Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Genesis 39. We read for our
text part of verse two. And the Lord was with Joseph. Genesis 39. And verse two, inspired
holy word of God declaring that the Lord was with Joseph in this
present path, this present trial that he was walking in. Many years later, in the land
of Canaan, after the Lord had dealt in a chastening way with
the children of Israel, in the book of Judges, the children
of Israel were under the hand of Midian, the reason being that
the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. We
read in Judges chapter 6, And then there appeared to Gideon
an angel came to him and spoke to him and said that his presence
was with him. And he had this question. Gideon
said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then
is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles
which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring
us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And
the answer of the Lord was to look upon him and say, Go in
this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of
the Midianites. The way the Lord's presence had
been evidenced with the children of Israel was that he had not
left them to go on in evil and in a wicked way, but that he
had chastened them, he brought them into bondage with Midian,
he brought them to cry unto the Lord, and now is bring them out
of this time of chastening and delivering them through Gideon. And so the Lord can rightly say,
the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And yet we might
say, and Joseph may well have felt and said as well, if the
Lord be with us, why then? is all this befallen us. What
a reminder we have in Judges, that we may, if we are the Lord's
people, in fact we will, have times when we sin, when the Lord's
hand will be upon us in chastening and correction, and it was seen
that our enemies, and in reality enemies will triumph over us,
our sins, things do not go well, the hand of the Lord going out
against us. The children of Israel prove
that in many times. But when the Lord has done what
he means to have done in that path of correction and tribulation,
then it is that his presence is known again and yet really
in reality the Lord has not forsaken his people but is with them. Nevertheless, the times in the
Word of God when it is clearly stated in the inspired Word that
the Lord is with his people, it is those times that it is
evidenced outwardly It is seen, it is acknowledged, as well as
recorded so, in the inspired Word of God. Now, how much Joseph
knew in his own soul the sweetness and blessings of the Lord's presence,
we don't know. We do know in Psalm 105 that
until his time came, the Word of the Lord tried him, and of
no doubt in this path being sent away from his father, his brethren,
and how they dealt with him. We have a little indication of
that, how he named that his sons and meaning that he was a stranger
in a strange land and that the Lord had looked upon him in his
affliction, that is later on after this time, of course. But in this time, the time of
being sold, sold as a slave, and then to be falsely accused
and cast into prison, Joseph knew what it was to have severe
tribulation and severe trial. And yet in spite of that, we
have the testimony four times in this chapter that the Lord
was with him. The word of our text. And the
Lord was with Joseph. And we see how that was evidenced. And he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. So the Lord, even in that place
of servitude as a servant, evidenced his presence with him in making
that which he did to prosper. And his master noticed it. So
we read in verse 3, his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. It was seen in his life, that
blessing of the Lord in those things that he did, even in this
path of tribulation and trial. Then when he was cast into prison,
the next scene in this chapter, we read In verse 20, how that
he was there in the prison. And then verse 21, but the Lord
was with Joseph. How was he with Joseph? How was it evidenced? And showed
him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of
the prison. I wonder how many times we take
it as a sign of the Lord with us and mercy, that the Lord gives
us favour in the eyes of those with whom we have to do, and
in Joseph's case, and it may be announced, in the eyes of
those that have it in their power, to do us harm or to make our
lives very difficult indeed. But here we don't only read that
he was given favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison,
but we read that he also, the keeper, knew and could say that the Lord was
with him. We read in 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. Joseph was a prisoner and he
was in prison. And yet in that prison, the Lord
evidenced his presence with him and in what he was able to do
in that prison, no doubt only of a limited scope of what he
could do, yet the Lord was with him and made it to prosper. And so four times in this path
of tribulation. Now Joseph may have risen, reasoned,
he might have felt like Gideon those years later. If the Lord
be with me, why did he permit me to be falsely accused? Why
did he permit that my master believe his wife and not me after
all the service that I served him and all that he trusted me
with, could not he trust or ask for my account and leave my account? Why did he just throw me straight
into prison? If the Lord was with me, surely
this would not have happened. And he could have gone back further
and thought, well, if the Lord was with him, why was he sold?
Why did he permit that he should find out where his brothers were? Why couldn't he have gone home
to his father? How many times we have the why's
in our life. It's questioning what has happened
and perhaps putting a construction on it that the Lord could not
possibly be with us if this was the case. And yet we see, in
the midst of these things, there are things that could be seen,
how the Lord was with Joseph, even though there were those
things outwardly, like his servitude, like his falsely accusing in
prison, they're outward things, but they're also outward things
that show the Lord was with him. And I wonder how that is with
your life and with mine. We might select some outward
things that we're passing through, things that are done, things
that affect us, things that profoundly affect our lives, like Joseph. We may dwell upon those and yet
pass by other aspects. Maybe even the very same things
here. Joseph had the Lord with him. And when he was a servant, then
no doubt his scope of doing good for his master was of great scope. And God blessed that which he
did. When he was put in prison, a
lot less he was able to do, but still at his notice he did. And
we might look upon things that we're in and think, well, how
can we be of any use? How can we be of any blessing? How can the Lord be with us?
And yet in the circumstances that the Lord has placed us in,
Are we able to trace, as the Holy Spirit does here with Joseph,
that we do have the Lord's presence with us in that circumstance? And that we're not left to think,
well, the only way that we can judge the Lord's presence with
us is by getting out of our trial and out of our trouble. As if
Joseph would say, the only way I can see the Lord's presence
with me is to be brought back to my father or out of this prison
or believed by my master. Are we making lines for the Lord
to run in? Are we prescribing how his help,
his presence, shall be known. And are we forgetting that the
Lord has said that it is through much tribulation we must enter
the kingdom? Just to remind you of a few of
those times that are through the scriptures where it is noted
that the Lord's presence, or Lord with one, was evidenced
by outward blessing. It was so with Isaac. The king
of Egypt had noticed the blessing that the Lord had blessed him
with. And though they had chased and pursued him for the waters
of the wells that he digged, yet afterwards they went out
after him. They saw the Lord was with him.
They didn't want to alienate with him. We have the same with
Joshua. We're told after that Jericho
had been taken, that the Lord was with him. His fame was noised
in all of that country by how the Lord had appeared and the
walls of Jericho fell down. What a contrast from those 38
years before. when the children of Israel had
been plagued because of their unbelief, would not go up into
Canaan. And then they'd said, well, we
have done wrong. They convinced of that because
of how the Lord plagued them. And they said then they would
go up. But Moses said, go not up, for
the Lord is not with you. And then they were defeated by
their enemies in that time, very different when the Lord gave
Joshua such deliverance. And then we read with Judah,
the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Joseph, that they were also
given those deliverances as they took over the promised land and
fought for their inheritances. But sometimes it is very interesting,
especially with Judah, the tribe of Judah, when they took their
inheritance, because we read this in Judges 1, verse 19, and
the Lord was with Judah, and, and this is how it is evidenced,
and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not
drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had
chariots of iron. Now, how easy it would be for
us to say, well, how could the Lord be with Judah? If he was
with Judah, the chariots of iron would have meant nothing. He
would have delivered them in spite of those chariots of iron. But the inspired word of God
says, it was the Lord with them that they drove out the inhabitants
of the mountain, But obviously the Lord's will and the Lord's
purpose was that at this time they should not drive out the
inhabitants of the valley. And the reason given is because
of the chariots of iron. We might as well have a situation
we can go so far. The Lord's helped us to go so
far, but we can't go further. And there's a temporal reason
why. maybe a person or circumstances,
and we reasoned in this way, if the Lord was with us, then
we would go the whole way. Or like with Judah, we'd take
out those chariots of iron as well. They taught here we are
not to just rule out the Lord's presence with us completely because
The Lord says, this far shall be what you shall do. And then
later on, further on, these things are written for us to compare
in our own lives and the things that we do if we are to discern
the Lord's presence with us, and especially if we're not to
get too cast down and low. Because in our minds, we often
will So the only way we'll know the Lord is with us is if this
is done, if that is done. Then we have the case of Samuel. We read the Lord when he first
began to speak to him, and the Lord was with him. And how was
that evidence? That he let none of his words
fall to the ground. Those things that he prophesied
and said, the Lord brought to pass. The Lord confirmed the
word that he was truly one of his servants and to be a prophet
of the Lord. We then have a most solemn contrast
between David and Saul, King Saul. The Lord was departed from
Saul. He had disobeyed him, rejected
the Lord, hadn't destroyed the Amalekites, forced himself, offered
the offerings, Couldn't wait for the Lord. And so the Lord
rejected him. And he gave David his spirit.
Well, we saw, we see he went from one extreme to another,
still had forms of religion, forms of severity in banning
the people from eating when they'd been in battle. If the people
hadn't have intervened, he would have even had his own son Jonathan
slain because he disobeyed his foolish orders. Saul was just really drifting
along, left on his own, without wisdom, understanding, consistency. But Saul saw something different
in David. He saw that however much He sought,
King Saul sought to slay David, the Lord preserved him and everywhere
he went, he saw that the Lord gave him favour in the eyes of
the people, that he had the presence of the Lord and the blessing
of the Lord with him, but not with Saul. And that made Saul
hate David even more. But again, it was noticed in
an outward way how the Lord went before David, and yet, through
a time when David was greatly persecuted by Saul, a time when
it must have been a great trial to David, why is it, I've been
anointed king, why is it that I've got to go through this?
One time he said, one day I shall perish at the hand of Saul, and
he goes over to the Philistines. How low David got, even though
The Lord was with him in a way so clear that Saul noticed it. We have the same with Jehoshaphat. The Lord was with him. How was
that evidence? That he established his kingdom
in his hand. What about with the scattered
brethren in Acts? They were scattered upon the
persecution of Stephen when Stephen was stoned. But again, we read
the Lord was with them and a great number believed. And we have
these times through the scriptures where we are told of the Lord's
presence and the circumstances. Circumstances of persecution,
of trial, of bondage, circumstances where the Lord's help was given
in some matters but withheld in others. The Lord's presence
is to be known in an outward way, but we would never advocate
what some would say was a prosperity gospel, that is that the way
that we know the blessing of the Lord is by outward prosperity. Those that pursue that look upon
their wealth, their riches, their lands, all that they have as
an evidence of the Lord's blessing to be upon them. That way is
not set forth in the word of God. Our affections are not to
be on things on this earth. And the Lord has blessed those
that are poor. It's not setting before us here. Well, if the Lord blesses and
prospers, then we are going to be rich, powerful, wealthy, worldly
men. The blessing of the Lord, it
maketh rich and addeth no sorrow within. but it doesn't entangle
back with the world or put in Satan's hand. There are those
things that we may clearly join together if that is our design.
I hope it is, that we may know the Lord's presence with us.
How? How do we know the Lord's presence
with us? Well, I want to suggest three
things that will go together and will See this, you can see
this with dear Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. The first thing we'll look at
is that we fear the Lord and walk in his ways. That is trusting
in his salvation. That is vital first. Then secondly,
we are not exempted from a path of tribulation. Our Lord was
very emphatic that he must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. In me ye shall have peace, in
the world ye shall have tribulation. And it was the apostles that
emphasised that. He must, through much tribulation,
enter the kingdom. And then thirdly, that others
will notice, The Lord is with us by his help and by his providence. Perceive then there will be the
fear of the Lord and to walk in his ways. Be a solemn thing
if the Lord was supposedly with a person burnt They were a worldly
person. They were a person that sought
their own will, not the Lord's. They did not fear the Lord. They
did not walk in his ways. They sought to their own strength
and might for their salvation, rested upon their works and not
upon the grace of God. If then we could add the other
two bits to it, and say, well, I'm a child of God, but we must
say that what must come first is that that soul be quickened
into spiritual life, truly know the Lord, fear the Lord, and
walk in His ways. Those that have suffered persecution,
we think of Joseph, we think of Daniel, we think of the apostles,
the saints of God, the first thing that marks them out is
that they were a people that served the Lord. Joshua, he says,
as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Jehoshaphat was
known as a king, a godly king, a king that served the Lord and
worshipped him. And that must come first. not
to look at outward things or even the approval of others or
whatever may be interpreted if we ourselves personally have
not the work of God in our heart. This is the work of God, that
ye believe in him whom God hath sent. The work of the Holy Spirit
is to lead a sinner to Christ, he shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. It is the work of the Spirit
that brings about the new birth, to be born again of the Spirit
of God. And before we ever look at any
other tokens, then there must be that work in us which causes
us to walk in his ways, and to actually live upon him is a solemn
thing if a person is not concerned about what they believe, how
they believe, how they walk and what they feed upon and all they
are asking, Lord show me a token that I am yours. I've even heard one of the Lord's
servants relate accounts of people that have said that if I am one
of your people, cause that it stopped raining now and it's
raining outside, and it did stop raining. But what did that prove? Did it prove that they're one
of the children of God? We're not to look for unrelated
signs like that, tokens like that, saying, Lord, do this and
do that. going down the path of Satan,
Satan saying to Christ, if thou art the Christ, you command these
stones and make them to be bread. And we can turn around and say,
prove that I'm a child of God, do this, do that, do that at
my bidding. But the Lord says of his children
that they are called and they are chosen and they are faithful,
and they are taught of the Lord, and that they walk in his ways,
that he gives them repentance, and in repentance he gives them
that token of forgiveness. He gives them the love of God,
to God and to their brethren. We know that we have passed from
death unto life in that we love the brethren, those evidences
of being saved, the greatest ones, though it is a great blessing
to be able to look back to a Damascus road experience, a real change,
the blind made to see, the dead quickened into spiritual life
and to realize and know that change and difference. Yet as
we go on, really the best, the blessed tokens that we might
live upon Christ. Paul says, in Him we live and
move and have our being. And then he says, when Christ
who is our life shall appear, then shall we appear with Him.
To live a life of faith and prayer to delight in him, to delight
in his word, and in fellowship with him in the closet, and with
his people, and to feed upon his word. They are the evidences
of a living soul, with a living appetite, with a hunger and thirst
after righteousness. What good would a token be that
we'd be able to say, the Lord answered my prayer and he gave
me this token. I know I'm a child of God because
this and this happened. But in our life, there is no
faith. We don't trust in him. We sit
in the house of God, but we don't feed upon the word. We're glad
when the amen and the sermon's gone. We don't feast upon that. We're not looking unto Christ. We don't desire his presence.
What good would the clearest token years gone by be if today
we were not living upon him and feeding on him by precious faith? And if our life was still all
here? In Hebrews, when it speaks of
those with faith, it speaks of those that this life is a wilderness
And they're declaring plainly they seek a country which is
above. Their affection is set on things
above. Sometimes it is lovely to see
the Lord's aid saints coming near their journey's end. And
it's as if they've done with earth and their whole thoughts
and affections and desires are on things above. And it can be
seen, heard thee, accounts from years ago, both men I didn't
know. But Mr. Funnell, Marcus's father, wasn't
out long in the ministries while we were in Australia. But it
was said whenever he preached, he seemed to be always in heaven.
And it wasn't long before the Lord took him there. I believe
Mr. Mulvey, many years before that,
was the same. But there's many that are not
ministers, that in all their conversation, their demeanour,
they are thinking after a future habitation. They have a desired
haven and they long to get there. They think of it often. They
have that real clear evidence and those around them can notice
it, they can see it. Here is a people that the Lord
has prepared a mansion for and We can see He's preparing them
for it. They want to be there. They look
forward to it. And so the best, the best token,
if you like, is the life of God within, a walking with the Lord. And a love to Him and His dear
people. And that is, that must be the
first thing. What kind of people are we? Are we spiritually quickened?
And what are our lives like? However much we might look through
the scriptures and we look at those times when it said the
Lord was with this person and that person, those people firstly,
They were godly people. They were those that feared the
Lord. They knew the Lord. May we be numbered with them
in that way. Well, the second thing is this,
that we are not exempted from tribulation. In Psalm 73, We have a solemn
case where Asaph is viewing the ungodly and he sees that they
have no troubles, no bans in their death, they prosper. If we just took prospering as
a token of being the Lord's people, then look at Psalm 73, we'll
see those and we'll say, well, surely the Lord is with them.
Surely they have the Lord's blessing. Because everything they do prospers. They have wealth, they have lands,
they have all that their heart could wish. And even spiritually, in the
presence of death, they're not fearing or troubled at all. But
then the shaman shows what happens beyond the grave, how quickly
they go down into the pit, how soon that that is destroyed. But with the people of God, Poor
and afflicted, says the hymn writer, Lord are thine, among
the great unfit to shine. And Paul says when he writes
to the Corinthians, that God hath not chosen those that are
mighty and noble, for few of them have been chosen, but those
that are poor, those that are foolish, countered by the world
as such. but is also those in affliction. I've chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. The people of God often know
what it is to have great afflictions and trials and tribulations in
their lives. And Joseph, we see that. We see
this time in his life. It must have been such a great
trial and a great tribulation referred to, as we mentioned
in Psalm 105, and set forth here, reflected in the names that he
called his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Don't think, dear friends, that
if we are the Lord's people, he'll exempt us from trouble,
from things going wrong, From men rising against us, from providence
going out against us, dear Jacob, he says, all these things are
against me. They weren't, but that's how
he felt when he viewed it so. We think of the people of God
like Jeremiah. What a sad position he was raised
up to be, a voice to a people that was to go down into captivity,
or Daniel to go down into captivity in the palace of a king that
did not fear God. The path of the Hebrew children
cast into the fire. They that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But also those things that we
come across, those things that are appointed of God, that will
be chosen by God, what is yours, what is mine, tribulation. And we won't be exempted that. It is very different for every
one of God's children. Some it is very severe. Some
it is not so severe. Some it's in a physical way.
In others it will be in a mental way. It's different in each case. Don't be tempted to measure your Or don't be tempted to look upon
another and say, like one said to Francis Coppell, I don't understand
how you can preach. You've got no tribulation in
your life. And he just opened the door from
his study. And then that man could see the
afflicted son that he had to care for and the trial that he
had with him. Sometimes outwardly, Men cannot
see the burden, the trial, the affliction that is very, very
heavy for you or I. But then thirdly, how shall we
know the Lord is with us? Others, others notice the Lord
is with us. How do they notice? by his help
and by his providence. And again, it will be in those
ways, not how we decide it shall be seen. It may be a dear brother
has a terrible path of discouragement and yet as they continue in that
path, Many would think, why do they not fail? Why do they not
give up? Why do they not be crushed under
this? And they marvel at the help and
the grace given to actually continue in that path. And they will have
a path of affliction, such illness, such wearing, debilitating afflictions. And yet they notice, others notice,
how they're able to bear those and to go day by day in them. Then there are other times, like
Laban and Bethuel, when they're told by Abraham's servant of
how the Lord had answered his prayer at the well and how he'd
been directed to their home and brought to the house of his master's
brethren And they say, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. And
we're able to relate the chain of events that glorify the Lord,
that show his handiwork and what he has done. And others notice
it, they serve it to the honor and glory of God. The children of Israel in returning
from Babylon, and they'd been bidden to build the temple of
the Lord, but they'd had discouragements in the way, and so they stopped
building it. But then the Lord touched. He
touched their pockets. He touched their farming. He
touched their goods. And it was the prophets, Haggai
and Zechariah, that came and interpreted to them and said,
it is because ye have left the house of the Lord waste that
God has touched all these things. In other words, the opposite
of noticing that the Lord was with them, they noticed the hand
of the Lord gone out against them. And the Lord kindly sent
his prophets and told them why. It's really the two sides to
it. If others are to notice, if we
are to notice, if something is an outward thing, especially
that the Lord's hand has gone out against us, then we are also
to notice the other side when he goes with us and for us. We had to know those both extremes. We think of with the children
of Israel going into the promised land. We mentioned about Joshua,
but how soon, when they took the accursed thing, they found
the opposite sign. The Lord was not with them, put
them to worse before Ai, which was but a small nation. Until they had dealt with the
sin and Achan, and then he was with them again. How was that
evidenced? The Lord blessed them and helped
them, and they overcame Ai. And so there's the two sides. It is watching providence, watching
the Lord's hand. And especially if we know the
difference between having the Lord with us and the Lord not
with us. Joshua had a stark contrast there,
famous on one side, wonderful deliverance with Jericho, and
a terrible defeat with Ai. And though they made it a matter
of prayer, the Lord says to Joshua, arise up, Israel has sinned. It's a blessed thing that our
God, when he chastens like that, when he deals like that, will
make the one that is being chastened know why, why he's withdrawn
that help, why he's not with them. So there'll be those things
that others will say that the Lord is with his people. But
in that, it will be not dictating to the Lord, not saying, well,
if the Lord is with them, that this and this must be so. a change
in circumstance or position, not saying of Joseph, well, how
can you say the Lord is with you? You're still in prison.
Not saying with Joseph, how can you say the Lord was with you
when your master treated you like that at that time? So may we be tender, Concerning
this thing, may we really desire the Lord to be with us. May we
know what it is to have the Lord's presence with us in those ways
of tribulation and difficulty and trial. May we be an exercise
people. Joseph, it was said, until his
time came, until he was fully delivered and fully brought out
and fully brought to Pharaoh and able to say, he meant it for evil, God meant
it for good. Until that time, the word of
the Lord tried him. Yes, over this time, that he
was still said the Lord was with him. The word of the Lord still
tried him. I would that the word this evening
might be to us an encouraging word and not discouraging word,
but it might be a prompting word that we desire the Lord's presence
in a scriptural way to be with us and we look not for wrong
evidences and tokens, but truly be a godly people, a people that
live upon the Lord Jesus Christ and that our fruitfulness comes
from him. We're able to say with the Apostle
Paul, if we have an area of labour or whatever it is we're doing,
I laboured more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me. The Apostle Paul had the Lord's
help and blessing. But it didn't keep him from being
shipwrecked three times, from being a prisoner, from being
beaten with rods, from suffering at the hand of false brethren
and his fellow countrymen in all the places that he went.
And yet the Lord was with him. May it be said of us that in
the word of our tax with Joseph and the Lord was with Joseph. Amen.