seriously, put yourself in his shoes and imagine living out these events in real time. You know that the Lord is with you. And it's clear that Joseph knows that. We see it when he acknowledges that God is the interpretation of dreams. He does it again here in chapter 41 with Pharaoh when he admits that, or when he says that God is the one in verse 16. And it's not me, but God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. So Joseph knows that God is with him. And Joseph, in spite of everything that he's gone through and all of the the heartache that he has gone through, whether it's circumstances or people, he has not forgotten who he is. And another reason that we know that he hasn't forgotten who he is is because when he has children by this Egyptian woman in verses 50 and 52 of chapter 41, that's basically his full integration into the Egyptian court, by the way, the Pharaoh gives him to this woman, to the daughter of a priest. When he has children, he gives them Hebrew names. That's important. He doesn't give them Egyptian names. They rename Joseph, but when he names his sons, he gives them Hebrew names. He has not forgotten where he comes from and he has not forgotten the God that he serves, which is a pretty strong contrast with Judah in chapter 38. Through all of this, through all these twists and turns, God has been maneuvering all of Joseph's life and all of the previous 13 years to this point where he is brought in to Pharaoh's court. And when he is brought in, he interprets Pharaoh's dreams. We mentioned this already. And he says they're a warning, Pharaoh. There's going to be seven years of abundance and they're going to follow with seven years of famine. And here's what you need to do. Now, Pharaoh didn't ask him, by the way. what he needed to do. He just asked him for the interpretation of the dreams. But Joseph goes on and he puts himself out there and he says, what you need to do during the years of abundance is prepare for the years of famine. Don't squander it. Because if you prepare for it, then you'll be okay and you'll make it through the years of famine. And all of that leads to Joseph being placed in the highest position in all of Egypt besides Pharaoh himself. He is essentially second in command in all of Egypt. So that's what God has been maneuvering all this toward. God has been with Joseph. When his brothers sold him into slavery, God was with him. And when he was in slavery in Potiphar's house, God was... Do you think it's a coincidence that he wound up in a place with a high-ranking official in the court of Pharaoh? And then do you think that it was a coincidence that he winds up, because of where he served in the house, that he winds up in a prison that would have served to imprison the men who came from Pharaoh's court, and the cupbearer and the baker? There is no coincidences in Joseph's life. But Joseph is experiencing all this and he has no idea what God's up to, does he? He knows God's with him, but he has no idea what the Lord is up to. And sometimes we don't understand all this God is doing in our lives on this side of heaven. Sometimes we do. Sometimes in his mercy and in his grace, he sees fit to show us and let us know why he does this or why he allows that. But many times we don't know and we won't know this side of eternity, why we go through some of the situations and circumstances and things that we go through. But we do know that He's with us. Even though we don't always understand what He's doing, He is with us. Once again, the point is, do you trust Him? Do you trust Him? Now, we're going to finish up here. This is very important, very important, because we might get used to ending the story of Joseph's life here. Chapter 41 is the great climax and culmination of all of the suffering. All of it led to this point where he has put a second in command over all of Egypt. Joseph has gone now from slave to ruler and roll the credits. But of course, we know that there is much more to the story of Joseph. Chapter 41 is a pivotal chapter because of where it winds up with Joseph, but it is not the culmination of the story of Joseph. It is just a pivotal turning point in the story of Joseph. And here's why. Why is there more to the story? And why is it important we remember that there's more to the story when we come to the end of chapter 41? And here's why. Why is God with Joseph? You ever ask those questions? The Lord was with him. Why? Why was God with Joseph? We are given no indication from the text. Going all the way back to chapter 37, we are given no indication that Joseph has done anything special that would warrant this kind of treatment from Yahweh. So why is God with him? Why is God with Joseph? And here's the answer. You ready? God is with Joseph because Joseph is God's chosen instrument that he will use to see the continuing of the fulfillment of his promise. That's why God's with Joseph. He's with Joseph because he chose to be. And he's decided and chosen that through Joseph, I'll make sure my promise continues. Now, Judah, we've already talked about, is the child of promise. It's through Judah that the promised Messiah would come. But God here has chosen that Joseph will be the instrument through which my promise will continue in its fulfillment. That's the issue. God made a promise to Abraham that he will become a great nation. And he made a promise to Abraham that all of the nations on the earth will be blessed through him. And get this, we see that, a shadow of that, in the way that God blesses foreign places with everywhere that Joseph goes. Everything that Joseph touches in this foreign land is blessed. And so we're seeing a very microscopic version of that global blessing that God has promised to come through the line of Abraham in the way that he blesses everything that Joseph does in the land of Egypt. He is blessed in the household of an Egyptian, and therefore the household is blessed. He is blessed in an Egyptian prison and therefore the prison and the prisoners are blessed. And even ultimately Egypt itself as a nation, which serve as a blessing to the nations through the leadership of Joseph during the time of the famine. Because even his brothers come to Egypt looking for food. They hear there's food there, right? And so other nations are coming to Egypt. It's amazing how God is working here, isn't it? You say, well, wait a minute. He said he was going to make them a great nation and he will. But the way he's going to make them a great nation, this is just, this is just how God works. This is not the way we would do it. There are lots of easier ways to do this stuff because the way he's going to make the children of Abraham a great nation is by placing them under the protection of a foreign nation while they continue to grow and prosper. He's going to send them to Egypt. and that's where they'll become a great nation. And when the time is right, he's gonna bring them out. I mean, there's just, God's with Joseph. I mean, just like for example, why not wait till Israel's a nation and then warn Israel of the famine and let Israel, the nation, be the place where other nations go? Or why even sin the famine in the first place? Why go through all this? Secret things belong to the Lord. God is with Joseph, but he is with Joseph not merely for the sake of Joseph. He is with Joseph for the sake of his promise. And what is the ultimate fulfillment of that promise? What's the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of God given to Abraham? Well, to get that answer, we look to another Joseph. This Joseph, someone who had just found out that his betrothed has become pregnant. And he's considering divorcing her quietly to spare her as much shame as possible and himself as well. And then an angel appears to him and tells him, Joseph, son of David, don't fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And she'll bear a son, and you'll call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Matthew quoting Isaiah says, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. That's why you can trust him. Jesus is the final expression of the promise that God is with us. He himself, Jesus Christ, is the final stamp that all of the promises that God has made to forgive us and to cleanse us will be fulfilled. He will fulfill all of those promises in us, in all of us who call upon him in faith. God is with us, let's pray. So Father, we do pray that you would help us to see this, this promise that you are with us, you will never leave us nor forsake us. So what can man do to me? What can this world do to me? Help us to, even in the moments of darkness and the moments where you feel like you are not there. Help us to see that you are with us. Help us to see that you have not forsaken us. Help us to see that you stand with us and with all of us who know you through Christ and through faith in him. Encourage our faith and strengthen our faith by your spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.