God Never Forgets

[0:00] Our scripture reading today is taken from the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 41 verses 1 through 45.

[0:19] ! After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump. And they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

[0:43] And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time.

[0:53] And behold, seven heirs of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven heirs, thin and blighted by the east wind.

[1:06] And the thin heirs swallowed up the seven plump full heirs. And Pharaoh awoke. And behold, it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled. And he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

[1:23] Pharaoh told them his dreams. But there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today.

[1:35] When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me on the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. We dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation.

[1:48] A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream.

[2:04] And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they quickly brought him out of the pit.

[2:17] And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.

[2:29] I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

[2:40] Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, behold, in my dream, I was standing on the banks of the Nile. Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass.

[2:54] Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plum cows.

[3:07] But when they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good.

[3:24] Seven ears, withered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was none who could explain it to me.

[3:38] Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years.

[3:52] The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.

[4:04] It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. But after them, there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

[4:21] The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.

[4:39] Now, therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.

[4:56] And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and starve grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be reserved for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through famine.

[5:17] This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.

[5:35] You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards to the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.

[5:49] Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.

[6:01] And he made him ride in a second chariot, and they called out before him, Bow the knee. Then he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

[6:19] And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphonath-Paneah, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

[6:33] Here ends the scripture reading for today. Thank you very much, David. Those of you who were part of our Bible study, on Wednesday will recall that we studied and discussed Psalm 77.

[6:53] Psalm 77 is a psalm of lament. It's a psalm in which the psalmist finds himself in a time of deep trouble, and he's feeling abandoned by God.

[7:07] He recounts how on the day of his trouble, he couldn't sleep, and his soul refused to be comforted.

[7:18] And in this distress, and in this sense of abandonment, he begins to question God. He asks, will the Lord spurn forever and never be favorable again?

[7:40] Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious?

[7:54] Has he, in anger, shut up his compassion? Brothers and sisters, if you serve the Lord for any reasonable period of time, you will likely one day find yourself in a day of trouble.

[8:19] You'll likely one day find yourself where the psalmist found himself in Psalm 77, causing you to ask the same or similar questions.

[8:33] And it's in such times like that that we, by God's grace, need to remember that although we might feel forgotten by God, we are not forgotten by God because God never forgets.

[8:55] He never forgets his people. He never forgets his promises. And this passage that we have come to this morning as we continue our sermon series in the book of Genesis is a reminder of these truths.

[9:13] God never forgets his people. God never forgets his promises. And in our remaining time this morning as we consider this passage, I pray that our hearts will be strengthened.

[9:27] I pray that our hearts will be encouraged. I especially pray this for those who might, in this moment, find themselves in a day of trouble, in a day where they might be questioning, has God forgotten me?

[9:46] Is God angry with me? Is God punishing me? So let me pray for us as we look to God's word this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you for your care for your people.

[10:02] Thank you, Lord, that you have brought us to this place this morning to hear all that we have heard and to hear what we will hear in this moment and to experience all that you will do as we are gathered.

[10:23] Father, Father, I pray that you would meet us where we are corporately and individually and speak to our hearts.

[10:33] Would you help me, Lord, to be faithful, faithful to your word and faithful to care for these who are gathered this morning, those who I love, but those who you love even more.

[10:50] And so, Father, we ask that you would draw near to us, that you would grant your help and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[11:03] For those who are taking notes this morning, I've organized a sermon under two simple points which I have already foreshadowed. And the first point is this, God never forgets his people.

[11:16] The opening words of Genesis 41 connect us to the closing verse of Genesis 40. Genesis 40, verse 23 ends with these words, Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.

[11:39] And Joseph interpreted the cupbearer's dream telling him that in three days, Pharaoh was going to lift him out of the prison and restore him into his former position, Joseph pleaded with him, pleaded with the cupbearer, please remember me before Pharaoh so that I can get out of this place because I've done nothing wrong to be here.

[12:01] But the cupbearer forgot him. And the opening words of Genesis 41 seem to communicate the pain of that forgetfulness.

[12:16] It reads, after two whole years. Would have been enough to say two years, but it says after two whole years had gone by since the cupbearer had been out of prison.

[12:33] I think it's fair to say that by this point, Joseph had long forgotten and given up on the cupbearer and any hope that he would mention his name to Pharaoh.

[12:44] I think indeed he may have given up in a couple of days after the cupbearer had gone out and there was no word that his name was mentioned to Pharaoh.

[12:57] And we could imagine after two whole years that Joseph was in distress, lamenting and thinking how he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, wrongly imprisoned by Potiphar, and then ungratefully forgotten by the cupbearer.

[13:19] And when we read these words at the end of Genesis 40 and 23, and when we come into the first verse of Genesis 41, it would have been appropriate for Genesis 41 to have begun but God remembered Joseph.

[13:39] He did not forget him. Verse 23 of chapter 40 ends, but the cupbearer forgot him, didn't remember him.

[13:52] 41 appropriately could have begun, especially when we consider what happens in chapter 41. It could have appropriately begun but God remembered Joseph.

[14:05] He did not forget him. That is what we see in Genesis chapter 41, that God remembered Joseph.

[14:17] He had been lamenting and sitting in this prison for many years between Potiphar's house and in the prison. He'd been 13 years as a slave and as a prisoner but God remembered Joseph.

[14:40] And because God remembered him, God orchestrated circumstances to free Joseph out of prison and to elevate him to the second highest position of authority in all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.

[14:54] And God did it in a manner that Joseph would never have conceived. It was beyond his wildest dreams, beyond his wildest imagination.

[15:06] I doubt Joseph used to sit in the prison and dream about becoming prime minister of Egypt one day. But that's exactly what happened.

[15:19] And how did it happen? It began with a dream that Pharaoh had. Really not two dreams but one dream. It was a two-part dream that Pharaoh had.

[15:33] He had this dream and the first part of the dream was so dramatic that it startled him and he got up but he went back to sleep and then he had the second part of the dream.

[15:45] And when he woke up that morning he was troubled, so troubled by this dream. He knew in his soul that there was significance to it. But he had no understanding of what it meant.

[15:59] And so he does what they all did. They called the magicians, called the wise men. He told them his dream and none of them could interpret it.

[16:12] Now it's not hard to imagine that Pharaoh was not a nice man to be around at that time. he had a troubling dream.

[16:24] No one could interpret it for him, not even his wise men and magicians. And I think we all know that when powerful people are frustrated, they tend to take their frustrations out on the people closest to them.

[16:39] And one of the closest persons to him was the chief cup bearer. And so all of a sudden, the chief cup bearer remembers. He remembers Joseph, who he had forgotten for two whole years, but he now remembers him.

[16:58] Look again at how he remembers Joseph beginning in verse 9. Then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today. But Pharaoh was angry with his servants, when Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I having a dream with its own interpretation.

[17:28] A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard, when we told him he interpreted our dreams to us, giving us an interpretation to each man according to his dream.

[17:43] And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged. The chief cup bearer remembered his sins, his sins of selfishness and ungratefulness against Joseph, who had interpreted his dream.

[18:04] And at best, I think that he remembered Joseph to curry favor with Pharaoh to help him out of this dilemma where he didn't know what his dream meant.

[18:20] Or at worst, he did it to protect his own neck. Because it was not unusual for kings in that day just to do dramatic things and just kill everybody around them because nobody was used to them and seemed to just be eating their food and just marking time.

[18:45] But we're not sure why he did, but he remembered him in that moment. Notice in verse 12 that while the chief cup bearer seems to have forgotten Joseph's name, he doesn't forget Joseph's identity.

[19:04] He remembered that Joseph was a Hebrew, that he was not an Egyptian. And to us is a reminder that Joseph had been in Egypt at this point for 11 years.

[19:19] At the point that he would have interpreted the cup bearer's dream, and he maintained his Hebrew identity. He maintained his identity as a worshiper of the true and the living God.

[19:32] God. He did not become an Egyptian by adopting the ways of the Egyptians. He continued to worship the true and the living God. And brothers and sisters, may this be true of us.

[19:50] May this be true of us that when others cross our paths, whether it is our neighbors, whether it's the people we work with, whether it's the people we go to school with, if they forget our names, may they not forget our identity, that our identity is that of belonging to Christ, and that that would be a lingering memory in their minds, though our names may have escaped them, that like this cup bearer remembers Joseph, he was a Hebrew.

[20:28] They would say about us, he was a Christian. I remember that she was a Christian. They didn't adopt the ways of everybody else around them, but they maintained this identity in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[20:44] That's what I remember about them. And this was Joseph's situation. When Potiphar's wife tempted him to sleep with her, he said, I can't do this because I was sin against God.

[20:56] when the cup bearer and the baker told him their dreams, he said, it's not in me to be able to interpret your dreams, but it is God. He is the one who interprets dreams.

[21:10] And even when Pharaoh is, we'll see shortly, lays out the dream to him, he again says, it's not in me to interpret dreams.

[21:30] But we should notice as well that this moment of the cup bearer remembering Joseph was more than the cup bearer remembering Joseph. This moment was evidence that God had not forgotten Joseph.

[21:49] because God always remembers his people. And in his perfect time, he was delivering Joseph out of the prison. It wasn't Joseph's timing, but it was God's perfect timing.

[22:05] And God is the one who ultimately brought Joseph into Pharaoh's prison, and now he is the one who ultimately is elevating him out of Pharaoh's prison. Notice again Pharaoh's words to Joseph in verse 15, when Joseph came to him.

[22:22] Pharaoh said to Joseph, I've had a dream, and there's no one who can interpret it. I've heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.

[22:35] Just imagine the temptation this would have represented to Joseph. Desperately wanted to come out of prison. The cup bearer has forgotten him, and now the king is saying to him, I've heard this about you, you can interpret dreams.

[22:52] Joseph could have said, you got the right man. I'm the man. I can interpret your dreams. And really, what could Pharaoh know about the interpretation?

[23:04] You could tell him anything, but Joseph doesn't do that. Instead, he humbly answers Pharaoh, and he tells him, it is not in me.

[23:15] It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. And so Pharaoh recounts his two-part dream about the seven ugly, thin cows that ate up the seven attractive, plump cows with no evidence of having eaten them when they were finished, and the seven ears of withered, thin, blighted grain swallowing up the seven good ears of grain.

[23:42] And Joseph's initial words to Pharaoh were unconditional.

[23:54] They were unconditional. In verse 25, he says to Pharaoh, your dreams are one, and God has revealed to you what he is about to do.

[24:06] It's easy to read over how Joseph begins. I miss an important fact that in Pharaoh's dream, God was not merely foretelling the future through Joseph.

[24:23] God was not really like soothed saying and saying, this is what's going to happen, I can see this, I can see that. That's not what he was doing. What Joseph says is, in your dream, O king, God was showing you what he was about to do.

[24:43] He was showing you what he was going to sovereignly bring to pass. And this was the most humbling experience for Pharaoh. His magicians couldn't help him, the wise men couldn't help him, and even Pharaoh himself, the Pharaohs were gods in Egypt.

[25:01] Pharaoh himself being a god among all the other Egyptian gods. And now he's being told that Joseph's God, who was obviously more powerful than him, and all the Egyptian gods, was going to do something.

[25:18] This dream that he had, this dream that he didn't understand, that Joseph's God was showing him what he was going to do, and was troubling to Pharaoh. Didn't understand it.

[25:31] And so Joseph proceeds to interpret this two-part dream for Pharaoh, and he says this to him, God is determined to bring about seven years of abundance, abundant produce in Egypt, and it's going to be followed by seven years of famine so severe that the years of abundance will be forgotten.

[25:57] and the fact that God has given you this dream in a doubling way is evidence that it is certainly going to come to pass.

[26:10] And then Joseph proceeds to give Pharaoh a proposal to help him to think through how to get through this famine that is certainly coming, and he tells Pharaoh, you should appoint a man who's discerning and wise and give him some overseers.

[26:29] And what they should do is during the years of plenty, they should save 20% each year and start away against the seven years of famine that's going to come.

[26:41] Now we should recognize it the same way that it was not in Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's dream, but it was not in Joseph to come up with this proposal. The dream was divinely interpreted, and this proposal was divinely given.

[26:57] God was the one who put this in Joseph's heart to be able to offer it to Pharaoh. And you know what? There's nothing in Joseph's words, not even the slightest hint, that indicates that Joseph thought, I'm your man.

[27:19] There's nothing in Joseph's words that gives the slightest hint that Joseph was thinking that he was the person or that Pharaoh would possibly ask him or even consider him as the person.

[27:34] I think if it were possible to talk to Joseph and say, Joseph, what was going through your mind at that time? I think at best Joseph would have said, I was hoping he let me out of prison, let me return to the land of the Hebrews.

[27:49] I think that's what Joseph wanted. He simply wanted to get out and return to his land. And I think Joseph would tell us that by this time, those dreams that he had that pointed to personal greatness, that he had long dismissed them or they were confusing to him and he was not holding them that one day I'm going to be great and my family is going to come and bow down to me.

[28:20] I think those dreams somehow were not to the forefront of his mind. I think Joseph had forgotten them practically, functionally, but God hadn't forgotten.

[28:37] God hadn't forgotten Joseph because God never forgets his people. Even when it looks like he has. God had to come to God and this was an important lesson to the children of Israel to whom Moses was writing the book of Genesis because at this point they had just come out of Egypt and they were going into the promised land and a journey that was supposed to take about 11 days was going to take them 40 years and they would have many troubles and many trials and there would be many times that they wonder has God abandoned us?

[29:19] Is God still with us? And brothers and sisters, this is an important lesson not just for that it was for them, but it's an important lesson for us as well.

[29:32] We need to remember that it doesn't matter what it looks like, it doesn't matter how many years might pass by, God never forgets his people.

[29:43] look again at Pharaoh's response to Joseph's interpretation and his proposal starting in verse 38.

[29:58] And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God? And Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are, you shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command, only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

[30:26] And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. Now, Pharaoh's reference to God does not mean that he believed in Joseph's God.

[30:38] It didn't mean that he believed in the true and the living God. It simply means that Pharaoh recognized that there was some divine being, there was something out of the ordinary with Joseph.

[30:54] Some divine being had to be with Joseph because the interpretation that he gave, the proposal that he gave, they were beyond human ability. That's all that means by Pharaoh's reference to God.

[31:07] Pharaoh just recognized something else is going on with you other than just mere human ability. And just like that, just like that, Joseph is elevated from prisoner in Egypt to prime minister over Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.

[31:29] Just like that. But if you remember the story as we are working our way through Genesis, what we see in Joseph's elevation by God is his transformation by God.

[31:46] The arrogant, pompous Joseph who flaunted his father's preferential treatment in his brother's faces, wearing the robe his father gave to him, telling on his brothers, this pompous Joseph had been humbled by God and transformed by God over the 13 years that he spent in Egypt as a slave and as a prisoner.

[32:13] And God who humbled him and God who transformed him is the God who elevated him. And God remembered Joseph because he never forgets his people.

[32:29] and it's encouraging to us as well to think that although Joseph from a distance could seem like just a wonderful person, he had his problems.

[32:42] And God was determined to use him and God was determined as well to transform him and to prepare him for the way that he was going to use him. And that required the trials that Joseph went through.

[32:56] That required the troubles that he experienced over those years. God remembered him because God never forgets his people.

[33:12] I have no way of knowing this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are those among us this morning who belong to Christ, but they still wonder based on the difficult circumstances they face if God has forgotten them.

[33:37] I wouldn't be surprised beyond the poker faces that we see, if behind that there are those who are questioning and wondering, has God forgotten me?

[33:56] and that's you this morning. I say that you hear the word of the Lord from this passage, hear the word of the Lord from the witness of Scripture, God never forgets his people.

[34:14] It doesn't matter how long it may be, it doesn't matter how dark it may seem, God never forgets his people. God is never wasting the time when it seems like he may have forgotten his people.

[34:30] God is working in his people. As we've been working our way through Genesis, I've said this more than once, I'll say it again this morning, and brothers and sisters, it is far more important at the end of the day what God is doing in us, how he's transforming us, than the things that he does for us in this life.

[34:55] Because the truth is, there's nothing in this life beyond salvation that God does for us that will last. You may get the greatest healing, but it is no guarantee against future sickness.

[35:12] You may get the greatest deliverance out of a dilemma, it is no guarantee that you will not face another one in this life. But that work that God is doing in us, that sanctifying work, that conforming us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, brothers and sisters, is enduring.

[35:30] And that is what God has committed himself to, committed himself to transforming us into the image of his son. And in his time and in his way, God will act on behalf of his people.

[35:51] So, weary brother, weary sister, hold on. Continue to look to God and trust in him. In his time and in his way, he will act on your behalf.

[36:05] He never forgets his people. But this passage about Joseph's elevation to prime minister in Egypt, is not only about the truth that God never forgets his people.

[36:23] It's also about the truth that God never forgets his promises. And this brings me to my second and final point. A very interesting feature of Joseph's life, again, is how he resisted becoming an Egyptian.

[36:48] He continued to worship Yahweh. He continued to serve the true and the living God, and he continued to stand out.

[37:01] This becomes pretty evident when we consider in verse 14, when Pharaoh sent for Joseph. On the recommendation of the cupbearer, he sends for Joseph, and Joseph does something that is easy to overlook.

[37:21] We're told that he shaved himself. In shaving himself, Joseph did something that only in that time Egyptian men did.

[37:35] Jewish men did not do that. Jewish men did not shave, but Egyptian men were clean shaven, their heads were shaved, their faces were shaved, but not Jewish men.

[37:47] Now, we don't know for certain if Joseph was ordered to shave, and that's why he shaved, or if he elected to shave on his own, but I think, based on his commitment to living as a Hebrew, it is more reasonable to conclude that Joseph didn't just voluntarily shave, but he was told at least you need to shave because you're going before Pharaoh.

[38:19] Whatever the case was, it was by divine design. Whatever it was, whether Joseph's voluntary decision to shave, or he was told to shave, it was by divine design, because in that moment, God began to prepare Joseph for a larger purpose than just being delivered out of prison.

[38:45] Again, I believe that Joseph would have wanted to be out of Egypt as fast as he could, but God had another purpose. God had something more than just deliverance out of prison and out of Egypt for Joseph.

[39:05] In verses 40 to 45, we read of all that Pharaoh did for Joseph when he made him prime minister. He gave him all the symbols and the trappings of authority.

[39:20] He took his own signet ring off of his finger and placed it on Joseph's finger, and that was the way that documents, for example, were authenticated and proven to be genuine.

[39:32] He was the one who was going to bear all the authority in Egypt. He was given the finest clothes, a gold chain. He rode in the second chariot to Pharaoh and his attendants would cry out, bow the knee.

[39:51] And Pharaoh even changed his name to an Egyptian name and gave him an Egyptian wife, a well-to-do woman, obviously, because she was the daughter of a priest, and priests were among the highest in the classes of Jewish society, of Egyptian society.

[40:12] And interestingly, Joseph is now over the cupbearer, and if Portipha was alive, he was over Portipha, and he was also over Portipha's wife.

[40:23] If they were alive, this would be, some 13 years later. But it was not Pharaoh who was elevating Joseph.

[40:38] It was not Pharaoh who was doing all of this to Joseph. God was elevating Joseph through Pharaoh. And why was he elevating Joseph through Pharaoh?

[40:51] God was elevating Joseph to fulfill his promises to his covenant people. In raising up Joseph, God was demonstrating that he had not forgotten his promises to Abraham, to whom he had given the promise that he was going to give him an abundance of offspring.

[41:12] And he was going to bless the whole world, all the nations through him. And hopefully you recall back in Genesis 15 that God told Abraham, your offspring are going to be sojourners in a foreign land for 400 years to be afflicted.

[41:33] And afterwards I'm going to judge that nation and I'm going to bring my people out with great possessions. But it turns out that that land was the land of Egypt, that land, that foreign land where Abraham's descendants would go as sojourners that was going to be the land of Egypt.

[41:53] And God's reason for taking them, when God spoke those words to Abraham, he was in the promised land. And God said to him, I'm going to take your offspring out of this land, I'm going to send them to a foreign land, and then I'm going to bring them back to this land.

[42:13] And the reason God took them out of the land, at first, he said that he wanted the wickedness of the people who lived in the land, the Amorites, to come to fullness, to be ripened, so that he would bring his judgment on them, and the judgment of God was to expel them out of the land.

[42:39] And the way that God brings his people, this promise that he gives to Abraham, that your offspring are going to go into a foreign land, the way that God brings it about, is through this famine.

[42:52] through this famine that God brings to pass. Not some random event that just happens and God says, oh, by the way, that's, no, this is what God orchestrated and God will see as we move into the other chapters that God brought about this famine and it's through this famine that Jacob and his whole family comes to Egypt.

[43:13] Because this is God's promise that he's given to them. Part of God's promise in fulfilling it is to get them out of the land so that the wickedness of the Amorites might be ripe and God brings judgment on them, then he can bring them back to the land.

[43:27] God used the famine to do this. You know the time that God was elevating Joseph over Egypt, about 200 years, 211 years had elapsed between that promise that God gave in Genesis 15 to Abraham, and now that he is going to bring that to pass, to bring them out of that land.

[43:55] It would be about seven years because they come to Egypt in like the second year of the famine. And about 200 years had elapsed between God giving Abraham that promise and now that promise beginning to be fulfilled where he's going to bring them out of the land.

[44:19] 200 years is a long time. It reminds us God keeps his promises. He doesn't forget his promises. And so God positioned Joseph as prime minister of Egypt to save his covenant people during the famine, which we're going to see in the coming chapters.

[44:42] And so Jacob and his whole family, they come to Egypt. And it is in Egypt that the dreams that Joseph had will be fulfilled because they will all come and they will bow before him as prime minister of Egypt.

[45:02] Again, I think Joseph had forgotten these childhood promises. And that's what his dreams were. His dreams were promises. These were not just passing things, random things. These dreams that Joseph had were promises that God had made.

[45:19] And God was going to keep these promises. But God's promises to Joseph were to serve his greater promise to Abraham back in Genesis 12 when he told Abraham, I'm going to bless all the nations through you.

[45:41] Brothers and sisters, God never forgets his people, and God never forgets his promises no matter how things look, no matter how much time passes by.

[45:57] As I conclude this morning, let me remind us that the primary way that God demonstrates that he remembers his people is not when he delivers us from some difficult circumstance.

[46:12] That's not the primary way that God demonstrates that he remembers his people. Because as I said, it's not permanent. Any deliverance from any circumstance that we face in life is not permanent.

[46:26] That's not the highest way that God demonstrates that he never forgets his people. people. The primary way that God demonstrates that he never forgets his people is by delivering them, not out of the difficulty of the circumstances, but out of the debt of sin that they faced by sending his son to this earth to die on the cross as their substitute for the forgiveness of sins that they might be reconciled to God.

[47:00] God remembered his people in that way. The highest expression, the highest demonstration of his remembrance.

[47:13] And the most important, the greatest demonstration that God keeps his promises is that he kept his very first promise that he's ever made, that we find in the pages of Scripture, that we find in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 when he said that one day the seed of the woman is going to come and crush the head of the serpent.

[47:40] And this first promise of the gospel was fulfilled in the virgin birth of Christ Christ. And in the death of Christ on the cross, and this was some 4,000 years after God made that promise to Adam and Eve as they stood before him, terrified by their sins.

[48:08] And he told them the seed of the woman will one day come and crush the head of the serpent. And 4,000 years later, God kept that promise. And this morning, brothers and sisters, I pray that we would all hope in this God, who has shown by sending his son to die as a sacrifice for sinners, that he both keeps his promises and that he never forgets his people.

[48:40] I pray we hear this this morning. One of the temptations for some of us this morning is if we don't find ourselves in a moment of trouble, much of what we hear can go through one ear and out of the next.

[48:59] Brothers and sisters, if we live long enough, we need to remember the truths of Genesis 41. God never forgets his people.

[49:12] God never forgets his promises. And so I encourage us, if you're not in the day of trouble, put it on the shelf of your soul. Because in the day of trouble, you'll need to pull it down.

[49:25] And you'll need to remember, though it is dark, though the night is long, though the circumstances are difficult, God hasn't forgotten me. God hasn't forgotten his promise.

[49:39] And what we could hold on to is looking back to the place where he demonstrated that he does both of those things, remembering his people and remembering his promises, and he did it in one place, in one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

[49:55] And that's where we need to look. And so rather now, on the days to come, may we remember these precious, precious promises that we have from God in his word.

[50:11] Let's pray. Father, thank you for your faithfulness to your people.

[50:29] Thank you that you never forget your people, and you never forget your promises, and you can hold on to these enduring truths.

[50:47] But once again, I pray that you would especially speak to the hearts of those who find themselves in the day of trouble. would you encourage them from your word?

[51:01] Would you help them, would you help us all to look to Jesus Christ for the wisdom that we need to navigate the day of trouble, and that your truth will not fall from our lips.

[51:16] We remember that you are God, who both remembers your people and your promises. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.