WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:00.360 Amen. 00:03.100 --> 00:08.780 Okay, we're in Genesis chapter 40 this evening, continuing with these chronicles of Joseph here. 00:08.940 --> 00:13.680 If you look back at Genesis chapter 39 and look at verse 22, it says, 00:13.820 --> 00:18.800 the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison. 00:19.180 --> 00:22.400 And whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 00:22.760 --> 00:27.380 The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with him. 00:27.760 --> 00:30.360 And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. 00:30.560 --> 00:34.460 At this particular time in Genesis 39, we see that Joseph, of course, 00:34.920 --> 00:37.540 has been falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. 00:38.220 --> 00:42.680 And although he was falsely accused, he was wronged, he is a righteous person. 00:43.060 --> 00:47.540 He wasn't willing to sin against God and allow himself to be lured in by the cougar. 00:48.300 --> 00:51.680 He did righteously in the eyes of God and in the eyes of his parents, 00:51.760 --> 00:56.560 even though his parents aren't there, he was still suffering the consequences of other people's actions. 00:57.120 --> 01:01.820 And of course, what we learn in Genesis 39 is that as righteous as you are, 01:01.900 --> 01:06.580 it doesn't mean you're not going to suffer at the hands of other people who intend to do evil, right? 01:07.140 --> 01:09.300 You know, we can't necessarily control what other people do. 01:09.720 --> 01:11.880 God doesn't control the actions of other people either. 01:12.020 --> 01:13.800 He allows them free will. 01:13.920 --> 01:17.340 He gives us free will to choose right or to choose that which is wrong. 01:17.680 --> 01:19.480 And so they falsely accuse him. 01:19.880 --> 01:21.660 He ends up being cast into the prison. 01:21.900 --> 01:25.000 But here's the major element that really helps Joseph. 01:25.000 --> 01:27.320 And that is that God is with him. 01:27.420 --> 01:28.940 The Lord is with Joseph. 01:29.260 --> 01:32.640 And because of that, he's making everything that he does to prosper. 01:32.960 --> 01:40.880 Even in a time of false accusation, even in a time of tribulation and trials, God is still with him. 01:40.960 --> 01:41.980 Even though he's in the prison. 01:42.500 --> 01:44.300 So we have him being cast into prison. 01:44.820 --> 01:47.260 And of course, this is a very unfortunate thing for him. 01:47.560 --> 01:52.240 But even then, the man, the keeper of the prison, is favoring Joseph. 01:52.240 --> 01:57.440 He's still exalting him to be a person of importance there in the prison. 01:57.600 --> 01:59.520 He's committing everything that he has under his hand. 01:59.920 --> 02:07.520 And the Bible specifically says in verse 23 that the Lord was with him and that he made him to prosper even in the prison. 02:07.680 --> 02:13.740 And what this teaches us here is that God can prosper you in any situation under any circumstance. 02:13.960 --> 02:20.200 Even if someone is wronging you, they're defrauding you, they're lying about you, they're railing against you. 02:20.200 --> 02:22.100 They mean evil against you. 02:22.240 --> 02:28.240 As long as you're walking with God, as long as you're right with him, he can still make you prosper in every single situation. 02:29.020 --> 02:35.280 And really, you know, the overarching theme for Joseph is that all things work together for good to them that love God, right? 02:35.380 --> 02:36.980 To them who are the called according to his purpose. 02:37.500 --> 02:40.960 So now we switch gears into him being in the prison. 02:41.460 --> 02:43.240 You know, he's being sold into slavery. 02:43.800 --> 02:48.380 He goes to Potiphar's house, but now he finds himself in prison. 02:48.380 --> 02:57.380 Look at verse 1 it says, it came to pass after these things that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their Lord, the king of Egypt. 02:57.920 --> 03:03.200 And Pharaoh was wrought against the two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers and against the chief of the bakers. 03:03.700 --> 03:09.920 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 03:10.480 --> 03:16.480 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them and he served them and they continued a season in ward. 03:16.480 --> 03:21.340 Now, what we obviously see here is that Joseph is not in some just regular prison. 03:21.460 --> 03:26.440 He's in a specific prison designated for those who offend Pharaoh or the officers of Pharaoh. 03:26.520 --> 03:34.820 That's why you have the butler and the chief butler and the baker being placed into this particular ward. 03:35.260 --> 03:36.980 Now, Joseph doesn't seem bitter. 03:38.260 --> 03:42.600 And I'll be honest with you, if I was in this situation, I'd probably be a little resentful over what's taking place. 03:42.920 --> 03:43.920 How do we know he's not bitter? 03:43.920 --> 03:48.620 At the end of verse three, it says that Joseph served them. 03:49.400 --> 03:55.740 So even though he is in a horrible situation, he's in prison, he's being thrown in there with other offenders, 03:55.800 --> 04:01.120 even though he's completely innocent, the Bible is saying here that he's serving them anyways. 04:01.360 --> 04:06.520 Verse five says, and they dreamed the dream, both of them, each man is dreamed in one night, 04:06.980 --> 04:10.640 each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, 04:10.920 --> 04:12.620 which were bound in the prison. 04:12.620 --> 04:17.440 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning and looked upon them and behold, they were sad. 04:17.580 --> 04:20.900 So one thing I want to point out before we get into the actual interpretation of the dreams 04:21.600 --> 04:27.860 is that Joseph is known for being a dreamer, but he's also known for being able to interpret the dreams. 04:28.440 --> 04:30.980 These are two very important qualities. 04:31.400 --> 04:38.300 In the beginning, when he is having these dreams and he's explaining them to his father and to his brothers, 04:38.300 --> 04:44.260 we see that the dream is a symbolic representation of the prophecy or the preaching of God's word. 04:44.380 --> 04:49.580 It's kind of like the same thing as explaining the visions of God, the word of God. 04:50.120 --> 04:54.900 And it's one thing to be able to understand the vision yourself, it's another thing to be able to interpret it for others. 04:55.540 --> 04:57.680 And here's the thing, folks, is that when it comes to the word of God, 04:57.980 --> 05:00.880 it's our job to be able to read the word of God and decipher it for ourselves, 05:01.200 --> 05:06.840 but God also wants us to do what? To interpret the word of God for others as well. 05:06.840 --> 05:08.700 This is what it means to be apt to teach. 05:09.160 --> 05:15.980 And you think to yourself, well, you know, I'm not going to be a preacher, I'm not going to be a pastor, a deacon or an evangelist, 05:16.220 --> 05:19.840 so why is it important for me to be able to explain the word of God? 05:20.620 --> 05:24.760 Well, I'll tell you why, because the Bible literally commands us to grow in our utterance. 05:25.300 --> 05:29.140 What does utterance mean? The ability to communicate the word of God. 05:29.640 --> 05:34.200 And it doesn't mean you have to be just this excellent communicator of God's word, 05:34.200 --> 05:38.700 but you do have to know how to communicate the Bible to a certain degree though, okay? 05:39.120 --> 05:43.580 Why is that? Well, because it's our job to interpret the dreams and dissolve doubts. 05:44.320 --> 05:47.280 It's not just our job to preach the gospel, that's the main thing, 05:47.560 --> 05:51.540 but you know what, you're going to be hit with questions at the door that don't necessarily pertain to the gospel. 05:52.300 --> 05:56.660 Or they may pertain to the gospel, but they are secondary issues, 05:57.220 --> 06:01.780 you know, things that are having to do with salvation, with justification, with doctrine, 06:01.780 --> 06:07.160 and it's good for you to just have some foundational understanding of those doctrines 06:07.160 --> 06:12.060 is to be able to explain them. This is why the Bible says that we need to be enriched in all things, 06:12.440 --> 06:16.020 in faith and in utterance. You should pray on a daily basis, 06:16.300 --> 06:21.300 Lord, grow me in my utterance, my ability to communicate the word of God. 06:21.640 --> 06:23.400 It's important for us to understand what we're reading, 06:23.940 --> 06:28.180 but it's also important for us to be able to communicate that which we know, okay? 06:28.180 --> 06:31.640 And you know, the Bible tells us to be ready always to give an answer 06:31.640 --> 06:35.480 to every man to asketh us of the faith that is in us with me, because in fear, 06:35.640 --> 06:40.500 we need to make sure that we teach our mouths, that we are able to communicate the word of God 06:40.500 --> 06:44.460 and explain these things to others. And look, folks, not just when it comes to 06:44.460 --> 06:48.860 you being at the door, but how about this? Someone comes to you for biblical counsel, 06:49.780 --> 06:55.260 someone asks you for advice, someone asks you for counsel, for wisdom, 06:55.260 --> 06:59.080 you want to make sure that you're actually giving sound biblical advice. 06:59.860 --> 07:04.940 And let me also say this, if you don't know sound biblical advice, don't give it. 07:06.360 --> 07:08.860 You're like, well, you know, I got to say something. They came to me, 07:08.900 --> 07:13.080 not if you don't know what you're talking about. If you don't know what you're talking about, 07:13.240 --> 07:18.460 if you don't have a biblical understanding of what the decision that this Christian must, 07:18.520 --> 07:22.800 you know, do in this particular situation, there's nothing wrong with you saying, 07:22.800 --> 07:27.120 you know what, I actually don't have the answer to that. I don't want to give you a wrong answer. 07:27.460 --> 07:31.840 So therefore, I think you should go talk to the pastor or you should go talk to someone else, 07:32.000 --> 07:35.620 because I don't want to give you a wrong answer. Like, well, then they're not going to come to 07:35.620 --> 07:38.960 me for answers. Well, why would they, if you know, if you don't know what you're talking 07:38.960 --> 07:42.060 about, right? Why would you want people to come to you if you don't know what you're talking 07:42.060 --> 07:46.360 about? Now you say, well, now I understand the importance of praying for others. See, before 07:46.360 --> 07:49.960 you maybe think to yourself, nah, you know, I don't really need to pray for others. Yeah, 07:49.960 --> 07:55.520 you do because you need to be able to give a word, you know, in due season, a word spoken in 07:55.520 --> 07:59.800 due season, how sweet it is. You got to be able to, you need to make sure that you're able to 07:59.800 --> 08:06.180 expound wisdom when people ask you for advice. And it may not even be, hey, what's the interpretation 08:06.180 --> 08:13.120 of this verse? It may be, what should I do in this particular situation? What kind of decision 08:13.120 --> 08:18.940 as a Christian should I make now that I'm confronted with this particular situation? And 08:18.940 --> 08:21.680 you don't want to say, well, I don't know what the Bible says, but this is what I would 08:21.680 --> 08:28.480 do. Okay, bad answer. The answer should be according to God's word. But if you don't 08:28.480 --> 08:32.400 know what God's word says about it, you have no idea what you're talking about, then 08:32.400 --> 08:38.080 you know what? Go ahead and pass that person on to someone who does know the answer, whether 08:38.080 --> 08:42.020 it be the pastor, a spiritual leader, and so forth. Now look, here's another way 08:42.020 --> 08:46.200 that you can answer. And it's not a bad answer, but you know, it gives a major 08:46.200 --> 08:50.380 disclaimer. And that is, this is what I believe you should do. I believe this is what the 08:50.380 --> 08:55.620 Bible teaches, but let me say this, I'm not necessarily 100% sure on that, so you know, 08:55.700 --> 09:00.080 here's my answer, but I do recommend, I strongly recommend you go talk to the pastor 09:00.080 --> 09:04.220 or a spiritual leader. That's if you're not, if you're not 100% sure that that's 09:04.220 --> 09:09.320 the answer you should give. Okay? The point that I'm giving here is the fact that, 09:09.440 --> 09:12.900 you know, we need to be able to know what the Bible says, but it's almost equally 09:12.900 --> 09:17.000 as important to be able to communicate what the Bible says as well. It's one thing to be able to 09:17.860 --> 09:22.800 interpret for yourself the doctrines of the faith. It's another thing to be able to open 09:22.800 --> 09:27.920 your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. You know, it's one thing to like 09:27.920 --> 09:33.180 understand the passages. You know what it's saying, but it's a completely different task 09:33.180 --> 09:36.660 to be able to actually explain that to someone else. This is what the Bible means 09:36.660 --> 09:41.760 when it talks about being apt to teach. So we see Joseph has both of these gifts. 09:41.760 --> 09:47.660 He's able to dream the dreams, but he's also able to interpret other people's dreams as well. 09:48.000 --> 09:54.580 Okay? So both of these guys, they have these dreams. Look at verse number seven. And he 09:54.580 --> 09:58.360 asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his Lord's house saying, 09:58.940 --> 10:02.500 wherefore, look ye so sadly today. And they said unto them, 10:02.860 --> 10:07.980 we have dreamed a dream and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, 10:07.980 --> 10:13.600 do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you. And the chief butler told 10:13.600 --> 10:18.400 him his dream to Joseph and said to him, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me. 10:18.840 --> 10:24.460 And in the vine were three branches. And it was as though it budded, and her blossom shot forth, 10:24.560 --> 10:28.700 and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes. And the Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, 10:28.940 --> 10:33.900 and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's 10:33.900 --> 10:39.900 hand. So we have the butler having this dream of a vine. And of course we know that 10:40.600 --> 10:46.900 the officer here in previous time was responsible for essentially being the king's cup bearer. 10:47.100 --> 10:51.220 Okay? Now one thing that I want to mention that has nothing to do with this particular story, 10:51.400 --> 10:58.980 but it's very much an important thing to note here, is this responsibility to squeeze grapes 10:59.700 --> 11:07.020 into a cup. Okay? Now don't just breeze over that point, because it is an important point. 11:07.520 --> 11:14.020 Okay? Why is, why are the grapes being squeezed into Pharaoh's cup? I'll tell you why, 11:14.140 --> 11:20.360 because Pharaoh's ballin', he's rich. He's so rich he can just literally hire people 11:20.780 --> 11:26.000 to grab grapes, and he's like, I want a freshly squeezed cup of juice, 11:26.000 --> 11:31.680 and this dude is hired to just go there and squeeze the grapes, and squeeze the juice right 11:31.680 --> 11:36.460 into the cup. Okay? Everyone see that there? And look, you know, this is not just a vision. 11:37.220 --> 11:41.680 This is a vision of something that actually takes place. Now you say, why bring that up? 11:41.740 --> 11:45.900 That's pretty obvious. We see that there. Well, you know, you have a lot of idiots out there 11:45.900 --> 11:53.000 today that want to advocate for alcohol consumption, such as a guy online named 11:53.000 --> 11:59.060 Inspiring Philosophy. Okay? And this guy is Protestant who simps after Catholics, 11:59.640 --> 12:05.800 and, you know, he was criticizing my content on, you know, alcohol consumption and how the 12:05.800 --> 12:11.700 Bible teaches that it's completely prohibited. It's a sin to drink alcohol. And yes, it is a 12:11.700 --> 12:16.980 sin to drink alcohol in the Bible. The Bible consistently teaches that. And, you know, he's 12:16.980 --> 12:21.420 just making a mockery of it. And, you know, he's saying, oh, there's no such thing as juice 12:21.420 --> 12:27.320 in the Bible when the Bible literally mentions juice. Okay? And it's just like the Bible talks 12:27.320 --> 12:33.420 about alcohol only and only wine, not understanding that wine in the Bible is used interchangeably 12:33.420 --> 12:39.460 to describe both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Because wine is simply a word to 12:39.460 --> 12:44.480 describe that which comes from the vine. And both juice and alcohol can come from the vine. 12:44.480 --> 12:51.580 The difference is new wine in the Bible is juice, old wine, is alcohol. Why? Because alcohol is 12:51.580 --> 12:58.220 fermented wine. That which has been allowed to just sit and ferment and grow old and therefore 12:58.220 --> 13:03.200 obtain those properties. This is what the Bible says, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, 13:03.560 --> 13:07.560 when it giveeth this color in the cup, when it moveeth itself aright, referring to the 13:07.560 --> 13:13.420 fermentation process of juice being turned into wine, into alcoholic beverages. And so, you 13:13.420 --> 13:16.800 know, I'm explaining this in this video and he's just like, this guy doesn't know what he's talking 13:16.800 --> 13:23.000 about, so stupid. And of course, as he's drinking, you know, a glass of beer, which would explain 13:23.000 --> 13:30.720 why he's so stupid. He's losing brain cells as he's drinking. And he's just like, juice is not 13:30.720 --> 13:36.360 a real thing in the Bible. Doesn't this guy understand that by the time they squeezed the 13:36.360 --> 13:43.420 grapes and made juice and take it to the event, it would have already fermented under the Middle 13:43.420 --> 13:49.580 Eastern atmosphere. All how dry it is in the Middle Eastern atmosphere would have fermented that 13:49.580 --> 13:54.840 thing right away. Yeah, the only thing is that you have ballers back in the day who literally 13:54.840 --> 14:00.640 didn't have to wait that long. They didn't have to order it from somewhere to bring it to them. 14:00.640 --> 14:07.060 This guy literally had a cup bearer who literally squeezed the grapes into his cup. 14:08.520 --> 14:12.040 So, you know, he says, he makes this video and I respond to him and I use this story. 14:13.260 --> 14:18.160 He's like, oh, this guy is so silly. He's like, doesn't he understand that this is a vision? 14:20.500 --> 14:26.280 This is a vision. This is not a real story. This guy dreamed this, you know, because of 14:26.280 --> 14:31.080 course, we dream about things that don't exist using illustrations of things that don't really 14:31.080 --> 14:39.380 happen, right? And it's just like, bro, the end of the chapter literally shows the butler being 14:39.380 --> 14:46.300 restored back to his position of being the cup bearer and squeezing the grapes into the cup 14:46.300 --> 14:51.420 of Pharaoh. And of course, after that, he stopped responding because he realized how stupid he 14:51.420 --> 14:56.780 sounded. Look, folks, you know, and you say, well, is it really right for you to call that person 14:56.780 --> 15:00.740 stupid? Yeah, because stupidity is when you have the facts and you still ignore them. 15:02.040 --> 15:08.060 Stupidity is viewing the facts, seeing what the Bible says, and being unwilling to admit that 15:08.060 --> 15:13.200 you're wrong. It's what the Bible refers to as a fool, to know the truth and reject the 15:13.200 --> 15:17.200 truth. Okay. And why does he want to reject the truth? I'll tell you why, because he's a 15:17.200 --> 15:24.140 whino, that's why. That's why his nose is all puffy and red and all that, because he's an alcoholic 15:24.140 --> 15:30.900 and he wants to continue to justify alcohol. And then, you know, he uses what every non-denom 15:31.500 --> 15:36.680 pastor tries to use in their argumentation, and that is, Jesus, turn the water into wine. 15:37.360 --> 15:41.520 And it's just like, yeah, but he didn't turn it into alcoholic wine, even according to your 15:41.520 --> 15:47.900 own standards. Okay. So, well, how so? Well, because the same group who says it's okay to drink wine, 15:48.340 --> 15:55.380 drink alcohol, also asserts it's okay to drink, it's just a sin to get drunk. So, you can drink as 15:55.380 --> 16:00.640 long as you don't get drunk. And of course, there's so many just bad ways to just, you 16:00.640 --> 16:05.400 could just destroy that easily, right? Because anybody knows that in order for you to build 16:05.400 --> 16:10.800 up tolerance to alcohol, you have to drink alcohol and get drunk. No one just starts 16:10.800 --> 16:15.660 drinking alcohol and just becomes tolerant towards alcohol. You have to build up a tolerance, 16:16.380 --> 16:19.400 meaning that the first time someone drinks alcohol, they're going to get drunk. 16:20.340 --> 16:24.320 They're going to drink, and they will get drunk, and the more they do it, the more they're exposed 16:24.320 --> 16:28.860 to alcohol, the more the body is exposed to alcohol, the more tolerance they build up, 16:28.920 --> 16:32.760 and the more they can drink without actually getting just absolutely smashed, 16:33.700 --> 16:40.780 you understand? So, even according to their standard, that wouldn't work. It's like, 16:41.680 --> 16:47.220 here's the problem, is that if that's the position they want to hold, then what they're 16:47.220 --> 16:53.200 asserting is that Jesus caused people to get drunk. Because he offers the six water pots of 16:53.200 --> 17:00.600 stone filled with wine after the people at the wedding had well drunk. So, obviously, 17:00.780 --> 17:06.380 we don't believe that the wedding at Canaan had alcohol. It's just juice. And then people 17:06.380 --> 17:13.040 mock that. Oh, they have juice? You have juice at weddings? Yeah, we have fun not getting drunk. 17:14.640 --> 17:19.140 That's fun to us. It's fun to just consume sugar. 17:21.680 --> 17:30.240 It's fun to consume sugar and have apple cider, or sparkling cider, not apple cider, 17:30.320 --> 17:35.480 apple cider vinegar is nasty, but sparkling cider, it's very fun to do that. It's not fun to 17:35.480 --> 17:39.820 the drunkard, because the drunkard can't have fun without being intoxicated. 17:42.080 --> 17:46.440 But even according to their standard, keep in mind the story in John chapter two has the people 17:46.440 --> 17:52.860 at the wedding, the wine is done. And then Jesus comes and he provides six more water pots. 17:53.720 --> 17:57.680 So, even according to their standard, Jesus is causing the people to sin because he's causing 17:57.680 --> 18:03.140 them to drink more. And, you know, they also use, well, the Bible says, be not drunk with 18:03.140 --> 18:06.880 wine, so we have to do it in moderation. Moderation is not the alternative according to 18:06.880 --> 18:11.060 Ephesians chapter five. It doesn't say be not drunk with wine, drink in moderation, 18:11.620 --> 18:14.580 it says be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess, but be filled with the spirit. 18:15.620 --> 18:19.040 The alternative to being drunk with wine is that you're just filled with the spirit, 18:19.360 --> 18:24.600 not the drink of moderation. And so it's important for us to understand this that, 18:24.980 --> 18:31.420 you know, the Bible says that drinking alcohol is a sin, my friends. And look, 18:32.420 --> 18:36.120 people want to bring up this whole argument, well, you know, wine in the Bible is a blessing. 18:36.460 --> 18:41.260 Yeah, it is a blessing, juice is a blessing, for sure. But nor in the Bible will you ever find 18:41.260 --> 18:44.660 a story where someone is drinking alcohol and it turns out to be a blessing. 18:46.340 --> 18:50.160 There's not a single event. In fact, every single event where people are drinking alcohol, 18:50.280 --> 18:57.220 they're getting raped. Okay, they're committing incest. I mean, just horrific 18:57.220 --> 19:03.380 things are taking place when they drink alcohol. And you know what? We need less churches 19:04.160 --> 19:09.140 that are advocating for alcohol because there's alcoholics who are recovering from alcohol in 19:09.140 --> 19:14.020 these churches and they have these pastors that are saying it's okay to drink a little alcohol. 19:14.280 --> 19:20.340 You think this recovering alcoholic needs to hear that? You think a recovering alcoholic 19:20.340 --> 19:23.280 really needs to hear, hey, it's not a sin to get drunk, you could drink a little bit. 19:23.500 --> 19:25.320 They're just looking for a reason to fall off the wagon. 19:28.340 --> 19:31.480 And there's nothing in the Bible, there's nowhere in the Bible where it's, 19:31.480 --> 19:33.160 it's okay to commit sin in moderation. 19:35.580 --> 19:40.500 It's just like, oh, you know, a little fornication never hurt anybody, you know, a little adultery, 19:41.200 --> 19:48.640 a little railing, a little idolatry in moderation. We don't want you to create all these shrines 19:48.640 --> 19:53.320 or anything like that. Don't get like a 50-foot virgin marriage, just get a little one. 19:54.860 --> 19:59.100 Nowhere in the Bible does it permit sin in moderation, but somehow we think that applies 19:59.100 --> 20:03.100 to drinking alcohol. But I'm telling you right now, the only people making this argument are 20:04.200 --> 20:09.700 alcoholics, a bunch of wine-bivers, but they don't have a leg to stand on, not because they're drunk, 20:10.320 --> 20:14.320 but just because their argument completely falls apart when you compare it to the Word of God, 20:14.640 --> 20:20.120 okay, consistently. And look, you know, if you don't believe me, just follow the law of 20:20.120 --> 20:26.260 first mention. The law of first mention is a method of interpreting the Bible that if you 20:26.260 --> 20:30.120 want to know what God thinks about a particular subject, go look at the first time it's mentioned. 20:30.820 --> 20:35.480 The first time alcohol is mentioned in the Bible is with Noah. And look what happened to Noah. 20:36.860 --> 20:40.400 Okay? And you're like, well, okay, that is the count. What about the second time? Okay, 20:40.460 --> 20:47.940 how about lot? You want to keep going? Because every single time alcohol is mentioned, 20:47.940 --> 20:53.120 it's always in a negative way. And so, you know, it's important for us to reject alcohol. 20:54.000 --> 21:00.420 And by the way, it completely violates the command to be sober. Over and over again, 21:00.500 --> 21:03.960 the Bible says be sober. You can't do it if you're buzzed. And you know what? 21:04.200 --> 21:09.340 Buzz is not something in the Bible. There's not like levels of drunkenness in the Bible. 21:10.860 --> 21:13.940 You know, they need to follow that sign that's on the freeway, 21:13.940 --> 21:17.480 buzz driving is still drunk driving. Isn't that what it says on the freeway? 21:17.980 --> 21:22.980 Hey, buzz driving is still drunk driving. So even the secular people out there understand that it's 21:22.980 --> 21:27.780 the same exact thing. But yet you have these liberal pastors out there that can't seem to 21:27.780 --> 21:32.780 understand that. It's not buzz, you're just drunk. And look, if alcohol is a blessing, 21:33.100 --> 21:38.360 just give it to children then. If alcohol is a blessing, just give it to pregnant women. 21:38.500 --> 21:43.000 You know why you can't do that? Because it's poison. There's a reason why there's not 21:43.000 --> 21:47.320 an age limit in the Bible is to where when people can drink alcohol, it's just forbidden all across the 21:47.320 --> 21:53.000 board. And you know, people are like, well, you know, a little wine for their stomach's sake. 21:53.120 --> 21:57.600 That's what Paul told Timothy. Yeah, a little juice is good for the stomach's sake. But you 21:57.600 --> 22:03.360 know what? You ask any modern doctor even now, they tell you not even a little alcohol is good 22:03.360 --> 22:07.400 for you. They've already come to that conclusion. Before they used to say it's good 22:07.400 --> 22:11.320 for the heart or whatever. Now they're just like, just kidding. We're wrong about that. 22:12.700 --> 22:17.720 Don't drink alcohol. Or if you drink it, drink it at your own risk because not a single drop 22:18.460 --> 22:23.520 has any health benefits to it. We're not talking about fundamental bad to sameness. 22:24.300 --> 22:28.920 This is not a Christian sameness. These are doctors that are like, just to let you know, 22:29.380 --> 22:34.580 not a single drop is ever good for you at all. It's poisonous. It's a toxin. If you 22:34.580 --> 22:39.260 want to drink it, that's your business. But just know you are destroying your body even with 22:39.260 --> 22:47.740 a little alcohol. If we really want to create people who are sober, who live righteously, 22:48.440 --> 22:54.200 then we have to preach against alcohol, not make exceptions for it. And say, well, 22:54.680 --> 23:01.460 on the weekends though, except Sundays, just with your buddies, you want to just crack open 23:01.460 --> 23:05.520 a beer with your buddies or whatever. That's what you want to do. That's your business 23:05.520 --> 23:10.340 or whatever. Not according to the Bible. And look, you're not going to hear this in a lot of churches 23:10.340 --> 23:15.860 because a lot of churches promote alcohol. Or maybe the pastor is not for alcohol, 23:16.160 --> 23:21.620 but he knows that there's people in the church that drink alcohol. Maybe not excessively, but in 23:21.620 --> 23:25.180 moderation so they don't want to scare those people away. But folks, we need to talk about 23:25.180 --> 23:30.980 what the Bible actually says. And Pharaoh's not even drinking alcohol. He's drinking freshly 23:30.980 --> 23:39.560 squeezed grapes, despite what inspiring philosophy says. And so it's important for us to understand 23:40.480 --> 23:46.100 the biblical concept of being sober includes not drinking alcohol. And by the way, that also 23:46.100 --> 23:54.000 includes just any mind-altering drugs as well. No weed or any other recreational drugs that 23:54.000 --> 23:59.640 people like to take. The Bible's very clear on this. So that was a rabbit that I needed to 23:59.640 --> 24:04.420 chase just because this verse reminded me of that back and forth with inspiring philosophy. And he 24:04.420 --> 24:10.280 just so happened to just stop responding after that. Why? Because he's wrong and he's not 24:10.280 --> 24:16.500 safe too, by the way, because he has a false gospel. Let's read on here. It says in verse 10 24:16.500 --> 24:21.660 again, and in the Vine there were three branches. Let's read in verse number 12. So Joseph is 24:21.660 --> 24:26.040 about to give the interpretation. Joseph said to him, this is the interpretation of it. The 24:26.040 --> 24:31.760 three branches are three days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore 24:31.760 --> 24:36.560 thee unto thy place, and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner, 24:36.860 --> 24:41.620 when thou wast his butler. Let me say one more thing about drinking alcohol by the way. 24:42.100 --> 24:45.120 Okay, it's important to know. You know, the Bible does call it the poison of dragons. 24:45.900 --> 24:52.200 And there's a reason for that, okay, because it is poison. I just performed 24:52.720 --> 24:58.340 a funeral yesterday for my cousin who died of alcohol consumption. He died of cirrhosis of 24:58.340 --> 25:05.540 the liver, 38 years of age. That's how we die. Yeah, go ahead and let's hear a pastor talk about that 25:05.540 --> 25:13.780 for a second, right? And so it does kill people. Kills people. We had a godly man 25:13.780 --> 25:22.280 a little over a year ago who was a missionary. He was a father, a husband, just an excellent 25:22.280 --> 25:28.040 church member of another church and was a major missionary, making a huge impact, 25:28.380 --> 25:33.560 was coming home from work, hit by a drunk driver and died. You know, try to fit that into your 25:33.560 --> 25:38.460 narrative of how much of a blessing alcohol is when you have all this evidence that 25:38.460 --> 25:44.680 points to the contrary. So we have here, he gives the interpretation of it and he's basically saying, 25:44.780 --> 25:50.380 you know what, these three branches signify three days and in three days I have good news for you, 25:50.700 --> 25:54.820 you're going to be released and you're going to fulfill your previous responsibility. Verse 14, 25:55.360 --> 26:01.740 but think on me when it shall be well with thee and show kindness, I pray thee unto me 26:01.740 --> 26:07.740 and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house for indeed I was stolen 26:07.740 --> 26:13.440 away out of the land of the Hebrews and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into 26:13.440 --> 26:17.600 the dungeon. So, you know, he gives him the message and he's just like, hey, it's going to happen, 26:17.780 --> 26:23.620 but when you go, please don't forget me. Okay. He's like, make sure you tell Pharaoh about this 26:23.620 --> 26:28.540 gift that I have in order for me to be released from prison because he was wrongly accused. 26:29.440 --> 26:33.280 Verse 16 says, when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, 26:33.880 --> 26:39.420 he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream and behold, I had three white baskets on my head 26:39.420 --> 26:45.920 and the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh and the birds did eat 26:45.920 --> 26:50.180 them out of the basket upon my head. So it seems like a pretty decent dream. He's just like, hey, 26:50.240 --> 26:56.120 I like that interpretation you gave, you know, because he's telling, he's telling the bother 26:56.120 --> 27:01.120 like, hey, three branches, three days, you're going to be released, it's going to be good, 27:01.120 --> 27:05.140 you know, and the baker's like, oh, you know, what do you got from me? You know, I had 27:05.140 --> 27:10.700 somewhat the same dream, same numbers. Verse 18, Joseph answered and said, this is the 27:10.700 --> 27:14.520 interpretation thereof, the three day, the three baskets are three days. Amen. 27:17.440 --> 27:22.760 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head. Amen. Just like he said to the 27:22.760 --> 27:26.860 other guy, right, lift up your head. Oh, wait, from off thee 27:29.120 --> 27:33.380 and shall hang thee on a tree and the bird shall eat thy flesh from off thee. 27:34.740 --> 27:40.880 That took a turn for the worse. Okay. So let me point out a couple of things that we can 27:40.880 --> 27:44.520 learn from this particular story. Okay. Because when we look at the life of Joseph, 27:44.720 --> 27:49.960 we come to the conclusion that he is a major typology of Jesus in a lot of ways. Right. 27:50.500 --> 27:53.940 Just from the very beginning, we see that his brothers are envious towards him just like 27:53.940 --> 27:59.920 the Jews were envious towards Jesus. We see that he was sold into slavery just as 27:59.920 --> 28:05.840 Jesus was betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver. We see that he is railed against 28:05.840 --> 28:11.160 and lied about, same thing with Jesus, right, in Genesis 39. And in this particular case, 28:11.440 --> 28:16.680 he also pictures Jesus. And you say, how so? Well, because of the fact that he's numbered 28:17.380 --> 28:21.580 with the transgressors, right, go to Isaiah 53 if you wouldn't hold your place there in 28:21.580 --> 28:24.600 Isaiah, or excuse me, in Genesis, go to Isaiah 53. 28:29.340 --> 28:34.940 So we see that he is in the prison, right. And he's given the interpretation. And remember 28:34.940 --> 28:40.120 what I explained in the beginning, that having the dream, the dream is basically like the word 28:40.120 --> 28:46.160 of God is the vision of God. And to interpret it basically means he's explaining the word of 28:46.160 --> 28:50.520 God, right. And what does the Bible say about Jesus that he preached to the spirits in prison? 28:51.080 --> 28:59.000 It's exactly what he's doing, to the butler, to the baker. He's preaching the word of God to the 28:59.000 --> 29:04.560 spirits which are in prison. But I also want you to notice this in Isaiah 53. And it looked down 29:04.560 --> 29:11.380 at verse 12. It says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide 29:11.380 --> 29:17.120 the spoil with the strong, because he had poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered 29:17.120 --> 29:25.020 with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many, and made intercessions for the transgressors. So 29:25.020 --> 29:31.740 we see that just as Jesus was wrongly accused, he's an innocent man suffering for the wrong of 29:31.740 --> 29:36.400 others, in like mannered Joseph's the same. He's being numbered with these two transgressors 29:36.400 --> 29:40.660 in the prison. He's someone making intercessions for them because he's interpreting the dream 29:40.660 --> 29:48.340 for them. And we see that one ends up being given life, and the other one is given death. 29:48.860 --> 29:53.980 Well, at the end of Jesus's life when he's crucified, he's crucified with two male factors, right. 29:55.220 --> 30:04.140 One lives, one dies, okay. Go back to Genesis if you wouldn't. One lives, and one dies. 30:04.800 --> 30:10.900 And you know, when we look at the interpretation that Joseph gives, you know, it could be said 30:10.900 --> 30:15.280 that he is a saver of life unto one, and then a saver of death unto the other. 30:16.160 --> 30:19.120 Go to 2 Corinthians actually. Let's go to 2 Corinthians if you wouldn't. 30:20.000 --> 30:25.340 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter number 2. 30:28.360 --> 30:33.060 Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 14. It says here, 30:33.180 --> 30:36.940 Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, 30:37.800 --> 30:44.720 and maketh manifest the saver of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a 30:44.720 --> 30:51.680 sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. We can say that the 30:51.680 --> 30:57.360 butler, he's like, man this guy is a godsend. This guy gave me some good news, whereas the other 30:57.360 --> 31:01.920 guy's like, man you gave me bad news. He's a saver of life unto one, but he's a saver of death 31:01.920 --> 31:05.840 unto the other. It says in verse 16, to the one we are the saver of death unto death, 31:06.240 --> 31:12.560 and to the other the saver of life unto life, and who is sufficient for these things. 31:13.200 --> 31:15.740 And you know what this is referring to? It's referring to the fact that when we preach 31:15.740 --> 31:20.440 the gospel, some people appreciate it and some people don't. Obviously just a word of 31:20.440 --> 31:27.100 God in general. When we preach the word of God, when we preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, 31:27.280 --> 31:31.060 whatever the Bible says, some people just like, man this is awesome, this is great, 31:31.140 --> 31:35.720 this is what the Bible says. Other people are like, it's just like death unto them. 31:36.180 --> 31:41.940 It's like bitter to them. Now the important thing is that we expect it to be bitter to 31:41.940 --> 31:46.680 people who don't like the Bible. It shouldn't be bitter to Bible-believing Christians though. 31:47.560 --> 31:52.460 You know, if you're a Christian, you come to church, and you hear the preaching of God's Word, 31:52.860 --> 31:57.260 and it's bitter to you, you need to get right with God. Because at the end of the day, folks, 31:57.420 --> 32:02.140 we need to recognize that if that's what the Bible says, that's what the Word of God is saying, 32:02.440 --> 32:06.480 we need to accept what the Bible says. And look, I've had times throughout the ministry here 32:06.880 --> 32:11.300 where I preached a hard sermon, and people have come up to me, and you know, they're 32:11.300 --> 32:15.100 brand new people or whatever, maybe a visitor to someone raw, and you know, you ask them, 32:15.100 --> 32:18.980 how would you like the service? And they're like this, they're like, you know, I don't 32:18.980 --> 32:23.460 agree with everything you said, but it is in the Bible, and so I appreciate everything you said. 32:23.920 --> 32:29.640 And I can't argue against it, right? And it's true. Other people have come and said, 32:30.940 --> 32:35.860 I don't want to talk to you. I mean, I've had people literally walk out of the service. 32:36.660 --> 32:39.600 I remember back in Omani, someone walked out of the service, mid-service, 32:40.300 --> 32:46.340 because I was preaching on homos, and he walked out of the service. He was a friend of a guy in 32:46.340 --> 32:50.100 our church, and you know, I walked out after the service, and he was there, and he was just like, 32:50.200 --> 32:52.960 oh, no, I'm good. I'm like, oh, how'd you enjoy the service? He was like, 32:53.300 --> 32:55.640 I don't agree with anything you said. I don't want to talk to you at all. 32:56.020 --> 33:01.460 I'm like, bro, you came to a church, though. You came to a Baptist church. 33:02.420 --> 33:05.600 Why are you shocked that you heard the Bible preach at a church? 33:06.120 --> 33:08.660 What, do you think there was a Lutheran congregation or something? 33:09.920 --> 33:14.540 You think the woman was a pastor? What did you have in mind when you came to church? 33:15.560 --> 33:20.340 It was just like, how shocking pastor preaches against homos. How is that shocking to you? 33:20.740 --> 33:24.820 This is the place where you would expect to hear that stuff, unfiltered, right? 33:26.440 --> 33:29.660 But it goes back to what we're seeing here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 33:30.180 --> 33:32.800 Some people here, and they're just like, yeah, actually, this is true. 33:34.000 --> 33:38.780 This is what the Word of God says. This is feeding me. This is life, right? 33:39.120 --> 33:41.160 But to other people, it's just like, this is absolute death. 33:42.800 --> 33:47.180 It's bitter in my belly. I don't like what you're saying. They gnashed their teeth. 33:47.400 --> 33:50.920 They stopped their ears. They don't want to hear the Word of God being preached. 33:51.380 --> 33:54.660 And you know what? At the end of the day, it's the same meal being served to everyone. 33:55.820 --> 34:00.520 It's the same meal that everyone is getting. Everyone is getting the same exact message, 34:00.520 --> 34:04.420 but you know what? At the end of the day, some people like it, some people hate it. 34:04.520 --> 34:08.580 But you know what? The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-idged sword. 34:08.960 --> 34:12.620 It pierces even to the dividing of thunder, of soul and spirit, 34:13.080 --> 34:14.360 joints of the marrow. Listen to this. 34:14.700 --> 34:17.460 And is a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. 34:18.060 --> 34:20.560 So let me explain what that means. It means when the Word of God is being preached, 34:20.800 --> 34:22.920 and if you don't like it, it only reveals what's in your heart. 34:23.400 --> 34:27.060 A heart that loves the Bible. A heart that loves the truth. 34:27.660 --> 34:33.260 They're just like, bring the light. Then my works may be made manifest that they're 34:33.260 --> 34:37.800 rotting God. But you know what? The people who hate the truth, men love darkness rather than 34:37.800 --> 34:40.080 light because their deeds are evil. That's what Jesus said. 34:41.040 --> 34:44.800 And obviously, folks, there's going to be times when I'm preaching against you, 34:45.160 --> 34:50.200 against your sin, against your character. And you know what? It may feel uncomfortable, 34:50.320 --> 34:55.880 but at the end of the day, the Bible tells us that the Spirit rejoices and delights in 34:55.880 --> 34:59.620 the law of God after the inward man. So even if I'm stepping on your toes, you're like, 34:59.760 --> 35:02.680 that stepped on my toes, but it was right and it's true. And I love what you're saying 35:03.900 --> 35:09.300 because we love the light. And so, you know, we are a saver of death and to death, 35:09.400 --> 35:14.880 to some saver of life, of life and to others. And of course, in its most specific context, 35:15.300 --> 35:19.920 this is dealing with the gospel, right? When we preach the gospel, you and I have 35:19.920 --> 35:23.840 run into people who love what we have to say. They're thankful that we came to the door 35:23.840 --> 35:27.580 and there's other people that just cuss us out and shut the door in our face, right? 35:28.500 --> 35:32.140 You know, that's just how it is. Some people, they see it as judgmental. 35:32.540 --> 35:35.380 Oh, you know, I can't believe you said that. How are you going to say that people are going to 35:35.380 --> 35:39.440 hell? You know, how are you going to say there's only one way? How are you going to say that about 35:39.440 --> 35:42.960 Muslims? How are you going to say that about Jews? How are you going to say about this, 35:43.060 --> 35:45.620 that and the other? Whereas other people are like, man, I was praying about this. 35:46.560 --> 35:51.480 I've been just wondering about salvation and then you came. You know, 35:51.480 --> 35:57.800 yesterday when I was performing that funeral, you know, I was just recalling some of the memories 35:57.800 --> 36:03.320 that I had with my cousin. But my main target was, my main objective was to preach the gospel. 36:04.340 --> 36:08.720 And you know, you know, my cousin, we parted ways when we became adults, not for anything 36:09.060 --> 36:13.220 specific. It's just, you know, life happens. And so, you know, you lose contact, but 36:13.220 --> 36:17.340 you know, we would talk every once in a while, but just, you know, we just went our separate 36:17.340 --> 36:23.400 ways. Of course, I became a Christian and you know, I got married, had children, I was serving God, 36:24.040 --> 36:28.800 and you know, he did his own thing. But you know, this guy had a lot of popular, I mean, 36:28.860 --> 36:32.600 this guy was very popular. He was just, he had like hundreds of people at his funeral. 36:33.420 --> 36:36.660 And I was, I was honestly pretty shocked about it. I was like, wow, this guy is actually 36:36.660 --> 36:41.180 pretty popular amongst a lot of, he had people from Tesla there. He had people from his high 36:41.180 --> 36:45.540 school there. He had people from the military there. I mean, it was just, it was standing 36:45.540 --> 36:52.360 room only there. And so I thought to myself, you know, if my cousin got saved, okay, because I 36:52.360 --> 36:58.240 gave him the gospel and he nodded that he received it, if he got saved, this is exactly what he would 36:58.240 --> 37:04.520 want me to tell them. But let me say this, if he didn't get saved, this is exactly what he would 37:04.520 --> 37:12.160 want me to tell them. Right? And so I preached the gospel, prayed with everyone at the end. 37:12.160 --> 37:17.400 Many people prayed. Many people called upon the name of the Lord. I can't even tell you how many, 37:17.460 --> 37:20.740 because there's so many people that were praying. And I'm not saying that everyone that prayed got 37:20.740 --> 37:25.920 saved, but you know, my faith in God's Word and the power of God's Word tells me that there are 37:25.920 --> 37:31.140 people that they got saved. And in fact, people came to me afterwards and they just said, I just 37:31.140 --> 37:35.260 want to let you know that I prayed to accept Christ as my savior and I thank you for that 37:35.260 --> 37:38.880 message. And I also want to let you know, he's like a couple of months ago, I talked to 37:38.880 --> 37:42.900 your cousin and this is what he told me. I asked him, I said, how's everything going? He's like, 37:42.920 --> 37:46.900 it's going bad, but I'm just looking for the Lord right now. I'm looking for Jesus right now and 37:46.900 --> 37:52.600 I'm trying to find him. So apparently he did. And I had multiple people come up to me and 37:52.600 --> 37:57.540 tell me that they accepted Christ, that they believe on Jesus Christ. Thank God for that. 37:57.760 --> 38:01.840 But I'm sure there's people there though, because he was a friend of a lot of Motley 38:01.840 --> 38:07.120 people. It was a Motley crew there. They probably didn't like what I had to say, 38:07.120 --> 38:14.020 but who care? I don't care. And I had family there and they already know how crazy I am and 38:14.020 --> 38:21.720 so they accepted me for who I am. One of the last things that one of my other cousins told me 38:21.720 --> 38:26.300 before we parted ways is they're like, hey man, I just love you, just stay out of the news if 38:26.300 --> 38:34.600 you can. And I told him, I said, hey, has any other Mahia got on the news? 38:40.840 --> 38:48.100 Any publicity is good publicity. But the point is that to some people we are an 38:48.100 --> 38:55.940 answer to prayer. To other people we're not. But I like the fact that Joseph wasn't tiptoeing 38:55.940 --> 39:02.340 around the tulips. He wasn't beating around the bush. He gave good news to this guy and then the 39:02.340 --> 39:05.880 bad news came to this guy and he just told him with the same exact demeanor and everything. 39:06.660 --> 39:12.240 He's like, three days you're going to die. And you know what, when we preach the gospel, 39:12.500 --> 39:18.640 we preach the gospel having both messages, death and life. And we shouldn't shy away from 39:18.640 --> 39:24.100 the negative news that we give to people. When we preach the gospel, we got to tell 39:24.100 --> 39:28.940 people they're going to hell. Earlier this week I was preaching the gospel and it was a 39:28.940 --> 39:36.140 Catholic lady and went through the whole presentation with her and then reviewed and 39:36.140 --> 39:39.860 said, do you recognize that you're a sinner? Yes. Do you recognize you deserve hell? And she's 39:39.860 --> 39:44.220 just kind of like, you have these people who just kind of agree with you in the beginning 39:45.140 --> 39:48.640 and then you get towards the end, they're just like, I don't believe I deserve that. 39:48.680 --> 39:52.600 I'm like, you don't believe you deserve hell? I'm like, no. All right. So I just went over 39:52.600 --> 39:58.540 the verses on hell, what the Bible says, and I said, you know, according to the Bible, according 39:58.540 --> 40:02.040 to these verses that I showed you, everyone deserves hell, but you think you're the exception. 40:03.840 --> 40:10.260 And she was just like, okay, I deserve hell. And I said, you know, if you didn't deserve 40:10.260 --> 40:13.800 hell, then why would Jesus come for? What's the point of Jesus coming if you didn't deserve 40:13.800 --> 40:22.500 hell? He didn't come to just give you a happy life. He's called the Savior. He's coming 40:22.500 --> 40:29.260 to be saved or not. And she understood, she's like, you're right. I didn't think about it like that. 40:30.720 --> 40:35.080 So, you know, got to give her the bad news, got to give her the death for the wages of sin is death. 40:36.420 --> 40:42.680 And even the other guy that I got saved, the same thing. He was just hung up on whether 40:42.680 --> 40:47.800 he was a sinner or not. And he was like, well, I haven't done that much bad. I haven't 40:48.180 --> 40:51.460 committed that many sins. And he's just like, well, who's to ever keep it the whole law? 40:51.460 --> 40:54.940 You had to defend him one point. He's guilty of all. So according to God's standard, you're 40:54.940 --> 40:58.660 basically guilty of, though you've never committed murder. And I said, I think, 40:59.920 --> 41:02.740 you know, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you've never killed anybody. 41:03.300 --> 41:05.960 But if you don't tell me, or I'm just saying this as an illustration, 41:06.420 --> 41:09.200 you may have never killed anybody, but you know what? You've lied and that's good. 41:09.420 --> 41:15.660 That's enough for God to condemn you to hell. And then he understood it. 41:15.980 --> 41:19.320 He was willing to admit that he was wrong. He's a sinner deserving of it. And he got saved. 41:19.320 --> 41:23.100 The point being here is that we can't shy away from giving people the bad news. 41:24.100 --> 41:28.220 And you know what? Just in general, even outside of the Gospel presentation, 41:28.520 --> 41:34.820 we can't shy away from giving people the truth. Even outside of the message of salvation. 41:36.580 --> 41:39.040 What do you think about homosexuality? He's like, well, 41:41.500 --> 41:50.820 you know, gay people, you know, it's bad. Is that what you're going to say? It's a sin, you know. 41:51.660 --> 41:56.620 It's like, it's an abomination in the eyes of God. And according to biblical standards, 41:56.940 --> 42:03.440 God categorizes it as a capital crime worthy of death. So the Bible says, 42:03.440 --> 42:10.620 can I please show you in the Bible? You know, you can't really shy away from that. 42:10.780 --> 42:14.080 And you know what? I think people are sick and tired of people shy away from the truth 42:14.080 --> 42:20.520 when they're asking for answers. I think people are just tired of people beating around the bush 42:20.520 --> 42:25.500 and not really willing to be straightforward with people and just tell them the truth. 42:25.820 --> 42:32.580 They're kind of tired of the political pastor who just wants to please everyone and not offend 42:32.580 --> 42:38.560 anybody. But we need more pastors who are just not willing to offend God by just giving the truth, 42:39.020 --> 42:43.840 to be a servant of Christ, to be able to proclaim the truth. And obviously, folks, 42:44.220 --> 42:49.560 you know, we want to do it from a heart of love, right? But you know, speaking the truth 42:49.560 --> 42:53.840 and love doesn't mean you have to say it nicely, either. It just means you just have 42:53.840 --> 43:00.580 to tell them the truth from a heart, a motive, an intent that you love them. You want them 43:00.580 --> 43:05.200 to be saved or you want them to understand the truth. You want them to come to the knowledge 43:05.200 --> 43:09.560 of the truth of this particular subject in the Bible. That's what it means. You know, 43:09.600 --> 43:12.260 when people are sick and tired of people just kind of tiptoeing around the tools, 43:12.440 --> 43:16.440 beating around the bush, just being ambiguous about their answers, just tell people, 43:16.760 --> 43:21.660 and you know what? If they get offended, then so be it. Oh, what do you think about 43:21.660 --> 43:26.120 fornication? It's super wicked. It'll kick you out of church. What do you think about 43:26.120 --> 43:31.660 divorce? Never divorce. You know, yeah, but in the culture in which we live, oh, 43:31.700 --> 43:36.420 you mean this wicked and adulterous generation? Yeah, I don't really care what this wicked 43:36.420 --> 43:40.860 and adulterous generation thinks about divorce. I'm not going to get my standard 43:41.400 --> 43:47.600 from a crooked and perverse generation. It's just not my thing, okay? When people can't 43:47.600 --> 43:51.920 understand what a dude is and what a woman is, you know, and they're advocating 43:51.920 --> 43:57.960 to liberate a baby killer, and they're for abortion. I mean, it's just I'm not following 43:57.960 --> 44:03.960 that generation. You know, don't follow a multitude to do evil. You just got to tell 44:03.960 --> 44:08.280 people what the truth is, and you know, if they get offended, it's an indication that 44:08.280 --> 44:13.620 they don't really love the truth, okay? And so, you know, go back to Genesis, 44:14.880 --> 44:19.820 chapter 40. So, he's just like, you know, this is the interpretation of it. 44:20.400 --> 44:24.420 This is what it says. You know, hey, can you interpret Leviticus 2013 for me? 44:25.460 --> 44:30.940 This is the interpretation of it, right? Can you interpret Romans one for me? 44:31.360 --> 44:35.080 This is the interpretation of it. It's like, well, the cultural context. 44:35.920 --> 44:40.120 Can you interpret first Timothy chapter two for me? It says that, you know, I suffer not 44:40.120 --> 44:43.580 a woman to teach. Does that really mean that women can't be pastors? This is the 44:43.580 --> 44:50.560 interpretation of it. There's no cultural context. What does this commentary say 44:50.560 --> 44:56.340 about it? How about just this commentary right here? Just get people a straightforward 44:56.340 --> 45:00.720 answer, and that's it. And obviously, not everything is going to be straightforward 45:00.720 --> 45:04.300 because there is, you know, gray areas in the Bible. There are certain things 45:04.300 --> 45:07.700 that God just expects for us to kind of decide on our own based upon the 45:07.700 --> 45:12.180 principles laid out in the Word of God, right? But the things that are just 45:12.180 --> 45:18.040 explicitly laid out, we should be able to just tell people, you know. Are the Jews 45:18.040 --> 45:21.060 the children of the devil? I mean, isn't that what Jesus literally said? 45:23.700 --> 45:27.620 Is synagogue a Satan, an appropriate thing to say? Anything that Jesus says is 45:27.620 --> 45:34.820 appropriate to say. Yes. And so, you know, Joseph here was willing to give the 45:34.820 --> 45:42.820 messages. And, you know, partly the reason why he wasn't very, you know, careful 45:42.820 --> 45:47.020 on how he answered the baker is because he's probably thinking, well, this guy's 45:47.020 --> 45:49.060 going to die anyways. He's not going to be able to do anything for me anyways, 45:49.200 --> 45:52.740 you know. He's like, you're going to die, so, you know, it's just the 45:52.740 --> 45:59.300 interpretation of it. Look at verse 20. And it came to pass the third day, 45:59.360 --> 46:03.020 which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants, 46:03.020 --> 46:07.260 and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his 46:07.260 --> 46:11.720 servants, and he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave 46:11.720 --> 46:16.960 the cup into Pharaoh's hand, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted 46:16.960 --> 46:23.860 to them. So we see that one was hanged and one was liberated, right? Just as the person who 46:23.860 --> 46:28.940 does not believe on Jesus Christ becomes a curse. Cursed is everyone that hangeth 46:28.940 --> 46:32.980 on a tree. That's what the Bible says. You know, and obviously if you believed on 46:32.980 --> 46:37.600 Jesus Christ for your salvation, you know, Christ becomes the curse for you because 46:37.600 --> 46:42.540 he was hanged on the tree. He was hung on a cross to bear the sins of many. And let me 46:42.540 --> 46:46.300 just remind you that the Bible says, he that believeeth on the sun hath everlasting 46:46.300 --> 46:50.300 life. He that believeeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of 46:50.300 --> 46:55.220 God abide upon him. Okay, meaning that salvation is only by your faith in 46:55.220 --> 47:01.580 Jesus Christ alone. And yes, alone. Meaning without works. And in fact that's 47:01.580 --> 47:07.680 literally what the Bible says, without works. Okay, so one ends up dying, the 47:07.680 --> 47:12.440 other one is liberated. And of course, you know, aside from the fact that Joseph 47:12.440 --> 47:17.860 is pictured as Jesus Christ as noted by the fact that he is numbered with the 47:17.860 --> 47:22.200 transgressors in the prison, he's preaching to the spirits in prison, 47:22.920 --> 47:27.640 he's liberating one, talking about liberation to one, all the while talking 47:27.640 --> 47:31.040 death to the other just as the two male factors were in the New Testament. 47:32.400 --> 47:36.800 There is a layer of symbology regarding the wine and the bread as well. You have 47:36.800 --> 47:40.800 the baker, right? And then you have the butler who's also serving the wine as 47:40.800 --> 47:46.820 well. It goes on to say in verse 23, yet did not the chief butler remember 47:46.820 --> 47:53.380 Joseph but forget him. So we see here that despite his efforts to help the 47:53.380 --> 47:57.040 butler, the butler ends up forgetting him in the long run or in the short term, 47:57.080 --> 48:01.420 excuse me. Now the lesson that we can learn here is that, you know, we need 48:01.420 --> 48:06.220 to recognize that when we give people the gospel, they may be liberated but 48:06.220 --> 48:11.280 you may never see them again this side of the territory, right? You know, and 48:11.280 --> 48:14.060 that happens all the time. And we have to just kind of accept that. 48:14.560 --> 48:18.500 You know, there's this idea that people propose just like, oh, you got all those 48:18.500 --> 48:21.400 people saved, where are they? I don't know, they forgot us. 48:23.320 --> 48:28.480 They forgot us. Like, it just kind of moved on with their life. Even though 48:28.480 --> 48:33.940 you're like, hey, here's the invite, here's the address, scan the QR code, 48:34.340 --> 48:37.880 you're going to be there right now, be there. And then just forget about it. 48:38.560 --> 48:41.840 Because you got to keep in mind people, you know, even when they get saved, 48:41.840 --> 48:46.600 not everyone gets saved with the same emotional, you know, experience as 48:46.600 --> 48:52.360 everyone else. Some people are very emotional about it, right? When I got saved, 48:52.480 --> 48:57.180 I would say I was very emotional because I had been seeking salvation for so long. 48:57.680 --> 49:02.220 And the gospel was so muddy, you know, in the churches that I was visiting, 49:02.600 --> 49:05.540 that when I finally came to a church that actually explained it correctly, 49:06.060 --> 49:10.800 you know, it just, the scales fell off. And it was just like a wonderful thing. And 49:10.800 --> 49:16.240 I was very grateful that my sins were forgiven, that I have eternal life. And it was, it was an 49:16.240 --> 49:20.320 experience, you know. Some people, but here's the thing, some people just call upon the name 49:20.320 --> 49:23.940 of the Lord and they just move on with their lives. There's no emotion involved. 49:24.920 --> 49:28.240 And thankfully the Bible doesn't say that you have to be emotional to be saved. 49:30.180 --> 49:33.960 And look, I've led people to Christ at the door that were just like just 49:33.960 --> 49:36.200 a dial tone of a personality. 49:38.940 --> 49:43.160 You guys know what I'm talking about? Some of you are not a dial tone of a personality. 49:43.640 --> 49:49.980 You know, some of you is, you know, the exact opposite. But there's dial tones out there. 49:50.040 --> 49:55.440 I've gotten people say they're just like, yes, yes. Do you believe you're a sinner? Yes. 49:56.760 --> 49:59.760 You know, do you believe you deserve, in fact, on Tuesday I ran into a guy like that 50:00.480 --> 50:06.820 His name was O'Neill. And he is his black kid. He's about 16, 17 years old. 50:07.600 --> 50:12.640 And he was, you know, I was giving him the gospel and he was just kind of, he looked super disinterested. 50:14.260 --> 50:20.420 Just extremely disinterested. And you know, like, I want to be bold, but sometimes I'm just like, 50:20.640 --> 50:26.360 Ruff, I'm wasting your time. Just tell me, I'm wasting your time. You're annoying me right now, 50:26.360 --> 50:31.580 you know? And, you know, he's just like answering under his breath or whatever. 50:32.200 --> 50:37.320 And I'm like, you want to church? I go to church. And I'm like, what? He's like, I go to church. 50:37.500 --> 50:41.760 I'm like, okay, you know, are you 100% sure? He's like, yeah, I am. How do you know? 50:42.300 --> 50:44.980 Well, because I'll repent of my sins and all that. I'm just like, well, you know, the 50:44.980 --> 50:48.680 Bible says, you know, and start explaining this stuff to him. And then he just faced 50:48.680 --> 50:56.120 this, just not change. Same countenance, you know? And then, you know, but I gave him kind of like 50:56.120 --> 51:00.380 a big back door out and I was just like, do you have a couple of minutes? All right, you know, 51:00.440 --> 51:03.380 I got a couple of minutes that I want to share this with you. The most important thing you're 51:03.380 --> 51:12.020 going to hear. And he's just like, yeah, that's fine. So then I'm going, but here's the thing, 51:12.060 --> 51:16.840 when I was going through the verses, he would lean in and read it. But then he's just like, 51:17.980 --> 51:23.080 and I'm like, do you understand your sinner? Yes. Go through the verses on hell. Do you 51:23.080 --> 51:28.720 understand you deserve hell? Yeah, I deserve it. You know, and then went through the verses on 51:28.720 --> 51:34.260 believing on Jesus Christ. You can't lose your salvation. And then, you know, towards the end, 51:34.360 --> 51:38.120 I'm just like, I don't know if this guy's getting it. You know, and then towards the middle, 51:38.220 --> 51:42.120 he's just like, oh, I got a phone call. And then, and then he just picks up the phone and 51:42.120 --> 51:48.720 just walks away. And I'm just like, maybe I should walk away too. I'm like, I bet you this guy just 51:48.720 --> 51:52.960 literally left and he's just laughing that he just left me right here. And I've just, I got no one 51:52.960 --> 51:56.180 to talk. You know, I'm just thinking he's just like, but I just, me and my kids are just standing 51:56.180 --> 52:03.940 there. And then he came back. He's like, sorry about that. I'm like, that's okay. So I kept 52:03.940 --> 52:07.840 going over the gospel with him. And then at the end, when I had him review, you know, 52:07.840 --> 52:12.700 because that's kind of like the indicator right there, right? Pro answered every single question 52:12.700 --> 52:19.760 correctly. You're just like, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you add anything to that? No. 52:20.780 --> 52:25.720 Can you lose your salvation for any reason whatsoever? Can't lose it. Why? Because it's a gift. It's 52:25.720 --> 52:33.940 eternal. I'm like, man, can you just like the decibels? Can we just at least? Because I'm 52:33.940 --> 52:38.440 animated, as you can see, you know, but he's just not, he's just dial tone. And then he gets safe, 52:38.580 --> 52:43.280 you know, I was like, you know, I like to pray with these, you could tell God what you believe in 52:43.280 --> 52:49.140 your heart, would you like to get saved right now? Yes. You got saved. And he's like, thank you. 52:50.760 --> 52:56.500 Close the door. You know, I was it just went back inside. And I'm like, all right, well, 52:56.600 --> 53:02.460 you know, you know, some experiences are like that. They're just not necessarily going to be 53:03.180 --> 53:07.920 super excited, you know, super thrilled. And you know what, only you'll probably forgot about me. 53:08.060 --> 53:13.120 It's true, you know. And quite frankly, even the people who are really emotional, they probably 53:13.120 --> 53:16.000 forgot about me too. You say, how do you know if they're emotional? Because they're probably 53:16.000 --> 53:21.600 emotional with everything. They probably cry about everything. They probably get happy about 53:21.600 --> 53:26.380 everything. Right? That's just their personality. That's why it's important for us not to judge 53:26.380 --> 53:32.020 someone's salvation based upon their disposition. Obviously, we can judge whether they're 53:32.020 --> 53:36.980 interested or not based upon their disposition. But a greater indicator is if they actually can 53:36.980 --> 53:40.960 repeat what you're saying, if they can recall, if they can answer the questions correctly, 53:41.060 --> 53:46.860 that's why we need to interact, right? Point being here is that sometimes you give a person 53:46.860 --> 53:51.660 the good news, they accept it, they're liberated, but they will forget about you. 53:52.300 --> 53:56.240 That's just how it works. Some people don't. I've run into doors. Literally, 53:56.860 --> 54:01.300 I've knocked on doors where, you know, the next door neighbor comes out and he looks at me, 54:01.300 --> 54:06.180 he's just like, what church are you from? I'm like, first works Baptist Church. He's like, 54:06.340 --> 54:12.220 some guy from your church got me saved. I'm like, oh, cool. What do you look like? He's just like, 54:12.400 --> 54:21.200 white, tall. That's all I remember, but he got me saved. And then I wanted to check to see if 54:21.200 --> 54:26.140 that guy was actually saved. And I went through the gospel and then he answered every question 54:26.140 --> 54:31.100 correctly. He's like, oh, no, it's a gift. Can't lose a gift because a gift is not something you 54:31.100 --> 54:36.360 earn. It's not something you deserve. It's by the generosity of the giver, like every talking 54:36.360 --> 54:41.520 point. And you know, I'm like, man, this guy didn't forget. But you know, at the end of the day, 54:41.780 --> 54:48.560 people forget, some people don't. And here's the thing. The butler, he does end up remembering 54:48.560 --> 54:53.980 later on. And you know what? I haven't forgotten the person who got me saved. 54:55.860 --> 55:02.440 Sometimes I forget him. But sometimes he comes to mind again. So at the end of the day, 55:02.660 --> 55:08.360 we don't need, we need to make sure that when we're interpreting salvation for people, 55:09.140 --> 55:14.640 we're doing it for the sake of liberating them from the prison. Not necessary so they 55:14.640 --> 55:18.840 can come to church. So that would be great. Not necessarily so they can live godly lives. 55:19.180 --> 55:25.820 That would be great. The main purpose is to liberate them from the prison that sin has them in, 55:26.180 --> 55:32.600 you know, that will take them to hell. And so great story here with Joseph. And of course, 55:32.740 --> 55:36.500 Joseph, we see here that despite everything that's taken place, he's still being faithful to 55:36.500 --> 55:41.860 God. He's still serving the Lord, you know, and along the way because of his disposition, 55:41.860 --> 55:48.540 because of his attitude, because of his response, he gets to be a typology of Jesus Christ. 55:49.720 --> 55:52.700 Well, praise God for that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for 55:52.700 --> 55:57.300 the story of Joseph being numbered with the transgressors and making intercessions for them. 55:57.980 --> 56:01.020 I pray that, Lord, you'd help us as your people to recognize the importance of 56:01.020 --> 56:05.380 giving people the truth, even if it offends them. Lord, help us to be a saver of life 56:05.380 --> 56:10.900 into life, but not be discouraged when people perceive us as being a saver of death unto 56:10.900 --> 56:14.120 death. And may you bless us as we go on our way, Lord. We love you. We thank you. Pray the 56:14.120 --> 56:15.280 things in Jesus' name. Amen.