♪ Where'er we be ♪ ♪ Let suffering's
pangs of mercy be seen ♪ ♪ Are there on eagles' wings we soar
♪ ♪ And spin and spin, small as the moon ♪ ♪ And hell comes
down our souls to grieve ♪ That's good. A very worshipful
scriptural hymn. The old writers wrote in scriptural
language, and it was an old hymn. All right, Genesis 39 again. Genesis 39. Without a doubt, Moses wrote
of Christ. And our Lord, well, He had all
of the scriptures that He Himself wrote in mind when He said that.
But barely, barely, They are they which testify of Christ. These are they which testify
of Christ. And none testifies more clearly
than this story of Joseph here. If you were unable to enter into
it as we read it, you've already been blessed. You've already
seen Christ just as clearly as if there was a photograph taken
of Him in these verses here. Now this follows chapter thirty
nine look back at chapter thirty. Seven the last verse of chapter
thirty seven look at. There's a million I sold him
into Egypt on the part of her an officer of Pharaoh's and the
captain of the guard and then chapter thirty nine verse one
and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. The chapter thirty eight
is kind of a. A pause in a story here of Joseph. This whole thing, the whole theme of all of this is Joseph. Joseph is the central figure,
but there's a pause in chapter 38 that deals with Judah, the
story we looked at, and that's a prophecy. There are prophecies
there in chapter 38. that deal with the Jews, the
history of the Jews and other people. And we could go into
those, and it would be much that we could learn from that. But they would be, really, it
would be endless genealogies, studies of the Jewish race and
all that befell them. And it would be interesting.
It would be marvelous to see God's hand in all that, but it
would take us away from the central theme of Scripture, which is
Christ, that we might know Him, not about the Jews. You can know
all you want about the Jews and not know Christ. But if you know
that Jew, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in their salvation. Christ and Him crucified is the
central theme of Scripture. And let that be the reason why
we have buried this name that we do here, Central Baptist Church. I'm not sure that's the reason
the name was given, but let that be the reason from here on out,
OK? That the reason we're named that is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified is central in all that we do. All right. Chapter thirty nine now. Chapter
thirty nine. If you're taking notes I have
don't let me scare you here. I have eleven points all right. You shouldn't say that all the
time because people start counting when you get to about four if
you had a little liberty they'd start worrying. But I'm not going
to number them except I want to hold up my fingers. But I
think you'll, they're all in the verses there, but an easy
way to take notes is by headings, notes, head points. All right. All right, look at
verse one. Point number one, Joseph becomes
a servant. Verse one again, and Joseph was
brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain
of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites,
which had brought him down thither. Joseph went from being the beloved
son, loved the most by Jacob his father,
the beloved In the peace, the tranquility, the love, the honor
of his father's house, he went from there to being a slave in
Egypt. Does that sound familiar? Left
the father's house to become a slave in Egypt. And the Scripture
says that Christ, being in a form of God, dwelling with the Father
on high, and the peace and the love and the tranquility and
the honor and the majesty of his Father on high, left his
father's house in the form of, and thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant." The word slave there. He became a
slave. And he came down. It says Joseph
was brought down. And no one was brought down lower
than our Lord himself. He said himself, he said, I'm
a worm and no man. Despised and rejected of all
men. More so than even Joseph here.
Christ came down. He was brought down. The Father
sent him. He was brought down. The Father's
the one that sent him. Down to Egypt. Egypt's always
a type of the world. Egypt is a type of the world. And the High Sun came down to
be a lowly servant. And the word really is bond-slave.
Bond-slave. You know the story in the Scripture
where it says that a man who loves his master, he goes to
his master and says, I want to stay with thee. I want to stay
here with thee. And he bores his ear through
with an awl and makes him a bond-slave. Well, that's what Christ did.
He voluntarily submitted to slavery. prison and even death. Joseph
was a prosperous man. Look at verse 2 and 3. Look at
this prosperous man. And the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master,
the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. Does that sound familiar? It
sounds like our study in Psalm 1. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. That's our Lord. Look over at
Isaiah with me. Isaiah chapter, oh, you turn
to Isaiah 48, and I'll read you a couple of other places in Isaiah. And keep Isaiah marked. We're
going to come back to that at another time. Isaiah chapter
48. Look at that. In Isaiah 52, listen
to this as I read it to you. Isaiah 52 verse 13 says, Behold,
my servant shall prosper. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. My servant shall prosper. He shall be exalted. Oh, he's
a slave, a servant, but he shall be exalted and extolled and be
very high. That's what happened to Joseph,
and that's what happened to Jesus Christ. Listen to this, Isaiah
53, 10. Listen to this. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. Just as it pleased the Lord to
put Joseph down there in Egypt, it pleased the Lord to bruise
the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath put him to grief. You
know that Joseph was grieved with being where he was at. He
wanted to be with his father. You know he did. Yet, he hath
put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. Joseph was an offering, wasn't
he? Joseph was a substitute. Joseph is going to be the Savior
of his brethren. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. And as we saw last week, what
is the pleasure of the Lord? It pleases the Lord to make you
his people, and you are in his hands. God gave a people to Christ,
put them in his hand, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. It pleased the Lord to save a people through Christ,
and Jesus Christ prospered. He did it, and our souls prospered. Look at Isaiah 48, verse 15.
Look at that. I, even I have spoken, this is
God speaking, yea, I have called him, who? Christ. I have brought him. he shall
make his way prosperous." Sounds just like Joseph, doesn't it?
He brought down to Egypt. He was a prosperous man. Look
at Isaiah 55. You can quote this one, but it might take on a little
different meaning now. Isaiah 55, look at verse 10. As the rain cometh down, Christ
is that shower of blessing. And snow from heaven, he's that
sin cleanser. It washes us white as snow. And
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
forth, and bud that it may give seed to the sower, bread to the
eater. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth."
That's Christ. It shall not return unto me void,
empty, vain, but it shall accomplish that which I please. It shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. God sent his son down
to this Egypt to this world and said save my people did he prosper
did he get the job done the scripture says having obtained eternal
redemption for us he went back when he had by himself purged
our sin by himself he sat down job finished all right Joseph
was a prosperous man then Joseph pleased his master well. Look at the text. Look at verse
4. Joseph pleased his master well. Verse 4. Joseph found grace in
Potiphar's sight, and he served him. Joseph served Potiphar,
and Potiphar made him overseer over his house. Joseph pleased
his master. Evidently, he did always those
things that pleased Potiphar. He delighted to serve his master
and he served him well. He did always those things that
pleased him. And isn't that the very words,
aren't those the very words of Christ himself concerning the
Father? He said, I always do those things that please my heavenly
Father. I do always those things. And our Lord himself, God himself
said from heaven, this is my beloved son, my servant. And Isaiah 42, My servant, I
am well pleased with him, well pleased with him. And then look
at verse 5, And then Joseph was made ruler over everything. He
pleased his master well, and his master made him ruler over
all things. Verse 5, It came to pass that
from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and
over all that he had. He made him oversee, put all
things into his hands. Joseph dwelt in the house with
his master and had all things in his charge. All things were
in his hands, and he dwelt with the master. Listen to Peter's
words at Pentecost. Scripture says that him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, You have taken and with wicked hands crucified him, yet
God raised him up. Those wicked brethren sold Joseph
into Egypt, yet the Lord was with him. God raised him up to
a place of favor, didn't he? And put all things into his hands.
God hath made this same Jesus whom you have crucified, he said.
What? Lord. Lord and Christ. Lord and Christ and all things
are in his hands now. You have to answer to him someday.
You have to come to him for mercy. You have to come to him for mercy
and see what he's going to do with you. You did something with
him. Those evil brethren did what they would. Their evil wills
would do with Joseph, didn't it? And they're going to come
to him someday and the table's turned, wasn't it? What's he
going to do with us? He's merciful. He's merciful. And listen to Hebrews 3. Christ
is a son over his own house, whose house are we. So he was Lord and overseer over
all his house. Point number 5. I'm going pretty
fast. Don't worry. Point number 5. Look at verse
5. It says that all were blessed
because of Joseph who came to pass. From the time that Potiphar
made him overseer in his house, over all that he had, that the
Lord blessed the Egyptians' house. Did those three words jump out
at you when you read them? For Joseph's sake. Everybody was
blessed. Why? There was a fellow in the
house named Joseph. For Joseph's sake. And the blessing
of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the
field. at home and abroad, in the house
and in the field. And this whole world—and I do
want you to turn to Isaiah 43. This whole world is blessed,
people, for one man's sake—Christ. It's all blessed for his sake.
You see, if it wasn't for Christ, God would have destroyed it a
long time ago, wouldn't Well, as a matter of fact, he would
have destroyed Adam. There would be no world. Were it not for
the woman's seed who was to come. See, it's all for his sake. He
said, I don't do this for your sake, but for my holy name's
sake. Well, what's his name? Immanuel. God with us. If God's with us,
if God before us, who can be against it? Christ is with us,
we'll be blessed, won't we? And this whole earth is blessed
for Christ's sake. God has blessed the world and
all in it for Christ's sake. Yes, all in it. As Barnard said,
anything this side of hell is mercy, and all mercy is for Christ's
sake. For Jonathan's sake. For Jonathan's
sake. Because of the covenant that
God Almighty made with his son, like David and Jonathan. like
God and Joseph here. The house and the field, that
represents heaven and earth. All things are blessed for Christ's
sake. Look at verses 3 and 4 here, Isaiah 43. Verses 3 and 4, and
this will take on new meaning to you. I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now he's talking to Christ here.
That's who he's talking to. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life." There's no reason for this world
to stay in existence but for Christ's sake. And all are blessed,
all in the house and all in the field, in the
earth, are blessed for Christ's sake. All right, back to the
text. Joseph was a goodly person. Verse 6. Joseph was a goodly
person. Verse 6. He left all that was in Joseph's
hand. He knew Potiphar didn't know what he had. Potiphar was
a pretty good fellow, really. Pretty fine fellow. He didn't
know what he had. He didn't seem to care. He just left it all
in Joseph's charge. He knew not what he had, save
the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person
and well favored. And young man. Joseph was about
20 years old here. That's rare. That's rare. Twenty twenty one and he was
a good man. A goodly person. Oh my. Give us more such Joseph. Steve,
may he make your Joseph at twenty or twenty-one a goodly person,
well favored, in favor with God and men. All right, Christ, it
was a rich young ruler that came up to Christ one day and said,
good master. He said, wait a minute. He said,
why do you call me good? He said, there's none good. That's
what he said. In Isaiah, it's none that doeth
good, no, not one. There's none good but God. Why
do you call me good? Because he is. He's the only
one that is. He's the only truly goodly person
that ever lived. Isn't it? Isn't Christ the only
good man that ever walked this planet? Oh, yeah. In the truest
sense of the word, even, now get a load of this. as a twelve-year-old
boy. Twenty is rare, but twelve? Thirteen? No meanness in him
at all. A good boy. I bet his mama said
that to some of those Jewish ladies. You know how you mamas
like to brag on your boy? And y'all ain't got anything
worth bragging about. You two over there are probably the worst,
bragging about your sons. Oh, he's such a good boy. No,
he's not. He's a little rotten rat. Well, Mary might have said
that, mightn't you? You reckon? Even when he was
born, I bet you Mary said, he's such a good baby. He never cries. His voice was never heard crying
in the street. And then a twelve-year-old boy,
but his mother said, well, he's such an obedient child. We've
never had a moment's trouble out of him. Huh? Oh, yeah. Why? Because he's the Holy One of
Israel. He's the righteous servant of God. He's a goodly man. Yeah,
he's a great man. He's altogether lovely. That's
what he is. well favored. It says Joseph
was a goodly person and well favored. Well favored, God's
favorite. Just as Joseph was Jacob's favorite,
Christ was God's favorite. Now, God has no degrees of love. Understand me. These fools out
there that like to say that God loved Esau less, ain't no such
thing with God. He's no respecter of persons,
Dan. If he loves you, and he loves me, he loves us the same.
Because there's nothing worth loving in any of it. Neither
one of us merited it. That's sovereign love. Well,
Christ loved, oh wait a minute, that wasn't sovereign love from
God. It wasn't sovereign love from Him. He didn't love His
Son because He set His affection on Him, but Christ earned it. Didn't He? He forbode the Father
unto love. And he favored his he favored. That's all right with you. And
God loves Christ supremely. That's the only reason he has
anything to do with us because of his son for Christ's sake.
He loves Christ supremely. Oh, yes. Yes, he did. And that's the reason for all
things. But as far as his love for us, it's the same. It's the
same. No degrees of love. God doesn't
prefer one son over another, except He's only begotten well
beloved son, his favorite, his favorite. If you had an only son, he'd
be your favorite, wouldn't he? All right. All right. And he was favored by all who
knew him. Oh, yeah. Scripture says that of Christ
even, that he grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God
and men. God and men. All right, look
at verse 7, and that's point number 7. This is point number
7. Look at Joseph's temptation. And a trying thing it was. And
now remember, he's 20 years old when this happens. All right,
look at verses 7 through 9. It came to pass after these things
that his master's wife, cast her eyes upon Joseph and said,
she said, lie with me. But he refused. He's a goodly fellow, isn't he?
He's a rare individual. Rare. He refused. And he said,
listen to what he said. This is great. Behold, my master
is not watching over me, or that is, he's given total freedom
and liberty to me in the house, and he has committed all that
he hath to my hand, there is none greater in this house than
I, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because
thou art his wife. How then can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God?" That's interesting that you said
that. I got to have sin against God. Joseph was a godly man. Not just a goodly man, but a
godly man. He knew he was where he was because
God put him there. And he knew all the blessings.
He recognized the blessings of God upon him. That's what it
said. God was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord
blessed every step he took. And he knew that it was God that
put him there. God gave him favor in the eyes
of his enemy. A cruel taskmaster gave him favor
and a place of position, and he said, I can't sin against
God. That's what all sin is. All sin is against God. David,
isn't that what David said in Isaiah 51? Against thee and thee
only. They sinned against Uriah, but David said, no, it's against
thee and thee only. Because you blessed me." And
why did he say that to her? Because Nathan came to him, and
you remember what Nathan was saying to David? That brought
about repentance? What was it that brought repentance?
The goodness of God. Wasn't it? The goodness of God
led David to repentance. Nathan came to David and said,
from God, said, I took you out of Father's sheep. Took you out
of the sheep pen, shoveled the manure, and set you on the throne. There had never been a greater
man than David, and now you do this. Sin against God. If only we could think of all
sin in that life. Huh? There's one, it was Pharoah
Griffin said this, Rick. He said Christ had to suffer
for all the sins of all his people. Every sin. And he said, and every sin we
commit added to the afflictions of Christ. Does that make sense?
It does. He had to suffer. And that's
the reason it took him six hours on the cross. Perhaps longer
than that, he started back in the garden. And so our sin is against God. If only we could think of it
in that light and shun it, the same as Joseph. Well, Christ,
our Joseph, was tempted in all points. You reckon he was tempted
like this? Oh, yes. You know he was. In
all points. See, he was a young man. Twenty,
twenty-one, a young, single man. He was a man tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin. He never lusted on a woman. Never
looked on a woman except with, not love, but with love. Looked
on her as a soul that he had made, not an object of desire. Only one good man. It's only
one man that could say, Joe made that covenant, didn't he Rick?
I made a covenant with my eyes, how should I look on a maid?
But he broke it the next morning, guarantee you. He's a man. weakness of the flesh. The flesh
lusteth against the Spirit. Job broke it as a good covenant,
but he broke it. He was a man. Christ made that
covenant and never broke it. Not one. Why? For me. Because
I'd broken it. I'd broken God's law on everything.
And on that one, I'd broken it. But He kept it for me. Tempted
in all points, like as we are yet without sin. Because Scripture
says, in him is no sin. And Satan, just as Potiphar's
wife, Satan came to him and tempted him with all things, didn't he? And found nothing in him. Couldn't
find anything to tempt him with. Sounds like impeccability to
me, doesn't it? You theologians, doesn't that
sound like impeccability to you? No possibility of sinning. In
him was no sin. No, Satan found nothing in him. Well, I'll tempt him with it.
He said, You can't tempt me. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. Pilate even said he was looking
for something wrong with him. Pilate was looking for something
wrong with him to justify killing him. Pilate said, I'll find no
fault in him. Now, that's an unusual man, isn't
it? A sinless man. Holy, the Scripture
says, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Separate
from sinners. Not separate, staying in the
sense of above and doesn't relate to us and all that, but just
he's not like us. He relates to us, sympathizes
with us, but he's not like us. It's enough to know that he was
tried and tempted and exposed to these things and knows how
we feel. And I take issue with all these
preachers that demand that Christ actually be tempted with these
things. It can't be done, baby. You can't tempt God. God cannot
be tempted. Joseph, listen. Joseph, I believe,
Joseph is the greatest type of Christ in all the Scriptures.
And we're going to see that. When we get through with this,
if you haven't seen it already, we're just going to be absolutely
astounded. We're going to be absolutely
amazed. And even the half-talk will be
told. We could stay on this story of Joseph for years. Every verse
speaks of Christ. But Joseph, I believe, is the
greatest type of Christ in all the Scriptures. I don't think
there's any integrated type. I really don't. And for that
reason, and here's the one reason I think, his character is impeccable.
There's never anything blessing Joseph's son, and remember
that story? Well, I'm getting off here, but
nevertheless, Jacob's going to bless Joseph's sons, and Jacob
crossed his arm to bless the younger instead of the elder.
Where'd Jacob got that? Well, Joseph said, No, no, don't
do that, Father. And he said, I don't want to
do it. But other than that, there's nothing in Scripture. That even
implies or intimates that Joseph is impeccable in speaking as
a man. His history, his reputation was
kept spotless. I believe it was preserved by
God as the greatest type of the Son of God. I really do. Daniel's another one. Daniel's
the one given that great vision that John saw. John, the beloved
disciple, was one. But I believe Joseph's the greater.
Joseph fled. Joseph fled as a young man. And
this was a young, single man. No restraints put upon him. And
yet he ran. I can't do that. Paul said to young Timothy in
his letter to Timothy, he said, flee, youthful lusts. Flee, youthful
lusts. Run. Run, Timothy. Run. Don't try to stay in it,
but, and I know what these fellows say, in the resist the devil
and he'll flee from you. Oh, no. Not in that sense. Not that you, you're no match
for him. He knows, oh. He took the greatest man other
than our Lord to ever live, Adam, and turned him inside out, didn't
he? Strongest, wisest woman. Wouldn't
you say that Eve was probably the wisest woman to live on this
planet? She was perfect. Turned her inside
out, Vicki. She was no match for that master
of deception and subtlety. and his craftiness, the wiles
of the devil. We're no match for him. The only
way we resist him is to run. How do we run? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our path. Let us run this race, as I said
before, looking unto him. Run! I tell you, one man is a
match for him, though. Listen to this. John, listen
to this. Satan came to Christ to tempt
him. You know what happened? Christ said, get behind me, Satan. What happened? Satan ran. There's only one man that could
make him run. We need to be the ones running.
But Christ stood in front of him and said, get out of here.
And he took off. Steering to death. Oh yeah, greater
than he, stronger than he, is the one I need to run to in cases
like this. All right, look at verses fourteen
through eighteen, and this is point number eight. Joseph was
falsely accused, falsely accused. So she called the men of her
house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew
unto us to mock us. She's talking about her husband.
They didn't have a very good relationship. It's obvious. She
was talking about Potiphar. Potiphar. And I think it was
Arthur Pink brought out that the reason Potiphar didn't kill
Joseph and put him in prison, the reason he didn't kill Joseph
was because he didn't believe his wife. He said his anger was
kindled. You know it was kindled that,
don't you? He knew he was behind this. He knew that woman. He
knew that she was lying. Oh, yeah. And she said this about
him, and I think it brought this out too. It said that Pilate
tried to set Christ free. This is the type of that, how
Pilate tried to set him free, didn't he? Was it Nebuchadnezzar
and Daniel? Didn't he want to set Daniel
free? He said, I can't. He knew Daniel, and he was a
good man. Pilate knew he was no good. I can't find any fault
in this man. So he did this to save face. Potiphar did this to save face.
Put him in prison. By God's grace and mercy, put
him in prison. Didn't kill him. Christ was hunted
from his youth up, wasn't he? They tried to kill him early
on. His time hadn't come yet. Well, let's read on. accused
him, spake these words, verse seventeen. She spake unto Potiphar according
to these words, saying, verse seventeen, The Hebrew servant
which thou hast brought unto her came in unto me to mock me. It came to pass, when his master
heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying,
After this marriage did thou serve unto me, that his wrath
was And the wrath of this man's gonna
praise God. And the wrath of man shall praise the Lord. Even the wrath of man. He was
falsely accused, hated without a cause. Joseph was hated without
a cause. And so was our Lord. Our Lord
was brought before the council, and they had to drum up false
witnesses. Said none of them could agree. So they paid two
fellows. Corroborate your story when you
get it straight. They'd come in and bear false
witness against him, and they gave false testimony concerning
him. All right, look at verse 19. Verse 19, Joseph was silent before
his accuser. Oh, look at verse 19. It came
to pass, and his master heard this, after this manner thy servant
did to me, his wrath was kindled. And Joseph said, this is wrong,
I've been framed. No, you don't hear Joseph say
that one. Neither, Terry, do you hear him
back there when his brothers were, when his brothers got a
hold of him and threw him down the pit, you don't hear, that
is not a one. Here, when he was reviled,
Joseph, when he was reviled, he reviled not a one. Maybe part
of her said don't you hear what these say against you have you
nothing to say. Don't you know I have the power
to kill you. Joseph. Have you nothing to say. He spoke not a word. Who's ever
not yet. Our substitute. Christ when he
was standing before Pilate. Pilate said those very things
don't you know I have the power. Don't you say anything? Don't
you have anything to say? Scripture says in Isaiah 53,
he was led as a sheep before a shearer's his dung, so he opened
not his mouth. Oppressed and afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth. And you know why? Brother Charles, that's one of
my favorite passages. It's that line, he opened not
his mouth. Why? Because he was me, Charles. He was me, standing before God's
holy law that was accusing him of breaking it all. He was falsely
accused, but I'm not. I'm justly accused, and I stand
before God in my substitute. He stood there for me, before
the holy law of God, and the law of God says you're guilty
on all points. Charles Ross are guilty in all
points. Don't you have anything to say for yourself? Whatever
the law says, it says to Charles Ross, because he's under it,
that his mouth may be stopped, and he's guilty. When Christ
was you, he was guilty. He could have said, Oh, he could have stopped right
then. Stop all this, couldn't he? Let this go no further. He could
have called, the song says, 10,000 angels to destroy the world and
set him free, to mop up that kangaroo court. But he didn't. Oprah, not again. Why? And you know, so one day, John,
he's going to open his mouth, though, for me. Yeah, when I
stand before God. Dressed in beauty, without bound. And then I'll know when I hear
him say, when God Almighty says, Paul, make him. And I hear Christ
say, here. I'm here. time he enters out. Then, Lord, shall I know, not
till then, how much I owe you." Well, why did all this happen to Joseph?
Look at verse 20. Why did all this happen to Joseph?
Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison. Why? It's a place where the king's
prisoners were found. Whoo, man. Look at Isaiah chapter 49 and
hold on, we're going to jump a clip. Isaiah 49, listen to
this. Oh, this is fabulous. This is
fabulous. Joseph must go to prison. Why? There's a baker to be saved.
He must need to go through the prison. There's a fella that
needs saving there. Christ must go to Calvary. Why? There's some people that
need saving. He must come to earth. There's
people that need saving. Let me read Isaiah 42 to you,
verse 7. He is sent to open the blind
eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, them that sit
in darkness out of the prison house. Look at 49, 8 and 9. Thou, that thou mayest say to
the prisoners, go forth. to them that are in darkness,
show yourselves, go for it. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pasture shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat of the sun smite them.
He that hath mercy on them shall leave them, even by the springs
of water shall he die." Now, that sounds like Joseph later
on, doesn't it? Later on. The baker probably
came to Joseph, Terry, to get his meal to make bread for dinner. Then the baker later on saw God's
problem. Joseph, you know, after he was
made in charge of the storehouses, the baker, go and bake some bread.
He'll eat some corn. Where's he going to get it? Joseph's
got it. I mean, that lowly fellow that
was with me in prison, that meek and lowly man, he's king now. You know, I am getting ahead
of myself. All right. It seems that all were against
Joseph, doesn't it? This is Egypt. You know who these
are? Who are the Egyptians? Gentiles. Right? Gentiles. And that's what the
Scripture says in Acts chapter 4. Against thy holy child, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles were
gathered together. Everybody was against him. And I know Joseph suffered awfully. You know, and you don't have
to turn, but Psalm 105 talks about Joseph. He talks, listen,
now read it to you. He talks about Joseph. He says,
God sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose
feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in irons. Joseph
suffered. greatly down in that prison.
But he committed himself to the Lord. He committed his case to
the Lord, waited on the Lord, and the Lord exalted him in due
time. But he suffered greatly, like our Lord, who suffered on
the cross, was mocked, spat upon, discouraged, thorned, crowned
in the nails, his hands and feet, suffered greatly. But Joseph
won the respect. Joseph won the respect of the
jailer, even. Look at verse 21. Now, the Lord
was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the
sight of the keeper of the prison. Joseph won the respect of even
that old jailer. Now, here's an old, hardened, professional jailer. a man who's skilled in the art
of torture. Egyptians are known for their
cruelty and the prisoners and all that. This place where the
king's prisoners were bound was a rough place. That wasn't a
country club. A rough place. And this old fella
here was probably a big old burly fella that was cruel and inhumane. But even he was won over by this
goodly man named Joseph. Even he wanted to respect Joseph. Does that remind you of anything?
Does that remind you of anybody? When Christ the Lord was hanging
on that cross, there was a fellow who had been given charge of
him the whole time. That fellow that led him from
Pilate's hall up to Golgotha and oversaw the nails being The
spear in his side is an old Roman centurion standing over there
at attention. Watch him. Watch him. Listen. He'd seen a lot of prisoners
come again. He'd seen a lot of crucifixions,
hadn't he? Huh? He'd seen a lot of men die, but
never any like it. And finally, even he broke down
and said, certainly this was a righteous man. The parallel is perfect here.
This was a righteous man. And lastly, point number of the
evening, 45. Verses 22 and the last. The keeper of the prison committed
to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison. And
whatever they did there, he was a doer of it. The keeper of the prison
didn't look to anything that was under Joseph's hand, but
the Lord was with him. And that which he did, the Lord
made it prosper. Joseph prospered in all he did,
didn't he? Let's read this in closing. Zechariah,
go to the book of Zechariah, next to the last book of the
Old Testament. Zechariah, chapter 9. Let's just read this in closing. commentary on what we just read. Zechariah, chapter 9. Let's read
verses 11 and 12. As for thee also, by the blood
of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
where it is no water. turn you to the stronghold, you
prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee." There's hope when Joseph's with
him in prison, isn't there? We may feel like we're in prison,
but our souls are in prison in this earth. For whatsoever we
do, it's the Lord to do with it. He's with us. Our Joseph's
with us. He's in charge. He's with us,
too. All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for this glorious passage of Scripture. We ask that You
would just enlighten our darkness and our eyes, a portion of it. Just take one morsel and let
us Let us go with that and chew upon it, feed upon it for a little
bit. Just one truth, one glorious
truth concerning your son, our Joseph, our great high priest,
our daysman betwixt us. He who came down here, the stronghold
for us prisoners of hope, who lay hold on him, who is with
us. He said, I'll never leave you,
even to the ends of the earth. While we're in prison, we seem
to feel imprisoned by sin and darkness, the flesh. Our great
Joseph is with us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is with
us. May we look to Him in all that we do. As He doeth it for
us. He's with us. He's for us. Give
us this encouragement and this strength. Go with the people
as they go out tomorrow. Let this be a comfort to them.
In Christ's blessed name, we're met together tonight. Thank you
for your word in His name. Amen. You're dismissed.