January 29, 2006
Scripture:
Can we go back for a moment to Genesis 40; we read a few verses there, but I’d like to read on a little piece, from v. 16: “When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them” In what we read now and earlier, we have two men that are in prison for some crime. They both had responsibility to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Their actions had been displeasing to Pharaoh and they were under his judgement. They both had visions and were able to bring them to Joseph, who gave them their fortunes. In these two men, we see two important principles. With the Butler, his dream was of a vine with three branches. He took the grapes from the vine, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and gave it to Pharaoh. With the Baker, he had bakemeats (my margin says that is “meat of Pharaoh, the work of a baker or cook) in his basket: his own works. In this we find a beautiful gospel story. Wine brings us the thought of blood. The baker’s works were eaten by the birds. The butler was accepted, the baker was not. The one who was able to again approach Pharaoh was the one with the wine. To him Joseph said, “But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh.” We can draw nigh to God through the blood of Jesus. And the Lord has said to us, “Remember me.” What a privilege! If we went on we would find that the butler first forgot Joseph, but finally remembered him; and Joseph was exalted. And we would want that for our Lord. We can remember Him before the throne of God. What a blessing we have!
EG Hymn 201–When we walk with the Lord Prayer • Previously we looked at the prophet Elijah, and how he obeyed God and went to the Brook Cherith. Now we will look at a prophet who did not obey. Jonah 1:1–17 • God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah disobeyed God and decided to go to Tarshish instead. He went down to Joppa, down into the ship, and then down into the side of the ship. Disobedience is a downward path. Jonah was trying to get away from God; is this possible? Proverbs 15:3 tells us that God sees everything. While Jonah was sailing away, God sent a storm to stop him. Did God still love him? Yes, Hebrews 12:6 tells us that God will chasten every one he loves. The others in the boat, the mariners, wondered why this was happening to them. They cast lots and found Jonah was guilty. Jonah knew exactly what he had done wrong and admitted it to the mariners. Finally they threw him overboard and the storm stopped. God had prepared a big fish to swallow Jonah; although it doesn’t say he went down, Jonah went down into the sea and the fish. God will chasten us, too, when we disobey Him. There was a boy named Bobby who liked marshmallows. Even better, he liked his marshmallows in hot chocolate. For his birthday, his mother invited some friends over for cake and hot chocolate. The day arrived and Bobby was walking through the kitchen, waiting for his friends to arrive. He noticed a bowl of marshmallows sitting on the counter. “Well, no one would notice if I took just one,” he said to himself. Making sure no one was watching, he quickly took a marshmallow and popped it into his mouth. His friends arrived and the time for cake came. When Bobby got his hot chocolate, there was no marshmallow in it. “Mommy, where’s my marshmallow?” “Well, I thought I had just enough for everyone,” his mother replied, “but there was one too few when I got to serving.” Bobby thought no one had seen him, but God had.
Hebrews 10:1–7 • We can read in Exodus about how God gave the law to Moses; we see the thunderings and lightings, we see how the people are not allowed near Mt. Sinai because of its holiness; all this was for Moses to get the shadow of good things to come. When you see a shadow, you get an outline; when you see a substance, you get the details. Even though we see the substance, we see through a glass darkly; one day it will be even clearer. • Verse 1 speaks about being perfect. People who say we can lose our salvation say that you must be perfect to keep your salvation. They say how you act effects your standing before God. When you get saved, two links are made between you and God: Salvation and Communion. What can be broken by what you do is your communion. Whatever happens to your communion has no effect on your salvation. Our salvation is perfect. The sacrifices the children of Israel sacrificed were not perfect. Verse 2 asks, Wouldn’t they have stopped sacrificing if the sacrifice would have been enough. The people who offered the sacrifices are called “comers”, or “approachers (Darby)”, in verse 1 and “worshippers” in verse 2. Worship was not required in the Old Testament, but some rose to it. Our perfect sacrifice allows us to be worshippers. Notice that verse 2 ends with “sins.” Every person has sin (the root) and sins (the fruit). We are born with sin. We will not be judged because of that, but because of our sins. The matter that concerns my heart is not that I am born in sin, but that I have sins. The Lord died for sin and sins. The sacrifice could not get rid of sins. Verse 3 tells us that each year they would remember all the failures and sins of the past year, on the Great Day of Atonement. We have a remembrance, too, but it is for the One who took our sins away and made it possible for us to offer our sacrifices of praise. The blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins, but through it the children of Israel could go on with God. Their consciences were not cleared, but as the smoke ascended to God, He would be reminded that one day He would send his son to do the real thing so consciences could be purged. EG Hymn 31–Precious, precious blood of Jesus Prayer Communion Salvation