Thank you, Brother Paul. I'm
thankful for that hymn we just sang. No one needs the mercy
of God more in a worship service than the preacher. And I'm thankful
that he's faithful to be merciful. I'm thankful for this church.
Your brethren in Orlando send their greetings and their love. They appreciate you and your
pastor and his wife. Brother Henry and Doris, how
special you all have been to our fellowship over the years.
We're very thankful for you. I have on my pulpit at home Psalm
127, verse 1, taped right there to the pulpit, Except the Lord
build a house, they labor in vain that build it. And how dependent
we are on the Lord to bless His Word to our hearts. And reveal
to us the person of His dear Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to ask you, if you will,
to turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 39. Genesis
chapter 39. And we'll begin reading in verse
20. And Joseph's master took him
and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners
were bound. And he was with them 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. That's the title of this message.
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 Joseph did, the
Lord made it to prosper." What a wonderful picture of Christ
coming into the prison house of sinners and accomplishing
for them all their salvation. What we have in this text we
just read is the same thing that's taught us from our Lord's words
on Calvary's cross when He said, It is finished. Whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. And God made everything that
He did to prosper. And I know that the natural man
in his pride and in his self-righteousness loves the idea that he has a
free will. He believes himself to be the
captain of his own soul. He believes himself to be the
master of his own destiny. But the truth is that the natural
man is not free. The Lord Jesus Christ, speaking
to the Pharisees, said to them, if you know the truth, the truth
will set you free. In another place he said, I am.
The way, the truth, and the life. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. And you remember what the spirit
of the Pharisees was? We'd be Abraham's children. We'd
never been in bondage to anyone. They believed themselves to be
free when they weren't. The natural man is not free.
We all, every single one of us, come into this world prisoners
to our nature and willing victims to all the forces of evil that
would exploit that sinful nature. We are held captive in our inability
to believe God. The God of this world has blinded
our eyes to the truth. And we will wholeheartedly believe
a lie, even to the eternal damnation of our own souls. The natural
man is simply not free. He's not free to believe. He's
certainly not free from the penalty of sin. If he's honest, he knows
that he's not free from the power of sin. He's not free to love
God. He's not free from death. He's
not free from hell. He's not free from judgment.
He is a slave. He is a prisoner to his nature. The natural man cannot receive
the things of God. He cannot change. He will not
change. Oh, he's always cleaning up the
outside of the cup. But the Lord said that though
you clean up the outside, the inside is still full of corruption. He said you are whitewashed tombs
full of dead men's bones. Here's the natural state of man,
making resolutions, always turning over a new leaf, becoming religious,
garnishing his house with religious garb, learning religious language
and putting on morality. He has a form of godliness. But apart from the grace of God,
he denies the power thereof. We are not free from the curse
of the law. What is it that keeps a criminal
in prison? Some have said, well, once he
satisfies his requirements to society, then he can be let free. No. No. The jailer can only let
the criminal free when the demands of the law have been satisfied.
Once they're satisfied, he can no longer keep him. Now, God's
law demands full retribution. And we're held captive to that
law. Under the law, we cannot satisfy
its demands. We are in need of God's mercy.
And the more man does in his own self-righteousness to try
to satisfy the demands of God's law, the more sinful he becomes.
The more guilty he becomes before God. Left to ourselves, we are
held in the prison of God's justice until the law is satisfied. But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. Man-made religion keeps men in
bondage to a lie. The religion of man is not based
on the Lord Jesus Christ being the doer of all our righteousness,
all of our acceptance before God. Man-made religion is based
on something that you do. Man-made religion is based upon
a decision that you make. God votes for you, the devil
votes against you, you break the tie. That's man-made religion.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not the doer of it. In fact, you
are the doer of it. Man-made religion is based upon
the need of Christ, but not the sufficiency of Christ. Oh, you've
got to have Jesus as your Savior, but Jesus as your Savior is not
enough. You've got to make your contribution. The difference between the truth
of the gospel and the lie of a soul-damning, man-centered
gospel is the difference between do and done. Whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. Man-made religion is not only
based upon a decision that you make or a law that you keep,
a work that you perform, something that you abstain from, or a church
that you join, some ceremony that you participate in. It's
all about what man can do. Brother Burt read from Isaiah
chapter 61. The same truth is repeated in
Isaiah chapter 42, where the scripture says that the Lord
Jesus came in order to set at liberty them who are bruised,
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison
and them that sit in darkness from the prison house. He came
to lead captivity captive. He came to take those who are
slaves to sin and make them servants of God. That's what the Lord
Jesus Christ came to do. He said, the gates of hell will
not prevail against me. I will reach into the very fiery
pit of the devil's hell and snatch from destruction my people. I'll do it. I'm the doer of it.
And he did. He did. What a beautiful picture
Joseph is of the Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways. Joseph, the
chosen son of his father. The one loved particularly. And
in Isaiah chapter 42, the Lord says, Behold my servant, whom
I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. Jacob gave
Joseph a coat that distinguished him from all of his other brothers.
And it inspired jealousy in the hearts of his brothers, did it
not? They hated me without a cause. All of the hatred towards the
Lord Jesus Christ is because of one thing. Jealousy. Jealousy. We'll not have this man reign
over us. We're not going to share our glory with him. We're not
going to ascribe to him all the work of our salvation. We've
got to make some contribution. And because men are jealous of
Christ, even as Joseph's brothers were of him, they hate him. They hate him. Joseph was sold
into slavery, 20 pieces of silver. And like the Lord Jesus Christ,
he went down into Egypt. And Potiphar, the captain of
the guard, the enforcer of the law, is the one who made Joseph
to be his servant. And he bought him from the Ishmaelites. Do you remember Joseph's brother
sold him to the Ishmaelites? If you go to Galatians chapter
4, you'll find that Ishmael is a picture of the law. So here
we have Joseph being sold by the law to the law keeper, being
inspected by the all-seeing brightness of God's law. And now, accused, falsely accused,
By Potiphar's wife, he's thrown into prison. Interprets the secrets
of the baker and the butler, you remember, and then interprets
the dream of a pharaoh himself and is delivered from prison,
becomes the prime minister of Egypt and the keeper of the storehouses
and delivers the bread to the children and saves all of Israel.
Here in the life of Joseph, we have a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in our text, we find Joseph
being put into prison. Let's read it again. Look at
verse 22. 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." Now here we have a picture
of God the Father who provided for the Lord Jesus Christ a body,
thou hast prepared for me, born of a woman, born under the law
to redeem those who are judged guilty by that same law. Having
been tried and tested by the law of God, he was found innocent. Found innocent. And yet he was
charged guilty, not for his own sins, but for the sins of his
people. Burying them in his body upon
that tree and suffering the full wrath of God's judgment in order
to satisfy divine justice once and for all, Whatsoever He did
there, whatsoever they did there, He was the doer of it. The keeper
of the prison looked not to anything. God the Father didn't have to
worry about what the Lord Jesus Christ was doing. He put full
confidence in Him. He gave Him the prison and the
prisoners. And the prisoners. And everything
He did, He prospered. Whatsoever they did there, he
was the doer of it in election. Now, I know men like to think
that they choose Christ. But the truth is that you did
not choose me. I chose you before the foundation
of the world. God dipped his divine finger
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and wrote the names of
those whom he chose according to his own good pleasure and
will in the Lamb's Book of Life. Established a covenant of grace
that could not be changed. That's why King David in his
dying words said, O Lord, although it be not so with my house, although
the tabernacle of this flesh be not as it ought to be, and
although my house be not as it ought to be, yet thou hast made
with me an everlasting covenant, and that covenant is ordered
in all things and sure. Why is it ordered in all things
and sure? Because whatsoever they did, he was the doer of
it. Whatsoever he did, he prospered in. David went on to say, this
is all my salvation and all my desire, though He make it not
to grow. This is my hope. What a gospel. This is the summary
of the gospel. Whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. We didn't choose Him. You know,
we're in the midst of a political campaign. And I'm reminded what
the Lord told Daniel when he said that he sets over the nations
the basis of men. We ought not to be surprised
by the things that are exposed in the lives of politicians,
but what a pitiful career. I'm sorry, it's just pitiful
to see men begging for other men to vote for them. Choose
me, choose me, pick me. What a pitiful way to have to
live. You know, men think that God's that way. He's not running
for office. He already occupies the highest
throne that there is in all the universe, and He has no competition. He's not saying to you and me,
pick me. You know, men by nature, have
an idol factory working in their own darkened imaginations. And in that idol factory, they
have fashioned a God that needs them to do something. I'm telling
you, whatsoever they did, He was the doer of it. He was the
doer of it. God's not waiting for you to
choose Him. When He's ready for you to come
to Him, He'll make you willing in the day of His power. He'll
give you ears to hear. When we come to Christ, it's
because He did a work of grace in our hearts. And so that whatsoever
we do as the prisoners of our own nature and of our own sin,
He is the doer of it. He gets the glory for us coming,
doesn't He? Why? Because He chose us in the
covenant of grace before the world began. Whatsoever they
do, He's the doer of it. No, He's not running for office.
He's the potter. He is the potter and we are the
clay. And as the potter, He has the
sovereign right to take from the lump of humanity and make
some vessels of honor and some of dishonor and no man can say
unto Him, what doest thou? No man. If we're unable to come
to Christ, it's because He's the doer of it. This idea of won't you choose
Jesus? Won't you accept Jesus? We used
to sing this song. I have decided to follow Jesus. What heresy. What soul damning
heresy. What shame that we cast upon
the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of glory, who is the doer. of whatever we do. In election,
He's the doer of it. In righteousness, He's the doer
of it. Yes, we are at all as an unclean
thing, and our righteousness is as filthy rags. The whole
head is sick. The whole heart is faint. From
the sole of the feet even to the head, there is no soundness
in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. David said,
I will make mention of thy righteousness and of thine only. If we have
any acceptance before God, it's because He has imputed to us,
charged to our account, credited to us a righteousness that He
worked out. Having been tried and inspected
by the law of God, He came out sinless, perfect, righteous before
God. He's called the Lord our righteousness. And in Jeremiah chapter 33, the
Scripture calls the church, she, you know the passage in Jeremiah
23, he shall be called the Lord our righteousness and in Jeremiah
33, and she, speaking of the church, shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. Where did we get that righteousness?
There's only one robe that's white and clean. It's His righteousness. We have none of our own. If we
have any, He's the doer of it. Whatsoever they did there, He's
the doer of it. Paul put it like this, not having
my own righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. You know, every modern
paraphrase, they're not translations, every modern paraphrase of the
Word of God has changed that verse of Scripture. Every single
one of them. From the faith of Jesus Christ
to your faith in Jesus Christ. Now, whatsoever they did there, He
was the doer of it. You see, our faith is not something
we've come up with. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of our
works, lest any man should boast. If we have faith, it's because
He gave us His faith. He gave us His faith. Faith is not the condition for
salvation. Now listen very carefully. You
know this. I know your pastors taught you this well. It's not
the condition for salvation. It's not the cause of salvation.
It is the result of salvation. When God does a work of grace,
regenerating our hearts, giving to us His Spirit, He causes us
to believe. Lord, if you'll turn me, I'll
be turned. Lord, if you'll cause me to come, I'll come. Coming to Christ is a work of
grace, so that every child of God is able to say, whatsoever
I did, He was the doer of it. I was held in prison. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who was hated without a cause, came into the prison
where I was held, and He led captivity captive to Himself. And now I'm a servant of Christ.
And He gets all the glory, for He did it all. Whatsoever they
did, He was the doer of it. Oh, we have faith, but it's because
He gave it to us. He maintains it. Why is it that
you can't stop believing? How many times have you tried?
Today, how many times have you tried to stop believing? How
many times have you taken your eyes off of Christ? But you can't
do it, can you? Why not? Because to whom coming causes
us to keep coming back. We just can't quit believing,
can we? Believers can't stop believing. Why? Because He won't
let them. He just keeps giving them faith
so that the child of God can say, whatsoever I've done, He's
the doer of it. I'd quit believing if He didn't
cause me to believe. If He didn't keep me coming,
I'd leave. You don't believe that about yourself, you don't
understand yourself. And you don't understand salvation.
If you don't think you could walk away from the gospel, walk
away from Christ, better men than you have. They went out from us, for they
were never of us. But had they been of us, they
would have remained. Oh, how dependent we are. For
Him, To be the doer of our righteousness, of our faith, our justification
before God. Whatever we have, He's got to
do it. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. It's His faith,
isn't it? Lord, if you don't make me believe,
I'll quit. I'll stop believing. Lord, I
can rejoice in knowing that whatsoever I've done, you are the doer of
it. What about good works? What about
good works? Do believers do good works? Yes.
Yes. Do they glory in them? Do they
acknowledge them? You just spend some time around
religious folks and what are they going to start telling you
about all the good things they're doing for Jesus, aren't they?
And what are we seeing? What's so refreshing about the
gospel church? The true gospel church is that
everybody in the church knows what they are. They're not competing
with one another, and they're not trying to prove anything
to each other, and they're not using the law to motivate one
another or to monitor themselves or to measure their righteousness.
They're not doing it, are they? But that's not the case in religion.
Some of you, like me, spent years in self-righteous, pharisaical,
works religion. And what was it all about? Holier-than-thou. Seeing who was better than the
next person. Believing that we were the doer of it. Not in church. Whatsoever they
did there, He was the doer of it. Yes, there's good works and
others are blessed by them, but it is Christ that works in you,
causing you to will and to do His good pleasure. We are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
He hath ordained that we should walk in them. He's the doer of
it. He gets all the glory. Believers
don't go around boasting of what they're doing. What did Paul say? I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I do live. But
the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and died for me, so that whatsoever I do, He's
the doer of it. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Left to myself, I'm in the prison
of my own sin. I'm in the prison of my inability
to believe. I'm in the prison of the law.
I'm in the prison of God's judgment. I'm under the wrath of God. But
in Christ, in Christ, the One in whom His hands prospered in
whatever He did, I can say that whatever I do, He's the doer
of it. He's the doer of it. Salvation is of the Lord. In election, in regeneration,
in sanctification, in good works, in faith, in righteousness, He's
the doer of it. He restrains our evil. He puts the love of Christ in
our hearts. Sanctification. Oh, there are those who say,
well, you're saved by grace, but then, you know, here's the
here's the line. The law is your schoolmaster
takes you to Christ. But then once it does its work
in taking you to Christ and Christ takes you back to the law and
the law becomes your rule of life and now you measure yourself
by the law and you monitor yourself by the law. You know, that is
exactly what the heresy of Galatia was. And out of all the churches,
Paul feared. He said, O foolish Galatians,
who have bewitched you? This one thing I want to ask
you. Did you begin by works or by the Spirit? If you began by
the Spirit, do you think you're going to continue by works? Our sanctification is not based
on our cooperation or participation. It's the Lord working in us. Paul put it like this when he
said, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive
Him? How did you receive Him? How
did you come to Christ? As a mercy-begging, dead-dog sinner. If you came
to Christ, that's how you came. As you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Do we ever get beyond being a
mercy-begging, dead-dog sinner? Do we? No. Why? Because whatsoever
we do, He's the doer of it. He's the doer of it. Sanctification is not cooperation. We must die all the day long. Paul said, when I'm weak, then
I'm strong. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. No, we just keep coming, don't
we? My grace is sufficient for thee. He's the doer of our sanctification.
He's the doer of our election. He's the doer of our righteousness.
He's the doer of our faith. He's the doer of our glorification.
How are we going to get to heaven if He doesn't get us there? All the riches of God's blessings
are in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. If we get there, He's going to
be the doer of it. Isn't that what He told the disciples? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. For in My Father's house
there are many mansions. I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place,
I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I
am there you may be also. The Lord, we don't know the way.
Oh, yes, you do. You know the way. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
do to prepare a way for us? Has He been in heaven for 2,000
years getting it ready for you? No, no, no, no. The moment that
He presented His resurrected body to the Father, and the names
of those for whom he lived and died. The scripture says, my
word will not return unto me void. It will accomplish that
for which I send it. And we know that's true in the
preached word and the written word, but it's particularly true
in the living word. When the Lord Jesus Christ returned
back to the father, he didn't return void. He returned with
the names of those that God had chosen in the covenant of grace.
He returned with the names of those for whom He lived out a
righteousness. He returned to God with the names
of those for whom He died on Calvary's cross. He delivered
our names to God Almighty. Those whom He foreknew. He did
also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
them that He predestinated, He also called. And them that He
called, He justified. And them that He justified, He
glorified. So that whatsoever we do, He
is the doer of it. That's the heart and soul of
the gospel. Here we are by nature in a prison. A prison of our own sin. And the one who was accused falsely
came into that prison. He entered into a sin-sick world. He did for us what we could not
do for ourselves. Satisfying all demands of righteousness
and justice. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
doer of our salvation. That means you can't do anything.
Don't lift a finger. Don't make a contribution. Don't
look to something other than Christ. We rely upon the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. Why? Because everything that
the prison keeper gave him to do He prospered in it. He prospered in it. Turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 42. What a glorious Savior we serve. What a great God we have. The little make-believe God of
self-righteousness. The God who men portray as wanting
to save you, but can't unless you let Him. That's not the God
of glory. That's not the God who is. That's
a figment of men's imagination. That's a God that men have fashioned
in the idle factory of their own mind. Here's the God who
is. Look at Isaiah chapter 42. Behold,
God says, My servant. Who's He speaking of? He's speaking
of none other but the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom I uphold,
mine elect, the firstborn among many brethren. Is He not? In
whom my soul delighteth. Oh, this is my beloved Son, in
whom I'm well pleased. Hear Him. If you're going to be saved,
He's going to be the doer of it. He's going to be the doer of
it. Here's the message of the gospel. He's going to do it all
or He won't do it at all. And it's just that plain. It's
just that plain. He's going to get all the glory.
How do we discern the difference between the true gospel and the
false gospel? Just ask yourself this question.
Who gets all the glory? Who gets all the glory? I put my Spirit upon Him and
He shall bring forth judgment. This matter of the Lord Jesus
Christ coming in the full power of the Spirit of God, He's called
the Anointed One. He's called the Messiah. He's also referred to as the
Christ. It all means the same thing.
And the glorious truth of it is that God Almighty sent the
Lord Jesus Christ on a mission to accomplish the salvation of
the elect and anointed him with the full power of the Spirit
of God. Why? So that he could not fail. He
could not fail. Look at the next verse. He shall
not cry. Oh, he's not like a politician.
Oh, these politicians, aren't they just sad sorts? And they
just beg, oh, vote for me. He doesn't do that. He doesn't
do that. He shall not cry, nor lift up
or cause his voice to be heard in the street. He's not begging
men to let him have his way. Why? Because when he's ready
to have his way in your life, he'll be the doer of it. He'll be the doer of it. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flax shall he not quench. Now flax is what they
used as a wick in an oil lamp. And you know when that lamp gets
low on oil, the wick begins to burn until it's just an ember. And in most cases, what do you
do? You put it out, don't you? Not
him. He ever been just a flicker of
an ember left on the flax and the oils run dry? He'll not quench
burning flax. He won't do it. No, to the contrary. You know what he does? He puts
oil in the lamp. He takes the breath of the Spirit.
He blows on that wick until the flame comes back. He's not going
to let it go out. He's the doer of it. He's the
doer of it. Look at verse 4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he hath set judgment in the earth and the isles shall
wait. in His law. He's going to get everyone that
God chose in the covenant of grace before the world began,
everyone for whom He died. The Spirit of God is going to
be successful in bringing life to every prisoner You're going to prosper in His
hand. He's not discouraged. He cannot fail. Can you say,
whatsoever I have, the Lord Jesus Christ, my Joseph, is the doer
of it. He's the doer of it.