Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Genesis chapter 39. Genesis 39. Joseph has been sold into a house
of a man named Potiphar and In Potiphar's house as a servant,
slave, Joseph proved himself to be honorable. He was trusted because he was
trustworthy. But Joseph's integrity was greatly
tried. The scripture says in Genesis
chapter 39 verses 7 to 12, it says, and it came to pass after
these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. And she said, lie with me. But he refused and said unto
his master's wife, behold, my master, what if not what is with
me in the house? and he hath committed all that
he hath to my hand. There's none 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? And it came to pass, as she spake
to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her to lie
with her, to be with her. And it came to pass about this
time that Joseph went into the house to do his business and
there was none of the men of the house there within. 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. Now, without a doubt, This was
a great temptation that was levied against this young man. Scripture says he was a goodly
man. He was a nice looking man. He
was a handsome man. He was just a young man that
was nicely looked upon. And this woman, this wife of
Potiphar, tried to seduce Joseph. a temptation that has led to
the demise of untold masses. Day by day, this enticing, impure,
unfaithful wife of Potiphar, endeavored by her continued shameless
solicitations to draw Joseph away unto herself, But by the
grace of God, and it was only by the grace of God, Joseph maintained
his integrity. And what he did when it got to
the point to where she grabbed hold of him, grabbed hold of
his garment, said, lie with me. He fled from her presence. Now, we have a warning. from the Lord. Proverbs 110.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. And as I said before, by the
grace of God, Joseph did not consent because the Lord had
made a way of escape. He fled. He left. But for his
honor, for his integrity. I'm now, I'm going to tell you
what happened. You know what happened, but I'm going to tell
you anyway, tell you what happened. And then by the grace of God,
I want us to see the gospel in this, the salvation of God's
people. Cause if we don't see the gospel
in it, as I've said before, it's just a history lesson. It's just
a story. And if it's just a story, it
will do us no good whatsoever. His honor, His honor was tried,
his honor was tested, and he proved himself, again by the
grace of God, to be honorable. But again, I said, because of
that honor that was shown by Joseph, he was treated with wicked
disrespect. The scripture says in verses
13 to 20, 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 her house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought
in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. And he came in unto me 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 his garment by
her until his Lord came. And she spake unto him according
to these words saying, the Hebrew servant, which thou has brought
unto us, came in unto me to mock me. And he came to pass as I
lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with
me and fled out. He came to pass when his master
heard the words of his wife, But she spake unto him, saying,
after this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him,
put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were
bound, and he was there in the prison. Now, let me just say
this. You know this, but it bears being
said again. Within the bond of marriage,
there is nothing but purity. found in the union between a
man and his wife. Marriage is honorable in all
and the bed undefiled. Marriage between a man and his
wife is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and his bride. For this cause, the scripture
says, shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church. Potiphar's wife propositioned
Joseph with that which was absolute wickedness. And Joseph's answer
was an answer of pure honor. He was honorable, number one,
before the Lord. He was honorable to himself. He was honorable to Potiphar,
whose wife was trying to seduce him. The scripture says, back
in chapter 39, verses eight, And nine, when she first came
to him and said, lie with me, he refused and he said unto his
master's wife, behold, my master what is not what is with me in
the house. He said, my master is not concerned
with anybody, anything, anything in his house. He has left all
of the government of this house. He said to me, he does not concern
himself with anything. And he hath committed all that
he hath to my hand, and there's none greater in this house than
me concerning the running of it. Neither hath he kicked back
anything from me but you." His wife, he said, you're the
only thing that is off limits to me because I am his wife. How then can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God. But while this passage vividly,
perfectly sets forth the evil of adultery and God's warning
that is given us concerning the avoidance, the fleeing from that
temptation, the type and picture that's set forth here is actually
the setting forth of the temptation of Satan himself through his ministers in the
temptation to try to seduce the people of God away from the Lord
of glory himself. He'll never succeed in doing
it, but he never stops. Whenever Satan tempted the Lord
in the wilderness, the Lord had fasted 40 days and 40 nights. And after he had fasted, Satan
came to him and tempted him. Three times he tried to tempt
the Lord. Lust of the eyes, lust of the
flesh, pride of life. He tempted the Lord, and when
he saw that he was unsuccessful and overcome, by the Lord himself,
by the word of God, he fled from the Lord. Satan absolutely hates
God. He hates God. And because of
his hatred with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he can't get to the
Lord, but what he's going to try to do is deceive God's people
because they are the Lord's Hold your place right here, turn with
me to Revelation 12. I've read a portion of this scripture
before. I want to read a few extra verses. Revelation chapter 12. Now I'm
going to, let me tell you where I'm going with this. I'm going
to show you the evil and the temptation of Satan to tempt
the Lord's people away from hearing the gospel of God's free grace. Satan does not know, as I've
said before, he does not know who the elect are. We don't know
who the elect are. Satan doesn't know who they are.
God knows who they are. But we don't. So what Satan is
going to do, he has got the greatest temptation known to man that
appears to be honorable. And it's religion. False religion. False religion. I'm going to
show you this. In the scriptures, I'll show you this. Revelation
chapter 12, verse 10 through 17. And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength in the
kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser
of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night. And they overcame him. by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and
they love not their lives unto death. Now what you're saying
is this, God's got a people. God's got a people, He gonna
call them out of darkness. And He imparts into them life,
the Spirit of God. And they know Him, they have
a new heart, a willing heart to come to Christ. And they love
not their lives, even unto death. They love Him, they'll die. they'll
die before they'll forsake him. Verse 12, therefore rejoice ye
heavens, that ye dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and sea, for the devil has come down unto you having
great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. He's got great wrath, he's got
a short time because he knows this, God's gonna cast him out,
he knows that. He's going to give it all he's
got. And when the dragon saw that
he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man-child. He was cast out of heaven. God
cast him out. But what did he do? When he saw
that he was cast out of, out of, out of, unto the earth, he
persecuted the church, the bride. That's who he's going after.
I can't get to him, but I'll get to you. because he loves
you, and you're the body, and I don't know who you are, but
I'm gonna get you, and here's how I'm gonna get you. To the
woman, we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might
fly into the wilderness, into her place where she's nourished
for a time and times and half time from the face of a serpent.
She's in this earth. She's in the world. She's in
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue They're scattered,
but the Lord's gonna call her. He's gonna call her. But what
she's gonna do is she's gonna try to get after her. And the
way she's gonna try to do it, she's gonna try to seduce him.
Gonna try to draw her to himself. But he's gonna do it the only
way that he knows or thinks he can do it. He'll do it by fooling
her, deceiving her with religion. I'll show you. And the serpent,
verse 15, cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman,
that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. A
flood of lies, a flood of deceit, a flood of deception. It's just
a flood of it. I've often said it should amaze
men, Mitch, that there's so many different denominations. This one says this, and this
one says this, and this one says this, and this one says this.
It's a deception. And if you don't like this one,
take this one. If you don't want to speak in tongues, that's okay,
be baptized. If you don't want to baptize or speak in tongues,
that's fine, just walk down an aisle. But just do something
to set your heart to pride. Just do something. The serpent,
verse 15, cast his mouth water as a flood after the woman that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm gonna
tell you something. That scripture right there just set forth the
truth of Satan's tactics to try to draw away the bride of Christ
away from Christ. He's not going to do it, but
this is all he's got. He's going to give it his best
shot. The battle is not going to stop, I'm telling you right
now, until Satan is cast into the lake of fire. He will be,
Revelation 20 verse 10. So here's Potiphar's wife, and
I'm telling you that she is a picture, and Joseph here is a picture,
he's a picture of Christ, but a picture of Christ as his bride,
one with her. When he told Saul of Tarsus,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus,
master of the one you're persecuting. Who was Saul persecuting? The church. You know what the
Lord said? That's me, you're doing that to me. So Joseph here,
he's a picture of our Lord, but a picture of our Lord's body,
the church, the bride. So here's Potiphar's wife, this
shameful, brazen, unfaithful, wicked woman that has propositioned
Joseph And here, as a picture, a type of all satanic, motivated,
false religions of this world. The Spirit of God moved, hold
your place again. Here's another one we've read
before, but we need to. Proverbs chapter seven. Here,
if you want another picture of a false religion, Spirit of God
moved Solomon to record. Proverbs chapter seven, verse
six. At the window of my house, I looked through my casement.
and beheld among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths
a young man, void of understanding, passing through the street near
her corner. And he went the way to her house in the twilight,
in the evening, in the black and dark night." Boy, that's
where she operates. Why, they love darkness rather
than light. Let's do this in the dark. In the twilight of the evening,
in the black and dark night, and behold, there met him a woman
with the attire of a harlot, subtle of heart. She's loud and
stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house.
She's not faithful. She's not a faithful woman. Now
she is without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.
So she caught him and kissed him. With impudent face, said
unto him, I have peace offerings with me. This day I have paid
my vows. Therefore, came I forth to meet
thee diligently to seek thy face. And I found thee, I've always
looked for you. You're the one I've always had
my eye on. I've noticed you. You've been here before, hadn't
you? Listen. Therefore, came I forth to meet
thee diligently to seek thy face. I found thee. I've decked my
bed with coverings of tapestry. Carved works with fine linen
of Egypt. I've perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of
love until the morning. Let us soulless ourselves with
love for the good man is not at home. He's gone on a long
journey. He's taken a bag of money with him. He'll come home
at the day appointed. With her much fair speech, she
calls him to yield. With her flattering of her lips,
She forced him, he goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth
to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks
till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth through
the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life. You know,
when we consider the flattering deceptiveness of false religion,
you know, I was just thinking today, it just seems like to
me that every time I get on a scripture It always comes back to the evils
of false religion. And you know, I've made up my
mind that I'm going to, I'm not, I'm going to only preach against
this as much as the scriptures does. As much as the Lord, when
he was here warned against false preachers, false prophets, Be
careful, be careful, beware, beware. Don't believe every spirit. Don't believe. How many times
in scriptures are we warned against this? This is the greatest of
all evils in the world. You said, I thought it was those
people over there in Iran that's doing all those atrocity stuff.
That ain't nothing. It's horrible, but it's nothing. to that which destroys souls. That's what scripture says. Destroyers
of souls. But here's the flattering tool
of Satan. This is the flattering tool. There's no danger like this danger. False religion. That which hates
God. It is Satan himself. hatred of God, hatred of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This, the one purpose, the one
purpose of false religion is to destroy man, to get at God
through his people. And there's no deception greater
than this because it appeals to a man's flesh. Let me tell you something. There's
no temptation that's greater than for a man or a woman to
try to seduce the other one, make them feel like they're special. I've always noticed you. I've
had my eye on you. This is the greatest of temptations. False religion dresses itself
up in ornamental beauty and makes an open claim to love God. I love God and we love you. We
love you. We've always wanted to be with
you and have you with us. And it only wants people, they
say, to prosper in God's blessing. Just like that woman in Proverbs
7. I've decked my bed out, got tapestries, perfumed it, myrrh,
aloe, good man's not even gone. False religion claims rise out
according to the scriptures, to the simple and undiscerning
ones. Lie with me. Lie with me. Lie with me. Nothing makes merchandise
of men's souls like lying prophets that come and try to seductively
woo people unto them. They encourage men to come give
their hearts to the Lord Jesus, but do it with your free will
that is yours. You've got a free will. Make
your decision. False religion claims to want union with God. We love God. But they love God,
little g, they love the little g God, only on their wicked and
deceitful terms if we get the glory. We love him. I don't want
you to think that we don't love God. But they don't love the
God of this Bible. They don't love the God of holy
scriptures. Potiphar's wife, like those bound to the lives
of Satan, would not listen for reason. She wouldn't listen to
truth. She wouldn't listen to honor.
Whenever she tried to seduce Joseph, he said, how can I do
this? Your master, your husband, my
master, he's put me in charge of all this. How can I do this? He has forbid me to touch you. How can I do this? How can I
sin against God with this wickedness? When he told her that, you'd
think maybe there'd be a spark, a spark of honor or something. No, the carnal mind is enmity
against God. The carnal mind hears the scriptures
and hears the glory of God, hears the sovereignty of God, the mercy
of God, and God's right to do as He will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And they say, I'll
not have that God to rule over me. You'll not hear the gospel. All
she wanted and all self-righteous religion wants is that which
is God dishonoring and man exalting. And when she saw that Joseph
would not succumb to her advances, when she saw that what she was
doing was exposed as dishonor, that's what he told her. That's
what he was actually telling her. She turned on him and hated
him and hated him without a cause. There was no cause in Joseph
to be hated. He did that which was right.
And what did the Lord say? Psalm 69, 4. They hated me without
a cause. What has Almighty God ever done
to man that would deserve man's hatred of him? But the Lord said,
they hated me before they hated you. Oh, how evident. False religion
does this very thing. And you know why they hate God? They hate God because God's word
will not bear up their lies. The word of God makes them to
be a liar. They're exposed. And what they
do, 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 14 to 16. 2 Peter 3, 14, wherefore, beloved,
seeing that we look for such things, be diligent that you
may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. And
account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even
as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom
given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his
epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some
things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest. as they do also the other scriptures
under their own destruction. What this woman did when she
realized that Joseph wasn't going to give in, succumb, be taken
in by her advances, that he fled from her. She had his garment
in his hand, but he left her. He left his garment rather than
dishonor himself and sin against God. And what she did immediately,
what'd she do? She wrested, she twisted, she
tortured the truth. She cried out, cried out to the
men. He tried to seduce me. He came
in, and I cried out, and when he heard my cry, he left. This
is what happened. Yeah, this is what happened.
And she held on, the scripture says, she held on to that garment.
She hadn't kept it with her. I'm gonna have to have some proof,
because my husband's coming back. And the other men already know
this. So I'm gonna have to have this with me and I'm gonna prove,
I'm gonna use this right here. She held onto his garment. This
is what men, this is what false religion does. They'll take and
they'll twist the scriptures. They'll take the scriptures.
John 3, 16. You know what John 3, 16 says? For God
so loved the order of man, the race of man. For God so loved
mankind, that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believeth
in Him, and those that are going to believe in Him are those that
He's going to give a new heart. He's going to come in regenerating
grace and give them a willing heart. Thy people shall be willing. Thy people shall be willing.
Who are going to be willing to come? Thy people, and only Thy
people, because man by nature is lost. God loved the order
of man. And if God Almighty didn't come
and redeem the order of man, the race of man, man's going
to perish. God loved the order of man. It
was created in the image of His Son. And His Son's going to be
honored in their redemption and salvation. And they'll forever
be with Him as trophies of His grace and mercy. He loved the
order of man because He loved the order of man. He sent His
only begotten Son, whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish. False religion will take it and
twist that. God loved everybody in the world. God loves everybody. God so loved the world. He loved
them all. And He gave His only begotten Son. And whosoever will
exercise their free will, whosoever will come to Him. He wants everybody
to come. He's hoping everybody come. He
paid their price. The price is paid. He paid for
everybody's sins. Everybody's sins are paid for.
They're all sins. But if they don't come, he failed.
There were some that he couldn't, he just couldn't save. He tried
his best to come. That's so dishonoring. That's
what she did. She dishonored. She wrested scripture. She wrested the truth. But Joseph,
on the other hand, he was innocent. She was guilty. He was innocent. But he was considered guilty
in the eyes of Potiphar. In the eyes of Potiphar being
guilty, in the eyes of Potiphar being guilty, he therefore was
going to suffer the penalty of one that was guilty. The scripture
says in verse 20, Joseph's master took him and
put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were
bound. He was there in the prison. Joseph was thrown into this prison. He was not guilty, he was not
guilty, but he was accounted as being guilty. And he was thrown
into the prison place where the king's prisoners were bound.
Now let me tell you what I saw in those king's prisoners, in
the king's prisoners. The prison where the king's possessions
were. He was in the prison where the
king's prisoners were. They were prisoners and they
were bound. but they were the kings. They
were the king's prisoners, type of God's elect, bound in the
prison of sin. And Joseph, falsely accused. Was Joseph innocent? Yes. Was
Joseph innocent? Yes. But he was accounted as guilty. Scripture says, and he hath made
him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Oh, how beautifully do we behold
the person of our Savior, like Joseph, who was personally innocent. Our Lord knew no sin. He knew no sin, but being made
sin before the law. He was made sin. He was actually
bearing the sins of his people in his own body and was therefore
being blameless personally. He was not a sinner. Lord helped
me to go to my grave saying that I've been so falsely accused
of saying that Christ was a sinner. I never said he was a sinner.
He was made sin. There's a big difference. He was therefore counted as unholy,
sinful, and bound for the payment before the law. The holy, harmless
Lamb of God made sin. I'll tell you what, I'll tell
you another thing. I'm sure I'll go to my grave not understanding
the depth of what I just said. I know it's so, but I can't grasp,
but I know it's so. When the Father forsook the Lord
Jesus Christ, At Calvary, it wasn't pretense. It wasn't play-like. We grew up, you did this too,
we play-like. Let's play cowboys and Indians,
play-like. What are you gonna be? You gonna be the cowboy this
time or the Indian? You know, play-like, pretend. There was
no pretense with him. He, being sinless, was bearing
the guilt of his people. And the law, where the sin was
found, demanded justice, and justice was served. that God
might be just and merciful. God's justice is gonna have to
be satisfied. He's fair. Oh, but behold the goodness,
it's closing, and it's pictured in Joseph's bondage. The scripture
says, verse 21, 22, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him
mercy, 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 of it. The Lord was with Joseph. He
was in the prison with the king's prisoners. And according to that
scripture right there, the scripture says in verse 22, and the keeper
of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were
in the prison. What does that mean? That means
that they were his responsibility. All was committed to Joseph's
hands concerning those prisoners. And whatever was done there,
he was the overseer. He was the one that was in the
prison with them, but the one that was answerable. But whatever
went on with the prisoners, whatever was done, Joseph was the person
doing it. That's what he was. He was the
doer of it. Whatever they did, he was responsible
for it. He attended to it. He was given
the credit for it. Whether it was good or bad, I'm
gonna look to you. What do you say? And the prisoners,
benefited from it. The scripture says 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. Now, when you see the spiritual
side of that, we as the people of God, we're in prison. We're the king's prisoners. We
were bound, trespassers of sin, but we were the kings. We belonged
to him. And you know what happened? God
sent his only begotten son into the prison with us. Came to this
earth. He came to this world. He was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He who knew no sin. And
he was given the commission to be the representative All that
was required of the Father for all the prisoners, all of His
sheep, all of it was committed to the Lord Jesus. He was the
doer of it. The law demanded absolute obedience
for righteousness and justification before God. All that the Lord's
chosen, all that the Father chose, He sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to be the doer. It's your responsibility. I'm
not gonna look to one person, but to you. That's what he said.
I'm gonna look to you. I've committed all of it. Righteousness
is demanded. And the Lord Jesus Christ walked
before God's law, and I know with no infraction, no deviation,
no guilt, no sin, This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased. You hear Him. They needed obedience. And He was the doer of it. They
needed their sin taken care of. They are sinners against God.
That's why they're in prison. They needed that guilt taken
care of. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
scripture says in Galatians 3.13, Christ hath delivered us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. What the law demanded, what the
law of God demanded for God's people, for justification, perfect
obedience, he was the doer. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we've believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Beloved, as the keeper of the prison,
an unquestioning trust in Joseph, that's what it said. Keeper of
the prison, verse 22, committed Joseph's hand. Everything. Verse 21 said, the
Lord was with Joseph, showed him mercy and gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. That keeper of that
prison looked to Joseph. He trusted Joseph. He loved Joseph. And the glorious God, Father
Jehovah himself, who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to
him alone, as the doer, which was required of us, his people. He looked only and looks only
to the Lord Jesus Christ. His satisfaction. And now, he
said, when I see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. Look into one. He's looking to
one. And he is the doer. And he did
not fail. He said, I finished the work.
I pray God bless this.