Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled this message, All
They Did, He Was The Doer. Now let me read our text in Genesis
chapter 39. This is speaking of Joseph when
he was thrown into prison, falsely accused and thrown into prison. We read in verse 21, but the
Lord was with Joseph. and showed him mercy, and gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners
that were in the prison. And whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer." Now listen to that language carefully, and
let me make this statement with regard to the scripture. Every
scripture is God-breathed, said exactly as God would have it
said. Many people, if you look at the
different translations of the scripture, they take this statement,
all that was all they did there, Joseph was the doer of it. And
if you look at many of these translations, they say everything
that was done, Joseph was held responsible for it. Well, that
could be, but that's not what the scripture says. The scripture
says all they did, Joseph was the doer. And we're going to
get to that in a moment, and that describes what Jesus Christ
did as a substitute for his people. The exactness of the gospel is
found in that statement, said exactly as God would have it
said. Now, the first part of Genesis
chapter 39 is Joseph being sold by his brothers to some Ishmaelites,
and the Ishmaelites sell Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar.
11 years of his life are covered
in the first six verses where he served Potiphar so admirably,
so much so that Potiphar gave Joseph the responsibility of
everything. And the last thing said of Joseph
in verse six of Genesis chapter six is that he was a goodly person
and well favored. He was a very handsome man. Now
we read of Potiphar's wife, verse seven, And it came to pass after
these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph.
And she said, lie with me. In a brazen way, she wanted him
to commit adultery with her. She found him physically attractive. Lie with me. But he refused. And said, Behold, my master wateth
not what's in with me in the house, and he hath committed
all that he hath to my hand. There's no greater in this house
than I, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee,
because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God. Now how beautiful Joseph is at
this time. He would not give in to her request
to commit adultery. He said, how can I sin against
God when he's done so much for me? When Potiphar has put me
in such a place of authority and given me so much, how can
I sin against him? How can I sin against God and
do this great wickedness? Now, this debunks the thought
that grace is a license to sin. No. Grace has no license to sin. If you understand anything about
the grace of God, it makes you not want to sin against Him.
I would never sin again. But she tries to tempt Him with
sexual sin. Now, God made the intimate act
between a man and a woman, and it's beautiful. It's a part of
the goodness of God. You take two people, a man and
a woman, married and committed to one another until death alone
shall part them. And the intimate act is beautiful. The writer to the Hebrews said,
marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. but whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge. Sexual sin is behind so much
of the problems of our society, the perverse crimes, the homes
that are broken because of it, lives destroyed, the suffering
children experience, it leaves in its wake. Sexual sin is a
great evil. Now the intimate act in marriage
is holy. Outside of marriage, it's sin,
it's evil. But every one of us, every one
of you listening, Every one of us know far too much about the
temptations of sexual sin. You see, when Adam fell in the
garden and hid from God's presence, and God went to find him, it
was the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, why have you hid? He
said, because I knew I was naked. Now he was naked before the fall,
but he did not have a sinful nature. When he fell, he became
a sinner. He became dead in sins, and now
nakedness is such an issue to him, and he's filled with sinful
thoughts and unclean thoughts that he never had before the
fall. So every one of us are far too familiar with the temptation
to sexual sin. Now, I love what Paul said, flee
fornication. Flee fornication. Flee sexual
sin. It's so wrong. It's so perverse. Flee it and teach your children
the same. Now verse 10, and it came to
pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not
unto her to lie by her or to be with her. She kept coming
at him and he kept refusing. And it came to pass, verse 11,
about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business
and there was none of the men of the house that were within.
I think Potiphar's wife set this up. And she caught him by his
garment saying, lie with me. And he left his garment in her
hand and fled and got him out. And it came to pass when she
saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth,
that she called unto the men of the house and spake unto them
saying, see, he hath brought in in Hebrew unto us to mock
us, he came in to lie with me. And I cried with a loud voice
and it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and
cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him
out. And she laid up the garment by
her until her Lord came home. And there's a saying that says,
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And this is what this
woman is. When Joseph repeatedly refused
her attempts to get him to have sexual sin with her, she accused
him of rape. And she used that garment that
she had grabbed when he fled to get away from her, as proof. And she waited for her husband
to get home, verse 19, verse 18, and she spake unto
him, her husband, according to these words, saying, The Hebrew
servant which thou hast brought unto us came in to mock me, And
it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he
left his garment with me and fled out. And it came to pass,
when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake
unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me,
that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him
and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners
are bound, and he was there in the prison. Now, why didn't Potiphar
have him executed? I think that he had had experience
with his wife and things like this before. And he knew of the
virtue of Joseph. But he wasn't going to deny that
this took place. So instead of executing him,
he puts him in prison. And what a horrible place that
must have been. And we read in verse 21, but
the Lord was with Joseph. Even while he was in the prison
cell, Psalm 105 verses 17 and 18 said, Joseph, whose feet they
hurt with fetters, he was laid in iron. What a place, but the
Lord was with him. You know, if the Lord's with
me, everything's okay. And it was that way with Joseph.
The Lord was with him in the prison cell. And if I'm a believer,
If you're a believer, you know what? The Lord is always with
you. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord was with Joseph. And
not only that, he showed him mercy and gave him favor in the
sight of the keeper of the prison. Now, that keeper of the prison
was no doubt a hardened man. Of course, a keeper in the prison
would be that way. But God turned his heart to have
a favorable attitude towards Joseph. You see, the scripture
says, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the
rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. And that's
true with regard to every son of Adam. And this keeper of the
prison, this hardened man, this jailer, God turned his heart
to cause him to favor Joseph. Verse 22, and the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. Now that's the same thing that Potiphar did. He gave Joseph
everything. He didn't know anything even
about what he had except what Joseph gave him to eat. He committed
everything to Joseph. His wisdom, his diligence in
making things to prosper, and God made him to prosper. Well,
the prison keeper did the same thing. And the keeper of the
prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were
in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer
of it, The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was
under his hand because the Lord was with him. The Lord was with
Joseph. And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. Now, we see the beautiful character
of Joseph in this story. We see him resisting temptation. He's such a powerful type of
Christ who resisted temptation. He was tempted in all points
as we are yet without sin. But in this statement, the exactness
of the words of this statement, we hear the gospel. Remember the Lord said with regard
to the scriptures, they are they which testify of me. And in this statement, whatsoever
they did there, speaking of the prisoners, Joseph was the doer
of it. Now, in this statement, we find
out how God saves sinners. Now, first of all, What did Joseph have committed
to him? Well, look what verse 22 says,
and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all
the prisoners that were in the prison. What was Joseph given
responsibility for? All the prisoners that were in
the prison. Now it's said of the Lord that
he came to preach deliverance to the captives, to the prisoners,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to set them free from
prison. Now, let me talk just for a moment
about this thing of being a prisoner. Not everybody understands this,
but the believer does. A prisoner cannot just walk out
of the cell when he wants to. The cell's locked. He's in prison
because of the sins he's committed, because of the crimes he's committed,
and he's there against his will. He does not want to be there,
and he cannot get out. Now, this describes everyone
who sees themselves as a sinner. Paul put it this way in Romans
7 and 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, But I am carnal,
sold under sin. Sold as a slave to sin, and I
can't get out of my cell. You're in the prison of sin,
you know it's all your fault, and you're being held there against
your will, and you can't get out. Now, not everybody feels
this way. Men believe they have a free
will. And they can make a choice when
they want. And they can accept Jesus as
their personal savior whenever they get ready. They don't believe
themselves to be totally depraved. So they think that there's something
they can do to relieve their situation. Now, a natural man
understands the horrors of addiction, where you're addicted, maybe
substance abuse of some kind, and you're addicted and you just
can't kick it. But they still hope that somehow,
under some circumstances, they can kick it. But if you ever
find out that you're a sinner, you know that there's nothing
you can do to deliver yourself from the prison cell of sin. But let me say this also, that's
the person Christ came to save. Who is Joseph given responsibility
for? All of the prisoners. You know,
the scripture says, he heareth the sighing of the prisoners. Believers are even called prisoners
of hope. And everyone imprisoned by sin,
and they see that they're stuck and can't get out, bound, that's
the person Christ came to save. Listen to this scripture. This
is a faithful saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of whom I am the chief, Paul
said. Now, notice the language said
exactly as God would have it said. Whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer of it. Whatever those prisoners did,
Joseph was the doer of it. Now here we have the great mystery
of the gospel, substitution. Now I suppose you could say that
under his leadership, an example, these hardened criminals were
inspired to a life of virtue, and that would be good if that's
what took place, but that's not what the scripture says. It simply
says whatsoever they did, Joseph was the doer of it. Now, that statement gives us
both sides of substitution. This tells us what was going
on on the cross. This tells us how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. Now, whatsoever was done there,
he was the doer. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
He, God the Father, hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to
be sin. Do you hear that? How did God do this? I don't
know, but He did it. He made His Son to be sin. And His Son knew no sin. Now
listen real carefully. Jesus Christ never committed
a sin. Even when He was made sin, He
never committed a sin. Don't anyone think that when
he was made sin he started lusting, or he started being jealous,
or envious, or angry, or started hating God. No, he never sinned. But that does not change the
fact that he was made sin, and that lets us know the first side
of this statement. Whatsoever they did, he was the
doer. My sin, my iniquity, my transgression,
he bore. When he drank that cup in Gethsemane's
garden, the sins of all of the elect were in that cup. And he
bare our sins in his own body. on the tree. And my sin became
his sin, so that he actually became guilty of the commission
of that sin. You see, when God punished him,
he wasn't punishing the innocent. He was punishing the guilty. My sin became his sin. Why did he not defend himself
before the high priest or before Pilate? Because he knew that
before God, he was guilty. Now, how did God do this? I don't
know, but I do know he did it. The scripture says he was made
sin. Somehow God lifted my sin off
me. Put it in his son. He was made
sin. He was made guilty of the commission
of that sin. And that's why God punished him. That's why God killed him. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? All sin must be punished. There will never be a sin that
goes unpunished. It's either going to be punished
in my substitute or it'll be punished in me. Now, Christ bore
my sin so that whatsoever I did. He became the doer. That's why he said, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? He did forsake him. And that's
because that's what I deserve. And my sin became his. And it
came to the place where he deserved that. Whatsoever was done, he
became the doer of it. Now somebody says, can you make
that good from the scripture? There's so many scriptures I
could turn to, but let me turn to one, Psalm 69. Now in this
Psalm, we read in verse 21, they gave me also gall for my meat,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Now who's speaking? Jesus Christ. Remember when they
gave him gall and vinegar? That was an answer to this prophecy
in Psalm 69, 21. This is Christ speaking. And
he says in verse five, Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness and
my sin are not hid from thee. Now somebody says, how could
Christ say something like that if he never sinned? because my
foolishness became his on the cross, and my sins became his
on the cross. And he cries out, O God, thou
knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. Now, my sins, the sins I have
committed, He became the doer of those sins. Once again, he
never committed a sin in himself, but all that sin is, he was made
to experience. But here's the other side. Whatsoever
they did, He was the doer. Now, let me read you another
passage of scripture from 2 Corinthians 5, and I think this will help
us to understand this. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. Everybody will appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. And let me say this, there's
only one judgment. People have used this passage of scripture
to teach a different judgment. There's only one judgment, the
great white throne judgment. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. that every one may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, what's been done in your body?
Bad? Sure. Many sins. So How can I
be saved then if I'm going to be receiving the things done
in my body? Because the things done in my body are all good
because it's His doing. It's what the Bible calls justification. All the things that I've done
are all good because they're all His doing. In salvation, He is the doer. I love it when The Lord said
to John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3 verse 15, Thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus Christ fulfilled all
righteousness, it became mine. What I did in my body, and that
can be summarized by everything Christ did the 33 years he walked
upon this earth, perfect righteousness, all the things done in my body,
which makes me perfect, he was the doer. You see, in salvation,
he is the doer. Election, for instance, that's
where salvation begins, is his doing. He said, you did not choose
me. but I chose you. Justification
is His doing. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Redemption is His doing. He redeemed us from the curse,
having been made a curse for us. Regeneration has this one
reason, His doing. I'm not regenerated and born
again in response to me asking for it, but because Christ died
for me, because God elected me. It's all because of his doing.
I'm preserved because I'm preserved in Christ Jesus. It's all according
to his doing. Now let me close with this thought
in Genesis chapter 39, verse 23, the keeper of the prison
looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord
was with him, And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
You see, Joseph committed everything, or the prisoner committed everything
to Joseph's hand. Now, that's what the believer
does. We commit all of our salvation to Christ, and here's why. Ephesians
chapter 1. Verse 12 says that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.
You know who first trusted in Christ? God the Father. He entrusted
the complete salvation of all of His people to the Lord Jesus
Christ before time began as their surety, and Jesus Christ took
complete responsibility for their salvation. And at that time,
God ceased to look for anything out of any of those people. He
looked to everything that He required of them to His Son for.
Now, you and I are called upon to trust Christ the same way
the Father does. The Father looks to Christ for
everything. You and I are called upon to
look to Christ for everything. to really believe that everything
God requires of me, everything, He looks to Jesus Christ for.
Jesus Christ really is all in salvation. He's not 99% of salvation,
He's all of salvation. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. I trust His doings. I look nowhere else but Him. And that's what's called faith
in Christ. I'm relying on this, that all
God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. And all that
they did, He was the doer of it. Now, we have this message
on DVD and CD. Call the church, and we'll send
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