For the folks listening in on
the live stream, if you need volume adjustments, text me please. If you don't have my number, put
a comment on and I'll try to go back and check it in a few
minutes. Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 15 together. Hymn number 15. Number 15 sorry. Number 15. Brethren, we have been to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Heaven praying, holy manna will
be flowing all around. ? Preference see poor sinners
round you ? ? Slumbering on the brink of woe ? ? Death is coming,
hell is moving ? ? Can you bear to let them go ? See our fathers
and our mothers and our children seeking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling? ? Hard with sin ? Tell them all
about the Savior ? Tell them that he will be found ? Sisters
pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home
to heaven. At his table we'll sit down. Christ will gird himself and
serve us with sweet manna all around. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 326. 326. More about Jesus would I know
More of his grace to others show More of His love have died for
me. More, more of that Jesus. Jesus, for of this ? Coldest sea ? ? Lord of His love
? ? Here die for me ? ? More about Jesus ? ? Let me learn
? ? For of His holy will discern ? ? Spirit of God my teacher
be ? ? Showing the things of Christ to me ? ? More, more about Jesus ? ? More, more about Jesus ? ? More
of his saving ? ? Policing ? More of this love you died for me. More about Jesus in this word. my lord. Hearing his voice in every line,
making each face More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of his love who died for me. More about Jesus on his throne. Riches and glory of his own,
For of his kingdom sure increase, For of his coming Prince of Peace. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. If you have your Bibles with you
this morning, if you would open them with me to the book of Ephesians. I'd like to read Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians chapter two. And you, hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, For his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages
to come you might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus into good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
Having abolished his flesh, the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, were to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace, that he might reconcile both unto
God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to
them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints in the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also were
built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Our most high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, We bow our heads before you once more. We bow our heads and our hearts come to you through your blessed
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for such a precious, a perfect covenant, covenant
of grace, covenant of mercy, We thank you
for your loving kindness, thy tender mercies. Lord, we thank
you that they're new each day. Lord, we thank you for the saints
who are gathered out here this morning and those who are listening
in. Lord, we thank you for Brother Cody being here this morning.
Thank you for your pastors, wherever they may be, wherever saints
are gathered, Lord, we thank you for them. Lord, we thank you for this precious
gospel. Thank you for the blessed truth and thank you for revealing
it to our hearts. Showing mercy upon our souls. Father, we ask that you would
meet with us today and send your spirit among us. Ask that you
would bless this meeting. For we ask that you would teach
our hearts, give us ears to hear. Cause us to worship you, Lord,
in spirit and in truth. For if you don't, we'll be gathered
in vain. For we pray for the many weak
and the weary, those who are thick in this flesh, Lord, we know that you can raise
them up if it be thy will. It will please you. Lord, we pray
for, pray for our children. Pray for our, for my unborn child,
Lord, to show mercy. Lord, we pray for the sheep wherever
they be. Pray that you would send your
word abroad, cause a great revival. We know that you'll gather them
from all ends of the earth. Lord, we bless thy holy name. We ask
that thy will be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together as we
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Assemble yourselves and honor
the king. He sits on the throne. ? Deep triumphs we sing ? ? King
Jesus who died to atone for our sin ? ? Came forth from the tomb
and delivered the king ? ? The Lamb from above ? He died in
the rows. The work is all done. He took on himself all our debt
to repay. The sins of his people the robots
show. He liveth again, we praise the
great King O terrible death, where now is life's sting? Enthroned in His glory, Almighty
to save Victorious is conquest for sin and the grave. He conquered the tomb and liveth
above. All praise to his name. Be seated. Delighted to have Brother Cody
Henson with us this morning. Thank you for braving the cold
rain and snow. I know it's supposed to get really
cold this evening. We're glad to have you, Brother. He's informed me that he's a
little bit under the weather, so we're not going to do our
normal handshakes and hugs after service. He's going to step out. And we're expecting some more
snow and some frigid temperatures. Cody's got a long way to travel
home with his family, so we're not going to have evening services.
We will only be meeting this morning. So again, no evening
services. We will, Lord willing, reconvene
on Wednesday evening. Brother Cody, you come on and
bring what you have. No, I'm not Todd Maverick, but
I like this adjustment here. I need help. It's nice being higher up. All right, well, good morning.
Good to be with you all. And I was thinking I haven't
felt particularly well, but I'm just as dependent on the Lord
to bless his word in spite of me, whether I feel well or not. We're so dependent on our Lord
every moment of every day. We can do nothing. And I think when we feel weighed
down by Whatever it is, we're reminded of that. I invite your
attention to the book of Genesis chapter 39. Genesis chapter 39. After I was here at our conference,
back in November, I felt led to go through the story of Joseph
with my Sunday school class that I teach back in Kingsport. And I've also been feeling led
to preach from the story of Joseph. Here, we looked at Genesis 41
last time. The story of Joseph really begins
in chapter 37. But I want to look here today at chapter 39.
I think we'll have time to get through the whole chapter. Now
today, we're gonna see Joseph as a picture of Christ and what's
done to him, his position in what he does and in what he doesn't
do, and in what he says and in what he doesn't say, all right? Now look here at Genesis 39,
verse one. And Joseph was brought down into
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. And the Lord was with Joseph.
He was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master,
the Egyptian. Joseph, it tells us, is brought
down into Egypt. Christ our Savior willingly came
down from heaven's glory into this world. Joseph, he wasn't,
he was being sent. He wasn't going willingly, but
Christ did. He came, he came on purpose. He came according to his own
will. That was the purpose of God for
him to come. Now right here, something that stuck out to me
is he sold the second time. If you recall in chapter 37,
at the end of that chapter, his brothers sold him as a slave
to some Ishmaelites. Now right here, those people
sold him too. Sold him the second time. And
if you go back and look in chapter 37, it says that he was sold
the first time for 20 pieces of silver. I have no doubt that
these men sold him for a little bit more. My guess is 30 pieces. We're not told. But again, what
a great picture of Christ he is regardless. Such a great picture
of Christ. And Potiphar here, when he bought
him, there's no doubt he got a steal of a deal, no matter
what he paid for him. This is Joseph. Remember who
Joseph pictures? Christ. What's he worth to us?
Do we just desire to profit off of him? Get what out of him that
we can? No true reverence for him? That's
the point. Do we just want him because of what we can get from
him? Or do we love him? We need him. Now, it tells us
right here that the Lord was with Joseph. His brothers forsook
him. Those many nights they had him for a little bit, got rid
of him. But the Lord was with him. The Lord never stopped being
with him. And I love how it also tells
us right here that he prospered. Verse two, he was a prosperous
man. And that's Christ. And if God has put us in Christ,
if God has, as you just read, quickened us together with Christ,
We're prosperous, too, because we're in him. We're in the prosperous
man. Psalm 1, verse 3 says, whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper. Speaking of Christ, the blessed
man, and God sees to it that his people prosper in him. Now,
whether or not it feels like it, it often feels like we're
not prospering, doesn't it? You know, here in a little while,
Jacob says, all these things are against me. No, God saw to
it that he prospered. And again, if we're in Christ,
if we've been joined to Christ, God will see to it that we prosper
too. Prosper in Him forever. And it's all about union with
Christ. That's where prosperity comes
from. Verse three right here. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, and that the Lord made all that
he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over
his house. All that he had, he put into
his hand. The Lord made everything Joseph
did here to prosper in his hand. Again, picture in Christ, everything
he ever did prospered. People speak of God, people speak
of Jesus or Jesus Christ as someone who You know, he did this, and
he's hoping for this, and he's trying for this. No, no. He prospered
in everything he ever did. He never failed at anything.
In Isaiah 42, when we read, this is my servant, my elect, it's
Christ. God's chosen is Christ in whom
his soul delighted. And it says he shall not fail
or even be discouraged. That's what Joseph pictures right
here. And it's glorious. You look at the cross and you
say, oh, well, Did he prosper there? There's
never been a greater prosperity than the cross. Who had their
way at the cross? He did. It pleased the Lord to
bruise him. In Isaiah 53, we're told that,
and he is the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That was the pleasure of the Lord. The cross of Christ
was the pleasure of the Lord, and it prospered in his hand,
Christ's hand. He made it to prosper. He didn't
save himself because he hung there saving others. You know,
that's what they said. He saved others himself, he can't save. That's
the whole point. He hung there on purpose. He laid down his
life of himself. No man took it from him. It's his own will. We're told right here that Joseph
found grace in Potiphar's sight. You know who finds favor, good
standing in the sight of God Almighty? The Son. and all those
who are in the Son. If we're not in Christ, it's
not gonna be well with us. We must be with Him. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. We must be in Christ. When Christ died, I died. When
Christ rose, I rose. As He lives right now, we live
in Him. That's my hope. There's no other
hope. I love this too. It tells us in
verse four that Joseph served Him. Again, Potiphar bought him
as a servant, as a slave, okay? You think, think how wonderfully
he must have served Potiphar. How beautifully did Christ serve
the father? And you realize, when Christ
came here and he was serving the father, we're the benefactors
of that. He was serving us and serving him. Again, people get
all caught up in how they're serving God and doing this for
God. My hope is not in what I'm doing for God, but in what God
has done for me. Christ, the servant of God. The king became
a servant. He served oh so well. But nothing
I can do to add to that. All I can do is mess it up. Praise
God, I can't mess it up. Because it's finished. Complete
in him. Verse five, and it came to pass
from the time that he'd made him overseer in his house and
over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house
for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. Verse
six, and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he
knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat. Joseph
was a goodly person and well favored. God bless this man's
house for one reason, for Joseph's sake. And everybody wants to
be blessed of God, right? Are His blessings something that
we can earn by what we do and what we don't do? But everybody
thinks what people lost in religion think. That's what I, but for
the grace of God, would think is that I can go out here and
earn God's blessings. God's blessings are in Christ.
He is the blessing of God. If we have Him, we have all God's
blessings. In Ephesians 1, all spiritual blessings, they're
in Him. They're not for us to earn. We can't earn them. Again, regardless of how we feel,
it really is irrelevant. If we have Christ, we have everything. I told that rich young ruler,
that fellow felt really good about himself. He said, yet one
thing thou lackest. You know what his problem was?
He didn't have Christ. He had money. He had his own good works
to look to. He had morale and principles,
but he didn't have Christ. I'm sure he had the praise of
men. Is that what we're looking for? You know who didn't have
the praise of men? Christ. But he had the praise
of God Almighty. What matters to us? I love this too. It's very obvious
from these few verses we just read how much Potiphar trusted
Joseph. He trusted him fully, didn't
he? put everything into His hand, made Him the overseer of His
house, made Him the greatest in that house. Do you know Christ is Lord over
all? You know there's nothing that's not under His hand. His reign is over everything
and everybody. Oh, if we could trust Him, safest
thing we could ever do, and it takes God's grace and God-given
faith to do it. Oh, but may we trust in Him. Excuse me, trusting him completely. Now, the end of verse six tells
us that Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. What this means
is he was outwardly beautiful. That's all that means. Now, that
right there, that fact, now, again, we know he's a young man,
okay? He was 17 when his brothers sold
him, so a whole lot of time couldn't have gone by yet, and he's outwardly
beautiful. Now that leads into our text,
okay? Verse seven. And it came to pass, after these
things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and
she said, lie with me. Lie with me. First thing I wanna
say about this is, this woman, Potiphar's wife, she represents
you and me. What do we see? That's us. That's us. Now, it's not certain how much
time has gone by since he's been away from his brothers and been
in Potiphar's house, but I'll tell you this. Just from what it tells
us, it's been sometime between a few days and 11 years. And he's a young man. Being a picture of Christ, I
have no doubt that he was a virgin. He wasn't even an adult when
he was sold. And now this house in which he's been glorified
and exalted, the queen of that house wants him for herself. Do you think that was a temptation
for him? Just pointing out the few things I've just said, do
you think that was tempting for him? I would think so, wouldn't you? Lie with me, lie with me. You
know, it's one thing to give a look, it's another thing to
come and verbalize it. Look at verse eight. But he refused. And he said unto his master's
wife, now look at what he said right here, this is so wonderful.
Behold, my master knoweth not what is with me in the house,
and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is
none greater than me in this house than I, or 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? I find so much hope in those
three words. But he refused. There's so much more to this
than just doing the right thing. He refused. We ought not commit
adultery. I think we all know that. But
let me tell you something. We're all guilty of it. She wasn't
guilty of committing adultery even when she said lie with me.
She was guilty before that. The moment she first looked upon
him and lusted after him in her heart, God says guilty of adultery. We're guilty long before the
act is ever committed. We're guilty even if the act itself
is never committed. You gotta understand that. Guilty,
our problem, mine and yours, is in here. Now we do a lot of
ridiculous, foolish, sinful things hourly. But even if we somehow
don't, our problem's just, we're just as bad. I think by
God's grace, if God truly reveals ourselves to us, we can acknowledge
that we're worse than the most outwardly shameful, reproachable
person we could think of. When Paul said, I'm the chief
of sinners, did he say I'm worse than most people? No, he said,
I'm the chief. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. You know, we can just
turn the news on. You read about some really despicable
things. Here's the thing. Look within. Look within. Oh, it's so despicable. He refused. As a picture of Christ, our Lord
knew no sin. He never sinned. Now, Joseph,
here's something I want to say. Though we don't read about his
sins, Joseph was a sinner just like you and me. Christ is the
only sinless man. There's no other sinless man.
There never has been, never will be. which is him. And yet in
Joseph's, in his service to Potiphar, in
his refusal to lie with her, so beautifully pictures our Lord. So beautifully pictured our Lord.
We read that Christ was tempted in all points, like as we are
yet without sin. But I want to make something
very clear on that. Never really thought about this
before, but when we think about being tempted, here's the thought
that runs through my mind. You're tempted to do something.
You really want to, but you don't. You really want to do it, but
you just barely hold off from doing it. Thank you. Is that how your temptations
are? You just really want to commit the sin, but you didn't
do it. Is that how temptations were
for our Lord? Is that how temptations were for him? He wanted to commit
the sin, but he didn't? No, no, no. Had he wanted to
do it, that would have been sin. Again, it's the desire to do
the sin that's the sin itself. In the heart, heart. The meaning of tempted, when
the Lord was tempted, like as we are yet without sin, means
to test, to make trial of one, to put him to the proof. And
how wonderfully Joseph pictures our Lord. But he refused. Our
Lord refused. He was tempted. Remember when
the devil tempted him? You just jump off this cliff,
the angels come and lift you up. You just turn these stones
into bread, you're hungry, you can do that. I shall not tempt
the Lord thy God. He's not going to fall for any
temptation. Because he can't. He's God. He's perfect. He can't
sin. And that's the exact opposite of you and me. Whether we fall
into the temptation or not is irrelevant. We're guilty of every
sin in our heart. I'm thinking about Potiphar's
wife right here. We can relate to her in the sense
of our heart is full of sinful thoughts every day. Lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, that just
runs through us all the time. But it's sad here when you think
about how little regard and love she had for her husband. Sad,
isn't it? You know how little regard and
love we have for Christ Jesus by nature? Even now, brother,
do you not feel so cold in your heart all the time? Yeah, I didn't. And Joseph, on the other hand,
he acknowledged in his answer here, he acknowledged his master.
He acknowledged his God. He said, how can I commit this
great sin against God? Are we concerned about our sin
against God? We ought to be. We ought to be. Sin is not a
light thing, it's not something to be taken lightly. And by the
time this message is over, I pray that we, I pray that God would
cause us to truly know how desperately we need Christ, whom Joseph pictures. Verse 10. And it came to pass
as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto
her, to lie about her, or to be with her. She was persistent. This was one of those times when
they're just not going to take no for an answer. Day after day
after day after day, here she comes, making her advancements.
Lie with me. Lie with me. Again, in just thinking about
this situation, and again, I don't know how much time went by. It
could have been years. It likely was, at least a few
years, really, if you think about it, it likely was. And there's
no telling what all she tried. Imagine all the looks she must
have given him. You know, Joseph in there going
about doing his business, turns the corner, whoa. I mean, really,
just trying to think about it. And then all the time coming
to him and saying, lie with me, lie with me, lie with me, but he
refused. He hearkened not unto her. You know, in talking about how
Joseph himself was indeed a sinner like us, I want to say this.
God forbid we think we are above falling into a great sin. You
think about David, he had a great fall, didn't he? Yet he needed
that fall. God just might let us fall, but
he won't let us go. I want to show you a verse. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians 10. We're not above falling into
sin. Great sin. We're not. I'm not. First Corinthians
10. Look with me. Verse 12. Read
two verses here. First Corinthians 10 verse 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear it. We think we're strong. We think
we're able to withstand, refrain from the temptation. I tell you
my hope, but God is faithful. You're going to be tempted, but
God's faithful. Who are we trusting in? Trust
in Christ. Sinless one. Lord, is this not
what we pray? Lead us not into temptation.
We'll fall into it. Lead us not from it. Deliver
us from the evil. We need these things. They're
important. I can't keep myself kept by the
power of God. Back in our text, Genesis 39,
verse 11. Genesis 39, verse 11. And it came to pass, about this
time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and
there was none of the men of the house there within. And she
caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. But he left his garment in her
hand and fled and got him out. Here she gives it her best shot. I'm gonna get him now, is what
she thought. Last attempt here. You notice
something that she did here that she hadn't done before? At least
that we hadn't read about yet? She put her hands on him. See that? First of all, she caught him
by his garment. No accident. We got close enough to him that
she touched him. I think that's significant. Daily for weeks, months, possibly
years, He's been giving him looks. He's been coming up to him and
saying, lie with me. Imagine the sweet voice she must have
had when she said that. Lie with me. Imagine what she must have had
on. Here she comes. Nobody's in the
house, just her and Joseph. I can't help but wonder if Joseph's
garment is the only garment anybody had on. I have no doubt that
she was gonna make sure this was a great temptation, greater
than her previous temptation. What's he gonna do? When here's
the ultimate temptation, what are you gonna do, Joseph? Is he finally gonna fall? Think
about when those men constantly came to the Lord Jesus, they
tempted him and tried to trip him up in his words and made
all these accusations against him, false accusations on my
dad. Was he eventually just gonna blow a gasket like we say? Were
they eventually gonna catch him in some sort of sin? Impossible. You see what Joseph said right
here, didn't you? He left his garment in her hand
and fled and got him out. He let her have it. He let her have it. Could he
not? Could he not have taken her hands off of his garment
and got out? Couldn't he? Does anyone ever put their hands
on you and you take them off of you? I mean, physically speaking,
he could have done that, right? Get off me. But he didn't. He
laid hold of his garment. He just let her have it. He got
out of there. Our Lord cannot be contaminated
by sin, and yet he came here to be made sin for sinners. Father, that woman crawled through
that crowd of people that were surrounding our Lord. No doubt
he's being bumped against by many people, and yet the woman
with the issue of blood, right, and she touched him. Although many people were rubbing
up against him, he said, who touched me? Somebody touched
me. Virtue's gone out of me. Our Lord is the friend of publicans
and sinners, but the only sinners who, the only sinners this pertains
to are those who've been shown what
they are. Those who've been shown their
sin. Again, the religious leaders that constantly came to the Lord
for all the wrong reasons. They were sinners because all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but they didn't
know it. They never knew it. They thought they were righteous.
In fact, they accused him of being a sinner. They sure had
that wrong, didn't they? What did our Lord trade? You
know, this woman brings sin to Joseph. What's he give her? His
garment. The garment, no doubt, pictures
the righteousness of Christ, just like his coat of many colors. He gave righteousness for sin. He was met with sin. What did
he do? He gave his righteousness. Our Lord himself is all the riches
of God. Yet what did he do? What did
he trade? He traded his riches. He traded his unsearchable wealth,
or poverty. I'm not talking about money.
The poverty of sin, the poverty of being cut off and separated. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? There's no poverty like that. Beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of salvation for
the spirit of heaviness. All these things. You think about
what he took upon himself and what he gave us freely in spite
of us. Verse 13, and it came to pass
when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was
fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house and spake
unto them, saying, see, he hath brought in in Hebrew unto us
to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with
me, and I cried with a loud voice. And it came to pass when he heard
that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment
with me and fled and got him out. That's just a flat-out lie,
isn't it? There's no truth in that. Hm. Here's what I want you to see.
Just like Joseph's brothers, they took his garment, that coat
of many colors, and they made a lie out of it. She took that garment, Joseph's
garment, and she made a lie out of it. See that? They had Joseph's garment. All
they wanted to do was just lie about it, lie on him. Why did she tell this lie? She was angry, wasn't she? She
was insulted. Who do you think you are to resist
me, refuse me? Here's the problem. She wanted
Joseph on her terms. But she couldn't have him. This
whole world wants Jesus on their terms. It's not going to be. We're going to have him. We're
going to have him on his terms, not ours. Says she represents us. She also
represents false religion. She couldn't have Joseph, so
what'd she do? She lies on him. She lies on him. Having received
not the love of the truth, people believe a lie. By nature, it's
what we do. Change the truth of God or exchange
the truth of God for a lie. It's okay to sin. God won't punish sin. Oh, God
loves you anyway. He'll just sweep it under the
rug. That's a lie. It's a lie. Adultery isn't that bad. Nope,
no one's gonna know. You know, I could just see her
telling Joseph, I won't tell Potiphar. I won't tell him. He'll
never find out. God knows everything. Nothing's
hid from him. He sees the secret sins of our
heart. Are we concerned about that? Does that give us pause
to acknowledge that? I can have Jesus on my terms.
After all, I accepted him. Oh, I love him. I gave him my
heart. I'm following him. I'm living for him. I'm doing his
work. That's a lie. God won't have
it. If we're gonna have Jesus Christ,
we're gonna have him on his terms. It can be no other way. How do
we have him? The Father chose a people and
gave them to him, committed them into his hand, into his care,
and he came to save them. He that hath the Son hath life.
How do we have Him? How do we believe on Him? Well, I decided
to believe. I exercised my faith. Did you
know? You just read it. Faith is the gift of God. It
means we don't produce it. We don't conjure it up. You mean to tell me I can't believe,
I can't be saved unless God? That's right. Again, you just
read it. But God, we're just here dead
in sins. But God, you take that out, nobody's
going to be saved. and our Lord brought before Pilate. False witnesses were brought
before Him. People to come lie on Him. Why? Why didn't they bring blind Bartimaeus? Why didn't they bring that blind
man in John chapter 9 who was blind from his birth? Why didn't
they bring that woman with the issue of blood? Why didn't they bring
Zacchaeus? Why didn't they bring that Canaanite woman? Why didn't
they bring these witnesses? They would have been true witnesses.
Again, the cross was purposed by God. It wasn't, we need to find a
way out of this. When Christ prayed, Lord, if my father, if
it'd be possible, let this cup pass from me, he wasn't trying
to get out of it. That's to show us the gravity
and the reality of what he suffered for us. But he came here for
that reason, for this cause, the whole reason he came into
the world. Let me say this. It's true at the cross. It's
true here, we can see it here in the story of Joseph. The truth
is going to prevail. It always does. Oh, that's so terrible. What
just happened to Joseph? What we're about to read, that's
so terrible. I get it, it seems terrible. You go lie on somebody,
that's not right. You shouldn't do that. But the
truth prevails. What's the truth? Truth is a
person, it's Christ. He said, I'm the truth. prevails. He always does. Now look here
verse 16. She laid up his garment by her
until his Lord came home Potiphar and she spake unto him according
to these words saying the Hebrew servant which thou hast brought
unto us came in unto me to mock me and it came to pass as I lifted
up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and
fled out and it came to pass when his master heard the words
of his wife which she spake unto him saying after this manner
did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled. Here she is,
she told the lies to the men of the house. And let me say
this, some time must have passed by when that happened with her
and Joseph, and when he let her have his garment and fled out,
because what we read after that is that she cried out to the
men of the house, but there was nobody in the house. We're told that, it was
just them. So a little time has no doubt
passed. Now Potiphar comes home and she lies to him, tells that
great lie to him too. Now remember, Potiphar in a way
certainly pictures God the Father. Exalted Joseph. Father hath highly
exalted Christ. And yet here she is lying to
him. You know, it's a very serious
matter to lie on God. How many churches right now are
lying on God? It's... And God clearly allows it, right?
God shall send them strong delusion that they might believe the lie.
Love not the truth. And yet I love to know this.
In a few years, her lie is going to be found out. Going to be found out. We can
believe a lie on God if we want to. I don't advise it. I strongly
advise against it. I pray God will cause us all
to believe the truth. But if we die believing a lie
on God, we're going to be found out. It's not going to be well
with us. I don't want that for anybody. She's gonna bow to Joseph. You
know that when the time comes when that famine comes if she
needs corn, where's she gonna go? Only one place Joseph the one
she lied about and have thrown into prison All are gonna make
obeisance to me Joseph said including her she lied on it, but You know,
it's like in Psalm 2 where the heathen rage the people imagine
a vain thing yet. The Lord shall laugh I love that
Lord shall have them in derision Because he's the one that reigns. He reigned in his father's house,
didn't he? He reigned in Potiphar's house. He's about to reign in
prison. And then he's going to reign in Egypt. He just reigns
everywhere he goes. That's Christ. He reigns over
everywhere and everything, everyone. Some of the very ones that crucified
our Lord were a short time later brought to faith in him. I love
knowing that, too. When they heard the gospel preached,
they were pricked in their hearts. What are we going to do? I can't help but wonder if Potiphar
even truly believed her. I know it says his wrath was
kindled. He fully trusted Joseph. I certainly think it's possible
that he at the very least doubted her. But for love's sake, he
did what he's about to do right here, because love covers a multitude
of sins. But regardless, God's gonna overrule
this evil for good. He's going to. Verse 20, he always
does. And 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. You know, I would imagine that crime would
be worthy of death. That's one reason I suspect he
may have doubted her. But he throws Joseph into prison,
and let me say this, when a sin is committed, a price must be
paid. Someone's gonna have to suffer
for this sin, this lie that was told, and this lust. You know,
Christ hung on the cross for sins that he didn't commit. We know that, don't we? No guile
in his mouth, no sin in him. But he took ownership of them,
made them his own, took them from us, and made them his own
and died for them. In that sense, you could say
that Joseph's in prison as her substitute. She's the one that deserved to
be thrown in prison, wasn't she? Not him. We don't read, and I'm glad
we don't. We don't read of Joseph's response
to Potiphar, but we do read that our Lord opened not his mouth. I wonder if he did. As a picture
of Christ, maybe that's why we're not told that he said anything.
Opened not his mouth. You know, Joseph had a law to
keep. He had a law to his master. He
was his servant. Did he break it? He said, he said, my master has
given me everything. The only thing he's kept back
from me is you. Did he break it or did he keep it? Did he
keep that law fully? You know, that woman, she had
a lot. She had a lot of her husband, too. How could she be married
to another? How can we be married to ourself
and our works and Christ? We can't. It's one of the other. You know, only when that only
when that Husband or wife dies, are we free from the law? Only
when we are dead to sin are we free. Married to another. Who are we
married to? Christ. Married to Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the righteous servant. He kept the law, didn't he? He
kept the law perfectly. Every jot, every tittle. Magnified
it, made it honorable. Who'd he do it for? Bunch of sinners, just like Potiphar's
wife, just a sinner. No goodness. Verse 21, but the
Lord was with Joseph, showed him mercy, and gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. I said it earlier,
the Lord never stopped being with Joseph, and if we're in
Christ, the Lord will never stop being with us. What does God
have for us in Christ? Mercy, favor, Verse 22, and the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. Whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. Everything
is in the hands of our Lord. Nobody in that prison could do
anything. Naturally, we're prisoners to sin, but God has made it so
that we're prisoners of Jesus Christ. Would you rather be anyone
else's prisoner? I don't want to go to prison.
I suspect none of us do. But if you told me Jesus Christ
was there, I couldn't get there soon enough. Is that where you
want to be with him? That's where I want to be. Verse 23. Keeper of the prison
looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord
was with him. And that which he did, the Lord
made it to prosper, just like Potiphar. This keeper of the
prison fully trusted Joseph. Do we trust Christ? Do we look
within and see any kind of goodness? I'm telling you, from this account,
we're Potiphar's wife. We're the sinner. We're the sin. Trust in Him. Trust in Him. Everything He did,
the Lord made it to prosper. We can trust in Him. I pray God
would give us faith to trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. I have a word of prayer. Our merciful Father, Lord God
Almighty, we come to you once more with thankful hearts. We
thank you for this word. Thank you for this message. Thank
you for the one who stood here and brought it forth. Lord, we
pray for traveling mercies as they travel home, as all these
saints travel home. Lord, we pray for travel and
mercies for our pastor and his dear wife as they make their
way back here. Lord, we ask that you would keep
us. Ask that you would keep us each and every day, each and
every moment of every day. Lord, if you don't keep us, we
won't be kept. We sure can't keep ourselves. Lord, keep us in thy mercy. Keep
us in thy grace. Keep us clinging unto thee. Lord,
we ask that you'd keep us from ourselves and from this world. Cause us to do thy will. Lord,
we ask that you would allow us to meet together again, to hear
thy gospel once more. For best I will be done in all
things, for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving
my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord. For giving to me Thy great salvation,
so rich and free. You're dismissed. We'll meet
again Wednesday evening, Lord willing.