if you would, to Genesis chapter
39. We'll continue our study here
in the life of Joseph. We're going to read the last
four verses of Genesis 39, and this will be our text for today. Genesis chapter 39, verses 20
to 23. 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. But the Lord was
with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight
of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison. And whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under
his hand, because the Lord was with him, being the Lord was
with Joseph. And that which he did, the Lord
made to prosper, made it to prosper. Now we're considered today in
our study how the Lord has protected Joseph all through the time until
he even comes up to here. And we'll see that God's protecting
hand never leaves Joseph. never leaves Joseph. And what
comfort we can glean as God's people. We can glean from these
Old Testament narratives and stories that are brought before
us, true stories, which actually occurred, too. There's some who
deny that these stories occurred. They occurred. God, the Holy
Spirit, had Moses pen these, and he is the author of the Holy
Scriptures. And we, by faith, believe this. And we see all
through the life of Joseph so far, that God's protecting hand
has been upon him. And again, what strength we can
glean as God's people, because we know that as we journey through
this life, in the trials and tribulations of our own life,
it may not be the same as Joseph's, but they're ours, aren't they?
They're ours. And as we go through the trials
of our lives, Our great God is ever with us, protecting us,
watching over us, keeping us, guiding us, directing us, providing
for us. His sovereign eye is never not
upon us. Isn't that wonderful? He's ever watchful over every
single one of His sheep. How can He do this? Because He's
God. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts,
and He sovereignly protects His own, like a shepherd over a sheep,
over a whole flock of sheep. And that's what we are. We're
the sheep of His hands, the scripture says. God's chosen people are the flock
of His chosen. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord glean from this wonderful truth of God's words, God's words
in the scripture, that our God ever protects his people. Again,
let's read verses 21 to 23. But the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. Who's doing all the work? The
Lord's with Joseph. The Lord shows him mercy. The
Lord gives him favor in the eyes of the prison keeper. And then look at this, and the
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners
that were in the prison, just like Potiphar committed all that
was in his house to Joseph. And remember the scripture said
earlier in the scripture, it says, he just sat and ate his
food. He was content to sit and eat his food, because he knew
that Joseph had everything in control. Look at this. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in prison
and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper
of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand. He's
got Joseph to take care of everything. What is our great Lord and Savior
in control of? Everything. Everything. It's all been put into his hands,
eh? So again, we see Joseph as a picture of Christ. We'll look
at that later on. It says, because the Lord was with him, and that
which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. So all through this
study in the life of Joseph, we've seen God's sovereign, protecting
hand over Joseph. We've also seen Joseph as a type
of Christ in multiple places. We saw the Lord protecting Joseph
from his brother's wrath. His brother's wrath when his
father gave him a coat of many colors. We saw God's protecting
hand in the fact that the brothers didn't kill him. They were angry
with him, weren't they? They were jealous. They were
filled with rage. We know that because of their
actions later on. Their actions later on towards
him. We saw God's restraining hand when Joseph's brothers wanted
to kill him. They stripped him of that coat,
and they threw him in the pit, and they wanted to kill him,
didn't they? They wanted to flesh out that jealousy and rage that
they had, and they wanted to kill him. But God's restraining hand was
upon them, wasn't it? It was upon them. We saw God's
protecting hand when Joseph was sold to the Israelites. His brothers
wanted to kill him, and oh wait, there's a cure for him, we'll
just sell him. We won't ever have anything to
do with him again. Isn't that what they thought? If they thought
that, sell them to the Ishmaelites, who are going down to Egypt,
they figured, this young man will never give us a problem
again. Well, they're in for a big surprise. We know that. And that's
the amazing thing, as this story progresses, in how the Lord just
protects Joseph, and takes care of him, and guides him, and directs
him, and gets him to the point where he wants him to be. And
all this is falling out according to God's sovereign will. Then
we saw at the beginning of this chapter that Joseph, again by
the will of God, was sold to Potiphar. He's taken by the Israelites,
he's taken to Egypt, and then he's sold, he's sold to Potiphar. Look it, and Joseph was bought
down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain
of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him out of the hand of the Israelites,
which had brought him down thither. So God's protecting hand is ever
upon Joseph, ever upon him. He didn't die when he was in
slavery. He didn't die on the journey to Egypt. And remember
this, too. This would be a sorrowful time
for Joseph. He's not smiling. He's in shackles. He's a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Isn't he? He's a picture of Christ,
even going through all that. My. Innocent. In the whole situation. Undeserving of what's being cast
upon him. But it's all happening, as he
knows, it's all happening according to God's sovereign will. Again,
by the will of God, he sold the Potiphar, who just happens to
be an officer of Pharaoh. Captain of the guard. High ranking. Some believe that
Potiphar, John Gill believes Potiphar was the executioner.
And we'll see that he had a prison off his house. That's where Joseph
ends up, where the king's prisoners go. Not an ordinary prison, but
a prison where the king's prisoners go. And Potiphar had authority
over that prison. So he sold, not to just any officer,
but he sold to an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.
in Egyptian, and we see the Lord is with Joseph, isn't he? He's
with Joseph. And he becomes prosperous in
the house of his master, the Egyptian. Again, all these things
have happened according to God's sovereign plan. Everything we've
looked at so far is the unfolding in Joseph's life, remember this,
it's the unfolding in Joseph's life of the will of God. Look back in your life. You will
see the unfolding of the will of God in your life too. It's
amazing. It's absolutely amazing. There
was some hard time, wasn't there? There was some hard times. Oh my. But the Lord will never
leave his people, never forsake his people. Again, all this is falling out
over time too. How long do we do not know? We
know Joseph was a young man of 17 when he's sold off into slavery,
we know that. And time has passed, the scripture
keeps saying, and time's passed. So he's no longer a young man,
now he's a man. Maybe 20s, late 20s, maybe early
30s. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,
saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and we know that that's all by
God's grace, that the young Hebrew man, as a type of Christ, prospered
in everything he did. Our king prospered in all that
he did. He came to save his people from their sins, and he did it. He did it, beloved. And Potiphar
made Joseph overseer over his house and all that he had, and
the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. Our
Lord rules over all, beloved. In last study, we saw in chapter
39, verses 7 to 19, that the wicked heart of Potiphar's wife
was exposed as she tried time and time again to entice Joseph
into an adulterous affair with her. She didn't just try it once. You see in the scripture, she
kept at him. See, most of the time when we read the story of
Joseph, we think it was just a one-time thing. She kept at
him, beloved. She kept Adam. Oh, my. Look at this. Look at verse nine, there is
none greater in this house than I. Neither he kept back anything
from me, but the because thou art his wife. How can I do this
great wickedness and sin against God? And it came to pass as she
spoke to Joseph day by day. This was not a one-time thing,
that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. So God's restraining hand is
upon Joseph as well, that he doesn't plunge into that sin.
How many things has the Lord kept us from, beloved, as God's
people? How many things has the Lord
kept us from? By God's restraining hand, Joseph
said no to all her attempts. Why? Because he hated sin and
he loved righteousness. He hated sin and he loved righteousness. He said, how can I sin against
my God? He knew who the sin was against,
our great God. But God gave him grace also to
resist all the advances of this wicked woman. All through this story, we see
God's protecting hand is upon Joseph, ordering all that is
happening, and that will happen, just as he does again for every
single sheep of God. Now, when Potiphar's wife finally
realized she couldn't have her way with Joseph, she made up
a lie. Claiming that he had tried to force himself upon her and
Potiphar believed the lying tongue of his wife and had Joseph thrown
into prison. Let's look at verses 20 to 23
again. 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 prison. But the Lord was with
Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of
the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
The 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. So take note that Joseph wasn't
put into any prison. It says in verse 20 there, again,
that he was put in a place where the king's prisoners were bound.
This is not any ordinary prison. No. And Joseph's master took
him and put him into a prison, a place where the king's prisoners
were bound. And he was there in the prison. And always remember again, that
all the events that we've seen so far in Joseph's life are decreed
by our great God. Decreed by our great God before
time began. And executed by our great God
at his appointed time. So we see in our text that Potiphar
took Joseph and put him into the prison. But always remember
that Potiphar was only a pawn in the hand of our great God.
Never forget that. Potiphar's just a pawn. Pharaoh's
just a pawn. The rulers of this world are
just pawns in the hands of our great God, beloved. Our great majestic God works
all things after the counsel of his own will. And again, note
that Joseph's not put in any ordinary prison where common
criminals were put. No, he was put into a place where
the king's prisoners were bound. This is a prison. where those
who had offended Pharaoh were put. Those who had offended Pharaoh
were put in this prison. And remember, he's put into the
place where the king's prisoners are bound because that was exactly
where our sovereign God had determined beforehand for him to be. And
next week, we'll see all that play out. Why he was there. Why he was there, beloved. Now we know from verse one again
of this chapter that Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh. He
was captain of the guard. And again, John Gell believes
that this prison was connected to Potiphar's house. He was an
officer of Pharaoh and a chief executioner of prisoners. And if that is true, in all probability,
Potiphar had the authority to execute those prisoners whenever
he wanted. Think of that. He would have the authority to
take their heads right off the shoulders whenever he wanted
to, okay? We know from Genesis 39 that
his wrath was kindled against Joseph, right? Because of what his wife had
told him. What kept him from lopping off Joseph's head? The restraining hand of God. Because God had a purpose for
Joseph to become prime minister over all of Egypt. Potiphar is just a pawn in the
hands of our great God. It was the restraining hand of
our sovereign God that prevented Potiphar from executing Joseph. Because think of this, a man
in the position of power that Potiphar had, would not hesitate
to kill him. Especially what he was being
accused of. The rage that was within him,
he would have said, off with his head. But again, we see the
restraining hand of God at work. And we know from studying this
chapter that the Lord in verses 2 and 4, let's look at verses
2 and 4, that the Lord was with Joseph and gave Joseph grace
in the eyes of Potiphar. And the Lord, look at verse 2
to 4, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man,
and 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, and Joseph found what? Grace in his sight, in the sight
of Potiphar. And he served him, and he made
him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into
his hands. Now turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. Now the Lord is the one who caused
Joseph to find favor in the eyes of Potiphar. He's the only one
who did that. Over here in Exodus chapter 12,
verses 35 and 36, we see here that the Israelites, when they
were leaving Egypt, found favor in the eyes of the Egyptians,
beloved, and gave them of their riches." Who caused this? The great sovereign of the whole
universe. Had the Egyptians moved and had
the Israelites find grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, And
let's see what happened. And the children of Israel did
according to the word of Moses, and they brought of the Egyptians
jewels of silver and jewels of gold and remnant. And the Lord
gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that
they lent them such things as they required. And look what
happened. And they spoiled the Egyptians. Now usually when a
nation spoils another nation, it occurs during war. The Romans, when they would go
into places after they conquered a city or a town or a nation,
they'd spoil it. They'd take all the riches, right? Because to the victor go what?
The spoils, right? Not even a sword was lifted. Not even a threat of any violence. And they spoiled Egypt. They spoiled Egypt. The amazing power of God is right
here on display. The Israelites again did not
so much as lift the sword and the Egyptians were giving them
of their richest jewels of silver and gold and fine clothing. And remember this is all by the
sovereign hand of God. So in these verses right here,
we see the almighty power of our great God on full display.
He is Lord over all. He is Lord over all. He's the master over all things
visible and invisible, beloved. None, what does the scripture
say? And none can what? Stay His hand. So God had purposed
that the Egyptians would give those jewels and all those riches
to the Israelites, and no one could stay God's hand. No one. So no one can stay the hand of
God in what he has planned and purposed in Joseph's life. No
one. No one can stay the hand of God
in what God has planned and purposed in the life of every one of his
sheep. No one. No one. Our great God is ruler over this
entire world. All things visible and invisible.
And as one commentator says, He has the right to take from
one and give to another. Because it's all His. It's all
His. So the Israelites, think of this
too, the Israelites had served the Egyptians for many, many
years under hard labor. Under hard labor. And here the enemies of Israel
are now, at the appointed time, at the time appointed by God,
and all by God's power, the very enemies of Israel are giving
their treasure to them. so much so that they spoiled
the Egyptians. One ancient writer brings forth
that the Israelites were given many golden cups of the Egyptians,
not a little but a great quantity of other treasure and riches,
a vast deal of gold and silver, remnants, fine remnants, and
other things, again, so much that as the text says, they spoiled
the Egyptians. It wasn't just a little bit. Oh my. So our God, who is the
God of Joseph and the Israelites, the same God who moved by his
sovereign will and decree to have Joseph find favor with Potiphar,
we now see in Genesis chapter 39 verse 21, let's turn there,
that he now finds favor with the keeper of the prison. So
the same God that caused the Egyptians to just hand over all
those jewels, the same God in whom Noah found grace in his
sight, same God who we found grace in his sight and by his
power, same God. Look at Genesis 39, 21, but the
Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy. and gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Oh my, he's thrown
into jail, and this keeper of the prison's probably heard why
he's there, obviously. Because Potiphar's, he's below
Potiphar. So he knows why he's there. He
knows he's a Hebrew. By nature, he probably would
have hated him. Now Joseph finds favor in the eyes of the keeper
of the prison. Again, all by God's sovereign hand, all by
his mercy, all by his grace, beloved. Now Joseph doesn't know where
he's headed, but he's on the way to a position of leadership
over all of Egypt with Pharaoh as the only one who has more
authority over him. He doesn't know it. He doesn't
know that this is the way and how that is all going to come
to pass. No. Think of Joseph here. He's with
his dad at home enjoying life with his dad and Benjamin and
all of a sudden he's thrown into a pit by his brothers and he's
sold into slavery. Then he ends up in Potiphar's
house and he's turned off just as a humble slave. He didn't
rise to power, it took time for him to be given that trust and
that authority. And then he has that trust and
authority and he says to Potiphar's wife, no I'm not gonna lie with
you, it's a sin against my master, it's a sin against you, it's
a sin against myself, but more so it's a sin against my God.
And now he ends up in prison again. He'd be a man of sorrows,
wouldn't he? Acquitted with grief, my. And he doesn't know, He's wondering
what's going on. Just like any of us would, right?
Let's be honest. We know that God's in control,
but we'd start to go, what did I do wrong? We always look at
ourselves, what did I do wrong? Well, this is all falling out
according to God's plan and purpose, isn't it? It's all falling out
according to God's plan and purpose. He will one day be raised to
leadership over all of Egypt with only Pharaoh is the only
one who has more authority than him. Look at verse 21 again. But the Lord was with Joseph.
What a wonderful statement. The Lord's with Joseph. The Lord's
with every one of his sheep. The Lord was with Joseph and
showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper
of the prison. So the Lord was with Joseph and he was merciful
towards him. So merciful that he found favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. One commentator said he wasn't
out of one trial and he's thrust into another. Like I was saying
earlier, just like that. He's hated by his own brothers,
thrown into a pit, sold to Ishmaelites. Sold to Potiphar, then Potiphar's
wife turns on him. He's falsely accused of that,
now here he is in prison. Accused of something he didn't
even do. Oh, he'd be full of grief and
sorrow, but he'd also be praising our great God. The Lord was with Joseph all
through it. And all the painful trials that
Joseph went through, The Lord was with him. The Lord was with
him. Therefore, we know that the Lord
was for Joseph then, don't we? If the Lord was with him, and
if he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, then we know that
the Lord was for him. And what did Paul write? If God
be for us, who could be against us? Right? Remember that when we're going
through things. Remember that God's for us. He's for his people. Joseph is fleshing out that now
in his life. If God be for us, who can be
against us? So the Lord showed Joseph mercy
and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
And again, it was the sovereign majestic power of our great God
that caused this to happen, that caused Joseph to find favor in
the sight of the keeper of the prison. Listen to what John Gale
brings forth about the keeper of the prison. This man was the
underkeeper to Potiphar. God so wrought upon the heart
of this man that he was merciful to Joseph and took off the iron
fetters which hurt his feet and gave him liberty to walk about
and many other favors and kindness he showed unto him. And the reason
he says that is because Joseph now became the keeper of the
prison. So what does the Word of God
tell us? That we're to do all things without murmur and dispute,
right? It tells us that. Hard thing for us to do. Hard
thing for us to do. But why does it tell us that?
That we may be blameless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. And God's born-again children,
we know that all things are of God. We know that. We know that.
And that God has put all things under the feet of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and that our great majestic God works all things out according
to His sovereign will, after the counsel of His own will.
And that all things for our sakes, that all things for those who
are the born-again people of God are working for our good,
and more so for His glory, and for His glory. Therefore we're to do all things
without murmur and dispute and for the glory of God. For the
glory of God. Joseph had the Spirit of God
dwelling in him. And we know it's the will of
God that placed him in the prison. We know that. He's there because
it's the will of God for him to be there. And we see that
Joseph served Potiphar, just as he served the keeper of the
prison. He put his whole heart into it. Doing these things hardly
as unto the Lord. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 3. Listen to what Paul pens in the
book of Colossians in chapter 3. He says here in verse 22 and 24.
Servants, obey in all things your masters, according to the
flesh, not with eye services, man-pleasers, but in singleness
of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of
the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance, for ye
serve the Lord Christ. So when we're at work, we do
all that we do unto the Lord. At home, we do all that we do
unto the Lord. All that we do here, we do it unto the Lord.
We do it unto the Lord for His glory. Now let's go back to Genesis
chapter 39. We'll look at verse 22. And the
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners
that were in prison. And whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer of it. So it's obvious that Potiphar,
it's obvious to Potiphar and it was obvious to the keeper
of the prison that the Lord was with Joseph. It's obvious, it's
been revealed to them. They see that, they don't have
saving grace and saving knowledge, but they see that the Lord was
with Joseph, they see everything he does prospers. So much so that the keeper of
the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners, all the
prisoners that were in the prison. And whatsoever they did, he was
the doer of it. In other words, Joseph gave orders to all the
prisoners what was to be done. And they had to obey Joseph.
Look at verse 23, the 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. Oh my. Our Lord was with Joseph, and
so he made everything that Joseph did to prosper. When he was with
Potiphar, it was that way. Now when he's with the keeper
of the prison, it's that way. Think of this, beloved. Think
of this. Our Lord made everything. That
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God, made everything that our
great Savior did to prosper. He is the substitute. He is the
great substitute. And He has fully accomplished
salvation. Fully accomplished salvation
for His people. And that which He did on the
cross, He obtained eternal salvation for us. And God has made his
work to prosper in his hands, hasn't he? And God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Praise be to God. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your goodness and mercy to us each day. Lord,
as we read the story of Joseph, let we who are your people, let
us glean the fact that you're ever with us. We never leave
us nor forsake us, you say in Hebrews 13, 5. that you're ever
with us, just as a shepherd watching over his sheep. Each one of us,
too, Lord. Each one of us. Not one of your
sheep is out of your sight. Oh, Lord, how glorious you are.
Remind us that you're ever watchful over us, that you're ever with
us, and that you'll never leave us nor forsake us. In Jesus'
name, amen.