Thank you, John and Robin. John, you chose that hymn, John. That third line is wonderful. Teach me to feel that thou art
always nigh. He is always nigh whether we
feel it or not. But I like to feel it, don't
you? Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear. He's promised. He said to Otis, this is what's
going to happen. Will it? Teach me to bear them
and bear with them. Check the rising doubt. Doubt
the Lord, doubt ourselves that we're His children. The rebel
sigh. Check that. Oh, my. Do you ever
get mad at God's providence? That's the rebel sigh. Teach
me the patience of unanswered prayers. Lord, why won't you
do something? That's a good line, a good hymn,
a good choice. Go back to Genesis 39 with me
again. I hope you've been looking forward
to these studies and Genesis story of Joseph. Some of you
just saw a smile and the reading of it. How blessed we are, we just read
that and understood it, didn't we? We could have, for most of
us, we could have gone home without any comment. We clearly see. Joseph is the
beloved son. Joseph was the one prophesied
of, Scripture speaks of. Joseph was the shepherd. Joseph
was the righteous son. Joseph was the son of his father's
old aide. Joseph had a coat of many colors,
distinguished him from all his brethren. Joseph was sent to
seek, to find and help his brethren. Joseph was hated of his brethren.
Joseph was slain of his brethren. But Joseph came to save them,
to save them all." Out there is the whole story in a nutshell. This book, Genesis, ends, the
very last line of Genesis ends this way, a coffin in Egypt. Those are the very last words
in the book of Genesis. A coffin in Egypt. Joseph died
and put in a coffin in Egypt, that's it. And then the last
line of Malachi says, I come and smite the earth with a curse. The last book of the law, the
Old Testament, the prophets, the curse. coffin in Egypt, and
a curse. The first words out of the Lord
Jesus Christ's mouth were, Bless them. I've come from my home
to bless them. Kelly, the last words in the
Bible, period. The very last line written in
God's Bible are this, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the grace of God personified. The unspeakable gift to these
sorry sons of Jacob. Have you ever thought of the
fact that Joseph was the son of Jacob? He was the son of Jacob,
wasn't he? He's the only sinless one. Now,
you know he was a sinner, but there's not one sin charged to
Joseph. You won't find it anywhere. Won't
find any flaw in his character, John. The Lord doesn't write
anything about Joseph. Anything wrong with him. Can't
find one single thing wrong with him. He's the son of Jacob, and
yet there's no sin in him. Why is that? He represents Christ,
that's why. Every one of them was sorry.
We've been reading about them, haven't we? He came from that
tribe of Judah. We just read about Judah, didn't
we? What he did. That's us. And you know, have
you ever thought about this? They all would have perished
if Joseph hadn't come and been put in prison and put on the
throne. Egypt would have perished. He was the Savior of all. Joseph
saved the whole world. But he wasn't sent to save Egypt.
He was sent to save the sons of Jacob. Our Joseph, his favorite son,
above his fellows. Above his fellows. And the last,
one of the last lines sums up the story of the gospel too in
Genesis. You meant it for evil, Joseph
said to him. You meant it for evil. What you thought against
me, you thought evil against me. And you meant to do it. You killed him. But God. That's the gospel starting in
Genesis all the way to Ephesians, isn't it? And you were dead. Rebels. Children of wrath, even
as others. Sons of Jacob. Hating God. Hating the Christ. But God made it unto good to bring to
pass as it is this day to save much people alive. They meant it for evil. He's
sorry, sons of Jacob. Joseph became a servant. Look
here in verse 1. Joseph was brought down to Egypt,
put under an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, Egyptian,
who bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites that had brought
him down hither. Everything it says, it says that
Joseph was brought down, down, down into Egypt. You know, the
average person would have thought it'd be great to go up to Egypt. If they go to Egypt, you're going
up. You're ascending. It was down for Joseph. Brought
down to Egypt. Egypt's the world, isn't it?
Egypt's always represented the world. For Christ to come into
this place was a great condescension, wasn't it? Brought down. Brought
down. Egypt, Pam. That's Pam. Those are the descendants of
Ham. You know what the Lord did to Ham? Cursed him. They're under
the curse. They're under curse. The Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites had him. Who's
Ishmael? Cursed. Cursed by God. Non-elect. Christ came into this
evil world, brought down, sent by the Father. He came down to
be a servant. He came down. Philippians 2 says
He became a servant made in the likeness of sinful
flesh without sin. He became a servant. He came
down, sent by the Father into this world. He voluntarily humbled
Himself. Unlike Joseph, He voluntarily
came down into this world, descended, sent by the Father. to become
a bond slave, a bond slave, a willing slave, to be made under the law,
under the curse. Why? Why was Christ in this world? Why was He made under the law?
Why was He born of a woman? Why was He made in the likeness
of sinful flesh? Why did He come? To redeem. To
redeem them that were under the law. Joseph was brought down
into Egypt. To redeem his brethren. Redeem
his brethren. And verse 2 and 3 says, the Lord
was with him. He was a prosperous man. He was
in the house of his master, the Egyptian. His master saw the
Lord was with him. The Lord made all that he did
to prosper in his hand. You know what true prosperity
is? Brother Mike said this, didn't
he? It's for the Lord to be with
them. It's the Lord to be with you. It's not possessions. It's
the presence of God. It's the favor of God. Ephesians
1, when the apostle wrote of all the blessings of God. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according
to Him who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing. And where are they? In heavenly
places in Christ. And all the blessing, and all
the way through chapter 1 of Ephesians, he talks about these
blessings. And not one of them is a thing. Not one is a material thing.
There's no mention of food, rainment. Well, there is a rainment, but
it's the robe of Christ. There's no mention of family
and home. Oh, there is a family, father
and brethren. Spiritual blessings. This is
prosperity. And we have all these, and the
sons of Jacob were going to have all these because of Joseph, for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake. He was a prosperous man. The
Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. And he
was a prosperous man. Oh, my, Psalm 1, every scripture
speaks of Christ. 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." He'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. His leaf will not wither or fade. Whatever he does will prosper. Doesn't Isaiah 53.10 say, the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand? What was the pleasure
of the Lord? What did it please the Lord for
Christ to come to this earth to do? To make you His people. Who? Judah, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali,
Zebulun, Sarai's sons, every one of them. Every one of them.
Reuben. Name one. All of them. He's not ashamed to call them
men. For this cause, He was made the captain of their salvation.
He came into this earth. And the pleasure of the Lord
was to make you, if you're a sorry son of Jacob, make you His people. It prospered in Christ's hand
from first to last. Look at verse 23 of Genesis 39. It said in the beginning, When
He came, everything prospered. And in the end, verse 23, the
Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. In fact, verse 22 says, whatever
anybody did, actually, Joseph was the doer of it. If you prosper
in whatever it is, it is God that worketh in you, both the
will and do of His good pleasure. And if God's with you, in Christ. You're a blessed man. You're
prosperous. You'll prosper. You'll prosper. Our Lord prospered. He was sent
to do the Father's business. Did He do it? Yes, He did. It was accomplished. Our Lord said it's finished.
It's finished. Well, Joseph, verse 3, said,
he said, his master saw God was with him, And the Lord made all
that he did to prosper in his hand. And verse 4 says, Joseph
found grace in his sight, and he served his master, and he
made him overseer. That's Lord over all his house.
All that he had, he put into his hand, came to pass from the
time that he made him overseer in his house. When was that?
From the very beginning. As soon as Joseph came into his
master's house, he made him Lord over everything, everyone. Verse
5. and all that he had. And 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 trusted Joseph so implicitly, verse 6, that
he didn't check on him. He knew that whatever Joseph
did, it was right. He entrusted Joseph with everything. Oh, what a picture of our Lord
this is. Well-pleasing to the Father. This is my beloved son."
In the beginning, God said, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. Hear him. You have to go to him. A little later, chapter 42, it
says when everyone was in famine, they had to go to Joseph. He
had all the storehouses. He had everything. If anybody
needed anything, they had to go to Joseph to get it. It was
in his hand. And you know, all the world,
though they don't even know it, the Egyptians They may not have
known Joseph or even cared at this time, but he was in charge. Because the Master had put him
in charge from the very beginning. And God hath made this same Jesus
Lord in Christ. God hath given him power over
all flesh, all things, Christ said, are given unto me of my
Father. All flesh, all power over all
flesh. And he found grace in our Lord's
sight. And our Lord Jesus Christ served
him and served him well. And you know everything, every
blessing in this world is for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake,
even on the Egyptians. That's what we said, that he's
the savior of the world. If God didn't have an elect,
he would have destroyed this world a long time ago. And so
the world still stands for the elect's sake, for Christ's sake. for Christ's sake. Oh my. The house was blessed for Joseph's
sake and all of our blessings are for Christ's sake. Verse
6 says that Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. He was so good that the Master
entrusted him with everything implicitly. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only good man who ever walked this earth. The Lord looked down
from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there were any. And he said, there's none that
doeth good. No, not one. But when his son came, God spoke
out loud from heaven, this is a good man. I am well pleased
for His righteousness. Here is one, a goodly person. A goodly person. A righteous
man. There is not a just man on the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Scripture says. But when
Christ came, there was. The just one came on the earth
and did good and sinneth not. A goodly person. I love to think
about when he was just a baby. You know how mothers dote over
their children? They look at these young babies
and say, isn't he sweet? No, he comes forth from the womb. He was conceived in iniquity,
she, and will come out, live long enough speaking lies, and
rebel against God, and rebel against you, and hate you. If
God doesn't have mercy on that child, it will be another devil. But now when Mary held that child, And the mothers were sitting
around, I love to think about that, the mothers were sitting around
thinking about their children, and one would say, my child's
good, and the other would say, no. But when Mary said this,
you don't understand. He really is a good child. He never cries. He never complains. And then
we grew up as a child, a boy. Is there a good 12-year-old boy
on the planet? That's not possible, is it? No? Or worse yet, 13. It gets worse. But as a 12-year-old child, his
mother and his supposed father would say, you don't understand.
He really is good. Everything about him is good.
He is perfectly obedient to us, perfectly submissive to us. We've
never heard of a foul word, only grace pouring from His lips.
He's always thanking people. He's always polite. He's always
serving people. He's always doing for others.
He's always merciful and gracious and helping others. He never
thinks of Himself. He's completely selfless, unselfish. He's a good boy. Yeah, he is. And as a man, he
stood before everyone and said, who can convince me of sin? Not the devil, not men. And God Almighty, who seeth not
as man seeth, but looketh on the hearts, looked on his son's
heart, and he saw a pure heart. He saw clean hands. He heard
a voice that never swore deceitfully, and a soul never lifted up to
vanity, but a perfect man, God said. What a goodly person. They asked the Shulamite maiden,
and Solomon wrote this wonderful book about the Lord Jesus Christ
and His black bride. And they asked her, they said,
what is thy beloved more than another? Oh, she said, my beloved
is white. He's pure. Spotless. He's chief among ten thousand. His head, she talked about His
head like gold. She said, His eyes, like doves'
eyes, peace. You look into His eyes, His cheeks,
He smells like all the spices in the world. There's a sweet
smell and savor. She said, His hands, oh, what hands! His legs, strong
as if He could hold the world on His shoulders. His mouth,
most sweet. She said, He's altogether loving. Everything about Him. What is
He more than another? Everything. He's all. He's all. A goodly person falls short of
describing our Lord Jesus Christ. He's altogether loving. Well favored. Well favored. Well, but Christ came to suffer. Christ came as a substitute. Christ came, the sinless one,
to be made sin for us who are nothing but sin. The only sinless
Son of Jacob came and was condemned for something He didn't do. You
know that you look on Sermon Audio and you'll find sermons
on this, and I looked. And I heard one by John Chapman. I had to really search. Most
of them were about Joseph resisting temptation and how that we can
resist it. That's what they were about.
And no doubt, no doubt, I'm not, you know, people now, listen
now, I'm not teaching that we shouldn't resist temptation and
that there's not a lesson here for us to learn. It is. Paul
told young Timothy, flee youthful lust. And our Lord said, pray
this way, lead us not into temptation, didn't He? But deliver us from
evil, didn't He? Yes. Flee youthful lust. I just read Philpott on this
and I'm going to put it in the bulletin. One of the best I've
ever seen on temptation, how to escape. Wonderful. Good counsel. Run. But what about those who fail? And if you're going to be running
into temptation all your life, every day, Joseph faced it every
day, every day, every day. Day in and day out, Robin, this
woman kept tempting and tempting. And there's so much here, folks.
This is Satan. This is the false church. Our
Lord was tempted in all points like as we are. We fail. We may not do it physically,
but we think it. And our Lord says, Guilty. Didn't
He? He said, Guilty. But He tells us, And John wrote
this, little children, I write these things unto you that you
sin not. Flee youthful love. Run as fast
as you can. Where are you going to run from
temptation? How are you going to get away from temptation?
There is only one place to run. Lord help me, I can't resist.
Look at the times when we don't. What are we going to do? All the sons of Jacob, Kelly
fell badly. Not this one. Why? He's a substitute. He's Christ. Christ said, it's
written of me. Colored me. You're guilty. Some people never get a comment
from them. And one such person, I finally got a letter from.
I got excited when I saw it. But it wasn't good. It was rebuking
me or something. And I thought, they haven't heard
him. They haven't heard him. Betty, if God ever shows you what you
are, you will think It's the highest
honor conferred upon you as a human being to sit in this pew and
hear this gospel. When you first hear mercy, you're
a death row criminal and you deserve it. You know, I'm guilty
as charged. And you're about to die before you think, I'm
going to perish. And when you hear there's pardon, there's mercy, there's grace,
full and free pardon and redemption for the guilty. And you'll thank the man that
told you that. Let the righteous smite me. It'll be a mercy. It won't break my head, it'll
break my heart. Why? My heart needs it. Buddy,
when that heart is broken, here's the first sign that somebody's
really heard the gospel. God breaks their heart over sin. This is not a story to tell us
how to resist temptation. This is a story of Jesus Christ
to show us how He resisted temptation. Why? For us. He was made sin
for us. He didn't do this. And every day he was tempted.
And our Lord was tempted at all points like as we are. And met
Satan head on. And tempted in all points like
as we are. Yet without sin. And God had this happen. Just
as God did all this to Joseph. Joseph was unfairly treated.
He was unfairly charged, wasn't he? Potiphar's wife accused him
of something he didn't do. Satan is the accuser of the brethren.
Christ came, and when he was brought before the court of law... You know, did you read here anywhere
where Joseph spoke up? Did Joseph ever say a word? Did Joseph ever defend himself?
Do you read anywhere where it says, I didn't do this? I've
been wrongly accused. Did he try to defend himself? No, when he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he was charged, he opened
not his mouth. Why? He represents Christ. Joseph didn't do this. This sin
was charged to him, wasn't it? This sin was imputed to his account,
wasn't it? And the master, the one he served,
John, his wrath came down on him, didn't it? The master's
wrath, the one whom he served, the one who made him Lord over
all, charged him with this crime that he didn't commit. You know,
I believe that Potiphar deep down knew. Joseph's not capable
of that. But he had to do it. How could God charge Christ with
our sin? But yet it pleased the Lord to
bruise him. He did. Only, Jeanette, if he were really
made guilty. Right? Only if he were really
made sin. Only if he really became us could
God justly pour out His wrath on him and be angry with him.
Isn't that amazing love, amazing mercy, amazing grace? And Joseph
submitted to all this and didn't open his mouth. And our Lord,
when He stood for it, and these witnesses, Potiphar's wife, more
false witness against Joseph, and he didn't say a word. Nor
did our Lord. Nor did our Lord. And that is a good example for
us, isn't it? That when we're reviled, don't
revile again. It's the Lord. But we're guilty. We're guilty of crimes they don't
know about. But if we suffer for our own wrongdoing, we have
no reason to complain of a living man of his sins. But our Lord
did. He could have complained. Because it pleased Him. My, my. Tempted in all points. And here's
what He said. Look at this in verse 9. He says, There's none greater
than I am. And the Master has kept back
nothing from me. How can I sin? How can I do this?
Against who? God. How can I sin against God? David said, against thee and
thee only, speaking of the Lord God, have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight? Nathan said to Jacob, though,
that the Lord has put away your sin. How? He didn't just put it away, people.
The Lord can't just sweep sin under the rug. He can't just
forgive sin. He's got to punish it. How? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Christ said, I'll
go. I'll take their sin. Will you
go to the cross and suffer under my wrath? I will. I will. Thought nothing of the shame.
Look at verse 12. I'm going to hurry. I'm going
to quit here. It says in verse 12 that she laid hold of his
garment and he fled. He was stripped of that garment,
wasn't he? He was made guilty and He was
stripped of His garment, left in the hands of this vile woman. If that's not Jesus Christ, I don't know. Our Lord was stripped
twice, wasn't He? Remember when they stripped Joseph
and threw him in the pit? And here He's stripped again.
Our Lord was stripped twice. The Lord who wore His regal royal
robes in heaven, His crown of glory and honor in heaven, Codep
left that and put on the robes, stripped Himself, became a worm. And then when He went to the
cross, they literally stripped Him of His robe, naked. This is the second Adam. He was
made naked. He was made naked. Why? That
we might be clothed. That we might be clothed. Stripped
twice. Oh my. And it says, let's just
read here, beginning with verse, let's see, verse 20. It says, 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 him, with Joseph. You see, whoever the
Lord is with, he never leaves, does he? The Lord was with Joseph,
and if you're with Joseph, the Lord's with you. If you're in
Christ, the Lord's with you. He'll never leave you. "...and
showed him mercy." The Lord did, though he got no mercy from man.
The Lord showed him Great mercy, didn't it? Same with us. Same
with God's people. All the mercy of God is in Christ. You'll find no justice or mercy
on this earth. You'll find no fairness. You'll
find no one doing what's right. But God, the judge of the earth,
will do what's right. And no matter where you are,
no matter where the Lord puts you, the Lord puts you there.
No matter what you go through, the Lord puts you through it.
Right? For His glory. In all this, Joseph didn't sin
or charge God for loose debt. From the time he was put in prison,
in the pit by his false brethren, it says he never complained.
He never opened his mouth. He said, I'm being treated unfairly.
Never, no. He said, this is the Lord. Do you know what all befell Joseph?
From the time he was a 17-year-old boy when they crashed him in
that pit. Was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief? From the
cradle to the grave all his days was treated unfairly. But who
did it? God did it. Why? For us. As our substitute and
as our example. Yes, as our example to show us. If the Lord puts you in prison,
it's the Lord that puts you there. Paul and Silas. used by the Lord to preach the
gospel all over the world. Paul. Gracious, merciful, kind,
loving man. Paul. What a blessed man. What a gift to the Osiris Jews. Paul. To preach the gospel. Went
about preaching the gospel. And they threw him in jail. They
hated him. They beat him with an inch of
his life. And he sat in jail. He and Silas too. And they sat
in jail. You know what they started doing?
You know, with man this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. If God's be with you, if you feel that He's with you,
if you know that He's with you. I'm going to preach a message
soon on if God be for us. I read a psalm that said, The
Lord is on my side, whom shall I fear? I will not fear what
man can do unto me. The Lord is on my side. If the
Lord is on your side, You need not fear. How can you know the
Lord's on your side? I'm going to go ahead and tell
you. You might not be there if you're
on His side. If you're on His Son's side.
If you're for His Son's glory and honor, He's for you. And
nothing's against you. You hear me? Nothing's against
you. David said, though all the world should encamp against me. Didn't he come out to him and
say, is there not a cause from a child? Yes. And he was on the Lord's side,
so the Lord was on his side. That's the message you just heard. The Lord was with him, showed
him mercy. But he's in prison, and Paul
and Silas are in prison, and they both said, We don't understand
the Lord's will in this. We don't understand why He did
write, didn't He, Ed, that this thing has fallen out, these things
have fallen out unto me for the furtherance of the gospel, didn't
He? He did write that. He did know that somehow or another,
God did this, that the gospel may go out. Somehow. So He said,
Silas, we're here, we're the Lord's prisoners. We're the King's
prisoners. I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus
Christ." Silas, let's sing. What do you say? Let's sing.
So they start singing. Do you know the joy of the Lord
is your strength? In sorrow, in prison, under great
trial and tribulation, do you know that if you'll just start
singing, the Lord did it. It's the Lord. Eli said, it's
the Lord in the midst of his greatest sorrow. Job said, it's
the Lord. He gave, he took away, blessed
be the name of the Lord. And you know, it says the chains
fell off, the prison doors flew open, and the light came on,
they were in darkness. Oh, we see now. And just like
Paul, you know, the Lord put him in prison to save one man. And God put Joseph where
the king's prisoners were, And there were two fellas in there,
a butler and a baker. They were both guilty. But Joseph
was sent there to save one of them. Like two thieves on a cross
hanging beside him, huh? They were both guilty. And the
Lord was hung there to set one of those prisoners free. And I'm guilty. And I'm in prison. When the Lord came, this 30-year-old
man to Nazareth, his hometown, it was delivered unto him the
book. We just heard this yesterday. It was delivered unto him the
book of Isaiah. He wrote the book, but he found
a particular place that he wanted to read from, Isaiah 61, which
read, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. It goes on to say,
He has sent me to set at liberty in their brood, to set free the
king's prisoners, those whom the Lord put in captivity for
me to come to save." Oh, blessed be our Joseph. Blessed be the name of the Lord
who sent him. All right. John, if you'll come.