As we continue the story of Joseph, we mark the fact that God was with Joseph in slavery and in prison, and not because of anything in Joseph.
Springfield Baptist Church
September 22nd 2024 - Pastor James Tyler - Genesis 39 - "God Was With Joseph"
Genesis 39, beginning at verse one, says, "Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and potted for an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, and Egyptian had bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw the Lord was with him, and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands." So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and made him overseer of his house, and put him, I'm sorry, he made him overseer of his house, and put him in charge of all he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field, so that he left all he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Last week we looked at Genesis 37 and saw how it came to pass that Joseph winds up in Egypt, and the reason that we did that is because I'm preaching, hopefully, if the Lord grants us the days, preaching a series on the book of Exodus, and one of the things that I really regret about the pastors that I had growing up is, it seemed like they always assumed I understood the history of the Bible rather than actually take the time to teach it to me, and I was too lazy as a young man to take the time to read it and comprehend it, partly because half what's in the book of Genesis isn't even chronological, so you're reading about somebody and they die, and then two chapters later there's a story about it, it's confusing, it's hard to really track what's going on, so at some point in my late 20s I finally sat down and sorted all that out for myself as best I could with my Bible in front of me, and I taught a Wednesday night service years and years and years ago where I laid out the timeline from the call of Abraham to the birth of Jesus Christ, and I did it in about eight or nine minutes, it was very bullet point, very bam bam bam, and almost every person under the age of 60 came up to me afterwards and said thank you, that's the first time anybody's ever done that for me, I didn't know half of that order, and I'm like one either did I, so if you already do because you're not lazy like I was, I'm sorry to drag you through this, if you've heard the story of how the Jews came to be in Egypt a thousand times and don't need to hear it again, congratulations, the rest of us will benefit I think from a little bit of a history lesson, so I'm starting in Genesis 37 because the alternative is to start in Genesis 1-1 and likely never make it to Exodus, so I thought this is a good launching off point as any, what we saw was Joseph, my opinion, the Bible doesn't expressly say this but my opinion is Joseph, not a great guy, not a 17 year old I would have wanted to hang around as a 17 year old, he rats out his brothers, he's constantly bragging about his dreams that he has where everybody's bowing down and worshiping him, he doesn't seem to be able to read the room, like if you know that people don't like you, probably the thing to do is not boast to them about how amazing you are, that's not going to help, so he's always inflaming their passions against him, not that what they did was right, not that it's any excuse for planning to murder and then just kind of at the last minute deciding to sell him into slavery instead, but you can kind of appreciate where his brothers are coming from if you've ever been in a situation where somebody was favorited at your expense, and Joseph clearly rubs it in a couple of different times and at one point Jacob's father even rebukes him for it, like oh really your mom and I are going to bow down and you're going to rule over us too, Joseph okay, he ends up being sold to these minionite traitors, T-R-A-D-E-R-S, who take him into Egypt and sell him to Potiphar, now it goes without saying, so I didn't say it, but what a curious thing that all you have to do is overpower somebody, get them 150 or 200 miles away from their home and you're going to act like they're your property and sell them. What, where was the deed to Joseph that the minionite traitors showed to prove that he belonged to them, that gave Potiphar the right to purchase him? This is such a foregone conclusion, like we just read it, we're like yep and he got sold into slavery, yeah well that happens. Well it shouldn't, but here we are, so he becomes the property of this man in charge of Pharaoh's guards and then for the first time in this narrative God shows up, oh and if you're wondering why I skipped 38 it's just a bunch of sex drugs and rock and roll and if I were making the case for Jesus lineage from a human perspective we would definitely study Genesis 38 but it doesn't really lend itself to the narrative that I'm focused on. All right so for the first time in our in our story God shows up in verse two it says the Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. So what would it, what would induce God to be with Joseph? What about Joseph moved God to want to be with him that we've heard so far? Other than if you're a Disney kid you assume that God's with him simply because of his plight, right? Anybody that's this oppressed and put upon and sold into slavery clearly they're the the protagonist in the story. No way that Joseph's not a man worthy of God being with him except I would point out nothing that we've heard about Joseph so far makes him particularly likeable or particularly excellent or commends him to God as some kind of a paragon of righteousness. He's not so why would God chose choose rather to be with him? Well you'll have to think about that I don't actually know the answer. Verse three says his master saw the Lord was with him and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hand so Potiphar is not an idiot. He need to text pretty quickly that whatever Joseph touches is like it just works. He's one of those people that everything he does just works and I've met these people in my 44 years on the earth and I've also wanted to sell them into slavery because a lot of the things that I do don't work and I'm like if they did the exact same thing that I just did it would work for them and it's not working for me and it's kind of a frustrating way to live life but Potiphar who's wise and now apparently owns Joseph is like well let's have him touch as many things as possible because everything that he puts his hand to succeeds. That's smart. Let's just shrewd business dealings on Potiphar's part. I would point out that the reason that everything Joseph touches works is because the Lord is with him. I would also point out that nothing about Joseph has compelled the Lord to be with him. So the Lord chose graciously to be with Joseph. Joseph begins to benefit from the presence and guidance and wisdom of God and begins to profit and the enjoyment of that blessing proceeds from Joseph who is at least conscious of the existence of God to Potiphar who most certainly worshiped Ra the sun God. So he's deriving benefit from Joseph's relationship with the God of all the universe so it should be for every Christian. Be always aware that the first cause of whatever success you enjoy is not your shrewdness it's not your wisdom it's not your intellect it's not your talent the first cause of whatever blessing you enjoy is the kindness and mercy and presence of God. Then make sure that that blessing that you're enjoying proceeds onto the people with whom you have interaction, business, certainly your family, right? How do you keep that in the forefront of your mind that the first cause of whatever success you experience is God. I want to give you two questions that will enhance your self-awareness that you can ask and these are going to seem like odd questions to ask but ask them of yourself nonetheless. What are you owed and what do you owe? If you want to know how people perceive you answer those questions honestly don't try to impress me don't even answer them out loud but answer them honestly what do you think you're owed and what do you think you owe and now let me tell you that if in your heart of hearts the answer to the question what am I owed is anything other than hell you're mistaken that's what you're owed now look at what you have you're not in hell so however bad your life is however confounded you are however miserable you are however terrible it's going to be when you get up and go to work tomorrow you're not in hell what are you owed and what do you owe and if the answer to the question what do I owe is anything other than everything to God Almighty you are mistaken he's causing all things to work together for your good if you're a believer according to Romans so even in the misery of life even in the hard times even in the midst of the cancer diagnosis even in the midst of the children going buck wild and forgetting what their last name is and breaking your heart again the hardest times that you will experience you owe God everything because he's working all of that together for righteousness to be worked out in you you owe him everything well we tend to answer the question like what am I owed well you know a nice day off would sure be nice that's the truth that's what that's the answer to the question for me I'll admit it I'll stand out here on an island by myself and and say it would sure be nice to have a day off where nothing breaks in the house I don't spot something else that broke however many months ago the car doesn't have a warning light coming on or it I don't want to keep going it would just sure be nice to get up one morning and lilt through my day without a care in the world and then go to sleep and sleep all night and then wake up the next morning now I'm refreshed and ready to go back to work that's what I think I'm owed but then I have to remind myself hey you're not in hell that's where you belong because you've sinned against the goodness of God I think the diagnosis that comes from answering those two questions will provide valuable insight into your motives and valuable insight into how other people perceive you if you think you're owed a lot how do you think you're acting you're a grumbly miserable or of a human being constantly gritching about how you're owed that's how you come off oh you don't understand how my life's been real hard okay I'm just telling you how you come off oh all right first six second half now Joseph was handsome and form an appearance there you go ladies finally a good looking person in the bible right yeah he's not 180 either so that's nice too it's probably around 30 after a time his master's wife so Potiphar's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said lie with me and that children I hate to break it to you and I want to make the car ride home any more awkward than it has to be but this is not let's get together and tell a story that's not true lie with me is do things with me that I should only be doing with my husband that's what she's saying but he refused and said to his master's wife behold because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge he's not greater in this house than I am nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you're his wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God and she spoke to Joseph day after day he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her I would call your attention back to the desire triumvirate that we talked about in first john eyes appetite and ego some of you will remember that I brought up cs louis describing men without chests whose eyes were directly connected to their appetites and their their the rest of their body engaged in whatever they needed to do to pursue the satisfaction of that appetite when you are ruled by the desire triumvirate your eyes your appetite and your ego you are not being obedient to god and it's a sure sign that you are if not already about to sin eve looked and saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes that it was good to eat and it was desirable to make one wise eyes appetite ego takes over she believes alive the devil and eats the fruit now behold pot of first wife she cast her eyes on joseph and he i mean the bible doesn't the bible is honest like listen he was good looking this is a good looking guy and she cast her eyes on him what's the problem here what is she's supposed to blindfold herself and not notice him he probably was out chopping wood with no shirt on this isn't all on her right pot of first wife cast her eyes on joseph and he would have been in his late 20s or early 30s by now and she decides i like that i want that i'm gonna go get that and so she approaches joseph and offers to do something evil together right everybody with me and i ever in don't you know some of you seem like you might be pulling back like this is not appropriate for a sunday morning it's in the bible and i don't think i'm making it any more salacious than god did and inspiring moses to write this temptations to sin are often found in the course of righteous pursuits so here's joseph doing precisely what he's been asked to do overseeing his master's house and doing it in a way that profits him and his master as a result joseph is not grumbling about what he's owed demanding to be set free and sent back the promised land or the land of his father he's just doing what pot of first asked him to do and he's doing it so well that everything that he touches works and succeeds and as he's in the midst of being obedient to his master and seeking to honor god with what he does here comes this whore to seduce him away from doing what's right take it to the bank all of us need to take it to the bank it doesn't matter that you're doing what's right you're not somehow magically protected from being tempted to sin just because you're doing the right thing so guess what happens some of you will never know this some of you may at some point i know it most sundays of the year guess what happens when you're engaged in the act of proclaiming the gospel or at least teaching the scriptures to the best of your ability which i'm not sure there's like much more of an obviously righteous thing that you could be engaged in than this what happens is temptation rises up unbidden in my own heart anger frustration that people aren't paying attention these kids are over here yapping instead of listening my kids are over here yapping instead of listening ah while i'm preaching the temptation to sin how much more so tomorrow when we get to work and have to deal with stupid people right they get paid more than us to make bad decisions that we have to go then clean up that sounded like i think i'm owed something i'm sorry listen to this from luke 10 verse 38 as jesus and his disciples went on their way they entered a village and a woman named martha welcomed him into her house she had a sister called mary who sat at the lord's feet and listened to his teaching but martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone tell her then to help me but the lord answered her martha martha you were anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her all right what's martha doing i know i'm i am we're all martha from time to time and every now and then we're we're mary right but since we're all martha from time to time probably most of the time who's going to cook if i don't do it right must be nice to just sit i i would love to sit and let's say not jesus big that's all of us so in the midst of doing a good thing and seeking to serve the people that have come into her house what happens she she gets angry and can you imagine anything worse than going up to jesus and saying don't you care god wrapped himself in flesh and came down into the squalor that humanity exists in and you're going to ask him if he cares what more do you want from me martha that's me if i'm jesus right so sin rises up in her heart in the middle of trying to literally serve jesus what's more righteous than that temptation will arise or be found in the course of righteous pursuits never assume that just because you're doing something good you can't be in the crosshairs of the world the flesh or the devil himself gratitude will usually provide a better shield against temptation than the fear of consequences so look what joseph says in eight and nine he refused and said to his master's wife behold because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house and he's put everything that he has in my charge he's not greater in this house than i am nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you're his wife how then can i do this great wickedness and sin against god now think with me you're enslaved because your brothers were jealous of you and sold you however that works and now you're hundreds of miles away from home in this person's house who's the captain of pharaoh's guard serving him what are you owed if ever somebody in biblical history could have been like this makes sense the lord has sent me this woman to enjoy because of all the travails and troubles that i have in my life i mean how easy would it have been for joseph to justify himself in doing this sin instead like imagine being able to have this perspective are you kidding me potter for his wife whatever her name is what do you think her name was yeah that works for me i'm it it i wish i had this kind of righteousness the minute something goes wrong at work i'm like i am owed the second anything goes slightly wrong i am owed that's what rises up in my heart gratitude will drive away temptation better than the fear of consequences and then i would point out that the temptation to sin can be relentless look at verse 10 day after day all right fellows let's be honest three days in a row you think you could resist four a month how long before she wears you down day after day the invitation is extended verse 11 one day when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were in the house she caught him by his garment and says lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house so this is a dangerous situation and maybe joseph didn't realize that there was nobody else in the house i don't know the bible doesn't really tell us but we shouldn't miss this we need to avoid as much as we're able even the appearance of evil so Ephesians 4 27 paul writes and says give no opportunity to the devil which means we need to be on guard right against giving the devil an opportunity an opportunity to do what well seduce you to sin all right so could joseph have known again i i can't say for sure but better to be sure there's somebody else in the house before i go in there because i know what this woman is after day after day right first Thessalonians 5 22 the Holy Spirit inspires paul to write and and he says abstain from every form of evil or that could be translated appearance of avoid even the appearance of evil so don't even do anything that looks like it might be wicked so generally speaking if i'm texting with a female the female that i'm most treasure in all the earth gets to read it so she could maybe i'll make her do it just to prove it to you pick up my ipad right now unlock it with her face or she knows my pin and read every text message that ever gets sent to me and routinely does because for some reason amazon will only send that one time password to my number and not hers as well so she has to go read my text messages a lot when she's logging in anyway guard yourselves right i don't think joseph's sinned here but he inadvertently enabled her to sin against him and this like me too moment was was brought about by a lack of corroborating witness testimony all the other men were gone men be alone with no woman save your wife that goes for young men and their girlfriends to be alone with no woman save your wife and girls if you try to get a young man alone i want you to remember genesis 39 and know that you are on the path that leads to you being potter first wife unless you're doing that with your husband period no exceptions don't seduce a man to sin most of the bible let's be honest this is the one story most of the bible it's the other way right guys are out there this is the one story so i have to make the point because it's my only opportunity to make it and i have daughters verse 13 as soon as she saw he left his garment in her hand and it fled out of the house she called to the men of the household and said to them see he's brought a Hebrew to laugh at us who who brought the Hebrew to laugh her husband oh do you guys think maybe there were some problems in this marriage what was your first clue see he's brought a among us a Hebrew to laugh at us he came in to lie with me and i cried out with a loud voice because i'm so righteous and as soon as you heard the lifted up my voice and cried out he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home and she told him the same story saying the Hebrew servant whom you've brought among us came in to me came in to me to laugh at me as soon as i lifted up my voice and cried he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house my favorite part of this is 16 where it says then she staged basically right she laid up his garment by her she kept Joseph's clothes that she had ripped off of him she kept his clothes with her until Potiphar could come in and get the full effect of you know her lie that she's telling so y'all remember josey small light who like an hour or so after the so-called attack the police show up at his apartment and he still got the news that he made around his neck for effect this is the same thing by the way he's been tried and convicted for filing a false report so if you're a little uneasy right now that i'm not you know going along with the whole black lives matter narrative there tried and convicted there was no need for this fairytale i'm just trying to relate it to like our day and age there was no need for this fairytale right there well i mean think about josey smallette there's no need for that fairytale either right yet dude you're almost at the pinnacle you're on one of the most popular shows evidently i've never watched it and and even heard of it till this happened but i've heard that it was one of the most popular shows on network television and you don't feel like you're getting enough attention so you in all likelihood mail some crushed up tylenol to yourself at the studio to make it look like somebody's doing an anthrax attack against you and then when that didn't get enough attention you concoct this whole story about how you were beat up by two mega hat wearing racists and in chicago at two o'clock in the morning like why did you do that why did you do that nobody hurt you you concocted this out of nowhere nobody hurt you now think about pot of his wife why did she do this he ran she had hold of his clothes and so they came off of him however that works i don't know and she puts together this whole story for what reason couldn't she have just like folded it up and put it in his room and not said anything but it's not enough for her to do that she has to put together this whole story probably because she fears what joseph is going to tell her husband has happened no harm had come to her yet she's overcome with the desire to see harm come to joseph and james 314 it says if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts don't boast and be false to the truth this is not the wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly unspiritual and demonic for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists there will be disorder and every vile practice listen to me when evil people finally understand that you won't participate in their sin when evil people finally understand that you won't participate in their sin even when you don't do anything to harm them they will destroy your reputation only to elevate their own sense of self-worth this is what happened to me when i left my last church i didn't hurt anybody but they went out of their way to destroy me and some of you experienced the same thing right why why i didn't take anything from you joseph didn't take anything from her in fact he righteously preserved her from sin well she's she's mad i think the self-glorification is born you know out of fear shame and guilt but the thought process involved i believe is demonic certainly potter's wife feels the weight of joseph's rejection right that'd be embarrassing so her own conduct is condemned by just his righteousness it isn't even recorded here that he said a word he walks in she goes yes grabs him and he goes and runs he doesn't call her a name what a fascinating study and projection potter's wife ascribes her own conduct to joseph which somehow amazingly enough makes her lie just believable enough that people are taken in and this tactic seems to work everywhere i see it being employed in 2024 it's so discouraging isn't it to to let me not get into any specifics but we should take heart god will set the record straight right it's proverbs 15 three says the eyes of the lord are in every place watching the evil and the good now that's unsettling when you're engaged in evil right you might think oh my mom and dad don't know well lucky you i guess in temporal terms but you know who does know the eyes of the lord are in every place watching the evil and the good he's well aware of what happened to joseph and he's well aware of what happens to you or what you're engaged in in Psalm 34 18 it says the lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit we'll see it again in verse 21 we saw it in verse two whatever may be happening to you at the hands of someone else especially someone who's lying about you god has not left you verse 19 as soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him this is the way your servant treated me his anger was kindled and joseph's master took him and put him into the prison place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in prison joseph suffers for doing what is right so will you it's interesting since the likely penalty of trying to force yourself on the wife of the captain of pharaoh's personal guard since the likely penalty would be i mean almost certainly death this is a high ranking official and you've just molested his wife allegedly or attempted to almost certainly the penalty for that is death so it's interesting to me that pottifer puts joseph in jail rather than execute him which suggests to me it may be pottifer was like hmm yeah i have some doubts his anger is kindled but one cannot help but wonder at whom regardless he dismisses the goose that lays the golden egg as it were and probably probably angry because he knows he's going to lose all the benefits that he enjoyed from having joseph in his home but because of his wife he has no choice he's got to cut joseph loose so 21 the lord was with joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison put joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison whatever was done there i mean we're right back where we were at pottifer's house he was the one who did it the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in joseph's charge because the lord was with him and whatever he did the lord made it succeed remember what i told you about steadfast love in the old testament so if you look at 21 it says the lord was with joseph and showed him steadfast love you remember what i told you this word it's almost always the same word it's kessed in Hebrew and it means covenant faithfulness and the whole idea is that god is faithful to himself why is he with joseph because he's faithful to himself now lest we get it in our heads that joseph earned the presence and fellowship of god the bible lets us know by using this word in this text for steadfast love covenant faithfulness the bible lets us know it wasn't that joseph was so righteous folks that's not why god was with him even in prison which is certainly a loss of status and a i mean a drastic demotion for joseph a serious diminishment in his quality of circumstances god has not left him and we need to see this and we need to take hold of this truth if you lose your job tomorrow if you lose your job and you're thrown into prison tomorrow if you lose your job and you're thrown into prison and someone lies about you to destroy your reputation tomorrow don't believe the lie that god has stopped being with you don't believe that lie and someone will say because you're honest right someone will say yeah but joseph didn't sin when he could have and i have sined when i shouldn't have fair enough what about adam adam broke the commandments when there was only one was god with him yeah god shed the blood of an animal to give him clothes what about Noah Noah got off the ark and immediately got naked and drunk that happened was god with Noah yep what about Abraham Abraham told his wife to go sleep with the king tell him you're my sister because he was afraid was god with Abraham i'll give you a hint that was before Isaac was born so yeah god was with Abraham what about Jacob Jacob lied can i have cajoled deceived his own father was god with Jacob what about Moses Moses murdered a guy refused to circumcise his son argued with god constantly lost his temper and didn't live to see the promised land was god with Moses god buried him who else can say that what about david well david did sleep with another man's wife and went on to murder her husband yet he's described as a man after god's own heart what about Elijah Elijah watches god consume the sacrifice then personally slaughter's the prophets of bale and five seconds later flees into the wilderness because he's afraid god doesn't care about him was god with him what about peter peter denied even knowing jesus what about paul paul persecuted the church beyond measure tell me again why god isn't with you anymore well i sin well welcome to the club welcome to the club it's a big club it includes all of humanity god isn't with you god is not immaniable because you were well behaved enough to earn his love god is with you because jesus earned his love and has fixed his sights and his heart on you and will never let you go second stop trying to decide how much god loves you based on your circumstances on earth go read Hebrews 11 do you think the people that were being sawn in half for loving and serving god i mean is it possible they understood something about really difficult circumstances in life i don't want to go to work tomorrow i feel you god loves all who put their faith and hope and trust it is son nowhere and scripture doesn't say life will get easier as long as you believe in jesus it's it's not in there it doesn't say that that's a lie that's the prosperity gospel at work in your own heart we don't understand how pernicious that is in our culture i think that's the right word joseph was righteous when it came to potter for his wife we're almost done everybody that's getting anxious because it's five after 11 the songs were really long this morning joseph was righteous when it came to potter for his wife i have no doubt that that was a profound comfort to his heart as he languished in prison don't sin because your circumstances which are probably possibly at least going to get worse regardless of whether or not you sin your circumstances will feel so much worse if on top of the fact that you're in those circumstances there's a part of you that's like and i deserve it how much nicer would it be to be in prison and go well you know what at least i didn't disobey god at least i've got that going for me i'm certain it comforted him what you need is the fellowship of the one who created you and if you have that then you'll find that your circumstances are often opportunities to share the gospel with someone new or have an impact with the gospel for someone new fact i have shared the gospel explicitly with more people in the last three years than i did in the previous 15 so all the while i was in the church preaching teaching i had fewer opportunities to just share the gospel with somebody in a one-on-one conversation that i've had in the last three years my circumstances have brought about amazing opportunities to let people know about the goodness of god all right let me close with this second granddians four eight through fifteen we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of jesus so that the life of jesus may also be manifested in our bodies for we who live are always being given over to death for jesus sake so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so death is at work in us but life in you since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written i believe so i spoke we also believe so we also speak knowing that he who raised jesus will raise us also with jesus and bring us with you into his presence for it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of god perhaps you are suffering whatever you're suffering right now so that somebody else might come to know jesus certainly a possibility and in joseph's case he's suffering what he's suffering so a bunch of people can be saved from starvation let's pray [BLANK_AUDIO]