I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're going to
be talking about the ups and downs of life. Why
God allows them, how we are to navigate them.
And where we're at is in Genesis chapter 39,
we are returning to the story of Joseph after
our quick aside to the story of Judah in Genesis
38 and his moral collapse and restoration. But
while that story was playing out in Genesis 38,
we know that Joseph was far from home. He had
been shackled. stripped, betrayed by his brothers,
sold into slavery, and was being marched down
to Egypt with no human support, no family support,
and really no earthly hope because having been
sold into slavery, there was not a lot of hope
for his situation. Now Joseph is a guy who had
every reason to hate, every reason to distrust,
to become bitter and upset. He had every reason
to fantasize about revenge. None of us have done
that, right? Yeah, we've all had those moments
where we're like, ooh, if I could just get them
back, I would do this or that, right? Now, the
astonishing thing about Joseph's story is despite
his childhood and his teenage years and all that
had been done to him by his brothers, finding
himself now chained possibly to a wagon, possibly
carrying a heavy load as a slave, walking through
the dust, rising up through his chains, through
all of that, he chose to trust God. He chose
to not give in to the depression or the complaining
or just the victimhood. He chose to trust God.
And that's really the example, the story that
we're called to learn from here in this chapter.
You know, we had looked at in Genesis 37, Joseph
was a very young man, very naive in his faith.
He was 17 years old when he was betrayed by his
brothers. And although he knew God and had a
solid understanding of who God was, He was immature
in his life status. And so although he had this
really solid faith, it just needed more depth.
And that applies to all of us. You know, when
we get saved, regardless of the age we get saved,
we start out as what is called baby Christians,
right? And we sound like this to the angels in
heaven a lot. And that's what we are as baby
Christians. And then we grow and then we mature.
But the process of all of that is something God
takes us through in our lives. And that is every
good time, every up. and every difficult time
and every down. It's been said that deep faith
rarely grows in comfort, that it is something
that grows in hot water. Somebody once said that
Christians are like a tea bag where it's not
worth much. The flavor doesn't come out until
they've been in hot water. Genesis 39 is Joseph's
hot water. This is a moment where God is going
to grow his faith. temper his integrity, and
prepare him for the calling that God has on his
life later on, a calling that Joseph has no idea
of at this point. And so we're gonna be looking
at how he handles all of this, and it's gonna
be a great instruction to us on how to handle
our ups and downs, how to handle the times where
we feel like God is with us and everything is
wonderful, and then we... seemingly drop into
a pit, drop into a prison and wonder, where did
God go? Where did the blessings go? And the lesson
for us is that God is ever present with his kids
no matter where we are. That although our circumstances
may change in life, God never does. And that
is our hope. So let's pray and then we're going
to get into worship because we just love praising
the Lord. He is so worth it. He is so just, I
mean, gosh, when you just think of him, he's...
He's everything, and he's everywhere. I was in
New York last week for a few days and was visiting
Times Square like all the tourists do, and they
have all those gigantic LED screens on every
building, and I turned around to look at one,
and it said, Jesus is coming soon. And I was
like, praise God, you know. You know, I posted
that, and I said, New York, pay attention. So
let's pray, and I will get into it. Father, we
love you. We're so grateful for you and who you
are, Lord. You are so amazing and almighty. You
are holy and just and true. You are love and
light. And God, our world just needs to know
you because you are hope. And God, I just pray
today, Lord, as we've come together as your church,
as your people, that we would continue to be
people who live knowing that you are coming soon.
But more than that, God, we would be people who
live knowing that you are here with us now, that
you are ever present in our life, God, and Lord,
that we would learn as your children to be godly
people, to be godly children, Lord, in every
circumstance, God, that we wouldn't be swayed
by whether we're in the good times or the bad
times, but instead, Lord, we would live by the
truth that you are there with us. You are watching.
And that, Lord, although our circumstances do
change, you do not. And, Lord, although we are
growing through those circumstances, our convictions
and our ethics, Lord, that are based in you shouldn't
change either. And so, Lord, I pray that you
would speak to all of us this morning, that you
would bless all of us, Lord, with your presence,
with your truth, with your hope, and that, God,
you would bring healing and peace and joy, Lord,
in this season and in this place, Lord, from
your presence. God, we want to start by praising
you. We love you so much, and you are so worthy
of all of our praise, God. This is something
we will be doing in eternity forever, God, because,
Lord, there's not possibly enough praise that
we can lavish upon you. Again, God, we love you
so much, and we are so grateful to what you've
done in our lives. We look forward to what you're
going to be doing in our lives, and we look forward
to being with you again one day. We praise you.
It's in your name we pray. The name of Jesus.
Amen. We are in Genesis chapter 39, and we're
going to be continuing this story of Joseph.
And this story is picking up after his betrayal
by his brothers, and where he found himself chained.
He found himself sold into slavery and on his
way down to Egypt. Now you can imagine what he
may have been thinking at this time. We do know
from other scriptures that when his brothers
threw him down in a cistern, as they were contemplating
killing him or not killing him, he was crying
out. He was calling out to his brothers. And
I'm sure he was scared and all of these other
emotions that you might experience. And when
they lifted him out of the pit. I can imagine
he was like, oh man, this is great. Thank you
guys. And oh, I knew you loved me. And then they're
like, yeah, here, we're selling you into slavery.
Pretty traumatic situation for a young man there.
And so we pick up the story here in verse one
of Genesis 39. And it says, now Joseph had been
taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an
officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought
him there. So if you remember the caravan that
Joseph's brothers saw and sold him to was a caravan
of Ishmaelites. These are... descendants of Abraham,
but outside of the covenant. And so Joseph is
sent to them, taken down to Egypt, and then it
just gets right into it. He was sold to Potiphar,
this man. Now, you imagine if you're setting
the scene for Joseph and what he's experiencing
is he's grown up in a very kind of nomadic society,
living in tents, shepherding sheep and flocks,
and traveling from place to place. And so he
gets, you know, chained up to this wagon, if
you will, as they take him down. And Then he
comes into this prosperous place. He had never
been to Egypt. We know from archeology and stuff
that Egypt was a very prosperous, wealthy empire
in its time. very idolatrous culture, you know,
over the different eras of the Egyptian dynasties.
There was literally thousands of different gods
that they worshipped and their gods worked really
hard. And so when they were sleeping, the population
would have to do these daily rituals every morning
to wake their gods up from slumber. And so this
is the world that Joseph is being led into here,
a place where Pharaoh, who is the leader of Egypt,
was considered. divine himself. And again, just
you can imagine his arrival, you know, coming
into the very lush and green Nile River Valley.
You know, he had been living mostly in a desert,
arid region his whole life. And so there's all
this green around him now and all this massive
architecture that just would make someone feel
so small in its presence. And everybody's speaking
an unknown language to him. On top of that, he's
surrounded by these strange customs, the strange
dress, and just the overwhelming paganism. And
it's here in this world of just extravagance
and magnificence that he is then purchased by
this guy Potiphar. Now it tells us a little bit
about Potiphar that he was an officer of Pharaoh
and the captain of the guards. Those two things
indicate to us that he was a man of great wealth.
He was a man of great power and authority. A
man of great influence because he was not just
an officer in the government, but he was the
head of the guards. And when it says captain
of the guards, it's referring to the... the internal,
the Pharaoh's guards, right? The inner bodyguards,
if you will. And so he was a very, very influential
man. And I think those details are there just
to kind of give us the picture of where Joseph
landed, right? When he was in the bottom of the
cistern in Genesis chapter 37, we talked about
these cisterns are like kind of these big...
pots, if you will, pot -shaped holes that were
carved out of the stone to catch rainwater. And
so when his brothers tossed him in there, there
was no way out. There was no ladder, no rope,
no nothing like that. And I'm sure he was thinking
that. How am I going to get out of this place?
Brothers, please let me out. Please get me out
of here. I don't understand why you're doing
this. And then that rope came down and he's like,
aha, I'm out. I'm being set free. Boom, sold
into slavery. And then he now finds himself in
this place where he is a slave in the house of
the guy in charge of the bodyguard of the Pharaoh.
Talk about another situation where there is no
escape, right? Like if anybody had like the platinum
package alarm system in his house, it was this
guy Potiphar, right? He knew security. He knew
protection. It wasn't like it was a place where
slaves escaped from very regularly that he was
now in this very no way I'm getting out of this
situation. And for Joseph, it was just kind of
welcome to the rest of your life. And then we
get on to verse two. In the very, very next breath,
after setting that scene, it says the Lord was
with Joseph. That is the central lesson of this
entire chapter. The Lord was with Joseph. Now
that word Lord there, that's the word Yahweh
that we've talked about in previous Bible studies.
It's the name of God that refers to the close,
personal. relational God, right? Not the big,
massive, almighty creator of the universe God,
but the God who knows your name. who knows how
many hairs are on your head, who knows everything
about you, your likes, your dislikes, your personality.
He knows everything down to the very atoms that
make you up because he created you. That is who
Yahweh is, and that word Yahweh is always rendered
Lord, capital letters, in our Bibles. And so
this particular name of God is referenced eight
times in this chapter because, again, it is the
central theme of the story here in Joseph's life.
Now, as we're at the very beginning of Joseph's
life, as God is doing a work to mold and shape
him into the person he needs him to be for his
future calling, Yahweh is mentioned more times
in this chapter than it is in the entire story
of Joseph. And that tells us that it's an important
detail to pay attention to. Now, it should remind
us of a key truth. A truth that Joseph's life
illuminates for us is that Even though Joseph
couldn't see God, God was very much present.
God was there. God was with him. He's now in
this place where he has no family. There's no
Yahweh -worshiping community around him. In fact,
it's replaced with thousands of pagan gods. There's
no visible encouragement in the situation, but
Yahweh was with him. Yahweh was with him, actively
fulfilling his own covenant promises. And we
as God's people, we need to always remember that.
We go through ups and downs in life. And it doesn't
matter if you're in an up or a down. Yahweh is
with you. When you find yourself in a vulnerable
situation or a circumstance or something that
is painful or traumatic, you have to remember
that God is there. Every time you meet these
types of crossroads, you have two decisions.
Focus on your vulnerability, focus on how bad
it is, focus on what went wrong, or focus on
God's sovereignty. That God is sovereign, right?
We believe that as Christians. So when you hit
the dip, it's like, okay, God, you're sovereign.
You've allowed this to happen in my life. So
now, what am I supposed to do here in this circumstance?
What it is you want me to do and learn and to
grow and all that? Because many believers, if
we found ourselves sold into this type of situation,
slavery, and just in a new country, in a new
land, with a new language, and surrounded by
all this, we'd be like, this is unfair. The devil
is winning. If we were in the situation that
Joseph is described to us as a godly young man,
although he's naive and inexperienced, he's still
a godly young man, we'd be like, God, what are
you doing? But Joseph, his attitude seems to
be, and we're going to see this in the verses
coming up, that his attitude seems to be, God
is with me. And if God has allowed me to become
a slave in this man's house, Well, then I'm going
to be the best slave Egypt has ever seen. I'm
gonna work hard. I'm gonna hustle. I'm gonna
do all of this because he knew who it was he
worked for. He knew who he represented. And so
this posture that he adopts of surrendered excellence,
right? I'm in a bad situation. I have a bad boss
or whatever the situation is. I'm still gonna
have an excellent work ethic. I'm still gonna
work hard and be honest and trustworthy. posture
becomes the foundation of everything that God
does in his life. And so we continue in verse
two, the Lord was with him and he became a successful
man, serving in the household of his Egyptian
master. When his master saw that the Lord was
with him and that the Lord made everything he
did successful, Joseph found favor with his master
and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also
put him in charge of his household and placed
all that he owned under his authority. From the
time that he put him in charge of the household
and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the
Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The Lord's
blessing was on all that he owned in his house
and in his fields. He left all that he owned
under Joseph's authority and he did not concern
himself with anything except the food he ate.
So terrible situation. From the pit in the cistern
to slavery. Oh no. Sold into slavery in this
foreign pagan country. Oh no. But then Joseph
has great success. Why? It told us in the beginning
of the verse. For the Lord was with him. The
Lord was with him. His success wasn't just luck.
It was God's faithfulness in his life. And so
what we see here is Joseph, instead of complaining
and grumbling and lamenting his fate, instead
of arguing with God and blaming God, and we go
through all these emotions and it's natural,
what he lands on is, okay, this is where I'm
at. This is my circumstance. So I'm going to
serve. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to do
the right thing. It doesn't... tell us exactly
how Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him,
right? It just tells us that Potiphar saw the
Lord was with him and that everything he did
was successful. But we can speculate on what
that is, right? Gosh, I bought this Hebrew slave
and everything he does just works out great.
And he works so hard and, you know, man, he cleans
like nobody else and he works the fields like
nobody else. And Joseph, what's the deal? Speculatively,
well, I just, I serve the Lord. I'm here to serve
the Lord, and I want God to be pleased with what
I do, and I represent him and all that, and so
that's the answer. Well, I don't know about this
Lord thing. We got a thousand gods, but then
more success, more success, more good job, more
honesty, more, really, Joseph, what is it? I
told you already, it's the Lord, right? These
types of situations happen in our lives where
when we work hard, when we work the way we're
supposed to, when we conduct ourselves in godly
ways, those godly ways are very different than
the world's ways, and often the world will take
notice and ask, what is the deal? Why won't you
cheat on the time clock? Why won't you cheat
on the contract? Why don't you do that? And it
gives us an opportunity to be a witness of who
we serve. That by our words and our deeds, we
proclaim who the Lord is, and we proclaim who
those who claim to be the Lord's people are,
right? Not that we're perfect people, but we
have a witness when we're out there among the
world serving and working. Now, this in this
particular instance, it led to favor. Potiphar's
like, well, he's the only honest worker I got,
I'm guessing. Let me raise him up. I'm going
to make him my personal attendant because he
does a better job than everybody else. And then,
you know what? He's so honest and responsible.
I want you to handle everything in my entire
house. It's all yours. And it gives us that detail
that he didn't concern himself with anything
except the food he ate. What that's telling us
is that he didn't go check to see if the bank
account was still good. And he didn't check to
see if the time clocks were good and all that
thing. He was like, I trust. I don't have to
check up on him because he's such a trustworthy
individual. I just need to know when dinner time
is. That's it. That's a lot of authority. He
got favor, and that favor led to promotion, and
that promotion led to authority. And this can
happen in the life of a believer. Now we're gonna
see later in the story, the other can happen
too, but it's God doing the blessing here. God
is the one that is bringing all of this into
Joseph's life because we're gonna see later on
that bad things happen too and it's still the
Lord. That we always have to know that God is
the one who blesses, God is the one who gives,
and God is the one who takes away. But in this
circumstance here, his work ethic, his witness,
all of this stuff is being recognized by the
pagan world and he's getting blessed because
of it. Now, as Potiphar blessed Joseph, it then
says the Lord blessed Potiphar. That just echoes
what God told Abraham back in Genesis 12 .3 when
he said, I will bless those who bless you, right?
That's why as a church, we take a stance, we
support Israel. We support the Jewish people
and the Jewish nation because they are God's
people. We're not a church that believes in replacement
theology where the church has replaced the Jews
and God has just done with them forever. No,
that is not what the Bible teaches. Now, does
God chasten those he loves? Yeah. And is he disciplining
his people through things he's done throughout
history just as he disciplines the church? Yes.
But as a church, we support Israel. Primarily
because of these words that God said. Those who
bless Israel, I will bless. It doesn't mean we
agree with everything. It doesn't mean that they're
perfect people. That's God's business. And so
Joseph here, his integrity, who he is as a godly
person is causing blessing to spill out on those
who are blessing him. And that's often how it
works. Now wherever you find yourself in life
today, even if you're in a place where you feel
like you've taken a step backwards, The idea
here is that we are called to work unto the Lord.
That's what the Bible tells us. To work, no matter
what we're doing, where we're at, as if God is
our boss. So when we're going to cheat on the
time clock, it's the Lord you're robbing. If
you're going to cheat on that contract, you're
going to cut corners, it's the Lord you're doing
that to. Or for. And so, God, you're my boss.
I want you to be pleased with me. I want to be
faithful. I want to be honest. I want to have
integrity in everything. And just because God
has said, great, I'm going to place you here
under this really wicked boss, doesn't then give
us the right, the license to say, well, then
I don't have to be honest. I don't have to be
responsible anymore. And so this is what Joseph
has done here. He's like, this is where God has
placed me. I'm still a believer, so I'm still
going to work as a believer here in this place.
And, you know, if you push a broom, be the best
broom pusher in your company. If your job is
to dig holes, well, guess what? Be the best.
Be the most trustworthy, the most faithful, the
most honorable, whatever it is, wherever God
has you. Because when we do those types of things,
which are often different than the worldly people
around us, other people will notice. And they'll
notice that integrity, and they can notice that
joy, and they can notice that excellence for
God's glory, and then guess what? Sometimes they'll
ask about it. And then what a great witnessing
opportunity that can become. But this is also
the kind of life that draws the attention of
the enemy. That if you're a person who has decided
and said, I'm gonna live with integrity, and
I'm gonna live with purity and faithfulness and
purpose, you can expect the enemy to attack.
And one of the ways the enemy attacks us It's
by crafting temptations that are tailored to
you. Did you know the devil knows you? He's been
studying you for a long time. And he knows your
buttons and he knows your weak points. And temptations
are often tailored just for you. Like all of
us are, we struggle with temptation with different
things in different ways. Right, and so here
with Joseph, we're gonna see how this temptation
that comes to Joseph is tailored to him and his
experiences in his life. And so verse six, it
says, now Joseph was well built and handsome.
He's a good looking dude. Physically, appealing
to the eye, right? He's just handsome. He's what
the ladies would like. You know, that's the words
that are being used here. Verse seven, it says,
after some time, his master's wife looked longingly
at Joseph and said, sleep with me. But he refused.
Look, he said to his master's wife, with me here,
my master does not concern himself with anything
in this house. And he has put all that he owns
under my authority. No one in this house is greater
than I am. And that wasn't a boastful thing.
He was talking about in a position of authority
and decision making. He's like, I'm number two
to Potiphar who is the master of this house.
He has withheld nothing from me except you because
you are his wife. So how could I do this immense
evil and how could I sin against God? Although
she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused
to go to bed with her. So again, Joseph has gone
from the pit, the cistern, and now he's in the
penthouse. And now he has the greatest authority
running this very wealthy man's house. Authority,
influence, all has been given to him. But obviously,
yeah, the man's wife doesn't belong to him. She's
off limits. But then she comes and she starts
to proposition him. Now again, when we put ourselves
in Joseph's place, being in this pagan country,
there's a lot of opportunity for him to give
in and justify that. For one, there's no other
believers there, so there's no one to hold him
accountable. Nobody's watching. Nobody back home
is going to know if he did this wrong thing.
Potiphar's wife. She was obviously used to getting
what she wanted, and that kind of explains her
brazenness. Sleep with me, right? You're just
one of the slaves, so do what I'm telling you
to do. And she just fixates on him, and he had
all opportunity. He could have just given in,
and who knows if she'd done this before. I kind
of think she did with how brazen she is with
this. And like I said, nobody would know. If
you think of his experiences in his family that
he had been neglected in his family. He was the
youngest brother. His other brothers didn't want
him around. They didn't like him. They grew to
hate him. So he had been a cast off, sold into
slavery, unwanted. And now this very powerful
woman wants him. That's tempting, especially
for guys. It was culturally acceptable. Slaves
in those days as they were just property. The
masters can do whatever they wanted with them,
including sexually exploit them. So he wouldn't
be doing anything wrong culturally if he gave
in. And then, I mean, it could be very advantageous
to his career. Because like Potiphar was a very
powerful and influential man, she was also likely
influential among the, you know, the elite of
the society there. And, you know, it could have
been very good for his job if he gave in to this.
And it could have been, you know, Good for him
in that way, but I mean, when we look at Joseph,
he had every human reason to give in to this
temptation. He had every human reason to just
say, sure, I'll get away with it, whatever. But
he refused. He said no, and why? It's because
he had convictions that were woven into his very
nature. convictions that were born of his relationship
with God and his understanding of who God was
and what he wanted. He had, one, ethical convictions,
right? God's word is the manual of what is right
and what is wrong. It is. If you want to know
right and wrong, read God's word. If you want
to know what is good and what is bad, read God's
word. Why do so many Christians in today's world
get mixed up and confused on ethical considerations
regarding things like LGBTQ and gay marriage
and issues of our day? And they go, well, no,
it's got to be okay because God is love. The
reason they will come to conclusions that are
contrary to God's word is because they don't
read it. They don't know. And so people will
play emotions and go, well, you know. We know
right from wrong by studying God's word. That's
why we here at Hosanna, we go verse by verse
from Genesis to Revelation. And even if it's
gonna take us 450 years to do that, we're gonna
get there, right? Because we wanna study all
of God's word that we know God's character, that
we know God's will, we know the principles that
are the basis of making decisions on what is
right and what is wrong, and he had that conviction.
Now, his ethical conviction was this is just
wrong. Potiphar trusts me. He's my boss. He trusts
me so much he's given me authority over his whole
household. To violate that trust is just plain
wrong. And he knew that. He's like, I can't do
that. That would be so bad to do that. And, you
know, we have people in our lives that count
on our faithfulness. Don't let them down, right?
If you're married, you're counting on your spouse's
faithfulness, and they're counting on your faithfulness.
Don't violate these things. It's wrong. You're
employed. Your employer is counting on your faithfulness.
They're hoping you're honest, and they're hoping
you're trustworthy. Be that, because it's a part
of your witness. Now, he also had spiritual devotion,
right? How could I sin against God and do this
immense evil? It was just like, it was boggling
to him. Like, how is that even a possibility
you could think of? And this really was the pinnacle
of his refusal. No one would know. No one would
say it is wrong. No one would be there to say,
hey, you did a bad thing, right? God was. God
was there. God was watching. God was present.
You see, this reality, this truth, this understanding
of fear of the Lord, it's meant to give us an
awareness, a conscious awareness of the presence
of God in our lives. Proverbs 8 .13 says, to
fear the Lord is to hate evil. Fear is that idea
of I respect you, God. I revere you. You are
so holy. How could I sin against you knowing
you're here watching? For those that struggle
with pornography, right? Pornography is such
a pervasive sin because there's such secrecy
to it, right? You're on your phone. You're hidden
in the bathroom or your office or you're on the,
nobody can see and oh, it's, oh man. And I'll
confess, I've struggled with that in my life
too. And one of the things that has helped build
that barrier is one, knowing God is present.
And I don't just mean like, oh, God is here.
That literally when the temptation presents itself,
you drive down the street and there's a billboard
and I want to keep looking when I shouldn't be.
The habit is I'll turn to the empty seat next
to me and I go, God, should I look at that? Right?
It just brings a reality to the situation that
he's there watching me. And then I could just
imagine my head, him going, no. And then I'm
like, now I feel guilty because if I glance back
up, I'm like, oh, he's staring right at me. Now
God is everywhere. But if that helps you do that,
should I click on that? Turn, I mean, literally,
physically turn. That's just something God has
used in my life to help me go, no, you're here,
you're watching, you're present. How can I do
this? And then the understanding that when we
sin, it's ultimately against the God who loves
us and died for us. Psalm 51 .4 says, against
you, you alone I have sinned and done this evil
in your sight. Yes, we hurt people, but these
secret sins that we think, oh, I'm not hurting
anybody, they hurt the Lord. They grieve his
heart. And so I believe Joseph had this awareness.
God's here. How can I do this? Are you crazy,
lady? But she persisted. She wouldn't give up,
and neither does the devil. Neither does the
devil. Her first proposition was direct and bold,
right? Sleep with me. It's kind of like a command.
Slave, sleep with me. And he's like, uh -uh.
And she's like, well? And it says then, she spoke
to him day after day. That word spoke there in
the Hebrew is kind of implying the pleading,
the coercing. Come on, Joseph. You know you want
to. No one's going to know, right? It implies
that kind of day after day after day after day.
She would see him. She would make comments. She
would drop hints. I mean, total sexual harassment,
right? But no laws in this day. And so she was
just like on and on and on. And he kept saying
no and kept saying no. And then it says that
he refused to go to bed with her. In the Hebrew,
it literally reads this way. He did not listen
to her to lie beside her or to be with her. What
that means is he refused persistently in the
conversation and the flirting and the comments,
but then he also did everything he could to not
be around her. Very good tactic in dealing with
temptation. Right? Some of us, we fall into this
thought that we're strong enough to resist temptation.
on our own, and so we'll sit right next to temptation,
and we'll have a conversation with temptation.
Hey, temptation, yeah, I'm not gonna give in,
because I'm strong, you know, yeah, enough. And
temptation's like, sure, let's just keep talking,
because I'll wear you down. No, you won't. Our
eyes and our ears are like windows. They're like
city gates, and we're to close them to impurity.
Not let sin stand at the gate and have a conversation
with it or a negotiation. Close the gates. Don't
let it in. Don't negotiate with sin. Don't hang
out near it. Don't look. Don't even entertain
the temptation. It's going to wear you down.
You will give in. I think the biggest lie of
the devil is you're strong enough to resist.
You won't give in. You've been a Christian for
how long? You read your Bible how many times
this week? You went to church? Oh, yeah, no,
you're fine. And the devil will whisper that
into your ear all day long and make us think,
yeah, I'm good. And it will trickle all the way
down to things where we'll lie to ourselves and
tell ourselves, oh, I just don't have a conviction
about that. And then deep down inside, you're
like, no, I really do, and I just kind of like
watching it. seeing it, listening to it, whatever
it may be. I'm strong enough to resist. No, you
are not. Well, God is with me. I belong to the
Lord. Yes, you do. And you know what he was saying
to you and is saying to you? Get out. Run. Flee.
Get away. Make distance. Refuse and make distance
because you're going to fall if you stay close.
And that's incidentally what happens right here
in verse 11. Now one day he went into the house
to do his work and none of the household servants
were there. That's the dun -dun -dun moment,
right? Where'd all the servants go? She grabbed
him by his garment and said, sleep with me. But
leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and
ran outside. When she saw that he had left his
garment with her and ran outside, she called
to her household servants. Look, she said to
them, my husband brought a Hebrew man to make
fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep
with me and I screamed as loud as I could. And
I'm thinking everybody's like, yeah, but we heard
sleep with me in a female voice. That's what
we heard screamed. I don't know. But verse 15,
when he heard me screaming for help, he left
his garment beside me and ran outside. She put
Joseph's garment beside her until his master
came home. Then she told him the same story.
The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make
a fool of me. But when I screamed for help, he
left his garment beside me and ran outside. When
his master heard the story his wife told him,
these are the things your slave did to me, he
was furious and had him thrown into prison where
the king's prisoners were confined. So Joseph
was there in prison. Right, a lot of details
here that are suspicious. You know, one day there's
no servants around. Where'd all the servants
go? Did she perhaps, because it says they were
her servants, send them away? Speculatively,
I think she did. But then she grabs him and she
demands him sleep with her. And so it goes from
this just kind of. Come on, sleep with me, slave.
No. Come on, come on, come on, come on. No. To
now she's physically aggressive, trying to restrain
him and force him into the sin. And he did exactly
what we should all do when sin gets aggressive.
Run. Oh, but that jacket cost me so much money.
Run. Run. Flee. Everybody say that. Run. What
do you do when sin comes? What do you do when
the temptation comes? Right, you see how I got
a little less enthusiastic as we went on? Run,
I know. We run, we flee. We don't stop, we don't
talk, we don't negotiate. We get out of there
because it's better to lose your coat than to
lose your character. It's better to lose your
position than your integrity. It's better to
lose that job, that contract, that business deal
than it is to lose your reputation. As a godly
individual. So she's humiliated. She makes up
this lie. She calls back her servants. And it's
interesting. She starts with playing the race
card. Nothing's new, people. Nothing is new.
This Hebrew man that my husband brought in. Like
Hebrew man had this reputation or something.
And that's what. sinful humanity does. We try
and find the difference in somebody and pin a
racial cause to them doing evil. All those Hebrews
are this, and in our day it's all blacks do this,
or whites do this, and it's just down the line.
Sin is pervasive and affects every person, regardless
of the color of their skin. Now, she Blames this
on this. She blames it on her husband. She alters
the details. And then, of course, her husband
gets home. She says the same story, and he gets
mad, rightfully so. If you're married, and you
had someone working in the house, and you get
home, and your spouse tells you, oh, they tried
to seduce me. You're like, what? How dare they?
And this is an anger here that is rightfully
placed even though it's based on a lie. He's
rightfully upset that something may have been
done to his wife. And so it tells us that he
throws Joseph into prison. Now that's an interesting
detail here because the penalty for attempted
rape in this culture as we understand it historically
was the death penalty. Now Potiphar being the
official captain of the guard, he likely had
the authority to right there on the spot have
Joseph executed. And would have been completely
justified in his culture and society by doing
so. But he doesn't. And that's an interesting
detail here. He throws him into prison. Now,
it's not just any prison. It says this is where
the king's prisoners were held. So this was the
special prison for the special political dissidents
and those who came against Pharaoh and all that.
So you might call this the high security prison.
And so now you have Joseph who is in the cistern
going, there's no way I'm getting out of this.
And then gets sold to Potiphar and goes, wow,
there's no way I'm getting out of this. And now
finds himself in the king's prison. Wow, there's
no way I'm getting out of this. And that's how
we can sometimes think as God moves us through
these situations in our life. Now, yeah, it's
interesting that Joseph wasn't executed. It doesn't
tell us why. I just personally think that it's
because two reasons. Potiphar knew Joseph's character.
He had worked with him for a while at this point.
This was the guy that was so honest and had such
high integrity that he raised him up to oversee
everything. I don't even check the bank. I trust
him so much. And then this audacious story and
accusation comes from his wife. I personally
think that although Potiphar was mad, there was
this doubt in his heart. And I think the other
reason is that if this was the first time she
did this, it's highly likely this wasn't the
first time she did this. And he knew his wife's
character too. Prison was a mercy that would
allow Potiphar to maintain his outward dignity,
right? That everybody would see that he took
it serious while still addressing potential inward
doubts that he had about whether this was true
or not. Now, earlier we looked at Joseph and
we're like, oh wow, you know, your godly heart,
work hard, godly work ethic and stuff and look
all the success he had and look how God raised
him up and he got promoted and all this stuff
and yeah, but sometimes righteousness will cost
you. Sometimes doing and saying the right thing,
doesn't lead to the promotion and doesn't lead
to that, it leads to the prison. But that prison
may be the exact place God needs you to be for
what's next in his plan for your life. So Joseph
has now risen from the pit to the penthouse,
back down into prison. Now, Egyptian dungeons
were historically dark, unsanitary. Just very
terrible places to be. And Psalms 105 gives us
a little glimpse into what his conditions were
there, lest anybody think, oh no, that was the
king's prison. That was the one where they had
cushy beds and they had internet and TV. This
is what it says in Psalm 105, verse 17. He had
sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, so we know
it's Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt
his feet with shackles and his neck was put in
an iron collar. So it wasn't a comfortable experience
for him, and we might go, God, why would you
allow this? Why? I mean, he had this terrible
life, and his brothers mistreated him, and all
this stuff, and then you raised him up, and yes,
he's a slave, but wow, all this authority and
respect, and yay, God is blessing him, and then
you let him fall into this prison. Lord, why
would you do that? And those are the questions
we ask. Verse 19 in Psalm 105 gives us the answer.
Until the time of his prediction came true, the
word of the Lord tested him. Why did God allow
Joseph to go from the penthouse now down to the
prison? Because the word of the Lord was testing
him. And that word tested means to refine, to
purify, to make stronger. It wasn't that God
was going, well, let's see if Joseph passes this
test. That's not the idea here. The idea is God
knew who Joseph was, God knew Joseph's heart,
and God was needed to refine him. There was a
calling on Joseph's life that God was going to
use him for. But at this point in time in Joseph's
life, he wasn't mature enough, strong enough,
to deal with what was going to happen in this
next phase. So God had to refine him through
this. You see, Joseph apparently had the faith
and the maturity to handle the temptations in
Potiphar's house, and we saw that, that he handled
them rightly and accurately. But what's coming
next, you see, what's coming next for Joseph
is he's going to be number two, not in someone's
house, number two in the entire kingdom, the
entire nation of Egypt. He's going to be over
everything in Egypt the way he was over everything
in Potiphar's house, but he wasn't yet able to
handle the temptations that would come with that.
And so God let him go from the penthouse where
he learned how to be faithful in managing what
is given to him. He let him go from that to prison
so that he could continue to refine him, refine
his character, refine who he was and how he would
respond to situations. Verse 21, but the Lord
was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.
He granted him favor with the prison warden.
The warden put all the prisoners who were in
the prison under Joseph's authority and he was
responsible for everything that was done there.
The warden did not bother with anything under
Joseph's authority because the Lord was with
him and the Lord made everything that he did
successful. Sound familiar? Right? Didn't he
just go through this circumstance and the same
things happened? Yeah, instead of depression
and anger and temper tantrum, Joseph shines brighter
here in the prison than he has anywhere else
yet. He's just a light of the Lord. And why?
It tells us the Lord was with him. That the truth
was is regardless whether Joseph could see the
Lord or was conscious of he's here, and I believe
he was conscious of that, the reality was the
Lord was with him. And because the Lord was with
him now in the prison, Joseph continued to be
responsible and trustworthy and faithful and
honest. He continued to work as unto the Lord
even though he was now in the prison. And all
of that combined, God's presence granted him
favor with the warden who then promoted him and
gave him leadership opportunity. And again, yeah,
it looks exactly like what happened in Potiphar's
house. Favor, success, promotion, authority,
same results, different circumstance. Why? Because
the same God that was with him in the cistern,
that was with him in Potiphar's house, was with
him in prison. And Joseph knew that as a child
of God, The expectations of him as a child of
God were the same when he was in the cistern,
were the same when he was in the penthouse, and
are the same now that he's in prison. Circumstances
didn't change who he was. Circumstances didn't
change how he acted, and we call that character.
Character is foundational. Character is critical.
Character is who you are despite the circumstances.
And I believe Joseph never stopped believing
this one important truth. God is with me. God
is watching. God is here now. And so whether
it was in the pit or the penthouse, whether it
was during seduction and temptation, whether
it was in the midst of lies and injustice and
iron collars, Joseph conducted himself the same
because his God was the same. Even though his
circumstances were different. And it was like,
again, like he saw his circumstances as just
a new ministry opportunity. Right? He gets to
Egypt. There's all this stuff. And he's like,
well, I guess I'm a slave now. I'm going to be
the best slave Egypt has ever seen. Then he gets
lied about and thrown into prison. Oh, man. Joseph's
response, well, I guess I have a prison ministry
now. And that's the response God wants from our
heart. God, you're with me. The circumstances
may have changed, but circumstances do not determine
your faithfulness. God's presence determines
your faithfulness. And so when you're in the
high, this is like, oh, this is awesome, this
is cushy, this is great. It doesn't mean temptation
ain't gonna come. In fact, it might come even
stronger there. But who you are as a child of
God is what's gonna make the difference. And
then, boom, crashing down into the prison. Well,
God is still God, and he's still with me, and
I'm still his child, so I'm still gonna be the
same person. I'm not gonna change my attitude.
I'm not gonna change my heart. I'm gonna just
be who God has called me to be. Now, Joseph's
life, it offers us all kinds of practical and
urgent instructions, right? Recapping here, one.
Run from sin. Don't walk from sin. Don't talk
with sin. When temptation chases you, don't stroll.
Sprint. Sprint. Run for your life. You know,
the devil uses this type of ideas of getting
away from bad things numerous times, like when
it comes to debt. Proverbs says, And I forget
the exact wording, but it says you run from debt
the way the gazelle runs from the cheetah. Right?
You ever seen a gazelle run from a cheetah? It's
not like, hey, what's up, cheetah? You know?
They don't run alongside together. How was your
day? Great. Oh, was Starbucks busy? No. That
gazelle's like, I'm out of here. And so you think
of that same thing with sin. And the cheetah
is sin and it's trying to get you and eat you
and destroy you. And you run with everything
you got. Run to the Savior. Because he's the
only one that can keep you and hold you and give
you the strength. You run to him. You don't run
from sin and try and stand on your own strength
because you will fall. If you guys have ever
read Pilgrim's Progress. There's this point in
that story as the guy's going through his journey
to salvation and to the Lord, he puts his fingers
in his ears and he cries out, life, life, eternal
life. Plug your ears to the whispers of sin and
temptation and it's Jesus, it's Jesus, you're
all I need. Don't focus on what you've lost.
You know, if God's taken you from the penthouse
situation and dropped you in what is the prison
situation, don't focus on the circumstance. Focus
on who is with you. Because when the story of
your life reads, and then this terrible thing
happened, God loves to come right into the next
sentence and say, but the Lord was with you.
And the Lord was there. He loves to do that.
Like Joseph, I would say cherish the fear of
the Lord. Cherish it. The greatest deterrent
to sin, as I said, is living in constant awareness
of his presence because he's right there with
you always. And then see every season of life
as an assignment from Jesus. Are you in the pit?
Are you in the penthouse? Are you in the prison?
All that matters is his presence. All that matters
is who is with you because it's the same God
with the same presence and the same purpose and
the same calling on your life to look to him,
to follow him, to obey him. And he'll take care
of all the other details. In Joseph's life with
all of these twists and injustices and temptations
and all of it, he knew that truth. And I think
it's that truth that allowed him to not become
bitter. I mean, he refused bitterness. He resisted
temptation and he endured injustice. He rose
up in every environment he was in. Why? Because
it wasn't the environment that mattered. It was
who he was and who his God was that made all
the difference. And so, you know, All of us as
believers, as Christians, it's the same for us.
It is the same for us. Circumstances change,
but God does not. And neither does what he calls
us to do. So run from sin and run to him and
live in whatever circumstance you find yourself
today. Say, this is the assignment God has given
me today. And then live like someone who knows
that God is right there looking at you. You want
me to help? I'll help. I'm right here. You ask
me if you should do that bad thing? Don't do
it. And watch what God does in your life, right?
Now, the story of Joseph, as I've mentioned before,
it's one that ultimately points to Jesus. He
is a type of Jesus in the Old Testament, and
everything that he's gone through, we see these
parallels to who Jesus Christ is, you know, him
being betrayed and sold. happened to Jesus. Joseph
forgave his brothers. Jesus forgives his executioners.
Joseph becomes a savior to his family and people
as the number two in the kingdom. And Jesus is
the one who becomes a savior of the world. But
as we come to communion, to celebrate communion,
you know, we do this in remembrance of him. Jesus
said, do this in remembrance of me. And, you
know, all scripture is to point us back to Jesus
and who he is. But specifically, the lesson today
That God is with him. That the Lord was with
him. I want to share this announcement from the
birth of Christ in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21.
This is what the angel said when he was announcing
the birth of Jesus. He said, she will give birth
to a son and you are to name him Jesus. So they
were told very specifically what his name was
going to be. Because he will save his people
from their sins. Now all of this took place to
fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet. See, the virgin will become pregnant,
give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,
which is translated, God is with us. Did you
catch all that? The name Jesus means Yahweh is
salvation. Or Yahweh saves. And you might hear
it as God saves, right? But specifically, Jesus
means Yahweh is salvation. Who is the one that
was with Joseph through this entire story? The
Lord was with him. Yahweh was with him. So the
God who was with Joseph in Egypt is the same
God who is with you today in your pit or your
penthouse or your prison, whatever it may be.
The same God. Jesus' last words to his disciples
in Matthew was, I am with you always. Low even
to the end of the age. Joseph had Yahweh with
him. We have Yahweh with us. We have something
that's even a little bit better is that God lives
within us in the Holy Spirit. Communion is about
reminding us of this truth. That because of what
Jesus did on the cross for us and our faith in
what he did on the cross for us, And our faith
in the fact that he was in the grave for three
days and rose again. That he is with us now and
forever. That he is with us in every circumstance.
That is what communion reminds us of. And so
as we are here to partake together, it's a reminder
that the God who sustained Joseph is the God
who promised you and me that I will never leave
you nor forsake you. So if you came into church
this morning and you've been wrestling because
you're in the prison right now, God, what happened?
There was such blessing and I don't understand.
Know this, God is still with you. And whatever
is next in your life, God needs you in that prison
right now to prepare you for what's next in your
life. If God has you in the penthouse, don't
forget about the Lord. You need him just as much.
As you did when you were in the pit. So work
unto the Lord. Be the godly person he's called
you to be. And remember, he is with me in whatever
circumstance I'm in. Why? Because he came to
this earth and he lived a perfect life and he
died in your place. And through faith, through
your belief that he died for you and paid the
price for your sins, that you have a restored
relationship with God and that he is with you
forever. In every circumstance. And so as we
partake in a moment, as I call up the communion
team, we're doing this all in remembrance of
Jesus, who is Yahweh, who saves. We are doing
this in remembrance that he is also Emmanuel,
God with us, and that he is present right here,
right now, in this place. That truth is so critical
and transformative. We need to remind ourselves
every day that he's with us. In your hurt right
now, he's with you. And there's a reason he's
allowing you to go through it to mold you and
to shape you and refine you. In your success
today, he's with you. In your trauma, he's with
you. In the tragedy, he's with you. Don't forget
that. In the marital problems, he's with you
and he's with your spouse. In the hurt of loss
of loved ones and maybe you're facing a Christmas
season for the first time without them, he's
with you. Maybe there's still family drama going
on. And you're like, I don't know how this is
gonna resolve itself and we're supposed to have
Christmas in a few weeks. God's with you. He's
with every single one of us and we wanna remember
that this morning as we remember his death and
all that that made possible for us in him. Father,
we thank you. We trust you, Lord, for everything,
in every circumstance, Lord. Help us, God, to
remember all that you've done for us. Lord, that
we would be people that can thank you that your
presence is not conditional or seasonal or circumstantial.
Instead, your presence is secured forever by
the cross. And it was you who secured it. You
who went as a lamb to the slaughter. You who
even had a moment in the garden, Lord, where
you were like, if there's any other way. yet
I will submit myself to the circumstances that
my Father is leading me to. God, we need that
strength. We want that strength. And Lord, we
know it's from your presence. Help us to be ever
mindful. Help us to be ever aware. And help us,
Lord, to glorify you in the world around us as
we understand that this whole life is but a vapor.
And that while we're here, Lord, we're to work
hard, we're to work as unto you, we're to be
a witness to the world around us. But at the
end of the day, whether we're in the pit or the
penthouse or the prison, God, what is most important
is you. We love you. We thank you. It's in Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.