Would you turn back to Genesis
39? Also, you might have noticed
the phone books are in the foyer. If you're not in there, it's
because it's your fault. That notice has been out there
forever. I've entitled this message, The
Doer. the doer. Now, Joseph is in prison. Look in verse 20, and Joseph's
master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the
king's prisoners were bound. And he was there in prison. How did Joseph arrive in prison? Now, Joseph's brethren, we've
already seen, envied him, and we understand why. And they had
him sold into slavery as a slave in Potiphar's house. Joseph was
very successful. And let's pick up reading in
verse six. This is said of Potiphar in Genesis
chapter 39, verse six, and he left all that he had in Joseph's
hand and he knew what he had saved the bread, which he did
eat. And Joseph was a goodly person. and well favored. And it came to pass after these
things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. And she said, lie with me. But he refused and said into
his master's wife, behold, my master what is not what is with
me in the house. And he has committed all that
he hath to my hand. There's 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? And it came
to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, every day the same
thing. that he hearken not unto her
to lie by her or to be with her. Now here we read of Joseph's
temptation to sexual sin. And he didn't give in. Now temptation,
this is not easy to talk about, but may I be enabled to talk
about it. Temptation to sexual sin is something
that everyone that's old enough is keenly aware of. There isn't anybody listening
to me right now that is not aware of this thing of temptation to
sexual sin. What is the first thing recorded
after Adam and Eve ate the fruit? Their eyes were opened and they
knew they were naked. Now they were naked before the
fall and it wasn't an issue. After the fall, it becomes a
big issue because they now have a sinful nature. And the first
thing that's pointed out after the fall has something to do
with sexual sin. They knew they were naked and
they ran and they hid. God created sex. It's given to illustrate the
beautiful relationship between Christ and his church. And this intimate act between
a man and a woman in marriage is beautiful. God created it. It's holy. It's the gift of God. It's not dirty. It's not wrong.
It's beautiful. It's the gift of God. Ephesians 5.31 tells us that
it's given to picture For this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother, and the two shall be one flesh." Speaking of the
intimate act, this is a great mystery, Paul says, but I speak
concerning Christ and the church. The writer to the Hebrews said,
marriage is honorable in all. and the bed undefiled, but whore-mongers
and adulterers God will judge. Now man has taken that which
is beautiful and degraded it and debauched it. And you know
that's true, I know that's true. Sexual sin is behind much of
the problems in life today, the crimes that take place, the homes
that are broken, The lives that are destroyed, sexual sin is
behind many divorces. And look at the destroyed lives
of children it leaves in its paths. Sex in the marriage covenant
is holy. Outside of the marriage covenant,
it is evil. It is great sin against God. Don't ever think in any sense
it's okay. Paul said, flee fornication. Teach your children. this. They know, but the society we
live in condones sexual sin. Like there's really nothing wrong
with it. And it's okay. Teach your children.
It's not. What an example Joseph sets us. And that's generally what people
use. This is why they use Joseph.
But do you know everything I said is important as it is. It's not
the point of this passage of scripture. It's not the point. The point is the sinlessness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let's go on reading in 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, this wicked woman, She
caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. And he left his
garment in her hand and fled and got him out. And it came
to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand
and was fled forth. You've all heard the saying that
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And that's what's going
on here. This woman has been scorned. 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 the house and spake unto them,
saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us.
And 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 he fled
and got him out. And she laid up his garment by
her until his Lord came home. And she spake unto him according
to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought
in unto us, came 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 these words of his wife, which she spake unto him,
saying, After this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath
was kindled, Now, I would have thought he would have had him
put to death. That's generally what happened to people who did
things like that back then. I would have thought he would
have had him put to death. But, you know, somehow I think that
this man knew something about his wife. I think maybe this
had happened before. And he had him put in prison
instead. This was an act of mercy in some
respects because he could have had him killed. but he had him
put in prison for some reason. Verse 20, and Joseph's master
took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's
prisoners were bound. And he was there in the prison. He's gone from being the father's
favored child to a slave. He's gone from being a slave
to a prisoner, all in a very unjust way. false accusations,
but the Lord was with him. There in that prison, in that
horrible place, the Lord was with him. Just like he was with
him in Potiphar's house and he prospered everything he did in
prison, I suppose the worst place you could be. In prison, the
Lord was with him. I love that song, when blessed
with a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons
would palaces prove, if Jesus would dwell with me there. We read in verse 21, the Lord
was with Joseph and showed him mercy, gave him favor in the
sight of the keeper of the prison. Now this prison keeper, the Lord
made it to where he favored Joseph. He saw that he was a goodly person. I imagine he probably heard Or
maybe Joseph told him that he was there unjustly, false accusations. The Lord was with him and everything
he did prospered. And the prisoner of the keeper
gave him favor. Verse 22, and the keeper of the
prisoner committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners. And this is very significant.
Joseph because the keeper of the prison saw something in him
that made him favor him. The keeper of the prison committed
all the prisoners into Joseph's hand. There's one group of people
that Joseph had personal responsibility for, all the prisoners. Now what's a prisoner? He's in
prison. and he can't get out. He's locked
up. He's not free to walk out. He
is a prisoner. Now this is given to illustrate
who Christ comes to save. Prisoners. People who do not
have freedom. You know, everybody almost takes
it as a given that man has a free will. They just take it as a
given. Of course, man's got a free will.
Everybody naturally believes that, but there's never been
a bigger lie. There's no truth to it. Man does
not have a free will. Man's will is controlled by a
wicked nature. Free will is ludicrous. It's absurd. I've got a free will. Well, why
don't you keep from getting sick then? I will not to get sick.
Oh, okay. I mean, the whole idea is ridiculous. Your will is controlled by your
nature. Turn with me to Romans chapter
seven. I want to read verse 14. of Romans
chapter seven. These are the words of the Apostle
Paul. Romans chapter seven, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold under sin. Now that means sold as a slave
to sin. Question. Was Paul saved when he said this? Did Paul know the Lord when he
said this? To make this confession about himself? The law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold as a slave to sin. Only a believer can make that
statement. An unbeliever doesn't have any
understanding of it because an unbeliever doesn't really understand
that sin, first of all, is a nature. You don't become a liar when
you lie. You lie because you're a liar
by nature. That's true of every son of Adam,
whether they understand it or not. But Paul makes this statement
as a believer, and every believer understands this, and no unbeliever
understands it. I can't make you understand it.
You can only understand this if you've been given a holy nature.
It's only a holy nature that recognizes this evil nature. Christ came for the prisoners. The prisoners. Let's go on reading
in Romans 7. Look what he says. For that which
I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, That do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good, it's right. If it
condemns me, it's right. Now then it's no more I that
do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
I would never sin again. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Paul speaking
as a believer. Now, if I do that, I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Only a believer can say that. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity. There's the
word, a prisoner. to the law of sin, which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I used
to be before I was saved. No. Oh, wretched man that I am. Present tense. Who shall deliver me? from the
body of this death, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. Now, if you find yourself objecting
to this, you're either deceived or it could be that God has sent
you strong delusion that you should believe a lie. that you
can't see what you really are as an act of judicial blindness.
That might be the case. I hope not. I hope everybody
in this room is given grace by God to see that this is the truth
concerning themselves. But here's the good news. The
prisoners, you say, I'm no prisoner, then I've got no good news for
you. But if you know something about being a prisoner, Joseph
was given personal responsibility for all the prisoners. And then turn back to our text
in Genesis 39. I love the way God the Holy Spirit
has this worded. And we see the great mystery
of the gospel in this statement, verse 22. And the keeper of the
prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were
in the prison. And here we have the great mystery
of godliness. And whatsoever they did there,
He was the doer. Now, every word is exact, and
that's the way the scripture is. Everything that's said is
of infinite importance, and God said it as it is to be said. Now, whatsoever they did, whatsoever
they did, Joseph was the doer. Take that for what it says. Whatsoever
they did, Joseph was the doer. Now here we have substitution. Whatsoever they did, Joseph was
the doer. Now keep in mind where this place
is. You know, I don't know why, but
for some reason, when I've read this passage of scripture for
many years, I've just thought Joseph, through his excellent
leadership, taught these prisoners to start
doing well and living correctly. And he gets all the credit for
it. Well, maybe, maybe he did. I wouldn't say he didn't, but
in prison, you got bad people. You got criminals. You got people
who commit vile acts, and that's the reason they're in prison.
Now, Joseph didn't. Joseph lived a perfect life. He was a sinner like me and you,
but as far as a type of Christ, he would not give in. And yet he's accused of that
very sin, which he would not submit to. He's put into prison. He's given the responsibility
of all the prisoners and whatever they did. Now, here is the mystery
of the gospel. Whatever they did, whatever sin
they committed, Whatever horrible thing they did, Joseph became
the doer. Now you and I know full well
that the Lord Jesus Christ never committed a sin. And when he
was made sin on Calvary's tree, he never committed a sin. What I'm going to be saying,
some people say, well, you're saying Christ started sinning.
I'm not saying that. And if you come up with that
conclusion, it's because you willfully twisted what I've said. Christ never committed a sin,
not even when he was made sin. Christ never committed a sin. And this is pictured so beautifully
in Joseph rejecting those temptations. When Christ was made sin, he
became the doer of it. He became guilty of actually
doing it. Now it was my sin and it became
his sin. So that he actually became guilty
of the doing of it to the point that He owned my sin as His own
sin. If you're a believer, that sin,
the many sins you have committed, He became the doer of it. And that's how real substitution
is. Understand this. When Christ died on Calvary's
tree, yes, it was the just for the unjust. Yes, my sin became
his sin. But when my sin became his sin,
he became guilty of that sin. And that's why Christ, that's
why his father killed him. That's why his father's wrath
came upon him because he was guilty of that sin. Turn with me to Psalm 40. You know, I don't understand
how my sin became his sin. God made it that way. He took
it all unwillingly, but it's so. It's something just to be
believed. I'm not so much understood as
believed. This is the gospel of substitution. Look in Psalm 40. We see who's
talking in verse seven, then said, I, lo, I come in the volume
of the book, it's written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O God. This is Jesus Christ, the Lord
speaking. It's quoted in Hebrews chapter
10. Look what he says in verse 12. For innumerable evils have
compassed me about, mine iniquities. Not Todd's iniquities that were
charged to my account. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Somebody says that's David speaking.
Yeah, it is. It is David speaking. I wouldn't
deny that. But it's the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when
he was made sin. Turn to Psalm 69. Verse nine, for the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up. Now we know from John chapter
two that those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Now look what
he says in verse one. Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming to my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that
hate me are without a cause. Is that the Lord? They that hate
me without a cause, that's quoted in John 15, are more than the
hairs of mine head. They that would destroy me, being
mine enemies, wrongfully are mighty, and then I restored that
which I took not. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. and my sins are not hid from
thee. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he takes ownership of the sins of his people. Whatsoever they did,