Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. Due to the length of the passage we're going to be looking at in Genesis, we will read that in the body of the sermon this morning. So I invite you to turn to our New Testament passage at 1 Peter chapter 5, beginning at verse 5. And before we read and hear God's Word, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have given to us Your Word, and we confess that We cannot understand a syllable of it apart from the working of your Holy Spirit to take us by the hand and lead us to your truth. And so we pray, Lord, that you would indeed do that, that you would give us understanding and insight as the word is read, that we'd be good hearers of this word and doers of it, we pray in Jesus' name. In God's people's name, amen. Well, congregation, listen to God's word at 1 Peter 5, beginning at verse 5. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Please be seated. Well, as we look at the passage in Genesis Chapter 41, we come to the beginning point of where we begin to see the unfolding before our eyes of the dreams, the prophecies, the visions that were given to Joseph all the way back when he was a teenager. We begin to see that point, this revelation of the outworking of God's will when he would have those to come and bow down before Joseph and then his whole family coming and bowing down. We see this gracious work of God being manifested before us here of how he is going to go about saving of his covenant people, even though this is still several years off in the future when this is going to occur. But we see here God's moving his hand through all of this, which we've seen all through the life of Joseph. But we see it here, I guess, in broad strokes, in great and mighty ways here. But the workings of God have been every bit as powerful and mighty even when Joseph is there in the prison, when he's there in Potiphar's household, when he is being carried. by the Midianites down to Egypt to be sold as a slave even when he's a young man with his brothers. We find here, if we look at this passage here, the beginnings of a rescue plan, a rescue for Joseph but then also for God's people, God's covenant people that we will see over the coming weeks. Notice here in Genesis chapter 41 beginning at verse 1, some distressing dreams that Pharaoh had. Pharaoh's distressing dreams. Listen. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. Behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed on the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind. and the thin ears swallowed up the seven-plump full ears, and Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream." Now, we're told here that this event occurs two whole years after the great manifestation of God's will through the interpretation of the dreams that Joseph gave to Pharaoh's cupbearer and to Pharaoh's butler. You remember that he was in prison with them and they were downcast because they had these dreams and Joseph was able to interpret the dreams. And with regards to the chief baker, that he was going to be executed. And the chief butler was going to be elevated. He was going to be restored to his former position. And sure enough, God keeps his word and does what Joseph had interpreted with regards to these dreams. And so now we find it is two whole years. And in fact, the Hebrew mentions here that these are two years of days. Two years of days. in for us a greater understanding of the weight of this time. You know, we can talk about two years passing, but when the phrase is used here, two years of days, Joseph, I believe, is having to deal with being forgotten by the cupbearer every one of those days of the two years of days. this reality working in on him. He had, you remember, asked the cupbearer to remember him before Pharaoh, to remember he is there, been put there unrighteously, been put there falsely accused, had been stolen away from his family in the land of Canaan. He wants to go home. He wants to get out of that prison. And You would think that the cupbearer in gratitude for the message, and especially when Joseph's word has been fulfilled, he is restored, that the cupbearer would remember. But he doesn't. He's very prodigal in this regard. He does not do this. But yet we've also seen through this that God has not forgotten Joseph. God is working out his perfect providence in his servant's life. Each one of those two years of days, every single day, every single moment, we know the Lord is there. He's caring for Joseph. He's keeping him through this. He's working his plan. You know, we can usually endure something if we know that there is an end date to it. We may be going through, you know, the typical example is you see your guys going through basic training. They know there's going to be a day when that drill sergeant stops yelling at them. They know that there's going to be a day when this is all over. They pass out and they're going to be a Marine. They get their Eagle Globe and anchor and Navy boot or whatever they get and, you know, whatever the service. They know that there's going to be an end date to this. And we all know this, you know, we keep these mental calendars or we keep these physical calendars. We know that this is going to take place. Units that have been overseas, they know that X number of days, there's going to be so many wakeups and a plane ride home, you would often hear it said. We keep these mental calendars. We keep these physical calendars as well. We've all probably seen the cartoon of guys in a prison marking with a little piece of charcoal or something on the wall of their cell each of the tallies of the days and all of that going on. They don't know when this is, you know, they have some expectation when their sentence is going to be over, but there are those times when we don't know. When we don't know when the end is going to be. And Joseph is in that position. And yet we're told here after two years of days, God has remembered him. God brings events to pass. The God who has sovereignly given to His servant Joseph dreams when he was 17 years of age as to what would come had not revealed exactly when and how these things were to come about. But now we're going to see the when and the how. that the picture becomes much more clear. It is in focus now. To Joseph, the dreams given by God were the revelation of God. They were God's word to him as to the Lord's intentions. He knew it would happen because he knew this God who had promised. There is no doubt with Joseph with regards to the truthfulness of God, with regards to the ability of God to bring all these things to pass, with God's gracious ways to affect these things. It's just the how this is going to work out. He knew this God who had promised, and that is what he must have had to cycle back to over and again each of those two years of days. And indeed, through all this time, even from when he was a teenager and these dreams had come, and looking at the discouraging circumstances each and every moment as they would come, and the ups and downs and the bumps and bruises, the trials and tribulations, when he would be tempted to despair of his situation in the prison, or on the way down to Egypt, or that day in the pit when his brothers had cast him there and applauded his death. All these things, individually and especially together, would be enough to sink us. But he constantly refers back to this, I believe, to the promises of God. God has said this is going to take place. Well, what is it that makes the promises of God so good? What's the reality? of His active presence. This is an active, present God who is there and is not silent, who is not remote, who is not distant. He is there at work. Our problem is we have a tendency not to catch on with that fact, that we tend to not see this. And one of the things we're told about those who are walking by faith and not by sight. In Hebrews 11 we're told, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old receive their commendation. And certainly Joseph is going to receive that commendation in spades, that he has kept this faith, looking to this Lord. But it's not going to be easy. You see, when we look at these examples of faith, we go, well, yeah, that's Moses. Or, yeah, that's Abraham. Or, yeah, that's... No. No. It is never easy. It is never easy. Because we have the continual chorus going on in our heads. Oh, surely that's not going to happen. We've got our own flesh that cries out against this. Our own doubts of God's goodness, of God's ability, of God's veracity, His keeping of His promises. We have those things that just constantly go galloping through our minds and our hearts. We have the world around us We have those who are the naysayers. Paul or Peter writes of those who have said that, you know, this God has delayed so much in His coming. You know, how can these promises be true? We have those who are constantly deriding us. So we've got the enemies of the world and the flesh and the devil about these things. We're told if We are walking by faith and not by sight in 2 Corinthians as we look not unto the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And this is the focus that Joseph must have had each of those years of days. And that's that that focus that we have to have as well, that all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. But it's hard. It is hard. For some of you, you've experienced this just recently and it's been an ongoing thing and it is hard. And you know that there's a struggle. Don't let anyone tell you that following Jesus is all sweetness and light and is going to be hunky-dory and solve all your problems. Coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I think in some respects, adds to your problems. It adds to it. And that's part of what it is of counting the cost of following our Lord Jesus Christ and being His disciple. But those who come to me, I will in no way cast out, he says. That we have the surety of these things that are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. And this is what I believe that Joseph is clinging to this God, clinging to his promises, his word, these two years of days. Now, two years. What is this event? Well, this is the birthday of Pharaoh, the cupbearer. was restored, you remember, on Pharaoh's birthday two years prior, so this is going to take place again. And this is going to be important that the cupbearer is going to be there after these dreams come. And so notice these dreams that Pharaoh has. They have disturbing elements to them. You've got the cattle that are really nice-looking cattle that are down in the Nile, standing there in the shallows, eating the reeds and they're coming up and I mean they're fat and plump and they're just good looking cattle. And then you have the thin gaunt cattle coming up and standing there and you can see there and then you see the gaunt cattle eating up the good cattle. Now you talk about your weird dreams. And you can see where something like this would be really freaking out Pharaoh. One of the things you have to remember too, the Nile is the source of life in Egypt, still is today. And they worship Egypt. The primary god of the Egyptians is the Nile, represented by the Nile. And so with the floodwaters that come down from what is Sudan and the Blue Nile and the White Nile coming together to converge to create the Nile and going on down and the amount of silt moved down and the flooding over of the fields. and the good harvest and so forth, the interconnectedness that these things are going to come up and be connected with the Nile. You've got the seven good years, the good crops that come from it, but then you're going to have the seven years of terrible, terrible famine, although Pharaoh has not connected the dots on this as yet. And then you have this second image of the ears of grain, the seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. They would have varieties of grain that you would see that, not just a single clump, but clumps of it on their particular wheat or other crops. And so he has these dreams and you can imagine he wakes up in the morning, we're told here, Verse 8, so in the morning his spirit was troubled and he sent forth and called all his magicians. Now one of the things that Calvin says about this in the king's dream, this is worthy to be observed in the first place, that God sometimes deigns to present his oracles even to unbelieving and profane men. Usually the revelation of God is for the church. It is for the benefit of the church. But sometimes God will tip his hand as to what he is going to do and give this to unbelievers, give this as a sign to them. It was certainly, Calvin says, a singular honor to be instructed concerning an event yet 14 years future, for truly the will of God was manifested to Pharaoh just as if he had been taught by the word, except that the interpretation of it was to be sought elsewhere. And although God designs his word especially for the church, yet it ought not to be deemed absurd that he sometimes admits even aliens into his school, though for an inferior end. The doctrine which leads to the hope of eternal life belongs to the church. The gospel has been entrusted to the church. Not some other organization, not some other group, but the church. This doctrine that leads to eternal life of hope belongs to the church while the children of this world are only taught incidentally, Calvin says, concerning the state of the present life. And so we see that Pharaoh is clued into these things, but he's not given the understanding of it. It is something of great puzzlement to him. And we see here in the next section here, beginning of verse 8 through verse 13, inability of human resources and God's providence. Notice here verse 8, he's troubled. Well, after having those kind of dreams, who wouldn't be? He's troubled. His spirit is troubled. He sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. It's as if all of a sudden they've gone blank. Here are the subject matter experts on dreams. You remember we talked about the Egyptians were all about dreams and the portents of the future and had all these books of magic and all these people that they would refer to to interpret the dreams and schools of interpretation of all these things. And these guys are all drawing a blank. There's none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. This adds, I think, to the distress. Not only do you have the distressing dreams, but now you've got the distress of those who the interpreters of the dream are completely clueless. You can imagine the panic in the palace concerning this. And then the chief cupbearer says to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today. And those offenses, the offense against Pharaoh that got him put in the jail at first and then he's sprung from it. But then is he also alluding to the offense of not remembering Joseph? We don't know. But I do find it interesting that in the providence of God and the timing of things, all of a sudden, here you've got a dream that cannot be interpreted. All of these guys cannot do this. He's being good with regards to his master and giving him, well, I had this happen to me and this individual was able to do it. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with his own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us. giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged." And so here, notice the futility of these Egyptians seeking truth in all the wrong places. They can't find it. They look up false sources. And that's one of the things that sin does, that we suppress the truth and unrighteousness. We exchange the glory of God and worship the creature rather than the Creator. And the Egyptians certainly have done this by worshiping, as Romans 1 tells us, all of the false gods that they have and represented by various creatures. They have exchanged the truth for a lie. And no wonder, if that is the avenue on which they're going to run, they keep going to find the bankruptcy of any real interpretation, even real understanding. Now, up to this point, I'm sure that the magicians and the dream tellers were full of all kinds of ideas. But here we find God puts them in a total shutdown. And I believe that this is the preparation of God so that His Word might be heard. We find at times that God in His dealings with men will create conditions for the better reception of His Word. Sometimes we think of circumstances, maybe we've been praying for someone who's been stubbornly resistant to the Word and some tragedy comes into their life and we think, well, maybe now they might wake up. Maybe now they might listen to the word now. Yes, God at times will use such things, but it's not just the calamity of the event. That causes them to awaken, it's not just a calamity of the event to see the bankruptcy of all other avenues of approach and to realize that the Lord God himself, that is the beginning, but it is not the sum total of it. in and of itself. It has to come about by the work of God. And part of this work of God is to show the bankruptcy of the Egyptians and their thinking, and that being impressed upon the magicians, but especially upon Pharaoh to be receptive. He's wanting an answer, but then also to, in the providence of God, cause this cupbearer all of a sudden to wake up and remember what had happened two years prior to the day. The ordering of those dreams for Pharaoh. He remembers this work of Joseph in the past for such a time as this. You see, we see this with God over and again throughout His Word for just the right moment, for just this event. He so orders and orchestrates all things after the counsel of His will so that the fullness of time would come about. We see that as Galatians tells us with regards to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who in the fullness of time, at just the right time, when it was right, when it was ready, at that moment and not a millisecond before, The revelation of God, the outworking of His purposes are manifested. But all through this we remember that He's been orchestrating all of these things. And it's not just in the big deals, such as what we're going to read here in this passage, but in every aspect of our lives. That God is at work. Our Heavenly Father is at work. Orchestrating all things for His glory. and for our good. The cupbearer's testimony is going to be used by God the Holy Spirit to prepare Pharaoh to receive Joseph's interpretation as God's Word. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. He persuades and enables. That is His work. To show us Christ. To show us these things. To prepare us. This is what He does for us. Our own confession of faith. reminds us of this fact at chapter 1, section 5, and if you want to look at it in our hymnals in the back on page 848. 848, we may be moved, section 5, and induced by the testimony of the church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, The consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole which is to give all glory to God, the full discovery of it, makes the only way of man's salvation. The many other incomparable excellencies and the entire perfection thereof are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God, yet notwithstanding our full persuasion and assurance of this infallible truth and divine authority thereof. is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. All of these arguments put forward with regards to the efficacy and the greatness of God's Word and so forth, yes, God the Holy Spirit brings those things together, but it's not unless and until God the Holy Spirit opens the heart and persuades us and enables us to embrace Christ as He's offered to us in the Gospel. In that Word will we be saved. And so this preparatory work of God to have Pharaoh to hear this Word for this moment, for such a time as this, and for the cupbearer to have the circumstances there that his conscience is prodded and poked to remember his offenses. It's all by the work of God. So if we think on these dreams and interpretation along with subsequent actions in the years that follow, to think along with Calvin when he comments on this, although the Lord took pity on Egypt, he did not do it for the sake of the king. Who did he do it for? For us and for our salvation. For us and for our good. Our Heavenly Father has so orchestrated all things, and especially this, for His people. So that Joseph might, at length Calvin says, be brought out of prison. And further, that at the time of famine, food might be supplied to the church. For although the produce was stored with no design beyond that of providing for the kingdom of Egypt, yet God chiefly cared for His church, which He esteemed more highly than ten worlds." When you're looking through history, when you're studying history, young people, when you're being taught history, remember this. It is His story. It is the story of God's unfolding of His purposes and of bringing all things to pass to bring glory to Christ and to protect and preserve and to keep and to bless His people. That our God is working all things sovereignly after His will. For us, for His glory, our Heavenly Father will use these things, even the wrath of man, even though they mean it for evil, God will mean it for good. That all things work together for good for those who love Him. And so, He remembers at this time. He remembers these dreams. And so he says, there was this young Hebrew with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about, I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged. So Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And you look at the verbiage here in the Hebrew, it is they hustle him out of the prison. It's like his feet don't even touch the ground. They drive him along. They quickly bring him out of the pit, the prison, the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I've had a dream, and there's no one who can interpret it. I've heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. You see, here is this right time. These events bring Joseph out of the prison, and he is there. This time is established by the Lord. We see that at the right time, these things take place. and is not just at the right time with regards to Pharaoh, with regards to the cupbearer, with regards to the climatological conditions that are going to be coming and all the things that are going to produce the seven good years and the seven bad years and all of those issues with the hydrology of the Nile River. You add all those particular factors, but God was also at work, I believe, inside the prison as well. in the heart of his servant Joseph. To bring about these things at just the right time. You see, God had work to do outside the prison. God has work to do inside the prison as well. We may not see things that God is doing with our own understanding of things. We're counseled. In Scripture, not to lean on our own understanding and all our ways to acknowledge Him. And He will direct our paths. It's not just that God had to do stuff outside the prison, but He also had stuff to do in Joseph's heart as well. Transforming us into the image of His Son. from a worldly understanding of things, what did Joseph gain in those 13 years that he was in Egypt? Oh yeah, he had those times of blessing, of high years that he was there in Potiphar's household, and bam, that's all taken away in a moment, in a day. You see that happen there? Things are going better, you know, he's blooming where he's planted, he's blossoming there, he's serving God there in the prison. And he's disappointed and so he's got these two years a day to remind him of these things. Was it a colossal waste of time? No, God never wastes his time in molding us after the image of his own son. Sometimes he lets things sit. so they might be seasoned a bit. I've got a friend who's been a missionary in North Africa, and he was telling me one day, he was home in the States visiting, and we were talking about different stuff in life where he was posted. And one of the things we got talking about were tires. He was visiting us in Lawton, and Lawton's got the largest tire plant in the world at Goodyear Tire and Rubber there. one of the most efficient plants that Goodyear has and a number of people in the church worked there. One of my elders was a tire builder and so forth. So it's not just a military town, okay? It's a lot of tire town too. And so we got talking about Goodyear and talking about things and he was telling us about, oh, the tires that were natively made there in that country. He said you didn't want to buy them. So the reason for that was, he would always buy Michelins, import them from France. But he would not buy the local tires. And the reason for it was, they would manufacture the tire and then sell it within a day or so of their coming off of the manufacturing line. And the problem is, with those tires, is there had not been enough time for the rubber and all the other materials in them to set up, to harden properly. You want nice, supple erasers, right? You ever had one of those pencils where the eraser's dried out and it's no good? Well, you don't want a tire that's real supple and easy to erase with. And that's what would happen with those tires. After 3,000 miles, they were shot. You just didn't want to buy those things. No. And what would happen is, one of my elders would tell me who had worked at Goodyear is that they take the tires off, as soon as they come off the line, they're put in a warehouse for several months, maybe even a year or two, to age, to set up, to harden, to be made right and useful and in it for the long haul. Sometimes God has to shelve us. To make us useful for him. To learn from him, and it's a frustrating process. It's a frustrating process. You may feel as if you're not getting anywhere, you're not getting to where you want to be. That you and your life, you know, why is it that the Lord is having me appear to mark time? Why am I not getting on with these things? You might feel tempted to say with a writer of Ecclesiastes that everything's vanity, everything's meaningless, everything's empty. There was an older professor, I remember my freshman year of college in English comp, standing looking out the window on a jury day just talking about how meaningless life was. Is that what it is? It's all sound and fury signifying nothing. Well, we're also told in Ecclesiastes, for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones. Everything in its time. And He makes all things beautiful in its time. And that word beautiful is it makes it right. He makes all things the way it should be in its time. God was doing that. with Joseph for such a time as this. And then he comes out, he's presented with this, and what does he do? He doesn't take advantage of it at all. He makes sure first and foremost that God is given the glory. It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Here he's been imprisoned this time unrighteously. And you'd think he would play this to his advantage. Well, Pharaoh, you know, I have problems in remembering. You know, see, I've been here and unrighteously kept there for this time. I might have some incentive here. You might help a brother out. No, that's not his approach. He gives glory to God first and foremost. Now, understand Genesis is written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Moses. And who is the immediate audience that Moses is writing for? The children of Israel. Again and again, what we see here in this latter part of Genesis, and then especially you're going to see in Exodus with regards to the plagues, is the utter futility of the Egyptians' philosophy and the Egyptians' religion and so forth, and the triumph of Almighty God. And we see the beginnings of this here with regards to God is the one who does these things. And I believe it's an attempt to direct the people in Moses' day away from Egypt, away from those ways of thinking, away from that culture, away from That world and life view to the living and true God. That you shall have no other gods before me. That His word alone is paramount and that they might look to Him. And so we see this here. The answer is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. A reminder here that it's the living and true God who does this. And so we see this recounting of the dream again. Pharaoh adds in, extra detail with regards to this dream. And then Joseph gives interpretation in verse 25. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years. The seven good ears are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years. And the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God and God will shortly bring it about. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years and let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine." And so he gives the interpretation of the dream, but not only that, he gives application. All good preaching is going to include application. What you are called on to do, what you do. You know, when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost and the cry is, what shall we do to be saved? And he gives answer, repent and believe the gospel. this time of instruction of Pharaoh, but also how to rescue. And Pharaoh, to his credit, listens and acts, as we're going to see in the next section. He's going to follow this counsel. I'm sure that Joseph, in giving you these things, has no idea that Pharaoh's going to look at him and say, you are the man. Guess what? You just got a promotion. You're my man. This is what you're going to do. But I also want you to understand something as well. Joseph is not rescued yet. He is still a slave. He's still a servant of Pharaoh and serves at Pharaoh's bidding. He's not free to go off to Canaan and to find his family. God's going to work the circumstances where his family's going to find him. But he's not free yet. Sometimes God will bring about great things, but there's not that full deliverance as yet. It is not yet time for this all to occur. for these things to be realized. And in fact, Joseph is not going to, in a sense, be able to go home and to rest until his bones are carried there by the children of Israel 430 years after they enter into the land of Egypt. But by faith, He trusts in this God who keeps His promises. We on this side of the cross have the fulfillment of all these things in Christ Jesus. That all the promises of God are indeed yea and amen. They converge and find their answer in Christ Jesus. We have this displayed for us right here at this table. That the promises of God are kept. that the revelation of God is fulfilled. As we come to this table, we do this, as Jesus said, in remembrance of Him, of what He has done, of what He has accomplished, of what He has brought to pass. Through those centuries, through those long years, pointing to, and finding their answer in what is represented here in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's also, too, a looking forward. When we find the final fulfillment of all these promises of God to us in Christ Jesus fulfilled, that your God is at work, yes, in Joseph's life, yes, in bringing about our Lord Jesus, but yes, in His coming again in glory. Your Jesus has fulfilled and is fulfilling these things until that day when we will be with Him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And He is working all things after the counsel of His will concerning His glory and your good. Not only in the outward stuff, but just as we saw in those two years in Joseph, also in his own heart. To make after the image more and more of his own son. And that's what our Father is doing with us. making us more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to this table, it's a reminder to us, God's at work. It's a remembering not just of something that happened, but something that is happening. When you come to this table by faith, looking to your Lord Jesus Christ, you're saying, yes, Lord, You are at work in me. You are at work. And take heart and be encouraged, brothers and sisters, because there's so much around us that would try to damp that out. The world, the flesh, and the devil, as we've talked about. All these things seek to throttle this out. No, you come. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. But you come. You come to this, Jesus. You come to You, Lord. And say, Lord, something of Your work is happening in me to make me more and more like You. Let us pray together. We thank You, Lord, that You have instituted all things after the counsel of Your will. One of the things You've instituted is this sacred supper as the covenant meal of the New Testament, superseding the Passover, even as the cross supersedes the exodus, as that culminating event in redemption. Lord, we look back and commemorate your death on our behalf, and we reaffirm again your covenant promises and privileges right now that You've given to us. And we anticipate, Lord, Your coming again in glory. So now as we come to this, Your table, open up our eyes and give us faith to behold these glorious realities. We pray in Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen.