Never, Never, Never

Thank you, Sue, what a blessing.

If you have Bibles, I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 40.

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 40, we are studying a life that is filled

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

with ups and downs.

If you study the life of Joseph, man, what a rollercoaster

ride.

And when you think about it, that's kind of like life,

ain't it?

Filled with ups and downs.

Life can be like a rollercoaster ride.

If you're on your way up, hey, don't be surprised when it

flattens out.

And if you feel like you're going downhill, relax.

It's going to level out soon.

Life is topsy-turvy, and we see that.

Probably no better in anyone's story than in the life of Joseph.

Just as a reflection, remember he was the favored son.

He was a dreamer and a dude with a fine-looking coat.

Not only was it had multiple colors, but also it was a cuffed coat,

which meant that he's not a working man.

That's a royal coat.

And he stayed at home with mom and dad while his brothers were in the field shepherding.

And so when his dad tells him to go check on his brothers, he goes into that field to check on their status.

They've moved around some.

He ended up going 50 miles in the desert before he found them.

And he did all that with that royal robe on.

And they see him coming.

And they didn't like it.

For one, he had dreams of his own success over them and was stupid enough to tell them.

And then he also had that robe that nobody else had.

And he's wearing that across the desert as they see him coming.

And they think, who in the world does he think he is?

Instead of killing him, they sold him into slavery because they debated about killing him.

And after he was sold into slavery, he prospered as a servant, being promoted as house manager,

even a state executive in a prominent official's house, a prominent official of Egypt.

He was entrusted with the management of the whole estate until he was set up by the master's wife.

She yelled sexual assault and he went to prison.

However, when he was in prison, he prospered again.

And he was entrusted with managing the prisoners.

And I want you to notice the similarity of what happened in Potiphar's house,

that official's house that he was working in, as well as what happened to him in the prison.

In Potiphar's house, Genesis 39 verse 6 says,

Genesis 39:6

So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, speaking of Potiphar leaving it all in Joseph's charge,

and because of him, he had no concern about anything.

Then when you talk about the keeper of the prison in Genesis 39 verse 22, it says,

Genesis 39:22

And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in prison.

Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.

And the reason was the same as well.

In Genesis 39 verse 3, it says,

Genesis 39:3

His master saw that the Lord was with him,

and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

So in other words, his success was due to the Lord being with him.

And the same thing in Genesis 39 verse 23 says,

Genesis 39:23

Now that does not mean there wasn't hard times in the midst of that.

Of course there was.

But I want you to remember that Joseph was a dreamer.

He dreamed of prosperity at an early age,

and God spoke to him through dreams.

He foresaw his future through dreams.

And when he shared those dreams with his family,

it caused conflict between he and his brothers.

But what he dreamed was from God, and what he dreamed was true.

However, God spoke to him through those dreams,

and gave him the ability to interpret dreams.

Now as that is the back story, let's look at Genesis chapter 40.

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

Because Genesis chapter 40 says in verse 1,

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

Sometime after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker

committed an offense against their lord, the king of Egypt.

And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers,

the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard

in prison where Joseph was confined.

The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them,

and he attended them.

He continued for some time in custody.

Now listen, we don't know why they were imprisoned,

but let's let our spiritual imagination get away from us for just a moment.

Okay?

The baker is, of course, the cook.

So did he fix a bad meal for Pharaoh,

or did some food poison,

or did he try to poison Pharaoh,

or was it just bad eggs,

or was it just not done,

or was it too done?

I mean, an overcooked steak deserves a jail sentence.

The cupbearer is the guy that is responsible for making sure

that nothing is wrong with the food and the drink,

and the first to taste the food and to drink the drink.

And if he makes it, then the Pharaoh can eat.

So did they try to set him up,

or were they set up,

or was it a misunderstanding?

We don't know,

but I guarantee you it had something to do

with the culinary responsibilities

that put them where they were.

Verse 5 says,

And one night they both dreamed,

the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt,

who were confined in the prison,

each his own dream,

and each dream with his own interpretation,

when Joseph came to them in the morning,

he saw that they were troubled.

So he asked Pharaoh's officers,

who were with him in custody in his master's house,

why are your faces downcast today?

And they said to him,

we have had dreams,

and there is no one to interpret them.

And Joseph said to them,

do not interpretations belong to God?

Please tell them to me.

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph

and said to him,

in my dream there was a vine before me.

And on the vine there were three branches.

As soon as it budded,

its blossoms shot forth,

and the clusters ripened into grapes.

Pharaoh's cup was in my hand,

and I took the grapes

and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup

and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.

Then Joseph said to him,

this is the interpretation,

the three branches are three days.

In three days,

Pharaoh will lift up your head

and restore you to your office,

and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand

as formerly when you were his cupbearer.

Only remember me when it is well with you,

and please do me the kindness

to mention me to Pharaoh.

And so get me out of this house.

For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews,

and here also I have done nothing

that they should put me into the pit.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation

was favorable,

he said to Joseph,

I also had a dream.

There were three cake baskets on my head,

and to the uppermost basket,

there were a sort of baked food for Pharaoh,

but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.

And Joseph answered and said,

this is the interpretation.

The three baskets are three days.

In three days,

Pharaoh will lift up your head

from you

and hang you on a tree,

and the birds will eat the flesh with you.

And I think he said,

I want a second opinion.

And I bet Joseph said,

you're ugly too.

But on the third day,

which was Pharaoh's birthday,

he made a feast for all of his servants

and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer

and the head of the chief baker

among his servants.

He restored the chief cupbearer

to his position,

and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand,

but he hanged the chief baker

as Joseph had interpreted to them,

yet the chief cupbearer

did not remember Joseph,

but forgot him.

Joseph was forgotten.

He was a man who was faithful to his parents,

and then he was abducted and sold into slavery.

He succeeded at that level above and beyond

and was wronged and imprisoned

and in prison he succeeded above and beyond

and helped someone with influence out,

the cupbearer,

who was the Pharaoh's side daily.

All you have to do is mention me

at some point along the way,

and he was forgotten.

He was not mentioned.

He was not vouched for.

He was forgotten.

Genesis 41, verse 41,

Genesis 41:41

tells us that he was forgotten for two years

until he was dragged out of that pit.

A pit he was in

because he was forgotten.

Can you imagine how lonely he was?

I mean, we don't know if anybody else

was in that pit or not around him,

but I am thoroughly convinced

that no matter how many people were in that pit,

no matter how many people were in that house,

no matter how many people were in that prison,

it might have been full of people,

he was still in a pit

and most likely still felt very lonely.

Do you know that sometimes

you can be in a crowd of people

like we are today

and still be lonely?

You might be sitting here today

shaking hands with folks

and smiling and looking at your Sunday best

and still feel alone.

Have you ever felt alone?

I believe there's much we can learn from Joseph

and I believe God put this

in this book

so we could learn from his circumstances

because I believe a lot of us

have felt forgotten,

felt alone,

might even feel it today.

And that, my friend,

is the part of the difficulty

that can be so encouraging

and such a gift in the midst of the mess.

Not that his relief is over

because he endured it for two years,

but that in the middle of it,

in the pit,

seemingly forgotten,

seemingly alone.

Seemingly alone.

There are three truths

that I want to show you

this morning about Joseph's life.

One of them is

God never forgot him.

God never forgot him.

It may seem like he did.

He may feel like it did,

but he never forgot him.

The time was coming

when the cupbearer would remember him.

It'd take two years to do that,

but God never forgot him.

I want to remind you

of some passages

that you need to keep in mind

and enlighten you

on some that you may not know.

And one of them is found

in Psalms 145 verse 17,

Psalms 145:17

and it says this,

the Lord is righteous

in all his ways

and kind in all his works.

The Lord is near

to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires

of those who fear him.

He also hears the cry

and saves them.

The Lord preserves

all who love him,

but all the wicked

he will destroy.

God did not forget him,

and he never does.

Second truth about his life

is this,

God never left him.

Joseph probably felt

like God left him,

but God's presence

in his life

was not based upon

his feelings.

It was,

it is,

based upon God's promises.

Do you know what God says

about our feelings

and our thoughts?

Isaiah 55, 8, 9 says,

for my thoughts

are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways

my ways,

declares the Lord.

For as the heavens

are higher than the earth,

so my ways

are higher than your ways

and my thoughts

than your thoughts.

God never left him.

Even though a two-year-long pit

may make you feel like it,

God never left him.

And the third truth

about his life is this,

God never stopped working.

He never stopped working

in his life.

God was working in him,

God was working on him,

God was working through him

the whole time.

I want you to notice something.

It's back in verses 6 and 7

that we looked at

a few moments ago.

It says this,

when Joseph came to them

in the morning,

he saw that they were troubled.

So he asked Pharaoh's officers

who were with him

in custody

in his master's house,

why are your faces

downcast today?

I hope you get this

because I got this this week

and it was just good to me.

Joseph was in prison

on false charges.

It would have been

very easy for him

to be throwing a pity party,

only worried about himself.

And instead,

he wasn't coming out

and saying,

let me tell you

about my dreams.

He wasn't saying that,

not at all.

Selfishness and pity

will probably

make your prison cell

that much smaller.

It'll make your pit

that much deeper.

It'll make your loneliness

that much more lonely.

The walls will creep in

on you quickly

when you fill yourself

with negativity like that.

No,

he looked beyond himself

and had concern for others

while his junk was going on,

while he was in the midst

of the injustice.

Now this ain't the end

of Joseph's story.

This is just one

of those very low times

that he faced

and thankfully,

he acted,

he didn't act like

it was the end.

And I don't know

what you're dealing with today

but I want you to know

you don't need to act

like it's the end

because it's not.

Thankfully,

he didn't give up on God

for who knows

what would have happened

with the rest of his story

if he would have gave up

on God.

but God

never forgot him.

He never left him.

He never stopped working in him.

And I want to give you

three truths about us

that regardless

of our circumstances

or regardless

of how deep our pit is

or how small our cell is,

you need to know.

One is God

has not forgotten us.

He hasn't forgotten me.

He hasn't forgotten you.

I want to remind you

what Matthew chapter 6 says.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Jesus said,

look at the birds of the air.

They neither sow

nor reap

nor gather in the barns

and yet your heavenly Father

feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable

than they?

And which of you

by being anxious

can add a single hour

to his span of life?

And why are you anxious

about clothing?

Consider the lilies

of the field

how they grow.

They neither toil

nor spin.

Yet I tell you

even Solomon

in all his glory

was not arrayed

like one of these.

Therefore do not

be anxious.

Your heavenly Father

knows that you need them.

I want you to understand

that we are the crown

of his creation.

We are the apple

of his eye.

We are his very own

he sent his only son

to die in our place.

God loves us dearly.

Don't you ever think

he forgot you.

He never will.

God's never left us.

He's never left us.

Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10:23

verse 23 says

let us hold fast

the confession

of our hope

without wavering

for he who promised

is faithful.

What did he promise?

He promised

a bunch of stuff.

But among them

he promised

he would never leave us

nor forsake us.

How it seems

so often

that he does forget us

but he never has

and he never will.

It's best

we stop thinking

leaning on our thinking

and our feelings

and take God

at his word.

He's not forgotten us

and he has not

left us.

No matter

your circumstances

today

guilty

or innocent

God

has not

left you.

And third

he's not done

with us.

God's still working.

The prophet Isaiah

speaks the words

of God to us

and puts it all

in perspective.

It says in Isaiah

Isaiah 42:2

42 verse 2

when you pass

through the waters

God says

I'll be with you

and through the rivers

they shall not

overwhelm you.

When you walk

through fire

you shall not

be burned

and the flame

shall not

consume you.

For I am

the Lord

your God

the Holy One

of Israel

your Savior

because you are

precious in my eyes

and honored

and I love you

fear not

I am

with you.

You may tell me

today

oh pastor

you don't

understand

what I've

been through.

You don't

understand

what I'm

going through.

You're right.

That is correct.

But it's not

really about

my thoughts

and it's not

really about

my ways.

And with all

due respect

it's not about

your thoughts

and it's not

about your ways.

It's about

me and you

placing our

thoughts

and trust

in the thoughts

and ways

of God

and placing

our hands

in the nail

scarred hand

of Christ

and leaning

on him

to guide us

through the

valleys

that we face.

That is

where it's

at.

John was

exiled

on the

island of

Patmos

by the

Roman Empire

because he

would not

stop preaching

the gospel.

Patmos

is an

island of

rock

and

not very

inhabitable

but they

put him

there

because he

wouldn't

hush.

And while

he was

there he

was taken

up in a

visionary

sense and

was able

to see

from God's

view what

was happening

on the

earth as

well as

what was

happening

in heaven

simultaneously.

He was

given this

revelation

to provide

for seven

regional churches

in Asia

Minor

that were

on a postal

route

so that

he could

give a

coded

letter

to a

Roman

courier

who wouldn't

understand the

contents of

that letter

and circulate

that letter

among seven

regional

bodies

of believers

in Asia

Minor

under the

persecution

of the

Roman Empire

who would

be very

susceptible

to

discouragement

and to

wander away

from their

faith

because in

some cases

they were

not even

legally

meeting

together.

It is

called an

apocalypse,

an

uncovering.

Apocalypse

is a Greek

word that

means unveiling,

a revealing

of what is

really going

on.

And it is

a letter

that has

been abused

and misunderstood

since it was

written,

never more

than in the

last hundred

years.

But it is

a book that

I absolutely

love.

It's a

code that

you can

break and

you can

understand and

it is not as

hard as people

make it out to

be.

However,

my favorite

part is

chapter one

because chapter

one paints

the picture of

Christ walking

through the

candlesticks

which he tells

us in chapter

one are the

churches.

And they're

called candlesticks

because churches

are to give off

the light of the

gospel in the

midst of the

darkness.

darkness.

It shows that

he had their

messengers.

The word in

the Greek is

angelios which

we would

transliterate as

angels but

really in reality

it means

messengers.

And so the

thought is the

messengers to

the church was

the pastors.

And it says

that he's holding

those stars,

they call them,

in his hand.

They're under

persecution.

They're seeing

people die for

their faith.

They're threatened

if they meet

together like much

of the world is

today.

But even in

the midst of

that he walks

with them.

And this is

what it says.

It says then I

turned to see

the voice that

was speaking to

me.

And on

turning I saw

seven golden

lampstands.

That's the

churches.

And in the

midst of the

lampstands was

one like a

son of man

clothed with a

long robe and

a golden sash

around his

chest.

That sash

would normally

be around his

waist.

But it's

placed across

his chest

because it

symbolizes

royalty and

victory.

The hairs of

his head were

white like

white wool

like snow.

That speaks

of wisdom.

It speaks

of purity.

His feet

were like

burnished

bronze refined

in a furnace.

It does not

say his

sandals.

It does not

say his

boots.

It says his

feet.

feet.

He could

walk through

anything.

He could

walk through

anything.

He could

walk through

anything.

He could

walk through

anything.

through anything.

His voice was like

the roar of many

waters.

Mightier than Niagara

Falls was the

voice of God.

in his right hand

that's the hand of

authority.

In his right hand

he held seven

stars.

Later he tells us

those are the

angelios, the

messengers.

From his mouth

come a sharp

two-edged sword.

Hebrews tells us

what that is.

It's the word of

God.

And his face

was like the

sun shining

in full

strength.

The message

is this.

In the

midst of

whatever

persecution

you're going

through,

in the

midst of

whatever valley

you have,

in the

midst of

your pit,

Jesus

is walking

right in

the midst

of your

circumstances.

He knows

what they

are.

He's on

top of

them.

He has

not forgotten

you.

He has

not left

you

alone.

He's not

done with

you.

He's not

looking

from

on

high

checking

you

out.

He's

in the

midst

of

it

with

you.

Maybe

nobody

else

knows.

God's

not left

you

alone.

God's

not

forgotten

you.

God's

not done

with you.

God's

the

Lord

more than

your

feelings

more than

your

circumstances

more than

what you

can see.

You

can trust

the

Lord.

He'll be

with you

in a

pit.

He's

doing a

work in

you.

With

every

head

bowed

and every

eye

closed,

I ask you this morning

have you ever given your heart and life

to the Lord Jesus Christ

has there ever been a time

when you said Lord I know I've done wrong

I know I need help

and the only one that can help me

is the one that knows me better than I know myself

and so because Christ went to the cross

I know that if I confess I'm a sinner

you'll forgive me for my sins

and come into my life and change my life

you'll empower me by the spirit of God

you'll change me from this day forward

so today I surrender my life to you

if you've never done that

I encourage you today

to do just that

I'd love to guide you in that process

and we're going to stand in a moment

we're going to sing but more important than the song

is that you obey God

and if you come down and tell me we need to talk about this

we'll make time to do that

maybe you're here and you have done that

and you've done that privately

but you've never done it publicly

you've never acknowledged it

and by Jesus by his commission and by his example

tell us to follow that

with a public confession of our faith

through baptism

and if you've never been baptized as a believer

but you know you're a believer

it'll be a hindrance to your life

to not follow him in obedience

so I encourage you to be obedient with that

God's burdened you with that

you come

let's talk about that

we're not doing it this morning

we'll line up a time

maybe God's leading you to

Pickens First Baptist Church

God's doing a wonderful work here

and I'm thankful for it

God's drawing you

you didn't come up with that on your own

he's leading you

I just encourage you to be obedient

to follow him

and for the rest of us

will you just take time to say

Lord thank you that I'm not alone

thank you that you hadn't forgotten me

thank you that you're at work in me right now

and help me God

to not trust my feelings

to not trust my circumstances

to not watch the walls crawl in on me

but instead to trust

you Lord

for you are at work

you can do that where you'll stand

you can do that at this altar

you can do it with a pastor praying for you

Lord Jesus thank you

that you don't leave us alone

thank you that you hadn't forgot us

thank you Lord

that you walk with us

help us oh God

to stay in

a faithful fight

to walk with you dear God

to be right with you oh God

knowing that you are still at work

in us today

we love you Lord Jesus

and thank you for the opportunity

help us to simply be obedient this morning

to follow you

in Jesus name

amen

for this morning