Genesis 39. We're returning here
to Joseph as a servant in Egypt. And we see in Joseph how that
our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully served His Father in perfect
righteousness for the redemption, the salvation of His people given
to Him by the Father. So let's begin reading the first
four verses. And Joseph, was brought down
to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,
an Egyptian, bought him of 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. 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. Joseph here gives us a beautiful
picture of the faithfulness of what Christ Jesus our Lord did
for us in serving His Father faithfully, willingly, gladly,
for the salvation of His people, for the salvation of God's family,
for his brethren. Now, Joseph didn't, rather Jacob,
the father, Jacob didn't realize what his son was setting out
to do when he sent his son to check on the welfare of his brethren. But God, our heavenly father,
knew exactly what his son was doing when he left the veil of
Hebron, as it were, in heaven to come here. to seek out his
brethren and to provide for our welfare, to go before us and
to obtain eternal redemption for us, eternal life, eternal
inheritance in himself. And Christ prospered in his labors. He served for his bride. He labored for us, brethren,
and he prospered in that which he did, that which he came to
do. Just as Joseph here is said to
be a prosperous man in his servitude, so our Lord Jesus Christ prospered
in all that he did. And that's good news. That is
good news to us, brethren, who have no hope in ourselves that
Christ prospered. He accomplished the work the
Father sent him to do. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
blessed man spoken of in Psalm 1. Let's look there at Psalm
1. He's the prosperous man. He's
the one that prospers. He's the blessed man spoken of
here. There's not a man on the earth
among you and I that could lay claim to being this blessed man
with such fullness, such perfectness as it does speak of Christ. It's Christ here. Psalm 1.1 says,
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. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season, His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper." Christ Jesus is that fruitful servant. All that he does prospers. He brings forth fruit in us in
our season. That is the season of his grace
for us. And he brings forth fruit in
us that gives glory to him and honor to his name and declares
and speaks of not our works, but his gracious work of salvation
accomplished for us, wrought in us as his workmanship, as
it pleases him. He's the blessed man. Again, we read of what the prophet
Isaiah said of him, that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. That's a wonderful, blessed meditation
to think that God, it pleased God. to save us according to
the good pleasure of Him, according to His good pleasure, according
to what pleased Him. Well, what pleased Him, He gave
to the Son to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves,
to do it all for us, and He made it to prosper. Even though when
our Lord came, he faced great opposition, great adversity from
man. He faced the enmity of man's
wicked heart, yet he went through it prosperously. They couldn't
touch him until it was time for him to go to the cross. He would
walk right through them when they were set against him to
cast him down the brow of the hill. He just walked right on
through them because it wasn't yet time. But he prospered in
everything he did. And when he went to the cross,
he accomplished that which he was sent to do. It is finished. It is finished, he said. He did
that work which he was sent to do. Now, of Joseph, We're told
in verse three that his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. Potiphar never had a servant
like he did in Joseph. He never had a servant like that
in his house before. The character of Joseph was unlike
anything he had ever seen. He was a faithful man, and I
suspect it had everything to do with the fear of the Lord
that was given to him, that the Lord was with him. The Lord rested
upon him. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord prepared that man and
gave that man those gifts for the work that he sent him to
do. God was with him, not to the measure that the Spirit of
God rested on Christ, but Joseph The Spirit of God was with him
for a purpose, to prosper what he sent him to do. And so he
never, Potiphar never had a man like this. Remember what is said
of Christ by Isaiah the prophet, the Lord says, behold, my servant,
whom I uphold. I'm with him. I've sent this
one to do this work that pleases me. Behold, my servant, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
unto Gentiles. He's not going to come up short
the way you and I come up short of the glory of God because we're
sinners. He shall not fail. He shall prosper in that work
which I sent him to do. Christ Jesus said this, I do
always those things that please him. And he can say that. He can say that because he did
and he does. Everything he does prospers in
his hand. He is the sweet savor of God
in whom we are received, in whom God is well pleased. And the
savor of his son, like the dew of the field, he is beautiful
to the father. He loves his son and delights
in him and all that come to him. denying themselves and confessing
that he is all. All that come to him, he is well
pleased. He's well pleased with them because
they come in Christ in whom he is well pleased. We're confessing,
Lord, I'm a liar and you're true. You're perfect, you're right
in all that you do. Thank you for your grace. Thank
you for your son. Thank you for your salvation.
He makes us a thankful people in him. We're told in Matthew
7, 28 and 29 that it came to pass when Jesus had ended these
sayings, right, the Sermon on the Mount there in chapter 7
of Matthew, the people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught
them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Luke
said it this way, for his word was with power. because the Spirit
of God rested upon him, was upon him without measure, he had the
Spirit of God, because in him dwelleth the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. He is Christ, the Christ of God,
the promised seed, the Son of God manifest in the flesh, brethren. Never was there a man like Jesus
Christ who so faithfully served the Father to please him perfectly
and all things that we that come in him would come in perfect
righteousness, which God imputes unto us for Christ's sake. If God imputes righteousness
to you, it's because you are righteous in Christ, because
God doesn't impute what you're not. He only imputes what you
are. And if righteousness is imputed
to you, which according to the scriptures Christ Jesus has obtained
for us, then you're righteous and God imputes it to you. He
calls it like it is. You're righteous. And so this
is what our faith is laying hold of in Christ. I want to be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness,
his righteous work, what he did, what he accomplished. I want
to be found in that work, which he did for me. For me, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that faith which is the gift of God
and not of this flesh, but is of him, lays hold of Christ,
comes to that Christ, that one, according to the scriptures,
who came according to the scriptures, who died according to the scriptures,
who was buried according to the scriptures, who rose again from
the dead according to the scriptures. That's who we believe. That's
who we are given faith in, in Christ, to lay hold of his faithfulness. Now, Genesis 39, 4. 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. Now just as Joseph was entrusted
by Potiphar over everything in his house, there wasn't anything
left to Potiphar that he didn't have to worry about it. He didn't
have to account for because he entrusted it entirely to Joseph. That's how faithful Joseph was
in ruling over the house. So it is that our Lord Jesus
Christ was trusted by the Father. In that way, your salvation rests
entirely upon Christ the Son. The Father gave it to His hand
completely. We are entrusted by the father
to the son to bring us safely to himself. That's why I love
that verse in Hebrews where he said, behold, I and the children
whom thou has given me. Here they all are. I brought
them all. Everyone you gave, not one is
lost. Not one is lost. They're all here with me. Paul
said that we should be to the praise of His glory who first
trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
The Father. The Father trusted us to Christ.
He gave us into his hand. Our Lord confirms this in John
17 too, as thou hast given him, speaking of himself, our high
priest, as thou has given him all or power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. That sounds to me like Christ
did not fail. He didn't lose one. all for whom
Christ shed his blood, they are redeemed and they are saved,
delivered from death and darkness and given eternal life in him. He's lost, not one, not a one. All things are given to the son
by the father. And if you would please God and
be accepted of him, of the father, you must come in Christ the son. This is his word. He calls us
to it. He calls us to Christ. He leads
us and brings us to Christ. And it's all by his power that
we come. It's all by his grace that we
come and are brought in by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
faithful servant of God who fulfilled all righteousness for his people. He went to the cross faithfully. Faithfully, I love how it says
in John how he went forth how he went over the brook Kidron
and when Judas came with those soldiers He went forth to meet
them. He went forth to meet them powerfully. What a champion our king Who
faithfully went before us he just? I'll do it. I'll do it
because we can't we're runners. We're Fleers and We're frightened,
but Christ is the faithful servant, the faithful Lord, the faithful
one, the faithful God. He's mighty, our man of war,
our champion, our David, who defeats Goliath. He's everything
to us, brethren. He's everything. Christ as a
Son, over His own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. That's the hope He gives us.
It's a rejoicing hope. We're thankful for Christ. Wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost saith, today, if you will hear His voice, harden
not your hearts. I mean, that, which we saw last
week, last hour, that is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost,
thinking that we're something when we're nothing. But he delivers
us from that and shows us it's all of grace, all of grace, all
of grace. It's all of his grace, and he's
our hope. And he rules the house and he
welcomes all that come unto him for his mercy, for his forgiveness,
for his blood, for his love, for his sacrifice. He receives
all that come unto him because it's his seed, it's his work
in you that leads us to him, that shows us I'm a sinner. I've
tried. I've done as best as I could
in the form of religion, and I fell flat on my face, and God
would not receive it. But he draws the sinner. That's
why he's the friend of sinners. He receives sinners and eateth
with them, because he calls them to his house and breaks bread
with him, that heavenly bread, which is his body and the shedding
of his blood, which we drink. We feed upon him. He is light. These words are spiritual. Spiritual
words, spiritual. You that come to Christ shall
be satisfied for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on
him shall not be ashamed. He is the salvation whom the
father has given to save his people from all their sins. And from our fears and our death
and all that we could not get ourselves out of Christ has done
it all. He settled the debt. He satisfied
the father. We are free indeed in him. He's the truth we know and are
set free by Jesus Christ. And so this is the service we
see pictured here. with Joseph in Potiphar's house. Verse five says, 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 Egyptian's 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 a picture, Egypt is a picture
of this world. the darkness, and the bondage
that is in this world, but there's a house here in this world. It
is the house of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the inn where he
brings his people to nurture us, to feed us, to save us, to
give us that salve of his healing, to cleanse us with his blood.
There's a house and it's the house of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the temple that he raised up on the third day Just as he
said and is the house that he brings his people into where
he feeds and nourishes us now all in Christ right this speaks
of Everything is under Joseph's hand. Well, in Christ, that's
exactly how it is. Everything you need, sinner,
to be accepted of God, to stand boldly before the throne of God
without fault, blemish, spot, or wrinkle, is found in Christ. There is nothing you need outside
of Christ. God has put nothing out there
for you to go and grab and bring on in there. Everything is given
in Christ. It's all under his hand. All the righteousness that God
requires of you is found in him. Look at verse six. Genesis 39,
6, And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew
not what he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph
was a goodly person and well favored. And brethren, that bread,
that bread of heaven, is what he makes us satisfied with. That same bread. I don't need
to know all the details. I have the bread of heaven, that's
enough for me. And that's what he makes us to
be satisfied with, Christ, Christ. So Egypt in and of itself really
is altogether insignificant. The only reason why we even know
anything of Egypt from this angle here is because Joseph was there
and it was the means that God was using to provide for his
people to ensure that that promised seed made in the garden would
come forth. that his brethren would not starve
to death up there in Canaan, right? And then when I say starve
to death, I mean not the way we say it here, I'm starving
to death. No, literally that they did not starve to death
because of the famine, that great temptation at that time, which
was coming upon the world, the Lord provided for his people
to ensure that promised seed would come forth. And it's that
same hope that we have that he provides for us today. that were his. And so long as
it pleases him for us to be here and serve and labor in his kingdom,
we'll be here. And when he pleases him, he'll
bring us home to himself. But we have confidence, not in
our hand, but in his hand, because it's all in him, all in him. And so just as God promised Abraham,
that in him should all nations of the earth be blessed. And
that's where the seed was coming, was through Abraham. Isaiah 65,
eight and nine says it this way. Thus sayeth the Lord. As the
new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servants' sakes,
that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed
out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains,
and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell
there. And so this is for us, brethren.
He's ensuring the promised seed, and it's to ensure that all those
given to Christ before the foundation of the world would indeed be
redeemed and brought to this salvation which the Lord has
wrought for us in Christ. And so this world continues for
that purpose. Otherwise, it's insignificant.
It's because the Lord still has a people here. And the Lord is
long-suffering, not willing that any, he's long-suffering to us-ward,
to that seed in whom his son will be born, and wrought in
them because they were given to Christ, and he saved them. So the Lord is long-suffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all,
all of us, for whom Christ died should come to repentance as
it pleases him. And so, Everything our Lord endured
was to glorify his father who sent him and to save his people
from their sins. Otherwise, there is no purpose
for this world to continue. But for the grace of God, that's
why it continues for his people. And so reading further now in
Joseph's account, let's take a chunk here, verses 7 through
12. And notice there's three times that Potiphar's wife tempts
Joseph, three times it's worded. Verse 7, 10, and 12. Well, let's
read it all. 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 she wanted
to sleep with him. But he refused and said unto
his master's wife, behold, my master wotteth not or knoweth
not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that
he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this
house than I. You can see Christ overlaid in
this. There's none greater. 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
by her or 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 with him. 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." So Joseph
here was very attractive to Potiphar's wife. He was being tempted by
her to betray his master, whom he served, Potiphar. But he endured
the temptation, as we see. He endured it. There was three
tempting advances made to Joseph there, three tempting advances
by Potiphar's wife to lie with her, to sleep with her, and so
destroy that seed that depended upon him being there for the
purpose that God sent him there. The Lord had to endure this temptation
in order to go on to do what the Lord had sent him there to
do. And so it is that we see here a picture of what our Lord
Jesus Christ would endure for us. Remember that after he was
baptized and God testified, this is my son, in whom I'm well pleased,
hear him, that he was immediately, when he came up out of the water,
he was immediately led of the spirit into the wilderness, where
he didn't eat for 40 days and 40 nights, and he was tempted
by the devil. And the devil tempted Christ
with three temptations, three temptations there, the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, all which
hearken back to the fall of Adam in the garden. When in Genesis
3, 6, Eve said, or it says that, the woman saw that the tree was
good for food. and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. And she took
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also one to her husband
with her, and he did eat." Spiritual adultery, just turning from God
to another God, an idol God there, herself. And this temptation
is pictured here in Joseph's temptation. She cast her eyes
upon Joseph and sought to show him that she was for his good,
that it would be good for him to lie with her, that he was
good for her needs. She spake to Joseph day by day
to show him that she was pleasant to his eyes. She was tempting
him, trying to draw him into her. And she caught him by his
garment, his garment desiring to entrap him by his pride, to
think that he was doing something. And John tells us all that is
in the world The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the
world." We see this temptation being laid out. Just a picture
of what Christ endured for us, because we fell. We couldn't
do it. It all aligns with what our Lord endured in the wilderness
when His flesh was tempted to make bread. because he hungered
to make bread out of a stone. He was tempted in the flesh to
do that. His eyes were tempted when the devil showed him all
the kingdoms of the world in an instant and said, I'll make
you lord of all these things. Well, he's already lord of all
things. Who are you fooling? Whose pride
was tempted to cast himself down trusting that I'm the Savior.
God has to save me. That's pride. That's arrogance
there. All temptations that our Lord
endured for us, one that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them, or care for them
who are also tempted." It shows us that this is the last Adam,
that this one is the Lamb of God, who faithfully endured the
very temptation which we could not resist in Adam when we fell. and rebelled against God. He
showed here that he's the fit sacrifice to reconcile the people
of God, to make satisfaction for our sins. And then on top
of it, Potiphar's wife had the gall to accuse him of wickedness
and sin. She charged him with evil, even
though he did no wrong. He did no wrong. 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 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 when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried that he
left his garment with me and fled and got him out." Now, there
is a key distinction here between what we see with Joseph and with
what our Lord did. All men, all men that were with
the Lord, they fled from him. And I believe it's the Gospel
of Mark that tells us. It's probably John Mark himself,
who is the young man that fled. And someone grabbed his garment,
and he left that garment behind. And he fled away naked, naked. He left without that garment. And all that night fled from
the Lord. All left him that night, because
he must go and do this work of reconciliation alone. Alone. He must do it himself. And where
man fled in fear, Christ didn't. As we noted before, Christ went
forth boldly for his brethren. And he didn't fly away. He rebuked
the devil when he was tempted. And the devil fled from him.
The devil left him. Now, so Christ is altogether
more lovely, more beautiful, more wonderful, because he is
the Savior. And he must conquer. He must
accomplish our redemption. And so we should flee from temptation. We should flee like Joseph did. Only our Lord endured and faced
it and accomplished our redemption for us. Now returning to the
likenesses, we see our Lord's persecutors accused him of sin
and wrongdoing. They accused Christ of doing
evil and wickedly. They charged him unjustly. But just as this charge, which
came against Joseph, was to do what? To bring him low, that
God might exalt him and so save his brethren. And we'll see that
as we go on. We won't get into that now. But
just to say this, that our Lord endured these great temptations. and was accused, and rejected,
and turned over to the Gentiles, that he might be crucified, so
that he was brought low for us, and laid in the grave, could
go no lower. laid in the grave to put away
our sins, and God exalted him. Because he did that work of redemption,
God exalted him above every name that is named, and where every
tongue shall confess, and every knee shall bow, confessing that
Christ is Lord. He is exalted. So it's for our
redemption that God did this, even with Joseph, a picture of
what Christ did for us. And so it's through those trials
that Joseph was enabled to save his brethren, to provide for
him. So it is that our Lord's rejection from the people led
to him saving, redeeming his people on the cross. And the
Lord tells us that all who believe him, all who trust him, who turn
from their own works of righteousness to try and save themselves and
have confidence in themselves, but all who lay that aside, and
come to Christ as all, for all, for everything we need, they
are received of Him and accepted of the Father through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I close with Romans 3, 21 through
26. which says, now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. That's who Moses
and the prophets are testifying of. This one, the righteousness
of God. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness unto all and
upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption, the blood sacrifice,
the purchase of Jesus Christ that is in him whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation, right, to satisfy his wrath and
anger which was against us, to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission, the forgiveness
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Believe Christ, this
Savior, this Righteous One, who obtained eternal redemption,
and thou shalt be saved. He faithfully served for this
purpose, to save his people from their sins. I pray the Lord bless
that word to your heart's breath.