Thank you. That'll sound good on the table. I certainly get tired of hearing my own voice.
I appreciate your help. All right, let's go back to Genesis
39. Genesis 39, we look at another
blessed picture. of the Lord Jesus Christ as typified
by Joseph. As you know, we're studying the
life of Joseph. And these stories of Joseph are
pictures, types of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we've said before,
The reason we study these, and the reason they're written, is
to reveal the true Christ. Because the Christ who came in
the New Testament was prophesied of. He was foretold in the Old
Testament, and he must fit the Old Testament Christ. And these
types, these pictures, as the Lord reveals them to us, they
increase our faith in Him. We see clearly now that God amazingly
prophesied of Christ. And when we see these clear pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we say, He is indeed the Christ
who was to come. And that increases our faith
in him and in God who wrote these things. God who promised the
Christ. God who pictured him. And we learn from the example
of these fathers in the faith. Joseph is a father in the faith,
like Abraham, his grandfather. Jacob, his father. Fathers in faith, we learn from
their example. Joseph was just a man. He was
just a man. We don't want to make him out
to be anything more than a man. A sinful man, fallible man, yet,
by God's grace, he was a faithful man. I mean a faithful man. He believed God. It's obvious,
isn't it, in this story. He really did believe God. How do you know? Trust me. He was a submissive
man. He was a goodly man. A goodly
man. And so we learn from his example. You remember in our story, let
me just review a little bit. Joseph was the favorite son of
Jacob. Favorite son. Jacob loved Joseph
more than all his sons. And what a picture he is of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the well beloved, only begotten son of God. And
he was favored above his brethren. His father distinguished him
above his brethren by giving him a coat of many colors. And
that the reason for that. And what that coach. Is a picture. Is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And Joseph came to his own. Joseph was sent by the father
to see about it rather he came to his own but did they receive
him no. And this is what the scripture
says of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 1. He came to his own,
but his own received him not. But he was despised. Joseph was
despised and rejected by his brethren, was he not? And sold
into slavery, delivered up for them all. Isn't that amazing? This whole
story is amazing. And the reason for this story
is to typify the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came, sent
by the Father to save his people, and he was delivered up for them
all. And though they meant it for
evil, in the last chapter of Genesis, the end of the story
of Joseph, it says they meant it for evil. That is, his brethren
selling him, despising him, and his imprisonment. They meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good, to save a lot of people. All right, now Joseph here in
our story in Genesis 39. As we have, you know, he was
in he was sold to some issue me a life that went by some merchant
man and it says in verse one Joseph was brought down. He was brought down to Egypt
and part of her and officer of Pharaoh captain of the guard
and Egyptian bought him of the hands of the Israelites which
had brought him down. In other words Joseph was purchased
as a slave. For this man. They would not only going to
be glorifying the God and another revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it's going to be really interesting. You're going
to enjoy it. We've got to lay the groundwork. Alright, Joseph
becomes a servant. He was brought down. Joseph was
the well-favored son of Israel, a great man. He goes from being
the well-loved son in his father's house, brought down to the place
of a slave. Does that sound familiar? The
Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, Scripture says, yet
for our sakes became poor. He who was equal with God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, yet made him sound. Nobody brought him down. Nobody
forced the Lord Jesus Christ to come down to this planet.
He willingly did so. He made himself of no reputation
and took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, the end
of that story is God hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every
knee should bow, just like Joseph, just like Joseph. all in God's
purpose. He was brought down to the place
of a slave. Christ came down willingly, voluntarily,
humbled himself to be that willing bond slave. You remember that
story? In Exodus. All right. And it says in verse
2, the Lord was with Joseph. Verse 2 and 3. The Lord was with
Joseph. You're going to see this all
through this story. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was
with Joseph. Keep saying this over and over
again. If you read this chapter, that was your homework. If you
read this chapter that should have jumped out at you over and
over and over, it says the Lord was with Joseph. No matter what
happened, the Lord was with Joseph. Read on. And he was a prosperous
man. He was a prosperous man. He was
in the house of his master, the Egyptian, and his master, even
this Egyptian, this worldling, saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. The Lord was with him and he
was prosperous. Now, that ought to make us stop
and think what prosperity is. He's in prison, that is, he's
sold to be a slave, yet the scripture said he was prosperous. What is prosperity? Is it the
man who lives in the palace? The man who lives in the lifestyle
of the rich and famous? Or the willing monslave of the
Lord Jesus Christ? What is prosperity? There are
many who are imprisoned by their prosperity. Scriptures over and
over again says things like this. Better is little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble that will happen.
Prosperous man. Why was he prosperous? What was
the chief reason for his prosperity? Prosperity being well off. When you think of prosperity,
you think of being well off, don't you? Who is well off? whoever the Lord is with. He
was prosperous because the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. Prosperity
is not in having possessions, but being possessed. I mean by the Lord God, being
possessed by him. Take the, well I don't have time
to talk about Abraham and Lot, but you know this poem. Who was
the blessing? Prosperity. Listen to John Newton's
poem. John Newton said, how tedious
and tasteless the hour when the Lord Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. Tent with
beholding his face, my all to his pleasure resigned. This is
what Joseph did. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy, would appear, and prisons would palaces
prove. that the Lord Jesus would dwell
with me there. That man knew something about
prosperity, spiritual prosperity is true prosperity. We're going
to find out someday. We're really going to find out
someday. The Lord was with him. What else did he need? Huh? Though imprisoned, now listen,
he lost everything, didn't he? Joseph lost everything. We have
reason to believe that he was well off being in his father's
house, but he lost it all, didn't he? He said he was a prosperous
man. He lost his home, he lost his
family, he lost the comforts of home and family, he lost all
his friends. Everybody turned against him.
Not everybody. The Lord was with him. a prosperous man, and our brother
read that in Psalm 1, whatsoever his hand does shall prosper,
shall prosper. Scripture says, the pleasure
of the Lord, Isaiah 53, 10, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in Christ's hand. Pleasure of the Lord. From first
to last here, look at this, look at verse 23 in our text, verse
23, the last verse of this part of the story says 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. From first to last in this story
Joseph is called the prosperous man. Everything he did prospered
and so did the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen carefully. All that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do he did it. This is important, this is the
difference between the true gospel and the false gospel today. This
is the difference between true salvation and this stuff being
passed off as salvation. This is the difference between
the true Christ of scripture and the false one today. This
is the difference between the true God who reigns and rules
and does as he will with whom he will, because he will, and
the false gods today. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
on his father's business. He said that as a 12-year-old
boy. The first words uttered by him as a human being, that
is written, he said, I must be about my father's business. The
father sent the son down here on business. He had a job to
do. Did he do it? If he didn't do
it, he didn't prosper, did he? If he didn't do it, Isaiah 53.10
is a lie. The pleasure of the Lord did
not prosper in his hand. Did he do it? Listen to him on
Calvary's tree, the last words which the Lord Jesus Christ uttered
as a human being on this earth. Word. It is finished. Mission accomplished. Salvation
obtained. My people saved. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the true Christ of Scripture, did not make an attempt to save
anybody, did not make salvation possible. He accomplished the
salvation of everyone which God gave to him in that covenant
before the foundation of the world. He is a prosperous man. He got the job done to the glory
of God, to the glory of his work, to the glory of his own power
and ability to do it. That's the difference between
the Christ of Scripture, the true Christ, our Christ, and
that which is being passed off as Christ today, false Christ.
The Christ out there being preached today is an absolute failure.
He didn't do what he came to do. He just tried. He can't do
anything unless men let him. That's not the Christ of Scripture.
The Christ of Scripture is oppressed for us, man. And even though he appeared,
and this is what throws human beings for a loop, is that though
he appeared to be weak and frustrated and failing when he was hanging
on that cross, by hanging on the cross he was accomplishing
exactly what he came to do. Even though nailed to the cross,
his hands and his feet nailed where he could not move, at that
point he was nailing the handwriting of ordinances to the cross. At that point in time, he was
crushing the head of Satan himself. At that point in time, he was
accomplishing the eternal redemption of every single person he was
hanging there to die for. That's the Jesus Christ of the
Scriptures, the prosperous man. Can I stay right here another
30 minutes? I see that some of you like it. The world doesn't
like it. Those whom he came to save love it. He is their salvation. Joseph seems to be a weak failure,
doesn't it? All this is happening to Joseph.
He can't do anything about it. God Almighty is with him. God Almighty is leading him.
God Almighty is using him. We're going to see in the end
that everything Joseph did was God's doing. All right, it says Joseph, well,
look at verse five, verse four. It says, Joseph found grace in
his master's sight. He found grace in Potiphar's
sight, and Joseph served him, and Potiphar made him overseer
over his house, and all that he had He put into Joseph's hands. Look at verse 5. Go on. If we
didn't hear it the first time, it came to pass from that 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. The blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the
house and in the Joseph found grace in this master's sight,
and he made him overseer over it all. And it says twice, emphatically,
that the master put all into his hands, that there was nothing
left that belonged to Potiphar that was not in the hands of
Joseph. Now, what does that tell us?
Well, the scripture said, our Lord said this in John 7, verse
2, he said, Thou hast given him, speaking about himself, power
over all things. Power over all things. The Father
hath committed all things into the hands of the Son. All things. All things? All things. All things belong to Him. He
reigns and rules over all. He's the judge of all the earth. All things. Once again, this
is the difference. This is the difference between
the true Christ of Scripture and the false one. This is the
difference. You see, the true Christ, all
things are in His hands. Now, if something is in your
hands, what does that mean? It is at your disposal. You can lift it up. You can cast
it down. You can keep it. You can throw
it away. It's yours. It's in your hands,
right? That's the Christ description.
All things are in his hands. He disposes. He, Scripture says,
raises up, casts down. He kills, he makes alive. He
wounds, he heals. That's what the Scripture said
of the Christ of Scripture. Now, the false Christ out there
today doesn't even have hands. That's what the preachers of
him say. He has no hands but your hands. His hands are tied. That's the difference. Well,
look at this. It says the house of the Egyptian
was blessed for Joseph's sake. Ottoker's house was blessed for
Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was
upon all that he had in that house. Everybody in the house,
everybody outside. Anybody who was even remotely
connected to the house, they were blessed. Why? For Joseph's sake. For Joseph's
sake. Everyone and everything was blessed
for Joseph's sake. And this is what Ephesians 1
says, God had blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly
things in Christ. We're blessed for Christ's sake,
for Christ's sake. Wherever Christ is, the people
are blessed. Everything and everyone will
be blessed. Some Well, look at this. It says Joseph was a goodly
and well-favored person. Verse 6, it says that he left
all that he had in Joseph's hand. There it is again. Why, there
it is again, three times. He left all that he had in Joseph's
hand. It says he knew not all that he had save the bread which
he did eat. Boy, that's trust, isn't it?
That's implicit trust, complete trust. He trusted him. Why? Why did he trust Joseph? Because
Joseph was a trustworthy man. You trust somebody trustworthy. Somebody you knew could get the
job done, you committed all of them. So did the father with
his son. Put everything into his hand.
And it says in verse 6, Joseph was a goodly person and well
favored. A goodly person. We've already seen that, haven't
we? Oh, we're going to see it more and more. What all he does for those sorry
no good brothers of his, that's not the way of man. Now, average
man, he's a goodly person, well favored. Well, and you know,
the Lord Jesus Christ is only true good man by nature. The
only good man by nature, one person came to the Lord one day
and said, good master, and he stopped him right there. He said,
wait a minute. Why do you call me good? There
is none good but God. Scripture says that, doesn't
it? There's none good, no, not one. None righteous, no, not
one. They're all together become filth,
and on and on it goes to describe us by nature. But now, this man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was a good man. He must be God. Clean hands, pure heart, never
swore deceitfully or lifted up his soul under banishment, a
good man. Truly good in every sense, through and through. Thought,
word, deed, motive. Well, it says about the Lord
Jesus Christ that he grew as a young boy in that same story
of him as a young boy. It says he grew in wisdom and
stature. He grew, he began to grow in
experience and knowledge and so forth. Now that's a mystery.
He who is wisdom, I can't explain that. Nobody
can. But he did. And stature. He started growing
up tall like Joseph, that Joseph right there. He's going to be
seven feet tall. I believe, because a foot of
wheat, and so do the rest of them, Davis and others, which
says he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. It says the Lord Jesus Christ
grew in favor with God. Do you look at your, you looked
at your children when they were growing up and those of you who
have young children, they start to grow and they start to do
things that you have taught them to do. And it pleases you that. Well, if they do, if they learn
and start to put those in, it pleases you. And you become more
and more pleased with them. And if they grow up to be obedient
children and hardworking and so on and so forth and exemplary,
you're well pleased. So it was with the Lord Jesus
Christ as a man. The father, everything Christ
did from a boy on up, the father was just well pleased. Just well
pleased. And man, it says men. How could
you not be impressed with? This man. How could you not be impressed?
Even his enemies were impressed by it. They came to him and said,
nobody could do the things you do, except God. They were impressed, they were
pleased with it. I like the thought of his, you
know, earthly mother. He really had no mother, but
Mary was just a A vessel used to give birth,
nothing special about her, could have been anybody. So she was
just a vessel to give birth to the Christ child, the sinner,
saved by grace, just like everybody else. But I've often enjoyed
thinking about her watching, and Joseph, his supposed earthly
father, watching him grow up. You know she would hold that
child in her arms and child would never cry. Our babies. Our babies all that
crying is not pain and suffering it's rebellion some of us not
get in their way and since they can't say hey you give me this
they cry. It's true. And. And anyway he never did. So he's without him. Even as
a. Infant he's without him he's
not going to cry. And as a toddler his mother would
look at him. So obedient. She might have said that Nancy
the other mother he's just the perfect job. He sure is. He's a good boy. Oh, Mary, you
don't know that. Joseph, he's the hardest working
boy I've ever seen. You don't know the work that's
laid on his shoulders. And on and on it went. But now,
that did not. For good work, they didn't crucify
him. Because he was a good man, they didn't crucify him. And
the scripture says, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution. Joseph, such a good man. He's
a good man. Everybody likes him. Well-favored
by everybody. But here it comes. Comes a trial. False accuser. And if you read the story, you
know the story. Potiphar's wife made a pass at
him. And we're not read all of that.
This woman. Made a pass at. And he wouldn't
he wouldn't fall to her advances. He wouldn't. And. She kept it in it kept it in
the first nine. It says that here's Joseph's
answer to her there's none greater in this house than I need to
have. Potter for your husband kept back anything from me but
because our his wife how could I do this great wickedness and
sin against. You see the glory Joseph had
in mind you see who it was that Joseph was You know that's the greatest
deterrent against sin. The greatest deterrent against
sin is, like Joseph said, how can I do this against God? Because
it's against him and him only that we sin. sent against his
goodness was sent against his word was sent against his is
that what he revealed to us was sent against his glory was sent
against his. Purpose was sent against him.
And the scripture says, though, that. It's given unto us not
only to suffer. And not only to believe, but
to suffer for his sake. It's given under us let me read
that again Philippians one twenty nine is given under us not only
to believe that is believe God but to suffer for his sake for
his sake. Suffering suffering. Can mean
many many things whatever God. Purposes. And it's all in order to glorify
God whatever we suffer or go through whatever trial is that
we might testify to our God that we might you know live by. Bring reproach on him in the
trial. And as I said, Joseph is our
example here. We're going to see him as Christ
in a moment. But here as our example, it was
given unto Joseph to suffer. What? He's going to suffer greatly. He's going to be maligned, persecuted,
reviled, and so on and so forth. Why? Why is this happening? Don't you know Joseph thought,
why is this happening to me? The story of the end of the story
there that. Temptation was Joseph played
out of the house remember she kept making advances that and
he put it put her off to find that she grabbed a hold of. Our
course and and he took off running and she grabbed a hold of his
coat you know or it all. Stripped his coat. And when he
left well she took that coat and more false witness against
him lied on Joseph said to her husband and other people that
Joseph came in and tried to force himself on her. Which is an out
and out lie. How could she do that to such
a goodly man? How could she bear false witness
against such a goodly man? Why would she lie on him? Why
would Potiphar believe? Why would somebody believe such
a lie, an out and out live. And it was given to him to suffer
as our example here. We need to. See that whatever
we go through no matter how ill treated we are. No matter how
persecuted no matter the trial. Whatever they may be. Joseph
went through deprivation. He lost everything. Isolation.
He was alone. Sickness. Persecution. Whatever
it is. Joseph said. Here's what Joseph
said. And I'm just going to wait on
him. And he did. And this happened
to him. This literally happened to him. He was tempted. Yet he didn't say. And the scripture
says of the Lord Jesus Christ he was tempted in all. The Lord Jesus Christ could look
at a woman. And this is God this is God Almighty
who made. and could look at her as he would
look at a flower. Admire the beauty, but not be
in the least attempted. Isn't that wonderful? Why? We can't do that. Why? Because he's our substitute.
Patrick, he's our substitute. He was tempted at all points,
like as we are. but without sin. He's doing this
for you. He's doing this for me. He's
doing this for us. All of us, male and female. We're
tempted for love. Sometimes the only thing to do
is just to love. By God's grace. Now Joseph did. Remember, he's just a man. Where did Joseph get his strength?
Where did Joseph get his resolve? Where did Joseph get the ability
to run? The only place there is that,
from the God of all bread. He said, how can I sin against
God? Well, now, they, let me make
this long story short. They falsely accused him, and
he was put in prison for it. And that, but there's no record.
Did you read this? While he's being accused and
tried and convicted, there's no record that he said a thing,
that he said a word. It appears that he answered not
a word. Why don't you say something,
Joseph? Defend yourself. And I know that. Why did I tell
you that this story was written. The Lord Jesus Christ they drummed
up all kind of false witnesses against him and none of them
agree any good lawyer could have had that case thrown out of court.
If the witnesses don't agree he goes out. But they all bore
false witness against him. None of them even agreed together,
yet he was charged, convicted, sentenced, and executed. Why?
Because he never defended himself. He never uttered a word. Scripture
said, as a lamb, a sheep, before her shearers is dumb, he opened
not his mouth. He never said, I didn't do it. Never did. Why? Same answer as while ago. He
is our substitute. See, we're guilty on all charges. All the witnesses against us
agree. We stand before the judgment seat of God guilty as charged
on all counts. How many counts? At least ten.
At least ten counts against us. Guilty as charged. Ten thousand
counts. One hundred thousand counts.
Guilty as charged. All our life. Guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
made, Joseph was being made to be what he was not. Joseph appeared
to be guilty, but he's not. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin for his people. He who knew no sin. Why? That
we might be made the righteousness of God. He was made guilty. So he was our substitute, our
representative. And they uttered not a word.
What do you have to say if you say it? He's me. Kelly, he's me standing back.
Christ did. And the charges against him,
and he doesn't defend him because he's guilty. Because he's me. Would you do that? No. Would
you do that for somebody else? No. It's not the way of me. It's the way of the Lord Jesus.
That's what he did. And Joseph, somehow, Joseph trusted
God. Scripture says of Christ, when
he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered the things
that he suffered, he committed himself to him who judged righteousness. Christ knew this is all in God's
purpose. This is why I came. Joseph, just
a man, yet he believed God. How do you know he believed God?
He committed himself to him who judges righteous. And what does
that say to us? Whatever happens to us, whatever
befalls us, though we may be wrongly... ...treated, misused, God knows. And it all happened on purpose.
It's all happening on purpose. Absolutely. Everything happens
on purpose. And you'll know something about
the God of the Bible. All things work together for
good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose. That's the God of the Bible. How can anything good come out
of it? Can't Joseph do more good for
people when he's out there searching? Why put Joseph in prison? I'll tell you why. There's two
sorry, no good men in prison. There's a butler and there's
a baker. They're both sentenced to die.
The king lost favor in his butler, they lost the favor of the king,
the butler and the baker, and the king said they're going to
cut both their heads off. They did something to displease
him. The butler must have spilled his wine, the baker must have
burned his fiends, his bread. cut their heads off. There's
only one person can say. And in the purpose of God, he
sends Joseph to prison to save one good for nothing. But what's
the basis? I have to read this story. There's two men, both destined
to die. Joseph's put in prison. One of
them comes out alive. Does that sound familiar? The
Lord Jesus Christ, wrongly accused, falsely imprisoned, sent to Calvary's
tree because there's two worthless thieves hanging there. One of
them is going home for it. That's our next story, if you
want to read it. The butler and the baker. Well, look at the
last few verses. It says, it says in verses twenty
one and probably don't the Lord is with us. He's in prison now
but the Lord is with him. And showed him mercy and gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Keeper
of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were
in the prison. Ah, the scriptures talk several
times about prisoners. Rejoice ye prisoners of hope.
I tell you who's the keeper of the prison. Who has charge of
the prisoners, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, whatsoever
they did there, he was a doer of it. He was in charge. 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 prosperous. He's a prosperous man. No matter
where he is, he prospers. Whoever he's with. He takes care
of. Even prison. What am I. Oh we're going to it just gets
better and better and better and better. All right stand with. All right. All right, where are
you? It's 94 years of work, 94 years
of work. We made it, so a little bit of a five century test. We
don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're going
to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it.
We don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're
going to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't
know what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't know
what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't know
what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're going
to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it. We don't know what we're going
to do with it. We don't know what we're going to do with it. We It was
now that our children are born in places such as New York City,
New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City,
New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York
City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New
York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New
York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City,
New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New
York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City,
New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City,
New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City,
New York City,