WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:10.640 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:12.480 The spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.560 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.640 Lord, that indeed is the true cry of your people this morning. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.679 God, hallelujah, Christ is risen from the grave. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:41.439 And God, we await that day where we will be called into your open arms and declare that for all of eternity, that by the resurrection, by the defeat of death on the cross, Lord, we've found life. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.479 And so, God, we thank you for this truth. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:47.280 We thank you for this future glory and hope that we await. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:52.479 And we pray, Lord, that very relevantly it would change our life today, God. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:01:00.640 That as we open up your word and hear your truth, God, and see your faithfulness to your people, God, would you change our lives today? 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.159 You have such a word for us by the power of your Holy Spirit this morning. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:09.760 And so, Lord, I pray that you would find here your people focused and attentive to all that you want to do in our lives. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:11.280 God, we love you. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:12.719 We praise you. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:15.599 And we do this all in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.480 Amen. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.079 Amen. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:19.760 So you grab your seat. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:24.239 You can take your copy of God's word and open it up to Genesis 39. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:31.760 We're gonna be in the last few verses of Genesis 39 and carry our way through to the end of Genesis chapter 40 this morning. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:37.920 And as you're opening there, I want to ask you if you remember a really real icon of our culture. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:39.439 His name's Bob Ross. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:43.680 And put your hands up if you guys remember or have seen videos of Bob Ross. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:50.560 Okay, well, some of you guys didn't put your hands up, and either you're not participating or you're gonna be very confused by what I'm about to say. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.319 But Bob Ross was really an icon because he made something that's kind of hard to make famous, famous. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:04.239 He made painting famous, and as someone who has no ability in art, I have a hatred for painting, and yet I loved Bob Ross. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:09.520 Because when you watched Bob Ross paint on the television, there was something really magical that happened. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:18.159 He would he would put these blobs on the screen, and in and of themselves, these blobs were just ugly little splotches of paint. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:26.639 And I'm not a very good artist, but I could put the kind of blobs of paint on a canvas that Bob Ross would begin his canvas with. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:39.759 But then with it was like magic, with a few strokes of his brush, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this ugly little blob of paint would become what Bob Ross would call a happy little tree. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:44.080 Or a happy little mistake, or a happy little mountain. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:52.560 And by the end of it, you saw that through these ugly little blobs of paint, he he created this beautiful work of art. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:12.719 And I bring up Bob Ross for you, one, because I love him and I would like to share the things that I love with you, but two, because I think what Bob Ross did in painting and what many artists, even in this room, do in painting and in art, is illustrative of how God works in our life. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:33.919 What I want us to understand this morning from the life of Joseph in Genesis 39 and 40 is this that the primary instrument God uses to accomplish his work in you, and the primary instrument that God uses to accomplish his work through you, is the instrument of suffering. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:48.639 It is the instrument of those times in life where you have to wait on God's promise, and you cannot understand why the things that are happening in life are happening, and yet you are called to a season of waiting. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:04:01.680 It's those times in life where, because you're a Christian and you're seeking to live your life according to this word, and you're doing the very thing that Jesus called you to do, to take up your cross, this instrument of death. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:10.319 You're called to this hard life, and you embrace it, and so you're called to these hardships, to these difficult actions, to this difficult life. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:20.879 It is in those times that God is working to accomplish his work in you and through you. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:30.160 In other words, you can say this that the mission of God advances in your life primarily through suffering. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:38.800 Now, those are, I think, very shocking and hard words for us to hear. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:44.879 But consider what Paul said in Romans 8, verses 16 and 17 for a moment. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:45.920 Let me read this for you. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:52.079 Paul said this the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.920 And we love that, don't we? 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:55.519 We want to be children of God. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.240 We want to be those who are called the children of God. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:02.480 But Paul goes on and he says, if children, then heirs. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:04.720 And we love that too, don't we? 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.920 Who doesn't love to be an heir of some great treasure? 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:17.600 Wouldn't you love if all of a sudden someone came to you and said, hey, you didn't know it, but you had an uncle who was filthy rich and you are an heir to his possessions? 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:20.079 You would say, This is great. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.319 Paul says, we are heirs of God, but listen to these words. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:30.720 Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, Paul says, provided we suffer. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:38.480 Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:46.720 In church, what Paul is saying is this the path to glory is the path of suffering. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.839 Peter talks about it too in Peter for in 1 Peter 4.13. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:06:00.000 He says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:11.920 It's as though Peter says, Hey, hey, beloved Christian, you remember that the reason why you're called a Christian is because you are a follower of Christ, who said, You can't be my follower if you won't take up your cross. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:27.360 It says, Don't be surprised when the fiery trial comes, Peter says, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:38.800 Well Peter is saying is this if what we're just saying is true, you want to rejoice in that day where Jesus' arms are wide open to you, and you get to proclaim, hallelujah, Christ has risen from the grave. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:44.319 If you long for that day, well, you look through a path of suffering to get there. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:59.279 And you know, even as I say these words, I am so aware of how this message grates against the culture that we live in, and often as Christians, we are marinated in. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:04.480 See, the problem is that we love comfort. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.360 Isn't everything in our world these days? 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:08.560 It's about comfort. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:09.600 It's about ease. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:20.560 Like our grandparents would, or maybe great-grandparents, and our grandparents struggled to get there, but our grandparents and great-grandparents could not fathom how easy life has become. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:26.639 They would remember a day where you actually had to get up off the couch to change the channel on TV. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:34.959 Where you actually had to get out of the car and go into the restaurant in order for that food to be given to you. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:39.199 See, we live in an age of comfort. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:48.079 And while the call of the culture is comfort, the call of Christianity is suffering. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:55.120 Christ says to us, take up your cross and follow me. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:03.439 And yeah, we live in a day and age where what is constantly preached to us is that your joy is found in a new car and a bigger mortgage. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.439 See the call of Christ, it directly contradicts the call of culture. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:15.920 What we have here is really two paths of living, two different paths we can walk on in our life. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:22.000 One is the path of suffering that leads to glory, and the other is the path of comfort that leads to destruction. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.639 And everything I want to do for us this morning is to plead with us. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:32.480 And I'm pleading with my own soul as well that we would live on the path of suffering. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:42.080 I want to uh appeal to you and to compel you to come and walk on the path of suffering, to see the glory that awaits you there. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:48.879 I want to encourage you to embrace those times in life where things don't go as planned. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:09:01.200 I want to encourage you that when your life isn't going the way that you thought it should, when you're waiting on the promises of God to be accomplished in your life, I want to encourage you to stay in that moment, to stay in that suffering. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:12.240 I want to encourage you to take up the hard calls of Christianity, the difficult sacrifices that Christ calls you to make as a follower of Him. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:17.279 And to do that with great rejoicing because of the glory that it leads to. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:38.480 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:43.759 And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.399 Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:52.080 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.879 And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:02.720 Sometime after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:13.360 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:18.159 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.960 They continued for some time in custody. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.519 And one night they both dreamed. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:30.639 The cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:34.480 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:43.519 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, Why are your faces downcast today? 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:48.080 They said to him, We've had dreams, and there's no one to interpret them. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.320 And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:54.159 Please tell them to me. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:07.120 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches, and as soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:13.120 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. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.919 Then Joseph said to him, This is its interpretation. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.159 The three branches are three days. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:26.799 In three days Pharaoh will lift your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:34.080 Only remember me when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:40.320 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:49.440 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, I also had a dream. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:57.679 And there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:00.879 And Joseph answered and said, This is its interpretation. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.639 The three baskets are three days. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:08.639 In three days Pharaoh will lift your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat the flesh from you. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:16.879 On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:26.480 He restored the chief cup-bearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand, but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph has interpreted to them. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:32.799 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:37.759 Church, I want us to learn from Joseph's suffering this morning about our suffering. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.000 And I want you to see this first that suffering fills me with grace. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.879 Suffering fills me with grace. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:54.720 Now, as we have walked with Joseph up until this point of the story, I'm sure that you would agree with me that if Joseph were to write his own story, surely he would not write it like this. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:11.279 Remember that Joseph was promised by God through a pair of dreams of his own, that one day his brothers, and in fact his whole family, would bow before him, and that the covenant blessings, the earthly covenant blessings that God had promised to his people would flow through Joseph. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:15.039 Now, at that point in Joseph's story, I'm sure you can imagine how Joseph felt. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.840 Well, Mitt, life's gonna be pretty good for me. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:42.399 Joseph had no indication of the future suffering that he would endure, and yet as he shared that vision with his brothers, his brothers took him aside, left him for dead, sold him to slavery, and if you thought that slavery was bad enough, well, in slavery, Joseph was wrongly accused of rape and then sent to prison. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:14:00.559 And here we find Joseph in prison, and yet, even though Joseph wouldn't write his story this way, one of the astounding things is what we read in verse 21, that despite the fact that Joseph keeps getting brought deeper and deeper into his suffering, we read in verse 21 that the Lord was with Joseph. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:08.320 The Lord was with Joseph, and we are told the Lord was showing him steadfast love and giving him favor. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:18.080 He was pouring his grace out on Joseph, so that Joseph, in the eyes of the prisoner, or the captain of the prison, was favored. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:26.720 And isn't it interesting that it's in the place of Joseph's deepest blessing that he is filled with God's grace? 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:31.360 And church, how instructive is this for us? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:54.799 Do you know that God loves you to such a degree that he is willing to lower you down into the well of suffering, down into the well of waiting, down into the well of hardship, in order that there you might draw deeply from the fountain of his grace. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.960 This is the love of God for his children. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:17.279 God is like a parent who, with a young child who is learning to walk, will back a few steps away from that child and allow that child to struggle, doing something that they cannot do themselves, but something that they must do, something that's necessary for them to do in order to learn how to walk. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:27.440 See, a wise parent is willing to allow their children to endure a little supervised suffering in order that the work that they want to be accomplished in their life is accomplished. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:36.080 And if a wise parent is able to do that, how much more is a sovereign, good, and wise God able to do that in your life? 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:47.120 See, God is using the suffering in your life, he's using the waiting in your life, he's using the hardships in your life in order to fill you with his steadfast love and to fill you with his favor. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:58.240 That's why I love we we read Psalm 23 in the uh call to worship of our service this morning, and we love that chapter, and yet there are some really odd words there. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:04.960 David says about this shepherd, he says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:09.679 Now, at that moment in Psalm 23, if we understand shepherding, we should we should hit the brakes. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.519 Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:26.799 The cultural equivalent of that is your child looking to you and saying, Dad, your belt, the wooden spoon, the discipline that you give to me, oh gracious father, it comforts me. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:29.440 Does anyone's kids do that? 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.840 Because if if your kids do that, I would love for you to maybe do a seminar on parenting for us. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.679 That's not how it works. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:44.559 And the the rod and the staff of a shepherd were the very things that were used, even at times, to break the limbs of a sheep in order that that sheep might go the right way. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:48.960 They were used to hook the sheep off the wrong path, onto the right path. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:17:03.120 And David looks and he says, Even though your rod and your staff at times they bring me pain, at times it's your your discipline that hurts me, it brings me great comfort because I know when I'm in the presence of your rod and staff, I am on the right path. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:10.000 And then, isn't it interesting that a verse later he says, uh, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:12.720 Church, this is instructive for us. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:25.200 The place of God's blessing, the place where your cup will overflow, where you are so filled with God's grace that you are like a sponge that when squished by trial and suffering and waiting and hardship, God's grace pours out. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:26.640 It's in suffering. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:43.359 And so we see as Joseph endures this trial, he handles it so well because God has brought him to a place where he's filling him with his steadfast love, filling him with his favor. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.599 That's why Joseph is able to endure this trial as though nothing's going on. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.000 I want you to consider the context here for a moment. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:58.319 In Genesis 41, verse 48, we're going to be told that Joseph is 30 by the time he starts serving Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:04.640 Genesis 37, we were told that Joseph was 17 when he was sold into slavery. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:06.240 So we can do the math here. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:21.279 Between the time that Joseph was promised by God that his brothers would bow before him, that it would be through him that the covenant blessings of God would come, between that time and the time that Joseph was delivered out of prison, it was 13 years. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:26.720 And we're told that the Baker in Genesis 41, it took him two years to remember Joseph. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:32.720 That means that between slavery and imprisonment, Joseph had spent 11 years. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:39.039 And as he looked for the promise of God being fulfilled in his life, things had only gone backwards. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:43.519 It's like God had said one thing and then the complete opposite happened. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:48.319 And yet Joseph is enduring this trial, and as we read this, there's no complaining. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.079 Not once is he is he like, God, what's going on here? 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.880 Listen, how quickly are we to do that in suffering? 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.519 Like for me, it's like the day of suffering. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.839 The first day that I have a cold, I'm on my knees. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:02.240 I'm like, God, why are you doing this to me? 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.480 That's an application I think that hits strongly with the men and the man cold. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.559 And yet here's Joseph for 11 years. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:11.519 There's no complaining. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.960 We just read through the life of Jacob. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.000 And what did Jacob do? 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.440 When suffering hit Jacob, he he like he tried to weasel his way out of it. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:22.079 Jacob was like a pro-wrestler, and so all that he ever did was try to wrestle his way out of suffering. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:33.519 And yet here is Joseph accepting, accepting his lot, accepting his suffering, and instead of focusing on himself, he's seeking to serve God to his glory. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:38.480 So that even in the prison we're gonna read in chapter 40, he's serving others in the prison. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.000 He doesn't care about himself, he's just trying to glorify God in this prison. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:43.680 And my question is, how? 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:48.559 How do you endure such uh hopeless, seemingly hopeless waiting? 00:19:49.200 --> 00:20:00.079 How do you endure such a significant trial where it's like there's no light, there's no way out, and you just get keep getting dragged deeper and deeper and deeper away from what you thought God promised. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:02.079 Well, I believe it's this. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:06.000 I believe truly that Joseph, he looks back. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.920 He looks back on the way that God had interacted with his people. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:16.720 And you know what Joseph could discern if he were a faithful student of the redemptive story that God was writing? 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:25.039 Joseph could discern that God always used the suffering of his children to accomplish his work in them. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:38.319 Joseph could look back to Abraham and remember that it was many years between the time that God had promised Abraham that he would have a child and that that child was delivered. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:45.599 And there would be many years of waiting and suffering in which Abraham, his life would be completely transformed. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:21:02.000 In those years, God would fill Abraham full of grace, so that when God appeared to Abraham and said, Sacrifice your one and only son on Mount Moriah for me, Abraham would hear that call and say, Yes, yes, God. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:13.200 And if Abraham was to be so filled with grace that he was able to hear a hard, difficult call like that, God would have to bring Abraham through years of suffering. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:19.759 Joseph could look to Jacob and see Jacob's transformation and see that Jacob's life was much like Joseph's. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:26.400 It was trial after trial after trial, and what Jacob failed after, it was failure after failure after failure for Jacob. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:33.279 And yet, what what Joseph could see in Jacob's life is that it was through his suffering that Jacob was eventually transformed. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:42.880 That it's the suffering that God brings his people through that fills them with the grace that they need to do the work that he wants them to accomplish. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:49.440 Joseph looked at his heritage and he was confident. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:55.839 He was confident that God never wastes suffering. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:04.799 He was confident that all the suffering that God God's people had endured up until this point was a necessary suffering. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:18.640 That when God puts his people into the furnace, it's as one the pastor says, His hands are on the thermostat and his eyes are on the clock, and he does not leave his people in the furnace longer than they need. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:24.559 He leaves them in there for a purpose in order that they might be purified like pure metal. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:31.200 And Joseph was convinced that if he was in suffering, that God was using it for a purpose in his life. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.279 My question for you this morning is this are you confident? 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:42.000 Are you confident that the difficult things that God has called you to do in this season of life? 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:56.400 That the difficult trials and suffering that you have walked through and are walking through right now, that the season of waiting that you are in, are you confident that God is purposefully having you in this season? 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:04.400 Are you confident that God is purposefully using your suffering to accomplish his work? 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:20.240 See, the reality is that if we're not confident that God will use the hard things that we endure in life and the hard things that we do for his glory, if we're not confident that he will use those things, then we will never do hard things for him. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:26.240 We'll hear the hard calls that Christ makes to his followers and we'll say, why would I ever do that? 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:27.359 It's a little like this. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:33.119 It's a little like the what we're talking about is the spiritual equivalent of working out here physically, isn't it? 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:38.720 Have you guys ever met someone who it's like that like they're a runner and they're just like, I love running. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:42.160 There's nothing I love more than running and being out of breath. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:45.680 And don't you kind of look at that person and say, you are a liar. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:47.440 There's no one who loves running. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:51.440 And the way that you know that is because you've seen a lot of people running in your life, haven't you? 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.480 You've never seen someone running with a smile on their face. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.400 Whenever you've seen people running, don't they look? 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:57.440 They look like they're dying. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:58.319 They look like they hate it. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:23:59.519 Same with like weightlifting. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.680 You've never seen a person deadlift with a smile on their face. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.960 Instead it look like they hate it, they look like their spine's gonna pop out of their back. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.200 No one likes lifting heavy weights. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:14.640 But what you do like, and what you've deceived yourself to think, is you like the outcome. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:32.720 When you finish that run, the endorphins are running through your brain and your body feels good and you start losing weight, and and what what you're willing to do is embrace the hardship of working out in order to uh embrace the outcome of working out. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:36.160 And so it is with our spiritual life. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:54.559 If you don't look at this faithful God and see that when he calls you to a difficult thing that you feel like you cannot do, when he puts you in a difficult season that you feel like you cannot endure, if you don't look to him and have a confidence that he's doing that purposefully, you will never be able to endure it. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:03.680 And the reality is that so many of us, we miss out on God's blessing because we just have no confidence that God will do what he says he'll do. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:19.599 And the reason why Joseph is in prison and drawing deeply from the wells of God's grace and sensing God's presence and filled with God's steadfast love is because he has a confidence that God is working through this. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:25.359 And so, church, let me ask you, are you confident that God is purposefully using your suffering? 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:30.880 And are you willing to do hard things because you know that God will use that and bless you in the midst of that? 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.440 Well, what are some what are some hard things? 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:39.680 If we're really confident that God uses the hard things that we do for his glory, what are some hard things that we'll do? 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:43.839 Well, the first that I can maybe point your attention to is that we'll sacrificially give. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:50.559 Isn't it something isn't that isn't it interesting that what the New Testament calls us to is sacrificial giving. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:51.359 What does that mean? 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.799 It's like giving to the point that it hurts. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:57.759 It's not comfortable giving. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:01.359 Give comfortable giving would be like what can you give that you don't notice? 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:05.440 What can you kind of scrape off the top that that won't really hinder you too much? 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:09.039 What the New Testament calls for is sacrificial giving. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:16.000 It's like this giving that that is is so it hurts you so much that you get to the point where you're like, man, I'm really gonna have to depend on God here. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:24.720 And God in that moment where you participate in sacrificial giving like that is glorified because here you are at a point where you're like, God, I'm dependent on you. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.960 I'm gonna have to trust in you for this. 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.880 I'm gonna have to be near you, and it's in this place that we're told is blessed is the cheerful giver. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.680 Well, what about what about meaningful relationships? 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:44.799 Let's be honest. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:52.559 If we are going to do relationships in this church the way the Bible calls us to, it is going to be incredibly difficult. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:27:00.400 There are many incredibly difficult things about entering into the type of community that God is calling us to be as a church. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:08.079 You enter into a messy community, and you enter into this community of sinners, and you have to pursue something called vulnerability. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:16.160 And it's incredibly hard sometimes to sit in a room of people that sometimes you don't even really know them all that well, and yet you're you're called to vulnerability. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:23.759 You're called to pour out your life with these people, to live your life with these people, at times to maybe confess things that you're embarrassed about. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:34.880 And you're called even to walk alongside people that if it weren't for the unity that you have in Jesus Christ, if it weren't for the fact that they're in this church, you would never hang out with them. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:36.400 You would never call them your friend. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:41.119 Maybe your personality is, you know, it's not the type of friend that you would make naturally. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:49.440 And yet God has called you to minister to this person, and we can agree that relationship, the way that God has called us to do it, is incredibly difficult. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.640 And yet we press into it because we believe that is the place of blessing. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:03.440 We believe we have confidence that God is calling us to this in order that we might be blessed, in order that we might be filled with his grace. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:11.359 Really the question is this: do you believe that Jesus' words are true when he said that you cannot follow me if you are not willing to take up your cross? 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:16.720 If you're not willing to take up this instrument of death, if you are not the symbol of suffering. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:26.160 It's the symbol of suffering in our days, but day and age, but you can imagine how it was a symbol of suffering in the Roman culture, the cross. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:28.400 Take up your cross. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:33.279 Be willing to suffer in order that you might be filled with grace. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.599 That's the first thing that suffering does for us. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:38.720 It fills us with grace, but I want you to notice what else happens in Joseph's life. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:42.559 We also notice that suffering focuses him on the goal. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.880 And I want you to see this in this passage. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.319 Suffering focuses me on the goal. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:54.240 Now, Joseph, as he got into prison, doesn't he? 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:58.480 He kind of has every reason just to sit back and do nothing. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.319 He's in prison. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.480 That's kind of the point of prison, isn't it? 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.880 Like you don't get to do anything for a few years. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:09.920 And yet, what Joseph does is instead of sitting back and doing nothing, he gets right to work. 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:11.839 He starts serving other people. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:14.720 So he gains favor with the captain of the guard. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.960 And now we're told that he has all these prisoners that are in his guard. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:31.119 And it just so happens that in chapter 40, verse 1, two of the most influential people in all the land of Egypt happen to be put in Joseph's charge, so that Joseph now has influence in their life. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:35.519 Joseph gets into prison and he gets right to the work of serving the people in prison. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:41.200 And then in Genesis 40, verse 1, we read outside of the prison, there's some turmoil going on. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:46.720 We're told of this chief baker and of this chief cupbearer who committed an offense against the king of Egypt. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.680 Now, we're not told what the offense is. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.799 We could imagine, as we understand the roles, what it is. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:59.680 The chief cupbearer and the chief baker were pretty much like the bosses of their departments in the kingdom. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:04.880 And the chief baker would be in charge of the team who would make all of the food for the king. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:08.240 And the chief cupbearer had a really interesting role. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:16.000 The chief cupbearer was the one who would taste the food to see if it was poisonous and would kill them. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:22.720 And so you can imagine if your job was the chief cupbearer, you probably wouldn't just be blindly taste testing all this food. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:32.880 If they needed a role, if that was like a job in the kingdom, people were trying to assassinate the king by feeding them poisonous food, you'd probably want to know every little detail that goes into making that food. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:55.440 And so the chief cupbearer had an important and really significant and intrusive role in the kingdom, in that he would be almost like an overseer of the whole process of the food being made, of the food being transported, of the food being baked, and then delivered to Pharaoh to ensure before he ate it before Pharaoh or drank it before Pharaoh that it had no poison in it. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:05.279 And so likely what happened is the chief baker was really in cahoots trying to maybe assassinate the king. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:13.519 And because this slipped the chief cupbearer's attention and almost made it to Pharaoh, well, the Pharaoh said, You're both going to jail. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:24.079 Yeah, we're not told that, but here's what we do know that in a moment Joseph finds himself in the presence of two of the most influential people in all of Egypt. 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:33.200 And we're told in verse 4 that the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and these important words were told, he attended them. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:35.839 He attended them. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:37.920 All of these men are prisoners. 00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:44.319 And yet Joseph, he takes the posture of a servant. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:50.000 He takes the posture of someone who would serve these other prisoners. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:51.599 I don't know what you would do if you were in jail. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:57.359 I've seen a lot of TV shows about jail, and often what these people in prison do is they kind of like say, hey, I don't deserve to be here, right? 00:31:57.599 --> 00:31:58.720 That's like the first thing you do. 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:01.440 You say, hey, I didn't do it. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:05.920 And when you get a new prisoner, you tell them what you didn't do it, and you can plead your story to them. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:08.480 And yet Joseph's not here pleading his own case. 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:11.599 Joseph is here serving other people. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:15.759 And so we see this in verse 5 and 6. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:24.000 Really, the pinnacle of Joseph's serving is that when these men have a dream, did you notice in verse 6 it was Joseph who came to them in the morning? 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:29.359 Joseph came to them and he's looking for ways to serve these people. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:37.039 And he sees that they are downcast and he asks them why they are downcast, and he's seeking to serve them in the most significant way. 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:44.480 Now I think it's really important for us that Joseph, in the depth of his suffering, is serving God. 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:52.559 Because it is in the depth of Joseph's suffering that the very thing he needs to do for God becomes clear to him. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.200 And this is another reality of suffering. 00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:59.359 Suffering focuses us on what God wants us to be after. 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:04.480 Suffering brings clarity into our life of the things that we are to do for God. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:14.880 That's part of the reason why some of these verses that we have read this morning say that we can rejoice in suffering because it's suffering that shows us what is important and what's a waste of time. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:16.319 Isn't this true? 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.559 Haven't you ever attended a funeral? 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:25.519 Really, one of the deepest moments of suffering where we mourn, the death of a loved one. 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:31.119 And you walk out of that funeral with a clarity of life, don't you? 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:43.119 Well you start to think about the things in your life, and you start to realize, hey, some of these things that I'm really passionate about right now, that I'm spending a lot of time on, they just do not matter in the grand scheme of things. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:47.039 And you start to realize that it's the people that you're around that are important. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:55.759 The greatest marker that you can leave, the greatest influence and significance that you can have is by pouring into other people. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:02.319 And it's through this funeral, this immense moment of suffering in your life, that you are given great clarity on what is important. 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:05.200 That's true of all suffering, isn't it? 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:11.440 Suffering at times, it reveals the things that maybe we had clung too closely to. 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:17.199 We're called to a season of waiting in life where we just don't know what God's doing in our midst. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:22.320 Sometimes it reveals the idols that have been in our life and it shows us what we should be doing. 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:29.679 And this is the reality of suffering, is that suffering focuses us on what God wants us to be focused on. 00:34:31.039 --> 00:34:36.400 See, I believe that one of the greatest enemies of the church today is distraction. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:39.360 I love what one pastor calls it. 00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:43.119 He says that the greatest enemy are weapons of mass distraction. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:50.559 And our problem is not so much that we don't know what to do, our problem is just that we aren't focused on the very thing we should be doing. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:52.719 We're distracted by all these other things. 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.119 We're distracted by the rat race. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:03.920 We're distracted by the materialism, by wanting bigger and better things and bigger and better homes. 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:13.599 We're distracted by the race for popularity of wanting to be the people on the street who everybody loves and wanting to be the person who everyone accepts. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:18.960 We're distracted by promotions, by the kids' activities. 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:26.159 There are all sorts of things that, though they're not bad things in and of themselves, they distract us from the main goal. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:35.840 And the reason why suffering is something that we can rejoice in is because God will use it to clarify to you what is important. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:45.679 Joseph's suffering focuses him on what is important, and that's to serve these two people who are imprisoned with him. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:52.079 Now we get a sense of what the goal, what God's goal for us and for Joseph is in verse 8. 00:35:52.400 --> 00:36:00.320 After these men have these troubling dreams, we're told in verse 8 that Joseph goes to them and he says at the end of verse 8, do not interpretations belong to God? 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:01.679 Please tell them to me. 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:04.000 And we're told exactly what Joseph's about to do. 00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:09.599 Joseph is about to share the revealed word of God to these men. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.280 Joseph will point these men to God's word. 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:17.119 And as we read the story, we really understand that this is what Joseph's doing. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:24.480 Because the interpretation that Joseph has, you could not come to any other way than to just know that God told you that thing. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:30.800 So then in verse 9 and 11, we read of the cupbearer's dream. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:41.679 And he tells us, In my dream, there is a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches, and as soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:47.360 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup on in Pharaoh's hand. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:53.199 Now, if you were just to read this dream, you could not interpret what it means. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:56.400 In fact, most dreams are like that, aren't they? 00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:00.800 When you and I dream, we wake up in the morning and maybe we had a dream. 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:05.599 We're like riding over Niagara Falls on an or on an orange with Abraham Lincoln or something like that. 00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:07.280 That's kind of the dreams I have. 00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:10.400 And I don't wake up and say, what was the meaning of the orange? 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:13.679 Was that like now I'm gonna have a season of vitality in my life or something? 00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:16.320 Most dreams are just completely random. 00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:19.440 And in many ways, this dream is completely random. 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:24.800 But then in verse 12, Joseph says to him, This is inter this is its interpretation. 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:27.440 The three branches are three days. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:41.360 And I don't think that there is anywhere in Scripture that could support that illustration that uh interpretation of this dream, apart from Joseph having, like he said, had that revealed to him by God. 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:44.159 And Joseph prophesies in verse 13. 00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:45.920 Again, this is given to him by God. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:55.280 It's God's revealed word given to Joseph that Joseph now speaks into the cupbearer's life, that he's gonna be restored to his office. 00:37:57.039 --> 00:38:00.639 Now in verses 16 to 19, he does the same thing with the baker. 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:03.519 See, the chief baker, he's kind of a ratty guy, isn't he? 00:38:03.599 --> 00:38:10.159 In verse 16, he's not willing to share his dream until he sees that the cupbearer's dream is favorable, and then so he shares his dream. 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:18.320 And even though his dream has a negative interpretation, even though his dream ends with him being hung on a tree and the birds eating of his flesh, it ends in his death. 00:38:18.559 --> 00:38:23.039 Joseph is still willing to share God's word with this man. 00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:34.559 And I don't think it's accidental that this is the work that Joseph is focused on in his deepest suffering, because I truly believe that this is the work that God is calling you and me to. 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:43.599 See, the the thing that suffering often focuses us to is that our life is you you were created to pour into other people. 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:45.519 Do you know that? 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:52.000 It's so important to hear again because we live in a culture that says your greatest joy is pouring yourself, pour in yourself, pour in yourself. 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:53.760 We're so individualistic. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:57.760 We think the more we focus on ourselves, the more happier we will be. 00:38:57.840 --> 00:39:01.760 And I need you to know that you were created by the God of this world. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:05.119 You were created to pour into other people. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:09.199 That's why unbelievers, they catch on to this. 00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:13.039 If you read self-help, secular self-help, you will find this over and over and over again. 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:16.960 That the thing you need to do is serve other people, serve other people, serve other people. 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:17.920 Well, why is that? 00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:20.960 Why is that that the secular uh world is catching on to this? 00:39:21.039 --> 00:39:23.280 It's because that's how God created you to be. 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:31.599 And if you live your life pouring yourself out for other people, you will find joy because you weren't made just to focus on yourself. 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:36.800 We live in this age that's constantly just saying, focus on yourself, focus on yourself, focus on yourself. 00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:38.000 That's where your greatest joy is. 00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:49.039 And it's not until you die to yourself and take up the interest of other people that you truly understand joy and satisfaction. 00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:54.239 This is a work that God needs to do in our heart, and it's a work that God often does in suffering. 00:39:54.400 --> 00:40:02.320 He tears us away from the love of self, and he shows us that the most important thing that we can do is pour into other people, is to influence them. 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:08.159 And God is showing us here the way that we serve other people truly is by pointing them to God. 00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:12.159 Church, I want you to see this, and so I'm gonna ask you to do something I don't often ask you to do. 00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:14.559 I want you to turn your Bibles to Colossians 1, okay? 00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:16.800 Can you turn your Bible to Colossians 1? 00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:18.719 Right now, there should be a lot of pages flipping. 00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:23.039 Maybe you can turn on the sound of your phone so we hear it scrolling and know that you're doing something. 00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:24.800 Colossians 1. 00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:31.519 Look how this fleshes itself out in the life of Paul in Colossians 1, verse 24. 00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:43.119 Paul gives us an insight here into his ministry, and it's this is like uh a documentary on Paul where like you shudder as you consider what ministry is like for him. 00:40:43.280 --> 00:40:45.039 Colossians 1 verse 24. 00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:47.920 Paul says this. 00:40:48.079 --> 00:41:02.559 He says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church. 00:41:02.719 --> 00:41:14.159 Now, hit the pause button because those words are so countercultural to us, and God is not going to work in our midst until they become more comfortable in our church. 00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:19.519