Don't look to anything but Christ.
That's the message of the gospel to sinners. And sinners love
that, I tell you. That is nothing that gives me
greater peace and joy and thankfulness in my heart than to know that
by God's purpose and by God's word, by God's delight, we are
given God's command and God's grace to look only to Christ.
And so that's what this is going to be about. We're going to read
the entire chapter, but before we do, let's pray. Father, we
thank you for your word. It's so glorious to see in the
events of these men's lives and in the men themselves your grace
towards us as sinners and how you saved us from our sins for
Christ's sake alone. And we pray, Lord, we would see
in these few verses here that we're about to read how we, as
sinners, are given warrant from Your Word to look only to the
Lord Jesus Christ and help us in so looking find all of our
salvation and all of our peace and delight in Him and our hope
for glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Genesis 39 verse 1 says, And Joseph, Remember, he was thrown
into a pit by his brothers, and then they sold him to these Ishmaelites.
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer
of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, and Egyptian, bought him of the
hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.
And then, listen carefully, 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 was put into his hand. And it came
to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his
house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians'
house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he
left, Potiphar, left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and
he knew not aught that he had, save the bread which he did eat.
And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. And it came
to pass, after these things, that his master's wife cast her
eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. And he refused,
and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master does not know
what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that
he hath to my hand. There is 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 to 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
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. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his
garment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called to
the men of her house, And spake to them, saying, See, he hath
brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in to 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 home. And she spake
unto him, to Potiphar, that is, according to these words, saying,
The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought to us, came in unto
me 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, these lying words, Which
she spake to 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
were bound. And he was there in the prison.
And 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 of it. 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, Joseph,
the Lord made it to prosper. Now, we've seen in this life
of Joseph, we've seen the life, really, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Joseph is held up to us as a beautiful picture, but a very transparent
picture of the Lord Jesus Himself. And so, when we look at these
texts of Scripture, remember what the New Testament says,
that the prophets of old The Spirit of Christ was in them
when it testified of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. And so here Joseph himself is
a prophet. Remember, God gave him dreams. He spoke those dreams to his
brethren. It was about what God was going to do. He brought God's
word to his brethren. And his brethren, of course,
hated him. And that's why he's here, sold into the master's
house, Potiphar. He bought Joseph as a slave from
the Ishmaelites, who had bought him from his brethren. His brethren
hated him. His brethren envied Him. His
brethren plotted and conspired against Him to put Him to death. But in God's will and purpose,
they didn't put Him to death, but they sold Him to Egypt so
that He could be a living type of our Lord Jesus. He went down
into the pit without water, brought up out of the pit, They never
even gave attention to him. When he cried, they ignored his
crying, and he was brought up out of that pit and sold to these
men who were strangers to the Hebrews. And he comes to this
place in Egypt. Now, we could go through this first
verse here. We spent a lot of time on it. I just want to point
out some highlights here. First, it was God's will that
Joseph go to Egypt. Second, it was God's will that
he be brought down to Egypt. Down in humiliation and suffering. Down in the affliction of being
in prison for a crime he didn't commit. That was God's will.
And it was God's will that by being brought down, He would
save His brethren, those who hated Him and envied Him and
actually sold Him there. It was God's will to do all this
by Joseph because it was God's eternal will to save His people
from their sins by His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
He favored. It was God's will to save His
brethren by their wickedness It was God's will to make their
wickedness known in the way they treated Joseph. And it was God's
will to make Joseph's goodness known by the way Joseph reacted
to them, by what he did to them. He obeyed his father, though
he was tempted by Potiphar's wife, Daly. He never sinned against
God in all these things. And it was God's will to show
that when Joseph was persecuted wrongly by his brethren for his
own moral uprightness, that he did not seek retribution against
them for their persecution. When he suffered, he didn't threaten
them. When he was reviled, he did not revile them again. Just
like our Lord Jesus Christ, when he suffered, he didn't threaten.
When he was reviled, he didn't revile again. When he was persecuted,
he entrusted himself to the will of God. This is what Joseph teaches
us. It was Joseph's love and God's
purpose to make his love known for his brethren that exalted
him in our eyes and so we see our Savior's love for us even
though we hated him and despised him and rejected him. He suffered. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. And it was God's will to make
known Joseph's faithfulness to his God and to his brethren,
to show that in all of his affliction that he trusted God. And that
it was God's will to make known His grace, that He would save
His brethren, though they were so undeserving. All these things
we see plainly in the life of Joseph. And so many things like
that. But I want you to notice how... And so that's in the first verse
here. Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Egypt is a place associated
with idolatry in Scripture. The Israelites, while they were
in Egypt, served idols, the idols of the Egyptians. Egypt is a
place of bondage, bondage to sin. Pharaoh, remember, held
them in bondage. He's a type of Satan who holds
all of humanity in bondage to sin because of their wickedness. They sold themselves. So all
these things teach us about the wickedness of Egypt, and yet
Joseph was brought down to Egypt because the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world and he was brought down. He was made lower
than the angels for the suffering of death. That by his sufferings
and death for his people, he would bring them to God. And
so we see that in the first verse. But in the second verse it says,
of Genesis 39, it says, 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 keep reading, it says, "...and
Joseph found grace in his sight." So Potiphar, who was Joseph's
master that bought him as a slave, Potiphar took a special delight
and favor towards Joseph. And it says, "...he made him
overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into Joseph's
hand. And it came to pass from that
time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that
he had..." Now listen, "...that the Lord blessed the Egyptians'
house for Joseph's sake." And the blessing of the Lord was
upon all that he had in the house and in the field." So God blessed
Potiphar, an Egyptian, for Joseph's sake. That's an amazing truth
of Scripture. And here we see our Lord Jesus
Christ. Who was Potiphar? He was an Egyptian.
What was Egypt? It was a land of sin and slavery
to sin, bondage. God delivered his people out
of it. And yet here's an Egyptian who saw in Joseph something that
God was with him. When his brethren saw Joseph,
they despised and hated and envied him and persecuted him. But when
this Egyptian saw Joseph, He admired him, and he saw the Lord
was with him. And God blessed the Egyptian,
this stranger, this one who was associated with a nation that
was under the curse of God. God blessed that stranger's house
for Joseph's sake. And God blesses us. who are outside
by our birth, by our ancestry, we're outside of the nation of
Israel. We have no part in that nation, that physical nation,
but God has blessed us for one reason, and for one reason only,
for Christ's sake. The Lord was with him, and his
master saw. Now, I want you to consider how
the Lord blessed this man for Christ's sake, or for Joseph's
sake, which is teaching us how the Lord blesses us for Christ's
sake. Look at Ephesians. I want you
to look at a couple of verses with me. God blesses us with
salvation for one reason only. It's for His sake. For the Lord's
sake. Ephesians chapter 1 shows this
to us. If you can turn there, it says
in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ." That means for Christ's sake. Not for our
sake. "...according as he hath chosen
us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world."
So we didn't have anything to do with that choice. God made
the choice. And this is why He chose us in Christ. That we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Before God the Father,
we would be holy and without blame because of what Christ
would do. And that place before God would
be in love. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now listen,
this is why God did it. According to the good pleasure
of His will. Not our will, His will. And why? For what purpose was God's will?
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. As God's sons, the beloved
sons of God, were accepted for Christ's sake. Look at the same
book, Ephesians chapter 4. He says in verse 32, Be ye kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." God has blessed
us. God chose us in Christ. He blessed
us in Christ. He predestinated us to be holy
and without blame for what Christ would do. And He gave us all
these things in Christ, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
because it seemed good to Him. He has forgiven us. entirely
for Christ's sake. Do you know that God does not
need to find a reason in you or me to bless us? He doesn't
have to look for a reason. In fact, He doesn't look for
a reason in us to bless us. He only looks to Christ. That's
the good news of the Gospel. That God has chosen and well
favored His Son and appointed Him to be the Mediator, the One
who stands for His people and answers God for all that God
requires of them, Christ answers. And all that God demands in justice
against them, the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied for that. He
doesn't look to us for anything. Does that give you peace? Does
that make you trust Christ alone? Does that give you confidence
in God's grace and in His love? Does it make your heart run out
to Him in love? Does it make you look upon God's
promises in Christ and upon God and Christ's work? And look away
from yourself and see that all that God desires and all that
God takes pleasure in, He finds in Christ and He finds it in
Christ for His people. Do you see that your salvation
is dependent upon Him and not on your own ability, not on your
own goodness? But that, in fact, He saves you
in spite of what you are, in spite of what you do. This is
the message of scripture. For Christ's sake. God has saved
his people for his sake. He looks for no reason in us.
In fact, in spite of us, he looks for reasons found only in God. That's what these scriptures
teach in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 4. That God saves us for Christ's
sake. That draws me to him. It says
in John 6, 44 that Jesus said, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him or drag him. He drags
us with the cords of love. By his Spirit, he shows Christ
to us. And he teaches us that God accepts us for Christ's sake
alone. And this is throughout scripture.
I could take you to many places, but let me take you to one in
Psalm chapter 51. Remember David, King David? Well
favored by God, but he sinned a great sin when he was tempted
and committed adultery with Bathsheba. Unlike Joseph, he sinned. In
Psalm 51, this is what David says. Notice how he prays. He says in Psalm 51.1, have mercy
upon me, O God. Not according to my righteousness,
but he says, according to thy loving kindness, according unto
the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. You see, David prays the only
effective way that we can pray, Lord, do it for your own sake. for your tender mercies' sake,
for the multitude of your mercies, for your loving kindness' sake."
Look at Daniel chapter 9. This is also taught in Daniel
chapter 9. Daniel prayed a long prayer in
Daniel 9. I highly recommend that you read
Daniel chapter 9. But look at verse 16. In the middle of his prayer,
as Daniel is confessing his sins and the sins of his people, lamenting
the fact that it was by God's promise that He would deliver
them to their enemies because of their sins, and He had done
that. And now He's praying, and He says in verse 16, He says,
look at verse 15, Daniel 9, 15, Now, O Lord our
God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt
with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renowned as at this
day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according
to all thy righteousness I beseech thee, let thine anger be turned.
I'm sorry, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from
thy city Jerusalem. Do it for your righteousness
sake. Find a way to turn away your anger from us for your righteousness
sake. Lord, you have all the wisdom.
It's not impossible for you to do for us what's impossible for
men. To save us for your righteousness
sake. It seems contradictory that he
would pray that way, but it's the only way we can pray. Do
it for your sake. Look at verse 18. He says, O my God, incline thine
ear, and hear, open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and
the city, which is called by thy name. For we do not present
our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but
for thy great mercies. We pray that God would do it
for Christ's sake, for His sake, for His name's sake. Look at
Ezekiel chapter 20. This is a powerful. Truth God conveys to us, sinners,
you will not be saved for any reason but the Lord's sake. It'll
be for the Lord's sake that He saves us. It'll be for the Lord's
sake that He blesses us. In the first nine verses of Ezekiel
20, the prophet rehearses what happened while the people were
in Egypt. While they were living in Egypt,
they were idolaters. And God told them, put away your
idols. But they rebelled against His
voice. And it says, It says in Ezekiel 20, verse 8, But they
rebelled against me, and they would not hearken to me. They
did not every man cast away the abomination of their eyes, neither
did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour
out my fury upon them to accomplish mine anger against them in the
midst of the land of Egypt. Even while they were there, God
said, I'm going to punish you for your sins while you're in
Egypt. But then listen, but The Lord
says, "...I wrought for My name's sake, that it should not be polluted
before the heathen among whom they were, and whose eyes I made
Myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of
Egypt." You see God did it? Why did God do it? For His name's
sake. Look at verse 14. He repeats
this over and over. He says, "...but I wrought for
my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen
in whose sight I brought them out." And in verse 17, "...nevertheless
mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end
of them in the wilderness." And then verse 22, "...nevertheless
I withdrew mine hand and wrought for my name's sake that it should
not be polluted in the sight of the heathen." And then look
at verse 44. And this is a long chapter and
he sums up all their history and he says in verse 44, "...and
you shall know that I am the Lord when I have wrought with
you for My namesake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according
to your corrupt doings. O you house of Israel, saith
the Lord." You see how God saves? He saves us for His namesake. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. For Christ's sake He forgives
us. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, David prayed."
And here, do it for the Lord's, do it for your name's sake, Lord.
Daniel prayed that way, do it for your sake, Lord. Have mercy
upon us for your name's sake. According to your, find the reason,
not in us, there's no reason in us, there's only cause for
condemnation, but save us for Christ's sake. And so that's
the message The first message we see in Genesis chapter 39.
Turn back to Genesis 39 now, if you would, please. In Genesis
39, we see, first of all, that God saves and blesses for his
name's sake, for Joseph's sake in Egypt. He delivered Joseph's
brethren When they came down to Egypt, he raised Joseph up
for this very purpose. Even by their wickedness, Joseph
was brought to Egypt and God did it with an eternal purpose
to save them for Joseph's sake. That was God's will, and that's
why Christ saves us. And then the next thing we see
in Genesis 39 is the faith that God gives us in Christ. The faith
God gives us in Christ. And we see that in these two
men. First in Potiphar, and then in the prison keeper, the keeper
of the prison. So, I want you to see this first
of all in verse 2. It says, "...the Lord was with
Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house
of his master, the Egyptian." And then verse 3. Notice the
words. "...and his master saw that the
Lord was with him." He saw. That means he perceived. He understood. He was convinced and persuaded
that the God of Israel was with Joseph. He knew the God of Israel
because he had heard, perhaps, of the God of the Hebrews. And
he saw that God was with Joseph. You see, faith, first of all,
is seeing, is perceiving the truth, the testimony that God
has given us concerning His Son. Potiphar saw that God was with
Joseph. Believers see that God was in
Christ. And that was God's purpose. And
so, we see this throughout this chapter. We'll see it again.
in the Prison Keeper. But in John chapter 20 verse
31, the Gospel of John, John writes this, he says, These things
were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name, because faith is seeing Christ. These things were written
to tell us about Christ, about his life, and about his sufferings,
and about his death, and about his resurrection, and his ascension
to glory. In Christ we see, what do we
see in the life of Christ? The God, the Son of God came
into this world. He was born of a virgin. He was
made under the law and he lived his life among men. And he did
only good for men's bodies and souls. What was his name, what
was the title that he gave himself? That he was the friend, in fact
his enemies gave him this title and he loved that title. He was
the friend of publicans and sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ. And so
we see in him, like Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. We see in Christ's life that
God was with him. That God blessed him. God gave
him his spirit without measure. And he went about doing good.
Healing men's souls. Healing their bodies. Casting
out devils. Raising them from the dead. Teaching
them the gospel. Setting the captives free. Healing
the broken hearted. Preaching the gospel to the poor.
That's what Christ did. And then, after a life of perfect
obedience, in love to his Father and for his people, he subjected
himself to the false accusations and the beatings and the suffering.
that they deserved in their place in order to answer God for them
and to receive from God all blessings for them. And so Potiphar, like
the believer, saw in Joseph, we see in Christ what God says
about his son. That's the first thing about
faith, is that it is seeing. Seeing what God has done. In
2 Peter, in chapter 2, I'm sorry, chapter 1 of 2 Peter, in verse
2, it says, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine
power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him. Faith is not a leap in the dark.
Faith is not believing in God without a definition of God.
Faith is not just believing in Jesus without understanding who
Jesus is and what he did, where he is now, and what he's doing.
What God's will is. Faith is believing the testimony
of God. He has revealed concerning His
Son, who Christ is, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Anointed,
Prophet, Priest, and King, the One who saves His people from
their sins. And He does it by Himself, and
so faith sees Christ. It sees that He's the only One
who can save me. And faith understands that God
saves His people for Christ's sake. That's the first thing
about faith. Take a look at Hebrews chapter
11. There's one verse there. I want
to take you to the New Testament to show you a couple things about
faith. And we see them in the life of Potiphar and the life
of the prison keeper. Potiphar saw that God was with
Joseph. We see that God was with Christ.
We see what God has said about him. About what he did. And we
see these things because of God's revelation. Hebrews chapter 11.
It says in verse 13. of Hebrews 11. These all died
in faith. They died. These is Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob. They all died in faith. Not having
received the promises. But listen. This is God's definition
of their faith. But having seen them. God says
they saw them. Not with eyes. Not with physical
eyes. But with the eyes of faith. Not
only did they see them, but they were persuaded of them. They were convinced. God convinced
them. Where does this persuasion come
from? Do we drum it up? Do we work it up of ourselves?
I'm going to get myself convinced this is so. No. If you have faith,
if God has given you sight, if He's persuaded you, you know
that it didn't come from you. Faith is seeing, faith is persuasion,
but it doesn't come from us. Faith is not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. And
so we see what faith is here. It's seeing, it's being persuaded.
And Joseph, I mean Potiphar was persuaded that God was with Joseph. And so he saw this. He saw that
he was with him. Now Joseph was a servant in Potiphar's
house. Remember he was sold as a servant?
So we see something here about the object of Potiphar's faith.
He saw that God was with Joseph. But in what way? In what way
was God with Joseph? He was with Joseph while he was
serving Potiphar. And then later, the jailer also
observed Joseph and saw that God was with him. And he committed
all the prisoners into Joseph's hand. And God blessed Joseph
and all that he did there. And so the prison keeper also
saw this and he was persuaded to commit everything into Joseph's
hand. But while Joseph served Potiphar, he was a servant. And
while he was in the prison, he was afflicted in suffering. wrongly
for crimes he didn't commit. And so in his service as a servant
and in his suffering is the way that Potiphar and the prison
keeper saw Joseph. And so we see here that God gives
us faith to see Christ as a servant of God. To serve God and to serve
his people, to bring them to God by the sacrifice of himself. The sufferings, his own sufferings.
Jesus said in Matthew 20, 28, I didn't come to be served. But
I came to serve and to give my life a ransom for many." That's
Matthew 20, 28. He came to serve. He made himself
of no reputation. He took upon him the form of
a man and the form of a servant. And as a servant, he obeyed God
even unto death. Though he were a son, Hebrews
5, 8, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
What obedience? My father has commanded me to
lay down my life for the sheep. I'm going to lay down my life
for the sheep. And he laid it down. And he took
it up again because he completed that work. He served God for
his people. And he served his people like
the servant in Exodus 21, 2-6. He loved his father. He loved
his wife. He loved his master, his wife,
and his children. And he would not go out free.
God's law was within his heart. He came to fulfill God's eternal
will. It was always His will to do
this. He wanted to do it and He did it voluntarily from a
heart, with a glad heart. The Lord loves a cheerful giver
and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave Himself cheerfully for the
joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross, despising
the shame, and now is set down on the right hand of God. All
these things point to the fact that Christ served God in His
sufferings and He served His people by saving them. And that's
the object of our faith, Christ. and him crucified. These two
men saw that God was with Joseph in his trouble. Remember the
thief on the cross? The thief on the cross is perhaps
the most amazing example of God-given faith in all of Scripture. Here
he is, dying. for sins he committed, next to
the Lord Jesus Christ, dying, not for sins he committed, but
for the sins of his people. And the thief was given eyes
to see him in his suffering. And he said, Lord, the Lord is
on the cross. Lord, remember me. Which pointed to the fact that
he knew he was going to die and rise again. Lord, remember me. The thieves Entire peace and
rest in dying for his own sins was that the Lord Jesus Christ
would remember him. What about you? If Christ remembers
you, is anything else needed? The psalmist in Psalm 106 says
it this way. I'm going to read this to you.
Psalm 106 and verse 4 and 5. The thief on the cross asked
the Lord Jesus to remember him. And listen to what the psalmist
says. He says, remember me. Psalm 106 verse 4. Remember me,
O Lord. with the favor that thou bearest
unto thy people. Oh, visit me with thy salvation."
And verse 5 of Psalm 106, that I may see the good of thy chosen,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and all chosen in him. That I
may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation. that I may glory
with thine inheritance." Your people are your inheritance.
I want to glory with them in your salvation. Visit me. Have mercy. Remember me with
that same favor in the thief on the cross, seeing Christ crucified,
suffering willingly, and praying for those who crucified Him.
Father, forgive them. He says, Lord, remember me with
the same favor that you have unto your people. Visit me with
your salvation. If you remember me, nothing else
is needed. If you mention my name to the
Father, that's all I need, to be remembered by my advocate,
who answered in his life and in his death for me. And so these
men sought Joseph in his sufferings. And then, thirdly, we see about
faith that faith is the gift of God. Remember, look back at
Genesis chapter 39 and verse 4. It says, And Joseph found
grace, or favor, in the sight of Potiphar, and he served him.
And then, in the same chapter, Genesis chapter 39, he says in verse 21, and the
Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. So faith not only
sees Christ and sees him as a servant suffering in obedience to God
for his people in love, But faith is the gift of God. It doesn't
come from us. God gives it out of His grace. He gave it to these
men. He gave them a favor through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know that that's what
God does for you. The king's heart, it says in
Proverbs 21.1, is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, he turns it whithersoever he will. And so the heart of
man is in the hands of God, and he can give faith to a stony
heart like mine. I know, because he did. And so
if you have faith, you know like Lydia in Acts 16, the Lord opened
her heart. He opened her heart and showed
her his grace. And so Joseph found favor in
the sight of his master Potiphar and in the sight of the prison
keeper because God caused them to look upon him with favor and
delight. Faith is based on seeing. It's based on an understanding.
And it's God-given. And it sees Christ and Him crucified. Look at 2 Timothy 1. I'll take you to this verse.
See what the Apostle Paul said about himself. And about this
faith that God gave to him. 2 Timothy. Timothy is after Thessalonians. And Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter
1 says this, in verse 12. He says, in verse 11, 2 Timothy chapter 1,
he says, Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a
teacher of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer
these things nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know, Paul
says, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that
day." Paul was completely convinced and persuaded that the Lord Jesus
Christ was able to keep all that he had committed to Him. Look
at Romans chapter 4, he says this. He says in Romans 4, that
Abraham, in verse 20, when he was 99 years old, and he didn't
have a son, but God had promised him one, and he believed God.
He says in verse 20 of Romans 4, that Abraham staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised, he was able also to perform. You see what faith
is? It's seeing, it's this persuasion,
it's God given. And what is this persuasion?
What was Abraham persuaded of? What was Paul persuaded of? What
was Sarah persuaded of? She judged him faithful who had
promised. They were persuaded that what
God promised, God was able also to perform. Isn't that what faith
is? Are you persuaded? Are you convinced? Has God convinced
you and persuaded you that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to
save you for no reason found in you and without your help?
Have you seen yourself utterly helpless to do one thing to help
Him? In fact, do you see that anything
you do to help Him would actually interfere with His purpose of
grace? Because if it's of grace, it's
all of grace. And it's none of works. So we have to ask ourselves this
question. Has God persuaded me that Christ is enough? That He
is able to save me by Himself without my help? God gives that
persuasion. He convinces us and persuades
us. Now, looking back at Genesis chapter 39 again, I want to point
out a couple more things here before we quit. About these two
men and their faith, their trust in Joseph, which is our faith
in Christ. He says here in verse 2, Genesis
39, And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man.
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. God made everything that Joseph
did prosper. And a little later in verse 5,
it says that God blessed the Egyptian's house and everything,
even in the field, for Joseph's sake, and he made everything
that he had to prosper in Joseph's hand." This word, prosper, you
know what it means? It means to be successful. Everything
Joseph set his hand to do was successful. God made it successful. In Isaiah chapter 53, where that
great prophecy of what Christ would do, is given. It says,
it pleased the Lord, in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, to bruise Christ. He hath put him to grief
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, and he shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. You know
what that's speaking about? That's speaking about the success
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Potiphar saw that God was with
Joseph, saw him in his service as a servant, according to the
will of God. The prison keeper saw him in
his suffering and affliction. And they saw that God made everything
he did to prosper. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail. Everything he intended to do,
he did. Do you believe that whatever
the Lord Jesus Christ did was successful? That it prospered
in his hand because the Lord was with him and made it to prosper?
Do you believe it? Do you believe him? Do you believe
that He must be successful? If He died on the cross, bearing
the sins of His people, and that He by Himself purged our sins
and made atonement on that one day, and that He rose from the
dead because atonement had been made, do you believe that He
actually made atonement for the sins of His people? And that
there can be no sins left because God put them on Him? And He stood
in their room, guilty, with their guilt and their shame, and in
their place, under the wrath of God, instead of them, receiving
for them what they deserve. Do you believe that He was successful
in that? Do you believe that His resurrection proves that
He was successful? That His sacrifice for sins was
actually accepted? And that nothing else is needed?
to make you holy but His blood and righteousness." Do you believe
that? Do you believe that you don't have to provide anything
and that God doesn't have to look to you? He doesn't have
to look to your past or your present or to what you will be
someday, but that He only looks to His Son. Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ's obedience is the righteousness that's able to
cover the nakedness of your disobedience and your total lack of obedience
and spiritual works so that you don't need anything else to justify
you before God but what he finds in Christ? Has God persuaded
you that? Do you believe that if the Lord
Jesus represents you to the Father, you must be saved? That if He
mentions your name, that if He intercedes for you, that that
is all of your salvation? Look at Romans chapter 8. May
God persuade us. May He give us this sight of
Jesus, our heavenly Joseph. To see that God put everything
into His hand and made it successful in His hand. That He actually,
truly saved His people and that all of them for whom He died
will be in glory. Because, for one reason, because
He died for them. Look at Romans chapter 8. It
says in verse 30, Moreover, whom He did predestinate, this is
speaking about God the Father, whom He did predestinate before
time, them He also called in time. And whom He called in time,
them He also justified. He had justified them in His
Son before time, and justified them at the cross, but He made
them know it in time. and whom he justified them he
also glorified." Already! When? When he glorified his son.
What shall we then say to these things? What shall we say to
these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? We just sang, O grave, where
is thy victory? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Before the world began, in time,
and for eternity. Who? Stand up and say it. If you have anything to say.
It is God that justifieth. Verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? And here's the answer. The only
answer God has to give. It is Christ that died. I need
no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that He died for me. That's my only hope. That's all of my confidence.
That's my only assurance and peace before God. It's all my
joy and all of my salvation that what God sees in His Son and
receives from His Son is enough to save this sinner for eternity. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again. Because when He died, He fully
put away sin. And death is the wage of sin.
It's the payment God gives to those who labor in sin. And yet
Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, the beating
of our peace was put upon Him. for us, in our place, in our
room, in our stead. And then, He's risen again. He's
even at the right hand of God, exalted, given all dominion and
authority forever and ever over heaven and earth. And guess what
He's doing? "...who also maketh intercession
for us." He there mentions His people for whom He died, presents
Himself to the satisfaction of God, to the glory of God. The praise of saints and angels,
there he is. Do you believe him? That's what
faith believes. Where there's faith, there's
knowledge and persuasion. That he's able to do, and by
his substitutionary life, that if he represented me before the
Father in his death, then I stand perfect forever. by his one offering
of himself to God, never to be repeated once for all. Hebrews
10, 14, by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
made holy by his blood, them that are sanctified by the electing
choice of God. And then, finally, I want to
look at this with you. Notice, it says here in Genesis
39, In verse 4, and Joseph found grace in Potiphar's sight, and
Joseph served him, and Potiphar made him overseer over his house,
and listen, and all that he had, Potiphar, all that Potiphar had,
he put into Joseph's hand. And then look over at verse 21. And 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 of it."
Joseph was the doer of it. And the keeper of the prison
looked not to anything that was under his hand, Because the Lord
was with Joseph, and that which he did, Joseph, the Lord made
it to prosper. You see what faith is? Faith
commits everything for my eternal salvation, all of my acceptance
before God, all of my righteousness. Faith doesn't look to anything
that is mine, but doesn't even know, doesn't even take an account
of what is mine. Because faith takes God's Word
about who Christ is and what He's done and finds all of what
God has for sinners in Him. My all is in Christ. Faith doesn't
take an account of its repentance, or its remorse, or its reform,
or its sorrow, or even its faith. Faith doesn't look to my understanding
or any of those things, those subjective things. Faith looks
outside of itself to what God has said about His Son and says,
there is my all. That's what faith does. And Potiphar
and the prison keeper put everything into Joseph's hand, didn't even
take an account. They were dependent entirely
on what God did with Joseph and what He did for them for Joseph's
sake. Though these men were Egyptians,
though they were not his brethren, though they were in themselves
evil, it was entirely up to Joseph to take care of these lawbreakers,
these prisoners, these lawfully imprisoned prisoners who were
under the sentence of God's judgment. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
took care of all my enemies, my sins. I am myself my greatest
enemy. And God sees divides between
my sins and the salvation of my soul. And He predestinated
me to become His Son by Jesus Christ and gave Him for me and
accepted Him for me. And there, there I see it. I'm
persuaded that everything a sinner has is in Christ and I put it
all into His hands. I don't have anything to put
into His hands except what God has said. And so I say with David,
Lord, do as you have said. I have no money. If I had it,
I couldn't bring it. It wouldn't do me any good to
try to repay. It would be an insult to your
grace to try to do anything except to look to Christ and there take
and find a light in what God has done in His Son. So I'm looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ 100 percent. Not my works, but His
works. My faith is not in my doing,
it is in His doing. Faith is not in my seeing, it's
in what God saw in Him. Faith is not in anything about
me, it's in all what God thinks about Him. And then it says,
all that they did there, all the prisoners did there, He was
the doer of it. Isn't that an amazing phrase?
All that the prisoners did in prison, Joseph was the doer of
it. What does that mean? What does
it mean? It means that faith looks to
Christ and trusts God to see that all Christ did in His life
and death on the cross is all that I did before God. God sees
Him and says that's all that they did. And all that we did
is not accounted to us, but all that He did is put to our account. All that we did was laid to His
charge and all that He did was credited to us. That's an amazing
transfer. He was made sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we who
knew no righteousness, might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. For His sake, God receives us.
He looks to Him. What an amazing display of God's
salvation in Christ for us. Let's pray. O Lord, we pray,
receive Christ's answer as our complete answer, and help us
never to look to ourselves, but to Him only. In Jesus' name we
pray, amen.