There's a real truth gap in our society today. People are willing to tell some of the truth, some of the time. This is a very serious problem. Consider, for instance, what we see in Joseph as we read Genesis 40. What if Joseph were like so many of our pastors of churches today? He might give the positive, rosy interpretation of the dream to both the cupbearer and the baker. After all, the Lord wants to redeem you. He wants to restore you to prosperity. He will restore you to political favor. This is the time of God's favor. This is your day, the day you move forward in victory.
Now I must shake myself and get the Joel Osteen out of my voice. All right, that worked. Ahem. That's all very good and well, but it is not true for everyone. The Lord has sovereignly appointed that the cupbearer will be restored to his position but the baker will not. While we proclaim Gospel and point out the favor of God in Christ, we also must point out the deadly, crushing weight of the Law. The soul who sins must die. The wages of sin is death. If we try to earn God's favor through our good works, no matter how hard we work, we will surely fail.
In our society there's altogether too much one-sided preaching. Either it's all Gospel with no contrasting Law or, worse yet, there's Law posing as Gospel. Joseph didn't fall into those traps. He told the truth. There's condemnation and there's blessing. We all earn the condemnation. God's good pleasure has been to bless all who believe on him despite that condemnation we have earned. Law and Gospel.
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