Yuba-Sutter Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Wardo. The text of our sermon today
is from Genesis chapter 39. This chapter is about the life
of Joseph. I will summarize the first part
of this chapter, but I want to read the last few verses with
you. In verse 20 we read, 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. But the Lord was with Joseph,
and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 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, the Lord made it to prosper. I've entitled this message, Favor
in the Sight of the Prison Keeper. The Old Testament contains many
historical accounts. It contains many prophecies.
It contains the whole law that God gave to Israel by Moses.
Yet in all of those events and prophecies, and in the law itself,
the consistent message is the Son of God, who would come from
heaven and come into this world to save His people from their
sins. Jesus said, Moses wrote of me. John 5 verse 46. Moses wrote
the book of Genesis. What Moses wrote there is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said he wrote of me. That
summarizes all of the Old Testament events and prophecies and the
whole law. Throughout all of Scripture,
God teaches sinners about Christ and Him crucified. The Apostle
Peter said that the Spirit of Christ, who was in the prophets,
testified before of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. 1 Peter 1. Therefore we know
that the life of Joseph is a clear and wonderful prophecy and type
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his salvation of his people from
sin and death and from the devil. God saved all the land of Egypt
from famine through the wisdom and faithfulness of one man,
Joseph. God revealed to Joseph in a dream
that one day his father and mother and brothers would bow to him
Joseph was true to his God. He was true to his father Jacob.
He was true to his 12 brothers. But ironically, when his brothers
who sold him into Egypt stood in trial before him, those same
conniving brothers defended themselves. They said, we be true men. how naturally prone we are to
justify ourselves when we ought rather to own our sin that we
might find all of our salvation in Christ alone. We ought rather
to cry as the publican, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. There is only one who is true
and faithful to God. There is only one who is true
and faithful to his father. There is only one who is true
and faithful to his brethren, to save his people by his own
obedience and sufferings and death, which he offered to God
in their place. that one is the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says,
neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. In Revelation 19 verse 11 it
says, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that
sat upon him was called faithful and true. Oh, may God show you
and me that Christ alone is able to save because He alone is faithful
and true. God brought a famine over all
the earth in the days of Joseph. God had a purpose in doing so.
He determined to exalt Joseph over all that by him He might
save His people. God created this world and determined
before creation to save His people from death, the great famine
brought upon them by their sin. God determined from eternity
to exalt His Son as Lord over all, that by Him He might save
His people from sin and death. His very name is Jesus, for He
shall save His people from their sins. Matthew 1 verse 21. He
is the chosen and anointed Christ to accomplish this work of salvation
and to be given the Kingdom of God. God created and preserves
this world for one reason, to exalt His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the salvation of His elect. To fulfill this purpose,
all of God's elect were given to Christ before the foundation
of the world. God the Father has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Ephesians
1 verse 4 through 5. To bring many sons to glory,
God made his son their brother. He prepared a body for him, a
body that was made in the likeness of our sinful flesh, that in
his body he might come under their obligations to God and
offer himself for their sins and bring them to God. Therefore,
in all things he was compelled to be made like his own brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17. The
famine God brought upon the whole earth in the days of Joseph drove
Jacob and his sons to seek food in Egypt. But to get food they
had to go to Joseph. Just so, all who come to Christ
in faith, believing that God has made Him the only Savior
and exalted Him as the only Lord of all, as our Mediator, that
God has done all this to save His people by Him, all who thus
believe Christ, go to Christ for this salvation. They starve
in their souls until they go to Him and find in Him their
all. They do not come by their own
will. They do not come by their own works. They are drawn by
the Father. John 6, 44. No man can come to
Christ unless God the Father draws him with irresistible,
compelling love and grace. Jesus said, No man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him or drag him. When God draws a man to Christ,
that man shall come. There can be no failure when
the sovereign power of Almighty God woos a sinner. But all who
come to Jesus for salvation, to find their salvation from
sin in His sacrifice of Himself in blood, all who come to Jesus
to find all of their righteousness before God in His obedience,
all who come to Jesus as Lord of all, who alone obtained and
gives eternal life according to the will of God, believing
in their heart that He is the Lord of all, and trust Him for
everything in their salvation, confessing Him as their only
Savior and Lord, all sinners, so made to look to Christ, are
saved by Him with an everlasting salvation, saved even to the
uttermost. They shall be made holy and without
blame before God in love. And they shall be presented to
him in his presence as God's sons faultless and with exceeding
joy. In Genesis 37 verse 28 and in
Genesis 39 verse 1 and following we learn that Joseph's brothers
sold him to the Ishmaelites who then sold Joseph into bondage
of slavery and affliction in Egypt. But as Moses wrote of
Christ, so this scripture also speaks of Christ. The historic
scriptural account was fulfilled when unbelieving Jews bound and
accused and mocked and delivered Christ to Pilate and to the Roman
Gentiles to be crucified. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
preached to those who killed Jesus, saying, Him, being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Acts 2,
verse 23. It was their sin. But it was
God's purpose to use their wickedness to save His people from their
sins. The purpose of God was accomplished
when Christ was made under the law that He might redeem His
people who were under the law. God's purpose was to redeem His
people from their sins and from the curse and bondage of the
law. Therefore, God the Father sent His Son from heaven into
this world. He prepared a body for Him. Christ
took our nature, in that nature he bore all of the sins of all
of his people, all those God the Father gave to him to save,
those chosen by God the Father to eternal salvation in Christ. Acts 13 verse 48 says, as many
as were ordained to eternal life, believed. And in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13 we read, We are bound to give thanks to God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. And therefore he called you by
our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ was made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law He was made a little lower than the angels that by
the grace of God he might taste death for every chosen son, every
sinner predestinated by God the Father to the adoption of sons
by Jesus Christ. In Genesis 39, a captain of Pharaoh's
guard named Potiphar bought Joseph as a slave. But Potiphar saw
that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord made all
that Joseph did to prosper. And this teaches us several important
truths. God the Father not only sent
His Son into the world, but He upheld Him and made all that
Christ did to prosper for the salvation and blessing of His
people. Nothing could fail of all that
God gave Christ to do, because God was in Christ, reconciling
His elect people throughout all the world to Himself. Jesus came
to do the will of God, and he did that will. He finished that
work. It is now done. It never needs
to be repeated. Nothing needs to be added to
it. By his work alone, Christ obtained the eternal salvation
of all those given to him to save. Hebrews 9, verse 12 says,
by his own blood, he entered once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. Just as Potiphar saw that
the Lord prospered Joseph in all that he did, in the gospel
fulfillment of this history, all who see God's blessings of
eternal salvation in Christ as Savior and Lord commit their
life for all eternity into his hands. God blessed Potiphar's
house for Joseph's sake. In the gospel fulfillment of
the historical account, God gives all spiritual blessings in heaven
to all those who entrust their all to Christ. And then in verse
6 of Genesis 39, Potiphar left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He knew nothing of all that he
had, save the bread which he did eat. Just as God the Father
entrusted Christ with the salvation of all His people, so all believers
leave all of their life and all that they have into the trust
and care of the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not concern themselves
with what they have in themselves because they are convinced and
live on the truth that all they have is in Christ. As Potiphar,
believers do not keep account of what they have to preserve
it or to improve on it because they know that they have all
things in Christ and that all that they have is all that God
has for sinners. Ephesians 1.3 says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, I do not want anything except
what God has given to sinners in Christ. And yet, I want all
that God has promised sinners in Him. trusting Christ as Potiphar
trusted all that he had to Joseph, every believer rests in full
contentment that the Lord Jesus will keep me and give me all
that God gave to him in promise for his people. The Apostle Paul
said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day. 2 Timothy 1.12. And then, in
verses 7 through 20 of Genesis 39, Potiphar's wife falsely accuses
Joseph. Therefore, Potiphar put Joseph
into the dungeon, into the prison. Now Joseph was cast into prison
by the false charges of his master's wife. And in gospel fulfillment,
Jesus was falsely accused by unbelieving Israel. They delivered
him into the hands of Pilate and to the Gentiles to be put
to death. Potiphar's wife was unfaithful
to him. Unbelieving, Israel was the unfaithful wife of the Lord. Their accusations put Christ
in prison. They bound Him and delivered
Him to be put to death. But because the Lord Jesus, by
His own death, paid the debt of crimes His people owed, and
because His death made satisfaction to God for His people, therefore,
in Isaiah 53.8 we read, He was taken from prison and from judgment,
who shall declare His generation. All who hold to their own self-righteousness
in unbelief, refusing to bow to Christ and to trust His righteousness
alone, are no different than the unbelieving Jews who crucified
Christ. May God have mercy upon us and
deliver us from that great sin. Christ was imprisoned under the
sentence of death by false charges. Yet that sinful act of sinful
men was by the will of God. They meant it for evil. God meant
it for good to save much people alive. Genesis 50 verse 20 Christ
was imprisoned for God's elect people. They were indebted to
God by their sins against Him. They were under the demands and
the curse of God's law, none of which they could fulfill.
Therefore, Christ was made under the law and took their sins on
himself to redeem them from sin and from God's law. Christ gave
his life a ransom for many. Matthew 20, verse 28. He gave
himself for the church, for all those the Father gave him to
save. And who are these? They are made
known when as sinners they believe Christ. Those who find Christ
to be their all-sufficient Savior are those for whom Christ gave
His life. And then we come to verse 21
in Genesis 39. Though Potiphar put Joseph in
prison, the Lord was with him. And just so, God the Father was
with Christ as our mediator throughout all of His life, upholding Him
by His Spirit to do His will, to finish His work, and in all
of His sufferings. Jesus said this in John 16 verse
32, the father is with me. Jesus also said this about his
father. He that sent me is with me. The
father hath not left me alone for I always do those things
that please him. John 8 verse 29. The Father is
in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. John 14, verse 10
through 11. There is a union of essence and
nature in the Godhead. God the Father is in the Son,
the Son is in the Father, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit
of the Father and the Spirit of the Son. 1 John 5, verse 7
says, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The
three are co-eternal, co-equal. If they were not co-eternal,
then the Father could not be the eternal Father. Nor could
the Son be the eternal, only begotten Son, who is the express
image of His Father. But Christ is not only God, but
man. He is the God-man. The fullness
of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. Colossians 2 verse 9.
In His life on earth as man, the Spirit of God was in Him
without measure. John 3, verse 34. He was completely
filled with the Spirit of God in abundance, so that God was
in Him in all of His fullness. As Joseph was put in prison,
Christ, our Redeemer, in the human nature of those He came
to save, was made under the law. And thus He was with them in
that prison, He gave himself a ransom to God for their sins.
That ransom price was his own blood. But the Lord gave Joseph
favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. In the same way,
God's own law favors Christ for His obedience in death. He was
made under the law that He might fulfill that law in the place
of His people. Christ fulfilled the law that
held us in prison. He fulfilled and satisfied the
prison and the prison keeper from which we could not escape.
We have no strength to keep God's law. We have no strength to satisfy
God for our sins or give God an answer to him for one thing
of all that he requires of us. because Christ was made under
the law for us, and because he fulfilled that law to God's great
honor, because he satisfied the justice of the law to God's delight,
therefore, he found favor in the sight of the law of God.
And this is taught by Joseph, who found favor in the sight
of the keeper of the prison. God the Father has put all things
into his hand, Every sinner who looks to Christ and commits himself
into his hand for all of his salvation favors Christ above
all, just as the keeper of the prison did, and just as God the
Father does. Christ came under the law because
his people were held in that prison for their debt of sin
to God, and therefore under the curse of the law. God's people
suffer under the law because they are sinners, but Christ
prospered under the law. He kept its every precept. He
satisfied its full justice. He fulfilled it and magnified
it and brought it to its consummate end, its perfection. Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 14 says, by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And Galatians 4 verse 4 through
5 says, When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. As the Lord made all that Joseph
did to prosper, so Christ prospered in all that he did under the
law, to deliver us from the prison of our sins and God's curse.
In Genesis 39, 22, it says that the keeper of the prison committed
all that were in the prison to Joseph's hand. And so, God the
Father committed His people into the hands of Christ, our Mediator.
Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd of the sheep. His Father gave
His people to Him to save. And His Father, by His Spirit,
draws them to Him. Jesus prayed regarding those
His Father gave to Him, Thou hast given Him power over all
flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast
given Him. John 17, verse 2. And then also
in Genesis 39, 22, it says that whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. Now Joseph was so wise and by
the trust given him by the keeper of the prison took such care
of the prisoners that all that was done in that prison was Joseph's
doing. But in gospel fulfillment the
Lord Jesus Christ is the surety of his people. They are given
to him by the Father and all that they did in sinning became
his debt of sin to pay. He gave his life a ransom for
them. All that God required of His
people in His law, Christ gladly took obligation to fulfill. Therefore,
all that was done by Christ in the days of His flesh as our
surety, is done for His people, and it is counted as theirs.
Christ never sinned. He never thought sin. His nature
was holy, harmless, and undefiled. Yet God imputed the sins of His
people to Him. God counted Him a transgressor
by imputation. And Christ lived under the guilt
of the sins of His people because, as their surety, He substituted
Himself in their place. He therefore answered God for
all that they did. He answered God's law as a sinner
is required to answer it. But as surety, he alone could
fully give an answer of peace to God for all of God's elect
prisoners. Though in himself Christ knew
no sin, yet the sins of his people were laid on him. Isaiah 53 verse
6. He bore their sins in his own
body on the tree. First Peter 2 verse 24. And because
He stood before God for them and their place, to give a full
answer to God in satisfaction for their sins, and to fulfill
all that God's law required of them for obedience, therefore
all that was done in His sin-atoning death and by His justifying obedience
was done by Him, yet done for all those who were in the prison
of God's law under the curse of it He paid the ransom price
of his own blood and he set the captives free. Luke chapter 4
verse 18. Therefore, all who hear the gospel
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ wholeheartedly join the
chorus of this scripture that all that was done there, he was
the doer of it. What a glorious Savior is Jesus
our Lord! He was put in prison by false
accusation, but it was by the will of God. In prison He fully
answered all for the prisoners put under His care. All that
was done in that prison to satisfy God's demands on sinners for
their crimes and to fulfill their righteousness, the Lord Jesus
Christ was the doer of it. Every believing sinner can now
say, what is true of my Savior is true of me. Christ is the
head and every believer is a member of his body. They are one with
him. He stood as the last Adam to
obey God's law and satisfy God's justice for the sins of his people.
And then in verse 23 of Genesis 39, it says, the keeper of the
prison looked not to anything that was under Joseph's hand
because the Lord was with him. And that which Joseph did, the
Lord made it to prosper. Christ interposed Himself for
His people to God. From eternity, He intervened
for them to fulfill all God required and all that His justice demanded. This was God's will. This is
why God the Father gave His people to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is why the Son of God took the nature of the promised seed,
those chosen to eternal life and salvation. And this is why
He came from heaven. This is why He lived the full
life of a man in perfect obedience to God's law. This is why He
died the death of a sinner, fully answering God's justice in fulfillment
of God's law, in fulfillment of God's everlasting covenant,
removing the curse from them, and fulfilling every condition
required for God to bless them according to His covenant promises.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ committed all of
His elect people to Him. They were in prison for their
sin and the curse of God's law. The Father committed all to His
Son, to the one Mediator, to the one Mediator between God
and men, Jesus Christ, the God-Man. Therefore, the keeper of the
prison looked not to any prisoner or any work of all that was put
in Joseph's hand. And so every believer looks only
to Christ's obedience for his righteousness before God, and
every believer trusts his eternal life into Christ's hands. We
do not look to anything for salvation from ourselves, because all has
been put into Christ's hand. We cannot contribute one thing
to our salvation. Christ must do all, and He has
done all. This is why He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high, because He finished the
work His Father gave Him to do. As Joseph was sent to Egypt by
the will of God to save much people alive, the Lord Jesus
Christ was sent by God the Father to save His many people from
their sins and to give them eternal life. He was blessed by God in
all that he did. Though falsely accused, though
put in prison, he saved God's prisoners by his substitutionary
obedience and death. All was done by him. As the keeper
did not look to anything in the prison, so every believer looks
only to Christ, because God the Father looks to him for his people. The Lord made Joseph to prosper
in all that he did. and Christ prospered in all that
He did. He obtained the eternal redemption
of His people by His own shed blood. He perfected them forever
by His one offering. and God has entrusted him with
his people, with his kingdom, with his authority, with his
will and with his honor. Every sinner who so trusts Christ
is discovered to be one of those given to Christ to save, and
he shall save them to the uttermost that come to God by him. "'Tis
not that I did you You have just heard a sermon
by our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.