Good to see everyone this morning.
You were turning your Bible to Genesis chapter 39. And while
you're turning, I want to say, Lindsay, I really enjoyed that
Bible lesson this morning. Enjoyed that singing. It's always
a privilege to see y'all again. I'm so thankful that many years
ago, the Lord allowed me to meet your pastor. I think it was me
and Sandy was talking coming up yesterday. I think it was
in the mid-90s, somewhere around 20 years ago. I remember driving
to a place called Winston-Salem. I heard he was gonna be there
and I had heard of him but never met him. And me and a friend
of mine, we didn't allow enough time to get there. I think the
service started about 7.30 and we didn't get there about 10
to eight. But I've never forgot it and I really appreciate your
pastor. And I'm thankful to our Lord for bringing us together.
I'm so glad that one day God allowed me to hear the gospel,
not just with word only, but in power. And as Lindsay prayed,
I prayed that our God will allow us to worship him. I like that
song, Let Us Forget About Ourself and Concentrate on Him and Worship
Him. We'll be looking at verses one
through six here in the book of Genesis chapter 39. Before
we read our text, let you know what is going on. We'll be looking
at Joseph here in Potiphar's house. This morning, the Lord
willing, we'll be looking at verses one through six, and then
tonight, the Lord willing, we'll pick up again with verse seven
down through verse 23. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob. We find this back in chapter
37, and how that Jacob displayed his love for Joseph. He made
this coat of many colors and he put it upon him, which displayed
his love for Joseph and distinguished Joseph from all his other brethren,
from all his other brothers. And his brothers hated him for
it. They hated him. They despised him and it said
they envied him. And then Joseph had these dreams. And in those dreams, Joseph told
his brothers and told his father that one day they would all bow
down to him. And one day they will. But can
you imagine being one of his brothers hearing that? You hate
him already anyway. You can't despise him. I mean,
you despise him. You can't stand to be in his
very presence. And to hear that one day you're gonna bow to him?
Okay, another day. Joseph's brothers are out watching
his father Jacob's sheep. And Jacob sends Joseph to check
on his brethren. And they look off down through
the valley or wherever they were at, and they see Joseph coming. They know that it's him, and
they all say, why don't we kill him when he gets here? And when
Joseph comes to where they are, they take that coat of many colors,
they strip it from him, and they throw him in a pit. Throw him in a pit. And just
as things would happen, here comes a band of medianites and
Ishmaelites, and they came by and they said, let's not kill
him. Let's make money off of him. We will sell him. And they sold him for 20 pieces
of silver to these Ishmaelites. What do you think they're going
to tell their daddy? They come up with this plan.
We're going to kill us a goat. We're gonna take the blood of
that goat, and we're gonna put it on that garment, we're gonna
put it on that coat, and we're gonna send it back to him. And
let him come up with his own idea of what he thinks happens.
And when they bring the coat to Jacob, they said, is this
your son's coat? He said, it's my son's coat.
And Jacob, for the next so many years, the whole time Joseph
is in Egypt, he thinks that animals had devoured his son and they
hadn't. You think about this, Jacob believes
a lie for years. We believed a lie for years.
We come up with our own conclusion about what happened to God's
darling son. It's what Jacob did. But that ain't the end of Joseph. That's only the beginning. God
purposed to save a people. And to save those people, one
day he's gonna deliver them from a place called Egypt. And Joseph
has to be taken to Egypt. And that's what we find here
in Genesis chapter 39. And Joseph was brought down to
Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,
an Egyptian, bought him at the hands of the Ishmaelites, which
had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand." Now, notice that term there, those little two
words, in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over
his house, and all that he had, he put into his hand. It came
to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his
house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians'
house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he
left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not all that
he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a
goodly person and well favored." Here Joseph is carried down to
Egypt, sold as a slave. Joseph here, we see he's a pitcher. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Back
in chapter 37 when it says this is the generation of Jacob, it
doesn't start with, begin with Judah. It speaks of Joseph. The rest of the book of Genesis
deals with Joseph and his relationship to his children, to his brothers. And we know this in Acts chapter
seven, that he's a type of Christ, cause Stephen in that great sermon
that he preached, he said in Acts 7, 29, and the patriarchs
moved with envy. They sold Joseph into Egypt,
but God was with him. And then when he finished the
sermon, here's what he said. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, You do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before." What did they show them? The coming of the
just one. What is Joseph a picture of?
The coming of the just one. The coming of Christ, coming
into this world to save his people. And to save his people, he must
be brought down to Egypt. Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ,
he left the father's home to come down to this awful place.
Joseph is no longer with his father. He's no longer with his
brethren. He's come to this place, and
this is why he came. In 1 John 3, 5, and you know
that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is
no sin. Where's he at? This place called
Egypt. As Lindsay spoke about this one,
the children of Israel was in Egypt. What is Egypt? We know
from Psalms 105, verse 23, it is the land of ham. the land of Ham. Egypt is also
set forth in the book of Deuteronomy chapter four as an iron furnace. That's where God brought his
people from. It is a place of bondage. It's a place of affliction.
It is a picture of this world that is under the curse of almighty
God. That's what Egypt is. That's
what it pictures. And it is also a place where
the emperors and men are worshiped as gods. Does that not sound
familiar? Men today think they are gods
and they've had this idea since plumb back in the garden. They
think they are gods and they want to be worshiped as gods
and this is where God has brought Joseph to. Brought him to this
place. And then this man named Potiphar. Why was it that Potiphar bought
him? We know why, we know it was on purpose. God had a reason
for this. But this man, Potiphar, now who
was Potiphar? The word pot is the same as put,
P-H-U-T. And who was the man that was
named Put? One of Ham's sons was named Put. It's been a long
time since the flood. It's been a long time since God
brought Noah and Ham, Shem, and Japheth off the ark, but they're
still naming their sons after Ham? They must have been awful
proud of him. Man, he is. He's proud of these
things, and Potiphar's father named him this? That's who Potiphar
is. But he's also the captain of
the guard. close to a man named Pharaoh.
Then we see here also in verse one these Ishmaelites. Now who
are these Ishmaelites? They're descendants of Ishmael,
a picture of our flesh. Remember Abraham, when he wouldn't
trust God, he went into Hagar and they had a son named Ishmael.
And then God in his grace gave him Isaac. And this is where
these Ishmaelites are going. They're going there, why? To
trade. That's where the flesh trades in the things of the world. That's where their works mean
something. And that's where they're going. As I thought about this,
we talked about this, I've been going through this at our church.
We were talking about this the other Sunday. You think about
this. You have Isaac, you have Jacob, and then you have Joseph.
You have Ishmael, you have his son, and then you have his generation. They probably, these Ishmaelites
probably knew about Isaac. Ishmael could've still be living. And they knew about Jacob and
his sons. We're gonna take one of his sons
and we're gonna sell him to the Egyptians. But you think about
this, in their presence, they had Joseph. In their presence,
they had Joseph. And I wonder if they even knew
it. Had any idea who they were taking
to sell to the Egyptians. And Joseph is sold as a slave. sold to be a servant, sold by
his own brethren. Our Lord came into his own and
his own received him not. Joseph came as an unwilling servant. Christ came as a willing servant. Listen, Philippians 2.5, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and he took upon himself the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being
found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Father's willing, loving bond slave. To save his people, he must come
to this world, this wicked place called Egypt, this corrupt place
where men think they are God and he's going to become a servant. A servant. When the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that was under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. What did he say in Isaiah
42, verse one? Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect. This is God's servant. This is
what we see, Joseph, a picture of God's servant, the Lord Jesus
Christ, coming to this world. He came here to save his people.
He came here to save his people. And one day, I love this story,
I just love it. Later on, all of Joseph's brethren
are gonna come down to Egypt. And every one of them, he's gonna
make himself known to them and he's gonna save them and forgive
them of their sins. What a picture. All of his brethren's
gonna bow. They are all gonna come. All
the elect of God are gonna come. Why? Because Christ took upon
himself the form of a servant. The form of a servant. But in
verse two, as he came down to this place, it
says the Lord was with Joseph. That's why he's in Egypt. God
has ordained his steps. Joseph is not alone. The Lord was with Joseph when
he was in his father's house. He was with Joseph when he was
cast into the pit and stripped of his coat. And he is here even
in this man Potiphar's house. The Lord is with him. The Lord
was with him. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.19,
to which God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. And you think about this, here
Joseph is sold into Egypt. And he's a willing servant. And
the Lord is with him. And everything Joseph did prospered. Everything. Everything he touched
prospered. Everything. What does that mean?
He was successful in everything he did? That's what it is to
prosper. Can you imagine, just think,
when Joseph is first come to Egypt, I think Matthew Henry
said he was probably in Potterford's house probably about 13 years.
But you imagine the jobs they gave him. This is a Hebrew. He speaks a foreign language
than they do, and they speak a foreign language to him. They're
gonna give him the worst job there is, whatever it is. He's
gonna have to take the worst job. Whatever the worst job was,
the lowest job, he was successful in it. He prospered, he prospered. He was a servant in this house
and he was faithful to his master and everything he did, everything
he prospered. Now listen to me, Christ prospered
in everything that he did and he is prospering in everything
that he is doing right now. He prospered, prospered. Listen, in Psalms chapter one,
verse one, this is speaking of Christ. Blessed is the man that
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. The old time Joseph was there,
his mind was upon his master who was God. Our Lord, when he
came, he always sought to please his father. And he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. His leaf shall not wither, and
whatsoever he does shall prosper. Let me read that again. And whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper. This is in Isaiah chapter 53
verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, and thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. He shall see his seat, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Notice I told you to notice there
are three times he talked about what was in his hand. Whatever
his hand took upon to perform as God's willing servant, he
prospered in his hand. Why did it prosper? Because of
who he was. Because the Lord was with him in everything that
he did. Isaiah 42 verse four, he shall
not fail nor be discouraged. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Our God is no failure. He's never
gotten discouraged. He's always done what he purposed
to do. Now look at this. Joseph is a
servant. You say, how can that be God's
will? That's God's perfect will. And he bowed to it and he was
a perfect, willing servant. Servant. He served. But our Lord, the disciples,
they never got this. They maybe later, I hope they
did, but before he was crucified, they didn't. As he was walking
with him, you know what? He was speaking to them about
his crucifixion, laying down his life for his people. They're
talking about which one's gonna be the greatest. They won't talk
about which one's gonna sit on the right hand or on the left.
Did they not just hear what he said? He said, he that is to
be the greatest must become the least. He must become servant
of all. And let me tell you what I see
here. He was servant of all. He was servant of all. Because
it said that while he served, the Lord was with him, then he
prospered. And in verse three it said, his
master Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him. This man doesn't
know God. This man is named after Ham. This man lives in a wicked, ungodly
place, but he sees Joseph. And it said, he saw that the
Lord was with him. Now, how did he see that? What
did he see? How did he know that the Lord
was with Joseph? He saw something, something called
his attention. I believe this, he had never
seen anybody like Joseph. He had never seen a servant like
this servant. No man ever spake like this man.
No man ever walked like this man. I can see pot for scratching
his head. There's something about this
man. You imagine when the Lord Jesus
Christ, 30 years old, after John the Baptist had prepared the
way for the Lord, and here comes our Lord, and they go, who in
the world's this man? Our Lord asked his disciples
one day, he said, whom do men say that I am? They said, well,
some say you're Elijah or John the Baptist raised from the dead.
He said, whom do you say that I am? They said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. But they saw him, he served. It was not because Joseph was
going in every day carrying his Bible under his arm, acting religious.
He saw, Potiphar saw and recognized that there was something about
this Hebrew servant. Joseph was the best servant in
that household. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. The first on the job and the
last to leave. You know what? He's the best
servant. If any of us had our rathers,
we'd choose anything but to be a servant. He's God's willing
servant. If you could choose where you
would be born, would you want to be born in a stable? A man
had come to him one day and he said, I'll follow you wherever
you go. He said, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air
have not, but the son of man don't even have somewhere to
lay his head. Do you still want to follow me? He's a faithful servant. He was faithful in everything
that he did. And Potter first saw him. This is what it says in Ephesians
chapter six, verse five. You know, most people, when they
read this in religion, all they get is some moral lessons. But
I can say this, for the people of God, there is lessons for
us to learn. This is written for our learning
and for our admonition. He said, servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Potiphar could have been the
worst master in Egypt, but he still served him. He still served
him. I never served in the military,
but I've heard men that did. They said that the sergeant ain't
gonna be the worst guy around, but you know what? When he walks
by, you salute him. He served him. Listen. as unto
Christ, not with our service as men pleasers, but as the servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill,
doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that
whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall receive
of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Christ was the Father's
servant. Everything he did, he sought
his will. He sought it and he did it perfectly. served him. When he in the garden, he said,
not my will, but thine be done. And he saw that the Lord was
with him. I thought about in Acts chapter four, where Peter
and John were preaching. And as they saw the boldness
and they knew that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
took knowledge of them that they had been with Christ. And in
Acts 10, 38, listen. And God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, and he went about doing
good. Healed the sick, reached out
and touched the lepers, set men free from the gnomic possession. He went about everywhere doing
good. Can't you hear him say, have
you heard about that Jesus of Nazareth? I can see him in Potiphar
says, have you heard about Joseph, that Hebrew slave? There's something
different about that man. He looks like everybody else,
but there's something different about, he's God, God is with
him. That's what made the difference.
And that's the only thing that makes the difference. That's
why he prospered. No man ever spake like this man. Potiphar saw that the Lord was
with him, and Potiphar saw that everything he did, he said, the
Lord made him to prosper. Then it says, verse four, Joseph
found grace in the sight of Potiphar. Why would Potiphar, this wicked,
no good scoundrel, that lived in a place, why would he show
favor to Joseph? Why would he show him favor?
He said, I can see him say, I want you to do this job. Then I want you to do this job.
You know what he says eventually? I want you to oversee my whole
house. You see the picture? I want you to be over everything. He served him. He served him. Faithfully, in everything he
did, he served him. It says, though he were a son,
speaking of our Lord, he learned obedience by the things which
he suffered. No man ever suffered like he
did. He always did those things which
pleased his father, his master. Our Lord said, and God the Father
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And
when he found grace in his sight, like I said, what did he do?
He committed everything into his hands. God the Father has
committed everything into the hands of his darling Son. Everything. Everything. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and who
the father is but the son, and whom the son will reveal him.
He said in John 16, 15, all things that the father hath are mine.
It was committed into his hands. As we see here, Joseph, a picture
of our Lord. Potter says, Joseph, everything
I have, everything, I'm putting in your hands. Everything. And let me tell you this, God
the Father trusted his son with everything. It said you, after you heard,
you trusted after you heard the word, the gospel, the gospel
of yourself. You trusted after you heard,
after God enabled you to trust his son. You know who trusted
him first? God the Father trusted him first.
He trusted him with everything. He did what? He trusted him with
everything. Everything's upon his shoulders.
The government is upon his shoulders. Notice there, it says in verse
five, And it came to pass from the time that he had made him
overseer over his, what does it mean to be an overseer? That
means he's the overseer of everything. And over all that he had that
the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. And
the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house
and in the field. What do I see here? Till you
trust everything into the hands of Christ, you will never know
what it is to prosper. You will never know what it is
to be blessed. And my question to you is, have
you trusted everything into his hands? Our biggest problem, even as
believers, is trusting him. He said, all things are possible
to him that believes. And that man said, Lord, help
thou mine unbelief. He trusted him. This is spiritual
prosperity. This is soul prosperity. This
is what it says in 3 John chapter one, verse two. He said, beloved,
he's speaking to believers, I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. That's what, see men have it
all mixed up. Religion all they think about
is outward prosperity. That's like, you know, if you
believe God and serve God and if you'll do your part, God'll
do his part and God will bless you with health and wealth and
wisdom and long life. Joseph's here in Potiphar's house
as a slave. And God's prospering him. God's
blessing him. When our Lord walked this earth,
he was blessed. God was with him. Thy soul. prospers, and when
I don't trust him, and I mean with everything, my soul does
not prosper. It doesn't. It said he trusted him with everything. I thank God in his grace he brings
us to these places. We grow in grace, and God teaches
us to trust him for everything. He said, cast your cares upon
me, I care for you. And he said he knew not of that
he had saved the bread that he had to eat. What our Lord say
when he told us to pray, give us day by day our daily bread.
I can see Potiphar come in wherever he's been, he comes in, he sits
down at the table, and there sits bread. Who put that bread
on the table? Who put that bread there? Who
had it baked? Who had it made just for him? Joseph did. Who gives you your daily bread? Who gives it to you? How am I going to get something
to eat? You know, as the children of Israel, when they came out
of Egypt and God brought them into the wilderness, how did
God feed those people? He said, oh man, He sent him
enough bread for one day. You know what that is? That's
trust. Trust. Trust. Resting upon him. Potiphar didn't worry about anything. Because Joseph's gonna take care
of it. I'll ask you this morning, do you believe that Christ, our
Lord, is able to take care of you? You think he's able to take
care of your family? We have worries, don't we? We
have things we are concerned about. We think we bring them
to the Lord, but then we think, well, we can handle them better.
No, you can't. I'll make a mess out of it. Every
time. I've seen things I wanted to
change before and I didn't like where I was at and what was going
on. I remember before Lord enabled
me to get out from under that business that I owned for years.
I remember walking into my office one day sitting down and I was
almost sick at my stomach because I wanted out from under it so
bad. And it was two years and I wanted
to force it. It's like the Lord said, you
just trust me. And it prospered. Give me day by day, by day's
prayer. To teach us to trust Him. When we commit everything, into
Christ's hands, we don't have to worry about anything. We can
enjoy what he has given unto us. Well, I'm enjoying this bread. If you have anything, whether
it's physical bread or spiritual bread, God must give it to you. And you must trust him for it. And when we do, We're blessed. I can't think of a greater blessing
than a person resting holy in Christ, can you? Blessed, oh
blessed. And this is a man named Potiphar. This is a man named Potiphar
living in a place called Egypt. And it says, God blessed Potiphar
and everything he had for Joseph's. You know why we're blessed? For
Christ's sake. Where Joseph was at, his servants
were blessed. Potiphar was blessed. and Egypt
was blessed. Why out of all, listen to me,
why out of all the households in Egypt, why was Joseph in Potiphar's
house? Why out of all the people in
this world, why would God in his grace make himself known
to you and give you faith to trust him? Why? Why? If Christ is in you, and he's
an ever believer, you're blessed. And you're blessed for Christ's
sake. I thought about Mephibosheth. Remember Mephibosheth, he was
the grandson of King Saul, Jonathan's son. Under the law, he should
have died, he should have been killed. And David said, is there
any left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness to him?
He said, yeah, there's one named Mephibosheth in the land of Lodibar,
the place of no bread. He said, go fetch him. And he
brought him, David brought him to him. And he said, why would
you look on a dead dog like me? And he said, I'm showing kindness
to you for Jonathan, your father's sake. And if God ever shows mercy
to you, it's for Christ's sake. It ain't because of Potiphar.
If Potiphar got what he deserved, he would have been left alone
to die in his ignorance and in his darkness. But no, Joseph's
in his house. Christ dwells there. And where
there's Christ, there's life. Where there's Christ, God is
there. That's the blessing. That's the
prosperity. That's the prosperity. Don't
you wish the world could see this? As I thought about this, it says
that Potiphar was blessed for Joseph's sake. I thought about
in 2 Samuel chapter six, the Ark of the Covenant had been
taken to a man's house named Obededim. It said it was told
King David saying, the Lord hath blessed the house of Obededim
and that all that pertaineth unto him, all that Obededim hath,
because the Ark of God was in his house. So David went and
brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the
city of David with gladness. All that he had, he was blessed
in the house and in the field. His crops were blessed, everything,
everything was blessed. Listen, it rains on the just
and on the unjust. Listen to me, this nation that
we live in has been blessed. That's right, it's been blessed.
And let me tell you, no, it's not that it has been, it is being
blessed. That's right, we have the gospel.
We have the gospel. You think this morning, you think
with me, we're able to get in our car, Drive to this place
and come worship God. What a blessing. There's places
in this world you can't do that. Why out of all the places in
the world would God pick this place? Why would he see fit to send
Joseph to Egypt? And this, it seems like this
is the most wicked nation upon this earth, but God has shown
us favor. Thank God he has. And the only reason she's blessed
is for Christ's sake. If God has a people that he's
determined to save, he's gonna save them. He shall not fail.
He's God's righteous servant. He's overseer over all of his
house, and he owns it all. That means he controls. everything
that happens. You know what? He's overseer. Everything is under his authority
and everything is under his control. And in closing, everything he
does prospers. May God give us faith to trust
everything into his hands and rest right there. Amen.